News Briefs for October 24, 2023
October 24, 2023•The Distilled Spirits Council of the U.S. (DISCUS) is sounding the alarm over the looming reimposition of tariffs on American whiskey exported to the E.U. No deal was reached to avert the tariffs during a U.S.-E.U. Presidential Summit held on Friday. Without an agreement, American whiskey distillers “are facing the serious threat of the reimposition and doubling of the E.U. tariff to 50% beginning on January 1, 2024,” DISCUS noted. The whiskey tariffs were retaliation for Trump-era levies on E.U. steel and aluminum imports to the U.S. American whiskey exports to the E.U. have surged back since tariffs were suspended in January 2022, up 29% last year and 91% through August of this year. A failure to reach a new agreement on the issue threatens to reverse that progress.
•Total Wine & More has fired back at the FTC, which sued the retailer on Friday for access to information the agency says is necessary to its antitrust investigation of Southern Glazer’s. “(Total Wine owner) RSSI made substantial efforts to cooperate with the FTC’s investigation and respond in good faith to most of its data and document requests,” the retailer responded in a statement to SND. “In August, we stated our willingness to continue our discussions toward an amicable resolution of this matter. We are disappointed that the FTC declined our offer to produce additional records and chose instead to pursue this matter in the courts. We intend to vigorously defend our legal rights on this matter.”
•Beam Suntory’s Laphroaig has announced the Elements series, a new line of experimental blends of the Islay distillery’s single malts. Elements 1.0 was developed from three experimental choices made by the distillers: first, the whisky uses a blend of clear and cloudy wort to create new flavors prior to distillation; second, the whisky is made using both an 8.5 and a 10.5 ton mash; and finally, the malts are 100% from Islay. This first edition is bottled at 58.6% abv and is rolling out now to select retailers. More whiskies in the series will follow in 2024.
•Diageo’s Seedlip Non-Alcoholic Spirits is launching ‘Choose Different,’ its first brand campaign in three and a half years. Seedlip partnered with actor Regé-Jean Page on the push to showcase its range of non-alcoholic spirits and the breadth of cocktails they can contribute to. “As the preeminent non-alcoholic spirit, Seedlip is experiencing tremendous momentum,” said Kavitha Krishnamurthy, general manager of Diageo Non-Alcohol Beverages, adding that the ‘Choose Different’ campaign “is an opportunity to evolve the brand’s place in culture as more people seek out balanced drinking options.”
Subscribe to Shanken News Daily’s Email Newsletter, delivered to your inbox each morning.Tagged : Beam Suntory, Diageo, DISCUS, Laphroaig, Seedlip, Total Wine
