Radius Issue 19

Transcription

Radius Issue 19

Inside
Lime Shortage
Summer Preview
BrewDog Q&A
World Cup Marketing
Australia Cocktail Culture
Mezcal Growth
Hot Trends
Craft Gins
Fruit Radlers
Spirit Beers & Ciders
Summer Fruit Cider
Frozen Drinks
Regional Bloody Marys
ISSUE
19
Jun
e 2014
Disco
Moons ver
innova hine
tions
WELCOME
Welcome to the summer issue of Radius! As temperatures rise, and the
gaze of the world has fallen on the first of Brazil’s major sports events,
it’s no wonder we’re experiencing a bit of Brazilian fever.
First of all, there are the authentic Brazilian flavors; from adaptations of
Brazilian drinks (namely the Caipirinha) to world-wide launches of Brazilian
spirits. But two Brazilian-centric trends are perhaps the most interesting.
See pages 97–100 for our look at how sports sponsorship has gone premium
in the wake of this year’s World Cup. Football is clearly no longer just the
domain of the lager brands as champagne and wine brands join the fold.
And see pages 90 for a look at how drink culture in Brazil itself is evolving,
with the trend for Japanese drinking dens.
But, of course, there’s plenty going on outside of the sporting summer.
We’re seeing the continued premiumisation of mainstream brands (see
Captain Morgan 1671 Commemorative Blend Spiced Rum on page 26 and
Beefeater London Garden Gin on page 16 and Bombay Amber on page 17).
In gins, there’s a rush on to use the most unusual botanical or flavouring
from elderflower to our flavour focus ingredient (see page 87) seaweed.
And then, there’s the great global barrel exchange. It seems no matter the
category, brand owners are acquiring a wide array of barrels in which to finish
their products. This issue brings you Scotches aged in bourbon barrels (see
Laphroaig Select on page 28), gin aged in French vermouth barrels (see
Bombay Amber on page 17) and seasoned French oak barrels (see Citadelle
Gin Solera Vintage 2013 on page 16) and tequilas such as Hornitos Black
Barrel Tequila (page 39) aged in US oak.
We also profile one of the world’s most pioneering beer makers,
BrewDog, with our interview with co-founder James Watt on page 109.
As always, we hope you enjoy this issue and welcome any feedback.
Cheers everyone!
The Radius team at Vandal
Radius
About Us
Over the past six years, Radius has built a strong reputation for
intuitive, qualitative trends research focused on the drinks industry.
Our report brings you hand-picked content from the last quarter —
covering the latest product launches, category trends, innovations and
on-premise trends.
Contributors
Claire Dodd
Claire is a London-based freelance journalist.
She specializes in food, drink, and travel
writing and has written for The Guardian,
The Independent, The LondonPaper, Channel
4 Food. She is also the former deputy features
editor of on-trade bible, the Publican magazine.
Carla Avruch
Carla has been immersed in consumer insights
and trends for 10 years, advising clients such
as PepsiCo, ESPN, Bacardi, Bath & Body Works,
Starcom MediaVest and Anheuser-Busch InBev.
Editorial
US Editor Claudine BenZenou
European Editor Paul Louis
Features Editor Claire Dodd
UK Editorial Assistant Laura Chubb
US Editorial Assistant Carla Avruch
Art
Head Designer Anna Ekelund
Cover Illustration Jonny Rowe
Picture Researcher Sarah Fennell
Joshua M Bernstein
Joshua is a Brooklyn-based freelance writer who
pens articles about food, drinks and culture
for the New York Times, Gourmet.com, Forbes
Traveler, New York Daily.
Pameladevi Govinda
Pameladevi Govinda is a specialist beverage
writer and journalist who works as a wine
consultant. Her writing has appeared in
publications including Cheers, Beverage
Dynamics, Beverage Media and Where
New York.
Radius is published quarterly
by Vandal Ltd. Studio 46,
Regent Studios, 8 Andrews Road,
London E8 4QN
© Vandal Ltd 2014
All rights reserved
www.vandal-online.com
For enquiries please call:
UK +44 (0) 7799 265 731
USA +1 312 731 4218
A Vandal publication
Radius Issue 19 — 3
Radius
Contents
Radius
Contents
109
BrewDog Q&A
21
Craft Gin
24
Flavored Rum
39
Barrel Aged Tequila
4 — Radius Issue 19
David Beckham’s
Haig Club
49
Craft Beer Radler
29
35
Aged Moonshine
57
Chablis Hipster Edition
New Products
On-Premise
Vodka 7
Flavored Vodka 12
Gin 16
Craft Gin 20
Scottish Craft Gin 23
Flavored Rum 24
Rum 26
Scotch28
American Whiskey 33
Flavored Whiskey 36
Global Whisky 38
Tequila 39
Liqueurs 42
Summer Beer 44
Watermelon Flavor 45
Fruit Radlers 46
Grapefruit Radlers 48
Spirit Beer & Cider 50
American Cider 54
Wine Launches 56
Pouches & Packs 62
Frozen Drinks 64
RTD Margaritas 67
RTD Launches 68
Branded RTS Cocktails 69
RTS Cocktails 70
Syrups, Cordials & Mixers Pre-Made Pickle Juice Cocktails American Cocktail Culture Regional Bloody Marys Seaweed Cocktails Sao Paulo’s Izakayas Q&A
72
75
76
78
82
85
88
Marketing
New Campaigns World Cup Marketing 91
97
James Watt, BrewDog 109
Insight
Moonshine Growth
Driven by Innovation Mezcal Growth Implications of the
US Lime Shortage US Summer Drink
Forecast 2014
115
119
121
123
Packaging
Limited Editions New Packs 102
107
82
Regional Bloody Marys
New Products
Vodka
VDKA 6100 by Robert De Niro
Celebrity created
—
Independent Australian spirits company, Artisan
Spirit Merchants LLC, has teamed up with actor
Robert De Niro to create an exceptionally pure,
luxury vodka.
VDKA 6100 (pronounced Vodka 6100) is described
as a remarkably pure and smooth premium vodka
with a “global sensibility”. It uses ‘pristine’ natural
spring water from New Zealand, whey sourced
from grass-fed cows’ milk which is three times
distilled in New Zealand and filtered through a bed
of carbon. The bottle has been designed by leading
New York designer, Joe Doucet, to highlight the
purity of the vodka. It has been handcrafted from
luxury French glass manufacturer, Saverglass, and
is topped off with a silver lid and cork from Italy.
Key players behind the brand include Australian
casino mogul James Packer and world-renowned
actor and businessman Robert De Niro. De Niro
has been described as the brand’s co-creator
and according to Artisan Spirit Merchants, has
been intimately involved in launching the brand.
CEO Tim Szonyi said: “Greatness is born of
collaboration; we tapped the best craftsmen from
around the world to give life to VDKA 6100, the
world’s first global vodka. We distill our vodka in
New Zealand from whey and the result is a cleaner,
purer vodka which is gluten free, sugar free, and
lactose free.”
Robert De Niro said: “I’m very proud to be
associated with the creative team behind the
launch of VDKA 6100. It will be personally
rewarding to be a part of its growth.”
It is initially being released in three states, New
York, Connecticut and New Jersey. However there
are plans for a global launch. VKDA 6100 will be
available in two sizes, 750ml, retailing for $34.99,
and a 1-liter bottle for $44.99.
www.VDKA6100.com
New Products
Vodka
New Products
Vodka
Our/Vodka
Craft project
—
Pernod Ricard has announced the
opening of 11 micro distilleries
across the US, Europe and Australia
as part of plans to develop its Our/
Vodka brand into the largest, locallyproduced spirits brand in the world.
The concept itself sees Pernod’s
Absolut brand partner with urban
micro distilleries in cities around
the world to create a range of
different vodkas which, according
to each distiller, communicates
each city’s personality.
The first micro distillery was
launched in Berlin in partnership
with a local distiller in March
2013 and the next eleven will be
opening from June 2014. Although
every product created will be
made to the same recipe will have
the Our/Vodka brand, each
expression will have its own flavor
and style, having been produced
using locally-sourced ingredients.
First to launch in June will be Our/
Detroit in partnership with local
community organisations that will
host events at the distillery. This
is followed by Our/Seattle, micro
distilleries in US the east and west
coast, Holland and the UK for the
Our/LA, Our/Amsterdam and Our/
London expressions. Our/Miami,
Our/New York, Our/Melbourne, Our/
Austin, Our/Nashville and Our/New
Orleans are scheduled to launch in
2015. Our/Vodka is presented in a
simple milk bottle with metal crown
cap. At 37.5% ABV a 350 ml bottle of
Berlin Vodka is sold for EUR €13.
www.ourvodka.com
Royal Dragon Elite Vodka
Rye
—
Launched in the UK in 2013 and bottled in Hong
Kong, the Royal Dragon vodka range is made from
the “best organic winter harvest rye, distilled five
times in copper pot stills in St Petersburg”.
Royal Dragon Elite is the brand’s entry level offering,
and the brand also has two other expressions:
Imperial, with 23 carat gold flakes; and Limited
Edition Emperor, which boasts a special “crystal
dragon in a golden cage motifed bottle, also 23
carat gold flakes and an 18 carat solid gold cap
with 35 diamonds”.
Also available in Hong Kong, China, Japan, Thailand,
Australia and the Middle East, and coming in 700ml
bottles, Royal Dragon Imperial has an SRP of £69,
Royal Dragon Emporer Limited Edition £4,500 and
Royal Dragon Elite £39.99.
www.royaldragonvodka.com
New Products
Vodka
Smirnoff White Vodka
Travel retail
—
Diageo has launched a super-premium version
of its Smirnoff vodka brand into travel retail.
Smirnoff White will be available from July in a
one liter format priced at $33 USD. The drink is
freeze-filtered at -6˚C and then passed through
charcoal filters. Said to be Diageo’s largest vodka
launch into travel retail, the launch will be
backed by “high-impact” activations according
to Just-Drinks, though details of what these
activations are, are currently unavailable.
The striking white bottle of Smirnoff White was
designed to reflect the crystalline formations
found in the purest arctic ice.
Diageo Global Travel and Middle East (GTME),
Western Vice President Matthieu Comard said:
“Global travelers deserve unique and bespoke
options to augment their journeys and define
them as travelers. Smirnoff White does just that.
Building on the innovative principles of Vladimir
Smirnoff, it sets a new benchmark in the quality
standard of super-premium vodka and will create
a new center of gravity for Smirnoff in travel
retail. The launch of Smirnoff White will raise
the bar in the white spirits category in terms of
the product, its presentation and the scale and
quality of activation.”
www.smirnoff.com
New Products
Vodka
District Made Vodka
Washington vodka
—
Claiming to be only the second distillery in
Washington DC since prohibition, One Eight
Distilling has announced its forthcoming opening.
Named for Article One Section Eight of the US
Constitution that provided for the establishment
of a district to serve as the nation’s capital, the
company founders are currently renovating a
warehouse in Ivy City and plan to launch in the
Summer of 2014.One Eight Distilling will sell spirits
from its tasting room as well as distribute directly
to District liquor stores and bars.
In advance of the opening the One Eight has
released bottle and label designs for the first round
of spirits: Rock Creek White Whiskey, will be
distilled and bottled in its warehouse from locallysourced rye grain, with a label design that honors
the history of mills and small distilleries in the
state; Ivy City Gin, named after the neighborhood
where the distillery is located, will also be distilled
from locally-sourced rye grain and infused with
botanicals in a dedicated gin still, and has a design
that evokes early city maps demarcating city lines
with boundary stones.
District Made Vodka, will pay tribute to the
ancient roots of vodka, being distilled from rye
but at the same time employing the latest filtering
technologies for a smooth and clean flavor, and the
design combines an urban industrial design with a
hand-made aesthetic that is central to One Eight’s
distilling style.
Pricing and ABV’s for the One Eight distilling spirit
range are to be announced.
www.oneeightdistilling.com
New Products
Flavored Vodka
New Products
Flavored Vodka
Grey Goose Le Melon
Cavaillon Melon flavor
—
Grey Goose vodka has announced a new
innovation for the US market, Grey Goose Le
Melon flavoured vodka. The 40% ABV spirit will be
available in 750ml bottles for a SSP of $29.99.
Crafted by Grey Goose’s cellar master Francois
Thibault, the newest extension to the brand’s
super premium flavoured vodka range uses the
Cavaillon melon for its superior quality and French
heritage. Grown in the Provence region of France,
the fruit has been considered a luxury delicacy
throughout history.
According to Grey Goose, legend contends that
kings traded gold for the treasured fruit, while
celebrated writer Alexander Dumas traded all of
his writings for a lifetime’s supply of 12 Cavaillon
melons a year. It is known locally in France as “the
golden fruit”, and the meticulous attention paid to
its growing is said to echo that of the French winter
wheat used to make Grey Goose vodka.
Smirnoff Gold
Collection Apple
Travel retail
—
Following the launch of Smirnoff
Gold Collection, the cinnamonflavored gold leaf-infused vodka
liqueur in 2011, Diageo has
announced the launch of a follow-up
expression into global markets.
Smirnoff Gold Collection Apple is
an apple-flavored vodka liqueur
that contains flakes of suspended
edible gold leaf. The expression will
be initially be exclusively available
in global travel retail for six months
before a domestic roll out. Smirnoff
Gold Apple will retail for around £26
for a one-liter bottle.
www.smirnoff.com
The drink’s strong overtones of juicy melon are
said to lead into lighter notes of white citrus and
almond. Suggested serves include the Melon Mule
with ginger beer and lime, and the Melon Royal
with lemon-lime soda and a melon slice.
Grey Goose Le Melon joins Cherry Noir, La Poire,
L’Orange and Le Citron in Grey Goose’s flavoured
range. It will be released in stores nationwide
from May 1.
www.greygoose.com
New Products
Flavored Vodka
New Products
Flavored Vodka
Blue Ice Crème Brûlée Vodka
Dessert flavor
—
21st Century Spirits’ Blue Ice Vodka brand has introduced
its first flavored vodka with Blue Ice Crème Brûlée Vodka
in the US. The handcrafted spirit is naturally flavored and
made with water from the Teton Mountain Range in Idaho
as well as four-column fractional distilled Idaho wheat with
a five-step filtration process to ensure the clarity and purity.
The resulting vodka features hints of butterscotch, caramel,
custard, toffee and vanilla flavors. A 750-ml bottle of Blue Ice
Crème Brûlée Vodka has an SRP of $20.
www.blueicevodka.com
Three Olives Elvis Presley
Coconut Water Vodka
With coconut water
Absolut Karnival
Orange blossom & passion fruit
—
Absolut Taste of Karnival is the latest limited edition to the Absolut
range. Inspired by Latin America’s ‘carnival’ festivities, the limited
edition bottle features illustrations of carnival-style costumes.
Brazilian graphic novelist Rafael Grampá designed the bottle
incorporating five carnival character figures. Absolut Karnival is
described as rich and fresh with tropical notes and a pronounced
character of orange blossom and passion fruit. Absolut Karnival will
be launched and activated at local carnivals in January and February
of 2014. Currently available in the UK at Selfridges department store
it has an SRP of £34.99 for a 1 liter bottle.
—
The Elvis Presley Coconut Water Vodka
is the first coconut water-flavored
vodka from super-premium vodka
brand, Three Olives. Three Olives has
combined English vodka with the
taste of increasingly popular coconut
water. The vodka undergoes quadruple
distillation and filtration to produce
a smooth taste and is made from the
finest English wheat.
Aimed at the cocktail market, the
brand has created a signature cocktail
called ‘The Elvis’, which consists of
two parts coconut water vodka, two
parts pineapple juice and a splash
of club soda. In honour of singer
Presley’s long-standing love affair with
Hawaii, which he visited on numerous
occasions throughout his 20-year
career. Introduced in March 2014, the
vodka is available in the US, priced at
$21 (750ml), and is 30% ABV.
www.absolut.com/en/products/Absolut-Karnival-Edition/
New Products
Gin
New Products
Gin
Beefeater London Garden Gin
Bombay Amber
Pernod Ricard, owners of the UK based Beefeater Gin brand, has
launched Beefeater London Garden Exclusive Edition. Beefeater
London Garden Exclusive Edition gin is inspired by London’s
famous Chelsea Physic Garden. Originally established in 1673
as an Apothecaries Garden, the company says the garden was
visited regularly by James Burrough, the founder of Beefeater Gin,
to inform his research into botanicals, as it was located around
the corner from his Chelsea distillery. Inspired by the company’s
beginnings, Beefeater London Garden gin combines herbs such
as lemon verbena and thyme with the traditional botanicals and
citrus elements of Beefeater Gin. At 40% ABV Beefeater London
Garden gin will be available exclusively from the visitor centre
which opens in May in Kennington, London, at a price of £22.50
per 700ml bottle.
Bacardi has announced the launch
of an extension to its Bombay
Sapphire gin portfolio into Travel
Retail with Bombay Amber.
Seasonal edition
www.beefeaterdistillery.com
Citadelle Gin Solera
Vintage 2013
Barrel finished
The super premium expression
is “rested” in vintage French
vermouth barrels to give it a pale
amber color. The London dry gin is
also infused with nutmeg, toasted
black cardamom and bitter orange
zest. Bombay Amber will initially
be available via Singapore’s
Changi Airport through DFS,
also in Sydney airport from this
month and Las Vegas and Toronto
airports from May. At 47% ABV
Bombay Amber has an SRP of
SGD55 (US$44) per bottle.
www.bacardi.com
Aged gin
Spirit distributer Cognac Ferrand has
launched an extension to its Citadelle gin
range that has been aged using the solera
process. The French company claims it
is the first gin to be aged using the solera
process, and provides an alternative for
classic cocktails, such as the Martini and
gin and tonic.
Nearly every other gin on the market is
bottled immediately after distilling, but
Citadelle Réserve Vintage is held in small,
seasoned French oak barrels before being
bottled. The process involves putting newmade Citadelle into three different types of
casks, which are ex-Cognac, ex-Pineau des
Charente and American oak casks, for two
to five months. At 44% ABV, Citadelle Gin
Solera Vintage 2013 is available nationwide
across the US at $34.99 a bottle.
www.citadellegin.com
New Products
Gin
New Products
Gin
Bloom Strawberry Cup
Gordon’s Elderflower
Gin liqueur
Floral expression
—
Quintessential Brands have launched a new
limited edition gin liqueur called Bloom
Strawberry Cup.
—
Diageo has extended its range of flavoured line
extensions to its Gordon’s Gin brand, with the launch of
Gordon’s Elderflower.
Bloom gin, the oldest gin distillery in Britain,
has been producing gin by hand for more than
250 years. Master Distiller, Joanne Moore
created a new version of her classic gin by
steeping fresh English strawberries in Bloom
London Dry Gin. The strawberry colored liquor
can be mixed with lemonade, ginger ale or as an
ingredient in cocktails. Its taste is described as:
“A slight tart taste from the strawberries which
opens up on the mouth-feel to allow the softness
of Bloom Gin to come through.” Strawberry
Cup joins limited edition Sloe Bloom Gin as an
extension to the Bloom range and is available
at Spirited Wines, Harvey Nichols’ seven stores,
harveynichols.com and in Mitchells & Butlers
Fine Country Dining pubs across the UK.
RRP: £ 17.99 AbV: 28% Size: 50cl.
Gordon’s Elderflower is a distilled gin with natural
Elderflower and flavourings and will be packaged in a
clear glass bottle with butterfly motif. The 37.5% ABV gin
is sold in the off-trade with an RRP of £16.11 per 700ml
bottle, and to the on-trade for £73.88 for a case of six. Premix cans of the new variant will also be available, priced
at £1.95 a can. Katerina Podtserkovskaya, Marketing
Manager for Gordon’s, said: “With gin in strong growth,
now is the perfect time to push the category forward even
further with this new flavour launch.
www.gordons-gin.co.uk
www.bloomgin.com
Hawthorn’s Gin
Accessible craft
—
Spirits distributor 180East, has launched a new gin brand in the
UK with Hawthorn’s Gin.
First launched in Sweden earlier this year, Hawthorn’s Gin is
distilled and bottled in England. The new gin is based on a 200
year-old London Dry gin recipe and incorporates botanicals
including Macedonian juniper, Sri Lankan nutmeg and Cassia
Bark from Indonesia. 180East says of the brand, “We believe
Hawthorn’s will occupy a unique space on the shelves of the UK’s
supermarkets… We think of it as affordable luxury – a premium
gin, to be enjoyed day in, day out, and not just when it is on offer”.
With 37.5% ABV and available via the off-trade, Hawthorn’s Gin
is on sale in Sainsbury’s supermarkets with an SRP of £14.50 per
700ml bottle.
www.180east.com
CRAFT
GIN
New Products
Craft Gin
Westkorn Gin
German gin
—
Recommended as an excellent
base for modern long drinks and
cocktails, Westkorn Gin’s story
begins as far back as 1842. That’s
when the Neuerburg distillery
was first established in the Eifel
mountains of western Germany.
Until Klaus Herrmann breathed
new life into it, the last person
to distil vodka there was his
grandfather, whose recipe he uses
as the basis for 38% ABV Westkorn.
By introducing innovative copper
catalysis and cold filtration,
Herrmann has banished unwanted
tastes and odours to produce a
small-batch spirit with a wheat note
and a hint of vanilla. Sold in 0.5l
bottles with an RRP of €24.99, its
dachshund logo reflects the brand’s
debt to Herrmann’s grandfather, a
lifelong keeper of hunting dogs.
The gin renaissance continues with a plethora of craft gin
launches which promise to reinvigorate the category with
innovative offerings and unique botanicals whilst providing
consumers with back story and artisan credentials.
Dà Mhìle Seaweed Gin
Seaweed infused
—
Launched on St David’s Day (1 March),
Ceredigion-based artisan Dà Mhìle Distillery
has produced a new Welsh seaweed-infused
gin. Infused for three weeks with fresh organic
seaweed from the Newquay coast, the gin is
made by adding cut-down, hand-selected variant
of botanicals to the distillery’s small batch gin.
Designed to complement seafood, it is 42% ABV
and triple filtered. Savage-Onstwedder also
produces a Caws Teifi Seaweed cheese, as well as a
single malt and single grain whisky, and has plans
to release an apple brandy and Welsh rum later in
2014. Dà Mhìle Seaweed Gin is available from the
distillery’s website and costs £4.95 for 50ml, £17
for 350ml or £30 for 700ml.
www.damhile.co.uk
www.westkorn.com
Dodd’s Gin Fortnum’s Edition
Limited edition
—
London-based luxury retailer Fortnum & Mason and Dodd’s Gin
have collaborated to produce a limited edition gin in celebration of
the Dodd’s brand first anniversary. The Battersea-based small-batch
boutique distillery experimented with teas, spices and other botanicals
available at Fortnum & Mason to create a new recipe for the Dodd’s Gin
Fortnum’s Edition.
There will only be 300 bottles available and each bottle has been
hand labelled and numbered, as part of an exclusive design by
agency United Creatives. Available from 2 April, 2014, the gin will be
£39.50 (50cl; 49.9% ABV) as Spirit of the Month, after which it will
retail for £42.50. In-store tastings and tutored tastings will take place
throughout April.
www.londondistillery.com
New Products
Craft Gin
New Products
Scottish Craft Gin
Chilgrove Dry Gin
Pickering’s Gin
Grape gin
Edinburgh gin
—
Chilgrove Dry Gin, due for release on World Gin
Day (14 June), claims to be the “first ever gin to be
made in England using a neutral spirit distilled
from grapes”.
—
Edinburgh’s first new gin distillery for more than 150 years has
launched new spirit Pickering’s Gin. The handcrafted gin, based
on an original recipe handwritten on a fragment of paper dated
from 17 July 1947, has been produced by Matthew Gammell
and Marcus Pickering at their new facility, the Summerhall
Distillery. It has flavours of juniper, coriander, cardamom
and fennel. The gin will be available in bars and retailers in
throughout Scotland in 70cl bottles (42% ABV) for the suggested
price of £29.50, as well as online through the distillery’s website.
The small batch, 44% ABV spirit eschews the
conventional cereal base used for gin and instead
returns to the original 16th-century recipe,
when gin was made using alcohol distilled from
wine. According to the company, the change to a
cereal base occurred because of a wine shortage
in Holland, where gin was first made. The gin,
named after the small Sussex hamlet, is said to
combine both historic and contemporary ideas to
create a new style of English gin. It is the first time
that eighth generation master distiller Charles
Maxwell has used the historical grape-based
method, which is said to create a “more refined,
elegant style of gin”.
Along with juniper, botanicals include coriander
seed, sweet orange, savory, angelica root, lime,
liquorice root, orris root, grains of paradise,
bitter orange and water mint. The drink has been
designed to be ‘the gin for all seasons.’ Conceived
by Christopher Tetley and co‐founder Dr Celia
Beaumont‐Hutchings,
A summer of trade and consumer tastings is
planned and the gin will be available to both
the on- and off‐trade, including supermarkets,
specialist wine and spirits merchants and online
retailers. Production will be around 15,000 bottles
in the first year with distribution initially handled
by Chilgrove Gin. The super-premium gin is
packaged in a 70cl bottle with a silver diamondshaped label and cork stopper. The RRP is £29.
www.chilgrovegin.com
www.pickeringsgin.com
Strathearn Homecoming
Scotland Gin
Scottish botanicals
—
Strathearn, the “smallest distillery
in Scotland” has released a new gin
using Scottish botanicals, to celebrate
Scotland’s ‘Year of Homecoming’.
During 2014, the country will play
host to both the Commonwealth
Games and the Ryder Cup, as well
as voting on Scottish independence.
Strathearn, which is based in
Perthshire, has used quintessentially
Scottish ingredients such as thistle
and heather as botanicals. The 40%
ABV gin is best enjoyed over ice with
a small amount of mild tonic, or as
a summer aperitif. It is available UK
wide in 700ml bottles priced at £31.50.
www.strathearndistillery.com
New Products
Flavored Rum
New Products
Flavored Rum
Malibu Summer Bottles
Owney’s Limited Edition Flavored Rums
Limited edition
New flavors
—
In the UK, Pernod-Ricard’s Malibu Rum
brand has announced a new limited
edition bottle designed for the summer
months. Aimed at 18-24 year olds, the
bottle has been created in collaboration
with British fashion designer, Sera Ulger,
who has also developed a one-off capsule
“Couture” clothing collection, inspired by
the bottle. With a launch supported with a
fully integrated customer marketing and
digital campaign, Malibu Summer bottles
will be available across the off-trade from
14th April 2014 for six weeks, with an SRP
of £14.99 per 700ml bottle.
—
Brooklyn-based, The Noble Experiment NYC has launched three
limited edition versions of its handcrafted white rum, Owney’s
Original. Produced by master distiller Bridget Firtle, the flavored
rums are available in rosemary, mint and vanilla flavors. The
spirits are all natural and distilled from locally grown and
harvested ingredients, adding to an emerging revival of smallbatch spirit making in Brooklyn.
Both Owney’s Rosemary Rum and Mint Rum were made by
infusing Owney’s Rum with Firtle’s own rosemary and mint
from her garden. Owney’s Vanilla Bean Rum is made with
Madagascan vanilla beans. Each flavoured rum is 40% ABV
(200ml) and was infused for two to three weeks without the
addition of sugar before being bottled by hand. Only 400 bottles
of each have ever been made. They are available from selected
websites for around $25.
www.maliburumdrinks.com
Cruzan Peach Rum
New variant
—
Beam Inc has announced the launch
of a new addition to its Cruzan Rum
brand with Cruzan Peach Rum.
Made on the island of St. Croix, in the
Virgin Islands, Cruzan Peach is made
from tropical rain water and highquality molasses and is distilled with
a unique five-column distillation
process. With 21% ABV of Cruzan
Peach Rum has an SRP of US$14.99
per 750ml bottle.
www.cruzanrum.com
New Products
Rum
New Products
Rum
Humboldt Distillery Organic
Spiced Rum
Organic
Captain Morgan 1671
Commemorative Blend
Spiced Rum
—
California’s Humboldt Distillery has released its
first batch of Organic Spiced Rum. Founded in
2012 as the first micro-distillery on the state’s
North Coast, Humboldt’s organic and gluten-free
rum is its fourth product line, joining vodka and
seasonal apple and pear brandies. After extensive
recipe testing and trials of various fermentation
techniques, the 40% ABV Organic Spiced Rum’s
taste profile includes hints of vanilla, allspice,
banana and bubblegum.
Finished in Spanish oak
—
Diageo has created a limited edition Captain
Morgan Spiced Rum blend inspired by famed
flagship The Satisfaction, which was lost during a
raid on the Panamanian Fort San Lorenzo.
Finished in Spanish Oak, the commemorative
blend contains palatable elements derived from
the type of barrels that were believed to have been
on board The Satisfaction. It is said to have a full
bodied flavour and unique spice blend with notes
of chocolate, dark fruit and hints of vanilla.
The recipient of a gold medal at the 2014 San
Francisco World Spirits Competition, Captain
Morgan 1671 is packaged in a jug designed to reflect
the rum’s 17th century roots. Captain Morgan 1671
is 70 proof (35% ABV) and will be available in the
US for a SRP of $19.99 for a 750ml bottle.
www.captainmorgan.com
humboldtdistillery.com
Don Pancho Origenes Rum
Panama based rum
—
Panama’s new line of aged rums, Don Pancho
Origenes will launch onto the US market in late
June. Creator Francisco “Don Pancho” Fernandez,
who signs each bottle by hand, is shipping only
2,000 bottles of the 30-year-old worldwide, with
150 four-packs targeted for the US. After learning
the distilling craft from Master Distiller Don
Ramon Corrales Fernandez, Don Pancho was
instrumental in modernizing Cuba’s rum industry
in the 1970s. After Cuba’s national brand was
acquired, he relocated to Panama, where, in the
1990s, he discovered a neglected distillery in the
Herrera region of Panama, which he built into
the Las Cabras Distillery, today one of the most
important and revered in the world. Available
on a slow release in about two dozen states, the
range consists of an 8-year-old expression at $40,
an 18-year-old at $90 and a 30-year-old at $425 (all
sold in a 750ml bottle). Each rum has an ABV of
40% and the range is being imported by the Terlato
Wines’ Artisan Spirits division.
www.terlatowines.com
New Products
Scotch
New Products
Scotch
Laphroaig Select
David Beckham’s Haig Club
—
Beam have released Laphroaig Select, a new single
malt whose flavour is defined by a final maturation
in new American oak casks rarely before used by
Scotch distilleries.
—
Diageo announced the launch of a new single grain
scotch whisky that has been made in partnership
with sportsman, David Beckham and British
entrepreneur and music mogul, Simon Fuller. Haig
Club Single Grain Scotch Whisky is an extension
of the House of Haig line owned by Diageo, which
according to the company, has 400 years of whisky
making heritage and is Scotland’s oldest grain
whisky dynasty. Other existing products include
Haig Blended Scotch Whisky and Dimple Scotch
Whisky. Haig Club will be launched later in the
year. Details around pricing and availability will be
announced nearer launch.
American aged
Using a varied cask maturation technique, master
distiller John Campbell selected the golden spirit
from Laphroaig Quarter Cask, PX Cask, Triple
Wood (European Oak casks) and a final addition of
10 Year Old.
According to the brand’s website, the new line has
been inspired by the early work of Ian Hunter, who
around 70-80 years ago was the last family member
owner of the distillery. It explains: “[Ian] was one
of the first distillers to travel to bourbon county
in the USA to identify new sources of casks that
would give him greater consistency as well as
new flavours.
“Inspired by his early work , we have used Olorosso
sherry butts, straight American white oak (nonfilled with bourbon), PX seasoned hogs heads,
Quarter Casks and finally of course First Filled
Bourbon Casks. This varied cask maturation
technique enabled us to create six new flavour
combinations that were then tested with our FOL’s
to choose their favourite style and indeed name.
The winning flavour and name chosen by you is
Laphroaig Select.”
Laphroaig is distributing the latest addition to its
portfolio via Maxxium in the UK, with an RRP of
£34.99. At ABV 40%.
www.laphroaig.com
Celebrity collaboration
John Walker & Sons
Private Collection
Limited edition
—
Diageo Global Travel & Middle East has launched
8,888 bottles of a new blended Scotch whisky in
duty-free stores across Asia. Master blender Jim
Beveridge blended the ultra-deluxe 46.8% ABV
whiskey from 29 casks in his private reserve.
Within the limited 2014 release, he has signed 10
of the blue decanter-style bottles. More bottles will
be released annually. Retailing in Singapore for
S$925 a bottle (around US$750), the 2014 edition
first went on sale via DFS stores in the city state’s
Changi Airport, extending to travel retail boutiques
across Asia Pacific in June.
www.diageo.com
New Products
Scotch
New Products
Scotch
The Famous Grouse 16
year-old Double Matured
Asian travel retail
—
Scotland’s The Edrington Group has
announced the launch of a special
edition of The Famous Grouse for Asia
travel retail with The Famous Grouse
16 year-old Double Matured.
A blend of eight different whiskies the
new expression has been matured
twice and finished in a combination
of first fill Spanish sherry casks and
first fill American bourbon casks.
The launch marks the first in a series
of special annual releases from the
company, and The Famous Grouse
16 year old is presented in artist
designed and signed collector’s pack.
To be available in key airport
locations in Asia including Singapore,
Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok from
the beginning of June as well as in
a range of international domestic
markets, The Famous Grouse 16 yearold Double Matured has 40% ABV
and an SRP of US$99.
www.thefamousgrouse.com
The Glenlivet Guardians’ Chapter limited edition
Crowdsourced
—
The Glenlivet Guardians’ Chapter limited edition single malt, selected by a global
community of Glenlivet fans was released in May. In September, Chivas Brothers asked
Glenlivet fans from across 37 countries – The Guardians of The Glenlivet – to choose the
brand’s next limited edition single malt Scotch from a selection of three whiskies. The
whiskies, named Classic, Exotic and Revival, were showcased at tasting events in numerous
countries, including Australia, the US, the UK, India, South Africa and Japan. Once The
Guardians tasted the editions, they were asked to vote for their favourite online. The winning
selection, Exotic, is the first crowd-sourced single malt ever created by The Glenlivet. Just
2,000 cases will be made available internationally from this month.
The Glenlivet Guardians’ Chapter is bottled at 48.7% ABV with an RRP of around £52 for
700ml. The drink is said to contain plump raisin, dark chocolate and warming spice notes.
uk.theglenlivet.com
New Products
Scotch
New Products
American whiskey
The Master of Malt Reference Series
Education
—
Online retailer The Master of Malt has launched the three
Scotch expressions, Reference Series I, Reference Series II and
Reference Series III.
Designed to enable novice drinkers to learn about whisky
production techniques, the series is a selection of three
blended whiskies, which increase with age, rarity and
character (and price). The aim is to show consumers the
progression of flavour profile that comes with the whisky
ageing process. All available in a 50cl bottle, the whiskies
contain the same four base ingredients in different ratios,
which are sourced from whisky blenders and brokers, “who
use significant volume in order to maintain a highly consistent
flavour-profile”. Two of the ingredients are supplied as blended
malts, and two as single malts.
Orphan Barrel Rhetoric
Diageo craft
—
Diageo’s Orphan Barrel Whiskey Distilling Company has released limited quantities of a
third expression of its craft bourbon, Rhetoric, throughout the US. Rhetoric is a 20 year-old
bourbon that was distilled in both the new and old Bernheim distilleries in Kentucky. At 45%
ABV it is said to have lots of character and flavour, with oak being the dominant taste. Stocks
of Rhetoric were found in warehouses at the Stitzel-Weller facility in Louisville, Kentucky,
and it was bottled at Orphan Barrel’s headquarters in Tullahoma, Tennessee. Rhetoric joins
Orphan Barrel’s range, which includes the 20-year-old Barterhouse and 26-year-old Old
Blowhard whiskies.
Bottled at 47.5% ABV, Reference Series I carries an RRP of
£36.95. Reference Series II is also bottled at 47.5% ABV with an
RRP of £53.95. Reference Series III, is again bottled at 47.5%
ABV and has an RRP of £105.95.
Rhetoric will be released over the coming years, with its inaugural 20-year-old Kentucky
Straight Bourbon launching in June, and a 21-year-old expression set for release in 2015. The
newly launched distilling company has issued a suggested retail price of $85 for a 750ml
bottle for the initial 45% ABV offering, which will be available in limited supply.
www.masterofmalt.com
www.orphanbarrel.com
New Products
American whiskey
New Products
American whiskey
Jack Daniel’s Rested Tennessee Rye
American Born
Moonshine
Barrel
—
Jack Daniel’s Rested Tennessee Rye is the distiller’s first attempt
at a barrel-matured rye whiskey. Made available in the US from
April 2014 and followed the 2012 release of Unaged Tennessee
Rye, the first Jack Daniel’s rye whiskey. Made from 70% rye, 18%
corn and 12% malted barley, tasting notes proclaim flavours
of vanilla, caramel, fruit and rye spice. Master distiller Jeff
Arnett says: “We were pleased with the reception we received
from our Jack Daniel’s Unaged Rye. We felt like it was time for
our Jack Daniel’s friends and whiskey enthusiasts alike to see
for themselves how the new oak barrel has enhanced the rye
whiskey over the last two years.”
Apple pie, tea
—
Tennessee based Windy Hill Spirits
has released its new American Born
Moonshine range. The range comes
in three variants: Original, made
from corn, sugar and water; Apple Pie
made from corn, natural apple and
cinnamon flavors, and caramel; and
Dixie made from corn and natural tea
flavor. Presented in a jar with vintage
style labelling and a cork stopper,
Original American Born Moonshine
contains 51.5% ABV and the Apple
Pie and Dixie varieties 41.5% ABV. A
750ml bottle has an SRP of US$25.
The Rested Tennessee Rye is distributed in 750ml bottles with an
RRP of US$49.99.
www.jackdaniels.com
www.americanbornmoonshine.com
Booker’s Batch 2014-1
Aged
—
Beam Inc’s Booker’s Bourbon is celebrating its 25th year
with a limited edition release. Batch No. 2014-1 pays homage
to its namesake, 6th Generation Beam Master Distiller,
Booker Noe. The new edition is made from bourbon that has
been barrel-aged for 9 to 11 years, longer than any Booker’s
Bourbon batch to-date and is presented in a commemorative
wooden case.
Booker’s Bourbon 25th Anniversary Batch No. 2014-1
is available nationwide in March in extremely limited
quantities for a suggested price of $99.99 for a 750ml bottle.
www.beamglobal.com
Ole Smoky Charred Moonshine
Aged Moonshine
—
Ole Smoky Tennessee Moonshine is entering the aged whiskey
category with its new extension, Ole Smoky Charred Moonshine.
The new product, jarred at 52.5% ABV, is described as “fine
mountain whiskey” that is hand-crafted, smooth and slowly
aged in charred oak barrels. The moonshine is to be made
available at the Ole Smoky Moonshine Distillery from 22 March
and, according to reports, will be priced at about $40 for a 750ml
jar. It is expected to be released nationwide later this year.
There is no age statement. The Charred Moonshine joins a range
that also includes Apple Pie Moonshine, Blackberry Moonshine,
Lemon Drop Moonshine and Pineapple Moonshine. The
distillery has just won a raft of awards at the 2014 Spirits of the
Americas competition.
www.olesmoky.com
New Products
Flavored Whiskey
New Products
Flavored Whiskey
J&B Urban Honey
Berentzen Bushel & Barrel
Apple Bourbon
Spanish launch
—
Diageo will launch its J&B Urban Honey in Spain next month,
entering the Scotch-based spirit drink category. J&B Urban
Honey is a 35% ABV spirit drink made from J&B Scotch whisky
infused with honey and is described as a “characterful drink that
creates a balanced and smooth liquid”. It has been created to be
“distinctively fresh” when consumed neat, on the rocks or mixed
in a cocktail.
The new whisky-based drink has been designed to open up the
category to a new generation of men and women and will be part
of the growing honey-based spirit drinks category with in the
bourbon category.
Global J&B brand director, Dougal McGeorge says: “Creation of
J&B Urban Honey is true to the urban roots of the J&B brand and
its reputation for re-invention in the whisky category. The rapid
growth of flavoured Spirit Drinks made J&B a natural choice for
us as we looked to drive innovation.”
www.jbscotch.com
Bourbon & apple flavor
—
Berentzen USA has launched Berentzen Bushel
and Barrel, a blend of Kentucky bourbon and
Berentzen Apple Liqueur. The brand aims to tap
into the flavored whiskey trend with the sweet and
spicy blend.
Scott Campbell, Berentzen USA President said:
“For more than 250 years, Berentzen has been
known for producing some of the finest fruit
liqueurs in the world. Now with the growing
consumer demand for flavored whiskies in the
marketplace, we’re excited to extend our product
offering with Berentzen Bushel & Barrel.”
Berentzen Bushel and Barrel is recommended
straight, on the rocks, as a shot or mixed with
cranberry juice or ginger beer. It is available in the
US at a SRP of $21.99 for a 750ml bottle.
www.berentzenusa.com
New Products
Global whisky
New Products
Tequila
Cotswolds Distillery
Hornitos Black Barrel Tequila
—
A new distillery focused on producing English
whisky has been established in the Cotswolds.
The Cotswolds Distillery is a first for the area
and intends to produce ultra-premium, small
batch single malt whisky, as well as Cotswolds
Dry Gin, an English rye whisky and a range of
other artisanal spirits. The distillery’s flagship
unpeated Cotswolds Single Malt Whisky will not
be released until 2017, however. A rye whisky,
Traitor’s Ford Rye (named for the nearby ford’s
role in the English Civil War of 1642-1644), is also
planned. The first limited edition of 5,000 bottles
of ‘single estate’ Cotswolds Single Malt Whisky
were made available for reservation and pre-sale
at the end of March 2014. Whisky production is
forecast in excess of 10,000 bottles per month.
RRP is £44.95 for 750ml bottle.
—
Beam has launched the already award-winning
Hornitos Black Barrel Tequila to the US market.
English whiskey
www.cotswoldsdistillery.com
Suntory No-Age Whisky
Japanese whisky
—
To mark its 90th birthday, Japan’s oldest whisky distiller has gone
against the grain and released two blended whiskies with no
age statements on their bottles, saying its aim is to “challenge
what a Japanese whisky can be”. Yamazaki Distiller’s Reserve
and Hakushu Distiller’s Reserve come from Suntory’s distilleries
of the same names and contain spirits aged for between eight
and 20 years. The golden Yamakazi comprises liquids aged in
sherry casks, mizunara casks, French oak Bordeaux wine casks
and American oak casks. The light golden Hakushu combines
a young lightly peated malt with a heavily peated 18-yearold American oak whisky to deliver peppermint, melon and
cucumber on the nose. Suntory’s chief blender, Shinji Fukuyo,
has overseen production of the pair, which come in at 43% ABV
and with a UK RRP of £42.
Barrel aged
Using a unique Whiskey-like aging process,
Hornitos Black Barrel is a 100% blue agave, tripleaged tequila, which is aged first for 12 months
in American Oak barrels before transitioning
into deep charred American Oak barrels for four
months.
In the final aging process, the liquid is transferred
to specially-toasted American Oak barrels for two
additional months to further enhance the whiskeylike notes of this one-of-a-kind premium tequila.
With oaky-vanilla notes and a peppery spiciness,
the tequila offers light smoky oak notes and
smooth, sweet agave character. The spirit is fullbodied with a clean, mild flavour finish and a
slightly lingering tingle sensation.
Hornitos Black Barrel won the 2014 Best of Show
Award and received Double Gold honours at the
2014 International Denver Spirit Awards. The spirit
also won a Double Gold award at the San Francisco
Wine & Spirits Competition.
Senior brand director tequila at Beam Inc, Gary
Ross said: “With the recent growing excitement
around the whiskey category, now is the perfect
time to introduce Hornitos Black Barrel – a one-ofa-kind product that is sure to please both tequila
and whiskey fans.”
Hornitos Black Barrel is 40% ABV and is available
for a suggested retail price of $29.99 (750ml). It can
be sipped on the rocks, neat or mixed in cocktails.
www.hornitostequila.com
www.suntory.com
New Products
Tequila
New Products
Tequila
Cazcabel Tequila
Honey
—
UK distributor Proof drinks has
announced the launch of a new
variant of Cazcabel Tequila into the
UK market, with what it claims is the
world’s first honey-flavoured tequila.
Cazcabel Honey joins the brand’s two
other variants, Cazcabel Blanco and
Cazcabel Coffee. The company says
it will also be launching a further
new variant later in the year with
Cazcabel Coffee and Honey, a platino
tequila, made with 100% agave. With
ABV’s ranging from 34-38% Cazcabel
Tequilas have an SRP of £25.99 and
are currently available via the Proof
Drinks Website.
www.cazcabel.com
Casa Dragones’ Blanco
Silver Tequila
Ultra premium
—
Casa Dragones has launched its first silver tequila,
Tequila Casa Dragones Blanco. Tequila Casa
Dragones produces no more than 400 cases at a
time and the agaves for Tequila Casa Dragones
Blanco are harvested 1,200 meters above sea
level within the Eje Volcanico Transversal (TransMexican Volcanic belt) in Tequila, Jalisco. The
spirit is made from spring water that originates
from the Volcano of Tequila, in the Trans-Mexican
Volcanic Belt, where the soil is rich with minerals,
such as potassium, phosphorus and silicium.
Each bottle of Casa Dragones Blanco is handsigned and hand labelled with the batch number
written. At 40% ABV and $75 a 750ml bottle, Casa
Dragones Blanco was initially launched in Mexico
in March and will be previewed in selected US
markets from May.
www.casadragones.com
Milenio 1800 Tequila
Cognac finished
—
Mexico based 1800 Tequila has announced the
US launch of Milenio Tequila, its new extra-aged,
Cognac-finished tequila. Made from the Blue
Weber Agave, this is the second edition of Milenio,
the first of which was produced in the year 2000.
Double-distilled, this latest version is produced
using a long aging process, including a short
maturing period in French oak Cognac barrels.
1800 Milenio is bottled at 40% ABV, and available
for the SRP of $125 for 750ml.
Lunazul Primero Tequila
Small batch
—
Kentucky based Heaven Hill Distilleries has launched the newest
addition to its 100% Agave Lunazul Tequila brand with Lunazul
Primero. Estate grown, small batch and handcrafted, Lunazul
Primero is an Añejo Tequila has been filtered eight times and
matured for 18 months. The result is crisp Tequila that retains
the oak notes and smoothness of a barrel aged Tequila. Lunazul
Tequilas are available in four varieties, Blanco, Reposado, Añejo
and Primero. Bottled at 40% ABV Lunazul Primero has an SRP of
$24.99 per 750ml bottle.
www.lunazultequila.com
New Products
Liqueurs
New Products
Liqueurs
St Georges NOLA Coffee Liqueur
Pernod’s 51 Glacial Mint Liqueur
—
California’s award-winning artisan distillery, St George Spirits
has released the 25% ABV (750ml) St George NOLA Coffee
Liqueur. Inspired by distiller Dave Smith’s love for New Orleans
and NOLA-style coffee, the coffee-infused liqueur is great
with ice cream or in an espresso dessert. Roasted Yirgacheffe
coffee beans, French chicory root, Madagascar vanilla beans
and organic cane sugar combine to create a coffee liqueur with
“dimension and depth”. Availability and price details have not yet
been released.
—
Following the launch of 51 Rosé last summer
Pernod Ricard has announced the launch of 51
Glacial across France. The company reports that
51 Rosé generated sales of EUR2.5m (USD$3.5m)
in its first six months on the market. The company
says of the new addition: “51 Glacial matches
the freshness of anise with polar mint… It is the
latest innovation in the 51 range and builds on the
success of the red berry-flavored 51 Rosé”. Available
via the supermarket and hypermarket channel in
France, and at 40% ABV 51 Glacial has an SRP of
EUR14 (US$19.50) per 700ml bottle.
NOLA style coffee flavor
www.stgeorgespirits.com
French launch
www.pernod-ricard.com
Koo Koo Liqueur
Low calorie chocolate liqueur
Amarula Gold
Marula fruit liqueur
—
The Southern Liqueur Company of South Africa announced
the launch of its first new addition to its Amarula brand in 25
years. Called Amarula Gold, the clear golden-colored spirit
introduction will coincide with the brand’s 25th birthday. Like its
cream counterpart, Amarula Gold is made from the marula fruit
indigenous to sub-Saharan Africa and is double-distilled and
aged in oak for 24 months. The new offering will be launched in
South Africa and across global travel retail, with further launches
planned later in the year. In South Africa the launch is being
backed by a multimillion rand, multi-channel campaign. At 30%
ABV Amarula Gold has an SRP of R139 to R149 per 750ml bottle.
—
As part of a promotional push across the San
Diego area, the Polish producer of Koo Koo
Liqueur is making a big play of its low-calorie
status. Created a century ago in a village east
of Krakow, Poland, Koo Koo Liqueur has been
refined from its original 37.5% ABV to a 20% ABV
expression that it says does not compromise on
taste. With 22 on-trade and off-trade stockists
in California, the gluten-free and cream-free
dark chocolate drink is being widely touted as
containing 63 calories per oz. However, serving
suggestions include pairings with ice cream,
cheesecake and flavored vodka.
www.kookooliqueur.com
www.amarula.com
New Products
Summer Beer
New Products
Watermelon Flavor
Coors Light Summer Brew
Infused with citrus
—
MillerCoors is extending its Coors Light range
with its first-ever seasonal extension, the Coors
Light Summer Brew. Infused with a blend of
natural citrus flavours, Coors Light Summer Brew
is packaged in 12-packs of 10oz cans, which are
adorned with a bright orange and a yellow citrusinspired design over Coors Light’s signature
Rocky Mountain landscape. It is 3.9% ABV and
pricing details have not been released. Available
throughout the US while supplies last, Coors
Light Summer Brew will receive full marketing
support, including English and Spanish language
TV advertising, out-of-home advertising, digital
marketing, social media, retail merchandising,
special events and public relations using the
hashtag #LiveSummer.
www.coorslight.com
Golden Road Brewing
329 Days Of Sun Lager
Seasonal lager
—
Los Angeles based Golden Road Brewing has
launched its first craft lager with 329 Days Of Sun
Lager “in Honor of Sunny Days in L.A”. Referring
to the region’s average number of sunny days,
329 Days Of Sun Lager is also the brewery’s first
sessionable lager. The new year-round beer is
intended to appeal to those looking for an everyday
brew and experienced craft beer drinkers.
A combination of Bravo, Tradition, and Opal hops,
329 Lager joins Golden Road’s year-round core
brands – olden Road Hefeweizen, Wolf Among
Weeds IPA, Get Up Offa That Brown and Point the
Way IPA. At 4.8% ABV the new beer will be available
on draft and in 355ml aluminum cans with an SRP
of $8.99 per 6 pack.
www.goldenroad.la
Coney Island Brew Co Tunnel
of Love Watermelon Wheat
Watermelon flavor
—
Tunnel of Love Watermelon Wheat is the Coney
Island Brewing Company’s first summer seasonal
beer. Brewed with its eponymous fruit, the New
York-based firm’s 4.8% ABV latest offering aims to
deliver a cooling note of watermelon that grows
into a rich, full-bodied beer with a fruity finish.
Tunnel of Love Watermelon Wheat is available
to the local New York market on draft and in six
packs from April to September. And it is not the
first US craft brewer to take a bet on the appeal of
watermelon-flavoured wheat beer: San Francisco’s
21st Amendment has been producing Hell or
High Watermelon for more than a decade, while
Massachusetts’ Blue Hills Brewery offers the more
prosaically monikered Watermelon Wheat.
coneyislandbeer.com
21st Amendment Hell or
High Watermelon
Re-released
—
San Francisco’s 21st Amendment brewery has rereleased Hell or High Watermelon, a traditionally
brewed American wheat beer that is fermented a
second time with fresh watermelon. Previously
the beer has been available on draught, for limited
seasonal runs.
In 2014 the 4.9% ABV straw-coloured beer is
once again distributed across 17 US states from
April to September on draft and in six-pack cans.
But as other brewers recognise Hell or High
Watermelon’s enduring popularity the number
of watermelon wheat beers on North America’s
primary market is increasing.
21st-amendment.com
FRUIT
RADLERS
New Products
Fruit Radlers
Grolsch Radler
Dutch radler
Low ABV refreshment is at the heart of the growing appeal of
Radlers. Typically sitting at around 2% ABV they’re a growing area
of interest for consumers wanting a light but flavorful offering,
while brand owners see them as key for tapping into lunchtime
and weeknight occasions.
—
Tapping into the current popularity of beer and
lemon combination beverages, SABMiller’s Grolsch
beer brand has announced the introduction of
Grolsch Radler in the Netherlands. The new release
is naturally brewed and made with real fruit juice:
“We went back to the roots of Radler, to where it
all started,” said Gisela Rule, marketing director
at Grolsch. The Launch will be supported by a
marketing campaign to include television, print
and social media and sampling events. At 2% ABV
Grolsch Radler comes in 330ml bottles and cans
and will be available widely across the on and offtrade. Pricing details not currently available.
www.grolsch.nl
Foster’s Radler Lime & Ginger
Citrus & spice
Dos Equis Radler
Mexican radler
—
Heineken’s Mexican subsidiary,
Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma, has
launched a radler variant of its Dos
Equis beer brand in Mexico. The
company said it expects the variant
to account for 10% of the Dos Equis
brand’s total sales by the end of 2015.
The launch will be backed by a print
and digital advertising campaign. The
launch follows the recent release of
a margarita-flavoured version of Dos
Equis in the US. With 2% ABV and
made from a blend of 50% beer and
50% lemonade, Dos Equis Radler is
available in “non-returnable” bottles
and 355ml cans. Pricing details not
currently available.
www.dosequis.com
—
Heineken UK has extended its Radler range of low
ABV beers, with the launch of launched a new 2%
ABV Lime & Ginger variant.
The product, which was launched alongside a
0% ABV Foster’s Radler, was made available from
March. It follows the hugely successful launch of
the 2% ABV Foster’s Radler cut with Cloudy Lemon
in spring 2013, sales of which have topped 17 million
bottles. Lawson Mountstevens, Managing DirectorOn Trade at HEINEKEN, said: “We believe the
moderation segment could represent as much
as 5% of total Cider and Beer volumes in the UK
within 10 years.
The Foster’s Radler range will be supported from
May with a multi-million pound through-theline summer campaign, encompassing TV, print
and outdoor advertising, in-store sampling, retail
couponing, digital marketing and heavyweight PR
to drive trial and awareness. The two new variants
will be available in 330ml bottles. In addition, the
brand will be available in new 440ml cans to tap
into the demand for easier formats for on-the-move
moderation occasions. The two new variants will be
available in 330ml bottles.
New Products
Grapefruit Radlers
New Products
Grapefruit Radlers
Sixpoint Rad
Foster’s Radler Grapefruit
Craft beer radler
Finnish launch
—
After a successful launch of the original Foster’s Radler last
year, Foster’s new Radler Grapefruit has launched onto the
Finnish marketplace. At 2%, Radler Grapefruit is a mild,
refreshing mixed drink aimed at the low-alcohol market
and combines Foster’s lager and grapefruit-flavoured
soft drink, in a 40:60 ratio, respectively. The drink will be
available in Finland in mid-March, will be in 500ml cans
and is best served chilled.
—
US craft brewer, Sixpoint has launched a science inspired
beer, called Rad, as part of a new experimental series of beers
called Mad Science. The new brew is 3.2% ABV radler and is
described as containing a “unique blend of fruit juices with
ale to create the original summer crusher” and “a refreshing
take on what beer can be”.
According to a blog on the Sixpoint website: “The brew was
inspired by the work of a mad scientist from years gone by –
an indelible act of spontaneous formulation.”
Launched in 2013, Foster’s Radler brought a whole new
category of beverages to Finland. Foster’s brand manager,
Hartwell’s Daniela Tjede, said: “Many people looking for
a low-alcohol drink alternative and a bit of relaxation and
pampering have settled on Radler. People have requested
more Radler flavours, so we are pleased to be able to launch
the new product.”
Sixpoint Founder Shane Welch said: “There aren’t many
craft breweries trying this with real juice. When you see all
the complications here, it’s not hard to see why. You’ve got to
begin with the right base beer, balance acidity and sweetness,
and pack a ton of flavor into a tiny ABV. Simply put, creating
a craft radler is not as simple as Beer + Juice = Totally Radical.
But for RAD, the juice was worth the squeeze.”
www.fosters.co.uk
The drink is available 475ml cans in the US, across the
Sixpoint network.
www.sixpoint.com/
Brick Brewing Co’s Waterloo
Grapefruit Radler
With real grapefruit juice
—
Brick Brewing Co. has launched its Waterloo
Grapefruit Radler to the US marketplace. The
company launched Waterloo Brewing Co last
year as its craft brewing division to share the
German heritage of its hometown with the people
of Ontario. George Croft, president and CEO,
said: “Our seasonal specialty craft beers are great
demonstrations of the artistry that goes into
crafting truly outstanding and memorable beers.
We hope people enjoy them as much as we do
making them.”
Blending real grapefruit juice and a finely crafted
lager, the new drink is available at the LCBO and
The Beer Store in 473ml cans at US$2.50. At 3.1%
ABV, Grapefruit Radler is small-batch brewed in the
traditional German style and is being marketed as a
“perfect drink for any occasion”.
Stiegl Radler Grapefruit in Cans
Austrian radler
—
Austria’s Stiegl Brewery has introduced its Stiegl Radler Grapefruit
in cans in the US and Canada. Initially launching in 2012 in the
US, the beverage is a 2% ABV blend of Stiegl’s Goldbräu lager with
grapefruit, orange, and lemon juice. It is cloudy and is said to have
a nice balance between bitterness and fruity sweetness. The radler
contains 180 calories per 17oz can. It is now available in parts of
Canada and in the US states of Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, Illinois,
Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri,
Ohio, Tennessee, and Wisconsin.
www.stiegl.at/en
www.brickbeer.com
Spirit Beer
& Cider
Brand owners have been keeping a close eye on the sales surge
experienced by pioneering spirit beer, Desperados, of late. The tequila
flavored beer brand is nothing new, founded in France by Fischer
in 1995. Now Heineken owned, it’s enjoyed particular success over
the last couple of years, and it’s no surprise that other brands want
in. New launches seek to own different spirit bases and flavors, with
most notably, ABInBev claiming rum with Cubanisto. Now spreading
to ciders too, we expect to see an ever more diverse range of products
as brands explore the possibilities of this new category.
New Products
Spirit Beer & Cider
Agave Maria Ale
Tequila barrel aged beer
—
California-based contract brewer The Lost Abbey has added
tequila barrel-aged Agave Maria Ale (13.5% ABV) to its
seasonal offer. Agave Maria’s strong-ale base is brewed with
agave nectar and aged for a minimum of 10 months in both
Añejo and Reposado barrels. Agave Maria has hints of black
pepper, sweet sugar, oatmeal and oak, and has an earthy,
bitter smoked chocolate on the finish. The base beer was
created specifically to pair with the spiciness of the Tequila,
adding a sweet honey-like quality to the beer.
The bottle’s artwork depicts the Agave Maria mural and was
designed by The Lost Abbey resident artist Sean Dominguez.
Available in limited draft and 375ml cork-finished bottles
from April, the ale will be available throughout North
America, and will become an annual release each spring.
Price not currently available.
www.lostabbey.com
Tennent’s Beer Aged
with Whisky Oak
Whiskey infused beer
—
Glasgow-based Wellpark Brewery has launched
a new beer that is aged with single malt whiskyinfused oak chips. The 6% ABV beer is brewed
from three types of Scottish malt, four hop
varieties, and water from Loch Katrine in Stirling,
before a three-week fermentation process that
involves the warm maturation and ageing of the
beer with the oak chips.
Orwell’s Amaretto Flavoured Cider
The Wellpark Brewery is said to be the oldest in
Scotland. The new beer therefore blends two
historically national flavours. The product is said
to have a fruity aroma and a smoky vanilla and
wood taste, with notes of whisky and toffee. With
an RRP of £2.50 per 330ml bottle, Tennent’s Beer
Aged with Whisky Oak is available online and in
store at The Whisky Shop. It will also be stocked
at selected on-trade outlets, including tourist
hotspots Inverlochy Castle Hotel, The Torridon
and The Gleneagles Hotel in Scotland.
—
SHS Drinks has announced the UK launch of a new
cider with Orwell’s Amaretto Flavoured Cider. The
new cider is described as having ‘a refreshing blend
of amaretto notes and a fruity hint of cherry paired
with a crisp cider apple background’. Aimed at 18 to 30
year olds, it aims to bring together flavored cider and
spirits to join the ‘spider’ category, a category which
SHS Drinks estimates will be worth £50 million by
2018. With an SRP of £1.89 per 330ml bottle Orwell’s
Amaretto Flavoured Cider has 5.5% ABV.
www.tennents.com
www.shs-drinks.co.uk
Amaretto cider
Summer
FRUIT CIDER
New Products
Fruity Cider
Briska Wild Strawberry &
Briska Woodland Fruits
Swedish cider
—
Swedish company Kiviks Musteri has launched
two new additions to its Briska cider range in
the UK and in Scandinavia, with Briska Wild
Strawberry and Briska Woodland Fruits. The new
variants will join the current range that includes
Pear and Pomegranate flavors. The company
says of the additions: “Both of the new variants
have received exceptionally positive feedback
in market testing with consumers, buyers, and
publicans so we expect it to perform very well
in trade.” Briska Wild Strawberry and Briska
Woodland Fruits have 4% ABV and an SRP of
£2.10 (USD$3.50) per 500ml bottle.
Stella Cidre Raspberry
Raspberry variant
—
AB InBev UK has launched a new fruit flavored variant of its
Belgium cider brand, Stella Artois Cidre, with the addition
of Stella Artois Cidre Raspberry. The cider will be sold in
both 330ml and 500ml formats in the UK, in both the on
and the off-trade. The liquid contains 6.8% raspberry juice
on a base of apple cider. The launch is part of a bigger sales
push for Stella Cidre this summer which also sees the core
Stella Artois Cidre Apple launched on draught in selected
UK outlets. The Raspberry launch will be supported with a
national TV advertising campaign, as well as digital media,
PR and sampling. In store activation will include branded
pallet stacks.
www.briska.co.uk
www.stellaartois.com
Rekorderlig Apple and Guava
Carling British Cider Cherry
Cherry flavor
—
Carling’s new flavoured cider offer, British Cider Cherry,
launched in the UK with a £4 million advertising campaign from
4 April. The flavored cider category has seen enormous growth
in recent years in the UK and this follows the launch of Carling
British Cider last year. Jim Shearer, brand director of Carling at
beer company Molson Coors UK, said: “In response to customer
demand, we are excited to launch Carling British Cider – Cherry
to our off-trade customers. At 4% ABV, the cider will be off-trade
only and available in 500ml bottles (£2.15) or packs of six (£12).
The promotion will also include a national sampling campaign,
as well as TV and digital advertising.
www.carling.com
Apple & guava
—
Swedish cider brand Rekorderlig has announced
the introduction of a new seasonal flavor in the
UK, with Rekorderlig Apple-Guava. The launch
follows last year’s spring seasonal variant,
Rekorderlig Passionfruit that was made a
permanent fixture in the range after reporting
strong sales. The launch will be supported with
a multi-million pound advertising campaign
to include cinema, video on demand, print and
social media advertising. Rekorderlig’s suggested
serve for the new flavor is over ice with a squeeze
of lime. At 4% ABV a 500ml bottle of Rekorderlig
Passionfruit has an SRP of £2.29.
www.rekorderlig.com
New Products
American Cider
New Products
American Cider
Lazy Jack’s Cloudy
Apple Cider
American style
Boonville Bite Hard Cider
—
Halewood International is launching
what it claims is the UK’s first
American-style, cloudy apple cider.
The owner of the Crabbie’s brand
is aiming the new 4.7% ABV RTD at
22 to 30-year-old consumers, with
the idea that a new proposition in
the cider category will attract the
attention of a younger audience.
Californian cider
—
California cider maker Boonville Cider House
has launched their first expression with Bite Hard
Apple cider. A crisp, semi-dry cider, it is slow
fermented from heirloom Northern California
apples in an English tradition. Made from tannic
and full bodied fruit, the company say this cider
“carries its distinctive ‘bite’ with a clean and
unique apple finish and citrus notes”. At 6.9% ABV
a 473ml can of Bite Hard Cider has an SRP of USD
$9.69 per 4 pack.
The brand draws heavily on its
American connection. The green,
355ml bottle clearly labels the drink
as “American style cloudy cider”,
while Halewood recommends
pairing the drink with American
food favourites such as pulled
pork and mac and cheese. In fact,
the brand will launch a consumer
campaign based on food pairing,
introducing the drink and its
American style at events including
Grillstock in Manchester and Bristol.
www.bitehard.com
Johnny Appleseed
Hard Apple Cider
American cider
—
Anheuser-Busch InBev is adding hard cider to
its line-up with the launch of Johnny Appleseed
Hard Apple Cider in the US. The company
describes the new expression as a “balance of
sweetness and intensity with a refreshing crisp
apple bite”. Johnny Appleseed Hard Apple Cider
has 5.5% ABV and will initially be available via
the off-trade in 341ml glass bottles in 6-packs
and 12-packs, and sold individually in 455ml
and 710ml cans. It will also be launching via
the on-trade on draught in the summer.
Lazy Jack’s will also be supported
through sampling and a digital
campaign including Facebook,
Twitter and Instagram pages.
Richard Clark, director of innovation
at Halewood International, said:
“Lazy Jack’s capitalises on the
consumer desire for Americanthemed lifestyle and taps into
the growing trend of Americanstyle drinks.”
The cider has an RRP of £1.29.
www.halewood-int.com
New Products
Wine Launches
New Products
Wine Launches
Blossom Hill Sun Kissed
Chablis Hipster Edition
—
In the UK Diageo has announced two new additions to its
Blossom Hill wine brand with Blossom Hill Sun-Kissed Red
and White. The new wines have been developed as a result
of company research into the changing taste palates of UK
wine drinkers that shows that “that 48% of Blossom Hill Rosé
drinkers desire a lighter, fruitier wine taste”. The research also
reveals that 1.8m UK households only drink rosé wine and are
resistant to traditional red and white varietals. The new wines
aim to revive the wine category by appealing to rosé drinkers
and new consumers with lighter, fruitier wines. Coinciding
with Blossom Hill’s packaging refresh across its entire wine
portfolio, the launch of the new wines will be supported by the
brand’s £2.1m marketing campaign. Available widely, Blossom
Hill Sun-Kissed Red & White have an SRP of £7.
—
William Fèvre has launched a Hipster edition of its 2013 Chablis.
The Henriot family-owned Chablis specialist is targeting young
urban consumers with a bottle covered in ultraviolet ink and
carrying a transparent level indicator. There’s a QR code too,
which takes mobile phone users to a 360º animation. After
the 2013 launch of a limited I Love Chablis, William Fèvre’s
latest offer for collectors goes back beyond the advent of Urban
Outfitters to channel the progressive spirit of the 1950s beatniks.
With an RRP of €15 in France, the Hipster edition is also available
on- and off-trade from April 2014 in Austria, Belgium, Cambodia,
Guyana, Hong Kong, Israel, Korea, Malta, Mexico, Morocco,
the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, Spain,
Thailand, the UAE and the UK.
Light
www.blossomhill.com
Glow in the dark bottle
williamfevre.fr
Jacob’s Creek Wimbledon Wines
Limited edition
—
Jacob’s Creek is capitalising on its status as the official
wine of Wimbledon by launching two limited-edition
bottles in a tennis-white color. The Australian brand,
part of Pernod Ricard’s portfolio, is four years into
a five-year partnership with the prestigious tennis
tournament. It is offering the Chardonnay and
Shiraz bottles with a UK RRP of £8.09. Retailers will
be sent Wimbledon-themed point-of-sale materials
to support the campaign, while on-trade venues
can expect bunting, glasses, cocktail sticks and bar
runners. Bottles of Jacob’s Creek’s Classics and Cool
Harvest ranges will also carry a neck-collar offering
consumers opportunities to win Wimbledon tickets
and iPad Minis.
Brand head of marketing Lucy Bearman says:
“Coupled with the news that summer 2014 may be
the hottest on record, this is a key time for both the
on- and off-trade to capitalise on consumers planning
and attending Wimbledon-focused parties.”
jacobscreek.co.uk
New Products
Wine Launches
New Products
Wine Launches
Echo Falls fruit fusion range
Fruit wine
—
Accolade Wine brand Echo Falls is releasing a
fruit fusion range to appeal to its core audience’s
willingness to experiment with new flavours
and tendency to favour sweeter notes. The three
variants are rose wine with summer berries (9.5%
ABV), red wine with raspberry and cassis (11%
ABV) and white wine with peach and mango (9.5%
ABV). The flavours are also in keeping with the
summer season. Available from July 1, a 750ml
bottle will retail at £5. The range will be available
to the UK off-trade, with the initial release
exclusive to Asda.
www.echofallswine.co.uk
Williams Chase Rosé 2013
British rosé
—
The Herefordshire-based, independent Chase Distillery has
released its first wine, a Provençal rosé. The distillery, known
for its vodka and gin, has chosen a blend of 60% Grenache, 30%
Syrah and 10% Rousanne for its first wine, Williams Chase Rosé
2013. The wine hails from Château Constantin close to the village
of Lourmarin in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region, which
Chase bought with his wife two years ago. The wine is presented
in Chase’s signature bottle shape and closed with a glass stopper.
At 13% ABV, a 750ml bottle has an RRP of £13.50.Williams Chase
Rosé 2013 is available direct from the distillery and is stocked
in Harvey Nichols and independent wine merchants such as
Richard Dawes Fine Wines, No. 8 Wine Company and George
Hill of Loughborough.
Salon Zero Dosage
Champagne
London launch
—
Sketch restaurant in London is to
serve a zero-dosage expression of
Salon’s 2002 vintage Champagne
to diners alongside a glass of the
same with its conventional 5.5g/l
dosage. The Chardonnay-only ‘blanc
de blanc’, whose first vintage was
1905, has never previously been
released outside its cellars without
a dosage, but Sketch’s wine director,
Fred Brugues, has reported a rise
in demand at the restaurant for the
driest style of Champagne.
Served side by side with the ‘Salon
dosé’ in matching Zalto flutes, the
pair will be available for diners to try
for a limited period from May 2014
in an experiment that, if successful,
could be repeated.
www.salondelamotte.com
www.chasedistillery.co.uk
New Products
Wine Launches
New Products
Wine Launches
La Antigua Wine
Spanish wine
—
Quesería La Antigua de Fuentesaúco sprung a
surprise as it unveiled wines to accompany its
renowned raw sheep’s milk cheese. Founded
by a shepherd in the north-western Spanish
province of Castile & León, Quesería La Antigua
de Fuentesaúco to this point in its 20-year history
has had a single stated aim: to develop high-quality
cheese. But at the Alimentaria Barcelona 2014 trade
show in Catalonia the cheese-maker unveiled a
red wine from Toro and a white Rueda presented
in matching matte-white bottles, inspired by oldfashioned milk bottles and with only flashes of
colour around the neck to distinguish them.
www.queserialaantigua.com
5 Rounds Shiraz
Australian Shiraz
—
Australia’s Water Wheel Wines is fighting
back against the weather that has hampered
production at its Bendigo winery in recent years.
Designed by illustrator Glenn Thomas, the label
for 750ml bottles of its 5 Rounds Shiraz features
two pugilists drawn in the style of vintage boxing
posters. Printed on premium matte labels, the
design retains the slant that has previously
marked out Water Wheel labels.
noSO2
Zero sulphur
Drought, bush fires, smoke, frost and flooding
have all affected the growing region north-west
of Melbourne, but family-owned Water Wheel is
determined to show that it has already mounted
a comeback.
—
Prosecco producer, Bisol has launched a zero-sulphur expression,
called noS02, onto the UK market. The sparkling wine, which is
aimed at sulphite-sensitive consumers, is the result of “countless
years of research” and seeks to have “maximum elegance,
authenticity and longevity”, says Bisol. The wine is made from
grapes grown and hand harvested from the steep slopes of the
Valdobbiadene hills. Stamped with the ‘Valdobbiadene Prosecco
Superiore DOCG’ marque, the hand-wrapped noS02 bottle is
enveloped in a thin sheet of aluminium, which protects the
precious Prosecco from the light. It is retailing at £21.99 (750ml).
www.waterwheelwine.com
www.bisol.it
New Products
Pouches & Packs
New Products
Pouches & Packs
One Glass
Nuvino
—
Italy-based One Glass Wine has launched 100ml
pouches of wine that it calls “practical and
environmentally friendly”.
—
California-based company Nuvino has
introduced a range of four new wine products
with its Nuvino wine range. The company offers
a Chardonnay from South Africa, a Sauvignon
Blanc from Chile, a Red blend from Australia
and a Malbec from Argentina, each of which
comes in a specially-developed PreservPak that
ensures the flavor stays in tact. Each pouch has
a simple plastic screw top, and contains 187ml,
the same as a single glass of wine, and can
be easily carried in a pocket or bag. The wine
can be consumed straight from the pouch, or
poured into a glass. Pricing for the Nuvino wine
pouch range is not yet available.
Single serve pouches
Modern pouches
Available in a 2010 Sangiovese (13% ABV), a 2010
Cabernet Sauvignon (13% ABV), a 2011 Vermentino
(13% ABV) and a 2011 Pinot Grigio (12.5% ABV).
Available in France, Italy, Germany and Japan, One
Glass also produces a US-only range that includes a
13% ABV Merlot and a Sangria.
The growing trend for one-glass wine pouches
points towards the format being aimed
progressively more at sophisticated consumers.
Where once a pouch might have been seen as
a way of packaging a large amount of wine at a
lower price, the one-glass format suggests a more
convenient, casual approach to drinking goodquality wine in moderation.
www.nuvino.com
A pack of 16 pouches costs about €29.90
(or €1.87 per pouch).
www.oneglass.it
Spotwine
Single serve pouches
Rex Goliath
Tetra packs
—
International producer and marketer
Constellation Brands has launched
its range of Rex Goliath wines in
500ml Tetra Paks. The Chardonnay,
Pinot Grigio, Cabernet Sauvignon
and Red Moscato are now all
available packaged in the drink boxes
with twist-off caps. Launched to
consumers in the US, the range has
an RRP of USD $4.99 per 500ml box.
—
US company Spotwine LLC has launched a new
pouch-packaged wine. Each pouch contains 187ml,
the same as one glass of wine, can be easily carried
in a pocket or bag and has a simple plastic top that
can be screwed back on. The packaging allows the
wine to be quickly cooled by placing on ice and
the packaging claims eco-credentials through a
seven-times smaller carbon footprint than a glass
bottle. Suggested serves are direct from the pouch
drinking from the mouthpiece, direct from the
pouch using a straw, or poured into a standard
wine glass. Pricing for the Spotwine pouch is not
yet available.
www.spotwineusa.com
www.rexgoliath.com
www.myxfusions.com
Frozen
Drinks
New Products
Frozen Drinks
With frozen pouches proving to be a hit with consumers
over the last couple of summers, the trend continues
with brand extensions and premium offerings as well as
a RTS slush innovation from Evans.
Evan Williams Kentucky Slush
Test markets
—
Heaven Hill Distilleries has announced the summer
release of pre-mixed cocktail Evan Williams Kentucky
Slush to select test markets.
An extension of the Evan Williams Bourbon brand,
the 12.5% ABV RTD cocktail is a mix of bourbon,
lemonade, orange Juice and sweet tea flavours and
will retail for about $14.99 a 1.75 litre bottle. It is
believed to be the only pre-mix bourbon cocktail
on the market and will run under the marketing
tagline of “For Seriously Refreshing Bourbon… Just
Chill”. The company advises consumers to freeze,
pour or blend to serve and hopes to encourage the
consumption of bourbon through the summer
months, as well as winter.
Senior brand manager for whiskeys at Heaven Hill,
Susan Wahl, said: “As the Evan Williams brand
franchise grows, we have identified additional
usage opportunities, and one of these is clearly
to expand Bourbon as a refresher during the hot
summer months. We know through both research
and anecdotal evidence that many of our newer
Evan Williams consumers look for different, more
refreshing ways to drink Bourbon in the summer.”
Kentucky Slush will be available in stores from June
to August in Colorado, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas,
Kentucky, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, South
Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.
www.evanwilliams.com
Smirnoff Frozen Pouches Range
Frozen sorbet cocktails
—
Smirnoff is launching new sorbet and frozen pouches ranges into the UK frozen
alcoholic drinks category. The Smirnoff Sorbet range is available in three fruit
flavors – Raspberry, Mango and Lemon – while the frozen drinks offering includes
Smirnoff Apple Bite and Smirnoff Ice. This is the first time Diageo, the premium
drinks business behind Smirnoff, has frozen a drink that already exists within a
brand’s portfolio. Diageo will be investing heavily into the new ranges, with in-store
activations and sampling taking place, alongside the roll-out of 1,000 freezers across
the convenience channel, to encourage consumers to consider the product on their
way in and out of stores.
Diageo is encouraging retailers to capitalise on both passing trade and consumers
who are looking to add a new dimension to their casual get-togethers. The pouches
can be sold ready-frozen or, if there is no facility for this in-store, consumers can
purchase and freeze at home. The RRP for Smirnoff Sorbets and Smirnoff Apple Bite
and Smirnoff Ice pouches is £2.99 and they will have an ABV of 4.7% (250ml). This
follows in the footsteps of Parrot Bay, whose ‘freeze and squeeze’ cocktails delivered
61% incremental growth to the Total Beverage Alcohol market in 2013.
www.smirnoff.com
New Products
Frozen Drinks
New Products
RTD Margaritas
Skinnygirl Sweet’arita and
Skinnygirl Sparkling Margarita
Low calorie Margaritas
—
Skinnygirl Cocktails has announced two new
low calorie RTD cocktails, bringing the brand’s
portfolio of low calorie drinks up to 21 products.
The Skinnygirl Sweet’arita is a sweeter expression
of the original Skinnygirl Margarita, with notes of
sweet lime, orange and tequila. Containing fewer
than 100 calories, it is bottled at 9.95% ABV and
has an RRP of $12.99 per 750ml bottle.
The Skinnygirl Sparkling Margarita provides
a bubbly version of the Skinnygirl Margarita,
offering notes of citrus and tequila, plus a “robust”
aroma of lime and a short finish. It also contains
fewer than 100 calories, is bottled at 9.95% ABV
and has an RRP of $12.99 per 750ml bottle.
www.skinnygirlcocktails.com
Kold Cocktails
Frozen cocktail pouches
—
British drinks maker Kold has launched a new range of frozen cocktails called
Kold Cocktails. Each cocktail is packaged in a single-serve pouch and is intended
to be served straight from the freezer into the glass. The premium range is
available in three varieties: Frozen Cosmopolitan, Frozen Mojito and Frozen
Lychee Martini. The company claims to use premium spirits to mix the drinks,
including smooth, triple-distilled grain vodka and complex barrel-aged white
rum. The “bar-quality” cocktails are mixed in small batches for “the most
authentic result”.
Heineken’s Dos Equis Dos-A-Rita
Margarita RTD
—
The US division of Heineken has announced a
limited roll-out of their new margarita-flavored
extension of the Dos Equis Mexican beer brand.
The cocktails are all 8% ABV, available in multipacks of 2 x 225ml pouches. The
RRP per multipack is £6.50. Kold said that the packs can be sold either ambient or
frozen. Another marketing plus is that the calorie count ranges between just 167
and 200 calories per cocktail. They are now available for retailers to purchase.
The company say of the new expression: “The
flavored/beer mixes segment is showing the
highest rate of growth, indicating that consumers
are more open to experimentation and variety
beyond regular beer… Dos-A-Rita is poised to
capitalize on these growth trends”. At 7.2% ABV
Dos Equis Dos-A-Rita will be initially available
via the off-trade in select US states and will be
available in 682ml cans and 12packs of 227ml cans.
www.koldcocktails.com
www.dosequis.com
New Products
RTD Launches
New Products
Branded RTS Cocktails
Malibu Cocktail RTDs
The Savoy Collection: The Manhattan
Chinese market
Hotel branded cocktails
—
Pernod Ricard has announced the launch of a new
Malibu cocktail RTD range formulated specifically
for the Chinese market. Malibu RTD cocktails are
currently available in the UK, US, Netherlands and
Japan, however the company said the new range
is “tailor made for the Chinese market in terms of
packaging, flavor selection and recipe adjustment”.
The three Malibu cocktail flavors for the Chinese
market include: Sunshine Lemonade, Cool Coconut
and Tropical Cola. With 5% ABV and available via
the on and off-trade, Malibu Cocktail RTDs have an
SRP of CNY12.50 (US$2) per 275ml glass bottle.
—
The Savoy hotel in London has released a limited edition
bottled cocktail in Selfridges department store. The cocktail
mix was created by Eric Lorincz, head bartender of the
American Bar, using Martini Gran Lusso Vermouth, Martini
Rosso and three Woodford Reserve Bourbon’s including the
Personal Selection and Mature Oak expressions. To complete
the cocktail, two different kinds of bitters were added before
wood-conditioning the mixture and allowing it to rest in
individual glass jars for a month.
The Savoy has been producing very limited edition bottles
for guests for many years, and the tradition was revived
last year with the first instalment of The Savoy Collection,
a 21-year-old Macallan whisky. The Manhattan is the latest
addition to the collection, taking inspiration from the
original cocktail recipe from 1884, tweaked to create a new
twist on the serve. Only 116 hand-numbered and signed
bottles were created in total, each one containing enough
liquid to pour 12 glasses of the classic Manhattan cocktail.
The final 20 bottles will go on sale exclusively in Selfridges
department store at a price of £225.
www.maliburumdrinks.com
Eau De Vie Cocktail Range
Canadian Club RTD’s
New variants
—
Beam Inc’s Canadian Club whiskey and RTD
brand has added two new RTDs to its Australian
portfolio with Canadian Club Premium and
Canadian Club Summer Crisp. Canadian Club
Premium features a stronger, bolder taste, aiming
to appeal to consumers who have traditionally
favored imported and craft beer. Canadian Club
Summer Crisp is a lighter and less sweet beverage.
The launches were supported by a major AUS$3m
summer advertising campaign featuring outdoor
and POS support. Canadian Club Premium is
available nationwide in 4x330ml packs with an
SRP of AUS$22.99. Canadian Club Summer Crisp is
available nationwide in 4x330ml packs with an
SRP of $16.99.
Bar branded cocktails
—
Australian bar, Eau De Vie has launched its first
small batch RTD cocktail range now available
across Australia in Vintage Cellars stores. The
collection consists of three cocktails – Cold Drip
Negroni, Coconut & Banana Rum Old Fashioned
and Smoked Bacon & Maple Manhattan – that
promise to offer consumers the chance to enjoy
“bar quality cocktails” at home.
The cocktail mixes will be sold in old-fashioned
120ml bottles and are expected to retail at $15-16.
Despite a 70% tax hike on RTDs in 2008, which led
to a volume decline of more than 13% in the same
year and continual shrinkage of the category to
almost half its size in 2007, premix remains the
largest category in Australia, comprising 43.6% of
the total spirits market.
www.eaudevie.com.au
New Products
RTS Cocktails
Miami Cocktail Company
Organic RTS cocktails
—
The Miami Cocktail Company has launched its new RTD cocktail range in the US. Claiming to
create “Outstanding classic cocktails using only the highest quality ingredients mixed to perfection
with top shelf spirits”, the range contains no additives, no preservatives, no artificial colors and
no artificial flavors. Using no sugar, sweetness comes from natural extracts and 0.01g of Splenda
per bottle, making it 99.99% natural, the company claims. With less than 90 calories per serve the
range comes in 5 variants: Old Time Sweet Tea, Cherry Margarita, Pina Colada, Classic Mojito, Pink
Lemonade. Packaging is retro-inspired with custom proprietary glass bottles that emulate vintage
1920s soda pop bottles. At 15% ABV and coming in a 750ml glass bottle pricing information is not yet
available.
www.miamicocktail.com
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Syrups, Cordials & Mixers
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Bittermilk Cocktail
Mixers
Organic cocktail mixers
—
US company Bittermilk has launched
a range of cocktail mixers. The
new range comes in three variants:
Bittermilk Smoked Honey Whiskey
Sour, made with organic lemon juice,
cane sugar, and an organic orange
oleo saccharum; Bittermilk Tom
Collins Mix with Elderflower and
Hops, made with lemon juice, extract
of elderflower and elderberry, and
organic cane sugar; and Bittermilk
Bourbon Barrel Aged Old Fashioned,
with Burnt Organic Cane Sugar,
Orange Oleo Saccharum, Gentian
Root and Cinchona Bark. Bittermilk
cocktail mixes are available online for
$14.95 each via the company website
and from New York based online store
Kaufmann Mercantile.
Monin Smoked
Pineapple Chipotle
Syrup
Stoli Ginger Beer
Premium mixer
—
Premium vodka brand Stoli has launched a new non-alcoholic premium mixer called
Stoli Ginger Beer to the US. To launch the new Stoli Ginger Beer, Stoli is inviting
consumers to salute the Stoli Moscow Mule using the hashtag #RaiseYourMule, in a
reaction to the resurgence of the Moscow Mule Cocktail in the US. The Moscow Mule
is made with vodka, ginger beer and lime, served over ice within an iconic copper mug,
giving it a cold, metallic tang.
Stoli will take its Mule campaign trail across the country to engage fans with over 330
managed bar events across 12 markets including: Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, New
York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Miami, Washington, D.C., and Northern and Southern
California. Over 17,000 people are expected to receive samples of the cocktail in addition
to Stoli-branded copper mugs and recipe cards. Stoli Ginger Beer will come in a 4-pack
and be available from leading retail outlets and within on- and off-premise locations.
The 4-pack will retail for $5.99.
www.stoli.com
www.bittermilk.com
Smoked syrup
—
Monin has launched a new addition
to its syrup collection with Monin
Smoked Pineapple Chipotle in the
US. The new syrup, has a sweet-tart
flavor of ripe pineapple blended
with the spicy, wood-smoked
flavor of chipotle peppers. Made
with select ingredients and pure
cane sugar, the syrup can be used
for creating specialty beverages
and cocktails such as mojitos,
margaritas and with spiced rum.
The syrup can also be used in a
marinade and as a finishing glaze.
Monin Smoked Pineapple Chipotle
Syrup has an SRP of USD$11.95.
www.moninstore.com
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Pre-Made Pickle Juice
Bols Elderflower
Funkin Pickle Juice
US release
Pre-made cocktail mixer
—
Lucas Bols USA has added an
elderflower varietal to its existing range
of 35 flavored liqueurs. The flavor was
previously available in Europe, and will
now be released on- and off-premise
in the US. The 15% ABV clear liqueur
is made using the blossoms of the
elder tree, which creates a fresh and
floral flavor. Suggested serves include
an Elderflower Collins (with gin,
lemon juice and soda) and an Eld(erly)
Fashioned (with bourbon, cane sugar
and orange bitters). Bols Elderflower
will retail at USD $17.99 per 750ml. It is
intended primarily for use in cocktails.
—
Pre-made cocktail and cocktail mixer brand, Funkin has released
what it has called the ‘first branded pickle juice for the on-trade’
to the UK market. Piggybacking on the trend for the Pickleback
– whereby drinkers consume a shot of whisky followed by a shot
of pickle brine – the product allows bars to easily join in on the
increasingly popular serve.
Funkin has said that the product can also be used to make
savoury cocktails; another growing trend. Suggested recipes
include those for a Funkin Filthy Martini and a Funkin Pickle
Mary. Funkin Pickle Juice is available in 36cl bottles in the ontrade nationwide across the UK.
www.funkinPRO.co.uk
www.bols.com
Reyka Icelandic Bitters
Icelandic botanicals
—
William Grant & Sons’ Reyka vodka
brand has released their first edition
of Icelandic Reyka Bitters in the
UK. Comprising just 300 bottles
the bitters will be available for
free to London-based bartenders
to encourage them to create new
cocktails using Reyka vodka.
Available exclusively to UK bars,
Icelandic Reyka Bitters is made from
botanicals sourced in Iceland that
include: Icelandic moss, angelica leaf
and crowberry juice. Reyka suggest
serving Reyka Vodka and Icelandic
Reyka Bitters on the rocks. The
company say they will produce more
Reyka Icelandic Bitters if there is
sufficient demand.
Van Holten’s Pickleback
Pickle Juice
Pre-made cocktail mixer
—
Pickle specialist Van Holten’s is
selling Pickleback – Real Pickle
Brine to be used as a chaser or
mixer. The Wisconsin-based firm,
which distributes an array of picklebased products to stores across the
US, believes the consistency of its
latest product will mark it out from
the jars of pickle slices and seeds
that many bartenders use to pour
shots of pickleback.
www.williamgrant.com
www.picklebackmixer.com
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Monin UK Black Pearl Tour
Trend: Jungle Bird Cocktails
—
The Black Pearl Tour has taken to the road, offering UK’s bartenders the
chance to compete against each other. Running throughout summer 2014, the
Black Pearl Tour will visit 10 locations across the UK and will include tutored
tastings and training with experts from Monin and Plantation Rum. The tour
will be followed by regional heats of the 2014 UK Monin Cup in Shoreditch,
London, where contestants have eight minutes to make an alcoholic cocktail
using at least 20ml of any Monin syrup or purée, and the Underground Punch
Pong League’s (UPPL) Monin & Plantation Bartenders’ Challenge Cup. The
successful individuals and teams will then compete for places in the grand
finals of both competitions during London Cocktail Week in October.
—
The perfect hybrid between two major drink trends
- tiki drinks and amaro-based cocktails - is making
a resurgence from obscurity back onto cocktail
menus in the United States.
Cocktail competition
James Coston, Monin’s UK brand ambassador, said: “The whole tour is a great
opportunity for bartenders across the country to learn about our huge product
range, but also to have fun and show how creative they can be.”
www.monin.com
Tiki cocktail trend
The Jungle Bird blends Campari, Rum, pineapple
and lime juices and simple syrup in a recipe dating
back to 1978. Created in the Kuala Lumpur Hilton,
the drink failed to make it over to the US at the
time because the tiki trend had faded out by the
late seventies. Tiki historian Jeff Berry discovered
the recipe and included it in his 1989 book “The
New American Bartender’s Guide,” as well as his
2002 book “Intoxica!”
Still, the Jungle Bird failed to catch on with
mixologists until recently, when it began popping
up on some of the hottest cocktail lists in New York
and Chicago including the following bars:
Celeste
111 W Hubbard St, Chicago, IL 60654
Three Dots and a Dash
435 N Clark St, Chicago, IL 60654
Aviary
955 West Fulton Market, Chicago, IL 60607
Attaboy
134 Eldridge St, New York, NY 10002
NoMad Hotel Bar
1170 Broadway, New York, NY 10001
Lantern’s Keep in the Iroquois Hotel
49 W 44th St, New York, NY 10036
Milk & Honey
30 E 23rd St, New York, NY 10010
Radius Issue 19
17 — 77
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AUSTRALIAN
COCKTAIL
CULTURE
As such, the scene in Australia is heavy with
invention, spanning every facet of cocktailmaking - from house-made bitters and syrups, to
airs and foams, and even the vessels that drinks
are served in. Another advantage for Oz is that,
being located in the Asia Pacific, there are rich
pickings in terms of exotic, local ingredients to
experiment with, plus flavour influences from
neighbours like Japan. As a result, flavours
and ingredients that may seem ‘unusual’ to
London and New York palates are more readily
accepted here.
Perhaps one of the best examples of an openness
to unusual flavours is the widespread use of
Fernet, the divisively bitter spirit (often compared
with mouthwash). Preferred at Sydney bars
including Gilt Lounge and Gardel’s Bar, cocktail
haven Earl’s Juke Joint even served it on tap.
Aromatic herbs and their like also prominently
feature in Aussie cocktail-making (Sydney bar
The Victoria Room even served an entire menu
of blends based on homeopath Edward Bach’s
famous flower remedies, using ingredients
including hornbeam, clematis and honeysuckle).
Another trend that has exploded in Australia over
the past few months is the rum bar, with several
venues dedicating themselves solely to the spirit.
And, in the Aussie tradition of making a scene
their own, bars are experimenting with various
ways of presenting and enjoying the drink,
meticulously exploring its versatility.
The Rum Diary Bar in Melbourne, for example,
offers 125 varieties of rum, rum flights paired
with cheese, rum cocktails on tap, and on
free movie nights, bartenders offer punters
a butter popcorn-infused rum and coke. At
Neighbourhood in Bondi, meanwhile, they make
their own alcoholic falernum with a rum base
(and also juice pomegranates for their own housemade grenadine). House-made syrups (such as
banana) are regular features on Aussie cocktail
According to mixologist-turned-international-consultant (and selfstyled “drinks maven”) Angus Winchester, Australia is “one of the
most creative cocktail cultures on the entire planet”. That might be
news to those with their gaze trained firmly on the cutting-edge
cocktail scenes of London and New York, but when it comes to noholds-barred innovation, industry watchers would be wise to direct
their eyes Down Under.
For the longest time, Australia has been
characterised as a nation of beer drinkers,
but increasingly Australians’ attention is
turning towards spirits. The Australian
Bureau of Statistics reported that, in 2012, beer
consumption fell from 76% to 42% of alcohol
consumed, wine rose from 12% to 37% and spirits
(including RTDs) from 12% to 20%. Tim Salt,
managing director of Diageo Australia, told The
Spirits Business last year that “while total alcohol
consumption in Australia is flat, generally people
are drinking less but better”.
In tandem with that trend, cocktail bars are on
the rise, with new openings hitting the likes
of Melbourne, Sydney and Perth every month.
And, rather than be a weakness, Australia’s
historical lack of a cocktail heritage is emerging
as a strength. With a virtually clean slate and
few rules to follow, Australia’s bartenders have
the freedom to experiment and shape the
landscape’s trends and tastes.
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prepare their Lady’s Leg Cosmopolitan in a 1930s
vintage shaker shaped like a lady’s leg, wearing
a silver high-heeled shoe. The bars also present
their Yuzu Mule – inspired by a Moscow Mule – in
1940s-style solid copper mugs, just as the original
cocktail was at the Cock ‘n Bull restaurant that
invented it. (The mugs are made especially for
Eau de Vie.) Sydney’s Ramblin’ Rascal Tavern
prides itself on glassware (the Twelve Gauge
Grog is served in a pewter tankard decorated
with orange segments pierced with macerated
cherries) and the city’s Your Ex Lovers presents
its “Champagne” Slushy in a metal Champagne
challis with a striped paper straw.
menus, while Bondi Junction’s Spring Street
Social blends drinks with its house-made bitters:
peach, rhubarb, grapefruit, orange, whiskey,
apple and even ‘old fashioned’ bitters that offer an
independent take on Angostura.
In a similar vein, one of Sydney’s most
experimental bars, Zeta, has made a habit of
‘deconstructing’ and ‘twisting’ classics. Examples
include a Bramble Three Ways (lemon gelato,
a berry jelly and a shot of blueberry gin) and a
twisted Sangria (wine base, cognac, Cointreau,
orange and grape juice, house-made strawberry
ice spheres, ginger beer). Lily Blacks in Melbourne,
meanwhile, embraces home-made and exotic:
think the Sinnerman (Cruzan Rum, house-made
fig and cinnamon bitters, almond, lemon) or
the Spiced Bellini (pear and cardamom puree,
with sparkling wine). Refreshing, citrus flavours
appear to be favoured in the Australian heat.
Asian influences are widespread: Soju Girl in
Canberra, for example, serves an alcoholic riff
on bubble tea (soju, green tea, aloe juice, passion
fruit and passion fruit jelly balls), along with other
Asian-inspired cocktails (the Concubine mixes
soju, plum liqueur, house-made ginger syrup and
fresh lime).
In terms of serves, Australian bartenders are
paying attention to every stage of the cocktail
mixing and drinking journey, and that includes
the vessels that drinks are shaken and presented
in. The Eau de Vie bars in Sydney and Melbourne
has been chosen as a suitable region for such an
experimental product. It may be that big brands
continue to choose Australia as a test market for
more innovative products, in that it is seen as
being keen to embrace the particularly unusual
and inventive.
It is also worth taking into account that Australia
is already home to a distinctive drink culture,
being known as a nation of coffee connoisseurs.
While it seems only natural that the refinement
of the country’s coffee scene should easily
transfer to Australians’ attitudes to spirits and
cocktails, we’re also seeing a collision between
the two cultures, unleashing potential for
Australia to become the world leader in coffee
cocktails and spirits.
For example, Australian-made Little Drippa is a
cold-drip coffee that’s being marketed especially
for use in cocktails. The beans have been roasted
differently to lend chocolate and fruity tones,
with the express intention of mixing the product
with vodka. Then there’s cold drip coffee liqueur
Mr Black, one of only six liqueurs from around
the world to be awarded the gold medal at 2012’s
International Wine & Spirits Competition in
London. Made in small batches of 250, 700ml
bottles, its Australian makers use beans from a
local roasters near the distillery in order to get
the flavour profile just right. With both products,
the utmost attention has been paid to the
quality of the coffee flavours, enabling coffeelaced alcoholic drinks to become that much
more sophisticated.
To conclude, Australia has fast become a hub
of leading-edge experimentation, both from
bartenders and small-batch distillers. Thanks to
its geography, and its lack of heritage, the country
is ripe for ushering in new ideas around cocktails
and spirits, somewhat “marching to the beat of its
own drum”. While undoubtedly inventive cocktail
scenes such as New York and London continue to
get radical, they are nevertheless influenced by a
long history of drink mixing: Australia, therefore,
may well prove the market to keep an eye on for
truly open-minded and unpredictable innovation.
Away from the bar, Australia lays claim to
having invented the first vodka made from
butter, demonstrating that innovation lies with
independent distillers as well as those mixing
the drinks. Hailing from North West Tasmania,
which has a robust dairy industry, 666 Butter
Vodka is hand-made with Autumn butter, giving
the resulting vodka a creamy, complex flavour. It
is the only Australian-made vodka to be awarded
a Gold Medal in the San Francisco World Spirits
Competition, and also received a Gold Medal in
the Fifty Best Vodkas in the World Competition.
In addition, in April Australia became only
the second market outside of Italy to launch
Cointreau Noir, which blends 70% Cointreau
orange liqueur with 30% Rémy Martin cognac
(which has been especially made for Cointreau
and includes macerations of nuts and almonds).
Devised to make cognac more accessible to the
cocktail market, it seems significant that Australia
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bars including Caravan (King’s Cross), Dean St
Townhouse (Soho) and York & Albany (Camden).
The global popularity of Thai hot sauce Sriracha
and its natural suitability to the Bloody Mary
has seen several bars around the world mixing
Bloodys with the condiment, giving the drink an
Asian lilt. Vodka brand UV has even launched a
Sriracha-flavoured vodka, positioning it as “the
Bloody Mary’s new best friend”. And there are
plenty of other regionally iconic ingredients being
used to create Bloody Marys with a local identity:
in the 2010 Brazilian Championship of Cachaçabased Cocktails, for example, bartender Jairo
Alvin de Gama, from São Paulo, mixed a distinctly
Brazilian Maria Sagrenta (cachaça, Cointreau,
Tabasco, tomato juice and Angostura bitters).
REGIONAL
BLOODY
MARYS
This year, Stoli Premium vodka launched its ‘Search for Mary’
marketing campaign, exploring local twists on the Bloody Mary
across the US. Inspired by the likes of cajun-spiced Bloody Marys,
popular in New Orleans (you can even buy pre-prepared New
Orleans-style Bloody Mary mixes, such as those from brand Garden
District Bloody Marys), and Bloody Caesars, the Canadian recipe
that uses Clamato juice, Stoli’s search encompasses more than
300 Bloody Mary bar events - proving the drink is as varied as it is
popular in the US.
And it seems Stoli is on to something bigger, as
a quick look at bar menus everywhere from the
UK to Australia reveals regional spins on the
Bloody Mary to be firmly in vogue. Take Soho in
London’s Talented Mr Fox, for example, which
rather literally interprets the drink’s moniker,
adding in a very British black pudding distillate,
along with bacon and pigs’ blood. A more genteel
UK rendition comes courtesy of London-based
Kamm & Sons, responsible for a new spirit
that borrows heavily from gin. Made with 45
botanicals - including ginseng and juniper founder Alex Kammerling has come up with the
perfect recipe to show it off: the Sunshine Mary.
Using vine-ripened Isle of Wight yellow tomatoes,
along with the usual Tabasco, horseradish,
and salt and pepper, it’s a distinctly British riff
on the drink, the yellow tomatoes replacing
the ‘bloody’ element with sunnier shades. The
serve is available at London restaurants and
Perhaps even more interesting, however, is that
bartenders are using the idea of regionality to
inspire new takes on the Bloody Mary, regardless
of whether they are actually based in that part of
the world. You could argue, however, that in these
instances, the mixologists have been inspired by
immigrant populations. At Brooklyn restaurant
Talde, for example, Asian-American chef Dave
Talde presents an Asian-inspired Bloody made
from wasabi powder, Chinese black vinegar
and Guinness, garnished with pickled ginger. It
might be served in New York, but given that city’s
sizeable Asian-American population - and the
resulting, incredibly popular Asian-American
food scene (think Korean fried chicken, countless
ramen joints, and David Chang) - it makes sense.
In North Perth, Australia, The Classroom bar has
created a sophisticated Italian twist on the Bloody
Mary, dropping a sizeable homemade tomato and
bocconcini sphere in a glass of ice-cold vodka (it’s
called the Sphere Loren). Probably no coincidence
that the Aussie drink scene is heavily influenced
by a long history of Italian immigration - hence
the national obsession with coffee.
Another example is The Lone Star Taco Bar in
Allston, Massachusetts, which borrows from the
traditions of the US’s significant Latino immigrant
population to blend Agavales Reposado tequila infused with poblanos, cilantro, celery, cucumber
and garlic - into its Bloody. On the subject of
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Cocktails
Mexico, it should come as no surprise that there
already exists a homegrown Mexican version of
the Bloody Mary (given the use of tomato and
spice). The michelada cocktail comprises tomato
juice, hot sauce, lime juice and beer (along the
lines of Corona or Negra Modelo), served with ice
in a salt-rimmed glass.
As with the Sunshine Mary, another popular way
of injecting regionality into the Bloody is to use
locally grown ingredients in the mix. The Isle
of Wight’s yellow tomatoes add distinguishing
colour and flavour; at The Woods of Windsor Bar
in Melbourne, Australia, a house-made juice used
in Bloodys is concocted from tomato, capsicum,
celery and beetroot (the beetroot gives it an
especially Aussie accent).
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Amid an increasingly experimental landscape for
cocktails - not to mention the growing popularity
of savoury blends - it’s little wonder bartenders
are taking a drink that has historically been open
to personal interpretation and local nuances,
and using that as inspiration for pushing the
boundaries of adaptation. Regionally specific
ingredients and local produce provide endless
sources of invention - as well as tapping into
‘locavore’ and ‘organic’ trends. The enduring
popularity of the Bloody Mary, along with its
natural capacity for innovation, suggests we
can expect this cocktail to undergo unlimited
reinventions as long as drinks makers and
consumers wish to experiment.
SEAWEED
COCKTAILS
The release of a 42% ABV seaweed-infused gin by Welsh craft
distillery Dà Mhìle in March caused quite the stir in the drinks
press. But while much of the spotlight fell on the growing trend
for experimental botanicals in gin, perhaps more intriguing is the
potential for seaweed infusions to increasingly start popping up on
bar menus and stacking up on drinks shelves.
Though seaweed has long been a staple ingredient
in Asian cuisine, it is only recently that the marine
algae has caught the attention of the Western
palate. Bren Smith, owner of the Thimble Island
Oyster Co – a seaweed farm based in the Thimble
Islands of New York’s Long Island Sound – last
year said he hopes that “seaweed is going to be
the next kale”. As well as sitting well with locavore
and organic trends, seaweed, like kale, boasts a
remarkable set of health benefits: everything from
iodine to maintain a healthy thyroid, to vitamins
A and C and calcium. There are even research
bodies in the US, UK and Europe looking into
seaweed’s anti-viral and anti-cancer capabilities.
As a result, seaweed’s presence in the Western
functional F&B market is expected to multiply.
Diffordsguide reported in 2012, for example, that
as micro algae such as spirulina is already used
in the likes of smoothies, it would make sense for
more types of seaweed to be similarly utilised.
Ole Mouritsen, a researcher at the University of
Southern Denmark who is studying the usability
of seaweeds in cuisine, told the publication: “I
haven’t seen much else done using seaweed pulp,
though I don’t see why not - it would bring an
interesting texture to a drink.”
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In New York, cocktail consultants Evoe had the
pleasure of working with Bren Smith’s locally
grown seaweed when they helped devise the
drinks for a seaweed-themed, food-and-cocktail
matching menu with Manhattan restaurant
Louro. The eatery already used seaweed in its food
– notably the signature kelp butter – and wanted
to trial more recipes. The one-night only ‘Drink
Like A Fish’ dinner, held in May 2013, was swiftly
followed by another in June owing to demand.
Cocktails included the Green Blood Maria (kelp,
tomato water, celery, Habanero pepper, lime),
Sovereign Remedy (kelp and ginger-infused
Yamazaki whisky, carrot, honey, lemon) and
Hokkaido Ferry (kelp-infused Hakushu whisky,
madeira, cane syrup, Peychaud’s bitters).
However, seaweed’s contribution to edibles and
libations certainly doesn’t stop at a health boost.
Indeed, its long-held popularity in Asian food
is not just a matter of ‘eating your greens’, but,
perhaps even more so, as a rich source of flavour.
And that flavour varies depending on the type
of algae you’re talking about: dulse, for example,
is salty and nut-like, while nori, mostly used in
sushi, is milder. What all seaweed has in common,
though, is another trendsetting conceit: the socalled “fifth taste”, umami.
It’s a flavour that holds appeal for bartenders
keen to experiment with complex savoury tastes,
and, as if to prove it, seaweed is finding a place
in some of the most cutting edge cocktail bars
of London and New York. In east London’s The
Clove Club, for example, the bar mixes the Cyn
of the Sea, made with Cynar, sweet vermouth
and Plymouth gin infused with dulse seaweed.
The result is said to be like an earthy negroni
with a subtle saltiness. Meanwhile, in the south
of the city, ‘secret’ bar The King of Ladies Man –
hidden behind the façade of a launderette – has
created the Mr Miyagi, which blends seaweedinfused Zubrowka vodka, Calle 23 Anejo Tequila,
cranberry juice, lime, rosemary syrup and
grapefruit bitters.
And it’s not just New York that’s catching on in
the US. In Minneapolis, Marvel Bar’s Pip Hanson
recently created a Scotch-seaweed infusion
he calls ‘the Old Man and the Sea’. Ten-year
Laphroaig is steeped with nori seaweed for 1216 hours, which, when opened up with a splash
of water, Hanson told Conde Nast Traveler gives
“a full bandwidth of smoke, brine, peat, umami,
and ocean all packed into a single sip”. Reputed
London-based mixologist Tony Conigliaro has
also experimented with seaweed and Laphroaig,
telling Diffordsguide in 2012 that he’d made
“really interesting infusions and tinctures
from seaweed we literally got off the beach.
We dried it out and cooked it in different ways it brings some really interesting notes to a drink”.
He added that he’d also mixed “a Dirty MartiniBy-The-Sea, where we cooked seaweed into
vermouth sous vide”.
Perhaps the biggest sign that seaweed is destined
to show up more and more at the forefront of
drinks innovation is that beer revolutionaries
BrewDog have recently taken up the cause. In
the first episode of their Brew Dogs TV series,
which aired on the Esquire channel in the US in
September, founders James Watt and Matt Dickie
harvested kelp from the San Diego coast to make
a kelp, chili pepper and rosemary-infused IPA. In
the episode, Dickie says: “The kelp’s really going to
add cool dimension to the beer, a really nice salty
note, and a briny character too.”
The Broken Shaker bar in Miami – which
champions homemade liqueurs and syrups and
locally sourced ingredients – serves a Seaweed
Martini made with pineapple-infused Campari
and seaweed-infused gin. And mixologist
Benjamin Schiller at GT Fish & Oyster in
Chicago has created a concoction of kombu fluid,
Bols Genever, sake and egg white, poured over
a kombu ice cube and garnished with dried and
minced kombu.
So, while seaweed is currently the preserve of the
drinks industry’s most experimental figures, there
is reason to believe that, owing to a flavour profile
that naturally lends itself to the likes of gin, Scotch
and ale - not to mention one that is getting craft
distillers, brewers and cocktail-makers inspired
- it could eventually go mainstream. In support
of that, commercially viable characteristics such
as health benefits and its natural, organic image
could appeal to a broad consumer base. Just
think of the ingredients in terms of its purveyors,
like BrewDog: experimental, revolutionary and,
ultimately, wildly successful.
Seaweed invites all sorts of marketable angles
– health, umami, local sourcing/terroir – and,
in some cases, even a sense of history. Williams
Brothers Brewing Company in Scotland, for
example, brews its 4.4% ABV Kelpie Seaweed Ale.
In the brewery’s own words: “Prior to the 1850s,
Scottish coastal alehouses brewed with malted
barley, grown in fields fertilised by seaweed.
This environment gave the barley a very
specific flavour which we recreate by the inclusion
of fresh seaweed in the mash tun.” It results in
“a rich, dark chocolate ale, which has the aroma
of a fresh Scottish sea breeze and a distinctive
malty texture”.
On Premise
Cocktails
On Premise
Cocktails
Sao Paulo’s
Izakayas
Another newcomer – and also incredibly popular
– is Izakaya Issa, which has quickly become the
kind of place you need to book. The vast range of
sakes is all imported and ranges in price from £40
to £132 a bottle (or £5 to £10 per glass). Some of
the upmarket clientele have their names written
on bottles of sake and shochu behind the bar. Just
up the road, Izakaya Ban presents a menu of ‘sake
na sakana’ – dishes to eat with sake. And around
the corner, Kabura’s informal pub vibe attracts
a young clientele who spend the evening pairing
their sake and shochu with dishes served from
the grill.
While the Japanese izakaya can be found in other
Asian cities – Hong Kong, for example – there are
now signs that the format may become popular
in more non-Asian destinations than just Brazil.
While Sao Paulo is streets ahead in terms of
saturation, last year the izakaya-style Flesh &
Buns, with its comprehensive menu of Japanese
cocktails and a long list of warm and cold sakes,
opened in London to great acclaim. In addition,
Bincho in Soho serves grilled meat and fish
alongside sakes, and also boasts a basement
bar stocked with Japanese whiskeys and
mixing Japanese whiskey cocktails. Meanwhile,
Chelsea pop-up Kurobuta became permanent
this March, serving Japanese ‘junk food’ and
barbecue and only a minimal selection of sushi.
So it seems the ‘casual dining’ concept of the
izakaya is poised to gain only more traction in
western cultures, opening up experimentally
minded consumers to an increasing wealth
of Japanese drinks flavours and umami-rich
cuisine beyond raw fish. Remember: it all started
in Sao Paulo.
The izakaya – a Japanese drinking venue that also serves food –
has fast become ubiquitous in Sao Paulo.
Brazil is home to the largest Japanese population
outside of Japan, which explains the popularity
of local drink the caipisake – a Caipirinha, mixed
with sake instead of cachaca. But now drinkers in
Brazil have moved beyond hybrid creations and
are embracing purely Japanese drinks served in
these quintessentially Japanese establishments.
The epicentre of Japanese culture in Sao
Paulo, Liberdade, is awash with izakayas,
which alongside extensive menus of sake and
shochu cook up Japanese small plates to help
soak up the drinks. Far from being exclusively
Japanese-Brazilian enclaves, these hotspots are
full of young Brazilians experimenting with
the libations and discovering Japanese cuisine
beyond sushi.
Opened in May 2013, Minato (pictured) is a
small space offering just 20 seats at a U-shaped
counter (there are no individual tables). It is
consistently packed with young, hip Brazilians
knocking back Hakushika Honjoso sake, fresh
oysters, and Tonkatsu (breaded pork cutlet),
and soaking up the convivial atmosphere.
Espaço Kazu, meanwhile, consolidates three
separate Japanese establishments in one space:
Kazu Izakaya, a cafeteria serving up udon and
yakitori; Gogo Kare, which offers a small menu
of Japanese curries; and Kazu Sake Emporium,
where drinkers can choose between sake-based
cocktails, 100 types of sipping sake and bottled
sake to go.
Marketing
New Campaigns
Bacardi Partners with Jamie Oliver
DrinksTube
—
Bacardi has announced the launch of two new platforms for at-home cocktail
making in partnership with the UK celebrity chef and restaurateur, Jamie Oliver.
The Bacardi Mixed Cocktails app and MixedCocktails.com website, are intended
to “provide people with the drinks know-how, inspiration and tools they need to
experiment and have a go at creating great-tasting cocktails at home using their
favorite brands”.
The partnership will also include the launch of DrinksTube, the companion
YouTube channel to Jamie Oliver’s FoodTube. Bacardi is the exclusive spirits
partner for DrinksTube and will co-create content that features various Bacardi
Brand Ambassadors, mixologists and bartenders. The partnership will also see
monthly content in the Jamie Oliver Magazine and via jamieoliver.com and will
be feature on the new cocktail menu in Jamie’s Italian restaurants in the UK
(33 doors) and five locations internationally. An Android version of the app will
launch later this year.
www.youtube.com/user/JamiesDrinksTube
Marketing
New Campaigns
Marketing
New Campaigns
Southern Comfort Introduces
‘Go Drink Yourself’
New UK campaign
—
Southern Comfort is encouraging its UK customers to just
be themselves. Driven by a new website, a Facebook page
and a Twitter account, its Go Drink Yourself promotion asks
drinkers to build their own ‘recipe drink cards’ and enter
them in a competition to win a Southern Comfort mug in the
shape of their own face.
Aperol Brunch Society
Cocktail focused campaign
—
Campari America has unveiled the Aperol Brunch
Society marketing campaign in support of its Aperol
liqueur brand. The US-facing campaign will focus
on increasing the popularity of the brand’s signature
Aperol Spritz cocktail and includes a search for and
hire of four Chief Brunch Officers across New York,
San Francisco, Miami and Los Angeles. Consumers
can apply for the Brunch Society’s leadership positions
by uploading 15-second videos on Instagram, with the
job search set to run through May 31.
The website will include an interactive history of the BrownForman Corporation brand as well as product details for the
entire family of drinks.
Southern Comfort’s UK marketing manager, Gwen Ridsdale,
says: “Go Drink Yourself is a fun way to educate our target
demographic about the versatility of Southern Comfort and
plays to the wants of millennials, whilst still championing
what Southern Comfort stands for as a brand.”
www.southerncomfort.com
The Campari-owned brand will employ the officers to
brunch at a different restaurant or bar every weekend
between June and August in their cities. The brunch
campaign will also include print and online media
components, using the handle @AperolUSA and
hashtag #BrunchforaLiving.
Senior marketing director for white spirits at Campari
America, Kathleen Schuart said: “As the Aperol Spritz
trend grows quickly in the US, we need people we can
trust to make sure the Aperol Spritz is being made and
enjoyed properly, so we’ve launched the Brunch for a
Living job search to find the ideal candidates to spread
the word about the next great summer cocktail.”
The Aperol Spritz cocktail is a mix of Prosecco, Aperol
(11% ABV) and soda water, and is served over ice with
a slice of orange.
aperolbrunchsociety.tumblr.com
Marketing
New Campaigns
Marketing
New Campaigns
Bulmers ‘Live Colourful’
Summer campaign
Cider events
—
Heineken UK brand Bulmers is launching a new multi-million
pound marketing campaign to run from April through to
September, championing the cider range as the go-to summer
drink. The ‘Live Colourful’ campaign will run across TV, press,
digital and outdoor, kicking off with press and outdoor executions
at Easter and then a 30- and 40-second TV commercial from May 1.
The advert, called ‘Shine’, seeks to convey that Bulmers is the
catalyst to colourful, fun nights with friends. Groups of people are
shown enjoying the range of five Bulmers ciders in different urban
settings, oblivious to the multicolour effects that Bulmers is having
on the cities surrounding them.
Photographs, paintings and graphic designs are also being used
for print, out of home and digital out of home adverts that will run
nationwide throughout summer. These have been put together
by six artists who collaborated with Bulmers to bring the colours
of the five cider variants to life. Bulmers became Great Britain’s
number one cider for the first time in 2013, increasing its total
volume share of the Modern Cider category to 21%. Combined onand off-trade sales are now over £229 million.
www.heineken.co.uk
Beefeater 3D Mechanical
Art Installation
Mechanical mural
—
Beefeater revealed a specially commissioned three dimensional
mechanical mural that details the stories and history of gin. “The
History of Gin” installation celebrates the release of Beefeater
London: The Home of Gin, the capitol’s first dedicated gin distillery
visitor centre in Kennington.
The mural is on display May 14th and 15th on a site that is home to
many elements of gin’s history, from the extravagant gin palaces of
the 19th century to the marketplace where the botanicals to make
gin could be purchased. It details many aspects of the history of
gin, from genevere to gin, the gin craze, the gin act, the roaring 20’s,
the swinging 60’s and present day. Beefeater London: The Home
of Gin is officially open to the public May 22 (20 Montford Place,
London SE11 5DE); admission is £12.
www.beefeaterdistillery.com
Marketing
New Campaigns
Suntory ‘3D On The Rocks’ Campaign
3D ice cube designs
—
Japanese whisky brand Suntory has launched a new marketing campaign that
asks consumers to submit suggestions for quirky ice cube designs, which are
then carved using 3D modelling data.
Intricate ice cube designs that have been created so far include the Statue of
Liberty, Michelangelo’s David and Japanese landmark the Golden Pavilion (also
known as Kinkaku-ji, in Kyoto). Consumers submit their suggestions using the
iOS app 123D Catch.
Suntory, which teamed up with Japanese ad agency TBWA/Hakuhodo for the
project, has released PR shots of the winning designs and a video that shows the
time-consuming 3D-milling process. Though these frozen works of art soon
melt away, a few of the participants who submitted winning designs are to have
their creations served to them in Suntory whisky in a secret Tokyo bar.
www.suntory.com
World Cup
Marketing
The World Cup starts in São Paulo in June and is anticipated to
attract one billion viewers globally. Below is a roundup of brands
tapping into the football tournament’s popularity.
Budweiser
King Of Cheers campaign
—
Budweiser is the sole alcohol sponsor for the
World Cup and is building an all encompassing
global campaign called Rise As One around
the tournament. World Cup branding will be
introduced globally in all Budweiser markets
with limited edition trophy aluminum bottles
designed with FIFA World Cup illustrations,
limited edition glass bottles, cans and other
packaging. The unified Rise As One platform
will also include new TV advertisements which
focus on football and celebrate the moments
that bring fans together across the world. The
brand will also connect with fans locally through
customized activations and initiatives in-store,
online and across social channels.
Budweiser’s #KingOfCheers social media
campaign invites fans to create videos of their
best football related cheers and celebrations via
Vine and Instagram and then share those to
Twitter with the hashtag #KingOfCheers. The
Winner will win a trip to the World Cup, including
a coveted match ticket. Another Budweiser
World Cup initiative is Budweiser Heros, a digital
campaign acknowledging individuals whose love
of football has transformed communities. From
a social-media standpoint, Ed Erhardt (ESPN’s
president of global customer marketing and sales)
predicts 2014 World Cup will be the “most social
event ever,” surpassing the 2014 Sochi Winter
Olympics, 2012 London Summer Olympics and
2010 World Cup.
Marketing
World Cup Marketing
Marketing
World Cup Marketing
Taittinger Brut Réserve NV
Wine
—
Taittinger is claiming rights to be the official
Champagne of the World Cup and has released
limited edition packaging to celebrate the
tournament. The limited edition Taittinger Brut
Réserve NV comes in a white and gold box featuring
hologram footballs, and the bottle itself features
the World Cup trophy on its neck. Taittinger is the
first Champagne house to be selected by FIFA as its
official World Cup Champagne and as part of the
deal will be used throughout the World Cup in VIP
hospitality areas.
Heineken
Oranjekoorts Ad
—
Heineken’s new advert, “Oranjekoorts,” is getting fans hyped up for
World Cup with a Brazilian Carnival theme in which a Dutch float
pumps party music. The commercial reaches its peak as a statue
of former Dutch international striker Dennis Bergkamp emerges
imitating Christ the Redeemer.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdDp68H7J_8
Cervejaria Amazonia
Lidio Carraro Brazilian Wine
—
Speciality beer importer World Beers has launched two unique
beers in the UK from Brazil’s most successful craft brewery,
Cervejaria Amazonia. The two varieties are Forest Pilsen and Forest
Bacuri, both of which have ABVs of 4.1% and are packaged in 33cl
bottles. To support the brand, Amazon is the official beer sponsor
for the “Brazil Pop Up Diner,” 11 events being held at the Bedford
and Strand in London’s Covent Garden on Sundays through July.
The events each showcase the cuisine of a different region in Brazil
every week leading up to FIFA World Cup Brazil.
—
Lidio Carraro boutique winery in Vale dos Vinhedos,
Southern Brazil, has been chosen by FIFA to
represent Brazilian wine during the World Cup. The
winery has released a limited edition icon wine of
only 2014 numbered bottles. The red wine has fruity
notes of blackberry, plum and dates and is bottled in
exclusive packaging featuring a gold plated medal.
World Beers
Wine
Marketing
World Cup Marketing
Carlsberg Fan Squad
Beer
—
Carlsberg UK has created the Fan Squad campaign
to support its sponsorships of the Barclay’s Premier
League and England’s national team. The campaign
will run on-pack and will be supported by print,
broadcast, POS and digital with prizes available
throughout the football season from now through
December 2014.
The 90 second spot has been filmed in Belfast,
Kosovo and Cyprus and is aimed to bring global
awareness to the fact that there are three European
cities which are divided. The documercial has three
parts, one part for each country; in the Cyprus
footage a group of men kicking a ball around until
one accidentally shoots it over the wall into ‘no man’s
land.’ The ball is then mysteriously kicked back to
them and a friendly game of football commences
over the wall and without the players able to see
each other. All players then finish by uniting over
Carlsberg beers.
Ardbeg Auriverdes
Spirits
—
Scotch whisky brand Ardbeg will release a special
limited edition bottling called Auriverdes in
celebration of the World Cup. Auriverdes is named
after the nickname for the Brazilian national football
team. The scotch has been matured in American
oak casks with differently toasted lids to produce
both mocha and vanilla flavours. It will be released
on May 31st in conjunction with Ardberg Day on the
island of Islay. As part of Ardberg Day there will be
an Ardberg Peat Football competition in locations
around the world, which will culminate in the
Swamp Football World Cup in Argyll, Scotland on
June 28 and 29.
Packaging
Limited Editions
Hennessy V.S Limited Edition
bottle by Shepard Fairey
Artist collaboration
—
Hennessy has collaborated with street artist
Shepard Fairey to create a limited edition bottle and
collector’s set.
It is the 4th installment in Hennessy’s Limited
Edition line; previous artists include Kaws, Futura
and Os Gemeos.
The bottles feature Shepard Fairey’s unique
iconography and symbols, including the “star”
motif he cultivated in his OBEY series. Each bottle
is individually numbered.
In addition, Hennessy V.S Limited Edition Deluxe
sets will be available starting in July offering Shepard
Fairey fans and Hennessy connoisseurs an exclusive
signature set. Each set features two new and distinct
750ml iconic bottles with premium gold and silver
foil labels, capsule and macaroon designed by
Shepard Fairey, a booklet providing a behind-thescenes look at the Hennessy and Shepard Fairey
partnership, and three exclusive collectible stickers
designed by the artist.
The Hennessy x Shepard Fairey limited edition bottle
will retail at about $32 for the 750ml bottle and $150
for the collector’s set. Online presale starts June 6 at
Reservebar.com and on shelf at select retailers in the
US starting July 14th. To celebrate the launch of the
Hennessy V.S Limited Edition bottle by Shepard Fairey,
the brand will embark on a 6-city tour starting in July.
www.Hennessy.com/us/Shepard-Fairey
Packaging
Limited Editions
J&B x Ministry Of Sound
Collaboration
—
J&B has collaborated with electronic music
pioneers Ministry of Sound to create limited edition
packaging. The colorful bottle has an electro vibe,
with 3 different designs which are revealed when
the bottle is placed under various colored lights (red,
green or blue).
The Ministry of Sound music label is notorious for
their leading edge music, graphics and influence on
UK club culture and the collaboration reflects J&B’s
ties to this avant garde, iconic and innovative urban
style. This limited edition bottle will be available
at select nightclubs across France from June to
late August. It will then be available exclusively at
Monoprix in September for 15€.
www.jbscotch.com
Piper-Heidsieck
Cannes Edition
Black tie design
—
Piper-Heidsieck has released a limited
edition Champagne in the UK featuring
a black tie ice jacket to mark the 67th
Cannes Film Festival. The new edition
is intended to raise awareness of the
Champagne House’s partnership with
the prestigious festival, with the added
benefit of keeping a chilled bottle
cooler for longer.
The limited edition bottles will be
available in the UK in Morrisons,
Sainsbury’s and ASDA supermarket
stores as well as select prestige stores
including Selfridges. To be launched
in May the price of Piper-Heidsieck
Cannes is to be announced.
www.piper-heidsieck.com
Packaging
Limited Editions
Packaging
Limited Editions
Beefeater Spirit of London
Union Jack design
—
Pernod Ricards Beefeater London gin brand has launched its Spirit of
London limited edition gin bottle in 26 global markets. With a Union
Jack wrap-around design and a cut-out silhouette of the Beefeater
figure, the design aims to combine patriotism with style and a hint of
eccentricity, aiming to capture the essence of modern London.
The bottle design also incorporates the brand’s ‘My London’ global
advertising campaign by layering an image of Londoner Justin
O’Shea, which was used in the campaign, underneath the Beefeater
silhouette. The Spirit of London limited edition will contain the same
original recipe as Beefeater London Dry at 40% ABV and will be sold
in 700ml, 750ml and 1 liter formats, with 750ml and 1 liter bottles at
47% ABV also available in select markets. Price to be announced.
www.beefeatergin.com
Absolut Oz
Collaboration
Carlsberg’s The Nordic Collection
Danish theme
—
Carlsberg has launched a limited edition premium range called ‘The Nordic
Collection’, which has been designed by US company Safari Sundays. The brief
was to design a range of bottles that celebrates the trademark Carlsberg hop
leaf, as well as the beer’s Danish heritage. The company took inspiration from
Nordic landscapes and industrial design and translated these scenes onto the
classic green Carlsberg bottles. The end result plays with both transparent
versus opaque spaces as well as matte versus high gloss contrasts. The bottle
designs will be primarily sold at high-end bars, nightclubs and restaurants.
—
Absolut has teamed up with
film director Baz Luhrmann
to develop the vodka brand’s
first-ever Australia “geo-centric”
bottle with Absolut Oz. Using
the vodka’s spiced orange flavor,
the film director also helped to
develop recipes for four cocktails
for the vodka, each dedicated
to the famous beaches across
Australia. In addition to a bottle
design featuring vignettes, flowers
and parrots, the bottle also has a
specially designed neck tag that
will feature story notes, images
and cocktail recipes. Launching in
Australia in March Absolut Oz will
be available in a 1 liter format with
an SRP of AUS $54.99.
www.absolut.com
www.carlsberggroup.com
Packaging
Limited Editions
Packaging
New Packs
El Xitxarel·lo White Wine
Insult laden bottle design
—
Martí Serdà Winery is taking a novel approach
to the promotion of its white wine. Based in the
independent-minded Spanish region of Catalonia,
the producer has covered bottles of El Xitxarel·lo –
made entirely from the local Xarel·lo grape variety
– with Catalan insults.
There are 77 in total, many accompanied by graphic
illustrations. They range from the relatively mild
at the top of the 75cl bottle to somewhat coarser
epithets that would traditionally have been used by
‘bottle emptying’ drinkers at the bottom.
In this way, Martí Serdà hopes to do its bit to
preserve the Catalan language while encouraging
consumption of its 12% ABV El Xitxarel·lo, the name
of which translates from Catalan as ‘the beginner’.
www.elxitxarelo.cat
Midnight Moon Artist Box
Branded Moonshine boxes
—
Piedmont Distillers is giving out branded wooden boxes to
musicians appearing at the concerts it sponsors.
Within the boxes, which are screen-printed with the logo of
Piedmont’s Midnight Moon brand, the lucky performers will
find cocktail recipes and an activity book accompanying three
jars of the 40% ABV moonshine with cups.
In 2005 North Carolina-based Piedmont Distillers created the
first moonshine to be sold legally in the US. Since 2007 it has
used recipes from the family of Junior Johnson, bootlegger and
champion motor racer, to create triple-distilled small-batch
moonshine made from American corn and no artificial colours
or flavours.
www.piedmontdistillers.com
JAMES
WATT
BrewDog
There’s never a dull moment with BrewDog. Claire Dodd from
Radius talks to co-founder James Watt about innovation,
brand education and why BrewDog is here to stay.
Whether you’re aware of the Scottish craft brewer for its multiaward winning beers, global bar chain, or its controversybaiting method of promotion, one thing is for certain… it has
continually punched above its weight.
The Scottish craft brewer first opened its doors in 2007.
Since then, rapid expansion has taken it to a £19m turnover
company, operating 17 bars around the world, in sites from
Sao Paulo to Tokyo.
Q&A
James Watt
As well as being one of the first craft brewers
in the UK, the pioneering company has used
crowd-funding on an unprecedented scale to fuel
expansion. Growth has largely been possible to
£7m raised through selling shares to 12,000 beer
fans through its Equity for Punks scheme.
Now, after relocating from its original Fraserburgh
brewery to a new, state of the art, purpose built site
near Aberdeen, the company has vowed to put
beer education ahead of attention grabbing
publicity stunts.
Q&A
James Watt
“We don’t care what
it costs. We don’t
care if it’s expensive.
We’re just 100 per cent
focused on making
the best beers we can.”
Having just visited the old brewing site, which
you were using until late 2013, I’m surprised you
managed to brew the volumes and achieve what
you have. It looks pretty basic.
Fraserburgh was falling to pieces. It was an old
mechanics shed, and was tiny with very, very basic
equipment. We hammered it 24/7 for four years.
In the winter we’d be there at four in the morning
with ice coming off the tanks and our beards. It
was definitely tough conditions and difficult to
always get the beers how wanted them to be. So it
was really good to come here and install with the
help of our profits and Equity for Punks, exactly
the kind of equipment we want.
You’ve certainly come a long way in such a
short period of time. But it’s not always been
plain sailing…
Yeah! In 2006 we quit our jobs, got a £20,000 bank
loan, some second hand stainless steel tanks and
we set up the business with two humans, one
dog and a big mission to try and make people as
passionate about craft beer as we are. The first
couple of years were tough, it was just me and
Martin, and it was hard for us to sell the kind of
beer we were making up here [in Scotland]. All
the local customers we tried to talk to told us to
make cheaper beer, with less hops. But we were
determined that if we were going to fail, we were
going to do it doing something we were passionate
about, making the type of beers we wanted to
drink ourselves. From a beer perspective, it is
completely selfish, we make beers that we would
want to drink ourselves.
on to get better. For the last six or seven months,
it’s been more in line with where we wanted it to
be and more representative of us as a company. We
live and die by what’s in the glass or bottle. We’re
not about making beer efficiently or cheaply, we’re
about getting the most flavour in the glass.
Any exciting new beers coming up?
We have some cool stuff under-way. We have a 5.8%
ABV beer ageing in bourbon casks. But we also
have Scotch, sherry and wine casks. A lot of the
Abstrakt series comes out of these casks, and is oakaged. Later today we’ll give you a sneak preview of
AB 15. That’s a 12.8% ABV salted caramel popcorn
imperial ale that we’ve aged in a mix of bourbon
and rum casks for a year and a half.
How will the new site and equipment affect the
kind of beers you produce?
Last year we shipped 53,000 hectolitres. We now
have equipment in place to do about 100,000
hectolitres. There’s a lot of things we’re working
I think there’s an evolution in our strategy which
has been until now, very high impact, very on the
edge. I like being on the edge, but I think at some
stage we have to evolve as a business. And I think
the evolution for us is to be moving a little bit off
that edge – but still quite close – and move our
focus to education.
We don’t see ourselves as selling beer. We see
ourselves as selling information. We want to
provide information and give it to people to
increase their understanding and awareness of
good beer, which will help us elevate the status of
beer. We want to change things. And things are
changing. There’s so many good beers being made
in the UK.
How do you plan to educate people better?
Are your bars part of that plan?
But I do think it’s quite good that we had so
much naivety. We didn’t know how things were
supposed to be done so we just went ahead and did
them differently.
Everything we have done here is 100 per cent
focused on beer quality, from our centrifuge
to the hop cannons. We’re installing a water
plant so we can take the oxygen out of water to
minimise oxygen in the final packaged beer. We
now have our own lab, instead of having to send
samples away. We dry hop here at about 1 kilo per
hectolitre. That means in the 600 hectolitre tanks
that we use there’s over half a tonne of hops going
into those tanks. It’s massively inefficient, and
massively expensive, but we don’t care.
You’re very much known for your often
confrontational and controversial marketing style,
from videos of you smashing mainstream beer
bottles with golf clubs, to housing the world’s
strongest beer in taxidermy bottles. Should we
expect that to continue?
How has crowd funding affected how you
do business?
Things started changing for us in 2009 when we
launched Equity for Punks. The first time around
1,000 people invested and as well as raising
finance to help us expand it brought a culture and
community around what we do. It shortened the
distance between ourselves and the people that
enjoy what we make. So it’s been such an important
thing for us, not just in terms of raising finance
and expanding our business, but culturally, and
for taking people who enjoy our beers into the
company and on the journey with us.
I think we want to cater for everyone with the bars,
so we want to have something that gets the most
extreme beer geek extremely excited about what we
do, and we want to have the beers and staff to get
the people who don’t know anything about craft
beer into good beer. So we do Beer School tastings
where people can sign up for a tutored tasting with
hops and malt. We’ve also been paying for all of
our team to sit the Cicerone Certification Program.
Everyone who passes automatically gets a pay rise.
It’s hellishly difficult.
“We were determined
that if we were going
to fail, we were
going to do it doing
something we were
passionate about.”
Q&A
James Watt
“We live and die by
what’s in the glass
or bottle. We’re not
about making beer
efficiently or cheaply,
we’re about getting
the most flavour in
the glass.”
Q&A
James Watt
We want to have amazing staff that can help get
people excited about the type of beer that we want
to make. That’s why the bars are so important to
us and we struggled to make money initially. We
lost money, but we didn’t care. We believed in the
model, we believed in what we were trying to do.
I had spent time over there. One of our
philosophies is we do business in the places we
want to go to so one of our first export markets
was Japan, just because I wanted to go to Tokyo
and wanted an excuse to go there so found
someone to buy our beers. We opened BrewDog
Tokyo in March.
With our new BottleDog beer shop in London, we
want to re-imagine what a bottle shop is so it’s
about engagement, it’s about information, it’s about
education, it’s about passion, it’s about knowledge.
So you don’t come in and just buy some beer, you
come in and speak to the staff, learn about beer
and taste beers on site. You can buy bottles, you
can buy growlers, you can buy the best books about
making beer, that’s what it’s about.
We’ll be opening a bar in Berlin, and we’re
opening in New Delhi, Rome, Bologna, Paris, and
hopefully Helsinki.
New Delhi would seem instinctively like a
tough market.
Since opening your first bar in 2009, you now have
13 in the UK, and a number abroad. Why have you
entered the markets that you have?
It’s about having a fantastic environment where
we can showcase our beers and our favourite UK
beers, our favourite beers from all over the planet,
and have knowledgeable, amazing, staff who can
share that passion with people.
Stockholm was an obvious place as it’s our
biggest export market and is a key, key market
for us. Sao Paulo was an unusual one, but we
see such an opportunity there and the market is
developing, which is exciting for us. So instead of
going in and competing for a share of someone
else’s market, we can go in and look at helping to
establish a beer scene.
“We dry hop here
at about 1 kilo
per hectolitre. It’s
massively inefficient,
and massively
expensive, but we
don’t care.”
The tougher something is, the better the
opportunity, if you can make it a success. There’s
nothing, craft beer doesn’t exist there, so for us
the opportunity is to go in there and establish the
craft scene.
Brazil’s beer scene is developing fast.
How are you finding that market?
It’s amazing. I was so shocked the first time I
went there, at how much good local craft beer
there is. There’s everything from black IPAs,
hoppy doppleboc’s, Russian Imperial stouts to
awesome lagers.
It’s so cool to see the beer thing is not just
happening in the US. It’s happening in
Scandinavia, it’s happening in Tokyo, happening
in Sao Paulo, it’s happening completely
internationally. Hong Kong, Singapore, Moscow.
So what’s left for you to do? What do you want to
achieve next? If it’s not about being the biggest
and the loudest, it’s about….
We want to get people enjoying good beers, to
elevate the status of beer and have people enjoy
beer for the experience and not the effect. And
wherever we get to is where we’re supposed to end
up. We’re cool with that, whatever size it is, as long
as we have fun and enjoy the journey, we’re cool
with that.
Insight
Moonshine Growth Driven by Innovation
Moonshine
Growth Driven
by Innovation
Moonshine was once available only in the
backwoods of the United States. However all that
changed in 2005 when North Carolina-based
Piedmont Distillers created the first moonshine to
be sold legally in the US.
Moonshine is now a category in rapid growth. As
the category explodes it is also quickly evolving,
fuelled by experimental flavours and packaging.
The Big Players
The two category leaders, Piedmont Distillers
and Ole Smoky, both tripled in size last year for
Piedmont’s Midnight Moon label (launched 2007)
and Ole Smoky’s namesake brand (launched
2010) according to Impact Databank. Segment
pioneer Piedmont’s 80 proof Midnight Moon hit
320,000 cases in 2013. The brand’s range includes
seven flavoured moonshines, including Apple Pie,
Strawberry and Blueberry, as well as a 100 proof
version of the original flavour.
Piedmont has also released its first national ad
campaign, which emphasized the brand’s history
and renegade appeal. The “Presidential Pardon”
print ads featured NASCAR driver and Piedmont
partner Junior Johnson, whose family’s recipe is the
basis for Midnight Moon. Johnson was convicted of
moonshining in 1950’s and one of the ads includes
his 1956 mugshot with the tagline “Any more
authentic and it would be illegal.”
Flavour Innovations
Moonshine lends itself to flavour extensions and
innovations, as it is a neutral spirit and there is
Insight
a long history of bootleggers adding fruit such
as peaches to their wares. In addition, there are
few rules governing what can be considered
“moonshine” (vs. other spirits like gin). As a
result, the moonshine category is full of variety and
new directions.
The Ole Smoky varieties include classic moonshine
flavours like Strawberry, Peach, Cherry, Blackberry
and Apple Pie, as well as flavours that would be
exotic in the holler like Lemon Drop and Pineapple.
King’s County Distillery partnered with boutique
Brooklyn chocolatiers Mast Brother’s for their
Chocolate Whiskey, made by infusing their
moonshine with chocolate husks. Firefly (known
for their Sweet Tea Vodka) has also entered the
flavoured moonshine arena with 6 varieties,
including caramel, peach and apple pie. Tennesseebased Windy Hill Spirits recently released their
American Born Moonshine range, which includes
Insight
two flavours, Apple Pie and Dixie (sweet tea
flavour). Experimental distillery Corsair created a
Pumpkin Spice Moonshine. Tim Smith’s Climax
Moonshine offers two flavours, Grape Lightening
and Peach Lightening, which are unique in that
the fruit is used in the distillation process instead
of being added later. The 90 proof spirit retails for
$29.99 in Georgia and South Carolina.
Chattanooga Whiskey is about to release their
Freedom Moonshine line with three varieties,
including a Blueberry Rye. Stillhouse has several
interesting flavours in the pipeline, including Peach
Tea, Red Hot, Apple Crisp and Coconut.
Apple/ apple pie is a very popular flavour across
many brands; Eve’s Apple Pie moonshine made
with Washington State apples came out recently
to compete with Midnight Moon, Firefly and Ole
Smoky’s versions.
Charred ‘Shine
Beyond Whiskey and Beyond the Holler
Ole Smoky recently entered the aged whisky
category with their Ole Smoky Charred Moonshine.
It is described as “fine mountain whiskey” that is
hand-crafted, smooth and slowly aged in charred
oak barrels. The moonshine is to be made available
at the Ole Smoky Moonshine Distillery from 22
March and is expected to be released nationwide
later this year. There is no age statement.
Honolulu’s Island Distillers launched their
Hawaiian Moonshine, an interpretation of the
island’s traditional okolehao spirit made with sugar
cane and the local ti root and clocking in at 100
proof (around 50% ABV).
Singer/ songwriter Roger Clyne created his
Mexican Moonshine line of tequilas after singing
about it for years in his band, Roger Clyne and the
Peacemakers. Available in Silver, Reposado and
Anejo, the tequilas channel moonshine’s rogue
appeal. Indeed, it’s moonshine’s illicit history that
seems to hold both particular inspiration for drinks
makers, and appeal for consumers.
Meanwhile, two European brands have entered
the moonshine category. O’Donnell Original
Moonshine has been released in Germany. The
76 proof spirit has been aged for two years and
is packaged in mason jars. Moonshine Kid was
launched in London by Matt Whiley, part of the
team behind the high-end cocktail bars Worship
Street Whistling Stop and Purl. Moonshine Kid’s
website explains that the name Moonshine Kid
“stands for optimist, originality, and bucking the
curb.” The brand’s first release was a hopped gin
Insight
Insight
Mezcal Growth
called Dog’s Nose; cold distilled in a vacuum, it’s
made with Chinook and Columbus hops along
with traditional botanicals. The Moonshine Kid
line also includes an unaged corn whiskey called
King Kong and the intriguing Vera Duckworth
Pistachio Gin.
MEZCAL
GROWTH
Packaging Trends
Historically, illicit moonshine was packaged in
any bottles bootleggers could get their hands on;
often the batches ended up in canning jars or old
milk jars. Many of the branded moonshines tap
into the authenticity of this tradition through
their packaging. Ole Smoky, O’Donnell Original
Moonshine, Midnight Moon flavours, Firefly and
American Born are packaged in mason jars. King’s
County uses simple glass flask shaped bottles.
Dutch’s Moonshine and Stillhouse’s Moonshine
are both packaged in old-timey round bottles
with handles. Trendy US-based Art in the Age of
Mechanical Reproduction created Spodee, a mix
of fortified wine and high proof moonshine with
herbs and spices meant to be mixed in cocktails
which is packaged in an old fashioned milk jar-style
bottle meant to harken back to the Depression-era.
Sunshine Beverage Company, based in WinstonSalem, is pushing the category in new directions
with their RTD Buck O’Hairen’s Sunshine, a lightly
carbonated ginger berry flavoured beverage based
on the legendary moonshiner’s recipe and offered
in a can.
What’s Next
The category’s lack of set rules allows for
unlimited experimentation and we expect the
moonshine category to continue it’s innovative
streak. As the moonshine trend moves to the
UK and beyond we also expect the category to
grow in two other areas. The first is products like
O’Donnell Original Moonshine, which tap into
history and authenticity. The second direction is
brands like Moonshine Kid, which harnesses the
outlaw mischievousness that moonshine conjures
to connect with consumers’ wild sides with
products that push the boundaries on what can be
considered ‘shine.
Sarah Hay
Mezcal has become the ‘It’ ingredient, adopted and
championed by the world’s best bartenders. But
how did it happen? Sarah Hay, Paris editor of i-D
Magazine tracks the maguey plant distilled spirit’s
rise from it’s Mexican heartlands, to a staple of the
New York bar scene, and now it’s appearance on the
back bars of some surprising locations worldwide.
An evolving, global, micro-trend, mezcal is
increasingly present on menus in new bars and
eateries run by bright talent seduced by its smoky
power and fresh appeal. “But the mezcal boom
in LA,” comments Jonathan Gold, Pulitzer prize
winning food critic of the LA Times and creator of
the annually anticipated ‘Gold List’, “is largely due
to the efforts of Bricia Lopez, from the family that
owns the Oaxacan restaurants Guelaguetza, which
also has a great mezcal bar, the Mescaleria.”
It’s been adopted by establishments offering
modern fusion, prix-fixe food menus like
the Allumette in Echo Park where chef Miles
Thompson has taken his ‘apartment dining’
concept to a larger audience. Another is The York
in Highland Park, a large, striking open plan space
where a grand oval bar is the sole, central feature
under a generous ceiling. “We carry mezcals
by Alipus, Metl and Benesin,” says owner Ryan
Ballinger, “and we serve the ‘El Roy,’ our mezcal
take on a classic Rob Roy with proprietary bitters
and Contratto Rosso vermouth,”
In Ibiza, Javier Solorzano is so passionate about
Mezcal that in 2013 he opened the Mezcalería
Mexiterránea, the first on the White Isle, with a
menu that offers special wild agaves like Tobalá,
Madrecuixe, Arroqueño or Dobadán. “Mezcal is
definitely the latest and most diverse new spirit
in the market,” he says, “but it also has a long
tradition, it’s a mestizo spirit that can be made all
over Mexico with many different types of agave
varieties. It’s as rich as the vine for making wines.”
His is small, cosy restaurant that’s always busy
(booking ahead is recommended) though stopping
by to sip a shot of mezcal has become a regular
ritual by islanders.
“Sometimes, if Javier feels up to it” says Carucha de
Rivera, owner of DJ agency, Pocapoc Management,
“he’ll delight the public with details about mezcal’s
properties and distilling process, as well as the
different types of Agaves. It’s meeting place for
Insight
Mezcal Growth
many Ibiza residents, they have a real liking
for artisan products”. Javier agrees, “mezcal is
a cultural and quality gastronomic product, so
people who are sensitive to this, generally love
it. They’ll love the quality and the honesty of its
powers. I like to communicate the value of the
product rather than the price.”
Talk turns to Mexico City where the mezcal
trend has grown in a similar way to LA. Javier
comments, “in less than one year it went from two
mezcalerías to about thirty. I’d say that it’s growing
in Mexico as fast as in USA and Europe because
Insight
Implications Of The US Lime Shortage
Back in LA, where the downtown area is
experiencing a long anticipated flush of vibrant,
new gastronomic addresses, Jonathan Gold names
two cocktail barmen with a passion for mescal
without skipping a beat. Julian Cox, who’s in charge
of a few bar programs around the city, all featuring
mezcal cocktails, is also the bartender at Rivera.
“It’s a modern Mexican restaurant downtown,”
says Gold, “with several famous mezcal cocktails,
including the Barbacoa, made with chipotle,
jalapeno and a beef jerky garnish, among other
things. Marcos Tello is another mezcal-obsessed
bartender. His inventions include Medicina Latina,
a smoky mezcal-tequila version of the Penicillin.”
What is it that mezcal brings to a cocktail? How
are new clientele responding? “Ahh,” says Javier
Solorzano with a big smile, “everyone notices that
mezcal doesn’t get you straight drunk but has
a very lucid high which is perfect for partying,
intense and sharp conversations. I see it as having
a very Mexican sense of humor that’s appealing to
many, but it has a dark side…” He pauses before
delivering a Mexican flourish of drama, “....it’s a
drink full of magic and legend.”
before the monopoly of the Tequila industry had
marginalised the rest of the mezcales of México,
and Mexicans thought there was only Tequila or
cheap, strong stuff”
In Paris, a city that can be notorious for an
unwillingness to budge from old habits, the team
behind Candelaria are celebrating the first birthday
of their newest venture, Le Mary Celeste. Both
locations are the Marais, both carry mezcal but the
speciality at Le Mary Celeste is oysters and small
dishes of Asian fusion. Between the two venues
seven types of mezcalare offered with house
cocktails made of the agave spirit on the menu at
Le Mary Celeste. “Our clientele have been really
receptive to our focus on mezcal,” says Joshua
Fontaine, “we see ourselves as kind of the mezcal
ambassadors for Paris as not many people have had
the opportunity to try this amazing spirit. Once we
convert someone, they never turn back!”
IMPLICATIONS
OF THE US LIME
SHORTAGE
Carla Avruch
The lime shortage may show signs of waning but
the implications of the recent price hikes are still
being felt across the industry. Resourceful bar
tenders, forced to look for substitutes, have been
coming up with inventive ways of replacing the hit of
citrus needed in many cocktails.
The US is paying for its complete dependence on
one source for their limes. Ninety-five percent of
the limes consumed in the US come from Mexico
where heavy rains in November and December
knocked blossoms off the trees causing lime
exports to the US to fall by two thirds.
In addition, a bacterial disease called
huanglongbing (HLB, also known as “greening”)
has spread across many of Mexico’s lime-growing
areas since 2009. These two factors caused lime
prices to spike, catching the attention of Mexican
cartels, which are now extorting farmers, hijacking
shipments and plundering lime crops. Prices
have soared from $12-20 a case to a peak of $150 a
case in March.
The Effect
Restaurants and bars in the United States are
dealing with the shortage in various ways.
While some establishments (especially highend mixology bars and Mexican restaurants) are
sucking up the extra costs, others are forgoing the
fruit entirely, offering patrons a lemon garnish or
no garnish at all. Margaritas are made with either
frozen lime juice or Rose’s lime juice (which is
pasteurized and sweetened).
Citrus Alternatives
Tacolicious in San Francisco has rejiggered their
classic margarita recipe to use lime juice and
Meyer lemon juice. The bar has also added $1 to
the cost of the cocktail to make up for their extra
costs. In San Diego, Sycamore Den has replaced
lime cocktails with lemon cocktails for their latest
menu, although co-owner and cocktail curator Eric
Johnson says he draws the line at buying bottled
juices stating that he would never sacrifice the
taste of the cocktail. “We only use fresh ingredients,
which makes a huge difference
when it comes to taste.”
Insight
Implications Of The US Lime Shortage
Implications & Takeaways
While many say the prices will drop back down to
about $30 a case by June, Mexico’s lime crops may
continue to fluctuate heavily in price, both due to
the spread of HLB and the cartels’ new involvement
in the industry.
We expect that the scarcity of limes in the US will
have several implications during this summer and
seasons to come:
·E
xperimentation with other citrus flavors e.g.
increased interest in grapefruit
·E
xperimentation with shrubs, cordials and lime
bitters in high end bars and restaurants
·Twists on margaritas e.g. tamarind
Lemon isn’t the only citrus getting a boost in the
US. Grapefruit juice is in the spotlight on cocktail
menus as bars look for alternatives. The Paloma,
made with tequila and grapefruit juice, has
been on several specials boards in NYC recently,
including the Cinco de Mayo specials at Café Ghia
in Brooklyn. Patrons are also getting their salty
drink fix through Salty Dogs (gin and grapefruit)
rather than margaritas.
Erin Murdagh of the Salty Pig in Boston says she’s
been experimenting with shrubs and a housemade vermouth to add acidity to cocktails. She
explains: “Shrubs are simple syrups and vinegar.
They were popular in colonial times – the early
Americans used vinegar to preserve fruit because
citrus was too expensive.”
Phoebe Waterson, the head mixologist at Miles
in Brooklyn, says that if prices continue to stay
elevated, she plans to create a lime cordial, lime
shrub or lime bitters to impart the proper flavor in
her cocktails.
There are plenty of twists on the classic margarita
to satisfy the at-home mixologist. Adding lemon,
blueberries, pomegranate or even tamarind
can cut down on expense while adding flavor.
We anticipate that US consumers will experiment
heavily with their margaritas this spring
and summer.
Insight
US Summer Drink Forecast 2014
US SUMMER
DRINK FORECAST
2014
Carla Avruch
The Farmer’s Almanac is predicting a hot and humid
summer for the US in 2014 and consumers will be
looking for easy refreshing drinks to quench their thirst.
Grapefruit
Grapefruit juice is the citrus du jour this summer
in the wake of a shortage that saw lime prices
skyrocket. Tequila lovers are trying out the Paloma,
made with tequila and either grapefruit soda or
grapefruit juice and club soda. The Salty Dog is
another grapefruit classic made with gin; at Miles
in Bushwick the Salty Miles adds dandelion bitters
and a sprig of thyme.
are trying out the Picocita, a Guatemalan hangover
cure that combines beer, pickled jalapenos and
onions, Worchester sauce, salt and lime juice.
Shandies and Radlers have infiltrated the US
market, with many new options available beyond
the classic lemon. IPAs are making their way into
cocktails as well; at Canon in Seattle the bitterness
of Hopworks’ IPA is paired with Campari and
blanco tequila in the End of Days cocktail.
Grapefruit is also popping up in radlers and
shandies. Stiegl released their grapefruit radler
last year in the US and two stateside breweries
have followed suit this spring. Harpoon UFO
released their Big Squeeze Shandy in March; a
wheat beer mixed with grapefruit juice, the Big
Squeeze packs a bigger punch than most shandies
at 4.5% ABV. Vermont-based The Traveler Beer
Company released their Illusive Traveler this
spring, a grapefruit shandy that also packs a heavy
punch at 4.4% ABV. The two popular imports in US
bars, Stiegl Grapefruit Radler and Schöfferhofer
Grapefruit Hefeweizen, weigh in at 2.0% ABV and
2.5% ABV respectively.
Beer Cocktails
Beer cocktails are having their moment. Mexican
influence in the US has made Micheladas nearly
as ubiquitous as Bloody Marys on brunch cocktail
menus. Now imbibers looking for a hair of the dog
Insight
US Summer Drink Forecast 2014
Session beers (low ABV)
Some drinkers in the US are burnt out on high ABV
craft beers and are turning to “session-able” beers
that still taste great. In Brooklyn the most popular
of these beers is aptly named Session; their lager
and black lager are available at many bars in the
borough. Several session IPAs have been released
recently and are bound to be popular this summer.
Stone’s Go To IPA is only 4.5% ABV and has notes
of citrus (including grapefruit) and pine. Easy Jack
IPA from Paso Robles brewery Firestone Walker
Brewing Company is also only 4.5% ABV. Founders
also recently released a 15-pack of their All Day IPA
(which debuted last year) in cans. At only
4.7% ABV, Founders was the pioneer of the lower
ABV IPAs.
frozen classic cocktails that will appear on drink
menus soon. In Williamsburg (Brooklyn), Battery
Harris has a frozen Dark & Stormy made with
Goslings Black Seal rum and a house-made fivespice reduction. With the classics (pina colada,
margarita, daiquiris), already widely available in
a take-home format, we anticipate experimental
frozen cocktails – think frozen bloody mary, frozen
pisco sour, frozen negroni, frozen mint julep – to
become an area of focus for bartenders.
Cider
Cider sales have been booming in the US for
several years and we expect them to become even
more popular this summer. With so many new
entries into the cider category, many bars are
offering multiple varieties of cider as well as cider
on draught. Consumers are also becoming more
knowledgeable, asking specifically for dry or sweet
cider styles, with cider cocktails likely to soon go
mainstream.
Frozen Cocktails
This summer is supposed to be a scorcher and
we’re already hearing murmurings about the
Vandal is informed and passionate about brands
and culture with a special interest and expertise in
beverages, consumer lifestyles, urban life, design
and the trends which are shaping our world.
Vandal’s core team is made up of ex MTV employees,
leading beverage journalists and researchers who are
able to offer a broad spectrum of creative, marketing
and research expertise. Vandal offers a selection of
off-the-shelf trend research reports as well as ondemand research, creative brand development and
trend marketing services.
If you would like to submit
any press releases or other
materials please email:
news@vandal-online.com
Saison beers
Belgian saison beers are increasingly popular
in the United States and are on tap all over
Brooklyn. Two popular craft breweries recently
released saison-style brews. West coast brewery
Stone released their Saison in May and claim to
be “a modern take on a Belgian classic” with notes
of lavender, citrus and black pepper. Sixpoint
brewery in Brooklyn NY released their seasonal
SEISon, a saison-style brew made with American
and Australian hops, and a custom, part-Belgian
part-American yeast blend. It’s is not a traditional
saison, but rather a saison hybrid.
Vandal is a leading beverage trend research and
innovation company based in London and New York.
For consultancy and press
enquiries please contact:
paul@vandal-online.com
Director — Europe & RoW
claudine@vandal-online.com
Director — North America
Amaro Cocktails
Amaro has become hugely popular in the US as
a digestif, shot and in cocktails. This summer
we expect to see it pop up on cocktail menus
in increasingly experimental creations. At the
Narrows in Brooklyn the Milano-Torino blends
Fernet Branca with Antica Formula red vermouth
and soda. The Brooklyn at Miles combines
Nardini amaro with rye, dry vermouth and dry
curacao. Look for amaro juleps, amaros in spritzes,
and amaro in coffee cocktails such as the Café
Corretto (made with Fernet) at San Francisco’s
Park Tavern. Beyond cocktails, the latest bartender
favorite in the amaro category is Varnelli Amaro
Dell’Erborista, an unfiltered light bodied amaro
from the Sibillini Mountains.
If you would like to post any
samples or press releases
to Vandal please mail to:
Vandal Ltd
Studio 46
8 Andrews Rd
Regent Studios
London E8 4QN

Radius Issue 19

Transcription

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