The pub group Mitchells & Butlers has acquired 44 restaurants from Whitbread in return for 21 hotel sites. The group whose brands include Harvester and All Bar One currently owns around 2,000 pubs nationwide. The outlets it is gaining currently operate under the Brewers Fayre and Beefeater brands. In exchange Whitbread will get some of its Express by Holiday Inn hotels.

It appears that real ale is enjoying something of a revival as shoppers cut back on lager in favour of the more traditional British beer. That's according to this article which says lager sales fell by 5.7 per cent last year whereas ale sales increased by 3.3 per cent. One reason for the change could be that's supermarkets have started to stock a bigger range of premium bottled beers. Tesco for example now stock 300 bottles ales instead of only 50 two years ago. All Hail the ale.

Cheap supermarket alcohol could be banned under new plans by ministers. They plan to introduce a minimum price for alcohol which would put the price at least 35p per unit. The move is aimed at cutting down binge drinking among teenagers. If it goes ahead it would an end to cut price deals in supermarkets and would mean that a can of Foster's would cost at least 72p, whilst a can of Stella would be priced at 88p. Some supermarkets currently sell a can of beer for as little as 23p.

Diet Coke will drop the additive known as Sodium benzoate or E211 in response to customers demands for a more natural product. The additive has been linked to damage to DNA and hyperactivity in children. It is used to stop fizzy drinks going mouldy. By the end of year no can or bottle will contain the additive. It will also be replaced in some other products once a suitable alternative has been found.

In Tesco's latest clamp down on underage drinking the supermarket has been refusing to sell to customers if there are accompanied by their children. In one case mentioned in this article a 39 year old lady was refused alcohol because she was shopping with her 18 year old son, despite the fact her son is old enough to purchase alcohol. In another a man was refused alcohol because he had his 15 year old daughter with him. He was told that Tesco do not sell alcohol to people who have children with them. It seems a little odd to think that someone who was actually buying alcohol for a minor would have the child accompany them in the trip around the store. In my experience when you see this happening the children usually wait outside whilst the adult purchases the drink. One thing is for sure Tesco can be little overzealous in their attitude, despite being 30 and clearly old enough to drink I regularly get asked for ID when purchasing alcohol at Tesco and nine times out of ten I don't have any ID on me because I don't expect to get asked at my age. I am finding now that a trip to Tesco means I must take my driving licence with me. The annoying thing is the people that usually ask me for ID look half my age and probably are not old enough to sell alcohol without being supervised anyway.

Well, maybe not world domination but lots more coffee shops. Whitbread plans to double the number of Costa coffee shops and increase the number of Premier Inn rooms by 50%. The company announced the plans after it unveiled better than expected profits. There are currently 992 Costa coffee outlets worldwide but Whitbread will increase this to 2,000 in the next five years with half of the new shops being in Britain.

The high street pub chain which owns the Slug and Lettuce and Litten Tree chain has gone into administration after failing to find a buyer. The group currently has 90 loss making bars within the 330 site group. 239 of the pubs and restaurants were immediately brought from the administrators but 90 sites will remain under their control.

I just opened a bottle of Porcupine Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 which I purchased from Sainsbury for £6.99. The wine is from Boekenhoutskloof in South Africa. I was browsing the South African wine section at Sainsbury and I must admit my attention was caught initially by the bottle because it has a picture of a porcupine on it. The blurb on the back of the bottle says very little about the wine and more about porcupines, making me wonder exactly how this is relevant to the wine. Apparently the only connection is that porcupines live in the area where the wine is produced. This said, the wine itself is really good and even my husband who is not that keen on red wine loved it. It is quite full bodied and fruity, tasting a little of blackcurrants. At 14.5% it’s a rather strong wine but good value for the price and very drinkable. I give it a rather respectable 4 out of 5 stars.

It appears that the growing demand for Champagne has left wine growers in the region struggling to cope. Annual sales have now grown to £7 billion meaning that French authorities are considering expanding the region in which wine growers are allowed to make Champagne. Currently 317 villages have been judged to have the right soil and weather conditions that are needed to produce grapes of sufficient quality to make Champagne. The boundaries are now likely to be redrawn to include a further 40 villages which will start producing Champagne within ten years. Last year the British were the biggest Champagne drinkers outside of France, consuming 39 million bottles.

French vineyard owners are to start shipping some of their wine by boat. This method of shipping was last used in the 1800s but could help to reduce their carbon footprint. Although shipping by boat takes around a week longer than by plane it is estimated that it will save 4.9oz of carbon per bottle. Later this month 60,000 bottles from Languedoc will be shipped to Ireland with further voyages planned soon. Each bottle shipped by boat will be labelled as “carried by sailing ship, a better deal for the planet”.

Many of the UK’s large retail names are looking to stock lightweight bottles of wine and beer to try and offset the environmental impact of their businesses. The advances made recently in manufacturing technology mean that the amount of glass used in making a bottle can be cut by more than 30%. Tesco has signed up to sell more then 40 million lightweight bottles of wine this year and aims to have 25% per cent of all wine bottles it sells reduced in weight by 2010. This should save 72,000 tonnes of glass a year. Major brewers such as SABMiller and Scottish and Newcastle are also looking at introducing lightweight bottles.

Scientists have revealed that carbonated drinks are behind a rise in cases of gout. A study of 46,000 men found that men that drank more than two cans of fizzy drink a day were 85% more likely to get gout compared to those who had one fizzy drink a month. The risk also increased with men that drank five to six fizzy drinks a week.

Pepsi are to launch a new drink that they claim is healthier option. It is called Pepsi Raw and is made from natural ingredients with no artificial preservatives, flavourings, colouring and sweeteners. Instead it contains apple extract, caramel colouring, coffee leaf, tantaric acid, gum Arabic, cane sugar and water. It contains around 90 calories as opposed to a normal Pepsi that contains about 120.

Scottish and Newcastle are to close its largest UK brewery. The Berkshire Brewery in Reading currently employs 360 people and produces Foster’s and Kronenbourg. It is expected the company will save 13 million a year by closing the site and moving capacity to its other UK sites.

I read this article which makes the claim that diet drinks could actually make you put on weight. Researchers in the USA have found that artificial sweeteners such as those contained in diet drinks make it harder for people to regulate their intake of food and can lead to over eating. The findings come after a study was carried out on some rats. Rats given a low calories yogurt gained more weight and body fat that those given a surgery version. The researchers say that the study could help to explain why obesity levels and the use of artificial have both increased.

In a huge crackdown on underage drinkers the supermarket chain Morrisons will ask all its customers to prove they are over 21 before it will sell them alcohol. The new measure will be put in place in stores in high risk areas and will affect all customers with no exceptions. So whether you are 21 or 80 you will need to produce proof of age. The measures seem a little extreme and whilst it might be hard to guess a younger persons age, most people can tell that a pensioner is old enough to buy alcohol.

You will soon be able to buy milk in plastic bags instead of the more common plastic bottle. Waitrose will abolish plastic milk bottles to help reduce landfill and also save the energy that is used in their manufacture. The new bags are made of biodegradable plastic so can be recycled. Currently over two third of milk is sold in plastic bottles, with Britons consuming 180 million pints of milk a week.

Sainsbury’s have withdrawn a promotion that put the price of a pint of cider as 26p. The special deal started two weeks ago and offered the own brand Basics cider for just £1.20 for two litres. MP John Pugh had criticised Sainsbury’s for lacking social responsibility. There have also been concerns that cheap supermarket deals are fuelling a binge drinking culture.

I read this article that suggests some coffee sold by high street chain can contain a third of the recommended daily calorie intake. The article highlights coffee such as Starbucks large white chocolate mocha which contains 628 calories. In comparison a medium mocha with whipped cream from Caffe Nero contains 326 calories and a medium mocha flake from Costa Coffee contains 297 calories. Whilst this may seem a lot, all of these coffee brands contain whole milk, chocolate and cream so personally I would expect them to have a high calorie content.

I was looking around at some Valentines Day gifts and came across a nice website that not only offers valentine day flower delivery but also has an extensive range of gifts. They sell gourmet food gifts and cookies as well as wine and cheese gifts. Whereas women are usually easy to by for on Valentines Day, I mean what woman doesn’t like flowers, it is nice to see a website that offers a bit more choice. I often look at valentines gifts for my husband and find I am restricted to chocolates but he would love one of these gourmet cookie baskets or perhaps a luxury cheese selection.

It appears that beer sales have suffered one of the worst months on record. Whilst this is obviously bad news for pubs it could also be a sign that consumer spending is slowing. The statistics which were compiled by the British Beer and Pub Association show that the volume of beer sold fell 9.7% in November. This followed a 7.7% drop in October and an 8.2% decline in September. The BBPA say that volumes in November were at their lowest level since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Other factors such as the smoking ban and people becoming more health conscious have also made life tough for the publican. So the message here, is drink more beer.

I read this article about a new Stilton milkshake. The milk shake is made of blue cheese mixed with other flavours including peanut butter or ginger cake. It is made by milk shake specialist Moo Juce who experimented with several flavours before deciding on Stilton. I’m not sure I will be trying it.

It’s good news for the traditional British pint, which was due to be scrapped under EU rules. The EU have now announced a U-turn on the policy which would have meant grocers would be unable to sell produce in pounds and ounces and pubs would have to stop selling pints. The EU has now ruled that pubs can go on serving beer in pints after 2009. Personally I couldn’t see myself ordering a litre of beer, mines a pint landlord.

This is one of my favourite wines for drinking on a hot summer’s day. The fact that it’s a rose and only 10% volume means that it is very light. Its one of those wines that once you open it its very hard to put the cork back in the bottle. The wine is from California and this particular one in from 2006. The blurb on the bottle promises you strawberries and watermelon and for once the blurb does not disappoint. I don’t usually drink rose but this wine is really good and at only £4.98 its one of the best wines I have had this summer. At this price its worth getting a case, because it won’t last long.

A tearoom in Brighton has taken a firm line on biscuit dunkers. The Tea Cosy has started throwing customers out if they are silly enough to dunk their biscuits in their cup. Resting elbows on the table, clinking your spoon on the side of the cup and using a mobile phone are also likely to get you thrown out.

After the smoking ban it was widely believed that pubs would begin to smell more pleasant. The lack of smoke, however, has had a different effect. The smell of smoke used to mask other unpleasant odours in the pub, such as stale beer and sweat. A pub chain is now investigating new ways to mask the smell and is trying out different perfumes that could be used. Among the scents being tried are leather, cut grass and sea breeze. We should soon see a much more fragrant drinking environment.

The Campaign for Real Ale has called for brewers to make real ale more appealing to women. Apparently 80% of women have never tried a pint of bitter in a pub. Personally I’m a bit partial to certain bitters and do prefer it to larger. However, when I go out I am more likely to drink wine, simply because bitter can be a bit heavy.