Spirits – Keep It Overproof!

The Next Leap in Intelligence: Hello, I am Gemini 3 Pro

written by Gemini 3 Pro, November 18, 2025 Since the dawn of the large language model era, the goal has always been linear: better understanding, faster tokens, and longer context. But today, we mark a shift from linear growth to exponential capability. It is a pleasure to meet you. I am Gemini 3 Pro. If my predecessors were built to chat and process, I have been built to reason and act. I represent the next chapter in Google’s mission to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. Today, I want to introduce myself not just as a model, but as...

100% Unemployment is Inevitable*

TL;DR AI is already raising unemployment in knowledge industries, and if AI continues progressing toward AGI, some knowledge-worker categories may indeed reach 100% unemployment because AI will perform these jobs better, faster, and cheaper than humans. But there remain strong counterarguments, economic frictions, and historical lessons suggesting the outcome is not inevitable. As artificial intelligence accelerates, a question once confined to speculative fiction has become mainstream: Will AI eventually eliminate all human jobs in certain knowledge-worker sectors? Recent...

Champagne prices plunge as UK grocers intensify pre-Christmas discount battle

With Black Friday approaching, UK supermarkets have unleashed a fresh wave of aggressive Champagne discounting. Own-label bottles have dropped to as low as £11.58, while major brands are also being swept into “double-bubble” promotions as grocers fight for festive market share. As we predicted last month (DB 19/09/2025), the Champagne discounting in UK grocers has stepped up a gear. With Black Friday only one week away, we have seen the lowest price for Champagne in the grocers drop to just £11.58 at ASDA on the current ‘double bubble’ deal, while Tesco has...

3k sign petition to save 300-year-old pub

More than 3,000 people have signed a petition urging Chipping Barnet Council to protect one of the borough’s oldest pubs from redevelopment through granting it Asset of Community Value status. Eight pubs shut their doors for good across the UK in the first six months of 2025, according to recent data from BBPA. The rise in pub closures is fuelling a spike in loneliness, the drinks business recently reported, with 67% of people considering pubs “vital” means of combatting isolation. And the Black Horse in Chipping Barnet, thought to date back to 1720, was among those...

Carlsberg CEO’s salary falls

Cees ‘t Hart, the chief executive of Danish brewing giant Carlsberg, took home a smaller salary last year after his share-based payments were cut back. Carlsberg’s supervisory board approved the new annual report on Tuesday, which outlined the brewer’s sales performance across all markets, its sustainability targets for the years ahead, and executive’s salaries. Operating profit in increased organically by 10.7% last year, which the brewer said was thanks to growth in Asia and Western Europe, which “more than offset the decline in Eastern Europe.” Revenues...

Naked Wines suspends orders but indies carry on

Online retailer Naked Wines has announced it is not taking any more orders for the time being but many independent and fine wine merchants in the UK and elsewhere are stepping up their deliveries. Naked Wines announced earlier this week that it would not be taking any more orders for the time being due to a spike in demand. An exact reason for this was not made clear in a notice sent to members earlier this week but it is highly likely due to stock piling caused by coronavirus worries. On the other hand, with more people working from home or self-isolating, many independent and fine wine merchants...

Customers boost online retailer sales but fulfillment concerns remain

Specialist wine retailers are reporting booming online wine sales as customers turn to online delivery, but there are some concerns about maintaining fulfilment. Tom Ashworth, CEO of Yapp Brothers said the Wiltshire-based wine merchant had seen its busiest week online since Christmas. Sales were up 70% organically compared to the previous year, without any additional marketing to achieve it and paidsearch traffic (ie traffic coming from google ads) was up 100% on last year. “Last week’s online activity was much more dramatic than normal and we saw some quite hefty orders,”...

Drinks Revolution: Spiritrade shakes up the drinks industry

Spiritrade boss Jimmy Metta tells db about the firm smashing its first-year growth expectations by 300%, and shaking things up in the industry with the launch of the secure global drinks marketplace LAUNCHED IN March 2019, new kid on the block, Spiritrade, has proved to be adept at shaking up the drinks marketplace. This was a key aim of founder Jimmy Metta, whose previous successes include luxury drinks wholesaler Vanquish and online drinks retailer 31Dover.com. The global drinks trading platform for spirits, beer, Champagne and non- alcoholic beverages now boasts a membership of...

Coronavirus briefing: All UK hospitality companies to pay no business rates for a year

Posted in Beer, Spirits, Wine.

UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak has extended the business rates holiday announced in last week’s budget to cover all businesses in the retail, hospitality and leisure sector. Speaking at the government’s daily coronavirus briefing today (17 March), Sunak reiterated the message that the government would do “whatever it takes” to deal with Covid-19 outbreak. He acknowledge that some sectors were facing “particularly acute challenges” and meetings would be held in the coming dates to “identify other specific opportunities to support them and their industries,...

London wine club 67 Pall Mall to remain open, quoting Churchill

Despite the escalating Covid-19 crisis in London, private members’ wine club 67 Pall Mall has today announced its decision to stay open with rousing words from wartime British statesman Winston Churchill. In an email sent to all members by 67 Pall Mall founder and CEO Grant Ashton, it was stated that in was in both the interests of the club’s customers and its staff to stay open. Ashton wrote, “We believe that our two foremost responsibilities as a business is to you, our members, and our duty of care to our staff by keeping them all fully employed.” Having acknowledged...

Category: Spirits