The week in pictures

Carlsberg’s marketing team have had A Big Month.

On Thursday, the brewer announced that it had created a limited batch of a bright red pilsner, aimed specifically at Liverpool FC fans.

The beer, which recognises Carlsberg’s 25 year sponsorship deal with the football club, uses a naturally red barley variety which gives the beer its colour, according to the brewer, which added the new brew was curated at its research centre in Copenhagen.

The beer is made for the fans, and will be distributed internationally through local pubs and competitions after launching at the match itself.

Carlsberg extended its partnership with Liverpool in two years ago to run for the 2018-19 season. With this big push tying Carlsberg with the club ahead of ahead of their Premier League match with Huddersfield Town today, is another extension on the cards?

Earlier this month, the beer giant began promoting negative tweets about its flagship lager. The tweeters likened Carlsberg’s beer to “stale breadsticks”, “cat p*iss” and “satan’s p*ss”. If there’s one thing we know about consumers today, they’re not quite as keen on drinking p*iss than they used to be.

It was, of course, all part of an elaborate PR stunt. The following week, it launched a £20 million ad campaign, which admits its flagship lager is “probably not the best beer in the world”, at the same time promoting its new Danish Pilnser, with an advertising campaign headed up by Mads Mikkelsen. With the work they’ve put in in the first stretch of 2019, it’s safe to say the execs will be enjoying a few cold ones this Friday.

(Photo: Wembley Stadium)

In more football news, The English Football Association (FA) has removed the traditional Champagne celebrations following the FA Cup final, replacing the fizz with a non-alcoholic substitute in order to make the toast “as inclusive as possible to players and communities who may be prohibited from alcohol, as well as any players who are under 18.”

Up north, Diageo has been granted planning permission to renovate the Caol Ila Distillery as part of its £150 million (US$215m) investment in Scotch whisky tourism, and work is slated to start within weeks.

Argyll and Bute Council has approved plans for the development, which will transform Caol Ila into the Islay home of Diageo’s blended Scotch brand, Johnnie Walker.

In other distillery news, Ireland’s Bushmills whiskey has received planning permission to expand its production capacity with the construction of a second distillery at its current site in County Antrim.

The £30 million project was formerly submitted to the Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council in 2015. It forms part of a wider £60 million initiative which aims to double production capacity within the next five years in order to cater for demand.

CJW Pubs owners Kelly Vickers and Jamie Whitaker.

UK pub group CJW Pubs has just reopened The Pig on the Wall at Droylsden following a £380,000 refurbishment with Star Pubs & Bars.

The pub is CJW Pubs’ third leased site and its first with Star, which is owned by Heineken UK.

Heineken also announced this week that it will invest £50 million in its pub estate across, that will create circa 1,200 new jobs in hospitality.

Now that the weather has improved, Provence rosé is on everyone’s minds.

Cashing in on our obsession with all things pink, Dijon-based mustard purveyor Maille has launched a mustard made with Provence rosé and grapefruit.

The limited-edition condiment has been released exclusively for the spring/summer 2019 season.

Everyone is getting in on the trend this year. Pernod Ricard-owned Rioja producer Campo Viejo is bringing its first rosé wine to the UK market this year, noting the “growing popularity” of pale pink plonk.

Chris Shead, Pernod Ricard UK’s off-trade channel director, said the launch “provides consumers with something new from a much-loved household name.”

In UK wines, viticulture and oenology education centre Plumpton College said it is developing a research hub for the English wine industry to improve future site selection and vine productivity.

Outgoing head of Plumpton’s wine division Chris Foss said the institution was conducting a number of research projects in order to create a research hub for the English wine industry.

Ales of English and Welsh wine rose 6% in 2017 to reach a record 4 million bottles in 2018, according to figures shared by the Wine and Spirits Trade Association (WSTA) this week.

In “Where are they now?”, Vina Carmen sponsored ‘An evening with Charlie Sheen’ in which he also received a lifetime achievement award from the Irish Post at Boisdales’ Canary Wharf outpost.

And finally…

A wine producer in Tuscany is sponsoring a second year MW student in an effort to give Italy its first Master of Wine.

Famiglia Cecchi, which owns estates across the region including in Chianti Classico, has awarded Gabriele Gorelli, from the Montalcino region of Tuscany, with a bursary to help fund his MW journey.

The estate launched a competition to identify an Italian MW student who would promote the reputation of Tuscan wines, setting an essay question which asked students how best to build the profile of wines from the Chianti and Chianti Classico region.

“We are so proud to be able to support the studies of students in this very worthwhile cause,” said winemaker and owner Andrea Cecchi.

“We found the standard of entries to be very high and each student had taken a fresh perspective.”

Gorelli will be given £1,500 towards the cost of his Master of Wine studies.

db headed to the sumptuous surroundings of the Argentine ambassador’s residence in London this week for Wines of Argentina’s Malbec World Day tasting. Focusing on the different levels of altitude within the country, as well as it’s organic and biodynamic wines, around 80 different Malbecs were grouped according to region and the height of vineyards. Europe and Asia manager, Gisela Giordano (below), was on hand to talk guests through the experience.

Guests were also treated to a blind tasting where they were tasked with matching Malbecs to the correct region. European wine ambassador for Wines of Argentina, Phil Crozier (below), showed attendees how it was done.