If there are two things that Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt need it’s more money and more publicity. So the pair will release their first wine from their organic 1,000-acre French estate, Chateau Miraval, next month with their names on the bottle, Bloomberg News reports.

The rosé, formerly known as “Pink Floyd,” will be labeled as Miraval and feature Pitt and Jolie’s names on the back of the bottle along with Perrin, the family that Brangelina has partnered with to help create and distribute the wine. The trio will also distribute a white later this year and reds in 2014. “We are intimately involved and quite enthused over the wine project with our friends the Perrin family,” Pitt said via his publicist.

One thing that brought Perrin and Pitt-Jolie together was the fact that both vineyards grow their vines organically, something the Perrin family has been doing since 1950. Now the Hollywood escapees are joining a long line of celebs who have extended their personal brands to alcohol brands.Continue reading...

Back in 1794, Philip Wigle was sentenced to hang for committing high treason during the Whiskey Rebellion. His crime? Wigle beat up a tax collector to prevent him from collecting taxes on farmers in Western Pennsylvania who made their living by turning grain into whiskey. Over 200 years later, Wigle's memory is honored by a young distillery in Pittsburgh called Wigle Whiskey.

On a recent trip to Pittsburgh, brandchannel dispatched a grateful scribe to catch up with Mark Meyer, a lawyer with a dream (inspired by a trip north of the border, as the Wall Street Journal found out) who founded Wigle Whiskey, to chat about launching an artisanal brand and sample his craft.

brandchannel: How important is branding in the whiskey business?

Mark Meyer: Branding is extremely important. Unlike wine, people seem to develop a loyalty to certain brands of whiskey. One of the reasons we decided to start our distillery is because Western Pennsylvania was once the home of American Whiskey. Whiskey is very much a part of the history and culture of Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania.Continue reading...

Islamic law forbids the use of alcohol — and that means about a quarter of the world's population cannot enjoy the taste of whisky. At least not until now.

Enter ArKay — the world's first alcohol-free whisky-flavored beverage that has been halal-certified (halal signifies the substance in permissible under Islamic law).

The brand came about when a group of friends were drinking and sharing ideas, according to Zeshan Ahmed, VP of Sales for Arkay Beverages. "They felt there was a hole in the beverage market that needed to be filled with something like this," Ahmed told brandchannel. "They were looking for a flavor that would be well known and universal. The flavor of whisky came to mind. It took five years to develop the rich flavor and smell that is the trademark of ArKay."Continue reading...

Carnival Cruisers Thirsty for Thirstyfrog

Carnival Cruises is bringing its private-label draught beer ThirstyFrog Red, which was introduced on the Carnival Magic in May, to the rest of its fleet. Fifteen Carnival ships have already received kegs of the brew, with three more set to get them soon. The beer sells for $5.50 a glass and debuted in the Caribbean-themed RedFrog pub, the cruise line’s first. USA Today notes that Carnival may introduce the pub concept to other ships along with the beer.Continue reading...

Classy Coaster

If only this were more than a design concept. Designer David Riesenberg has come up with a “Ryesenberg” whiskey bottle (at right) with a detachable label that's intended to be produced from the actual barrel in which the whiskey is aged, The Dieline reports.

The wood from the barrel would be dried, pressed and silkscreened and removed to reveal the glass bottle embossed with the brand name. Each label is unique and (apparently) retains a slight wood-and-whiskey aroma.

Hopefully some smart distiller will wrap this idea around a real bottle of whiskey.Continue reading...

Get Ready-to-Drink with Jack Daniel’s

If mixing up a Jack and Coke is just too much trouble, Jack Daniel’s has come to the rescue.

It is coming out with a line of ready-to-drink mixers this month.

Flavors include Jack & Cola and Jack & Ginger, with Jack & Diet Cola to be released later in the month.

The new drinks are 5% ABV and the company claims that they are the first ready-to-drink beverages packaged in aluminium bottles.

After the jump: The devil and Jim Beam, German engineering meets Scots ingenuity, and Bulleit Bourbon shoots for Rye lovers.Continue reading...

The airport duty-free shop has long been a favored stop for whiskey lovers looking to stock up on high-end hooch tax-free.

Now Dublin Airport is providing even more incentive to do some spirits shopping in between flights with a premium pot still whiskey that will exclusively sold at its Irish Whiskey Collection store in Terminal 2.

Midleton distillery, best known internationally for producing the Jameson brand, released its 19-year-old single-cask Single Pot Still Irish whiskey to the airport shop to mark the terminal’s opening.

The whiskey, at cask strength (53.7% alcohol), was aged in an American bourbon barrel, a small piece of which is included with the whiskey. Only 200 bottles are being produced, retailing for €260 ($354).Continue reading...

While it’s certainly nothing new for alcohol brands to set up their own bars, it is a bit of a twist for a bar to set up its own alcohol brand.

That’s exactly what Kieran Folliard, owner of four Irish pubs in Minneapolis, has done. According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Folliard has long claimed that his bar the Local sells more Jameson than anywhere else in the world. But now he’s having his own whiskey made at Cooley, Ireland's last independent distillery (and the oldest distillery in the world).

Known for its own Kilbeggan label, the distillery (above) will produce and ship Folliard's private whiskey to America, bottling it under the name of 2 Gingers to sell at his bars, and possibly to eventually release to wider distribution.Continue reading...