Info for this newsletter has been culled from a number of sources. Wherever applicable we will include an acknowledgement / link to the source material. We intend to give you this update at a monthly interval.

Shaw Wallace plans to enter the Rs. 18,000 crore country liquor market with a view to add to its product portfolio and boost revenues. They are targeting Rs. 300-500 crores in the first year of operation.

Cobra Beer, anticipates that they will be bottled locally from the 2nd half of 2004 onwards. This would be via an arrangement with a local brewery. They also are planning to set up a greenfield brewery at the earliest. This marks full circle for Cobra, who began by brewing at Mysore breweries and exporting to England and then moved all production to England itself. Cobra has also introduced some innovative new packaging with the story of Cobra beer told via icons, engraved on the bottle.

Dubai based operator Flamengo, has got the license to operate the duty free stores at 6 airports in India. Not Mumbai and Delhi, because none of the operators have bid for these markets. LVMH has also been invited to open duty free outlets at Delhi and Mumbai outlet.

With the advent of the BJP government in MP, the sale of liquor and non-veg food has been banned in Maheshwar, Amarkantak and notified areas of Ujjain. These areas would be declared as "holy cities" or "pavitra nagars"

Heritage hotels and free standing restaurants in India have now also been permitted duty free import of alcoholic beverages (upto 5% of their export earnings) provided that they have Rs. 30 lakh in forex earnings over the last 3 years. The budget has also decreased import duties from 166% to 150% and allowed Indians to bring in upto 2 litres of liquor, duty free.

The recent move by the West Bengal government to raise license fees more than 20 times has led to not more than a few outlets renewing their license. Expect prices to rise sharply in Kolkata. No more will Olypub be that nice, cheap place to hang out! Meanwhile in Delhi, more than 20 F&B outlets are waiting for their liquor licenses to be awarded. The only bright spot appears to be the impending permission for the retail of foreign brands in the Delhi market.

Bangalore based Amrut Distilleries is all set to launch Amrut Single Malt Indian whiskey in Europe. As per the EU law, to be recognised as whiskey, the product must be made from cereal and matured for 3 years, which condition Amrut meets. Amrut will begin test marketing the product in March.
Log on to http://www.business-standard.com/archives/2004/jan/50140104.016.asp for more details

Hot on the heels of the launch of their regular vodka, Fling, Seagrams has launched two flavoured variants, Hot (Peach vodka) and Wild (Blackcurrant). One hears from the market that Smirnoff Twist, the citrus variant has not exactly set the Ganges on fire.

Forget the red carpet! At this years Grammy's, which are the Music industry's biggest awards, Heineken will be rolling out a green carpet for the stars (and making their rivals turn green!)

"Some age, others mature" will be the slogan to advertise Dewar's 12 year old accompanied by shots of the young Sean Connery (as 007?) and current shots.

Penderyn is the name and it's a premium Single Malt from the Gwalia Distillery in Wales. The Welsh are going to use the spelling Whisky, rather than Whiskey for their Scotch. For more news visit Decanter.com

Blended from honeydew, cantaloupe and watermelon flavors (delicious!) is the new Melon vodka from Skyy which is rolling out in the US. Now that's a thought for you Fling. Apparently flavoured vodka accounts for 20% of the vodka market in the US.

Diageo has announced the launch of a new advertising campaign for Smirnoff called "Get out". This is part of a global branding effort to encourage Smirnoff customers to live life to the fullest.

In 1911, Budweiser and Budvar (from Budweis) agreed to divide the world in two. Confused? Visit http://www.brandchannel.com/features_effect.asp?id=191 to know more.

Deepak Chaudhuri will spearhead Shaw Wallace push into the country liquor market. Ajhay Modgil leaves Bacardi for Shaw Wallace. Aniruddha Sinha joins Seagram as Marketing Manager for Fling. Aftek Infosys CEO, Ranjit Dhuru has set up a vineyard in Nashik called Chateau d'Ori and he expects to roll out half a million bottles by 2005.

Tulleeho introduces wine tourism in the country via initially trips to Grover Vineyards near Bangalore and later to Sula Wines and other vineyards in the Nashik region - www.tulleeho.com/training/winetrail/winetrail.htm Tulleeho also launches day long wine appreciation workshops for consumers in Mumbai in association with Sula Wines - www.tulleeho.com/winexp/wineexperience.htm

Tullee fact: The world of liquor and journalism have come together in an interesting way as journalist Om Malik has coined a new phrase for the phenomenon of independent, expert online journalists - "micro-pubs".

Tulleeho is a marketing and technology services provider for the alcoholic beverage and related sectors. To know more about what we do log on to www.tulleeho.com/about_us.asp

Tull-ee-ho! : A combination of the old hunting cry Tally Ho! and the colloquial Hindi word "tullee" (used both as verb and noun, and signifying a state of inebriation).

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