Ever heard of the "aggregation of marginal gains"? It's a theory that was used to huge success by Sir Dave Brailsford when he was performance director of British Cycling.

As disappointing as the rejection to support "all pub-goers and beer, cider and perry drinkers" is, perhaps we can still see some rays of hope?

I can't remember the first time I wrote about how Sherry was going to be the next "big thing". Actually I can, it was back in 2003.

By all accounts one introduced in Jamie Oliver's Jamie's Italian chain back in June 2015 has been a huge success.

Fans of The Archers will know that recently Kombucha, a fermented tea, made its journey from hipster café to Ambridge, where Tom Archer had plans to sell it.

At cocktail chain Be At One "virtuous" cocktails now make up seven per cent of the sales mix.

You do your bit for the environment don't you? Recycling, reducing waste, reusing where you can rather than just throwing things away. But have you thought about straws?

Alcohol sales in pubs, bars and restaurants rose by 1.8 per cent in value during 2016 to £24.4bn, according to the latest figures from CGA Strategy.

So, I went on tour with Iron Maiden.

With summer on the horizon you may well be turning your thoughts to your cider selection. Perhaps you are wondering whether that Durian & Kumquat variant still justifies its space in the fridge but have you considered what fruit cider to have on tap?