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...

Beer has long been seen as the drink of choice of armchair quarterbacks rather than world-class athletes, but German beer maker Erdinger is looking to change that.

The brand has made inroads in its quest to sell nonalcoholic beer as a sports drink in Europe and hopes to eventually convince Americans as well that alcohol-free beer is just the right refreshment for after a workout.Continue reading...

Sam Adams Makes Sure Men Get Their Valentine Love Too

Valentine’s Day mostly seems to be about making women happy, but what about letting men feel the love too? Samuel Adams and FromYouFlowers.com want to make it easy with the Hoppy Valentine’s Day gift basket which actually does include flowers (Bavarian Noble hops in a “collectible glass hexagon jar”) along with pint glasses and goodies including cheese, salami, dark chocolate and nuts.

Apparently, the way to a man’s heart really is through his stomach. Beer sold separately.Continue reading...

In a new campaign that merges a Tom Waits video with Being John Malkovich, Jim Beam's new "Bold Choice" campaign and tagline launched on US cable channels this week. The first TV commercial, "Parallels," stars actor Willem Dafoe in an array of guises (above) including fashion designer and sumo wrestler. Check out the longer spot for online after the jump.Continue reading...

In a revolutionary development that promises to be a boon to thirsty beer drinkers everywhere, a new company has come out with a machine that pours draft beer almost as quickly as you can grab a bottled beer out of the fridge.

The Bottoms Up system from GrinOn Industries, based in Montesano, WA, uses magnets on the bottom of special cups that unseal to let the beer in from the bottom and reseal once the cup is full.

The machine can fill a whopping 56 beers in a minute. In a nice marketing twist, the magnets that are used to seal the cups can be printed with any logo, creating a takeaway for beer drinkers.Continue reading...

One of the more promising product segments of late has been store brands, also known as private-label products, driven by consumer demand for value. Last October, a Consumer Reports study indicated that store brands can save consumers as much as 30 percent over brand name products — a welcome relief for the recession-weary.

The latest entries in the store brands category will test a market that has been largely untapped, so to speak: value-priced beer.Continue reading...

To Infinity and Beyond – and Beer

Space is the final frontier — and although space tourism is in its infancy, there may come a day when Spring Break is spent on a space ship rather than on a beach. There’s just one problem: It's difficult to drink beer in space.

As Vostok Space Beer explains on its website, “First, the sense of taste is reduced due to mild swelling of the tongue. Second, drinking beers can be uncomfortable – bubbles do not rise to the top, because there is no “top” in space. So if you have to burp, you will burp both beer and bubbles.” Well, that is a problem.

Luckily, Vostok, a joint venture between Saber Astronautics Australia and the 4-Pines Brewing Company, is on it, developing a beer that can be drunk in “microgravity and on Earth. “ The recipe is based on a stout and Vostok has contracted with Astronauts4Hire to test the beer in weightlessness onboard a series of parabolic flights. Meanwhile, the beer is available for purchase on Earth at retail locations in Australia. Here’s to the future!Continue reading...

In the most populous country in the world, Johnnie Walker is launching a massive digital and social media campaign focusing on individuality and celebrating modern-day pioneers in China.

The campaign, which ties into the whisky’s “Keep Walking” theme, is called “Yulu” (“Words of a Journey”) and features mini documentaries on leaders in business and the arts, from Zhou YunPeng, a blind folk singer and poet, to Xiao Peng, entrepreneur and founder of 1rest.com.

The subjects of these high-quality documentaries are certainly not shilling Johnnie Walker – the whisky isn’t mentioned at all by them – but rather, they are part of building a brand associated with following one’s dreams.Continue reading...