London Wine Fair director Hannah Tovey has branded Prowein's decision to move the Dusseldorf-based show to May "a direct attack" on the UK drinks trade.

The organisers of Prowein have decided to push the trade show back from March to May in response to the rapid spread of the omicron variant of Covid-19.

Edinburgh-based independent whisky bottler Wemyss Malts has announced the launch of a brand-new limited-edition blend.

Freixenet Copestick has acquired English sparkling wine producer Bolney Wine Estate for an undisclosed fee.

Sales of no and low alcohol beverages in 10 key global markets reached almost $10 billion in 2021 up from $7.8 billion in 2018, according to a new IWSR report.

Listening to the demands of bartenders, premium mixer brands have become increasingly experimental with their flavour combinations. To reflect this greater variety, the tonic water table of previous reports has been broadened to encompass all mixer brands.

The non-alcoholic spirits category debuted in last year’s report, but the sector has quickly taken root and now no drinks group’s portfolio is complete without one.

Guinness has announced plans to roll out the introduction of zero-emission vehicles into its transport fleet.

There wasn’t a huge amount to celebrate last year, but it doesn’t take much of an occasion for champagne corks to fly in the world’s best bars – almost 90% of our bars stock the French sparkler. Three-quarters have two champers and two-thirds have three or more.

Perhaps one of the smaller categories of the Brands Report, sherry is significant nonetheless. More than three-quarters of venues we polled stock sherry behind their bar. And most of those that do have two brands, while more than half will have three or more.

High-end bars rarely allocate bar-top space to draught systems, meaning the bestselling list is a battle of the bottles.

Liqueurs do a lot of the heavy lifting on a cocktail menu, so naturally, the bestselling list boasts a huge variety of styles.

Cocktail Bitters are evocative of the Golden Age of cocktails – of brown and stirred-down drinks, braces, waistcoats and fine moustaches which went on to make an implausible comeback in the early 21st century.