As Guinness soars in popularity, and is only made in Dublin, Ireland, they have started placing limits on how many kegs some U.K. pubs can order during the holiday season to prevent stockpiling. Guinness sales in the U.K. grew by almost 21% between July and October 2024, even as a general pullback in drinking caused beer sales to fall by 0.5%. Some U.K. pubs say the brand is now responsible for 50% to 70% of their revenue. Whether it’s rebranding the beer as a light beer coming in at only 4.5%abv, low-calorie option, Guinness has been a hit even with alcohol-weary Gen Z. That shift has allowed the brand to buck a broader global trend of declining beer sales. Guinness is the fastest-growing imported beer in the U.S. In Canada in 2024, it was a top-three beer across six provinces and territories, including in Ontario, Alberta, and B.C.
Trivia by the numbers: 2.6 million. Turkeys consumed over Christmas by Canadians last year. Nearly half of all turkey sales in the country over the year were concentrated over the winter holiday season.
Just going to throw away your Christmas tree again this year? Before you do, think about making this Christmas Tree Cordial (Recipe with permission from ‘How to Eat Your Christmas Tree’ by Julia Georgallis, Hardie Grant Books). Christmas tree cordial, especially if you are using spruce, tastes a bit like grapefruit juice. Rather than turning green, as you might expect, it will turn a color ranging from bright orange to pastel pink. You can use either fir or spruce, or a mixture of both. I don’t recommend making it with pine as the flavor is a bit too weak and gets overpowered by the sugar and lemons. The flavor of this cordial is quite expansive and zingy.
Makes: 2 liters (70 fluid ounces/8 cups) of cordial Prep Time: 2 hours
Equipment: a 2-liter (70-fluid ounce/8-cup) glass bottle with a lid
Ingredients
Juice of 10 lemons and zest of 4
2 liters (70 fluid ounces/8 cups) water
700 grams (1 pound 9 ounces/ 3 cups) caster (superfine) sugar
400 grams (14 ounces) spruce and/or fir needles (you can also use some of the branches to add flavor)
Instructions
- Sterilize the glass bottle.
- Bring the lemon juice and zest, water, sugar and needles to the boil over a medium-high heat. Turn the heat down to low and simmer for 2 hours.
- Take the pan off the heat and strain through a fine sieve (fine mesh strainer) to remove the needles. Do this a few times to ensure that there are no needles left in the mixture.
- Pour the mixture, using a funnel, into the sterilized bottle.
- Leave to cool and refrigerate. This keeps for a couple of weeks in the refrigerator.
On the other hand, the easy way out is to buy PC Spruce Beer or Ginger Beer at this time of year.
And let’s not forget that famous Scot’s birthday on 25 January. Celebrate your meal of haggis, tatties and neaps with an affordable Robert Burns Arran Single Malt Scotch Whisky, LCBO#981084, 43%abv, $70.10. LCBO notes: Bright pale yellow colour. Intense, honeyed, ripe lemon nose with lots of caramel-vanilla notes. Dry, medium bodied, well balanced, very bright, slightly spicy, ripe plum-lemon flavours with hints of caramel and honey on the lingering finish. Best Buy. Recommended. Score – 91. (Michael Vaughan, vintageassessments.com, July 21, 2018). I will again be hosting a supper in my family Edinburgh District kilt with piped in bagpipe music supplied by Google Alexa. A great excuse to invite good friends over, share a unique meal, and maybe recite some of Burn’s poetry with a toast saying, ‘Slangevar’ (Good Health).
With the title of this article being about the year in review for 2024, a good summary about Ontario is by LCBO. On the world scene, I have noticed similar trends especially in terms of rise of non-alcoholic and low-alcohol beverages in various formats (beers, liquors, cocktails, mixers). There has been a rise in the use of many different flavourings like Asian fruits, goji inspired creations in the world of spritzers and spirits, and fruity mojitos or passionfruit margarita cocktails. Beverage producers are cashing in on the public desire for healthy ingredients and lifestyle, and it is paying off!
So, in conclusion, I wish you all the best in health and happiness in 2025!
Brian Preston – The Travelling Sommelier
brianpreston@hotmail.com
613.272.3129
The Travelling Sommelier column is a regular feature in our print/digital edition.
