Welcome in, today is Friday, July twenty-fourth, and we begin in India, where Diageo's local unit has posted a fifty-two percent jump in quarterly profit, according to The Drinks Business. United Spirits, Diageo's Indian subsidiary, reported a sharp rise in first-quarter profit, per The Drinks Business, with the gain put at fifty-two percent. The company attributes the increase to robust demand for its premium spirits portfolio. That attribution is the part worth holding on to. India has been widely treated as the growth counterweight in multinational spirits planning while several developed markets run soft, and a quarter of this shape gives the trade a fresh read on whether that counterweight is still carrying. The report frames the result as premium-led rather than as broad-based volume. So for anyone holding a route-to-market position there, the open question the number raises is whether premium demand is broadening across the portfolio or concentrating at the top of it. Also today, the Brewers Association has published its mid-year update, and the two headline numbers point in opposite directions. More than half of craft brewers report growth halfway through twenty twenty-six, according to the association, and sentiment across the segment reads confident. At the same time, the association estimates production volume is down about four percent. Brewbound's account sets the confidence and the contraction side by side rather than resolving them. That split is where the planning problem sits, because distributor allocations, tap-handle negotiations and shelf resets for the back half get built off the aggregate line, not off individual operator sentiment. A majority reporting growth against a falling total points to share moving within the segment rather than into it. Separately, Boston Beer. The company released second-quarter financials today showing depletions down six percent and shipments down four and a half percent, with fiscal twenty twenty-six losses continuing, according to Brewbound. Per that reporting, Sun Cruiser and Angry Orchard were the only brands in growth, while declines continued at the top of the portfolio, including Twisted Tea. Industry reaction leans toward reading this as demand-side rather than operational. A recurring view in the channel is that the company has held margin discipline and supply-chain control while still not sparking consumer traction. A portfolio narrowed to two growth brands is the detail suppliers and distributors will track, since it concentrates the company's exposure to the RTD share shift in a very small number of lines. Now to the UK, where the on-trade cost base may be about to move. New prime minister Andy Burnham plans to cut business rates by twenty percent for pubs, clubs and live music venues from April twenty twenty-seven, according to The Spirits Business. Worth marking clearly: that is a stated plan, not legislation. If enacted as described, it would take a fixed cost out of on-trade operating models at a point when many venues are running thin. Reaction in the trade is welcoming but qualified. Operators broadly frame the relief as necessary, with a recurring concern that rates stay high relative to residential property tax, and that the burden is compounded by waste-removal costs and billing errors at council level. Now, a few more headlines moving the trade today. Following our earlier report on the fifty percent US tariffs on Canadian alcohol, The Globe and Mail reports the list reaches bar inputs directly, naming mint, cordial, citrus oils, bitters and vermouth. Following our earlier report on heat-hit yields, Champagne producers have agreed to cut the twenty twenty-six harvest again, to rebalance stock in an uncertain market, according to Just Drinks. Building on the hemp framework fight we covered, Congressman Andy Barr has introduced his legalisation bill, proposing alcohol-style distribution and a THC excise ahead of the November ban, per Brewbound and BevNET. In South Africa, the alcohol industry has urged National Treasury to tie new excise levies to consumer price inflation and to incentivise lower-strength production, Times LIVE reports. And finally, Wine GB has launched a Wine Tourism Relief campaign, asking government for duty relief at the cellar door to support direct-to-consumer growth, according to Harpers.