The premium tonic water category has been on a consistent rise ever since the arrival of Fever-Tree in the early noughties. Over the subsequent 20 years the brand has seen a huge revenue boost, with sales increasing from £16m in 2012 to £364m in 2023. However, for the first time we’re seeing signs of frailty for tonic. In fiscal year 2024, Fever-Tree reported a 3%…

Tequila has become a category driven by the expectations of an increasingly demanding consumer base. Perhaps no category has had such an extreme evolution in reputation over the past 15 years as tequila. Back then, outside of a small group of fanatics, tequila wasn’t something that met the threshold for analysis, but now, conversations around the category are dominated by additives and authenticity. “There’s been…

In March, in response to a 50% tariff threatened by the EU on American whiskey set to be introduced on 1 April, Trump said he would retaliate with a 200% tariff on champagne, taking to his Truth Social platform to warn: “If this tariff is not removed immediately, the US will shortly place a 200% tariff on all wines, champagnes and alcoholic productions coming out…

If bookmakers set odds on the runners for the title of World’s Best Bar, there would have been one clear favourite. When Bar Leone came out of nowhere to debut in second place in 2024 (having only opened a year earlier), just about everyone you spoke to said it was the 2025 champion in waiting. And so, it was thus – and where better to…

In late 2019 Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky signed a law to dismantle the state-owned monopoly of alcohol production which operated under the name Ukrspyrt. Up until then Ukrspyrt ran more than 70 facilities across Ukraine, but in 2016, Yevhen Chernyak, chief executive of Global Spirits, accused the enterprise of using illegal “shadow alcohol”. Other signs of corruption spilled over in 2017 when a former Ukrspyrt…

Buyers heading to the TFWA World Exhibition in Cannes later this month will find a travel retail drinks market in transition, with clear category winners emerging alongside pockets of challenge in what is proving to be one of the most volatile years since the onset of the pandemic. Against this backdrop, this year’s show will serve as a crucial platform for retailers to assess new…

Since the dawn of the millennium, the travel retail industry has had to endure a wide variety of external shocks, from volcanic ash clouds and the 9/11 terrorist attacks to the global economic crash of 2007/8 and, more recently, the 2020 pandemic. Sadly, the ­first half of 2025 proved to be yet another period testing its mettle, with rising geopolitical tensions, shifting passenger trends, soaring…