Asia Pacific Breweries has opened its first themed airport bar in the centre of Singapore Changi’s new Terminal 3. Operated by HMSHost, the 1,600 sq ft Tiger Champions Bar is targeted at sport fans. Customers are able to view a wide range of sport publications and memorabilia in the quieter Tiger Den area, which has been fitted with sofas and lounge seats. Others will be…

For aficionados of Italian wine, the Antinori dynasty is royalty. In fact, Piero is a marchese – the equivalent of a marquess or marquis and the family can trace its roots back to Florence in the 13th century. But more currently and pertinently, these brothers are responsible for two of Italy’s most famous and  expensive wines – Piero’s Tignanello and Lodovico’s Tenuta dell’Ornellaia – both IGT super…

Insoglio del Cinghiale (“place of the wild boar”) 2006 is a blend of 30 per cent Syrah, 25 per cent Merlot, 25 per cent Cabernet Franc, 15 per cent Cabernet Sauvignon and 5 per cent Petit Verdot Il Pino di Biserno (“pine trees of Biserno”) 2005 is: 35 per cent Cabernet Franc 30 per cent Cabernet Sauvignon, 30 per cent Merlot and 15 per…

Rising costs and low retail prices are putting the squeeze on drinks suppliers’ margins like never before. Prices of the stuff drinks come in, as well as the raw materials they’re made of, are in many cases in double-digit growth across Europe . Such costs are generally invisible to consumers who have become used to getting more for less, making it hard for…

It was an ambitious project : gather some of the world’s top winemakers to discuss “the latest and future trends in the winemaking industry”, and then try to reach a consensus on whether increasing quality control in wine production is the enemy of wine diversity. The simple answer is yes . As winemakers trot the globe to learn techniques and share technological improvements with…

A typical dinner in Chengdu – a city of 12 million and the capital of Sichuan province in southwestern China – starts with the clink of shot glasses filled with baijiu and “Ganbei!” (the Chinese for “Cheers!”). The “firewater” hits the stomach with a punch. Dubbed “the fountainhead of baijiu”, the region produces almost all of China’s premium baijiu brands – partly because of its…

Treading a path between caution and optimism, Dr Peter Cressy, president and CEO of the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (DISCUS) forecast modest growth for the industry this coming year. The trade association expects sales for the US spirits industry to rise 4.6 per cent to US$19 billion in 2008, slower than last year’s growth of 5.6 per cent. Volumes are expected…