Innehållsförteckning för September 2021 från Market Watch

For Irish whiskey in the U.S., 2020 was the most challenging year in over a decade, with the abrupt changes caused by the Covid-19 pandemic damaging the category’s success in the on-premise and forcing an abrupt shift toward retail. Although the overall category slipped 0.5% to just over 4.6 million cases, the majority of leading brands successfully reached consumers in the off-premise and grew. Despite widespread growth, however, the category’s leader—Pernod Ricard’s Jameson—has such a wide lead that the overall market bends to its performance and last year Jameson dropped 3.9% to 3.59 million cases. While 2020 paused Irish whiskey’s tremendous growth, the category is still very near its all-time high in 2019 of 4.63 million cases. One challenging year could not erase the tremendous gains the category has made…

The beer cooler at Cheers Liquor Mart in Colorado Springs, Colorado provides a glimpse into overall trends for the beverage these days. “The whole seltzer category has blown up here, with White Claw and Truly leading the way.” says Jack Backman, the store’s owner. “We’ve gone from two cooler doors of seltzers to six in just the past year.” Backman adds that while hard seltzers started out appealing to just younger consumers, “now the popularity has grown to our whole clientele.” Hard seltzers are also surging at Julio’s Liquors in Westborough, Massachusetts, according to beer manager Jason Hollander. “Most hard seltzer consumers skew toward either White Claw or Truly,” he says. “But many will also pick up a new seltzer release as an impulse buy.” Hard seltzers and other flavored…

As categories like Bourbon and Tequila have taken off in recent years, rum has been experiencing a bit of an identity crisis. While it can function as either a white or brown spirit, features both aged and unaged selections, and has both value and super-premium SKUs, suppliers have grappled with the best on-ramp to return the segment to growth. According to Impact Databank, the category has been stubbornly hovering at just under 23 million 9-liter cases. Enter aged rums. Like other spirits sectors, these aged selections from the premium-and-above end of the category have given rum a much-needed boost, as the segment has been languishing in the shadows of first vodka and, more recently, whisk(e)y. While it is highly unlikely that these aged upstarts will encroach upon the dominance of…

The Tannat varietal originated in southwest France but is the dominant grape in Uruguay, where the small but prosperous wine sector is pushing forward with expansion in the U.S. market. It’s a slow simmer at the moment, and few believe that Tannat or Uruguayan wine will become mainstream any time soon, if ever. Instead, they’re looking to carve out a small, unique niche in the South American wine sector in the U.S. “People are always ready for something new,” says Kirk Ermisch, owner of Elixir Wine Group, which imports wines from Bodega Bouza. “We’ve been beating that drum for a while now and people have finally come around.” He notes that the wines have improved over the past decade and that, coupled with the penchant of U.S. gatekeepers and consumers…

Ryan Maybee’s first foray into hospitality was bartending at the Kansas City, Missouri fine-dining restaurant Pierpont’s in 1999 when he was 21 years old and paying his way through community college. “It took maybe two years for me to realize that I was really good at bartending and I also really loved it,” he says. “I decided then that I wanted to run my own bar one day.” So Maybee shifted his focus in school to business and in 2006, at just 28 years old, he achieved his goal and opened JP Wine Bar & Coffee House. But Maybee soon discovered that he wanted more than a wine bar. “I was already really into classic cocktails, but it was a visit to the New York City craft cocktail bar Milk…

Delray Beach, FL: Whiskey Rules At Contemporary American Kitchen Boasting a whisk(e)y collection of more than 900 bottles, Warren opened in June in Southern Florida’s Delray Beach neighborhood. The casual and sophisticated American kitchen is operated by Damn Good Hospitality Group and features a massive library of whiskies, as well as creative cocktails and contemporary American fare. Warren’s owners have been privately collecting prestige whiskies for years, and they’re showcasing them at their new venue. The whisk(e)y menu spans several rare and exclusive labels ($5-$5,000 a 1-ounce pour), including Bourbons by Pappy Van Winkle and Colonel Taylor and 30-year-old Scotches. Warren also has a roster of roughly 20 hand-picked private barrel whiskies and several whisk(e)y flights ($30-$50 for four 1-ounce pours). These are joined by a roster of classic cocktails…

Among the thousands of Bourbons available in the Liquor Barn chain in Kentucky, there are few, if any, that are collecting dust. “There’s nothing that’s not hot, nothing that doesn’t move” in the Bourbon sector, according to Jonathan Blue, principal of Liquor Barn and alcohol strategy for e-commerce player Gopuff, which recently acquired the Kentucky retail group. The pandemic did little to temper demand for the whiskey and now, with recovery underway, the long-vibrant segment is still booming. “I see absolutely no cooling off,” Blue says. “It’s as hot as it’s ever been and there’s no end in sight.” In Virginia, Brewer Richardson—who is bar manager for Repeal Bourbon & Burgers in Virginia Beach—is seeing similar traffic. “We’re selling even more whiskey and other spirits than before the pandemic,” says…

High-end mixers give retailers another chance to capture consumers as they trade up. They offer alternatives to grocery-store brands and can make at-home mixology a simple process with only a few steps. Premiumization has brought the spirits world to new levels of prestige and prominence, and as consumers become more accustomed to higher-end spirits, interest in craft or premium mixers has grown in tandem. Despite the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic and the on-premise shut down, premium mixer brands fared well, with many reporting growth and successful pivots to DTC and retail sales. Retailers, meanwhile, report growing interest in the vast category, pointing to craft tonics and sodas, as well as fruit-based mixers and specific cocktail mixes as profitable categories. Austin, Texas-based Twin Liquors’ director of marketing Sandra Spalding…

As ready-to-drink (RTD) cocktails continue to have their moment, surging in sales and finding increased competition with new brands, bartenders are experimenting with them on-premise, creating more opportunities for these retail-focused offerings to shine. The new breed of high-quality, pre-packaged RTDs are being lauded for their complex flavor profiles and are finding favor in a variety of venues, from sporting and music arenas to traditional restaurants and bars. The Covid-19 pandemic further boosted the RTD category, as on-premise operators looked for ways to keep their bar programs alive amid widespread shutdowns and an increased focus on takeout and delivery. RTDs have recently become a key player at Old Pal Texas Tavern, a restaurant and bar with live music in Lockhart, Texas, about 30 miles from Austin. Tavern owner Travis Tober…