Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2023 i Market Watch

Nashville, TN: Restaurateur Adds First Bar Concept To Celebrate Agave Boasting more than ten riffs on the Margarita plus a full menu of other Tequila and mezcal drinks, Pushing Daisies celebrates all things agave in Nashville, Tennessee. The bar opened in November from restaurateur Sam Fox, whose Fox Restaurant Concepts operates more than 60 eateries across the country but has never tackled a bar-only concept until now. Pushing Daisies displays nearly 100 Tequilas on the backbar. The concept offers a Classic Margarita made with Corazón Blanco, as well as flavored specialties like the Devil’s Vice, made with jalapeño-infused Corazón Blanco Tequila, strawberry-clementine juice, and blistered shishito pepper. Beyond Margaritas, Pushing Daisies also serves a Don Fulano Añejo Tequila-based Old Fashioned, a Banhez Ensemble mezcal-based Negroni, and a Corazón Añejo Tequila-based…

There are many family businesses in the wine world, but few are like Foley Family Wines. It all started when Bill Foley and his wife, Carol, bought a property in Santa Barbara County, California in 1996. Less than two decades later, this once-modest bit of dabbling in wine has become a company with more than 20 prestige wineries and vineyard properties, including well-known labels like Chalk Hill Estate, Chalone, Silverado, Sebastiani, and Ferrari-Carano, as well as properties in the Pacific Northwest and New Zealand. The years have been marked by a whirlwind of wine deals. “I’m known as a serial acquirer,” says Foley, adding that he’s been fortunate to purchase wineries and vineyards staffed with PELNER excellent people. The results appear to support such praise: According to Impact Databank, the…

On December 20, 2022, Market Watch’s publisher, M. Shanken Communications, celebrated its 50th year in businesss. Marvin R. Shanken launched M. Shanken Communications, starting from a small apartment office in New York City, on that day in 1972. He began with Impact newsletter, the industry publication that would be the initial building block in what would grow to become a portfolio of upscale publications covering wine, spirits, cigars, and the good life—including Wine Spectator, Whisky Advocate, and Cigar Aficionado. Throughout its years, the company has also maintained a firm focus on the industry with an array of trade titles that include Market Watch, Impact, and Shanken News Daily. To mark the occasion, the company has published a special anniversary edition. Here, we give you an excerpt from that issue’s interview…

Despite ongoing shortages of small-volume Bourbon releases, allocated items play a key role in making spirits retailers relevant to Bourbon drinkers. “Stores that don’t overcharge earn the respect and loyalty of their customers,” says Scott Niecko, co-owner of Michigan’s Mega-Bev chain. “And that respect is the key to long-term growth.” Indeed, limited supply of sought-after Bourbons and other spirits is frustrating for consumers and retailers alike. And while some retailers may capitalize on shipments of the coveted products with sales at exclusive price points where legal, others are opting for tactics built on ensuring fairness to all customers and aimed at building the stores’ reputations. Increasingly, licensed beverage retailers are getting creative when it comes to divvying up allocated spirits, with practices ranging from full-scale store events to tie-ins with…

As summer turned to autumn in 2022, many Oregon wine growers were a bit antsy. The previous two years had been challenging from a production standpoint, and frost in the spring had put everybody on edge. However, the worrying was largely for naught, as vintners are reporting a quality harvest with varying but generally high yield levels. “We had some real challenges the past two years,” says Jim Bernau, founder and CEO of Willamette Valley Vineyards. “In 2020 there was the smoke effect on many growers, and that dramatically cut into the total volumes. Then in 2021 we had a fairly short harvest. In 2022, the early frost had us worried.” And while a late bloom and a late growing season was risky, Bernau notes that the cold and rain…

Compared to every other major spirits segment, American brandy is significantly behind in 9-liter case depletions and has continued to see those depletions chip away each year since a high of 7.5 million cases in 2015, according to Impact Databank. Despite most brands experiencing slight but steady losses over the last several years, the top players have held onto their market share. Paul Masson was the only brand in the top five to post gains in 2022, up 7.3% to 2.15 million cases. Category leader E. & J. slipped 3.8% to 2.5 million cases, while No. 3 Christian Brothers was down 3% to 1.2 million cases, and No. 4 Korbel fell 4.7% to 260,000 cases. For Christian Brothers owner Heaven Hill, the current strategy is along the lines of “if…

As interest in digital currencies and assets continues to grow, the on-premise is beginning to experiment with NFT technology. NFTs (non-fungible tokens) are a type of digital asset that generally represents something collectible, often art or music, but also allocated spirits and wines. NFTs carry a unique digital signature, meaning they can’t be duplicated, and they can be purchased using cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin or Ethereum. In the bar world, NFTs are finding a niche in a few different forms. The bar Botanica opened in October in San Diego as a creative concept that melds the worlds of hospitality and art with an NFT twist. Per its name, Botanica highlights artisanal, botanical spirits, with a focus on gin and genever, and it serves upscale snacks and bar bites. The NFTs come…

When restaurants and bars nationwide reopened and reinstated longer operating hours during the pandemic rebound, Kevin Bratt, concept wine director for the three-location Joe’s Seafood, Steak & Stone Crab, owned by Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises, decided to go all in on shoring up wine reserves at a time when many restaurants were shedding excess stock. “A lot of the direction wine buyers have received over the past two or three years was to liquidate inventory as much as possible to generate revenue,” he says. “On the flip side, I saw that as a great opportunity to capitalize on the availability of things that I didn’t have access to before, due to allocation.” Overall, Bratt stuck to the restaurant’s core format, keeping the same size wine and reserve list, along with…

Demand for zero-proof spirits is at an all-time high, buoyed by a new approach that ditches the all-or-nothing drinking mentality and encourages people to embrace alcohol-free spirits on their own terms. For some, that means mixing zero-proof spirits with other non-alcohol ingredients to create upscale alcohol-free cocktails. But for others, zero-proof spirits are a good accompaniment to traditional spirits and provide a lower-alcohol twist for well-known drinks. Gone are the days of a simple abstinence-fueled message. Today, non-alcohol spirits offer their own stylish twist on imbibing. The alcohol-free spirits segment has seen showing strong growth, albeit from a small base, as major alcohol players invest in the trend. Sales of zero-proof spirits were up 90% in 2022, totaling $6.1 million, according to Impact Databank, with depletions up more than 100%…

With a selection of more than 2,500 active beer SKUs, making a choice can be overwhelming for customers at John’s Marketplace, a two-unit beer emporium in Portland, Oregon. But complimentary beer tastings every Friday are a great tool in helping people make purchasing decisions. “The tastings help expose customers to new beers and new breweries,” says co-owner Rob Petros. “Having a brewer or brewery representative present at a tasting can make all the difference in getting a consumer to try a new beer.” Similarly, at Randall’s Wines & Spirits, which has five locations in Missouri and Illinois, beer samplings have become so popular with customers that “we’re frequently asked what kinds of tastings we have coming up,” says Vicky Benson, beer manager at the Fairview Heights, Illinois store. Held several…