Senior representatives of the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) are visiting Mexico next week (June 4-7) to promote the industry and to sign an agreement with the regulatory body for tequila.

Diageo has announced its intention to invest an estimated US$115 million to build a 1.8m proof gallon (750,000 9-litre cases) distillery and six barrel storage warehouses in Shelby county, Kentucky.

Pernod Ricard’s winemaking team behind Campo Viejo will launch their first Tempranillo Blanco wines next month, following trials at the Rioja brand’s new Experimental Winery.

Officer’s Choice is the best selling whisk(e)y in the world, thanks to 31% growth in 2013 that took the brand beyond McDowell’s No.1 and Johnnie Walker.

Ginebra San Miguel is the top gin brand in the world despite 11% negative growth, according to Drinks International’s Millionaires Club 2014. 

Smirnoff retains its title as the largest selling vodka in the world in 2013, according to Drinks International’s Millionaires’ Club 2014.
  

The Glenlivet is now a million-case selling brand, according to The Millionaires’ Club 2014.

Wallaces–TCB (Tennant Caledonian Breweries), formed after the completion of the acquisition of Wallaces Express, Scotland’s largest wines and spirits wholesaler, by C&C Group, has announced the following senior management appointments, reporting to chief executive, Brian Calder.

In the week that Pernod Ricard UK announced Campo Viejo Tempranillo has become the UK’s no.1 red wine by value, Hamish Smith travelled to Rioja to speak to Christian Barré, chairman and CEO of Pernod Ricard Winemakers Spain.

Continuing our series, Jimmy Barrat, award-winning bar manager at Zuma Dubai, lifts the lid on what’s happening in his adopted home

Scotch faces new challenges as some ‘emerging’ markets look to actually have emerged and even entered decline. Hamish Smith reports

Mixability is helping the Spanish-style spirit to a renaissance. Lucy Britner explores the background

Hamish Smith opens his map at the French West Indies to see how rhum agricole came about and where it’s heading

Ian Burrell takes a look at the latest trends for rum drinks and rum bars across the globe

Bollinger has been voted the World’s Most Admired Champagne Brand for 2014, with Krug finishing second and Louis Roederer in third. 

As the Scottish referendum looms, Patience Gould ponders the possible fate of the scotch whisky industry if EU membership is lost