The American Mixologist Online® Newsletter Vol. 17, No. 7 All Rights Reserved
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In January 1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the constitutional amendment ending Prohibition in the United States. Afterwards, he promptly made a pitcher of martinis for all those present in the oval office. Such is the place spirits holds in American society.

Repeal of Prohibition validated what Americans knew all along. A cold beer or a hot toddy now and again is a good thing. With tongue firmly in cheek, perhaps the measure of a country can be found in the quality of its cocktails.

These are heady times for wine, beer and spirits in the United States. While all categories of beverage alcohol continue to post healthy sales, the big news of 2005 was the continuing robust growth of spirits. Last year consumption of distilled spirits grew for the seventh consecutive year, increasing 165 million 9-liter cases over 2003, a jump of 4.1%. The wine industry too is thriving enjoying the twelfth consecutive year of increased consumption totals.

It’s the spirits category, however, that has sparked the imagination of American consumers. Its appeal cuts across age and cultural demographic lines. The largest rate of growth is in the top-end of the spirit categories. Where once the mantra in the industry was “Americans are drinking less, but better,” today the chant is “Americans are drinking more often and they’re choosing the good stuff.”

David Commer is one of the country’s leading beverage consultants and former beverage director for T.G.I. Friday’s. Commer contends that it’s now more likely that a bar or restaurant will sell one top-shelf cocktail concocted with top-shelf spirits for $6 than two $3.00 drinks made with lesser brands. “The spirits industry has done a marvelous job positioning itself with contemporary consumers. The allure of premium brands is undeniable. They’re marketed in attention grabbing packages and offer people a lot of bang for the buck. That’s an unbeatable combination.”

The resurgence of the spirits industry begs the question of whether the trend will be long-lived? After all, at the same time the industry was ramping up the country adopted a .08 blood alcohol content (BAC) as the standard of care. Industry veterans will likely vividly recall the decade of the ‘80s as the one in which temperance groups and so-called neo-prohibitionists dominated the press and rallied against the beverage alcohol industry. Hard liquor, as it was referred to, was cast as the evil nexus of most every social malady. For those of us in the business then, it certainly seemed like spirits, if not all categories of beverage alcohol, faced a dubious future in this country.

The biggest declines in spirits industry were racked up during the 1980s when per capita consumption plunged nearly 28%. Today those numbers are climbing back toward ‘80 levels, which will still put them about a third less than during the heydays of the late-1970s. Cocktails are at the height of popularity, rivaling the halcyon days of the 1920s and ‘50s. It’s now apparently cool to drink in moderation.

Accomplished author and drinks writer for Esquire, David Wondrich thinks that two decades of messages about moderation and the responsible service of alcohol have reshaped consumption patterns. “People are seemingly more aware of the issue of driving under the influence. But we’ve also rediscovered that alcohol on its own merits is a healthful and pleasurable thing. Increasingly more people are embracing the concept of imbibing responsibly. The pendulum has decidedly swung in the opposite direction.”

Adds Wondrich, “We’ve learned to relax a little and perhaps have a bit of fun with our food and drink. Then again, maybe it means that these times demand a good, stiff drink.”

Gary Regan is the author of several seminal works on mixology and drink trends and the foremost authority on spirits’ place in American history. He suggests that attitudes toward alcohol change every few decades and have been dating back to the 1600s.

“It works something like this,” says Regan. “First people drink too much regardless of the consequences. Then temperance groups come along, scream bloody murder and bring attention to the situation. As a society we’re then forced to relearn the meaning of moderation. When we’re comfortable with drinking in moderation, we revisit our local pubs and start to enjoy life again. This eventually leads to some people forgetting what they learned about moderation and the process slowly begins to repeat itself.”

The experts consulted for this piece agree that the bull market spirits currently finds itself has longevity written all over it. Each pointed to several additional factors to explain their optimism.

Francesco Lafranconi believes one reason for spirit’s reemergence in popular culture is that it has been successfully positioned as chic, suave and contemporary. Lafranconi is the director of the Academy of Spirits and Fine Service for Southern Wine and Spirits. Born and raised in Italy, Lafranconi is also a noted mixologist and an acknowledged spirits expert.

“We live in an aesthetic society and the growing emphasis on creative mixology has spurred the growth of spirits. There are so many marvelous ways to merchandise it, everything from serving it neat in a snifter to presenting it in a visually alluring cocktail. Spirits are enormously versatile and appeal to the senses on many different levels. On the other hand, little can be done to make a bottle of beer more attractive.”

Gary Regan adds that the burgeoning cocktail culture has tremendous social attraction. “Cocktails are generally perceived as stylish and sophisticated. Let’s face it, it’s chic to be seen with a cocktail glass in your hand.”

Wondrich believes that the resurgence of cocktails as essentially a move toward moderation. “What’s driving the business these days aren’t smutty-named, liqueur-laded “college drinks,” but rather elegant libations created to accompany dinner and be enjoyed leisurely. Now it’s about fewer but better cocktails —snifters not shots.”

Another compelling growth factor is what David Commer identifies as the trend toward small indulgences, which essentially contends that life is too short to continually deprive oneself of everything. While entertaining with alcohol in moderation is somewhat indulgent, it’s both pleasurable and arguably healthful. It adds buoyancy to good times and is a convivial and socially oriented mixer.

“It used to be that Americans worked hard and played hard,” observes Commer. “But that hasn’t been the case for a decade or two. Today we’re working harder than ever and running out of week before getting time to play. So as a society we compensate by occasionally permitting ourselves small indulgences. Now and again springing for a few drams of Speyside malt or a pair of high-end Martinis qualifies as a well-deserved indulgence.”

Bolstering this trend is the rapid growth of superpremium brands in every spirits’ category. Over the past two decades distillers have cracked open their very best and began marketing elegant styles of top-shelf spirits heretofore unseen, such as single barrel bourbons and rums, cask strength whiskeys, wood-finished single malts, artisan tequilas and American alembic brandies.

The robust volume of premium, super-premium and luxury segments of the industry validate that consumers have responded positively. Today perceived quality, provenance and a substantial price tag appear to have the most pull with consumers. Packaging and marketing factor into the equation as well, although to what degree is subject to debate.

A cursory glance through our history reveals that we Americans are a people with alcohol in our veins. It’s been inherent in our society for as long as we’ve been a country. Our popular icons seem to enjoy a good drink on occasion. Cocktails and drinking have been given a good name in film and yes, at Cheers, where everybody knows our name.

“While spirits grab the headlines, I think what’s significant is that all categories of beverage alcohol are making up for lost time. Americans are starting to relax a little,” says Lafranconi. “Wine, beer and spirits are all part of a slower, more reasonably paced lifestyle. When do they find the time to sip and dream?”

Did You Know . . .
A Look At The Fast Track Spirits
You don’t need much of a crystal ball to divine that vodka is still America’s spirit of choice. Over 25% of all distilled spirits sold in the United States are vodka, a figure that nearly surpasses the combined sales for all categories of whiskey—Scotch, Irish, Bourbon and Canadian. But that doesn’t tell the whole tale. The vodka category grew an impressive 6.8% over 2004 and according to Impact it is expected to maintain this upward spiral through 2007.

“The demographic trends bode well for the continued health and growth of the category,” predicts Kellyann MacLean, brand manager of Stolichnaya. “There will be an influx of roughly 4 million 21-year-olds every year between now and 2010 and these new consumers will be looking for a variety of tastes and flavor experiences. Vodka’s versatility will continue to meet this growing consumer demand.”

Flavored vodkas had another banner year in 2005, posting sales gains of 31%. Nearly every major brand of vodka now has extended their lines with the release of at least on flavored version.

Rum and tequila also continue their winning ways. Sales of rum last year increased 6.6% to 20.8 million 9-liter cases, making it now the second largest category of distilled spirits in the United States. Tequila grew a vigorous 8.6% in 2005, with much of the increases being within the super- and ultra-premium segments, both of which grew at double-digit rates.

The only white spirit to not gain in sales is gin, which for a second year in a row lost just under 0.5%.

Even sales of so-called the “brown spirits” are headed upwards. The Distilled Spirits Council of the United States reported that bourbons grew 2% in 2005, with the super-premium brands spiking a healthy 7.6% in sales. Single Malt Scotches increased more than 12%, and the top-end of the blended Scotch category rose 13.1% in sales. Brandy and cognac increased 2.5% to 10.1 million cases. —RP

Did You Know. . .
Cocktails Bolstering the Spirits Explosion
No one knows more about cocktails than Dale DeGroff, author of numerous books on the subject including the best-selling title, The Craft of the Cocktail. Armed with a perspective tempered by two decades of bartending experience, DeGroff believes that the cocktail renaissance is at the heart of spirit’s reversal of fortunes.

“I think spirits are growing on the back of the cocktail, that great American invention,” asserts DeGroff. “Cocktails are as much of a part of our culture as baseball and jazz.”

But when asked if we make cocktails better now than in the past, he slowly shakes his head and insists that for the most part no. “The golden age of the cocktail was 1870 to about 1912. And even though we now have access to some many skillfully crafted premium and super-premium spirits, far too many operators rely on inferior ingredients and technologies designed to increase the bottom line, rather than make the best cocktail possible.”

DeGroff does see things slowly improving, with increasingly more operators switching to fresh juices, scratch drink mixes and mandating a more professional approach to drink making.

Cocktail expert Dave Wondrich concurs. “Before Prohibition, there were many fewer ingredients with which to work and bartenders needed to know far fewer drinks, but he had a more discerning clientele that fully expected him to prepare those cocktails flawlessly. Nowadays the clientele isn’t quite so exacting, or homogeneous.”

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