The Swines'

Sounds like a tipple strait out of Heston Blumenthal's drinks cupboard or the mind of Lewis Caroll, but bacon flavoured vodka (Bakon Vodka) is here, whether it stays is for time to tell.



Here at Beam Team we are intruiged as we have yet to try out this out. I suggest tomorrow morning with our eggs.

Rory Finlay: Building Brands People Want to Talk About

Rory Finlay, Beam Global's CMO, was part of an Economist Marketing Forum discussing word of mouth and new models of marketing. To find out more watch the video below:



It's great to see our vision of Building Brands People Want to Talk About being talked about. It's like meta talkability.

Lighten Up

One puports to do something for you, while the other does something for the enviroment, both want you to be necking their products.

PSFK have drawn our attention to Pepsi developing what they call an 'eco-friendly' vending machine, that emmits 12% less greenhouse gases, through use of carbon dioxide, instead of HFC's for cooling. Without wanting to criticise any movement in the green direction, I think 'eco less-bad' is more accurate, but realise it does not have quite the same ring to it.



Vitamin water have created a pop-up shop in SoHo, NYC, a part of a push for their new V10 (10 calorie flavoured water).



They have some quirky ideas within their temporary installation, all revolving around the 10 theme, such as this photo booth.



However, as for the product, one blogger on Nitrolicious.com commented that 'Vitamin Water is awesome, but that new 10 calorie stuff is CRAP! I accidentally picked one up at the bodega the other day. So gross…'

Could it be that the the flavour in the original comes in calorie form, surely not?

Party Trick

Always on the lookout for for drinks paraphernalia here at Beam Team, the Absolut Mini Bar has caught our eye.



Vodka & Co have drawn our attention to the fridge that neatly opens into two compartments for ice and fruit.


The cocktail revolution has a new weapon.

Social Media Tastings on PSFK

My latest article for PSFK. This time about the way that the power of social media is being harnessed for wine and spirits tastings.

"Online tastings are hardly new. Brands such as Laphroaig have done worldwide whisky tastings over the Internet. But with the advent of Twitter we are seeing them evolve and become more popular as people find new ways to engage and educate.

Recently in London, Robert McIntosh and Bibendum wines invited a group of around a dozen food and wine bloggers to a Twitter wine tasting at the Saatchi Gallery. For an hour we tasted 3 wines which had also been sent to a bevy of wine and social media enthusiasts who couldn’t make it in person."

For the rest of the article click here.


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Actions Speak Louder.....

There seems to a trend in the drinks industry that disposes of our favoured medium, the written word, in favour of using imagery to conjure up the flavour of the drink.

Chateau Petrogasm's quirky concept has been around since the summer of 2007. It requires contributors to submit the name and price of a wine as well as a picture that they believe best represents the wine, however bizzare.

While some imply subtle notes of flavour such as this 2003 Kirralaa Bushvine Shiraz, Australia ($10)



Others however, such as the 2005, Osborne Solaz Shiraz/Tempranillo, Tierra De Castilla, $8.99, despite the blogs brief, leads one to think of the original words that popped into the contributors head.





This rather lovely idea is popping up elsewhere too. Firefly tonics, who go from strength to strength, are running a competition where contributors upload pictures that best represent the drink, whether it be wake up or chill out. The winners will have their entries on half a million firelfy bottles. Reward enough for some but they will chuck you some firefly bottles too.



Liquorsnob.com highlights how this idea can be taken into a more adult direction, Three Olives Vodka have launched a competition to 'See Your O-face'



Not a bad prize, $10,000 for the winner, but surely, like 'The Wicker Man' the original is the best.

A picture paints a thousand words, not a new concept, but one that can be taken on by Beam to build up a raft of expressions associated with their products.

Diageo Keeping Spirits Up

'One last Drink' by erix!

Somewhat at odds with their cut backs the drinks giant Diageo has predicted a growth in the U.S spirits market in the forthcoming year. The expected growth, while small at 0-1 percent (sales volume) , in current conditions, is growth nonetheless.

Corroborating this blog's previous insight into the impressively robust performance of whisky's with with a following, such as Makers Mark and Jack Daniels, Ivan Menezes, Diageo's North American head, said in an interview on Tuesday during the Reuters Food and Agriculture Summit in Chicago that "The consumer shift is toward strong brands with strong credentials and strong heritage,"

Good news, but not for the new boys.