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Farm Credit Mid-America PCA filed the lawsuit on 28 July which also accused Weaver and her husband Keith of mortgaging a $2.2m property on Martha’s Vineyard, which was originally purchased with funding provided by Farm Credit as part of the marketing strategy for Uncle Nearest. According to the claims by Farm Credit, Uncle Nearest has been in default on loans since January 2024 however the…

Each of the eight drinks on the menu uses an ingredient produced by a farmer within Asocoman, with a percentage of each sale going towards a number of projects focused on water retention and purification. Comunidad is the cocktail menu for the ground floor of Alquímico. Each drink celebrates the farmers involved with Asocoman with an illustration of the farmer growing the key ingredient and…

I think when good people are faced with a challenge, they adapt in ways you don’t expect. We were a group of bartenders with no construction skills, but we managed to build a farm from the foundations up and live off the land.” Back in 2020 at the breakout of the pandemic, Jean Trinh, founder of cocktail bar Alquímico in Colombia’s Cartagena, presented his staff…

Lawrence joined the WSET as general administrator in 1978 before beginning work as a lecturer, where former CEO Ian Harris said he showed a flair for teaching which belied his calm demeanour. “When I became CEO of WSET in 2002, Gareth was the senior lecturer, working alongside Michael Buriak and the late Godfrey Spence, at the WSET London School, which at the time was based…

For more than a decade Modi Illva, a joint venture between Delhi-based spirits producer Umesh Modi Group and Italy’s Illva Saronno, owner of Disaronno and Tia Maria, has been building its own domestic brands specifically for the Indian market. The company’s first launch was Artic Vodka before it moved into whisky with Rockford Reserve and Rockford Classic. Modi Illva now has six brands within its…

The news of Pernod Ricard’s restructuring is just the latest sign that premium spirits are struggling. Redundancy numbers within the French giant haven’t yet been declared but it’s not alone. Earlier this year Moët Hennessy announced a 13% cut (around 1,200 jobs) while Diageo suggested in May that it was seeking to identify “substantial” brand disposals from its portfolio. When the big guys show vulnerability,…

Herds of grazing gelada monkeys in the Ethiopian planes allow wolves to openly mingle, despite, in nature’s terms, being an all-inclusive buffet to the predators. However, rather than eat the monkeys the wolves kill the rodents grazing among the herd and it is suggested the return for the monkeys is that the wolves act as olfactory sentinels to warn off even bigger predators. Symbiotic relationships…

Distilled on 20 November 1953, the Glenfarclas 70-Year-Old has been matured in the distillery’s dunnage warehouses in Speyside and was laid down in first-fill sherry casks. Callum Fraser, distillery manager at Glenfarclas said: “This is true Glenfarclas and this expression captures the very DNA of the distillery. What we did 30 or 40 or even 70 years ago is very much what we still do…

The May cover of Drinks International read ‘Global wine in crisis’. Alarming data confirmed the dwindling of global wine consumption, yet sparkling remains a shining light. Post-pandemic celebratory moments saw a spike in fizz consumption which has more recently been muffled by global inflation, yet according to Global Market Insights the future looks bright. “The sparkling wine market was valued at US$290.1bn in 2024 and…

In volume, Loire exports surpassed 400,000 hectolitres representing a 5% growth on the previous year while value was up 5.9%. “Exports are a true growth driver for our sector. We are proud of the strong results achieved in 2024, which have allowed us to be among the most dynamic French wine regions abroad,” said Camille Masson, president of Interloire. “This trend, which is the result…