Indholdsfortegnelse for March 2024 i Market Watch

It’s been a long tradition that beer distribution operated separately from that for spirits and wine—sometimes because of regulation, or because the business models were far too different, or simply because of tradition. But much has changed over the years: Beer wholesalers, in searchof higher-margin products for the back of the truck, increasingly have been looking at other alcoholic beverages. Last year the National Beer Wholesalers Association (NBWA) polled its members to ask what share of their sales derived from beer: the result was 80%. When asked what they expect it to be within five years, the answer was 71%. That’s a key reason why NBWA has quietly changed its tagline to “America’s Beer & Beverage Distributors,” to include all drinks types. In some cases, notably in control states, wine…

Bruichladdich Eighteen & Thirty Rémy Cointreau-owned Bruichladdich Distillery has launched The Bruichladdich Eighteen and The Bruichladdich Thirty as part of the Islay single malt Scotch whisky’s new Luxury Redefined range. The newcomers mark the first of the brand’s permanent high-agestatement whiskies. The Thirty ($2,000 a 750-ml.) was bottled at 43.2% abv, while the Eighteen ($180) was bottled at 50% abv, with both matured exclusively in ex-Bourbon casks. The Bruichladdich Eighteen and Thirty are available at specialty whisky retailers. For more information, visit Bruichladdich.com. Macallan Tales of The Macallan Volume II The Macallan, part of the Edrington portfolio, has released Tales of The Macallan Volume II, a 1949 vintage single malt bottled in 2022. The launch pays tribute to Alexander Reid, founder of The Macallan, as the brand marks its 200th…

To the casual observer, gin has a problem: Big-volume brands are largely languishing, making the overall category seem lackluster as a result. Total gin depletions have fallen in 13 of the past 15 years, according to Impact Databank, with many of the category’s stalwarts failing to find firm footing in the U.S. But painting gin in such a light misses the full picture, wherein higher-end brands, especially those that are imported, have bucked the downward trend and are now driving innovation, excitement, and gains for the category. Take Diageo’s Tanqueray, the largest gin brand in the U.S. at 1.35 million cases: The label has faced consecutive years of declines, but its higher-end, smaller production Tanqueray No. Ten ($44 a 750-ml.) has been a source of growth. “We’ve seen consistent growth…

Francisco Miranda’s hospitality career began in his native Puerto Rico. “I was attending the School of Hotel and Restaurant Administration at the University of Puerto Rico for college with the dream of attending culinary school,” he says. In this program he took a bartending course and his professor quickly called out that Miranda was a natural. Bolstered by this, he began working at a small bar close to campus. “There I fell in love with being behind the bar,” he says. Eventually, an opportunity stateside presented itself. “I moved to Miami to work at BLT Prime at Trump National Doral hotel—this was ten years ago,” he says. “The general manager Ricardo Gasparrini saw my passion and willingness to learn new things; he taught me to create perfectly balanced cocktails and…

On-Premise News: Q Mixers Partners With Tao Group Hospitality Brooklyn, New York-based Q Mixers has partnered with Tao Group Hospitality, placing Q’s line of products in 44 restaurants and venues across the U.S. The deal covers restaurants and clubs like Tao, Hakkasan, Marquee, and Lavo, among others, and will see Q featured at Tao events like Tao Park City and Tao Desert Nights, with those events happening alongside the Sundance Film Festival and Coachella Music Festival, respectively. In addition, the partnership makes Q’s Ginger Beer, Grapefruit Soda, and Bloody Mary mix the exclusive offerings at all 44 venues, as well as making the Q brand the exclusive mixer option for bottle service mixers. Off-Premise News: ReserveBar Partners With Online Ordering Service E-commerce platform ReserveBar has partnered with restaurant ordering service…

RNDC E-commerce Platform Reaches $800 Million… Republic National Distributing Co. (RNDC) saw online sales through the eRNDC e-commerce platform reach $800 million in annual sales and $1.7 billion in lifetime sales in 2023. The platform saw 32% year-over-year growth in the number of monthly active customers. The e-commerce site now reaches customers in 21 states and features more than 6,700 brands “A large and growing number of our customers are now embracing B2B e-commerce as a complementary vehicle to engage with us,” said RNDC president and CEO Nick Mehall. “eRNDC has demonstrated significant market adoption over the past twelve months.” In terms of recent trends on eRNDC, the company noted that searches for luxury, super-premium, and ultrapremium spirits have continuously trended up, while Champagne, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and…

When Brazil hosted the World Cup in 2014 and then the Olympics in 2016, it seemed like Cachaça, the country’s native spirit with a base of fermented sugarcane juice, was ready to go mainstream in the U.S.—but it didn’t quite pan out that way. “We saw a bit of a surge in popularity around those events, but Cachaça is still relatively unknown in the U.S.,” notes Ivy Mix, co-owner of Leyenda in Brooklyn, New York, and author of the book “Spirits of Latin America.” “Brazilians obviously know it and we have quite a few Brazilian regulars who exclusively order Cachaça-based cocktails, but most people are unaware of it.” There are more Cachaças available in the U.S. today than there were in 2016, but the numbers are still nowhere near other…

Mint To Bee Ingredients: 2 ounces No. 3 gin;2½ ounces cucumber mint juice1;3 tablespoons honey labneh2;1 cucumber ribbon;1 teaspoon crushed pistachios. Recipe: In a cocktail shaker, combine gin, juice, and labneh and dry shake for 10 seconds. Add ice and shake for another 10 seconds. Strain into an ice-filled Highball glass. Garnish with a cucumber ribbon and crushed pistachios. Pulp Friction Ingredients: 1½ ounces 400 Conejos mezcal;½ ounce Churchill’s Dry White Port;2 ounces tamarind pulp3; Spicy salt4; Lime wheel. Recipe: In an ice-filled cocktail shaker, combine mezcal, Port, and pulp. Shake for 10 seconds then strain into a spicy salt-rimmed rocks glass over a large ice cube. Garnish with a lime wheel. 1 First make cucumber juice: Cut one fresh English cucumber into small pieces. In a blender, combine the…

Brown-Forman has announced new global marketing leadership for its American whiskey brands. Taking the helm for Jack Daniel’s marketing is Mark Bacon, who’s been named global managing director for the Tennessee whiskey. Bacon previously served in senior marketing roles at Woodford Reserve and has worked for Brown-Forman since 1989. Mia Simpson Culp, previously Brown-Forman’s managing director for Tequila, has been named global managing director for Old Forester and Woodford Reserve. She’s been with the company since 2012. Blended Scotch whisky player Compass Box has named Jeff Popkin as president for thee Americas, overseeing the U.S., Canada, and Latin American markets. Based in Pompano Beach, Florida, Popkin joins Compass Box from Stoli Group where he was vice president of sales. The industry veteran’s career also includes time as senior vice president of…

Despite all the attention given to whisk(e)y and Tequila over recent years, vodka remains by far the largest spirits category in the U.S. market. Even so, it has been losing volume over the past few years from its peak of 80 million cases in 2020, and last year the category declined 2% to 77 million cases, according to Impact Databank. Vodka sales have been following a familiar pattern over this period, as consumers shift up to premium brands over both higher- and lower-end products, says Zach Poelma, senior vice president of supplier strategy and insights at leading distributor Southern Glazer’s Wine and Spirits. “In vodka, the largest category by volume, you’re seeing the premium price tier, which is almost flat, outpace both the super-premium and mid- to value-priced tiers, which…

Collaborations between breweries have long been popular, and in recent years they’ve been followed by partnerships between craft breweries and any number of consumer products, ranging from baked goods to mustard. While previous collaborations were generally widely distributed—albeit for a brief time—the latest addition in the space is partnerships between brewers and independent retailers on beers exclusively available at those accounts. Today’s beer collaborations are much like the single-barrel Bourbon trend that has driven traffic to retail stores around the country. At the Open Bottle craft beer shop and taproom, with two locations in Illinois, customer response to some 40 different collaborations over the last nine years has been “fantastic,” co-owner Patrick Bisch says, with many customers “eagerly anticipating each new collaboration release and celebrating the unique beers and stories…