I Doubt They'll Have it on Draught at Shea Stadium: Hall of Fame pitcher Tom Seaver has been getting plenty of press the last few months for his GTS Winery, craved out of a slope on Diamond Mountain overlooking the Napa Valley. Seaver's boutique winery is small and will produce just one type of wine: cabernet sauvignon. The first wine is in barrels at the moment and is set to be released in 2008.
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How Much is a Ticket to London?: To promote the 25th anniversary of the Good Pub Guide, a required guide for good beer fans in the United Kingdom, pubs around Britain will be selling beer at 1982 prices next week. That means a pint will cost around $1.20, instead of the current average of $4.45. Pubs will also slash prices for traditional pub grub. There are around 60,000 pubs in Britain, but no word on how many plan to take part in the promotion.
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U.K. Keg Shortage: British tabloids are fanning fears that pubs could run out of beer during the holiday season because kegs are being lost or stolen. According to the reports, a million of the steel containers are lost annually.
Brewers are blaming theives who are reselling the kegs as scrap metal. The thieves can get $30.50 per keg, while it costs brewers $105 to replace them. It often takes up to six months for foreign-made kegs to be delivered.
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Have the English Gone Soft?: British drinkers are increasingly turning away from lagers such as Stella Artois and Beck’s, which contain about 5% alcohol, to sister brands with less alcohol. Brewers are rushing new products to market to meet the demand for these less potent brews. Beck’s Green Lemon, a citrus-flavoured beer containing 2.5 percent alcohol, and Bud Silver, a 4 percent beer in a pint bottle with a handle, are about to join Peeterman Artois, Beck’s Vier and Carling's C2, a 2 percent lager. In Ireland, Guinness Mid-Strength, a 2.8% version of its stout, is said to be doing well.
Other brewers have reduced the alcohol content of their leading brands. Both Tennents and Old Speckled Hen are now just 4.5 percent alcohol by volume.
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Never Shaken, Never Stirred: In the upcoming installment of the James Bond movie series, Casino Royale, media reports are that the signature vodka martini is being dropped in favor of Heineken lager. The new 007, Daniel Craig, will order a Heineken as part of promotional deal signed with the brewer.
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Italian Winemakers Want to Can Paris: Italian prosecco makers are protesting a new canned brand of the sparkling wine called Rich that is being promoted by Paris Hilton. The vintners claim that Rich makes a mockery of Italian sparkling wine and goes against regulations which prohibit canned prosecco from being sold in Italy. Rich is being exported to other European markets, but the competing vintners say the canned version will hurt consumer attitudes toward all prosecco. Prosecco comes from Italy's Veneto vineyard region.
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Russians Hoisting a Few:: The beer market in Russia is expected to climbed by 4 to 6 percent in 2006, according to the Russian Brewers' Union. Beer volume in 2005 was up 6 percent.
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Fetzer Goes to Germany for New Riesling: Two German growing regions, the Mosel-Saar-Ruwer and the Rheinhessen, are supplying grapes for a new Fetzer Valley Oaks Riesling. The wine is an off-dry riesling, similar to Fetzer’s California Riesling. The German riesling will allow Fetzer to meet rising demand for this varietal, which has been steadily increasing with each vintage. The wine is priced at $8.99 per bottle and is now available in 13 states.
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