SPI Group, along with a consortium of other investors, has made a bid for embattled Russian vodka group Central European Distribution Corp
The consortium, which also includes A1 – a division of Russia’s Alfa bank – and CEDC shareholder Mark Kaufman, made an offer for the Poland-based drinks group for US$280 million cash and $650m in new debt to restructure the group. In exchange the consortium would...
Pernod Ricard is recalling its sparkling vodka Absolut Tune due to labeling and compliance issues
Pernod Ricard USA is voluntarily recalling Absolut TUNE, a sparkling fusion of wine and vodka, because its label neglected to disclose that the product contains sulfites. The sulfites in TUNE are safe for the vast majority of people, and sulfites are present in many...
Liquor privatization faces slower Senate in Pennsylvania
The confetti has been swept up and the empty champagne bottles cleared away. The hubbub of news releases, tweets and Facebook postings trumpeting the pros and cons of Pennsylvania's latest liquor privatization bill has culminated in its passage by the House. In a...
Bourbon Mania – a curious cocktail of scarcity, black-market machinations and artisanal cachet
There is was, just a few tantalizing feet away: the legendary Pappy Van Winkle's Family Reserve 23-Year-Old, the most prized bourbon in the world. It was in Dallas, at a place called the Chesterfield. An eccentric cocktail guru named Eddie "Lucky" Campbell had stood...
February 2013 Control State results: volume down 0.4% and revenue up 2.6%
During February, nine-liter spirits case sales in the control states fell 0.4% compared to same month last year sales. Rolling-twelve month volumes were up 3.5% compared with January’s 4.0% Maine reported a monthly growth rate exceeding its twelve month trend. Control...
Global wine production fell ~6% last year due to bad weather in Europe and a policy to drain its ‘wine lakes’, while Chile and United States saw a jump in harvests
The International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV) said world production was down around 6 percent in 2012 at 251 million hectolitres (Mhl), a level it described as very low. European Union output fell 10 percent to 141 Mhl, with France suffering a drop of nearly...
Craft distillers hope to tweak state law to be able to charge for tastings and sell bottles – larger wholesalers oppose
In a 65,000-square-foot structure that once housed Navy fighter jets, Lance Winters of St. George Spirits makes popular Hangar One vodka, along with gin, bourbon, rum, whiskey, liqueurs and even absinthe. Unlike vast distilleries in Kentucky and Tennessee that make...
USVI appeals to CARIFORUM in rum dispute
The United States Virgin Islands have now turned to moral suasion in an attempt to get fellow rum producing nations in the Caribbean Forum nation to back down from plans to take their ongoing dispute before the World Trade Organisation (WTO). United States Virgin...
Sobieski owner Belvedere taken over by bondholders in debt deal
Belvedere SA (BVD), the French maker of Sobieski vodka part-owned by Bruce Willis, will be taken over by its bond investors after a court approved a restructuring plan. Holders of its 375 million-euro ($486 million) floating- rate notes due May 2013 will get 87...