There is a way to read two phenomena that, at first glance, seem far apart: the growing visibility of mezcal on cocktail bar menus and the difficulty many venues have in staying open and active. It is not quite a contradiction, but a tension. On one side is a drinking culture that has become more […]
There is a distinction in wine that is easy to blur when labels start sounding too similar. Dealcoholized wine and naturally low-alcohol wine are not the same thing. In the first case, alcohol is removed after fermentation; in the second, the lower alcohol level comes from choices made in the vineyard and in the cellar. […]
There is a way some beer brands are increasingly choosing to be read: they start less from taste and more from image. In these cases, beer does not disappear, but it moves behind the setting around it, the occasion of consumption, the graphic code or the place where the brand decides to live. That logic […]
Few ingredients have contributed as decisively to the identity of modern American beer as Cascade hops. The variety did not emerge from centuries of agricultural tradition or from a celebrated European terroir: it came out of the USDA breeding program in Corvallis, Oregon, designed to solve a very practical problem. Many U.S. breweries still relied […]
For a long time, Asian coffee was discussed mostly as a growth story: more drinkers, more cities, more cafes. The picture now looks a little different. In a few concrete cases, Asia is no longer just absorbing ideas developed elsewhere — it is recirculating them in its own way, from specialty coffee with a strong […]
At some point, price stops being just a number and starts sending a message. In beer, that is especially visible in two very different cases: the promotional pressure running through Germany’s mass retail market, and Von Ebert’s decision, in Portland, Oregon, to keep a lager at three dollars as its everyday price. The two situations […]
In a few recent summer campaigns in the non-alcoholic drinks space, the main message is not about functional ingredients or wellness promises. What comes through instead is shared emotion: nostalgia, play, belonging, moments meant to be enjoyed together. That does not describe the whole market, but it does point to a noticeable pattern in a […]
The non-alcoholic segment was already clearly gaining visibility. What remained less visible was how that shift was showing up in everyday behaviour, between home delivery orders and innovation in foodservice. Two recent cases, one from the German market and one from North American retail technology, offer a more precise way to read the moment. The […]
There is a point when a category stops feeling like an add-on and starts speaking in its own voice. For non-alcoholic drinks, that shift seems tied less to the idea of abstinence and more to the ability to deliver an experience that feels good, personal and memorable. It is not a finished revolution, but it […]
Italian wine is in a period of adjustment on two fronts at once. Outside the country, some historically strong markets are slowing down; at home, the base of regular drinkers looks more fragile and older. This is not a sudden break, but a collection of signals that is forcing the sector to read the present […]