Case of the Mondays
12 Things to Start Your Week in Drinks
Looks like you’ve got a case of the Mondays in your inbox. Here are 12 stories to start your week that may directly or not-so-directly affect what you’re sipping, morning, noon, and night:
It’s too early for a good tea party joke, but it seems that young British folks are shedding their parents and grandparents' cultural loyalty to tea in general. A BBC report found two surprising reports — that tea sales volume has fallen more than 4 percent in two years and that less than half the country (48 percent) still drink tea daily. Diet drinks, energy drinks, and water seem to be filling the void.
A new report from Spirits Business thinks that the bourbon bubble may not be bursting so much as leaking. The report largely pointed to reduced production and consolidation — and quoted one of the best whiskey bottlers in the U.S., Lost Lantern co‐founder Adam Polonski, to make a third point: “Even though there’s more whiskey out there than ever before, it feels like there’s not all that much product differentiation between a lot of the NDPs.”
One solution for the falling demand might be to finally fix the damn distribution system. Kara Newman makes an excellent case in this piece for Wine Enthusiast about how more than 90 percent of sales for craft distillers take place in their home states. According to Newman, “Direct-to-consumer (DTC) shipping is currently legislated on a state-by-state basis; only a handful of states permit distilleries to ship spirits direct to consumers. To wit: New York—which is home to 199 distilleries, the second-greatest number of craft producers in the U.S., behind California—only allowed DTC shipments this year.”
A new study reinforces the theory that most of the water on our planet probably came from comets. The theory had been called into question by a 2014 study that looked at the chemical makeup of water in comet vapor trails, which showed higher levels of a particular isotope of hydrogen than in our oceans and glaciers. But it turns out that the isotope in question just seems more concentrated because of how passing the sun can melt and modify those ice and vapor trails.
Here’s a great explainer on what’s going with fluoride in your water from Scientific American. Big picture: the danger claims aren’t supported, and it will be hard for the federal government to make sweeping changes to a utility that has typically been managed at the state and local levels in the past. Republicans are typically against the bigger federal government — and the agencies responsible for water quality (including the EPA) are typically on the chopping block, not being offered new axes to wield.
Speaking of government agencies, the FDA may finally be banning the controversial red dye no. 3, which is made from petroleum byproducts. The European Union bans significantly more existing food dyes than the U.S. does. For some context, the FDA banned Red No. 3 from cosmetics and topical drugs in 1990 “because the chemical was shown to be carcinogenic at high doses in tests on lab rats.”
If you’re considering a dash of edible glitter in your winter cocktail, make sure it’s actually labeled edible. So-called non-toxic glitters are non-toxic, but that doesn’t mean you should intentionally consume them, and the FDA has issued statements about the risks in the past. According to Chowhound, “By checking the ingredients list and looking for the words "edible" and "FDA-approved" on the label, you can have peace of mind that your glitter won't make you sick.”
A new study has once again suggested that coffee consumption can increase longevity and quality of life — that it “adds an average of 1.8 years of healthy life to a person’s lifespan.” The research, funded in part by the Institute for Scientific Information on Coffee, may have conflicts, but a better caution would be to remind you that sugars, sugar substitutes, and syrups probably cancel out those benefits.
Apparently the reason that McDonald’s sodas taste generally better and crispier may have to do not with machine calibration, but with how the products are delivered to those customers. An Allrecipes story shared the disclosure that while many fountain operators receive their syrup in plastic bags, a longstanding partnership between the two companies actually requires that McDonald’s receive theirs in stainless steel tanks. McDonald’s also uses water filtration systems and pre-chilling methods as well — read the whole piece here.
Coca-Cola is under fire this week after walking back its pledge to reduce single-use plastics. The company, which is a top contributor to plastic waste globally, said it is refocusing its efforts on instead reusing more existing plastics and ensuring “the collection of 70 to 75 percent of the equivalent number of bottles and cans introduced into the market annually.” According to the Washington Post, “The company had previously pledged to reduce the “use of virgin plastic derived from non-renewable sources by a cumulative 3 million metric tons from 2020 to 2025,” as well as selling 25 percent of its beverages in refillable or returnable packaging by 2030.”
Connor McGregor is about to head to court (again) to determine if he screwed friend and sparring partner Artem Lobov out of some of the Proper No. Twelve whiskey earnings. An oral agreement between the two allegedly entitled Lobov to 5 percent of McGregor’s earnings. McGregor, who sold his stake and was later taken off the promotional materials because of a civil rape claim that looked, well, like every other story about McGregor.
To manage water demands, Athens brought an ancient aqueduct from the days of the Roman Empire back into operation. Hadrian’s Aqueduct was commissioned by the emperor of the same name so that the people could operate baths, and according to the New York Times, it “supplied Athens with water for centuries — barring a hiatus during Greece’s Ottoman occupation, when much of it was damaged.” It was abandoned in the early 20th century when a dam was constructed to more efficiently manage water supply.