Inventory for October 11th, 2015

The past week has been a whirlwind of activity, between this year’s Bar Convent Berlin we’ve barely had time to look into the world wide web and see what’s been happening. If you feel the same way, fear not, here’s a roundup of what we’ve missed: Diageo is moving into the bottled cocktail world, ready yourself for a prosecco shortage, Burger King has released a wine, SABMiller rejects AB InBev’s offer, and Mainz has got its very own craft beer festival. 

The month of October has a ton of gastro, beer, and spirit related events happening. BCB was just the beginning. If you happen to be around Cologne between October 10th and 14th, check out the Anuga trade show. Global food trends will be introduced at the Trend Zone event while the future of sustainable food growth is a big topic at this year’s iFood Conference. Tickets, opening times, etc… here.

1) Diageo’s Bottled Cocktails

Bottled cocktails aren’t exactly newsworthy these days, but Diageo unveiling a new range of bottled whisky cocktails just cements their current importance. The Spirits Business reports that the range is inspired by cocktails served during Prohibition and uses Canadian whisky as its base spirit. The Studebaker line has released a Manhattan and Old Fashioned so far.

2) Predicted Prosecco Shortage

The drinks business recently spoke to owner and founder of Giusti, Ermenegildo Giusti who predicts a prosecco shortage by next May. “Because it was so dry this year there was no weight on the bunches, so the harvest will be considerably smaller than we were expecting – we’re down by around 20-25% on last year”.

Giusti has high hopes for the area of Asolo, he should, seeing as he’s invested heavily into it. His plan is for his Umberto 1, a blend of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon with a dash of Petit Verdot, to become known as one of Italy’s great reds. We might be running out of Prosecco, but the 2015 harvest is looking good for the reds.

3) Whopper Wine

If this were April, we’d be sure to call this a April fool’s joke. No such luck here it seems. Esquire reports that Burger King is introducing a wine. And really, could they call it anything else besides ‘Whopper Wine’, “a Spanish vino that has been aged in flame-grilled wooden barrels and supposedly pairs perfectly with the chain’s hallmark burger”. The wine is being released in celebration of its 40th anniversary in Spain, the wines are aged in wooden barrels which were first grilled over a flame to infuse them with a charred flavor. So far, the wine is only available in Spain. Silver lining folks, silver lining!

4) SABMiller Rejects Ab InBev in “Surprise” Move

The rumors of AB InBev and SABMiller joining forces have been floating for a while but just last week SABMiller rejected InBev’s offer of $103,6bn because SABMiller believes the offer proves that AB InBev continues to “very substantially undervalue the company”. This has been the third offer made by AB InBev which was unanimously rejected by SABMiller’s board. The Beverage Daily points out that “rules from the UK’s takeover panel mean AB InBev has until 5pm on October 14th to announce a firm intention to make an offer; or announce it does not intend to make an offer”. Keep your eyes peeled on this space, we have until Wednesday for a decision to be made.

5) Mainz’s Craft Beer Festival

We’ve said it once, we’ll say it again: craft beer is going nowhere and it is very relevant to the bar. This November, Mainz is set to get its very own craft beer festival. On the 27th and 28th of November around 30 breweries and distributors will be introducing over 150 beer creations to the hops-loving public. Tastings, panels, and show brewing will be held over the course of two days. For tickets and more information, have a look at their website here.