Premium mixer brand The London Essence Co. has announced the expansion of its crafted soda range with the launch of White Peach & Jasmine and Pink Grapefruit Crafted Sodas into 6x150ml multipack can formats RRP £3.75, alongside its crafted soda range in 500ml bottles, RRP £2.
The launch supports London Essence’s ambition to build a premium mixer brand for a much broader range of elevated mixed and solus drinks. It also comes well timed to support the emerging growth areas in premium spirits and where consumers are seeking out new cocktail trends and no / low alternatives.
The Pink Grapefruit Crafted Soda from London Essence originally launched in April 2022, however the launch of the new formats marks the first time the SKU will be available via retail channels, having previously only been available via hospitality and direct-to-consumer websites. With a well-rounded taste profile, the Pink Grapefruit Crafted Soda can be served on its own for a refreshing boost, or paired with your favourite premium tequila, for a sophisticated take on the classic Paloma cocktail.
London Essence’s White Peach & Jasmine Crafted Soda is currently available in selected retailers in 500ml bottles. However, the launch of the SKU into the brand’s 150ml can will provide consumers with a convenient format that is perfect to use as a refreshing drink alone over ice, or mixed with their favourite premium spirit or prosecco for a light spritz cocktail.
“We’re thrilled to be expanding our much-loved Crafted Soda range which will soon be available widely across a number of retailers,” said UK Head of Marketing at The London Essence Co., Melanie Ginsberg. “This expansion of our grocery presence will allow our range to be readily available to even more consumers showcasing the brand’s successful growth within the premium mixer category and allowing consumers to enjoy a premium drinks experience from the comfort of their own home.”
The launch of the new soda formats follows the news of London Essence’s exponential growth across GB retail in the last twelve months, making it the fastest growing mixer company in GB with 52 per cent increase in brand penetration within the last year; its premium mixers are now available in over 13,000 retail outlets across the country.
Faustino, distributed by Amber Beverage Group UK, is the largest vineyard owner in Rioja with a long commitment to the traditional style of the region’s wines. With over 160 years of family winemaking history, Faustino’s wealth of knowledge makes it the leader in Gran Reserva wines in the Rioja region. With its exceptional quality and taste – Faustino continues to perform well in the UK retail market, and volume sales have increased by +13 per cent since 2022.
Elevated affordability
Affordability remains a key concern for many this Christmas, as 53 per cent of consumers worry about how they will afford presents. However, 55 per cent of consumers are also willing to pay full price for important gifts, meaning stocking products that resonate with consumers’ gifting needs will be essential.
This is the perfect time for retailers to stock premium wines at a price point that is still accessible and good value for money, as consumers continue to buy less, but better-quality wines, not only for personal consumption, but for gifting hosting and gifting loved ones.
For example, Faustino I Gran Reserva – the flagship from Bodegas Faustino – is a quality wine at an accessible price point of £18. Celebrating its 60th vintage this year, it is the leading Rioja Gran Reserva in export markets and available in more than 140 countries.
It is complex and elegant, with fruity and spicy notes, pairing well with medium-aged cheese used for creating festive charcuterie boards.
A Rosé-coloured Christmas
Whilst most consumers have traditionally opted for red and sparkling wines at Christmas, 56 per cent of drinkers consider Rosé suitable for drinking all year round including the festive season. Rosé is ideal for the social gatherings that take place around Christmas and New Year. Faustino has enhanced the consumer experience of its VII Rosado with new packaging that includes food pairing suggestions, such as fish, traditionally eaten on Christmas Eve. This caters to the 70 per cent of millennials who seek wines that complement their culinary preferences.
The conscious Christmas consumer
This Christmas, consumers are predicted to be more mindful of their buying habits, with almost half intending to buy from sustainable brands and 21 per cent willing to spend more on them.
Consumers looking for more sustainable gifting options could reach for a bottle of Faustino, as its rebranded labels are made of 100 per cent recyclable materials and the V range has changed from a matte bottle to a clear bottle, resulting in lower CO2 output – making it particularly appealing to the 63 per cent of Millennials who say they are concerned about climate change.
In the hubbub that builds before Christmas, it’s easy to understand how an out-of-touch person might momentarily have lost sight of the fact that January 4 is National Spaghetti Day.
In an age of countless fancy twirled & tubed pasta shapes, its reassuring to know that it’s the straight-talking, thin lined spaghetti that retains top status throughout the globe with especially high sales currently being registered in China, Canada Japan, North America and Germany.
In total, 18m tonnes of spaghetti is consumed globally every year!
A new organic pasta offering from Realfoods by Organico originates from a small batch producer in Bari Puglia where "slow" is the name of the game, whether it's the slow proving of the dough or the extra time drying; taking time plays a pivotal role in producing a superior product.
Realfoods by Organico uses best-in-class durum wheat and pure spring water, not to mention old-school bronze plates from times gone by (the finest traditional pasta is extruded through dies—perforated bronze plates that both cut and shape). But it’s not rushing that creates the real point of difference versus rapidly extruding, mass market, conveyor-belt peers.
Spaghetti, as any well briefed pasta aficionado will explain, derives from the word "Spago" which means twine or string. Whilst many Sicilians will claim that spaghetti is a home-grown delicacy, there’s a growing body of evidence which suggests spaghetti is actually an "Arab-inspired" food introduced by traders to the Sicilian shores, who were keen to enjoy the manifold benefits of an easily stored dried food that could sustain them as they travelled the arduous Silk Road to China (which also lays claim to the primal noodle).
So, when the last slice of turkey has been polished off and the cranberry sauce and mince pies are nothing more than a distant memory, it might be wise to ensure some Organico pasta is in the larder, maybe even some Organico Arrabbiata, Vegan Bolognese or Puttanesca sauces.
Inspired by Spotify Wrapped and a Year in Monzo, retailer Haypp has revealed what a year of spending on vapes looked like for Brits in 2024. From the most popular flavours to the most purchased brands, this year’s data provides an interesting insight into the current vape market.
The sales data from Haypp reveals the importance of flavours in encouraging smokers to switch from cigarettes to less harmful alternatives.The data shows that fruit flavours, in particular, were far more popular than flavours such as tobacco or menthol.
With over 7,000 different vape flavours available in the UK, Pineapple Ice by Lost Mary came out as the favourite of the year, with six per cent of sales coming from this product. Watermelon by Elf Bar is the second most popular vape flavour, with 3.7 per cent of customers opting for the fruit-flavoured vape. Elf Bar’s Mad Blue completes the top three, with 3.1 per cent of vapers choosing the fruit flavour.
Top 10 most loved vape products in 2024 were:
Lost Mary 20mg 600 Pineapple Ice
Elf Bar 20mg 600 Watermelon
Elf Bar 20mg 600 Mad Blue
Lost Mary 20mg 600 Strawberry Ice
Elf Bar 20mg 600 Snoow Tobacco
Lost Mary 20mg 600 Menthol
Elf Bar 20mg 600 Blueberry Raspberry
Lost Mary 20mg 600 Blueberry Sour Raspberry
Elf Bar 20mg 600 Cherry Cola
Elf Bar 20mg 600 Strawberry Raspberry Cherry Ice
Making alternative nicotine products more attractive to adult nicotine users through flavours is vital to reducing smoking rates and smoking related deaths in the UK. However, the availability of a wide variety of flavours must be balanced with preventing youth access to vapes. With this in mind, Haypp does not stock flavours which could potentially appeal to underage vape users, for example candy or energy drink flavours.
When it came to brands, the UK certainly favoured the household names, with Elf Bar and Lost Mary dominating market share (38.7 per cent and 29.5 per cent respectively). The next favourite, Vuse, made the top three with a 13 per cent market share.
“The data revealed a clear favourite when it comes to vape brands, but with so many flavours available to vape users, it was no surprise to see more of a split result here," said Haypp's Markus Lindblad. "It’s also interesting to see that, generally, Brits steer away from tobacco flavoured vapes and instead find exotic fruit flavours like pineapple and watermelon the most appealing. With just two per cent opting for the menthol flavour, it’s clear that alternative flavours are important for many who have taken the decision to switch from cigarettes to vapes.
Research from our insights department shows that quitters usually start off with a tobacco flavoured vape, but after a while, they move on to other flavours, especially fruity ones. Smokers, as they move away from cigarettes, also want to move away from the taste of tobacco. This is why flavours are such an important part of the decision to switch and stay off cigarettes for many people and also why it is so crucial to take a sensible, balanced approach to flavours in the Tobacco and Vapes Bill. Banning flavours may have an unintended consequence of reducing the number of people using vapes to quit cigarettes and make some people switch back to smoking.”
Just in time for the festive season, Kahlúa has partnered with Salma Hayek Pinault to launch the limited-edition Espressohoho Martini Bauble – a unique drinkable ornament designed to spice your tree up in dramatic style, with everyone’s favourite seasonal cocktail: the Kahlúa Espresso Martini!
12 limited edition baubles are available via auction on Kahlúa’s Espressohoho BaubleshopeBay page for one week only (available to UK bidders only).
Refillable and reusable, the baubles caused a causing a stir after Salma Hayek Pinault posted a picture of the delicious addition to her 2024 Christmas tree décor in an Instagram post: "This holiday season you can help farming families in my home state of Veracruz by bidding on one of these 12 limited edition @Kahlúa Espressohoho Martini baubles. Proceeds will go to Coffee For Good. Search 'Espressohoho Martini Bauble' on Ebay for a chance to get one."
Salma partnered with Kahlúa in 2023 to support the Coffee for Good initiative, which benefits the coffee farming community in her hometown of Veracruz, Mexico’s finest coffee-growing region and (not so coincidentally) the birthplace of Kahlúa.
All proceeds raised from the Espressohoho Martini Bauble support Kahlúa’s Coffee for Good initiative, promoting sustainable, long-term agricultural practices increasing the demand for Veracruz’s premium coffee.
“Kahlúa is such a fun brand and Salma is the perfect person to front a creative campaign that puts humour at the forefront of festive celebrations," said Alison Perrottet, Brand Director for Pernod Ricard UK. "Kahlúa is continuing to grow in both the On- and Off-Trade thanks to the popularity of the Espresso Martini and supporting local coffee farmers through the brand’s Coffee for Good initiative is the sparkling star on the tree, we know our audience will be crashing the internet to get their hands of an Espressohoho Martini Bauble!”
Mediterranean Aperitivo, a three-year EU-funded project focusing on high-quality ingredients for this modern ritual from Italy and Greece, is celebrating the success of its integrated campaign. The activity aims to raise awareness among consumers, bartenders and restauranteurs of the quality of four much-loved products with European Geographical Indication,that together make up the Mediterranean Aperitivo experience including:
Vermouth di Torino PGIis an aromatised wine with a heritage and provenance going back to the foot of the Italian alps over two centuries ago
Pecorino Toscano’s PDO seal guarantees it is only made in the designated areas, with sheep’s milk from Tuscany and neighbouring areas in Viterbo, Lazio, Perugia and Terni in Umbria
Costa d’Amalfi PGI Lemons are grown in an area of 1,000 acres on the Amalfi Coast. renowned for their quality and provenance
Olives from Greece are an integral part of the Mediterranean diet.
Speaking after Mediterranean Aperitivo’s press event in London last month, attended by food and drink writers, Roberto Bava, President of Consorzio del Vermouth di Torino, said: “Mediterranean people are well experienced at enjoying life to the full, and a Mediterranean Aperitivo, with a superb cocktail and delicious food, is perfect for a night in or out with friends. Here in the UK, consumers increasingly recognise the value of PDO and PGI-certified products, and this integrated campaign has focused on highlighting everything these quality European food and drink products have to offer to consumers and importantly, bartenders and restauranteurs.”
Over the campaign period, exports to the UK of Pecorino Toscano PDO cheese rose from €118,860,13 in 2021 to €456,647,06 in 2023, while Costa d’Amalfi PGI Lemons increased from €53,649.34 in 2021 to €438,069.06 in 2024. Olives from Greece went from €26,905,904 for 2021 to an impressive €35,364,729 in 2022. Exports fell between 2022 and 2023, due to a decline in production because of weather conditions, causing a shortage of supply, but not demand, as shown by olive exports hitting €23,003,660 in the first three months of 2024. As a result of the campaign and its activities, supported by industry ambassadors, Vermouth di Torino continues to prove itself as key ingredient on menus across the country, with many bartenders and restauranteurs experimenting with new usages in cocktails and an "aperitif for anytime".
The growth in UK sales of Mediterranean Aperitivo ingredients during this three-year campaign is testament to its effectiveness, with campaign activations including educational seminars for professionals and participation in numerous industry activities and celebrations. While also confirming the growing Mediterranean Aperitivo trend for consumers, who are continuing to seek out premium experiences to enjoy these ingredients at home or in out of home settings.