WEDNESDAY, APRIL 8, 2009
IN THE NEWS
Guinness Touts First New Stout in U.S. in Decades
(Tuesday, Apr. 7, Associated Press)
The makers of Guinness are touting a new stout beer in the U.S., a maltier, fizzier version of its older, creamier sibling, the world's best-selling stout. The limited-edition Guinness 250 Anniversary Stout celebrates Arthur Guinness' signing of a 9,000-year lease in 1759 at St. James's Gate Brewery in Dublin, still the company's flagship brewery. When it arrives in U.S. bars and stores April 24, the anniversary brew will be the first new stout Guinness has exported to the U.S. since it brought over Guinness Draught in the mid 1960s. Guinness Draught, first brewed after Arthur Guinness decided to stop making ales and start making porters in 1779, became synonymous with Ireland over the centuries. More than 1.8 billion pints are consumed in 150 countries each year. The anniversary stout will be available only in the U.S., Australia and Singapore, according to Diageo PLC, owner of Guinness. The beer is expected to be available for about six months. A big marketing campaign, complete with advertisements and promotions at bars, launches later this month.
Coca-Cola, Illy Launch Ready-To-Drink Coffee Illy Issimo
(Tuesday, Apr. 7, Dow Jones Newswires)
Coca-Cola Co. and Italian coffee company Illy are launching a ready-to-drink coffee called Illy Issimo across the United States and key European countries in the coming days, the head of a joint venture formed by the two companies said. Illy Issimo is a "mass luxury product," said Kapoor, adding it was aimed at the top end of the ready-to-drink coffee market. Large retailers will be avoided, preferring selected outlets and university stores, he said. The Italian-American canned coffee was test-launched in New York and Los Angeles in recent days, competing with Starbucks Iced Coffee, a Pepsi-Starbucks joint venture product. Ilko aims to reach 30 percent of the premium ready-to-drink coffee market by 2012, and plans to enter the Japanese market later in 2009.
On Tap? How About Chardonnay or Pinot Noir
(Wednesday, Apr. 8, The New York Times)
The bartender pulls the handle and the liquid pours forth from keg to glass with the distinctive gushing sound that has launched a zillion thirsts. Ah, yes, that fresh draft flavor -- nothing like wine on tap. Wine? On tap? Is this another attack by the same philistines who insist on screw caps, stemless glasses and other means of depriving wine lovers of their pretensions? On the contrary, wine, stored in kegs and served through a method similar to a draft-beer line, may be the glorious future of by-the-glass pours in bars and restaurants. It's just a trickle right now, but the keg and tap system has successfully taken hold in restaurants in Los Angeles and San Francisco, and in wine bars in the city of Napa, Calif.; in Atlanta; and in Traverse City, the heart of Michigan wine country. What makes wine on tap not merely good but brilliant? It's not the tap, it's the keg. Taps themselves have been used for many years as part of complex preservation systems intended to protect open bottles against the demon slayer of wine, oxygen. Perhaps you've seen such a system, bottles in a refrigerated glass cabinet, taps on the outside, a Medusa's tangle of hoses extending upward in an effort to rebuff the oxygen with inert gases like argon. Systems like these are an improvement over the half-empty bottle recorked behind the bar, but they are imperfect, complicated and expensive.
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