Caroline Lamb

May 18th 5-10PM @ladder4winebar ! This tasting is a reminder of why we gather in the first place. Different people, different backgrounds, all meeting around the table to eat, drink, talk, and connect. When the wine is chosen with the people in mind just as much as the food, the whole room feels different. This months wine list will also feature two wines from @communitywineco , a collaboration between @ahd_vintners and @hosp.included , with a portion of proceeds supporting with a portion of proceeds helping people of color gain the education, certifications, and industry knowledge needed to thrive in the wine world. @minkdetroit on the food. @artbyphillipsimpson and @borkaline curating the wine list. This is sure to be a night to remember. Get there early! 🎥: @boothonecreative / @curlyhandshake

The city’s starting to heat up, and so is HIWC. This month, we’ve got @artbyphillipsimpson leading the wine experience. Phil is known for bringing a creative lens to everything he touches. Alongside him is @borkaline , whose experience and leadership in the Michigan wine space speaks for itself. Together, they’ve curated a list that’s both approachable and elevated. You can’t bring a lineup like this together without food to match, and @minkdetroit is stepping in with lobster rolls, oysters, and more 😮‍💨 Something about Mink and spring in the city just makes sense. Step into the season with us. Bring your people, come ready to enjoy yourself, and meet us at @ladder4winebar . No reservations needed. Be there. That’s really it. Good wine, Mink in the spring, and a room full of the right energy. 📍 @ladder4winebar 🗓️ May 18 ⏰ 5-10pm 🦪 @minkdetroit

How is Hampton Water growing ~20% YOY at ~150K cases? The easy answer would be celebrity, given the brand’s link to Jon Bon Jovi. But that’s not the story Jesse Bongiovi tells on this week’s Business of Drinks. Early on, buyers pushed back: “That’s cute. Leave a bottle, get out.” The turning point came when the product proved itself with repeat purchase. During COVID, when on-premise shut down, Hampton Water built demand directly through digital and social. The brand became the #1 rosé on Wine.com, and volumes jumped from ~50K to ~85K cases in a year. As Jesse explains: “You have to become undeniable… you’ve got to go prove it.” At ~150K cases, he’s still in-market — calling on accounts, supporting placements, driving reorders, and reinforcing relationships. This episode breaks down what growth actually takes in beverage today: Demand first, distribution second, and execution that keeps compounding. Listen in. #businessofdrinks #winebusiness #beverageindustry

At the beginning of the year, my co-hosts and I on Business of Drinks analyzed 15 trend reports to predict the biggest drinking trends of 2026. While the rise of vermouth, aperitifs, and cordials was mentioned in about 30% of reports — which we decided made it “likely” in the mainstream — in the trickling tributary of the industry I occupy IRL, I’m finding my vermouth/aperitif/cordial moments to be frequent and growing in frequency as we enter what I am calling a @laufey “Lover Girl” summer. Forget the Aperol spritzes of Brat Summer past: the lover girls are diving straight into La Hora del Vermut and tiny pours of botanical cordials after dinner in the warm moonlight, probably with a new lover they can’t help but open up and give every single part of themselves to (Laufey’s words not mine). Some of my favorite vermouth moments of this year so far: @aziendaagricolacos x @simonesabaini ‘Naturale’ orange vermouth with pistachio ice cream at @barchenin . Sicily-maxxing, as I like to call it. @matthiasson_wine vermouth paired with a lecture by Steve on regenerative organic farming. I love that I’m more frequently finding aromatized wines from my favorite small wine producers as it so pleasurably communicates their dedication to biodiversity and gastronomy. @partidacreus MUZ vermouth at @bodegasolera with jamón and pan con tomate between events at @bcnwineweek . Self-explanatory. Watching a fav new vermut brand @cuevanueva expand its influence and advocacy of casual, quality Spanish vermouth in the US with a new partnership with @tedward_ws . Plus producing the best entertaining and educational vermouth content on Instagram. You can quote me on that. Find the full conversation on episode 100 of Business of Drinks at the link in my bio.

big family weekend down south to fill the cup 🦋💓🫗

I’d never enjoyed a slideshow as much as last year’s visit from Steve @matthiasson_wine . Really, I don’t think i’ve enjoyed any wine lunch in all my years as much as much as this meal. What’s in the bottle is evidence enough, but this almost three hour experience brought me a deeper understanding of the farmer’s relationship to their vineyard and the things that they can do to coax magic from soil. I’ve retold the stories he shared over and over and been able to pull a whole new set of people into appreciating the work that goes into making real wine. I only wish we had captured it on video, but hopefully this won’t be the last time I get to hear this true artist talk about living soils, variable height vineyard cover mowing, and not being able to pass up on a chance to work with grapes like Scheurebe and Schioppettino despite it being a highly questionable business decision. Thank you to @ahd_vintners for putting this together, @freyadetroit for the incredible meal, and @matthiasson_wine for coming to detroit and sharing with us.

How do you turn a 1,500-acre apple orchard into a 2-million-case national beverage platform? 🍎⁣ ⁣ In our latest Business of Drinks episode, Caroline Lamb sits down with Andrew Blake, Founder & CEO of Blake’s Beverage Company — now the second-largest cider company in the U.S., with production in four apple-growing regions and distribution across 44 states.⁣ ⁣ Three insights that stood out:⁣ ⁣ 🔶 𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐩𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐞⁣ When Blake’s moved into three-tier distribution, profitability dipped. Trade spend, inventory, sampling — scale costs money before it makes money.⁣ ⁣ 🔶 𝐕𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐮𝐦⁣ Points of distribution + velocity determine SKU survival. Top-performing products Triple Jam and American Apple prove it.⁣ ⁣ 🔶 𝐌&𝐀 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐫𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐝⁣ Roll-ups accelerate reach, but integration takes longer and costs more than the spreadsheet suggests.⁣ ⁣ Cider still represents under 3% of beer share in the U.S. There’s runway — but only for operators who understand the mechanics behind scale.⁣ ⁣ Full episode live now.⁣ ⁣ #BusinessOfDrinks #Cider #BevAlc #FounderInsights⁣

fools spring aka the time the warehouse fairies start dusting off your favorite rosés to remind you that the best importers get their juice on the water in time for that first 75 degree day in march because if we can’t drink liters and liters of rosé on a patio with the ones we love the moment the last snow bank melts we might not survive the horrors

Every day is a beautiful day in the wine biz, but it’s not every day I get to spend it with a true icon in American wine like @pisonivineyards . Loved getting way nerdy with Mark about running a farm-centered, multigenerational family business in the Salinas Valley. Sharing on @ahd_vintners soon. Photos by the lovely @convivialcollab , of course.

This was scary to write but felt like the way I needed to process 2025 and move forward with honesty into the new year. I hope it might inspire you to do the same. It’s a personal essay about burnout, ambition, motherhood, and the difficult internal work necessary to stay where you are when leaving feels easier. You can read this essay and more on my Substack, The Enjoyer🦋

culturally, we tend to put a lot of pressure on what we accomplish in our 20s, so turning 29 feels a bit… weird—like the beginning of the end in the eyes of society. i don’t feel that way at all, though. this decade has felt more like a great big experiment in adulthood, one that’s resulted in some well-placed footings for the future. lots of f**king around, lots of finding out. please don’t be fooled—every single “lesson” was a painful mistake (or series of mistakes) i thought i might never recover from. p.s. this was my favorite song when i was 20.