Is Molecular Whiskey the Futuristic Booze We've Been Waiting For?

By BILLY LYONS 

Tasting whiskey usually means enjoying flavors created from the interaction between spirit and barrel over an extended period of time. However, some companies are rethinking this traditional narrative.

Endless West, a San Francisco-based startup, recently launched a spirit made without the use of tried and true techniques, like barrel aging, in a process the company labels note-by-note production. Billed as the world’s first “molecular whiskey,” Glyph is not just a symbol of what happens when science, alcohol, and ambition meet, but what might attract future generations of drinkers to the products they purchase. But what does whiskey made in a lab actually involve?

At Endless West, note-by-note production is a three-stage process, beginning with mapping the molecules that give fine whiskeys their unique tasting profiles. To do this, their team studies the molecules found in currently available whiskey and spirits, analyzing what characteristics differentiate one whiskey from another.

Once specific molecules are identified, the next phase is locating and acquiring them in their purest forms, such as sugar from corn or esters from fruit. Everything is sourced naturally from plants, yeasts, and fruits as opposed to using artificial ingredients.

The final step involves using the chosen molecules along with a neutral grain spirit as a base to build the flavor profile of a whiskey.

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Half-Strength 'Scotch' Is Here to Capitalize on the Less-Boozy Booze Trend

The “light spirit drink” can't technically be called Scotch or whisky.

MIKE POMRANZ 

Light beer went from being a new invention in the 1970s to accounting for nearly half of the beer market today. And as younger generations seek out healthier, lower-ABV options more low-calorie beers — as well as other drinks like wine and hard seltzer — are currently trending once again. So could light “Scotch whisky” be the next big thing? Technically speaking, no, but practically speaking, maybe.

Scotch producer Whyte & Mackay has released the 21.5-percent ABV Whyte & Mackay Light, billed as “a lighter spirit drink from Scotland, made from Scotch whisky married with Sherry.” Not to be confused with “light whisky” — which is a style of full-strength whisky — this “light spirit drink” can’t official be called whisky at all because Scotch is required to be at least 40-percent ABV. But that hasn’t stopped Whyte & Mackay, which already has a name associated with Scotch, from trying to capitalize on the low-ABV trend.Continue reading

Study: Beer is a $2.3 billion business in Tampa Bay

By.Margie Manning

The beer industry accounted for more than 16,000 direct and indirect jobs and total economic output of $2.3 billion in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metro area in 2018.

The figures include not only brewers, distributors and hospitality workers, but also companies that make bottles, cans and cardboard cases, as well as equipment and marketing displays, according to  a study prepared for The Beer Institute and the National Beer Wholesalers Association.

“Beer is more than America’s most popular alcohol beverage. The beer industry is vital to the United States, generating more than 2.1 million jobs and contributing $328 billion to the American economy,” Jim McGreevy, president and CEO of the Beer Institute, said in a news release.

The biennial study, Beer Serves America, broke down direct and indirect employment, wages and economic impact by states and congressional districts. Here’s a look at the total impact in Florida’s 12th congressional district (northern Pinellas and Pasco counties), 13th congressional district (central and south Pinellas county, including St. Petersburg) and 14th congressional district (part of Hillsborough County, including Tampa).

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Titos:How Philanthropy Drives This Billion-Dollar Liquor Brand

Taylor Berry, Head of Marketing at Tito’s Handmade Vodka, talks about the origins of the multi-billion-dollar liquor brand and how founder Tito Beveridge’s failures in other industries led him to success as a distiller. Berry discusses how the vodka brand used philanthropic events to spread, the company’s efforts to create a culture of giving, as well as his own unique journey to becoming CMO.

Berry and host David Meltzer discuss the many advantages that brands hold which defy convention, the role of authenticity and emotion in marketing a product and the need to embrace change as an individual in order to grow personally and professionally.

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Nectar’s sonar bottle caps could save $50B in stolen booze

By. Josh Constine

Bars  lose 20% of their alcohol to overpours and “free” drinks for friends. That amounts to $50 billion per year in booze that mysteriously disappears, making life tough for every pub and restaurant. Nectarwants to solve that mystery with its ultrasound depth-sensing bottle caps that measure how much liquid is left in a bottle by measuring how long it takes a sonar pulse to bounce back. And now it’s bringing real-time pour tracking to beer with its gyroscopic taps. The result is that bar managers can determine who’s pouring too much or giving away drink, which promotions are working and when to reorder bottles without keeping too much stock on hand — and avoid wasting hours weighing or eyeballing the liquor level of their inventory.

Nectar’s  solution to alcohol shrinkage has now attracted a $10 million Series A led by DragonCapital.vc and joined by former Campari chairman Gerry Ruvo, who will join the board. “Not a lot of technology has come to the bottle,” Nectar CEO Aayush Phumbhra says of ill-equipped bars and restaurants. “Liquor is their highest margin and highest cost item. If you don’t manage it efficiently, you go out of business.” Other solutions can look ugly to customers, forcibly restrict bartenders or take time and money to install and maintain. In contrast, Phumbhra tells me, “I care about solving deep problems by building a solution that doesn’t change behavior.”

Investors were eager to back the CEO, since he previously co-founded text book rental giant Chegg — another startup disrupting an aged market with tech. “I come from a pretty entrepreneurial family. No one in my family has ever worked for anyone else before,” Phumbhra says with a laugh. He saw an opportunity in the stunning revelation that the half-trillion-dollar on-premises alcohol business was plagued by missing booze and inconsistent ways to track it.

Typically at the end of a week or month, a bar manager will have staff painstakingly look at each bottle, try to guess what percent remains and mark it on a clipboard to be loaded into a spreadsheet later. While a little quicker, that’s very subjective and inaccurate. More advanced systems see every bottled weighed to see exactly how much is left. If they’re lucky, the scale connects to a computer, but they still have to punch in what brand of booze they’re sizing up. But the process can take many hours, which amounts to costly labor and infrequent data. None of these methods eliminate the manual measurement process or give real-time pour info.

So with $6 million in funding, Nectar launched in 2017 with its sonar bottle caps that look and operate like old-school pourers. When bars order them, they come pre-synced and labeled for certain bottle shapes like Patron or Jack Daniels. Their Bluetooth devices stay charged for a year and connect wirelessly to a base hub in the bar. With each pour, the sonar pulse determines how much is in the bottle and subtracts it from the previous measurement to record how much was doled out. And the startup’s new gyroscopic beer system is calibrated to deduce pour volume from the angle and time the tap is depressed without the need for a sensor to be installed (and repaired) inside the beer hose.Continue reading

Anheuser-Busch brewery in Baldwinsville to produce 3 million cases of beer with solar power

By PAYNE HORNING

The Anheuser-Busch brewery in Baldwinsville will now be partially powered by a 2.7 megawatt solar farm, the largest off-site solar installation of any Anheuser-Busch brewery in the country.

The 8,300 solar panels located on a vacant lot in the Town of Van Buren will provide enough electricity to help Anheuser brew more than 3 million cases of beer at its Baldwinsville brewery annually. That's only a fraction of the 85 million cases it produces now, and only about 4 percent of its total electricity usage. But Baldwinsville brewery General Manager Bryan Sullivan says this is about more than just finances.

"Across the U.S., our employees are united with a deep passion for brewing beer and an unwavering commitment to supporting the communities that we call home," Sullivan said. "This includes acting as stewards for our lands and waterways, recognizing our responsibility to lead our industry toward a cleaner environment as well."Continue Reading

'Imitation rum and vodka' soft drink deal selling for less than $10 slammed by health officials

By Giselle Wakatama

Health officials and the distilled spirits industry have slammed what they call an imitation vodka and rum deal, with soft drink, as akin to a deconstructed alcopop.

Key points:

• Health researchers and the ABC obtained the 20-22pc alcohol, classed as wine, and soft drink deal at several NSW outlets for under $10
• Researchers and the peak distilled spirits body say the products are taking advantage of wine taxation which is lower than spirits and beer
• The ATO said it could act if the producers are not acting in accordance with tax obligations

The drinks avoid the high taxes linked to spirits as they are classed as wine.

The ABC has been investigating the deal involving a clear liquid, which comes in a wine bottle labelled Verochka, written in a Russian or Polish style.

Verochka is a Russian girl's name and means 'true', but health experts and those in the spirits industry have questioned the truthfulness of the product and its labelling.

It is 22 per cent alcohol, contains 13 standard drinks, and is offered in a deal where the purchaser can also get a bottle of soft drink for free.

The label contains the words "triple filtered, premium blend" in font similar to some popular vodka brands.

Doctors have also raised concerns about a brown liquid in a wine bottle labelled Sailor Jacks, with the label containing the wording "Caribbean premium spiced gold' in a style similar to popular rum brands.

It is 20 per cent alcohol and contains 12 standard drinks.

ABC reporters purchased a bottle of each at a bottle shop in New South Wales and were told the soft drink and liquor promotion was a supplier-driven initiative.

In a double deal, a consumer can buy two bottles of the high alcohol, wine based drink for $18 — along with the free soft drinks.

That equates to 26 standard drinks for less than $20.

The deals have been slammed by Newcastle University academic Kypros Kypri, one of the architects of hotel lockouts and earlier closing times rolled out in Newcastle a decade ago, followed by Sydney.

PHOTO: Dr Kypri said Verochka with a soft drink, sold as a package, "is clearly orientated towards a sort of cheap alcopop". (ABC Newcastle: Anthony Scully)

"The promotion that I have seen was of bottles of a clear sprit that looks like vodka and has a name, and the bottle, deliberately there to look like a vodka bottle and the name is Verochka," Dr Kypri said.

"There are 13 standards drinks in that bottle [Verochka], and that is certainly enough to make someone ill in a session."

Both drinks are produced and supplied by the company Kymbari beverages based in Victoria, linked to the Barrand Family Trust.

The ABC searched trademark records and other company data and was unable to find contact details for anyone linked to the trust.

Addresses listed on trademark applications were also searched, with at least two appearing to be abandoned or run-down factories.

The company's products are lawful and the ABC is not suggesting otherwise.Continue Reading