Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2021 i Market Watch

Nashville: Boutique Hotel Unveils Upbeat Drinks Den Southern charm and a lively atmosphere make Sidebar a destination venue in Nashville’s Bode hotel. The bar opened in April with a menu of classic and seasonal cocktails, small plates, and live music. Beverage director Meg Hoberg, a Nashville native, worked with Los Angeles-based hospitality firm New School to craft a menu that includes specialties like the Wallflower, mixed with Hendrick’s gin, Angostura Aromatic bitters, bergamot oil, jasmine simple syrup, lemon juice, hibiscus tea, and egg white, and the Romero, comprising Corazón Reposado Tequila, lime and cranberry juices, and house-made toasted black peppercorn syrup, topped with torched rosemary (signature cocktails are $12). Sidebar also lists a variety of craft beers, including local offerings by Wiseacre Brewing, Yazoo Brewing, and a special private collaboration…

Despite widespread market disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, gin performed well in the U.S. in 2020. Last year, the cocktail staple and international favorite grew by 2.5% to reach just under 9.3 million cases. Across the U.S., retailers saw consumers embrace gin—especially in the 1.75-liter format—as brands turned to virtual home mixology classes and advertising to inspire consumers to take their drinks home from the bars. “As people became at-home mixologists the gin category really took off,” says Jeff Feist, category lead for spirits at retailer BevMo, with 166 units across California, Washington, and Arizona. “This shift really helped brands like Empress, Hendrick’s, and Bombay Sapphire. The gin growth was fueled by both 2-ingredient drinks like the Gin and Tonic, and classic cocktails people wanted to make at home…

When Brendan Bartley was hired as head bartender of the Manhattan bar The 18th Room in 2018, he quickly made an impression. A vocal advocate for sustainable bar practices, Bartley made it his mission to minimize waste at the bar, which included sharing ingredients and packaging materials with the kitchen and using leftover citrus rinds to create his own cleaning products. “I’m always trying to eliminate waste not just in drinks but with produce behind the scenes as well,” he says. “I think having a lot of waste is generally done through laziness, and most waste problems can be fixed with just a few extra steps or just doing something different.” The bar’s owner, Dave Oz, was so impressed by Bartley’s approach that he brought him on as head bartender…

While the evolution of rosé from sticky, sweet pink wines of the 1990s and early 2000s to the crisp, dry rosé wines of today was initially challenging, the rosy-hued category has finally entered the fine wine landscape and captured serious attention from U.S. consumers. And thus far, it’s shown no signs of stopping. “Rosés are still very strong,” says Dustin Mitzel, CEO of the Happy Harry’s Bottle Shops chain, with locations in Fargo and Grand Forks, North Dakota. “The growth isn’t double-digit like it was three or four years ago, but it’s still growing as a category. It’s partly because of the sheer number of products that have been released—the base has grown so much.” Happy Harry’s typically carries 30-40 rosé SKUs. Argonaut Wine & Liquor in Denver, which currently…

Prav Saraff, the director of operations at 1 West Dupont Circle Wines and Liquors in Washington, D.C, believes the industry’s future has already arrived. “The ease of being able to restock liquor cabinets and wine cellars and to order the necessities for a party from the comfort of a cellphone has made it so that people don’t feel the need to go into the store anymore,” he says, adding that because of social distancing measures, many consumers don’t want to walk into a store to make a purchase. For Saraff and other beverage alcohol retailers, the emergence of on-demand delivery has resulted in added sales, while consumers have quickly become enamored by the convenience and reduced-friction transactions the services offer. Still, some retailers are becoming increasingly leery of app-based delivery…

Canadian cannabis producer Canopy Growth has partnered with Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits (SGWS) to bring its CBD drinks portfolio to the U.S. The partnership begins with Quatreau, Canopy Growth’s top-selling CBD drink in Canada, which recently launched stateside. Quatreau is a line of sparkling water with four flavors: Cucumber & Mint, Passionfruit & Guava, Blueberry & Acai, and Ginger & Lime (all $4 a 12-ounce can), all containing 20-mg of CBD. SGWS will bring Quatreau to seven states initially, including Arizona, Florida, Nevada, and Oregon, among others, with expansion to additional states planned in the months ahead. This partnership with a leading, national distribution company like SGWS—which is projecting annual revenue of $21 billion this year—marks a turning point for the distribution of CBD products in the U.S. The…

In the world of wine retail, few companies can compete with Costco Wholesale Corp. Amid a tumultuous year of navigating a changing retail climate during a global pandemic and new leadership at the head of its beverage alcohol sector, the big-box retailer could have easily suffered during 2020. Instead, Costco’s beverage sales continued to grow. The mega-company has been a leader in off-premise beverage sales for years and, like many of its competitors, Costco saw huge gains last year as buying trends shifted heavily toward retail during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. “Alcohol sales were very strong in 2020 and we’re continuing to see healthy double-digit increases,” says Chad Sokol, Costco’s assistant vice president and general merchandise manager for beverage alcohol. “We believe we will continue to have robust…

When Suzanne and Roger Perry moved to Tampa, Florida 15 years ago, they were impressed with the number of high-quality restaurants the area had to offer. There was great food and great variety, but there was also a problem: The restaurants they enjoyed were pretty formal, and the couple wanted to have a relaxed, casual dinner while still enjoying top-quality fare. So they decided to make their own venue, the ideal restaurant they were looking for. They opened their first on-premise eatery in early 2009 and since then their company, Datz Restaurant Group, has grown to encompass seven on-premise units and a couple additional virtual ghost kitchen concepts, with annual sales topping $20 million. Like every restaurant group, Datz had to make major adjustments to stay afloat over the last…

One of the casualties of the pandemic for the beer category has been Belgian beer, brews that typically skew heavily to the on-premise and are often sought out by inquisitive beer shoppers at retail. According to the Beer Institute, Belgian beer volume fell 18% last year to 56 million gallons, from 68 million in the year prior. Given the downturn, Belgian brewers are looking to modernize offerings of the tradition-steeped brews in the U.S., and retailers applaud the move. “There’s no question that the past year has been challenging for everyone,” says Laura Alito, director of marketing communications at Anheuser-Busch, marketer of Stella Artois, the top-selling Belgian brew in the U.S. “For Stella, whose identity is so closely tied to the bar and restaurant community, the challenges with the international…