Hope for the New Year

Well readers, winter is coming, and we have almost reached year’s end with 2021 just visible on the horizon. For many of us this will be have been the most challenging year we’ll have faced yet, but as ever, we are all adaptable to new realities, and focus on the future and new possibilities drives us forward. The November news cycle was as busy as it has every been, from the US Presidential election, to Brexit, to warnings of economic downturn, unemployment, and business insolvency dominating the headlines, presenting a rather bleak outlook. Yet the announcement of not one but three Covid-19 vaccines within weeks of each other was the hope we all needed that this, too, shall pass.

Sifting through our main news updates for November, again I was struck by how the industry continues to expand, innovate, and drive forwards despite huge challenges. What also struck me was how rapidly certain things have developed so quickly over a year, a year when one would assume they would slow down. As drinking alcohol has had to shift from the public to the private domain, it would seem consumers’ habits and tastes have adapted to this, and will likely stay this way. We reported in November of a rapid rise in no or low-alcohol canned cocktails and mixers, a result of the initial UK closing of all bars and restaurants, but also of increased awareness of health and wellbeing.

Concurrently, it would surprise many American readers that the hard seltzer, with White Claw being of notoriety, hard scarcely been heard of across the pond 12 months ago. Following its UK market launch, Kopparberg, Mike’s, and Brewdog fiercely marketed their own varieties in this new beverage arena, targeting home drinkers with sales predicted to soar as they have in the US market. I would observe that this has in part been driven by the rise of the involuntary housebound, and calorie conscious consumer.

As a new senior reporter at Canmaking News I’m sure I will be in touch over the coming weeks to find out your news, I look forward to meeting each and every single one of you once we’re all back to normal.

James Gittings

Senior Reporter

james@canmakingnews.com