A drink containing nicotine is being launched in Britain to help smokers beat the pub ban on cigarettes. Liquid Smoking has proved a hit in the Netherlands, where it has been on sale for a year. The tipple, with 15 per cent nicotine, also has an African herbal extract said to provide "a slight energising effect plus a euphoric sense of calming and relaxation" - The Sun
Beer sales have slumped by more than seven per cent over the past three months, according to new figures released yesterday that show we are drinking 1.8 million pints a day less. The effects of the credit crunch and the looming recession have led to the largest third-quarter decline for a decade, according to the UK Quarterly Beer Barometer produced by the British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA). Beer sales in pubs, bars and restaurants fell by 8.1 per cent over the same period - The Scotsman
A Sydney pub has been accused of serving ice cream contaminated with human excrement to a family of five. The Whyte family claim they were served a large bowl of ice cream covering what looked like "compacted chocolate". They claim that when Jessia Whyte tasted the dessert she immediately became "violently ill". The Coogee Bay Hotel on the city's southern beaches has strongly denied the accusation - Daily Telegraph
A great-grandfather who has raised £42,000 for charity through sponsored walks was ordered to leave a pub he stopped at while out rambling because he was wearing a tracksuit. Eric Perks, 75, had spent the afternoon rambling around Wyre Forest in Worcestershire with wife Pat, 74. The couple then stopped at The Windmill pub in Kidderminster for lunch only for Eric to be told to leave straight away - Daily Telegraph
Green beer. Blue beer. Beer with the frothy 'head' in the middle of the glass, rather than at the top. Beer which emits light. For Barry Axcell, chief brewer at the world's third-largest brewer, SABMiller, these are some of the more outlandish concepts he has helped design. Perhaps unsurprisingly, none have yet made it behind the bar or onto the supermarket shelves, but the current climate is pushing firms to keep developing new products and, some argue, gimmicks, in order to win customers - BBC News