Tony Loeb

🍸 The World Cocktail Championship (WCC) 2024 in Portugal introduces "Oriental Fusion" with baijiu-based cocktails and the "Market Challenge" celebrating Madeira's botanical richness. The event maintains five mixology categories and includes a Flair competition sponsored by Monin. Finals occur on November 3, with live streaming by the International Bartenders Association (IBA). Almost 70 nations participate, with Nigeria and Senegal debuting, reflecting mixology's global diversity. Giorgio Fadda, current IBA president, emphasizes the event's showcase of talent and mixology culture.

🍫 Gay-Odin, a Neapolitan artisanal chocolate maker since 1894, won silver at the Pentawards 2024 in London on October 25, for Brand Identity & Connected Packaging with their “Re-design Projects”. The international competition, started in 2007, attracts participants from over 90 countries. Gay-Odin's new visual identity, developed with the creative team at Antville, features a digitalized original logo from the 1920s, Prussian Blue color, and recyclable materials, celebrated for enhancing brand storytelling and experience across all touchpoints.

🏖️ VisitPortugal launched “Portugal is Art”, an international campaign spread across nine key markets via digital media, social media, and connected TVs. The campaign highlights the country's unique cultural dimension in daily life and experiences, emphasizing the blend of creativity, historical reinterpretation, cultural celebrations, and the intersection of styles and eras. It also focuses on the balance between sacred art and wellness, with contemplative spaces promoting inner peace and spirituality beyond religious confines, exemplified by journeys like the Camino de Santiago.

🏠 Etna Doc, the first wine denomination established in Sicily in 1968 and among the first in Italy, covers a 1,500-hectare vineyard across 20 municipalities and 133 districts. The Consorzio di Tutela Vini Etna Doc unites 220 companies, 90% of the production sector, with an annual average production of 6 million bottles. 60% of these are destined for export, mainly to the US, Canada, Switzerland, and the UK. The Consorzio has recently decided to limit growth by capping new vineyard registrations, allowing a maximum expansion of 50 hectares per year for the next three years, with individual companies only able to apply for one hectare each. This measure follows a decade of doubling vineyard extensions and aims to preserve the denomination's value, mirroring past decisions by territories like Barolo and Brunello. Currently, 20% of DOC Etna's producers are young people, double the Italian average, indicating a trend of returning to ancestral lands for cultivation.

🍻 Laphroaig distillery, founded in 1815 on Islay, unveils the 'Strong Characters' series, celebrating its iconic global status as a best-selling Islay single malt. The first release, Laphroaig 33 yo, honors co-founder Donald Johnston, aged for 33 years in American oak and ex-sherry European oak barrels. Illustrated by British artist Bill Bragg, the release is limited, priced at 900€, available in Italy from late November. Similarly, Laphroaig 30 yo, aged for 30 years and embodying the brand's distinct profile, will retail for 750€. An exclusive event on October 24 in Milan introduced these new Limited Editions. Stock Spirits Italia, founded in 1884, distributes Laphroaig under Suntory Global Spirits, known for its premium liquor brands.