The 2026 Italian harvest is telling a clear story in a number of places: growers are having to watch the calendar more closely than usual. In Franciacorta, harvesting began in the first days of August. In Trentino, Ferrari Trento, a leading producer of Trentodoc sparkling wine, started on August 10 with the first Chardonnay grapes […]
The German beer market is facing more than a passing slowdown: the latest figures point to a period of pressure that is beginning to reshape the sector. In the first half of 2026, total market volumes fell by 2.2% compared with the same period in 2025; the domestic market declined even more sharply, while June […]
There is a point when a distilled spirit stops being just a bottle and starts defining itself. In rum, that moment often comes through ageing: the choice to leave the liquid in cask for years, giving up some immediate turnover in order to build something more distinct, more recognisable, more deliberate. One of the clearest […]
In beverage, mineral water is often treated as a quiet category: essential, hard to narrate, and rarely given editorial space beyond sales figures. Yet three recent German cases show how some brands are using music and football to give themselves a more distinct profile. The goal is not just visibility. It is about attaching the […]
New Orleans has played a central role in the history of Western bartending. More than just a city, it has become a reference point for drinks that shaped cocktail culture and, in some cases, disappeared for decades before finding their way back onto menus. What matters today is less the romance of age than the […]
There is a difference between someone who gives up alcohol because there is no convincing alternative and someone who deliberately chooses something they genuinely enjoy. It is a subtle distinction, but it matters when looking at how drinking habits are shifting among younger consumers. In the two cases considered here, the point is not to […]
Something has changed in the way younger consumers look at non-alcoholic drinks. It is not just about choosing alcohol-free options, or replacing what is missing with something else. In Germany, at least among younger drinkers, mocktails and juice seem to be finding a more independent place in the routine, shaped by taste and occasion rather […]
For decades, coffee followed a fairly clear route: from producing countries toward the major consuming markets of the West, where it was roasted, packaged, narrated and sold at margins far higher than those recognised to the people who grew it. That route has not disappeared, but some origins are now trying to create more value […]
There is something worth noticing in the fact that one of Germany’s more unusual autumn festivals took place without alcohol. OkSoberfest, which debuted in October 2026 at Kulturbrauerei in Berlin, brought together live music, family activities, tastings and entertainment in an entirely alcohol-free format. Rather than an event designed for people who simply avoid alcohol, […]
In many European markets, spirits volumes are under pressure, and the on-trade — bars, restaurants, hotels and cocktail venues — remains strategically important for brands. Not because it delivers the biggest volumes, but because it does something other channels struggle to replicate: placing a product in the right setting, in front of the right person, […]