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Moët Hennessy's nine-month 2026 sales rose 5% organically to €4.03 billion ($4.49b), with organic sales up 6% in the three months through September. The Champagnes & Wines unit grew 6% to €2.23 billion while spirits sales rose 4% to €1.8 billion, where Hennessy's new VS ready-to-serve cocktail range sold 48,000 cases in NielsenIQ channels in the year-to-date through October 3.
Shanken News Daily |
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Sazerac's acquisition of vodka brand Svedka, which retails 750ml bottles at roughly $10, ranks as one of the company's most successful deals, per the Financial Times. The brand's hypersexualised mascot has been brought back.
Financial Times |
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LVMH's wine-and-spirits division grew for a third consecutive quarter, executive Rodolphe Ozun told an earnings call, saying the company's "key Champagne brands all contributed to growth" in the third quarter.
Just Drinks |
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Turnover at The Old Bushmills Distillery fell to £52.3 million in 2025 from £53.9 million in 2024 and £56.8 million the year before, the second annual decline as Irish whiskey enters a correction, though pre-tax profit edged up to £9.8 million. The north Antrim distiller is holding record volumes of maturing stock and has launched a £70 million plan to expand its maturation and bottling capacity.
The Irish News |
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Most adult non-alcoholic (ANA) sales still come through retail, but a recent NIQ report found that bars, restaurants and online channels are expanding at roughly double that pace.
BevNET |
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Foley Family Wines & Spirits has formed a new unit, Foley Total Beverage, to house its RTD portfolio and signed a strategic partnership to handle US sales, marketing and distribution for non-alcoholic hangover-prevention brand DrinkAde through its tie-up with Southern Glazer's. The unit also covers the Sabé and Tequio Tequila brands FFWS began importing last year; DrinkAde comes in three flavors in single-serve 10cl packs at a $4.99 SRP.
Drinks Intel |
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The Supreme Court delayed its decision on whether to take up the federal home-distilling ban, moving it to the October 16 conference, with any result expected October 19. The case stems from a circuit split: the Fifth Circuit struck the 1868 ban as outside Congress's taxing power, while the Sixth Circuit upheld it, and the losing Sixth Circuit party petitioned for certiorari.
Alcohol Law Review |
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Speaking at Bar Convent Berlin on October 13, DISCUS senior VP of international trade policy Rob Maron said Europe takes about 50% of American spirits exports and that the group wants a longer-term return to "zero-for-zero tariffs" after the EU suspended its tariffs on US spirits for six months in August. Maron added that 86% of US spirits exports go to countries that impose no tariffs on American spirits, and pointed to new market access, including ongoing negotiations with India, as the path to growth.
Drinks Intel |
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Mark Anthony Brands, maker of White Claw, is moving into the fast-growing hard sports drink segment with a new brand, RefreshAde. Brewbound reports more players are joining the category.
Brewbound |
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The U.S. spirits industry is lobbying President Donald Trump to scrap the 10% tariff on French cognac and European liqueurs, contending that the duty drives up importer costs and pressures bars.
Vinetur |
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A 172-page report from state Auditor Diana DiZoglio found that Massachusetts' population-based liquor license system has left supply and demand mismatched across most of its 351 municipalities, with 64 cities and towns (including Somerville and Salem) short on licenses and 238 failing to use their full allotments, leaving 3,466 permits unused as of fiscal 2024. The report calls for returning license control to all municipalities and estimates the current framework, dating to 1933, has left Massachusetts with about 500 fewer restaurants and 9,500 fewer jobs than neighboring states.
The Boston Globe |
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More than 200 Breakthru Beverage drivers across six Florida locations voted down an effort backed by the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation to strip them of Teamsters representation. The workers organized in September 2024 and, after a four-month strike, ratified a three-year contract with wage increases and improved paid leave.
PR Newswire |
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Jefferies held its "Buy" rating on Diageo with a 2,200-pence price target ahead of the spirits group's upcoming results.
FinanzNachrichten.de |
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Germany's wine harvest this year is expected to be the country's smallest since 2010, according to Wine Industry Advisor.
Wine Industry Advisor |
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As the year's final quarter begins, independent wine retailers are weighing options to move inventory, and Jeff Siegel reports optimism among them despite lower sales and fewer fine wine drinkers.
Meininger Verlag |
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Germany's alcohol market dropped across the board in 2025: beer fell nearly 6% to about 78m hectolitres, the lowest since records began in 1993; wine consumption slid 4.3% to 17.8m hectolitres, per the OIV; and spirits, measured as pure alcohol taxed, fell 5.3% to 149m litres. A proposed 20% excise hike on spirits, sparkling wine and alcopops, approved by the Federal Cabinet and framed as a health measure, would add roughly EUR0.70 to a 70cl bottle of 40% ABV vodka and raise an estimated EUR455m a year, though industry groups including BSI and BWS have called on the government to drop it.
Drinks Intel |
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Masked individuals broke into a warehouse in Cortona, Tuscany, on the night of Oct. 3 into Oct. 4, stealing 2,500 cases (30,000 bottles) of Antinori wines worth more than $5 million, including 1,000 cases of Solaia 2023, 1,000 cases of Tignanello 2023, and 500 cases of Guado al Tasso and others. Security video showed seven to eight people spending three hours loading two trucks after the alarms were deactivated, and CEO Renzo Cotarella said the event left the company "very sad"; Italian police are investigating what has the hallmarks of an inside job.
Shanken News Daily |
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Rajasthan has ordered Carlsberg India to shut its Alwar brewery over emissions running close to eight times the permitted limit. The order adds pressure on the India unit ahead of a planned listing valued at about $700 million.
Vinetur |
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California's lingering wine surplus is landing premium bottles at unusually low prices at retailers including Costco, Aldi, and Kroger, as excess inventory floods the market. The discounts reflect oversupply rather than lower quality, according to experts cited by Longhorns Wire.
Longhorns Wire |
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Pernod Ricard has launched 10% ABV Malibu Punch cocktails in the UK, in Watermelon Punch, Peach Tea Punch and Piña Colada Punch, at £3.50 ($4.60) per 237ml can, and plans to bring them to the US and Canada during its current financial year. The UK RTD category grew 28% in value in the year to September, which Pernod attributed to higher-ABV SKUs; the push follows the company's US launch last week of 9% ABV Absolut Double Vodka Cranberry cans developed with Ocean Spray.
Just Drinks |
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The British Beer and Pub Association estimates around 360 pubs will permanently close across the UK by the end of 2026, roughly one a day, costing about 5,000 jobs with over half held by under-25s. The trade body said 295 pubs shut by the end of September, and that it expects the Government to lose almost £72m in tax receipts, citing roughly £322m in extra business costs from the November 2025 Budget.
Credit Connect |
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At a London seminar and tasting marking the second edition of his book Terroir Footprints, terroir consultant turned winemaker Pedro Parra argued that traditional viticultural techniques are becoming obsolete as climate change drives up alcohol levels and erodes regional typicity. He said the effects are permanently altering historic regions including Burgundy and Montalcino.
Wine Industry Advisor |
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Tavern's Cannes Royale launch puts Champagne in a can, which Wine Industry Advisor says could open new drinking occasions for premium brands. The report raises questions about recruiting new consumers while preserving Champagne's premium appeal.
Wine Industry Advisor |
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HiteJinro has started brewing Kirin Holdings' 5% ABV lager Kirin Ichiban at its Jeonju brewery, with existing stocks to be gradually switched to the domestically produced beer. The two companies first partnered in 2004 to import the brand into South Korea, where Kirin says record sales last year followed growing interest in Japanese beer and a rise in tourism to Japan.
Drinks Intel |
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Treasury Wine Estates reported scope 1 and 2 emissions of 16.5 kilotonnes CO2-e in FY26, down from 47.6 kilotonnes in its FY21 baseline, driven mainly by a switch to fully renewable electricity. Its sustainability report also showed water efficiency worsening to 32.2 litres per nine-litre equivalent (from 26.8 in FY25) and energy efficiency down about 26.9% since FY21, as the move to smaller-batch luxury wine adds cleaning, storage and maturation loads that do not fall with volume.
Food & Drink Business |
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Nashville's TailGate Brewing has bought the campus and facility of Yazoo Brewing in Madison, Tennessee, which will become TailGate's primary production hub. Yazoo production will continue, the breweries said Tuesday.
Brewbound |
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A year after opening its US business in Washington, DC, Berry Bros. & Rudd rolled out House of 1698, a private client program with three tiers keyed to annual spend: Green at $15,000, Gold at $50,000 and Black at $100,000. Clients qualify either through purchases over the prior twelve months or by placing the qualifying sum on account toward future spending, and the model launched globally with region-specific benefits.
PR Newswire (Wine & Spirits) |
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Finnish drinks maker Olvi cut its 2026 operating result forecast to €80m-€85m ($89.5m-$95m) from €84m-€90m, citing "weaker-than-expected" earnings in its Rest of Europe unit, which covers Norway, Denmark and several Baltic countries, plus cost pressures tied to the geopolitical situation. Shares slid nearly 8% on the news; Olvi reports third-quarter results on 22 October.
Just Drinks |
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Napa Valley wineries have pledged $2.5 million for red blotch virus research. The industry-backed initiative will fund three years of work on earlier detection and vineyard management tools.
Vinetur |
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The Drinks Business reports that a new coalition of wine, beer and spirits producers is embracing the "clean" trend as consumers scrutinize what goes into their drinks. The term remains largely unregulated.
The Drinks Business |