Over 5 bottles of Cognac are sold around the world every second.
Shipments of Cognac during 2011 exceeded the previous annual record by reaching 455,958 hectolitres of pure alcohol, equivalent to162.9 million bottles.
 
Sales exceeded 2 billion Euros.
The rise in volume was accompanied by an increase in the shipments of higher quality Cognacs (XO up by 15.3% and VSOP up by 7.9% over the year), resulting in a substantial increase in turnover that now exceeds 2 billion Euros. 
 
Balance of Cognac markets across the world

• The Far East*, representing 35.8% of the world market in volume (+14.4% during 2011), is dominated by higher categories of Cognac and confirmed its position as Cognac’s biggest market in volume and value. China, in particular, saw yet another surge in consumption. Growth of 20.1% over the year put the total number of bottles sold in China at 22.6 million.

• NAFTA*, accounting for 31.2% of the world market in volume, continues to be buoyant. The region showed an increase of 3.2% in 2011 in comparison to 2010 and the USA remains the single biggest importer of Cognac in the world. The country brought in 48.4 million bottles in 2011. 
   
• Europe*, with 28.8% of the word market in volume, remains stable.

Cognac professionals are thrilled by these results, which confirm the appellation’s vitality in the face of today’s uncertain economic and financial times.
 
According to the BNIC, all those involved in the production of Cognac are delighted at the excellent results for the AOC in 2011 but remain vigilant as to the future, given the current economic and financial uncertainties.

Ring in the New Year by hosting your own New Year’s Eve party, but don’t drop the ball! “America’s CEO- Chief Entertaining Officer” from Brown-Forman, Tim Laird, has several tips to help you ring in the New Year with ease and style!

New Year’s Eve is synonymous with champagne.

More than half of all champagne sales occur just a few days prior to New Year’s Eve. 

But, we should enjoy champagne all year round and not just save it for a special occasion!

1. How Champagne is made
2. Types of Champagne
3. How to open a bottle of Champagne
4. Glassware
5. Champagne Cocktails
6. Alcohol-Free Sparkling drinks
7. Food pairings with Champagne
8. Storing your Champagne

How Champagne is made in the traditional French style called Methode Champenoise

The primary grapes in Champagne have been Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.  These grapes are picked at a little higher acid level for Champagne than what is used for table wines.  This is because they will go through a secondary fermentation.  The grapes are pressed for the juices and yeast is added to begin the fermentation process.  Once the juice is fermented (now a wine) the wine goes into bottles and additional yeast is added then corked.  The wine goes through a second fermentation where Co2 is created as a by-product and that gets captured in the bottle as bubbles.  This takes anywhere from 18 to 24 Months.  The bottles are then “riddled” or turned often to move the yeast cells down into the neck of the bottle.  Once the yeast has finally all died and are at the neck, the bottles are ready for disgorging and dosed.  Disgorging is freezing the neck so the yeast hardens, then the cork is pulled and the dead yeast flies out under pressure along with a little of the Champagne.  The Champagne is then topped off or “dosage” as it is called with a mixture of sugar blended with mature wine. 

Note that inexpensive sparkling wines put the wine through a second fermentation in large tanks or artificially inject Co2. 

Types of Champagne

Champagne is rated by varietals designation or style of the champagne.  The traditional styles are Brut, Extra Dry, Sec and Demi Sec.  These are rated on level of sweetness.  Brut is the driest or lack of sugar followed by Extra Dry which is a little sweeter then Sec and Demi Sec that are even sweeter.  Note that there are also Asti’s which are traditionally sweet and come from the Asti Region of Italy. Brut is the largest selling type in the US.  Champagne houses also produce a “house” style and can call it by their own designation.  Korbel has “Natural” as their house Champagne.

Grape types are also designated such as Chardonnay or Shiraz.  Other types speak to the color and grape such as Blanc de Noir (white with red), Blanc de Blanc (white on white) Brut Rose (dry with a touch of red). 

Try different styles and see which ones you like.  The most popular styles are Brut followed by Extra Dry.

How to open a bottle of Champagne

Since many are intimidated with opening a bottle of champagne due to the pressure (99 pounds per square inch- three times that of a car tire), here are some tips to open a bottle of champagne just like the pro’s, so you can save it for sipping and not spraying!

Five Easy Steps to Open a Bottle of Champagne:

1. Chill the bottle for at least four hours in the refrigerator.

2. Remove the foil cap covering the top of the bottle, exposing a wire hood.

3. Undo wire hood with six half-turns of the knob.

4. Hold bottle at a 45º angle, with a towel in hand. Grasp the cork tightly and slowly twist the bottle with your other hand. (The big secret here is you twist the bottle, not the cork!)

5.  Ease cork off bottle letting off a small sigh while keeping the bottle at 45º angle for a moment (this lets the air in and helps keep the foam from overflowing the bottle).

Glassware for your Champagne:

Ban the Flute!

Note on glassware: there have been many discussions surrounding the type of glassware to use for champagne. Originally, the coupe or saucer-style glass was used. After many years it was then believed the wide opening would lead to too many bubbles escaping, making the champagne flat. Enter the flute, a long narrow glass which holds very little champagne. 

What glass to use? A white wine glass is perfect to multi-task for this job. It has a wider opening which is easy to pour into and drink from. It also allows plenty of space for added juices to make a flavorful champagne cocktail.  The white wine glass is much more stable than the flute and easier to clean. It does not make sense to start a whole new collection of glasses just for champagne when our white wine glass can answer the call of the bubbles!

Champagne Cocktails

The Champagne Cocktail: Drop a sugar cube soaked with a dash of bitters into a champagne flute and fill with Korbel

The Classic Mimosa:  Two ounces orange juice 4 ounces Korbel

Beyond the Mimosa:  Add two ounces of your favorite juice and top with Korbel.  Juices could include pineapple, cranberry, passion fruit, tangerine or any other slightly sweet juices.  Entertaining tip:  Set out juice stations so your guests can make their own sparkling toppers.  Include lemon lime and club soda for alcohol free versions 

Sparkling Cosmo:  2 ounces cranberry juice, splash of sweet and sour and triple sec fill with Korbel

Kir Royal:  In Champagne flute pour 1 ounce Chambord Raspberry Liqueur and top with Korbel

Korbel Lava Lamp:  To a glass of Korbel, add a splash of pomegranate juice with several pomegranate seeds.  The seeds will continue to float up and down the drink. 

Sparkling Raspberry Punch: (PHOTO ATTACHED)

Two 750-ml bottles of Korbel Brut champagne

Two tablespoons superfine sugar

One pint raspberries

Juice of ½ lime

Dash of Angostura bitters

In a punch bowl, combine all ingredients. Add a block of ice and serve immediately.

Serves 12

Holiday Sparkler:

In a white wine glass, add five ounces Korbel Brut champagne and one ounce melon liqueur. Garnish with red raspberries.

Alcohol-Free Sparkling Drinks

Always be a good host and offer plenty of alcohol-free drinks and plenty of food.  New Year’s can also be celebrated with sparkling concoctions by offering exotic mixers and flavors. 

Use lemon lime soda or club soda as your sparkling base and make cocktails by adding exotic flavors and syrups.  These can include mango, pomegranate, peach, cherry, raspberry and others.  Offer fun garnishes such as blackberries, raspberries and peaches.

Food Pairings with Champagne

Note that almost any food pairs great with Champagne.  Salty items such as oysters and caviar do extremely well as a compliment to the Champagne. 

As a matter of fact, champagne pairs well with just about every food combination so consider champagne as your dinner accompaniment along with or instead of wine.

Recipe ideas for Holiday parties with Champagne

Shrimp in Pastry Cups

3 green onions, finely chopped (white and half the green part)

½ pound cooked shrimp, diced

¼ cup finely chopped red bell pepper

1 Tablespoon lemon juice

Toss ingredients together.  Spoon into store bought, bite size pastry shells.

Serves 4 to 6.

Beef Tenderloin Toasts  (PHOTO ATTACHED)

Slice baguette into ¼ inch slices, toast evenly on baking sheet with oven set to broil.  Watch carefully to make sure they don’t burn.  After a few minutes, flip and toast the other side.  Thinly slice cooked beef tenderloin.  Mix 1 Tablespoon prepared horseradish with 1 cup sour cream.  Place slice of beef on toasted baguette.  Add a small dollop of horseradish cream.  Garnish with very thinly sliced red pepper spear.

Storing leftover Champagne

If you have any leftover Champagne, simply put into refrigerator.  You can cap it with a “spark cap” but I’ve found that the bubbles will last at least for another day.  People also swear that an inverted metal spoon works as well. 

For the next day, any leftover Champagne will make a nice Mimosa for brunch!

Korbel reminds you to celebrate responsibly.

Introduction

This Guidance Note for responsible digital marketing communications is an integral part
of the Distilled Spirits Council’s Code of Responsible Practices for Beverage Alcohol
Advertising and Marketing and should be read in conjunction with its provisions.

The members of DISCUS recognize the increasingly important role of digital marketing
and believe it provides valuable and appropriate tools to reach adult consumers. As an
extension of our commitment to market our brands responsibly to adults and to respect
their privacy, we have developed additional principles relevant to digital marketing to
reach users of legal purchase age.

Digital marketing activities are in a stage of evolutionary development, where new trends
are likely to occur rapidly. This Guidance Note will therefore be reviewed on a regular
basis and updated whenever necessary.
Scope
The Guidance Note applies to branded digital marketing communications (paid and
unpaid) of DISCUS member companies, including but not limited to communications on
websites such as social network sites and blogs, as well as mobile communications and
applications.
Basic Principles
1. Digital marketing communications are intended for adults of legal purchase age.

2. Digital marketing communications should be placed only in media where at least
71.6% of the audience is reasonably expected to be of the legal purchase age.

3. Digital marketing communications on a site or web page controlled by the brand
advertiser that involve direct interaction with a user should require age affirmation
by the user prior to full user engagement of that communication to determine that
the user is of legal purchase age.

4. User-generated content on a site or web page controlled by the brand advertiser
must be monitored and moderated on a regular basis.

5. Digital marketing communications that are intended to be forwarded by users
should include instructions to individuals downloading the content that they should not forward these materials to individuals below the legal purchase age.

6. Digital marketing communications must respect user privacy.

7. Digital marketing communications and product promotions must be transparent as
brand marketing by being identified as such.
Definitions and Guidance to Implement Principles

1. Direct interaction is a two-way communication between the user and the brand
advertiser on a site or web page controlled by the brand advertiser. It occurs when
the user affirmatively interacts with the brand advertiser, such as responding to a
direct communication from the brand advertiser.

2. Age affirmation is a process or a mechanism by which users provide their full
date of birth (month, day and year) and, when appropriate, country of residence
to affirm they are of legal purchase age. Age affirmation mechanisms may vary
depending upon available technology and examples could include, among other
things, an age affirmation page, an email or instant messaging age affirmation, or
the use of a site’s “registered user” database of users of legal purchase age.

If a user enters a date of birth that indicates they are under the legal purchase
age, access to a member-controlled website should be denied and visitors
should be given an appropriate message and/or directed to an information
website on responsible drinking, such as those found at The Century Council’s
webitse (http://www.centurycouncil.org) or on the site itself.

3. User Generated Content (UGC) is material (including text, pictures, audios, and
videos) that has not been created by the brand advertiser, but by a user. UGC
that appears on a site or web page controlled by the brand advertiser should be
monitored each business day or, at a minimum, every five business days. When
content is determined to be inappropriate, the inappropriate material should be
removed promptly. A disclaimer should appear saying that all inappropriate
content generated by users will be removed from the site or web page over which
the brand advertiser has control.

4. “Forwardable” content is any branded digital content placed on a site in a
manner that is designed or enabled to be shared, such as with a share, download
or email “button click.” Such content should include instructions to individuals
downloading the content that they should not forward these materials to
individuals below the legal purchase age.

5. Social Responsibility Statements should be included in all digital marketing
communications where practicable.

6. Privacy policies govern the collection of personal information from adults of legal

purchase age and encompass any direct digital marketing or advertising whether
conducted through a social networking site, website or other digital channel and
must ensure the following:

• Prior to the collection of any information, the brand advertiser will require that
individual to affirm that they are of legal purchase age and user information
only can be collected from those individuals who are of the legal purchase age.
• The brand advertiser shall employ a mechanism for a user to “opt-in” before
receiving a direct digital marketing communication and to “opt-out” to
discontinue receiving such direct communications.
• Clear information must be provided about collection and use of personal data.
Under no circumstances will the information collected be sold or shared with
third parties unrelated to the brand advertiser.
• Users should be encouraged to read the privacy statement before submitting
their information.
• Measures will be taken to keep user information secure and protected from loss
or theft.

Effective September 30, 2011

Source: The Star-Ledger

Sunday, August 14, 2011, 11:00 AM

There’s no denying the popularity of the beers at Trap Rock Restaurant & Brewery in Berkeley Heights.

Charlie Schroeder, the brewmaster, sells a lot of his JP Pilsner, Kestrel IPA, McClellan Stout and other varieties – about 480 barrels a year. That’s enough to fill a backyard swimming pool.

But Schroeder, one of a handful of craft beer producers in New Jersey, thinks he can sell a lot more through the seven other restaurants his bosses own. There’s just one problem: The state’s aging brewery laws won’t allow it.

“The owners of the business would love to be able to sell the beer I make here to the other restaurants,” Schroeder said. “Customers ask me about that all the time: ‘Why can’t you do that? That doesn’t make sense.’ “

Some lawmakers in Trenton agree. A bill proposed in the Legislature would revamp the rules governing brewpubs – any restaurant that brews its own beer – and microbreweries, stand-alone beer producers working on a smaller scale than the major companies.

The measure would bring New Jersey in line with neighboring states, supporters say. It has become a cause célèbre among the craft brewers here, who have tried for years to get the laws changed. Some in the liquor industry have reservations, though.

Right now, brewpubs and microbreweries face tight restrictions, even on things as mundane as what they can use their property for. Breweries in New Jersey aren’t allowed to host certain special events, something wineries can do. Visitors taking a tour can only buy two six-packs to take home.

“Those laws are unique to New Jersey,” said Greg Zaccardi, the owner of High Point, a 3,000-barrel-a-year Butler brewery focused on wheat beers. “We compete with brewers from neighboring states that have much more supportive laws.”

Assemblyman Craig Coughlin (D-Middlesex) first introduced the bill, but it has since attracted support from some big names, including Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean Jr. (R-Union) and Assemblyman Jon Bramnick (R-Union). Coughlin, who also introduced a bill to lift an oft-ignored licensing requirement for home brewers, believes the measure will receive bipartisan support.

The proposed bill would reduce fees and change some restrictions, such as increasing production limits to make room for future growth.

Brewpubs, currently capped at 3,000 barrels per year, would be able to produce up to 10,000 barrels. Microbreweries – in Jersey, that’s everything except Anheuser-Busch in Newark – would jump from 300,000 to 500,000 barrels.

But the bill isn’t without criticism, and one provision appears to be similar to a benefit wineries have that is the subject of a federal court case. The bill would allow New Jersey microbreweries to open as many as 10 “salesrooms,” intended to help market their products. Wineries already are allowed to have on-site retail sales, but that right is being challenged by out-of-state vintners that argue it discriminates against them.

The salesroom component is also gaining attention from the New Jersey Liquor Store Alliance, which represents 1,500 of the state’s 1,800 liquor stores.

Alliance president Paul Santelle, who met last week with supporters of the brewery bill, said allowing salesrooms could inadvertently hurt his industry and allow some companies to skirt a state law limiting the number of retail liquor licenses one company or person can hold.

He said his group still hasn’t discussed the bill, something they plan to do next month.

“We are committed to working with these guys and making sure we help them,” Santelle said. “But we don’t want to hurt ourselves in the process.”

Craft beer is all the buzz these days. As America’s biggest breweries have seen their shares of the market decline, small breweries have grown dramatically in recent years.

Some companies – including Brooklyn Brewery, Sierra Nevada, Dogfish Head and Samuel Adams – are reaching a wide market.

U.S. beer sales declined 1 percent last year and 2.2 percent in 2009, according to the national Brewers Association, the leading interest group for the craft beer industry. But those smaller beer producers saw a 12 percent bump in revenues last year, the group said.

“It’s definitely taking off,” said Paul Gatza, director of the Brewers Association. “Craft brewers are growing every year by double digits.”

New Jersey isn’t all that different.

Flying Fish, the state’s largest craft brewer, is undertaking a $5 million expansion of its Camden County operation that will allow it to produce up to triple the amount of beer it does now. Other brewers say they’re seeing continual growth.

A few decades ago, the state didn’t have a craft industry, said Gene Muller, founder and president of Flying Fish, which produces about 14,000 barrels per year. Now there’s nearly two dozen brewpubs and microbreweries. But New Jersey’s beer producers also believe that they could be doing much better and that their growth, though impressive, pales in comparison with what’s taken place in other states.

“It’s kind of depressing. New Jersey ranks 32 in the nation” for craft beer production, Muller said. “We can do a lot better than that