Welcome in, today is Thursday, November twelfth, and we begin with Reuters reporting that dozens of containers of Scotch are sitting impounded at Indian ports. Following our earlier report on India's classification probe into bulk Scotch, the dispute has now reached the dock. Per Reuters, Indian customs has detained dozens of containers of bulk Scotch imported by Pernod Ricard and Diageo, more than forty each, plus five for Bacardi. A confidential Directorate of Revenue Intelligence memo dated November fourth, reviewed by that outlet, says importers were incorrectly claiming the India-UK deal's reduced seventy-five percent duty, and directs customs commissioners nationwide to apply one hundred and fifty percent to bulk concentrates, under a classification effective May first. Two days earlier the Commerce Ministry had assured executives India would honour the deal, the same reporting says, and a Finance Ministry source puts the ministries in talks on a resolution. Eighty percent of Britain's Scotch volume into India arrives in bulk, and the Scotch Whisky Association has estimated the deal could add one point three billion dollars of exports over five years, so the classification, not the headline tariff, decides that. A recurring read in the trade is that the concession was agreed without settling whether concentrate counts as Scotch. Also today, Molson Canada 2005 is recalling twenty-nine beer and non-alcoholic beer products across Canada over pieces of metal. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency published the alert this week, and per that notice the products were distributed nationally, spanning Molson Canadian, Coors Light, Blue Moon, Hop Valley, India Beer, Black Horse and Brasseur de Montréal, in single units and multipacks. Businesses are told not to use, sell, serve or distribute the affected lots. The agency classes it a class three recall, meaning a low risk of undesirable health problems. The work lands on retailers and distributors, pulling stock by UPC and lot code across twenty-nine listings in the middle of the holiday build. Spirits depletions fell three point one percent by volume and three point five percent by revenue in the three months through September, while wine slipped six point seven percent by volume and four point two percent by revenue. That is the WSWA's SipSource tracker, as reported by Shanken News Daily, which reads spirits as stabilizing and wine as pressured by an eroding economy tier and fewer points of distribution. Bourbon and Tequila outperformed the spirits category, per that reporting, with the twenty to thirty dollar band the sweet spot and fifty to one hundred dollars underperforming. In wine, Sauvignon Blanc and Prosecco led on growth, up six and five percent, and bottles above sixteen dollars held up better than the sub-thirteen tier. On-premise beat off-premise across both categories. Reaction in the trade leans toward reading the narrowing declines as a floor rather than a recovery, with some making the case for shifting spend toward on-premise and premium. Separately, the federal ban on intoxicating hemp products takes effect December eleventh, and per Brewbound, some states are already moving ahead of that date, giving an early glimpse of what the run-up to the new rules looks like. For anyone whose shelf set or distribution carries hemp-derived drinks, those early movers are the only live read on enforcement before the federal date lands. Industry reaction leans toward the view that the change is being under-read, with practitioners flagging a scope wider than the intoxicating-edibles framing most coverage uses. Now, a few more headlines moving the trade today. Per Brewbound, Constellation Brands has appealed the injunction blocking its exit from Coors Distributing Company, weeks after the case looked bound for arbitration. Constellation has also completed the sale of US whiskey distiller Nelson's Green Brier back to founding brothers Andy and Charlie Nelson, Just Drinks reports. Stoli Group says it is returning to the US market after completing its Chapter Eleven restructuring, with a wider portfolio and renewed distribution agreements, per Drinks International. Royal Unibrew reports four percent underlying net revenue growth in the third quarter, per its trading statement, and narrows full-year organic EBIT growth guidance to six to eight percent, from six to ten. And finally, Maryland has revised its distribution rules for ready-to-drink cocktails, per BevNET, giving RTD suppliers in the state more say in how their products are distributed.