Bin ends from db

 the drinks business presents this week’s round up of wine, beer, spirits and other related news items.

Click through our highlights from news sites and social media across the world.

Wine news

• The Times reports that saboteurs have accidentally destroyed €700,000 worth of French wine, believing it to be an imported Spanish red.
• Kent Online asks why the county is so attractive to winegrowers, following the recent planting of Taittinger’s first vines on English soil.
• The Victorian Wine Industry Development Strategy outlines key measures to cultivate Victoria’s wine boom.
• There are reports of wild fires in South Africa, with Iona Wines losing its newly planted Nebbiolo vineyard. the drinks business will provide updates next week.
• And finally, London Wine Week runs until Sunday 11 June. Follow @DrinkUpLDN on Twitter and use the hashtag #LWW17. 

Beer news

• Brooklyn brewery have released a ‘gender-neutral’ beer in support of New York’s Pride Week.
• A Manhattan bar ‘baptises’ regulars after they’ve tried 50 different types of beer at the watering hole.
• Italian monks in the town of Norcia in Umbria have released a special ‘earthquake beer’ to symbolise the town’s recovery from the natural disaster that struck last year.
• Portland brewery, Baerlic Brewing Company are using bikes to help make low-carbon beer.
• San Francisco start-up, Pubinno, has created smart taps that aim to pour the perfect beer with every serve.
• RateBeer, an online beer community, is facing scrutiny from craft brewers after it was announced that AB InBev had taken a minority stake in the company.
• Jason Notte reveals craft brewers’ latest problem – drinkers want weaker beers.
• The Maine Brewers’ Guild has sent a 40-foot refrigerated shipping container filled with beer, branded ‘the world’s largest kegerator’, to Iceland.

Spirits news

• Researchers have created a ‘synthetic tongue‘ to help identify counterfeit whisky.
• TV chef Nigella Lawson reportedly gargles tequila to ward off the flu.
• A Macclesfield cheese company has developed what it believes to be the ‘world’s first gin flavoured cheese’ made in partnership with Forest Gin.
• Sipsmith are delivering gin to Londoners in a branded black cab to celebrate World Gin Day, advising gin lovers to hail the taxi using social media.
• The global market for flavoured spirits is continuing to decline, according to recent research.

Other news

• The southern Indian state of Kerala has eased its ban on the sale and consumption of alcohol.
• Kaiser Chiefs’ Ricky Wilson reveals his Champagne themed ‘most rock n’ roll travel experience.’
• If look young for your age, you could be getting paid to buy alcohol.
• Jersey calls for changes to its alcohol licensing laws.
• A brand has developed an array of wine and cocktail flavoured lollipops.
• Reports of horse meat, fake alcohol and ‘secret’ pork found at various food and drink establishments in Kent.