Columnists: Industry leader opinions

AFL PARTNERSHIP

Simon Strahan is the Chief Executive Officer of DrinkWise.

Australians love to socialise, and attending events takes up much of our recreation time. Through the ‘You won’t miss a moment if you DrinkWise’ initiative, DrinkWise continues to establish new partnerships and enhance existing relationships with industry, sporting codes and music festivals, to remind consumers about the importance of moderation at events. 2019 is the third consecutive year of our partnership with the AFL. This partnership, which includes ownership of the DrinkWise Score Review, allows us to promote responsible attitudes and behaviours towards alcohol consumption via messaging at grounds and during telecasts. The DrinkWise Score Review will be supported by on-ground signage, messaging in the Footy Record and placement of our ‘Unmissable Moments’ ad series with AFL greats Eddie Betts, Damien Hardwick and Nick Riewoldt. The partnership goes beyond messaging, with both the AFL and DrinkWise working on strategies to improve crowd behaviour at games, to ensure an enjoyable and family-friendly experience for all spectators. Our partnership with the AFL will also enable DrinkWise to promote our moderation messaging at the Red Centre AFL game in Alice Springs - an annual AFL tradition which showcases indigenous talent while raising awareness and understanding of cultural and social issues in the Northern Territory.

WITH LOVE FOR THE NEGRONI

Stuart Gregor is the President of the Australian Distillers Association (ADA) and co-founder of Four Pillars Gin.

This month’s column will be a little selfindulgent, but this month is Negroni Month and it’s my favourite drink. Period. 2019 marks the centenary of the moment Count Camillo Negroni walked into the Caffe Casoni near the Ponte Vecchio in Florence and asked for his regular Americano (sweet Vermouth and Campari with soda on top) to be souped up a little by replacing the soda with something a little more fortissimo, like gin. Thus was born the Negroni. Soon everyone wanted what Negroni was drinking. Today the Negroni stands tall as a global classic and a drink that in many ways is a beachhead for the craft cocktail revolution. In just five or 10 short years it has become something of a signal from drinkers to other drinkers, and from bars to their consumers, that they take their drinks seriously. I mean if you can’t make a decent Negroni then you really have no hope as a bartender or a venue. The classic is still the best. One part of your favourite gin, one part Campari and one part your favourite sweet vermouth. Stir with ice, add an orange slice and BOOM – you have a drink so delicious it should almost be a crime . . . in fact it WAS a crime to drink one after midnight in Sydney until just a couple of months ago, but that’s a story for another time . . . So go get yourself a Negroni from one of your favourite bars this month. Ask for your favourite Aussie gin to give it a local twist and toast the great Count Negroni for his moment of genius in 1919.

ASSISTING LIQUOR RETAIL NAVIGATE THE GROWTH IN CRAFT BEER

Julie Ryan is Chief Executive Officer of Retail Drinks Australia.

With an estimated total value of $675 million, the craft beer sector has increased its share of total beer by more than five times since 2010 (Source: IRi MarketEdge, AU Liquor Weighted, MAT to 03/03/19). As at June 2018 the craft sector consists of a huge 547 independent breweries and with significant growth recorded over the last three years (Source: IBA 2018 Annual Report) and continued growth likely, it is a category gathering the attention of all of industry. Whilst it is clear that consumers are expressing a strong demand for highquality craft beers, the increasing popularity of the craft sector, and the ever-increasing number of brands, also highlights the importance for retail in having a well-developed strategy in place to respond to consumers’ evolving preferences. Whilst demand and interest in craft is booming, the knowledge of consumers has not yet caught up. Liquor retail looking to optimise sales in craft need to make the category approachable, exploratory and fun – not confusing or intimidating. A liquor retailer succeeding in capturing their share of growth in this category will need to connect meaningful data on trending, with expert advice on how to develop an overall beer strategy to inform product selection, placement and promotion. This is exactly what Retail Drinks will deliver in its ‘Category Immersion’ sessions at its Retail Drinks National Expo & Awards in October this year. Members will be given the opportunity to attend masterclasses that connect data driven insights with industry expertise from category leaders, to educate on formation and execution of a successful craft and mainstream beer strategy.

CALL OUT AUSTRALIAN CRAFT CIDER ON RETAIL SHELVES

Sam Reid is the President of Cider Australia and co-owner of Wille Smith’s.

At Willie Smith’s, we’ve had an off year with our cider apples which means we are getting less cider apples per tree than we did last year, known in the fruit industry as bi-annual bearing. This certainly isn’t a problem for us as we have been planting and grafting more and more orchards each year so we’re left with the same amount of cider fruit as last year’s harvest. It’s definitely something we’re going to have to put some thinking into as we progress down the path of our goal of introducing Cider Apples to the mainstream drinkers around Australia. Also worth noting is recent data that showed the volume of the cider category in the off-premise, declined approximately 5 per cent in 2018 which is not a great a result (Aztec Data Nov 18). On the flipside the category value declined less than 0.5 per cent as most of this decline came from the big three brands in the market place. This tells me that we are finally beginning to see the impact of the more premium and higher value Australian craft ciders begin to influence the market place. Now more than ever it’s important for retailers to segment their cider categories, calling out Australian craft cider with its own section on shelf. This will obviously help drinkers trade up to Australian craft cider and importantly maintain, and hopefully grow category value. For anyone who would like to know more about this initiative please contact Cider Australia directly for our Category Strategy. Lastly, tickets are now on sale to the Aus Cider 2019, in Hobart this year from the 2nd – 5th of June. Check out the Cider Australia website for details: www.cideraustralia.org.au

CONSUMER RIGHTS WRONGED

Brett Heffernan is the CEO of the Brewers Association of Australia.

Can you believe that Australia’s federal and state governments are actively seeking to prevent consumers making informed choices? The consumer’s right to know is supposed to be paramount, right? Well, apparently not. In a bizarre twist on consumer rights, Food Safety Australia and New Zealand (FSANZ) is investigating whether the factual, scientifically proven information about sugar and carbohydrate content in all alcohol products should be banned from labels and marketing materials. We know there is growing interest among consumers wanting to understand what is in alcohol products – specifically sugar, carbohydrates and calories. The IRI Liquor Trends Series – “Trending ‘better for you’ attributes in liquor products”, in September 2018 stated “60 per cent of respondents say nutritional panel information displayed on products affects purchases. The information most wanted on alcohol labels 1. Sugar (77 per cent), 2. Carbohydrate (52 per cent) 3. Calorie (47 per cent).” It’s not rocket science. Consumers want to make informed personal decisions about the sugar and carbohydrate content of the products they consume. Denying them that information and the ability to make informed choices is counter-intuitive to everything we reasonably expect about consumer rights. If this silly and pedantic over-regulation gets approval, it will come with cascading costs. We’re talking hundreds of millions of dollars in extra costs for a change that denies the public information they are actively seeking. It makes absolutely no sense. The full Brewers Association of Australia submission to the FSANZ review is available at: https://www.brewers.org.au/

SOUTH AUSTRALIAN CDS REVIEW

Tony Battaglene is the Chief Executive of Australian Grape & Wine.

Australian Grape and Wine Inc. (Australian Grape & Wine) remains focused on the review of South Australia’s Container Deposit Scheme (CDS). Managed by South Australia’s EPA, the review raises the possibility of expanding the scope of the CDS to include wine bottles. So why is this an issue for wine producers, when recycling is a positive environmental process? It’s simple - wine containers make up approximately 0.04% of Australia’s litter stream, because it is mostly consumed on premise or at home, and the containers are captured in the curb-side recycled waste collections. Including wine containers in the CDS would present a significant cost to wine businesses, but provide little-to-no benefit to the environment, recycling rates or the public litter stream. But it will present real costs to all wine businesses, particularly to those small, family owned businesses, of which is the majority of Australian wine businesses. They will have to not only pay the monthly bill, but also develop systems to deal with the red-tape of registering each SKU, reporting against their new obligations and wading through the rest of the administrative paperwork that will inevitably flow from such a change. For those outside of SA, what should concern you is that including wine bottles in South Australia’s CDS could set a precedent for other state and territory governments to follow - amplifying the costs to Australian wine businesses. Australian Grape & Wine made a formal submission to the review in February and is holding meetings with a number of South Australian politicians to make sure the views of wine businesses are heard loud and clear.