Innehållsförteckning för October 2016 från Market Watch

NYC Lounge Offers Comfortable Luxury In A Chic Space Manhattan’s Time Warner Center is already home to destination restaurants like Per Se and Masa, and in August, the upscale space added the high-end drinks den Ascent Lounge. Operated by City Nights Hospitality, Ascent Lounge boasts a lengthy cocktail list, myriad Champagnes and sipping spirits in a modern and elegant setting designed to provide approachable luxury. Cocktails ($16 to $19) are grouped into four categories: Seasonal, Signature, Wanderlust and Neoclassic. Wanderlust features tropical-style drinks like The Smoking Gun, blending Montelobos Joven mezcal, pineapple and lime juices, and house-cured bacon bits, while Neoclassic highlights whisk(e)y in such cocktails as the Golden Delicious, comprising The Macallan 10-year-old single malt Scotch, house-made honey syrup, peach tea and apple juice. Ascent Lounge also offers super-premium…

Jack Daniel’s 150th Anniversary Whiskey Brown-Forman Corp. is launching a limited-edition Tennessee whiskey in honor of the 150th anniversary of Jack Daniel’s. Featuring the same grain bill as Jack Daniel’s Old No. 7—80-percent corn, 12-percent barley and 8-percent rye—the new release is mellowed through sugar maple charcoal and aged in new American oak barrels. The 50-percent abv Jack Daniel’s 150th Anniversary whiskey ($100 a 1-liter bottle) is available nationwide. For more information, visit Jackdaniels.com. Tullamore DEW 14-Year-Old and 18-Year-Old Single Malt Irish Whiskies William Grant & Sons added a pair of single malt Irish whiskies to its Tullamore DEW brand this fall. Tullamore DEW 14-year-old single malt ($70 a 750-ml. bottle) and Tullamore DEW 18-year-old single malt ($110) were both finished in Bourbon, Oloroso Sherry, Port and Madeira casks and…

Although the Bourbon boom gets more attention, single malt Scotch has been a major success story over the last decade. Its rise has dovetailed closely with the success of craft spirits, as consumers flock to products with greater substance and authenticity. But single malt’s leading players say the once-staid category must continue to evolve and adapt to consumer tastes. “Single malt is at a crossroads,” says Brian Cox, director of Scotch whisky at Diageo North America. “The qualities that helped double the category’s volume since 2008 to 1.5 million cases this year aren’t what will drive it to 3 million cases.” The long decline of blended Scotch and the rise of Bourbon have brought challenges and opportunities for single malt. “It’s key that we don’t abandon what’s proven successful, but…

The brother-and-sister duo behind Bourbon Street Wine & Spirits have built a bustling retail business by doing what they know best—relying on family and staying close to home. Michael Wade and Cheverly Wade-Richardson co-own the seven-unit Bourbon Street chain, a 20-year-old operation of approachable beverage alcohol stores in New Jersey’s rural Hunterdon and Warren counties. For all their success, the siblings say the company’s early days weren’t always easy. As a 26-year-old law school graduate in the spring of 1996, Michael had trouble finding a job, while Cheverly—a 28-year-old clothing store manager with a business degree—was ready for a change. The two decided to join forces and open Bourbon Street Wine & Spirits in May 1996, despite their parents’ reservations. The 2,000-square-foot store in Califon, New Jersey, struggled from the…

The Homebrewers of Puget Sound holds its monthly meetings at Edison City Alehouse in Tacoma, Washington. The venue offers 18 craft and imported brews on draft, generally priced from $4 to $17, depending on the pour size. Club members bring in their beers for sampling, but also buy beer at the bar. “They share their brews with our regular customers,” says Edison City owner Andrew Babcock. “It’s an open forum.” Given their enthusiasm for beer, homebrewers are ideal customers, and bars are looking to partner with homebrewer clubs to encourage visits. Homebrewing has increased in popularity with the rise in craft beers. According to Gary Glass, director of the American Homebrewers Association (AHA), there are at least 1.2 million homebrewers in the United States today. AHA membership has nearly quadrupled…

Chicago Restaurateurs Debut Italian Supper Club In Texas A contemporary take on a classic Italian supper club, Sophia’s opened in Austin, Texas, in August with a sophisticated menu and a bustling drinks program. Developed by Chicago-based BDG Hospitality, the Downtown eatery features a large open dining room, as well as a bar and lounge area and a covered outdoor terrace. Chicago chef Mark Sparacino relocated to Austin to helm the kitchen. The menu offers modernized Italian fare, from meatballs, grilled octopus and Wagyu carpaccio to brick chicken, house-made black pepper tagliatelle and orecchiette with black truffle cream (entrées are $19 to $57). The beverage program highlights Italian cocktails, house-made liqueurs and European wines. Along with barrel-aged Negronis and Manhattans, signature drinks include the Tegroni, comprising Don Julio Blanco Tequila, Cocchi…

MARKET WATCH celebrated the nation’s top beverage alcohol retailers on September 15th at its LEADERS Annual Awards Dinner, a black-tie affair held at the St. Regis Hotel in New York City, hosted by M. Shanken Communications chairman Marvin R. Shanken. Roger Gildehaus, president and owner of Pineville, Missouri–based Macadoodles and a 2006 MARKET WATCH LEADER, was named MARKET WATCH’s 2016 “Retailer of the Year.” Gildehaus’ seven-unit Macadoodles chain does nearly $44 million in annual sales across its stores, which include six franchised units. His wholly owned Pineville location alone does $16 million in annual sales. Gildehaus spent 25 years at Wal-Mart before launching Macadoodles in 1997. Eight new MARKET WATCH LEADERS from six retail businesses were inducted at the dinner: Christian Navarro of Wally’s Wine and Spirits in Los Angeles;…

Today’s consumers are more sophisticated and adventurous than ever, as evidenced by the decline of overly sweet cocktails in favor of bold, spirit-forward recipes. “The resurgence of craft cocktails has placed the focus on balance, depth and complexity,” says Aldo Zaninotto, owner of Osteria Langhe in Chicago, adding that bitter liqueurs have benefited from this shift. “I think we’re all growing up a bit,” says Nick Korn, Bostonbased bartender and Italian portfolio specialist for Campari America. “We’ve emerged from a love for sweet, simple confections to embrace challenging, complex flavors. No one is born loving coffee, bitter greens or hoppy beer, but we learn to love—and crave—those bitter flavors. The same can be said for bitter cocktails and spirits.” Katie Byrum, bartender at New York City bar The Up &…

Lock Reddic, president of Green’s Discount Beverage Stores, says his four units in South Carolina are showing a “pronounced drop” in blended Scotch whisky sales. The outlook is slightly better at the chain’s other two locations in Atlanta, but the overall trend in blended Scotch is stagnant at Green’s. “The lower-priced Scotches are getting absolutely clobbered,” Reddic adds. Elias Aguilera, vice president of spirits and cigars for Total Wine & More, notes that blended Scotch is up slightly throughout the chain, but “definitely not as much as single malt, Irish, American whiskey or Bourbon.” Other retailers see a shrinking category. “Our blend numbers are flat to down, with not much happening,” says Michael Cimini, owner of the four-unit Austin Liquors in Massachusetts. And Ken Friedman, owner of Bottle King in…

Categories provide a common frame for discussing wines, and most on- and off-premise businesses organize their wines by varietal, region or a combination of the two. But what happens to wines that fall outside of conventional groupings due to their origin, content or flavor profile? “Category is important in today’s wine culture, but that could evolve,” says Ryan Gerni, wine buyer at Davidsons Liquors in Highlands Ranch, Colorado. Although Merlot and Syrah sales at the store have slowed, Gerni sees growth in unconventional wines. He shelves the 2015 Giocato Pinot Grigio ($9.99 a 750-ml. bottle) from Slovenia with Italian Pinot Grigio offerings, citing the wine’s similar flavor profile. Likewise, he says the 2012 Bulgariana Thracian Valley Cabernet Sauvignon ($9.99) from Bulgaria fits best with domestic Cabernet Sauvignon because of its…

Plum A new countertop wine appliance that enables consumers to enjoy premium wine by the glass is launching this month. Priced at $1,499, Plum is a needle-based wine preservation system that holds multiple bottles with integrated refrigeration, which can be set at varietal-specific serving temperatures. The device has a touchscreen that provides information about each wine and features a refillable argon canister for preserving more than 200 bottles of wine. Visit the company’s website at Plum.wine for more information. Bourbon: The Rise, Fall And Rebirth Of An American Whiskey Fred Minnick, author of “Whiskey Women: The Untold Story of How Women Saved Bourbon, Scotch and Irish Whiskey,” has written a new book. Published this month by Quarto Knows, “Bourbon: The Rise, Fall and Rebirth of an American Whiskey” details the…

AS PICTURED: 1. Tennis player Andy Roddick mixed Grey Goose vodka cocktails with brand ambassador Julien Lafond at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center during the U.S. Open in Flushing, New York, on September 8th. 2. Deutsch Family Wine & Spirits chairman Bill Deutsch gave the keynote address at the 40th annual Society of Wine Educators conference on August 11th at the Mayflower Renaissance Hotel in Washington, D.C. 3. C. Mondavi & Family vice president Paul Englert (left) and Purple Heart Wines winemaker Ray Coursen (right) presented a check to Purple Heart Foundation vice president William Wroolie (center) at the organization’s gala in Norfolk, Virginia, on August 13th. 4. Actor Bill Murray poured drinks at the opening of 21 Greenpoint on September 16th in Brooklyn, New York. The bar…

Longtime Los Angeles retailer and 1985 MARKET WATCH LEADER Dennis Overstreet relocated The Beverly Hills Wine Merchant to the Montage Hotel this past spring. “It’s sort of our candy store,” Overstreet says, noting that the 1,500-square-foot space evokes “the land of film and fantasy.” The shop features Biedermeier-style furnishings, antique carpets and floor-to-ceiling shelves lining the walls. Round plexiglass cases display vertical vintages of such wines as Château Pétrus, Château Haut-Brion, Château Lafite Rothschild and Château Margaux. The store has LED lights designed to illuminate without giving off heat, as well as stone floors that help modulate temperature. “We’ve gone the extra mile with the design,” Overstreet says. “Beverly Hills is the film capital of the universe, and people come here looking for Hollywood magic. I wanted the store to…

In mid-August in San Diego, executives at the restaurant and bar group CH Projects were putting the final touches on one of their newest bars, False Idol. The tiki-inspired venue is located inside the company’s recently remodeled Craft & Commerce gastropub in the heart of San Diego’s Little Italy neighborhood. Around the same time, the city’s historic Bali Hai restaurant was hosting Tiki Oasis 2016, billed as “the largest and longest-running festival in the world for lovers of island lifestyle and purveyors of Polynesian pop.” Tiki isn’t new to San Diego, although it’s currently enjoying a resurgence. Once concentrated on the city’s Shelter Island, an updated version of tiki is now spilling into neighboring communities. “Tiki and rum drinks have become a hot new thing,” says Neil Sorensen, regional vice…

There’s little cohesion among the 72 spirits and wine brands on Impact Databank’s “Hot Prospects” list. Many of the honorees are relatively new products, while others have been around for years —or even centuries, in a few cases. Both major players and small brands are well-represented, and all have met the same stringent criteria for achieving Hot Prospect status. For spirits, honorees must have had depletions between 50,000 and 200,000 cases in 2015, either as new products or as existing brands achieving at least 15-percent growth over the previous year while also advancing in 2013 and 2014. For both domestic and imported wine, Hot Prospects must have depleted between 50,000 and 250,000 cases last year, either as new products or as existing brands that advanced by at least 15 percent…

When Skokie, Illinois–based Binny’s Beverage Depot released Goose Island Beer Co.’s Bourbon County stout last November, the first customer arrived more than 24 hours ahead of time. At Beverage Warehouse in Winooski, Vermont, hundreds of devoted fans line up every Saturday morning to purchase The Alchemist’s Heady Topper double IPA. And in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Founders Brewing Co. marked the release of its coveted Kentucky Breakfast stout last spring during KBS Week. As part of the festivities, Grand Rapids sports bar The Score participated in the launch with a two-hour release event, becoming the only venue pouring KBS in the country during that window. The party attracted more than 250 guests on what normally would have been a quiet Wednesday night. Like Ahab’s pursuit of the white whale in “Moby-Dick,”…