Happy Hour: America’s new fav, tinned everything, sporty collabs
In the news this month: America has a new best-selling beer and Willem Dafoe says Laphroaig is "like licking a walrus chomping on a seaweed cigar"
Welcome to another edition of Happy Hour: our monthly roundup of the booze news, moves, stories, opinions and thoughts we enjoyed.
Friends and lovers
Sabrina Carpenter partners with Johnnie Walker, as the brand woos younger consumers. It’s the first in an ongoing series of musician collabs.
Jacquemus has partnered with Veuve Clicquot on a handcrafted Rafraîchissoir (an 18th-century wine cooler). Apparently he was drawn to ‘la grande dame de le Champagne’ Madame Clicquot, who took charge of the business in the early 1800s.
And BTW, Vogue Business says more alc brands want to get into the fashion realm, as it points out several recent collabs.
French Bloom is Formula 1’s official first ever non-alc sparkling wine sponsor (expect more sports and non-alc collabs to follow).
AB InBev are tapping into the Netflix fandom, with a multi-year partnership that centres around co-marketing campaigns across popular titles.
Tito’s has acquired a majority stake in LALO Tequila. Bevnet says it’s a smart move in the ongoing tequila additive wars.
In the vineyard
Whiny Baby is now part of the Gallo family.
And Express Checkout has sensible thoughts on why that may be, including sagging wine sales, and the challenge of connecting with younger people (although they wisely highlight Gen Z isnt’ necessarily drinking less, they’re just drinking differently).
A long-read, for those with time, on the dramatic history of grape varieties, starting with Pinot, the ‘party’ grape.
Neatly packaged
Welcome to shot culture 3.0: the era of pre-packaged and ready-to-shoot.
Say hello to Cointreau Citrus Spritz: the brand’s foray into the RTS sphere.
Botivo now comes in cans. Have a look at them, and then read our interview with founder Imme Ermgassen.
Flavoursome
Crown Royal is making chocolate-flavoured whiskey (in last month’s Happy Hour, we noted an influx of unusual flavourings. The Guardian has reported that Crown Royal Blackberry has been a standout performer of late..…)
More from the world of gimmicky flavours: Baileys is planning a seasonal choc orange edition.
Charred, toasty, sweet, smoky tequila is the latest from Don Julio.
Ghia now comes in Blood Orange flavour – “bright, juicy, and with a lingering citrus sweetness”.
No- and low-
Investopedia says “self-prohibition” is driving non-alc sales (although we think the story might be a bit more complicated than that…)
New York just hosted its first zero proof festival.
It’s interesting seeing how no- and low-alc brands choose to pop up in the real world. Heineken did it by hiring a fleet of tennis umpires and getting them to shout compliments at strangers.
And Heineken 0.0 is doing very well for itself, now stocked in 10,000 venues in Europe – with the Netherlands particularly thirsty for booze-free beer, apparently.
Dry Atlas has a quick rundown on how Big Alc is growing its non-alc offering, with interesting stats around just how well some of the big names are doing (Guinness 0.0% accounts for 10% of all Guinness sales in Ireland!)
“Dry tripping” is now a thing, as searches for alcohol-free travel skyrocket.
Bob Conwell, MD at bar consultancy Mr Lyan Studio, has thoughts on the no and low trend. “It’s maturing fast,” he says.
What comes after the alc-free hype cycle? Alcoholic drinks designed to reduce your hangover. Makes sense.
I think we’re going to see a lot more alc-free brands incorporating other ingredients, as Mingle Mocktails is doing with its adaptogenic RTD.
The narrative around alcohol-free and who’s drinking is further complicated by this report, that suggests heavy drinkers are more likely to buy low- or no-alcohol drinks.
Athletic Brewing Company wants to be everyone’s go-to alc-free beer for football season, and it’s spending seven figures to make that happen.
Celebrity corner
Charlie Sheen is now the proud founder of an alcohol-free beer brand, Wild AF. “Brewed for living it up without the crash and burn”.
Avril Lavigne now does wine.
Willem Dafoe loves Laphroaig. As he so poetically describes it: “Like kissing a mermaid in a rocking rowboat on a feisty sea. Like sucking on a burnt match”.
And now, for the commercial break
Blue Moon and 🍊orange slices🍊: lovers since 1995. To mark its 30th anniversary, the beer brand made it official with a campaign set on Blue Moon Garnish Farm, and bags of custom-labelled oranges.
In Brazil, Blue Moon also got together with Sol for a solar eclipse-themed campaign.
Wild Turkey’s new global brand campaign is all about time, heritage, and stubbornly staying the course.
In beer land
Michelob Ultra is now America’s favourite beer.
We’ve had clean beauty. Now buckle up for ‘clean beer’ – as Fathers Beer raises money to double-down on advanced filtration, organic ingredients, glass packaging and no heavy metals, forever chemicals or microplastics.
Garage Beer just raised $200m. Drinks Intel reports the money is earmarked for nationwide expansion.
Sad times
MSN reports that Napa Valley wineries are “pulling out vineyards” in the face of: oversupply, tariffs, unharvested grapes.
What’s happened to ‘innovation’ in the spirits industry? Why does Gordon’s Lemon Meringue gin exist? One founder has thoughts.
Fun extras
What is the animal on your wine label really trying to tell you? If it’s a boar, apparently that you like cheap, low-rated wine. True connoisseurs go for cats.
Two new TV shows (Black Rabbit and House of Guinnes) might be giving booze its Bear moment, according to Punch.