#Trending This Week - River Cruising, Food Raves, $15 Mocktails, TripAdvisor Reviews, And For The Love Of Gin
Issue 247 • June 10, 2025
Cheers to travel — we’ve got a lot to talk about this week and some of it has to do with spirits. Here’s what you need to know this week in a quick three-minute read.
River Cruising Is Hotter Than Ever
There was a time when river cruise companies could barely fill their ships. River cruising was not popular, and considered to be appealing only to the gray market (aka senior citizens). My how times have changed. Today river cruising is hotter than ever and river cruise lines say despite economic uncertainty in the US, 2025 bookings remain strong — with some lines reporting a virtual sell out already — and 2026 is currently outpacing this year. Read more in Travel Weekly here.
The Food Rave Has Arrived
Younger generations are drinking less and actively seeking out unique social experiences which don’t center around alcohol or drugs. They still want to dance, sweat, and have fun — just without the hangover. Enter the food rave: a format which fuses DJs and dancing with the rising cultural status of food. Some blur the line between dining and dancing — cold brew in hand, bites between songs, and cheese boards by the DJ booth. Read more at Carbonate Insights here. 📷 = Maxim Becotte
Consumers Not Happy About The $15 Mocktail
Many sober or sober-curious consumers are ordering nonalcoholic cocktails or mocktails instead. Yet the libations’ high price tags are frustrating drinkers who are skeptical the cost of fruit syrups, sodas, and fake spirits would rival the real thing. Distillers say making virgin versions of tequila, gin, and whiskey is a process akin to alchemy and can take two years to perfect. Read more in The Wall Street Journal here.
TripAdvisor Seeing More Fake Reviews
TripAdvisor is continuing to see an increase in fake reviews on the platform and hotel policies of rewarding employees mentioned by name in a TripAdvisor review may be contributing to the problem. Employees get their mom, best friend, or cousin to submit reviews, mentioning their names. It ends up leading to businesses having reviews that aren’t actually valuable to the TripAdvisor community. And good news is TripAdvisor has new measures to detect for this. Read more on CNBC here.
Creating Community Around Gin
Check out this Gin Library at Solar Branco Eco Estate in the Azores. It’s actually the world’s largest hotel gin collection. This property has worked to create community around gin — like many hotels do with gin setups in guest rooms or gin specialty cocktails — but they have taken it one step further. Guests pack a bottle of gin to bring to the hotel. If they arrive with a brand already at the hotel, the hotel keeps it. But if it’s a new one, the guest gets to swap it for a gin at the property. Read more in Forbes here.