Recession Means People Drinking Cheaper Booze

An AP story last week spelled out the ways the recession is affecting drinking habits throughout the U.S.

Link: http://tinyurl.com/y8ml8fu

Liquor Volume 2008-2009

We’ve posted on this before (check the “recession” tag) and the AP story follows the same tune as before, with a few more nuggets of information:

1. Industry growth as a whole slowed in 2009, with the smallest increase since 2001.

2. Cheap stuff is selling the best during the recession: low-end liquors saw volume increase by 5.5%.

3. Pricey stuff is selling the worst: high-end liquors saw volume decrease by 5.1%.

4. People are doing more drinking at home and less out on the town: sales at liquor stores rose 2.1% while sales at restaurants fell 3%.

5. Vodka is still far and away the most popular spirit in the country: “The $4.56 billion spent on vodka accounted for almost a third of all spirits sold.”

The United States of Vodka

Valet magazine checks in with this interactive map feature that displays the numerous craft distillers that are making vodka across the U.S.

Link: http://www.valetmag.com/living/food-drink/2010/the-united-states-of-vodka.php

Putting vodka on the map

Some view vodka as a spirit that should be perfectly clean, neutral, and virtually flavorless. Others are increasingly viewing vodka as a sort of blank slate, onto which they can impart local flavors for their own unique twist on the spirit. In some ways, vodka’s blankness makes it a great canvas for different flavors, and more and more distillers are using it as such.

What’s Important About Aging Liquor?

In our last post, we discussed how Maker’s Mark is planning to release a new bourbon that is aged for a more prolonged period in special wooden barrels. Maker’s is one of several whiskeys and bourbons that are experimenting with the aging process.

But what is important about the aging process, and how can variations in aging technique have different effects on the flavor of the liquor? Paul Clarke of Serious Drinks posted a good summary of the topic in December, check it out.

Link: http://tinyurl.com/yh9jg9a

In short, the aging process mellows the harsh edge of the alcohol and lets the liquor absorb some characteristics from the wood, including the color and flavors like vanilla, caramel, and chocolate. Different types of wood can add different flavors or textures to the spirit.

New Maker’s Mark Bourbon Variety

Paul Clarke of the Serious Drinks blog posts about Maker’s Mark, one of America’s most popular bourbons, releasing a new variety of whiskey.

Link: http://tinyurl.com/yca36kd

The new Maker’s variety will be aged for an extra few months in toasted oak barrels, giving the bourbon a slightly different flavor than the traditional Maker’s offering. Clarke points out that Maker’s isn’t the first bourbon or whiskey to experiment a little with new varieties, as Brown Forman’s Woodford Reserve has released several different bourbon variations as part of its Master’s Collection series. But Maker’s is among the first to experiment with a new variety that it sells as part of its regular product line.

Maker's Mark

The upshot is that we’re seeing a continuation in the trend of what we at 200 Proof call Liquor Specialization. Brands are recognizing that, as part of the cocktail renaissance, many consumer palettes are becoming more sophisticated and people are taking a stronger interest in liquor as a whole. As such, there is opportunity for companies like Maker’s Mark to extend their product lines, creating different variations that cater to different consumer preferences. In the same way that oenophiles prefer Merlots or Cabs or Pinots, perhaps the new liquor aficionados will develop their own tastes in bourbons — with preferences ranging from the wood used for barrels to how long it was aged.

The Next Generation of Cocktail Bars

David Wondrich, a well-respected cocktail historian who writes for Esquire, wrote a recent review of a new bar in Brooklyn called the Clover Club. What’s interesting about the review is the way that Wondrich describes Clover Club and contrasts it against some of the popular bars of today. Here’s the full text:

“With Clover Club, the modern cocktail bar enters its next generation, the one that does everything good the previous one did, but without waving its arms around and shouting “Hey, lookit me!” while doing it. With master mixologist Julie Reiner in charge and a crack squad of bartenders, the cocktails are as good as any in the world. But they’re a couple of bucks cheaper than at other top cocktail bars, and they feature far fewer flashy ingredients and trendy techniques. The decor, which incorporates a salvaged nineteenth-century back bar, is classic without camping things up with a bunch of cultural detritus bought on eBay. The crowd control — an essential if a popular cocktail bar wants to remain popular — is more a matter of expecting civilized behavior from its patrons as a matter of course than demanding it with printed rules. In short, a grown-up bar for grown-ups, where “grown-up” doesn’t mean “pretentious.”"

The Clover Club

Wondrich sets up an interesting dichotomy here: Clover Club vs. Today’s Bars. Less interesting than his actual description of Clover Club is the way that he seems to view it as an antidote to the maladies plaguing today’s popular establishments. From Wondrich’s description, today’s bars do the following:

Today’s bars waive their arms around and shout “Hey, look at me!”

Today’s bars are expensive and feature flashy ingredients and trendy techniques.

Today’s bars are camped up with Ebay cultural detritus.

Today’s bars control crowds by demanding it with printed rules.

Today’s bars are pretentious and don’t treat people like grown-ups.

Wondrich suggests that Clover Club represents the new generation in modern cocktail bars, leaving behind all the negative aspects of Today’s Bars. This ties in well with the previous post, which looked at whether the “speakeasy” bar was dead. Wondrich seems to hope that it is, or at least, some of the pretentious elements that accompany it.

Have Speakeasies Jumped the Shark?

Paul Clarke from seriouseats.com wrote an article in November asking whether the speakeasy-style bars that have been sprouting up everywhere during the “cocktail renaissance” are now getting old.

Link: http://tinyurl.com/ydq5jna

Clarke points to Audrey Saunders, patron of the famous Pegu Club in New York, who is now opening a new bar in Los Angeles called the Tar Pit. Clarke writes that Saunders rejected the idea of making the Tar Pit another speakeasy-style bar, “describing that concept as being played out.” Clarke writes, “Instead, the approach will be that of a 1940s-era supper club, with an emphasis on vintage Hollywood style. “‘We need to get back to a point where things are fun again,’ she said of the cocktail culture. ‘We kind of got really heavy.’”

NYC's Pegu Club

Clarke also points to a review of the Clover Club in Brooklyn by Esquire‘s David Wondrich. Clarke writes that Wondrich’s review shows “the emphasis is swinging back to a very simple concept: fun places that serve good drinks—secret passwords and exclusive policies be damned.”

Radio Discussion on the Cocktail Renaissance

This is a bit old, but still interesting. KQED, San Francisco’s public radio affiliate, hosted an hour-long round table discussion on the cocktail renaissance back in July 2008.

Hosted by John Myers, the panel consisted of three cocktail experts:

• Dale DeGroff, master mixologist and author of “The Craft of The Cocktail”
• H. Ehrmann, proprietor of Elixir, a bar in San Francisco’s Mission District and founder of Cocktailambassadors.com
• Ted Haigh, author of “Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails” and curator of the museum of the American Cocktail, also known as Dr. Cocktail

They discuss a wide variety of topics, from the reasons behind the cocktail renaissance, to what it means to be a bartender today, to the secrets behind individual drinks.

Link: http://www.kqed.org/epArchive/R807011000

Weekly Standard on the Cocktail Renaissance

Robert Messenger of the Weekly Standard wrote a lengthy and seminal piece on the “cocktail renaissance” last August. It’s very thorough and definitely worth checking out.

This “cocktail renaissance” is something we’ll be looking at more and more here on 200 Proof. Stay tuned.

Link: http://tinyurl.com/l3h4k4

Chambord, in Jeweled Form

Last year Chambord commissioned bespoke personal jeweler Donald Edge to create “an exquisite, hand crafted version of Chambord’s iconic Royal Orb made from diamonds, pink pearls and solid gold.” The bottle was expected to be worth more than $2 million upon completion and was revealed to the public on the last day of London Fashion Week this past September.

Link: http://www.chambordbydonaldedge.com/edge-chambord-bottle.html

Chambord also showed the bottle during the opening party for a “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” play that the brand sponsored. The bottle is for sale and is now expected to go on a “world tour.”

Commissioning an extravagant piece of art in the middle of a global recession is an interesting move. In a Youtube video from the party (after the jump), Edge’s brand manager essentially summed what both the jeweled bottle and the Chambord brand were hoping to project: “The bottle is a thing of beauty and extravagance and indulgence, but there is a serious element to it, which is that it showcases traditional technique and craftsmanship.”

More (including the Youtube clip) after the jump:

Japanese Whiskey On The Rise

The Wall Street Journal checks in with a story on Japanese whiskey.

Link: http://tinyurl.com/ybssc68

Three years ago, a Nikka Co. 21-year-old Malt was named the world’s best blended malt at the prestigious Whisky Magazine awards in Glasgow, Scotland. Since then, whiskey aficionados have been waiting for Nikka to distribute its whiskeys in the U.S., and this year they’ll be getting their wish.

Japan is not a country the average drinker would associate with whiskey, but its a good example that the liquor market is opening up. So much of a liquor’s popularity can be tied directly to its provenance — look at the way Grey Goose plays up its French origins. It will be interesting to keep an eye on the Japanese whiskeys and whether they succeed in the U.S. market.

Full story after the jump: