​Beverage News from India & the World

Effingut, one of India’s most pioneering and awarded craft breweries, has been invited to brew for the J D Wetherspoon Beer Festival 2025 - the UK’s largest celebration of beer, pouring across more than 900 pubs nationwide. 
The J D Wetherspoon Beer Festival is a biannual celebration that transforms pubs across the UK into a stage for brewing innovation. Running this autumn from 1–12 October 2025, the festival will showcase 30 beers, including five international collaborations. For the very first time, a beer from India will be featured - a landmark moment for Effingut and a testament to the festival’s growing global outlook.
The invitation led to a landmark collaboration with Hook Norton Brewery, a family-owned British brewery that has been crafting traditional ales in Oxfordshire for over 175 years. Effingut’s Founder and Head Brewer Manu Gulati personally travelled to the UK for the collaboration, carrying with him not just recipes and brewing expertise but also the flavours, philosophy, and story of Indian craft beer. At Hook Norton’s historic Victorian brewhouse, Gulati brewed alongside lead brewer Andy Thomas and his team - Robin Underwood, Rob Thompson, David Daniels, Tessa G, George Clarke, and Ed Clarke - bringing together two traditions separated by continents but united by a shared respect for craftsmanship.
The Beer: A Golden Ale with an Indian Twist
The beer shines with a radiant golden-amber hue, crowned by a soft, creamy head that signals its cask conditioning. The aroma is immediately inviting: crisp citrus and floral notes rise first, followed by delicate spice and a hint of earthiness. The palate opens clean and refreshing, with a gentle malt sweetness that gives way to botanical accents - lemongrass lending freshness, cardamom adding warmth, and coriander providing a subtle citrusy lift. 
"This is more than just a beer,” said Gulati. “It’s a meaningful cultural dialogue - where Indian spice and flavour philosophy meet the timeless precision of British brewing. For Effingut to represent Indian craft on this stage is both a tremendous honour and a responsibility we carry with pride.”
From Britain to India
From 1st October - 12th October 2025, the beer will also be available across Effingut’s outlets in Pune, Mumbai, Delhi, and Gurugram, giving Indian drinkers the chance to taste the very pint that carried their story across the world. Raise a glass in Britain or in India. From Oxfordshire to Pune, from Wetherspoon’s cask lines to Effingut’s taps - this is craft beer without boundaries.
(Excerpt from a release) 

Vilafranca del Penedès – 23rd September 2025.
 Under the title El Territorio del Cava (The Territory of Cava), the second edition of Cava Meeting will take place in Penedès on 10 and 11 November. Organised by DO CAVA, this major international forum will bring together over 90 leading wine professionals from around the world. Attendees will enjoy a unique programme of tastings and discussions, featuring content of exceptional quality and relevance.
“In the first edition, held in Barcelona and in several cellars across Penedès and Alella, we laid the groundwork for redefining perceptions of Cava,” said Javier Pagés, president of DO CAVA. “This year, we aim to build on that momentum, showcasing excellence and reinforcing the international profile of one of the world’s most exported quality sparkling wines.” Pagés also emphasised the importance of “consolidating the sector’s most qualitative segments, clearly differentiating them from younger, higher-volume Cavas.”
The event is coordinated by communications and PR agency Mahala Wines, with support from an Advisory Expert Committee formed by five renowned professionals with deep knowledge of the Cava region: Sarah Jane Evans MW, contributing editor at Decanter World Wine Awards and president of the Gran Orden de los Caballeros del Vino; Ferran Centelles, drinks director at elBulliFoundation and Spanish correspondent for Jancis Robinson; Pedro Ballesteros MW, Spain’s first Master of Wine and a leading authority on the world’s great wine regions; María Naranjo, agri-food director at ICEX; and Cava expert, journalist and sommelier Ramon Francàs.
Panels will feature prominent Cava producers, representatives from prestigious international estates, and experts from leading universities. A central theme will be long ageing in traditional method sparkling wines, with global specialists presenting the latest research and production challenges. Confirmed speakers include Charles Zuker, professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics and Neuroscience at Columbia University; Gabriel Lepousez, researcher at the Pasteur Institute; and Cristina Mercuri, one of Italy’s leading wine educators and founder of the Mercuri Wine Club and Pere Pons Mercadé, professor at Rovira i Virgili University and oenologist at Cava Miquel Pons.
The tastings programme promises to be equally ambitious. Essi Avellan MW, alongside Ramon Francàs and an international sommelier, will lead an unprecedented tasting of Cavas aged over 100 months on the lees. Ferran Centelles will also host a major session connecting DO Cava with DO Jerez, exploring the role of autolysis and oxidation in both wines, and testing whether the best pairing for ham is Cava or Sherry. He will be joined by Robert Tetas, sommelier at Sobretablas in Seville, and Enrique and Albert Tomás, founder and CEO respectively of Enrique Tomás ham shops.
Pedro Ballesteros MW will moderate a panel exploring whether DO Cava is merely a business or also a responsibility, addressing its future outlook, its duty to the territory, and the need for collective action to safeguard the vineyards of Penedès. Sarah Jane Evans MW and Roberto Durán MS, head sommelier at 67 Pall Mall Singapore, will lead a tasting of great Cavas born in the vineyard, focusing on the terroir.
Another high-level debate, moderated by María Naranjo of ICEX, will bring together Xavier Ybargüengoitia, former Chief Executive Officer of Estates & Wines, The Moët-Hennessy Wine Division; vice-president of UES Anna Vicens, head of Wine Palace stores; Pierre Mansour, director of Wine at The Wine Society; and Laura Williamson MS-CWE, owner of Unlock Your Palate Inc. and partner at RingIT Inc, and Antonio Menéndez, Chief Executive Officer The Library. The session will address the current challenges and future opportunities for the Cava business.
Beyond tastings and debates, the second Cava Meeting will also celebrate Cava’s gastronomic versatility. A gala dinner, featuring renowned chefs, will pair exceptional Cavas with international cuisines, while another session will explore the growing role of Cava in mixology. A major showroom will showcase more than 100 Cavas de Guarda Superior from over 50 DO CAVA wineries. Among them will be Cavas de Elaborador Integral, a distinctive category recognising producers who oversee the entire winemaking process on their own estates —from pressing to vinifying 100% of their grapes.
​(Excerpt from a release)