More Good News - February 2nd, 2024
Welcome to 2024 with a hiss and roar. By now, you're well in the swing of the summer season and ready to indulge a little catch-up news. So here are the More Good news headlines for this week.
Welcome to the first news round-up of More Good Drinks for 2024. Thanks for being here. This More Good Drinks community is a place for good news, thoughtful consideration of bad news, tools and practical advice for making More Good Drinks and doing More Good Drinks Business. Now’s the time to share and subscribe as we kick off a schedule of content, interviews and deep-dives.
The More Good Drinks community is for makers, producers, bartenders, owners, brands, business advisors and media - so long as it’s about good drinks, this is your spot and I’m here to help you do it best.
First the news…. then scroll down for How It Works.
xx Tash
The Reid Global Cocktail Competition Is Here
It’s been a busy couple of weeks down at Cardrona Distillery. The Annual Cask Owners party also include the Passing of the Key ceremony as key cask owners, family members and Desiree Reid, founder and Managing Director of Cardrona handed the official keys to Malcolm Leask, managing director of International Beverage.
Last night The Reid Global Cocktail Competition launched in NZ, the UK and the US simultaneously. A competition in four rounds celebrating the decadent single malt vodka that captures the essence of the Cardrona Valley is now open for entries.
12 finalists from all three markets will spend a week experiencing the trip of a lifetime and all Cardrona Valley has to offer in October this year, an experience not to be missed.
How to enter Round One:
— You must enter the competition using this entry form.
— Your cocktail must contain at least 25ml of The Reid Single Malt Vodka.
— You may use any ingredients you’d like, but please keep in mind that should you qualify for the grand final competition in New Zealand you will be responsible for supplying all ingredients to make your recipe (except for shaking ice and The Reid Single Malt Vodka, which will be supplied for you).
Round One judging will take place from March 29, 2024 — April 19, 2024
The Year of the Underground Bar
A bold prediction as the year kicks off with new openings under the city streets.
The Nightcar opened a couple of weeks ago in the basement formerly occupied by The Jefferson. A self-titled ‘third culture’ space, the venue has a well-curated spirits list with trolley service champagne cocktails and premium selections in cognac, sherry as well as the usual suspects. The menu suits the transitional space that aims to move easily between restaurant and lounge bar. Worth checking out.
What works really well? The Jefferson was a long favourite haunt for this whisky kid. What’s not to love about long shelves of your favourite spirit? However, the venue had challenges beyond just flooding (since rectified, we believe!). The fitout of Nightcar tackles turning an otherwise cavernous space into something comfortable by adding sculptural booths to the centre floor, plenty of feature lighting and privacy curtains on individual booths along the wall, rather than banquet seating.
Farewell J.M.R - Thanks for the Drinks
Iconic Wellington bottled cocktail company J.M.R Cocktail & Co have announced they’re shutting up shop after 7 years leading the charge for perfectly portioned and balanced cocktails.
Co-founder Amy Alexander took over the reins at Six Barrel Soda last year and recognises that some chapters change. It’s been a few tough years in the market and sometimes focus changes too. There’s plenty of energy and focus to offer Six Barrel Soda in the coming months, so she bid a gracious farewell to fans and customers. One of JMR’s unique successes was their ability to tap into the hotel minibar market and their collaborations with NZ producers of spirits, perfume, coffee - you name it!
“Thank you to each and every one of you who have provided such amazing support and enthusiasm as we’ve grown and changed over our seven years of trading. We’ve loved every second – getting stuck in to bottling and production, yarning to you all at Food Shows and expos, working together to create memorable events, and all the behind-the-scenes bits in between. It’s been the ride of a lifetime and we thank you all for coming on it with us!”
Doors and production close in March, when Amy and the team will put their feet up to enjoy an cocktail someone else made!
The Word of the People
How It Works.
More Good Drinks has been in development for 24 months as we’ve collected stories, feedback and spotted gaps in the market for where we can be helpful in achieving our mission for More Good Drinks, More Good Products, More Good Bartending, More Good PR and all the things.
Each week I’ll publish the news - but not in a vacuum. I’ll filter it to be helpful, interesting or worth mentioning. And you can share your news directly to me to get the word out.
Each month we’ll publish podcast interviews with our people - industry leaders both at home and internationally, those with something to say, something to teach and plenty of laughs along the way.
We’ll also be publishing our first How-To guide next week - to help you do More Good whether you’re making, selling, marketing or using products in a venue.
Why subscribe?
The news will always be free, but from March - everything else moves beyond the paywall. We have great stories to tell, but few places to tell them. And even fewer places to use as a resource library to help do More Good in the industry. I’m on a mission to spend more of my time doing exactly that. I work as a storyteller and a strategist, but by subscribing to More Good Drinks, you are actively supporting independent drinks media in New Zealand and sharing our stories internationally.
Wnat to be in the Top 50 Best Bars? You need someone to tell the story of your bar and make sure people know exactly what’s going on here.
Each annual subscription covers another couple of hours of my time to do this independent work, each monthly subscription gives me a few more extra minutes to make this news round up happen.
Each founding subscription - well, as my way of saying thanks, you get a podcast interview to talk about you care about.
So it’s up to you - but I appreciate it all.
That’s it for now - see you next week for …
How-To Curate a Media List
Selling Out: The Building of an Iconic Distillery
World Class: The Trajectory of Jason (JC) Clark
Gut Feeling: Becoming the Brand with Pat Fraser