Just because it was short doesn't mean it was quiet.

Here in the UK last week, we were instructed to work only three days, as the Queen celebrated her Diamond Jubilee. In spite of losing two days, we made up for it with a wealth of colour on just-drinks.

First up, on Wednesday, Diageo announced its intention to invest GBP1bn (US$1.5bn) in its Scotch whisky operations over the next five years. The news resulted in me hot-footing it to Sky News on the Wednesday evening, only for them to ask me some very spurious questions – who drinks Scotch, where and why? What I wanted to tell them can be found here.

Meanwhile, we saw Ascentia Wine Estates make its excuses and leave the wine industry, when it sold off the last of its brands to E&J Gallo. The move followed the company's divestment of several other US wine brands to Accolade Wines earlier this month.

Following its FY results, announced last week, Brown-Forman highlighted the potential it sees in its flavoured whisky variant, Jack Daniel's Tennessee Honey. Analysts, meanwhile, suggested that Brown-Forman has worked its way into an acquisitive position of late, albeit on a moderate basis.

The week came full circle for Diageo, when its North Bridge Distillery – co-owned by The Edrington Group – was named on Friday as the source of an outbreak of Legionnaires' disease in Scotland. It seems to have been as lively a week for the Diageo folk as it was for us, then.

Oh, and finally, check here for our SABMiller exclusive.

This is going to be a long week.

Until next time...

Olly Wehring
Managing Editor
Web: http://www.just-drinks.com
Email: editor@just-drinks.com
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