Fewer liquor bottles went off the racks in the state in the last 10 months. The huge hike in excise duty on country-made, foreign and other types of liquor has pinched pockets to such an extent that tipplers are either passing up that peg or are increasingly going in for alcohol smuggled in from neighbouring states. More and more liquor consumers in rural areas have, instead, taken to hooch. The state excise department had hiked the excise duty on all types of liquor — barring wine, which enjoys duty-free holidays till 2021 — by 40% in April last year. This hit the sales of country-made liquor, IMFL (Indian-made foreign liquor) and beer — which had been 21.54 crore litre, 9.73 crore litre and 20.24 crore litre, respectively, between April and November 2010, dropping to 21.02 crore litre, 9.09 crore litre and 19.20 crore litre between the corresponding period in 2011. Until March 2011, liquor consumption leapt by 15-20% each year. But since the hike came in place, sales went south, into the negative.

Indian wine, the globally minded oenophile will recall, was supposed to be the big new thing a few years back. Beginning in 2001, Indian investors – many of them toting fortunes made abroad – snapped up land in the heart of Maharashtra and erected huge faux-Tuscan wineries. Their first vintages attracted a bit of international attention, while the vaunted Indian middle class was reported ready to end its love affair with spirits and embrace the grape. Wine, dusted in the cachet that anything foreign has here, was tipped as a new status symbol, and with 1.2 billion potential drinkers, India was meant to be a market just waiting to be uncorked. Then came the autumn of 2008. The global economy went into a tailspin, and in India the chill was exacerbated by the attacks on Mumbai by Pakistani terrorists. In the mood of national anxiety, consumption of “lifestyle” items fell dramatically. Wine sales fell by half in 2009, and the domestic industry fizzled. Three long years later, however, there are tentative signs that India’s wine industry is growing once again, and sommeliers and producers agree it is hardier for the harsh pruning it received. A handful of Indian wines have recently been recognized internationally in blind tastings. The British supermarket chain Waitrose now carries one, introducing the idea that India makes wine to a whole new swath of consumers. At home, wine is slowly catching on. “The market is growing, but not by leaps and bounds like you heard in the hysteria a few years ago,” says Reva Singh, who publishes Sommelier India. (She founded the magazine in 2004, and for the first few years had to explain what “sommelier” meant in a small note in the masthead.) Wine sales are expected to grow by 25 per cent next year, according to the government wine promotion body.

American spirits company Beam Inc. has purchased Cooley Distillery of Co. Louth, maker of Irish whiskies including Connemara, Greenore, Kilbeggan and Tyrconnell. Beam Inc, the Deerfield, Illinois-based group which owns Jim Beam, Courvoisier and Maker’s Mark, reportedly paid $95 million for the Irish distillery. The acquisition gives Beam the opportunity to enter the Irish whiskey business, one of the fastest growing categories in the spirits industry.

Tilaknagar Industries, an India-based manufacturer of alcoholic beverages, has received a favorable order from the Bombay High Court in a case related to trademarks ‘Mansion House’ and ‘Savoy Club'. The Bombay High Court has dismissed a petition filed by UTO Nederland seeking to restrain Tilaknagar Industries from the use of the trademarks. The company is 54% owned by the Dahanukar family with its main distillery operations in Shrirampur district of Maharashtra, India. The company produces Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) and owns brands including Mansion House Brandy, Madiraa Rum, Senate Royale Whiskey and White House Premium Whiskey.

it seems like it was just yesterday that the stories of the alcohol-energy drink Four Loko inspiring burglaries and other dangerous antics. Things have calmed down since, thecaffeine has been removed from Loko and similar beverages, and those stories have seemingly fallen off the map. Until now. It’s interesting to note that Smirnoff just underwent a very high profile release of of a “Fluffed Marshmallow Flavored Vodka,” marshmallow-flavored vodka is now in the public eye more than ever. There is no explicit information that ties the Smirnoff product with the following incident, but it’s certainly something to think about.

cHECK THE sVEDKA WEBSITE TO DOWNLOAD APPLICATION

The PDT Cocktail Book + A Classic Champagne Cocktail Recipe With New Year's Eve looming, we're forgoing our usual cookbook of the week in favor of the libation version. Not just any cocktail book, but The PDT Cocktail Book by Jim Meehan and illustrator Chris Gall, the only beverage book that made it into our Best of 2011 "cookbook" list.

CHENNAI: Following reports about the Andhra Pradesh Government’s decision to take over retail liquor trade from June 2012, a team of loadmen, attached to a trade union from the neighbouring State, visited the TASMAC depot at Kakkalur in Tiruvallur district on Wednesday. “We visited the depot to observe the model adopted for paying the loadmen here (in Tamil Nadu) in the wake of our State Government’s proposal to enter the retail liquor sales business,” J V Thalapthi, State president of Andhra Pradesh Beverages Corporation IMFL Loading and Unloading Workers’ Union, affiliated to the AITUC, told Express. “About 3,000 loadmen are employed in 40 liquor depots across Andhra Pradesh. They earn an average monthly income of Rs 25, 000 for their services,” he added. The team enquired about the system in place at the depots, beginning from receiving liquor cases from the distilleries to dispatching them to the retail outlets.

This New Year’s eve, Chennai would not be short of spirits! The Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation Limited (TASMAC), the retailers for liquor in the State, is pitching for a whopping Rs 150-crore business during the weekend. “We are expecting the sale of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) and beer to hit Rs 70 crore on December 31, which would scale up on Sunday, January 1. In total, the State-owned Marketing Corporation is expected to earn a revenue of at least Rs 150 crore on these two days,” a senior TASMAC official told Express. “This New Year’s eve sale is likely to be at least 15 per cent higher than the corresponding year of 2010,” the official added. The authorities are stocking up two lakh cases of IMFL and one lakh beer cases to meet the ‘extreme’ demand on the D-Day. Liquor outlets in Tamil Nadu, on an average, record a sale of Rs 45 crore to Rs 50 crore on a weekday, whereas, on weekends, the sales hit even Rs 130 crore.

According to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, vodka dominates the spirits industry, accounting for 31 percent of sales, and flavored vodkas account for 16 percent of all vodkas sold. While vodka is generally thought of as a mixer, the popularity of drinking it straight, especially premium brands, is increasing, the council reports.

The 5th edition of Pune Wine Tasting Festival was organised over the last weekend amidst fun and fiesta with the crowd in a relaxed mood, milling around the stands of major wine producers and importers on both days, tasting wines and enjoying the cheerful ambience Well known producers having vineyards mostly in Maharashtra's Nasik region made their presence felt with their new labels and liberal tasting pours. The Indian wine industry was in fact well represented with the presence of Four Seasons, Zampa, York, Vintage Wines, Seagram’s Nine Hills,Pause, Good Earth Winery, Vallonne and Indus. Deccan Plateau, in the vicinity of Pune presented Trivalli 2008, a blend of Shiraz, Cabernet and Merlot. Silk Route Wines from Delhi participating for the first time, launched their maiden vintages of Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Sauvignon.

In last Nov. 16, 2011, Anthony Schroth uses a machine to fill several hundred bottles of wine in the garage of his father's home in Jackson, Wyo. The Schroth family started the Jackson Hole Winery, the first winery in Teton County, Wyo., and only the second in the state.

CHATTANOOGA -- A pair of entrepreneurs are bringing back a long-lost piece of Chattanooga history, 750 milliliters at a time. Chattanooga Whiskey Co. co-founders Josh Ledbetter and Tim Piersant are set to deliver the company's first offering, 1816 Reserve, by mid-February. "It really started on Facebook with a question: 'Would you drink Chattanooga whiskey?'" Ledbetter said. The response was overwhelmingly affirmative. In less than a month, the company's profile had more than 2,000 fans. Since the company's online unveiling Nov. 11, it has added more than 1,500

In Andhra Pradesh, On the liquor scandal in the state, the TDP chief wanted the Kiran Kumar Reddy government to disclose the names that figured in ACB raids and ensure sale of liquor at MRP. Alleging that sale of liquor rose during the reign of Congress, Naidu said, "the liquor sale was just 2.28 crore bottles of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) and 1.61 crore bottles of beer in 2003-04. Now, the sale rose to 4.12 crore IMFL bottles and 2.49 crore bottles of beer during the Congress period". He also demanded that the timings of liquor sale be restricted at 8 pm on the lines of Delhi and Kerala. The main opposition party is holding motorcycle rallies in all 294 Assembly segments of the state from January 3 to 5 protesting against the liquor policy, Naidu said.

The president, founder and master distiller of Valentine Vodka makes sure every part of his double-gold medal-winning vodka comes from his backyard. If not from there, then from his state or his country. The firm that does the art work for Valentine Vodka's bottle is based in Grand Rapids and was able to hire back one of its workers when it took on the Ferndale-based distiller's work, according to Valentine.

Robert Lawrence Balzer, an early champion of American wines and a widely read critic of them for more than 60 years as a journalist and author, died on Dec. 1 at his home in Orange, Calif. He was 99. Largely self-taught about wine, Mr. Balzer began his career in the 1930s, shortly after the end of Prohibition. He went on to write more than a dozen books, including “Balzer’s Book of Wines and Spirits” (1973) and “Wines of California” (1978), and was a wine columnist for The Los Angeles Times from 1964 to 1995. Well before Robert M. Parker Jr., now the world’s best-known wine critic, began his popular newsletter and 100-point rating system, Mr. Balzer published one of the first subscription-based wine guides, Robert Lawrence Balzer’s Private Guide to Food & Wine.

The Pittsburgh Wine Festival will be celebrating its 10th anniversary with a special 50% off Groupon.com offer and two-for-one ticket pricing on their website. The Groupon discount will be available starting Monday, December 19, and will feature $125 VIP Tasting tickets and $62.50 tickets for the Grand Tasting. After the Groupon expires, the Pittsburgh Wine Festival website (Pittsburghwinefestival.com) will be offering two-for-one tickets beginning Tuesday, December 20, and feature two VIP Tasting tickets for $250 and two Grand Tasting tickets for $125. The festival will be held on Thursday, May 3, 2012, at the Heinz Field East and West Club Lounges. Wineries from around the world will be present, and over 2,500 attendees will have the opportunity to sample wines and learn about the winemaking craft from hundreds of winery representatives at the event. In addition to tasting, guests will also enjoy delicious gourmet food stations and lively musical entertainment

The mid-Atlantic has recently come into its own in terms of winemaking, and the DC-area in particular has seen a resurgence in brewing, but (legal) distilling has been somewhat slower to follow. However, as consumer tastes have migrated away from mass-produced libations, more and more micro-distilleries have been established in the area.

In Mad Men, Don Draper creates slick and clever ad campaigns. And it seems Christina Hendricks could have used his expertise on her latest job. The 36-year-old posed at a cheesy makeshift Christmas party in order to endorse Johnnie Walker Black Label. Holding up a glass of the amber liquid, she stands next to a heavily decorated Christmas tree. The actress then moves to an open fireplace, once again clutching the beverage as a bottle of the booze lingers in the background. The actress then turns barmaid, pouring drinks for friends at a makeshift bar during the festivities at a private residence in Los Angeles. Lucky for Christina, her eye-popping curves somewhat overshadow the corniness of the alcohol promotion.

As reported by TOI, After the news of Sangrampur hooch deaths reached Kolkata on Wednesday afternoon, senior Trinamool Congressleader and Union minister of state for shipping Mukul Roy went to Diamond Harbour hospital where several people were admitted. He said, "The Left Front, which ruled the state for 34 years, is to blame for the whole incident. Illicit liquor distilleries and outlets became an industry during its rule. The economy at that time thrived on hooch and illegal arms." Congress leader and state irrigation minister Manas Bhunia supervised relief operations in the area. Some people also blamed the government's decision to increase the tax on government-approved country liquor and Indian-Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) for tragedies such as these. According to them, many more have turned to illicit liquor as they can no longer afford the branded country liquor. The Mamata government has even stopped issuing licences to retail country liquor and IMFL outlets.

At the beginning of this financial year, after the central and state budgets imposed new taxes, the retail price of Indian-made foreign liquor (IMFL) brands went up by 40% to 56% here while beer prices went up by minimum 18% to 49%. The hike, in effect, made the prices of IMFL bottles here about 133% to 233% more than their prices in the neighbouring state of Goa or union territory like Daman-Diu . In bars, pubs and restaurants, the hike was even greater-beyond 75%.

Bibendum has launched two limited editionPlantation Rums exclusively to the UK market. The new single cask bottlings see two of Plantation’s finest rums finished in the casks of Pineau des Charentes and Banyuls. Bibendum Spirits Brand Manager Paul McFadyen worked very closely with Plantation’s owner, Cognac Ferrand, to create these outstanding rums. Cognac Ferrand President Alexandre Ferrand selected one Bajan and one Trinidadian rum, transporting them to France where the spirits were aged in ex-cognac barrels prior to being finished in the Pineau des Charentes and Banyuls casks.

A potato-based vodka is proving to be a silky spirit from the ground up, writes Willie Simpson. In the spirit world, vodka is a versatile character. It can be made from grain, including rice and corn, soy beans, grapes or plain old potatoes. Wheat is probably the most common grain used around the globe but, for my money, rye-based spirits from Poland and parts of Russia are by far the most complex. They are usually full of fruity characters that lift the drink above the usual neutral white spirit. But what about when it's made from spuds? Does it taste different from the grain variety? Well, sort of. Monopolowa is the first potato vodka and it shows a certain silky mouthfeel and faint earthiness it might come from the terroir of the potato.

Royal Wine Corp. (RWC), is proud to announce the completion of a solar power system on the roof of its corporate headquarters and warehouse facility located in Bayonne, New Jersey. RWC is a leading specialty wine producer in New York and California, as well as an importer and distributor, and is also the parent company of Kedem Food Products. Royal Wine Corp. joins fellow New Jersey corporations including Fed Ex, McGraw Hill, M&M Mars and Johnson & Johnson that have installed energy saving, green alternatives

The wine world is already so masculine, making special efforts to underscore its machismo seems akin to gluing chest hair to Rambo. Nevertheless, "manly" wines are the industry’s latest fling, in large part due to young men being part of the fastest growing wine consumption demographic today: millennials. The challenge, however, is getting them to permanently swap beer for Bordeaux. A new nationwide survey of 1,510 people finds four in 10 men believe there’s a lingering stereotype about wine being a woman’s drink. Of Canadians age 18 to 24, fully three-quarters consider wine more socially acceptable for older men to drink than guys their own age. Winemakers are aiming to counter such perceptions, in part, by debuting labels so hyper-masculine as to deserve cameos in a Michael Bay movie

Global beer and spirits producer Diageo has launched new packaging for its single malt Scotch whiskey brand, Talisker, which will roll out across the globe next year. The new packaging showcases the map of the whiskey's home, Island of Skye, more prominently, along with seascape photography by Cailean Maclean and Angus Bremner. The name Talisker and date of establishment have also been re-highlighted in the new design, Whiskey-drinker reported quoting the Whiskey For Everyone blog as source.

With its smoky flavor and golden hue, Mackmyra has many of the attributes of Scotch whisky; even its name evokes rolling moors. But Mackmyra comes from a distant shore, more famous for Absolut, Akvavit and Abba. From its distillery outside Gavle in northern Sweden near the Baltic coast, Mackmyra Svensk Whisky AB plans to put Swedish malt whiskey on the map. The company plans to go public on Friday, listing on Nasdaq OMX's alternative-investment market, First North. A share issue of around 62 million Swedish kronor ($9 million), together with 22 million kronor in targeted issues

Chinese wines took the top four places in a China vs Bordeaux blind tasting competition on Wednesday, but it wasn't exactly a thrashing of the world's most elite wines by Chinese upstarts. The wines were all red , mostly Cabernet Sauvignon-based Bordeaux-style blends. The Chinese side was represented by five of what are considered among the best Chinese wines produced; the French wines were five more pedestrian reds from Bordeaux negociants and commercial labels, not chateau-bottled wines.

To promote the new line of Alpha Khakis as inherently masculine and desirable, pants maker Dockers sent 600 of its online customers a surprise present: 3 pairs of pants packaged like whiskey bottles. Based on a concept from communications firm Draftfcb San Francisco, the whiskey-metaphor packaging was inspired by the three types of finish for the line; scraped, dirty and destroyed, which simulate 1, 5 and 10 years of wear, respectively. Arriving in limited-edition boxes, the uniquely packaged pants are both smart promotion and cool customer appreciation

A winery in Virginia is receiving national recognition for its unique blend but Ed Puckett, the owner of Lovingston Winery, says this is just the beginning. Lovingston Winery's 2008 Josie's Knoll Estate Reservereceived a score of 89 in the December issue of Wine Enthusiast. The magazine reviews wines from around the world. Wine Enthusiast uses a point scale ranging from 1 to 100. A score of 80-84 is good, 85-89 is very good and 90 or above is outstanding. The reserve received the highest score a Virginia wine has ever received from the magazine. It is one thing to be compared to wineries in your home state; it is another to be ranked in the top percentage for wineries in the world. That is why Puckett says he is thrilled to see his hard work recognized by the top wine enthusiasts in the nation.

In last Nov. 16, 2011, Anthony Schroth uses a machine to fill several hundred bottles of wine in the garage of his father's home in Jackson, Wyo. The Schroth family started the Jackson Hole Winery, the first winery in Teton County, Wyo., and only the second in the state.

cHECK THE sVEDKA WEBSITE TO DOWNLOAD APPLICATION