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The week in pictures

This week in star-studded events, Saturday saw Italian sparkling wine brand Ferrari toast the other Scuderia Ferrari’s 1000th Grand Prix.

The Gran Gala took place in Florence at the Palazzo Vecchio. Matteo Lunelli, fizz Ferrari’s managing director, was seen getting matey in facemasks with Fiat Chrysler chair John Elkann.

 

US wine giant E&J Gallo has signed the Black Eyed Peas for an augmented reality marketing stunt to promote its Barefoot wine brand. Consumers start by downloading an app directly or scanning the QR code on a Barefoot wine product. Then, consumers scan the iconic ‘foot’ on the Barefoot label to hear a new version of Black Eyed Peas’ single “VIDA LOCA” and see a 3D animated performance from the group.

The app works with interactivity, so the more Barefoot products in the frame, the more music you will hear.

 

Two time Emmy winner Sterling K. Brown shared an Instagram post with a personalised bottle of Sterling Vineyards wine following an Emmy-themed wine tasting with Sterling winemaker Lauren Kopit on Monday.

They sipped on Sterling Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon to celebrate Sterling’s double nomination for performances in This Is Us and Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.

This year, Sterling Vineyards gifted over 3,000 bottles of Napa Cab to all nominees to celebrate their achievements while watching the live broadcast this weekend.

 

One for the rock fans.

The Sexton whiskey has partnered with Handel & Hendrix in London to create a commemorative cocktail to mark the 50th anniversary of Jimi Hendrix’s death. The Purple Haze is a mix of The Sexton single malt Irish whiskey, Cointreau, lemon juice, simple syrup, grenadine, and something called butterfly pea flower tea, which gives the serve its purple hue. It’s finished with an egg white, naturally, although we reckon you could make it vegan with aquafaba.

The whiskey label has also teamed up with Regent Sounds on Denmark Street, giving away free bottles of The Sexton to anyone who buys a Fender Stratocaster on the day.

 

In summer sports, spirit label Sipsmith has become the official gin of Wimbledon.

While there obviously were no tennis matches this year, Sipsmith is already preparing for next year. The brand is giving people the chance to win two tickets to the 2021 Championships, alongside a year’s supply of Sipsmith gin.

 

In other booze and sport news, AB InBev-owned beer brand Budweiser has partnered with Domino’s to launch competition celebrating the return of the Premier League.

Pub-goers will be asked to, first and very importantly, buy a pint, bottle or can of Budweiser or Budweiser Zero, and then upload a photo of their beer to www.budweiserpl.com.

Entrants are then in with the chance of winning Domino’s vouchers, PerfectDraft machines which allow fans to pour the perfect pint from home, or signed football shirts from their team of choice.

The company claims this will help drive sales in pubs, as long as those are Budweiser sales.

Aperitivo brand Italicus has named the winners of its creative talent competition.

The digital art competition, launched in June this year, was created in partnership with Moniker Art Fair to mark the brand’s fourth birthday. This year’s brief was to create a unique digital artwork, which brings to life the “heritage, flavour and experience” of the liqueur.

Third place went to Virginia Vignali with ‘Italian Aperitivo for All’, an artwork that represents the ‘quintessentially Italian Dolce Vita’. In second place was Vix Black with The Aperitif, an artwork that represents a corner of paradise on a cliff, and in first place was Jean Philippe Vaquier with his piece ‘The Compenetration of Lights’, which he made on Adobe illustrator (below).

Rowan Miller, creative director of Stranger & Stranger and one of the panelists, said Vaquier’s piece has “a very clever deconstruction of the packaging, typography and colours of ITALICUS brand.

“Heroing the historic Italian features of the bottle structure and the distinct Italian typography – the creative ‘reconstruction’ of these elements truly express the versatility and creativity that ITALICUS offers to the modern Italian Aperitivo occasion.”

This week in Brewdog PR stunts, the Scottish brewer has released a barrel-aged beer with an ABV of 57.8% in partnership with German Brewer Schorschbräu.

Fans (or perhaps not) of Brewdog may recall 10 years ago the company tried to make the “world’s strongest beer” to rival Schorschbräu, who were also trying the same thing.

BrewDog claimed the first victory with ‘Tactical Nuclear Penguin’ a 33% ABV beer which beat the previous record of 31% held by Schorschbräu.

This led to the German team releasing a new version which came in 40%. BrewDog then made Sink the Bismarck, which stood at at 41% ABV.

Then Brewdog continued doing this and launched “The End of History”, the previous record holder at 55% ABV. Now this year, they worked together on Strength in Numbers, which is matured in whisky barrels for 10 years, and gets its high strength from the eisbock brewing method, where beer is frozen and chunks of ice are taken out, leaving the concentrated liquid behind.

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