United Spirits buys Whyte & Mackay for £595m
16-May-2007 By Hamish Champ
United Spirits, a division of Indian drinks business UB Group, has bought Scotch whisky maker Whyte & Mackay (W&M) for £595m.W&M owns...
Diageo launches food and whisky matching
18-Apr-2007 By Lucy Britner
Diageo has launched a series of food and whisky tastings to demonstrate how single malts can accompany bar and snack foods.
BrandsBriefs
12-Apr-2007
San Miguel sponsors film fest Premium lager brand San Miguel is sponsoring the 13th Viva film festival, featuring Spanish and Latin American...
A match made in Scotland: Whisky & Food Matching
13-Mar-2007
YOU'LL KNOW about matching wine and food, of course, and increasingly pubs are actively encouraging the link between beer and food. Whisky and food,...
What the Sunday papers said
18-Feb-2007
Pub customers face a nasty shock when the next spate of smoking bans come into force later this year. Findings of a survey by soft drinks' maker...
Diageo pumps £100m into Scotch whisky operation
15-Feb-2007 By Hamish Champ
Up to 200 new jobs are to be created when drinks giant Diageo rolls out a £100m investment programme to expand its Scotch whisky operations north of...
Orkney spirit takes to the sky
09-Nov-2006
Highland Park single malt whisky is sponsoring two aircraft in the fleet of Loganair, the airline that serves the Scottish islands. Two Islander...
Make the malt come alive
24-Oct-2006
"We would like to see the on-trade being used as an environment where consumers can try different malts, learning likes and dislikes and opening up...
Blend and boring
24-Oct-2006
If anything is to blame for the poor performance of scotch whisky in the UK, then it's traditional blends - the big-selling brands.It is quite...
Glenfiddich gets toasted
12-Oct-2006
Glenfiddich is launching a limited edition Glenfiddich Toasted Oak Reserve 12 Year Old across the UK for Christmas. Distributed by First Drinks...
Cheers
14-Sep-2006
People power ends JDW smoke ban Snifter was pleased to have some fresh light shed on why JD Wetherspoon has called a halt to its smoke-ban conversion...
BrandsBriefs
07-Sep-2006
Diageo trials alcoholic water Diageo is trialling a new Smirnoff-branded alcoholic sparkling water in Texas, USA. If trials are successful, Diageo...
Brands Briefs
10-Aug-2006
Booker goes for Pinot Grigio Malt House Vintners, Booker's range of beers, wines and spirits, has extended its Caifornian River Wild brand to...
Whyte & Mackay returns to roots with brand makeovers
24-May-2006
Two major pub spirits brands have been repackaged by Whyte & Mackay as it looks to gain a dominant position in the spirits market.Whyte &...
28-Mar-2006
The world's appetite for Scotch Whisky grew in 2005 according to figures released today by the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA).
Coffee - Coffee and whisky matches
01-Dec-2005 By Graham Ridout
From the peaty Islays, which work well with heavy-bodied coffees from Indonesia and the Middle East, through to the light, heathery Speysides, which...
Creating the right image
27-Oct-2005
right image As Glenfiddich sets out to target a younger consumer base, Jo de Mille was invited behind the scenes of a photo shoot for the whisky's...
Scotch:
05-May-2005
what's in a name? Once again, the normally placid loch waters of the Scotch whisky world are thrashing like a piranha tank. Andrew Jefford brings...
Raising Spirits: On the rocks?
13-Apr-2005
Adam Withrington examines a spirit that is often quite daunting for licensees and also struggling somewhat as a sector - whisky.The second spirit to...
Major shake-up for Scotch whisky
17-Mar-2005
by Rosie Davenport Tough new laws on how Scotch whisky is marketed are being considered in the industry's biggest shake-up for nearly a century....
Industry proposes new protection for Scotch categories
14-Mar-2005
The Scottish whisky industry has come up with a series of proposals for legislation that would protect Scotch by enshrining the definition and...
JMR launches new set of whisky cocktails
18-Jan-2005
Jon, Mark and Robbo's (JMR) Easy Drinking Whisky Company is set to launch a series of whiskey cocktails into UK pubs and bars.The award-winning...
What the Sunday papers said
19-Sep-2004
Whitbread is considering a disposal of high street restaurant assets including TGI Friday's and Pizza Hut as part of a strategic review conducted by...
What will happen to Glenmorangie?
02-Sep-2004
Last week the MacDonald family, which owns 50 per cent of whisky brand Glenmorangie, announced it would be selling its controlling interest. The...
All in the mix
08-Jun-2004
Single malts get all the glory and blends get none. But Compass Box Crafted Whiskies wants to change that, writes Adam Withrington.Tasting whisky at...
Indian whisky arrives in UK
16-Apr-2004
The next time you fancy a wee dram in your local don't be surprised if you're offered something a little bit more exotic than a scotch.Rakshit...
Diageo to revert Cardhu to single malt after row
10-Mar-2004
Diageo has bowed to pressure from the scotch whisky industry and agreed to scrap its Cardhu pure malt concept.The company has announced it intends to...
01-Feb-2004 By Nigel Huddleston
The Edrington Group - owner of the Famous Grouse and the Macallan - is out to get drinkers to look at whisky in a new light. Nigel Huddleston...
Let's keep whisky pure and single
18-Dec-2003
Diageo and the Scotch whisky trade will need to work hard in the wake of the Cardhu row to solve single malt's identity crisis, says Andrew Jefford...
What the Sunday papers said
30-Nov-2003
The Mail on SundayPubs 'n' Bars has signed a deal to take over half the sites of the failed Balaclava Pub Company, it will announce tomorrow.The...
What the Sunday papers said
17-Nov-2003
The Sunday TimesSeven new cases of Legionnaires' disease in Hereford, bringing the total number affected by the outbreak to 22. A cooling tower at...
What the Sunday papers said
27-Oct-2003
The BusinessPubmaster may opt for a float on the stock market instead of a trade sale. The company is thought to be in sale talks with Punch Taverns....
The drambusters
21-Oct-2003
Despite scotch whisky being the UK's native spirit, malts and blends are underused by pubs. Ben McFarland suggests how this can be changed.Scotch...
Japanese whisky gets UK launch
29-Sep-2003
A whisky from the land of the rising sun is broadening its horizons by launching in the UK.Hakushu, a 12-year-old single malt whisky distilled in the...
Blavod Black stirs market
25-Sep-2003
A spirits company is on its way to the stock market. Its identity has yet to be revealed but if all goes according to plan it will be the subject of...
Whyte & Mackay to invest £50m in flagship brands
11-Sep-2003
Whyte and Mackay, the spirits company formerly known as Kyndal, has unveiled plans for its flagship brands, Vladivar vodka and Whyte and Mackay...
The Famous Grouse rocks with another award
12-Jun-2003
Maxxium UK's The Famous Grouse has picked up three gold medals in one of the world's premiere drinks competitions, the International Spirits...
Poles apart
19-Nov-2002
The six weeks leading up to Christmas traditionally account for about a third of all scotch whisky sales. Here, Ben McFarland and Phil Mellows...
What the Sunday papers said
14-Oct-2002
The Daily MailPubmaster is just three weeks away from launching a £300m securitisation deal. The company has begun a series of meetings with its...
Boost for Whyte and Mackay as Kyndal Spirits launches campaign
09-Sep-2002
Kyndal Spirits is looking to strengthen its hand in the Scottish blended whisky sector with upweighted support of its Whyte and Mackay brand.The...
First Drinks launches rum-matured scotch
24-Jun-2002
First Drinks Brands is looking to broaden the scotch whisky market with the introduction of a new rum-matured varietal under its Glenfiddich Single...
Glenmorangie profits up 12.8 per cent
22-May-2002
Whisky maker Glenmorangie has unveiled a 12.8 per cent hike in profits to £8.3m, on sales up 12.4 per cent to £58.7m for the full-year to March.The...
Trade groups slam Government spirit plan
25-Feb-2002
Measures designed to stamp out bootlegged spirits are unlikely to be effective and will cost the drinks industry hundreds of millions of pounds to...
Guinness UDV unveils new look for Bell's
30-Jan-2002
GuinnessUDV has unveiled a new look bottle for its flagship Bell's Scotch Whisky brand.The new look packaging (pictured), which will be available...
Can brand owners halt the Scotch whisky decline by attracting younger drinkers?
21-Nov-2001
Scotch whisky sales are in steady decline but the brand owners are pulling out all the stops to attract the younger drinker. Ben McFarland...
Inver House Distillers sold to Pacific Spirits for £56m
31-Oct-2001
Inver House Distillers, the Airdrie-based spirits group has been sold to Pacific Spirits for £56m.The deal will trigger multimillion-pound windfalls...
Famous Grouse scotches rivals as popular choice
31-Oct-2001
Almost one in three blended drams poured in the British on-trade is The Famous Grouse, according to the latest figures from AC Nielsen.Following a...
Applying the finishing touches
17-Oct-2001
Ever wondered what a million litres of whisky looks like? Take the road past Dufftown on Speyside down to the Glenfiddich distillery, escape from the...
Grant's to lead whisky revival
05-Sep-2001
Cask finished whiskies are aiming to shake up the sectorFirst Drinks Brands is aiming to shake up a sluggish blended scotch market with the...
Cheap spirits served as top brands reveals investigation
17-Jul-2001
An undercover investigation in Britain's pubs has discovered that as many as one in 12 bottles of branded spirits contains cut-price substitutes.The...