"Our focus has always been on building and scaling brands that stand out in their category and resonate with consumers," said Phil Rosse, CEO, The Mark Anthony Group of Companies. "Long Drink has already established strong momentum and a clear point of difference in the RTD space, and we see a meaningful opportunity to build on that success by expanding its reach and bringing it to more consumers."
Sukari Spirits positions itself as an originator and innovator of all-natural, ultra-premium spirits, with a focus on clean formulations and elevated drinking rituals.
Diageo's dividend situation has deteriorated sharply, with a rebased interim payout of $0.20 per share and a new policy establishing a minimum annual floor of $0.50, indicating a focus on debt reduction over income.
Visitors have noted a bar stocked with notable spirits including Macallan M, Louis X, Last Drop Whisky, and Pappy van Winkle 23. One specialty are bourbon flights with several noteworthy bottles presented at once for sampling.
Mizunara is the third release in the distillery's Oak Masters' Series, which also includes White Oak and White Oak 24-Year-Old expressions. Mizunara is native to Japan's northern island of Hokkaido. It's an extremely rare oak and quite difficult to work with because it's very porous, making it difficult to craft into casks. But the effort is almost always worth it, as the oak brings out sandalwood, incense, floral and even tropical notes.
Along with the challenges of operating any new business, making good bourbon takes time and expert craftsmanship. It's for this reason that many new "distilleries" aren't distilleries at all (non-distilling producers, blenders, rectifiers). Instead, they source bourbon and then sell it as their own. That's not inherently a bad thing, as some expertly blend whiskey or add extra maturation to create a genuinely impressive bourbon, but there is a clear difference.
If you are new to whiskey, the barrel a whiskey ages in matters almost as much as the liquid itself. Black Cask whisky is aged only in American oak barrels that previously held bourbon, a choice that tends to create flavors many U.S. drinkers already recognize, such as vanilla and caramel, characterized by a gentle sweetness.
Following what was a period of high sales and rapid expansion, the market is contracting for a number of reasons. Alcohol consumption has declined in recent years, for one thing, but international response to U.S. tariffs has also hit bourbon sales hard, with exports of the liquor dropping significantly in 2025. Many icons of American whiskey have been affected, with Brown-Forman - parent company to Jack Daniel's, Woodford Reserve, and Old Forester, among others - laying off a significant portion of its workforce.
The U.S. spirits landscape has evolved far beyond the recognition of simply being the birthplace of bourbon. In recent years, we've seen a transformation in both the quality and individuality that the country's craft distilleries have been able to produce. While previous decades were dominated by the big-name distilleries, far more awards are going to craft distillers who have mastered the art of producing high-quality whiskeys, rums, gins, and more.
As a professional bartender with years of behind-the-bar experience, I've tasted, mixed, and served my fair share of spirits - from obscure craft distilleries to globally recognized icons. Over time, I've noticed a recurring pattern: certain brands achieve fame, hype, or luxury pricing that their actual liquid rarely justifies. That's what I mean by "overrated." For the purposes of this article, an overrated brand is one that is sought-after, valued, or frequently discussed, yet, in terms of aroma, flavor, or overall drinking experience, fails to live up to its popularity, demand, or price point.
With Bruichladdich, we've built it up over the years by experimenting with barley and grains and being unpeated. And with Octomore, you've got extreme heat and a concept that shouldn't work. But Port Charlotte was actually us getting back into peated whiskey when we reopened in 2001. Everyone was keen to make peated whiskey again, because if you go back to our history, around the 1950s and early '60s, it would have been heavily peated.
Growing numbers of Scottish spirits producers are showing signs of financial strain as weakening export demand, rising costs and trade barriers squeeze margins across the sector. Research by restructuring specialist BTG Begbies Traynor found that 69 Scottish distillers were facing "significant" or "critical" financial distress at the end of the year, up from 49 in the previous quarter. According to the Scotch Whisky Association,
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