Felicity Carter and Lulie Halstead Launch ‘A Question of Drinks’ Podcast
Two industry insiders explore what really drives our choices in drinks
Why do we drink what we do? Why do some drinks catch fire and become popular, while others languish at the back of our drinks cupboards?
These are the questions that Lulie Halstead and Felicity Carter will answer in their new podcast ‘A Question of Drinks’.
Conceived as the ‘Freakonomics of beverages’, this new podcast looks at the weird and wonderful economic, technological and social drivers that influence what it is we drink.
“Trends don’t typically appear out of nowhere,” says Lulie. “What appear to be organic movements are often the result of technological or underlying social changes.”
“As researchers, we’re both very interested in how and why the whole drinks landscape came to be what it is,” says Felicity. “Where are all the blue drinks, for example? That’s what I want to know.”
The first three episodes were released today.
Inside the first three A Question of Drinks episodes:
Episode 1: The Hidden Drivers of Fashion In Wine
looks at why some wine styles become popular, while others disappear, never to be seen again.
“Most people think the market is driven by taste preferences, but often it’s external market conditions that drive our choices,” explains Lulie. “Changes in technology and social norms drive innovation, and only then do drinkers adopt them.”
Episode 2: The Surprising and Sometimes Violent History of the Gin and Tonic looks at this iconic drink from all angles, from the gin craze through to the modern revival.
“This is one of those situations where a single legal change overturned the whole drinks market,” says Felicity.Episode 3: Do Award-Winning Wines Taste Better?
The title says it all.
“I expect this one to be controversial,” says Lulie.
Future episodes will cover topics as varied as the unstoppable rise of rosé to why Guinness is so popular.
Episodes are released fortnightly on Spotify and Apple. Listeners can catch up with episodes through the free ‘A Question of Drinks’ newsletter: aquestionofdrinks.substack.com
(And don’t worry — this doesn’t affect Drinks Insider in any way. It’s in addition!)
Meet the A Question of Drinks hosts
Lulie Halstead brings her data-driven approach to bear on each question. The founder and Chief Executive of Wine Intelligence, Lulie built the company into an international wine research powerhouse and then sold to PE-backed IWSR in 2020, where she moved to become a Non-Executive Board Director. She is a Board Trustee of the Wine & Spirit Education Trust and today helps wine and spirit companies ensure their brand portfolios meet future market, customer, and consumer needs.
Felicity Carter is an editor, journalist and researcher, and founder of Drinks Insider media and content consultancy. Previously she was the founding Executive Editor of The Drop/Pix and Editor-in-Chief of Meininger’s International wine trade magazine, read in 38 countries.
For more information, please contact lulie@intellima.co.uk or felicity@drinksinsider.com