THE RISE OF CRAFT DISTILLING IS THREATENING TO TRANSFORM THE LEXICOGRAPHY OF SPIRITS BRAND COMMUNICATION: these days, you can’t get through the first sentence of a press release without tripping over the words ‘hand-crafted’ and ‘artisanal’. As the language descends rapidly into cliché, the overall trend ought to be positive for tequila, with its back-story of carefully nurtured agave plants, the impact of terroir,…

Brand owners love to talk about heritage and provenance these days, but clearly defined cultural associations can be both a blessing and a curse. The mere word ‘pastis’ conjures quintessentially French images of sunlit terrains de pétanque and sleepy Provençal afternoons – but try translating that summer holiday appeal to a rainy night in the UK’s Grimsby. Henri Bardouin is possibly the…

Cachaça, like Brazil, is changing. In the longer term, the much-trumpeted hosting of the football World Cup and Olympic Games in the space of two years may end up as a footnote in the history of a spirits category which is at the same time both huge and ripe with unfulfilled potential. As I say, like Brazil. For those who have only…