News & Analysis for the Beverage Industry
Alcohol giant Pernod Ricard has conducted its third digital label launch in South East Asia with the Khmer-language, tying in with the Cambodian government’s efforts in introducing alcohol legislation to prevent underage drinking.
The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau wants alcohol labels to include more information: including calorie and allergen information
Front-of-package labeling has the potential to be ‘as iconic as the Nutrition Facts label’, says the FDA, as it launches its proposals
US dietary guidelines are due to be updated this year: and the first two weeks of 2025 have seen the debate over alcohol consumption guidelines kick into high gear.
The US Surgeon General wants to make Americans more aware of the link between alcohol and cancer: suggesting cancer risk warning labels and revised guidance on alcohol consumption limits.
The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority has cleared the anticipated acquisition by Carlsberg UK Holdings Limited of Britvic plc.
Energy drinks have long been under fire from health campaigners: now governments are taking note.
Around 80% of the world’s coffee is produced by smallholder coffee farmers - so what do the EU’s deforestation regulations mean for the coffee industry?
A ‘Hello Kitty’ wine will no longer be sold in the UK after the alcohol industry’s self-regulator said it was likely to appeal to children: acting as a warning to alcohol brands who are tempted to draw on child-like branding or nostalgia.
The European Union is the ‘biggest vineyard in the world’ – producing 64% of the world’s wine by volume and 70% by value. But it’s no secret that the wine industry worldwide faces a set of hugely challenging pressures: ranging from climate change to a...
Ingredient lists, calorie counts, alcohol strength and more – are UK consumers getting all the information they want from their alcohol labels?
How big a problem is counterfeit alcohol - and what can be done to fight the problem?
What are the top trends driving the global beverage alcohol market forward - and how can we expect the industry to evolve?
Fake alcohol refers to drinks produced illegally and made to look like well-known brands – but these products can be lethal. How can people identify what's genuine and what's counterfeit?
The UK’s advertising watchdog took issue with exactly who provided the testimonials for the fast-growing brands' Facebook ads: Steven Bartlett, a TV personality who has a commercial interest in each company.
The Vietnamese government has drafted new regulations proposing a phased increase on excise taxes for alcoholic beverages to 100% by 2030 as well as 10% for sugar-sweetened beverages, in attempts to curb overconsumption as well as boosting national income.
The Labour Party says it will ban the sale of energy drinks to under 16s if it wins the UK’s General Election next month.
Alcohol adverts should not be shown alongside programs that appeal particularly to children. But how many alcohol adverts do children end up seeing?
Uber has shut down alcohol delivery app Drizly: barely three years after it paid $1.1bn for the company. What does this mean for the future of alcohol ecommerce in the US?
The federal government has announced a two-year extension of the 2% cap on the annual alcohol excise duty inflation adjustment, as well as announcing reduced excise duty rates on beer to benefit the smaller brewers.
The Scottish government plans to increase the Minimum Unit Price (MUP) for alcohol by 15p per unit to 65p this year
A new technique that takes a chemical fingerprint of gin in seconds could hold 'huge potential' for the industry: allowing producers to create better and more consistent gins; enable regulators to detect fraudulent products; and even help create a...
Alcohol-free alternatives provide a welcome option to the increasing number of consumers who choose not to drink. But there are growing concerns that branding similarities to alcohol could mean that alcohol-free alternatives act as a gateway into alcohol...
Be it for Welsh lamb and beef or single malt Welsh whisky, geographical indicators are a vital part of ensuring products are tied to their geographical region. The Welsh Government has provided industry stakeholders with vital support in attaining these...
Sales of alcohol online are becoming increasingly important: but it’s extremely difficult for retailers and brands to know if they’re selling to underage drinkers. A new set of guidelines from the UK’s Retail of Alcohol Standards Group (RASG) sets out...
Beer sales in Europe were up in 2022, beating 2021 and 2020 levels but still not yet reaching pre-COVID levels of 2019.
The European Parliament has adopted its position on new EU packaging rules: which could see a raft of long-term changes for drinks packaging. The reaction from the European alcohol industry is mixed.
Ireland will ban alcohol advertisements on TV before 9pm from 2025 in an effort to reduce children and young people’s exposure to alcohol products.
England currently considers an ‘alcohol-free’ drink as one containing less than 0.05% ABV – differing from a number of other countries that use 0.5% ABV as the definition. A public consultation is now seeking views on whether to raise the threshold for...
The Scottish government wants to increase the Minimum Unit Price (MUP) of alcohol by 15 pence per unit to 65 pence: launching a consultation into the proposals this week.
A TV advert for Camden Town Brewery has been deemed ‘irresponsible’ by the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA): which believes the animated advert from AB InBev UK could appeal to people under 18 years old.
Australia has started enforcement of mandatory pregnancy warning on all alcoholic beverages, a requirement that will also apply to imports.
Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) is considering updating rules around voluntary nutrition claims for carbohydrates and sugar on alcoholic products, opening this to public comment until September.
All of AB InBev’s beer products now include alcohol guidance labels: including markets where there is no legal mandate to do so. That makes it the largest voluntary guidance initiative every undertaken by a beer, wine or spirits company, says the beer...
The UK government will ‘scrap retained EU red tape on wine to unlock £180m’ via proposed changes to regulations for the production and marketing of wine in the country.
Ireland is to become the first country in the world to introduce comprehensive warning labels on alcohol products: with new regulations signed into law by the country’s health minister yesterday.
spiritsEurope and wine industry organization Comité Européen des Entreprises Vins (CEEV) have submitted formal complaints asking the European Commission to open an infringement procedure against Ireland for allegedly 'breaching EU law' with its planned...
Minimum unit pricing (MUP) legislation for alcohol in Scotland is associated with ‘significant reductions in alcohol-specific deaths among those from the most socio-economically deprived areas in Scotland’, suggests a study published in The Lancet.
The high rate of counterfeiting in India has resulted in far-reaching repercussions on public health and economic development, sparking an urgent need to educate consumers and for companies to adopt authentication solutions, says an Indian association.
A consultation on Scotland's proposals to introduce strict alcohol marketing restrictions closes today (March 9).
Most iconic alcohol brands have created alcohol-free versions of their flagship drinks, providing a welcome alternative for many consumers. But the Scottish government is worried that such products still serve as a branding boost for the full-strength...
A coalition of more than 100 producers and brands active in Scotland are calling on the government to abandon plans to heavily restrict alcohol marketing in the country.
A report commissioned by Public Health Scotland indicates that the economic performance of the alcoholic drinks industry in Scotland has not been significantly impacted by the introduction of Minimum Unit Pricing (MUP).
A Canadian report on health and alcohol suggests health warnings, minimum unit pricing and stringent advertising restrictions for alcohol should be implemented in the country: as it delivers its message that ‘no amount or kind of alcohol is good for your...
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From being ‘cute’ to helping manage consumption, the miniature wine format is growing in popularity with consumers. Alex Green, co-founder of wine distributor Beyond Wines and creator of premium wine brand Liquid Diamond, takes a look what makes the...
The Portman Group is urging the UK government to launch a long-awaited consultation on low alcohol descriptors.
Alcohol health information and warnings should be mandatory on online retail pages in New Zealand, researchers claim, arguing that simply containing them on product pictures is insufficient.
BrewDog’s tongue-in-cheek marketing style has once again fallen foul of the UK’s advertising watchdog: with the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) upholding a complaint against the brewer’s ‘one of your five a day’ phrase in a marketing email.
UK brewers are taking "huge steps" to be more environmentally-friendly with an expanded, targeted roadmap being launched to help the sector decarbonise at pace to reach net zero
With some young adults admitting they purchase alcohol solely on pack appeal, researchers from the University of Stirling in Scotland say further studies should consider the potential of stronger regulation of alcohol packaging.