Market Watch March 2021

In the drinks business, the central story of recent years has been innovation. The pace of new product rollouts has been relentless, and continues at a dizzying rate. Lately, companies have been pushing the innovation envelope further outward, reinventing traditional concepts of packaging, consumption, and even category boundaries as Americans become increasingly adventurous in their drinks choices. Now we have a new player in the innovation game—cannabis drinks. While the cannabis phenomenon is clearly the real deal, it’s a product that can be consumed in various forms other than drinks. That makes the scope of the drinks side’s success as yet unclear, but it appears that cannabis-infused beverages are poised to become part of America’s drinking repertoire in the years to come. Some major hurdles remain, of course, particularly with…

Uber To Acquire Drizly In Blockbuster Deal….Uber has agreed to acquire drinks delivery platform Drizly in a deal worth $1.1 billion. Drizly has operations in 1,400 cities across a majority of U.S. states. The transaction is subject to regulatory approval and is expected to close before the end of the first half of 2021. Following the acquisition, Drizly will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Uber. Its marketplace will eventually be integrated with the Uber Eats app, while also maintaining a separate Drizly app. Founded in 2012, Drizly has expanded rapidly—especially over the past year, when business tripled owing to stay-at-home orders. The Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America took an undisclosed minority stake in the company in 2015. Uber sees the chance to further boost that expansion drive looking…

Alexandria, VA: Steak, Seafood Complement Bustling Bar Program Located along the Potomac River with floor-to-ceiling windows that provide views of the water, Ada’s On The River opened in January in Alexandria, Virginia. Hospi-tality firm Alexandria Restaurant Partners created the venue, the ninth in its portfolio of restaurant and bars. Ada’s is built around a wood-burning oven and high-lights steak and seafood, boasting a varied menu by Chef Randall Matthews (entrées are $19-$89). This comple-ments a beverage program that includes spirit-heavy cocktails, craft beer, and worldly wines. Ada’s drinks menu lists updated classics and new specialties, including Life On The Water, mixing Hornitos Plata Tequila, Tres Agaves agave nectar, fresh raspberries, and lime juice, and the Whiskey Landing, blending Knob Creek rye, cinnamon-nutmeg syrup, egg white, and lemon juice (cocktails are…

Bowmore 30-Year-Old Beam Suntory is extending its Bowmore Islay Scotch whisky with a new 30-year-old expression, set to be released annu-ally in limited amounts. The 2021 release ($2,500 a 750-ml.) was distilled in 1989 and matured in Sherry and Bourbon casks. It’s bottled at cask strength of 45.3% abv, with roughly 2,600 bottles available globally. Bowmore 30-year-old is available at select retailers nationwide. For more information, visit Bowmore.com. Hendrick’s Lunar Gin William Grant & Sons has released Hendrick’s Lunar gin, the second spirit in the brand’s Cabinet of Curiosity series. The 43.4% abv gin ($40 a 750-ml.) was created by master distiller Lesley Grace and has the cucumber and rose Hendrick’s is known for, plus citrus, baking spice, and floral notes. The release is available nationwide as a limited edition.…

As cannabis legislation continues to move forward throughout the country, the ripple effects of the growing acceptance of cannabidiol products are having a big impact on the bar. In markets where marijuana legalization has been passed, bartenders are adding CBD to their cocktail menus, attracting a wide range of consumers—both established recreational users and those who are new to cannabis—to this growing drinks subcategory. CBD is touted for its calming effects, pain relief, and ability to relieve symptoms of depression, and it’s more widely available because it lacks the psychoactive chemicals associated with THC-based marijuana products. Along with listing a CBD-enhanced Old Fashioned on its signature drinks menu, the bar at Fort Lauderdale, Florida restaurant Lona Cocina & Tequileria offers a CBD rinse for any drink it serves. Bartenders use…

Cannabis drinks are coming. This sentiment has been a steady drumbeat over the past decade, growing louder and louder as the pace of recreational cannabis legalization has grown. Beginning with Washington and Colorado in 2012, recreational marijuana offered the possibility of consumer-packaged goods to a product previously constrained by its clandestine status, and early options were in stores by 2016. The category, however, has remained notably small—under 5% of total cannabis sales—in the few markets where it’s available for a number of reasons. Foremost is that, due to federal cannabis prohibition, it remains illegal to move cannabis products across state lines—even between two adjacent legal-market states like on the West Coast. This constraint largely limits brands to their home market, creating a lack of any true “national” brands across the…