It’s been a busy week for suppliers, with a swag of innovative new drinks releases announced. Here are just a few …
Diageo will launch its Smirnoff Infusions range in style at Splendour In the Grass next month.
The new product will feature at the The Icebergs Dining Room and Bar pop-up at the music festival.
Guests will be greeted with a Smirnoff Infusions – a new premium spirit infused with natural fruit and botanical extracts – welcome drink on arrival.
Smirnoff Infusions has been designed to mix with soda for a naturally fresh, light taste that’s under 40 calories a serve. It launches nationally at the end of August, with Splendour offering an exclusive chance for a first taste.
Following the sell-out success of last year’s pop up dining experience, Splendour’s new partnership is with Maurice Terzini and his iconic Bondi Beachside restaurant.
“Finally we have Icebergs at Splendour, something we’ve been gunning for years,” said Splendour Co-Producer Jessica Ducrou.
“I love not only Monty’s beautiful food and Matt and James’ sublime drinks, but Maurice’s vision as he presents the most amazing intersection of incredible dining, shit hot music and cool art to boot. The perfect partner in crime, and such an honour, we look forward to the start of some great collaborations in the years to come.”
Larrikin has breathed a new fruitiness into its Scoundrel gin, with a new winter gin called Cherry Lush.
Cherry Lush incorporates Morello and sweet cherries in the seasonal release.
The ruby red gin has been bottled at 28%, delivering a smooth finish that has initial cherry sweetness followed by hints of tartness from the Morellos. While bold in flavour, Cherry Lush can be enjoyed either straight or mixed.
With a local focus on the Victorian region, the Larrikin team has sourced the Morello and sweet cherries from the Red Hill Cherry Farm in Victoria.
Larrikin Gin’s Scott Wilson-Browne said: “Our Cherry Lush is one of those sinful indulgences that you want to share but it’s so hard too! Then again, you deserve a lush reward now and then, right?”
Cherry Lush is available now at https://larrikingin.com.au/ or at selected on-premise outlets. RRP: $85.00.
Pernod Ricard Global Travel Retail will launch Method & Madness Irish gin across EMEA, India, Pacific and South East Asia from July.
Method & Madness is the first gin release from Irish Distillers’ Midleton Micro Distillery. It’s infused with 16 botanicals, including Black Lemon and Irish Gorse Flowers, and presented in a distinctive bottle.
Irish craft gins continue to enjoy rapid growth with the value of exports of Irish gin from the Republic of Ireland soared 213% to €4.2m in first nine months of 2018, according to the Alcohol Beverage Federation of Ireland.
Coca-Cola Amatil has produced Australia’s first carbonated soft drink bottles made from 100% recycled plastic.
Group Managing Director Alison Watkins said while 100% recycled plastic had previously been used in still beverages, it had never successfully been used for carbonated drinks.
All of Coca-Cola Amatil’s single-serve plastic bottles in Australia will switch to the new fully recycled materials by the end of 2019. The first product to feature the new technology will be Coca-Cola No Sugar.
Coca-Cola Australia and Coca-Cola Amatil have previously announced that 7 out of 10 of their plastic bottles would be made from recycled plastic by 2020. This reduces Amatil’s use of virgin plastic by around 10,000 tonnes a year.
James Squire has announced the release of The Wreck Survivors’ Ale – the second edition in its historical brew series.
Resurrected by James Squire brewers in partnership with the Australian Wine Research Institute and Queen Victoria Museum & Art Gallery of Launceston, the ale is crafted from yeast found in a 220-year-old bottle of beer within Australia’s oldest merchant shipwreck the ‘Sydney Cove’, which was wrecked on Preservation Island north of Tasmania in 1797.
The Wreck Survivors Ale is an Imperial Porter aged in rum barrels, packaged in a premium 750ml glass bottle, dipped in wax and placed inside a gift box containing historical information of the shipwreck survivors’ story.
The launch of The Wreck Survivors’ Ale will see 5000 exclusive bottles available nationally in Dan Murphy’s on August 26, just in time for Father’s Day.
The Bucha of Byron has launched Dirty Bucha, Australia’s first premium kombucha and spirit drink.
There are three flavours in the range, including Botanical Gin with Lemon Myrtle kombucha, Premium Vodka with Tropical kombucha and Spiced Rum with Ginger kombucha.
Both the Dirty Bucha and Bucha of Byron are made in collaboration with independent craft brewery Stone & Wood and are produced at its old facility in Byron Bay, now the Bucha Shed.
You can find The Dirty Bucha on premise at venues such as The Beach Hotel and Three Blue Ducks (The Farm) in Byron Bay, Three Blue Ducks and The Oakes Hotel in Sydney and Ponyfish Island in Melbourne.
