Ultimate Beverage Challenge 2018: 
Identifying The World’s Best Spirits, Cocktails, Ciders, Sakes & Wines ...

Ultimate Beverage Challenge® (UBC) conducts two major international beverage competitions: Ultimate Spirits Challenge® (USC) each March and Ultimate Wine Challenge® (UWC) each May.So, since 2010, why has UBC become the bever-age industry’s most trusted and respected evaluation company? Answers UBC’s Judging Chairman and Co-Founder F. Paul Pacult, “Three crucial factors have made UBC the world’s foremost authority of beverage alcohol quality. First is our rigorous, innovative meth-odology that creates a level plaor every spirit and wine that’s submitted to USC and UWC. We introduced the industry’s strictest analytical processes by institut-ing a unique multi-level evaluation system that allows more than one panel to analyze each entry. In order for spirits and wines to display their virtues, they are served at optimum temperatures. UBC is the only competition company to insist on so 8 beverages so judges remain alert and fresh. Entries are tasted blind with like-with-like spirits and wines to ensure that each entry is dealt with fairly. Our goal is one-pointed: to provide unbiased, accurate ratings.“Second, because of UBC’s uncompromising and stringent procedural standards we must hire the world’s foremost authorities as our spirits and wine judges. By that I mean our generation’s most prominent and acknowledged beverage specialists, such as Masters of Wine, Master Sommeliers, award-winning authors and journalists, consultants and buyers, bartenders, bar owners, and food and beverage managers. In addition to the UBC judges, we employ the most capable and experienced organizational team in the world to guarantee the smooth operation of each competition.“Third, UBC has its own dedicated facility in Hawthorne, New York, a mere 35 minutes north of Manhattan, where both USC and UWC are conducted. By creating a pristine, calm, and conducive environment for our staff and judges, we have brought forward the entire concept of beverage competitions. The UBC Evaluation Center provides brick-and-mortar proof of UBC’s total commitment to doing things right. It’s the UBC way, where shortcuts are never allowed.”If these reasons aren’t enough for you to believe in UBC as being the world’t beverage competition company, visit the UBC website for more at www.ultimate-beverage.com.

 Click Here for the complete results and ratings.  (This is a large file, be patient while it downloads.)

By Vicki Denig

More & More Brands Embrace Image-Driven Marketing.

But How Influential are ‘Influencers,’ Really? 

They’ve upended the fashion world. Their impact has transformed the health, fitness and beauty industries as well. And today, we are increasingly feeling their impact in the wine business.

Premiumization Lifts Blended Scotch; Pure Malts Add To The Momentum

By David Lincoln Ross

While single malts have enjoyed much of the Scotch whisky spotlight in recent decades, blends still rule Scotch volume in the U.S. And recent patterns are worth watching. With an uptick in releases of cask-conditioned Scotch aged in Port or Sherry barrels, new bottlings of 12-, 15- and 18-year-old blends, plus a growing array pure malt offerings, premiumization is energizing the blended Scotch category in ways not seen in at least a generation.

Celebrating eight bartenders at the forefront of establishing women’s leadership behind the bar

Text by Jack Robertiello         ⊗        Portraits by Andrew kist

One of the sometimes overlooked but significant changes wrought by the blossoming of Cocktail Culture across the country has been the surge of female bartenders at every level of the business.

Lohr Focuses On Cool-Climate White Wines

By Kristen Bieler

Unlike many California winemakers, Kristen Barnhisel doesn’t worry much about acidity. “In Monterey’s cool-climate Arroyo Seco region, we have plenty of acidity every vintage; building texture into our wines is what I’m focused on,” says Barnhisel, the white wine winemaker for J. Lohr Vineyards & Wines.

Working with Jeff Meier, J. Lohr’s President and longtime Director of Winemaking, Barnhisel works solely on crafting the estate’s white wines, a position that founder Jerry Lohr has always emphasized. “Jerry has always known that this kind of focus is what is required to achieve the kind of quality we are looking for,” Barnhisel explains.

It’s hard to call a spirit ‘neutral’ when there’s so much diversity within its category 

By Jeff Cioletti

Vodka hasn’t attracted the sort of feverish fandom that, say, whiskey and agave spirits have, but that, in a sense, is by design. If vodka is truly doing its job and being everything it’s supposed to be, it’s neutral—without color, aroma or flavor (mostly). What’s to get excited about?

Well, it still outsells every other spirit—that’s pretty exciting.

Winegrowers are taking deliberate steps to lighten up Malbec and more

By W. Blake Gray

 If you haven’t tried Argentine wine in a while, you might be surprised. Malbec, the country’s definitive wine that has earned its status here by punching above its price point, is changing. Musclebound Malbec is no longer the norm; there’s a trend toward picking earlier and using less new oak. In short, Argentina is lightening up.

This is not just a trend for boutique producers, or at one price level. Some of Argentina’s most important exporters—including Catena, Susana Balbo, Trivento, Kaiken and Trapiche—are intentionally making most of their wines lighter. “Ten years ago, one of the most important elements was concentration. Density,” says Trivento Chief Winemaker German di Cesare. “Now it’s not so important.”

Fruit Brandies—A Small But Booming Niche—Present Opportunities

By Jack Robertiello

As Premiumization Reaches Rum, The Action Is In Aged Expressions

By Jack Robertiello

When Gruppo Campari threw open the doors to their $7+ million expansion of Appleton Estate distillery in the hills of Jamaica in January, it was only the latest step in their effort to upgrade the reputation of the best-known aged Jamaican rum.

This expansion comes after recent double-digit growth for Appleton Estate Reserve Blend and Rare Blend 12 YO, the introduction of 21- and 50-year-old expressions, and the swapping of J. Wray for Appleton on the Gold and Silver rums, leaving Appleton as an aged-only brand.

Ready-To-Drink Sangria Is Having A Moment

By Jeff Cioletti

 Beverage segments come and go with the ebb and flow of consumer trends, but one category that’s had a dependably steady, yet relatively quiet presence on the scene has been ready-to-drink sangria. There are some periods in which it’s more fashionable than others, but it’s always somehow managed to adapt to evolving consumer habits.

Ready-to-drink sangria is a relatively tiny segment, accounting for about 4.7 million total cases and revenue of about $193 million in the 52-week period that ended in late March, according to Nielsen. Volume grew about 4.1% and revenue climbed about 3.5% over the prior 12-month period. Domestically produced sangria represents the larger slice of the market, 3.7 million cases to imports’ 972,459 cases. But import volume grew faster during that period, surging 9.6% versus domestic growth of 2.7%.

Mixologists Continue To Push The Limits Of Ingredients & Technique

By Jack Robertiello

If you can find it a TGI Friday’s, can it still be extreme? 

As cocktail trends ebb and flow with the drive to be fresh and intriguing, it’s hard to make a splash without reaching for extremes. Which may be how a drink made with charcoal was featured at one of the largest mainstream chains last year.

The Need For Evolution And A Commitment To ‘Stand Out’ Highlight The Annual Wine & Spirits Wholesaler Convention

By Kristen Bieler

This year was the 75th anniversary of the Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America convention. Held in Las Vegas from April 30th through May 3rd, the convention also marks the last year of WSWA President and CEO Craig Wolf’s leadership after 18 years with the organization. Among his parting words of advice: “A unified membership has been the key to our success.”

General session attendees heard from former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Sidney Frank Innovation Award Winner Rob Sands (CEO Constellation Brands) and Lifetime Leadership Award winner Robert Harmelin (EVP, Allied Beverage Group), among others.

Soaring demand meets explosive supply with a Provençal twist

 By W. R. Tish

Pardon the pun, but the outlook for rosé is still rosy, right? The category’s double-digit growth just begins to hint at the pink success story. Over the past four years, rosé has almost quadrupled in volume and jumped in varietal wine rank from #17 to #9, according to Nielsen. Rosé’s largest segment is $11-$15, so premiumization is already at play. Plus, consumption is still accelerating. Americans drank 67% more rosé in 2017 than they did in 2016, and that year was up by 44% over 2015.

Beyond stats, this pale pink liquid has grabbed America by the buds, delivering fruity refreshment with an aesthetic (read Instagrammable) bonus. Rosé has joined the broader culture—from sweatpants to fashion shows, gummies to wedding favors—lending its pink halo to rosé cocktails, cider and spirits; inspiring social media hashtags à la #brosé and #yeswayrosé; even prompting marketers in other arenas to go pink when propping wine.

In a Post-Juniper Era, The Spirit is Flexing Its Muscle—and Style

By Amanda Schuster

Many Americans still associate the category with bracing, herbaceous expressions traditionally associated with the designation London Dry. But that reputation deserves to be retired. Juniper, of course, is the defining botanical in all gin, but it has come to be handled more palatably than ever, even in bang-for-buck brands like Burnett’s and New Amsterdam. And a boomlet of new ventures shows there is much room for play in creating other vibrant, complex flavor profiles from alternative ingredients. For those looking beyond the typical dry expressions, here’s how some brands have rethought gin.

Exotic Gin

Wine’s Latest Format is Busting Out With New SKUs. But are Consumers On Board?

By Jeff Siegel 

What are you supposed to believe about canned wine? Are cans the next big thing, given that sales were up 52% last year—growth that far out-paced every other part of the category? Or are they the next Moscato—here and mostly gone, given that each massive sales increase is from a tiny, tiny base.

According to Nielsen, the market share for cans in 2017 was one-fifth that of 187ml bottles, and the airline-sized pour owns a grand total of 1.1% of the U.S. wine market. So, we are really talking about sliver of a fraction of the overall wine market.

On Tequila’s Tail, Mezcal is Inspiring Importers & Impressing Agave Enthusiasts

By Jack Robertiello

To many Americans, it’s still a niche product, a rustic rough-and-tumble relative of its now-sophisticated cousin. But recently, mezcal has started to shake off its lost weekend reputation, gathering numerous bartender fans and appearing more and more on craft cocktail lists. 

 The Irish resurgence is looking more and more like a sustainable trend

 By Jeff Cioletti

Irish whiskey continues to be the big international growth story in the spirits space, with another year of double-digit gains for the U.S. market. And it’s become a force to be reckoned with, as the base it’s been growing from isn’t nearly as small as it used to be.

Thomas Jefferson, World War II soldiers, Hannibal Lecter: all appreciated a good Chianti. While Chianti has long been popular in the U.S.—Americans drink more than a quarter of Chianti’s annual production—it sometimes faces a Rodney Dangerfield-like lack of respect.

It’s their own fault. The question that Chianti has never settled on is whether it’s a brand, or a region. Many large producers push for the easy brand recognition to move cheaper, often rustic wine; more premium producers, particularly in Chianti Classico, argue for a terroir-based wine, as shown by the recent push to officially recognize the DOCG’s subzones. It’s a hard slog—getting lazy Americans to simply remember to say “Classico” is challenge enough—but many top producers are forging ahead.

With Interest Up but Knowledge Sparse, Retailers Keep it Simple When Promoting ‘Organic’

Big Picture: Americans are buying more products perceived as healthy. Sales of organic foods in the U.S. doubled between 2008 and 2016, and organic milk now makes up 5% of the total milk market even though it costs double the price of conventional milk.

M.S. Walker’s State of the Art New Facility Raises the Industry Bar

By Kristen Bieler

It’s only in hindsight, now that the company is fully operational in a shiny new bottling and production facility in Boston, that the M.S. Walker team can fully appreciate just how many challenges they faced operating out of their former space.

“We’ve always prided ourselves on producing great product and getting it to our customers accurately and on time,” says Gary Shaw, VP Sales. “Our fill rate has long been the best in class. And we did so while operating out of three separate locations—in a bottling facility that was inefficient and low-tech.”

With ‘Craft’ brands thriving, large suppliers are buying up—and empowering— small distillers 

By Jack Robertiello

Perhaps large spirit companies learned a lesson from how slowly major brewers responded to the growing interest in craft beer, but whatever the case, they have shown an increasing willingness to swoop in and grab small distillers who show promise.

Somms Serve Tips on Adjusting a Wine Program for Winter Months

By Marika Vida and Patricia Savoie

Winter lurks in the shadows of shorter days, bringing cravings for hearty comfort foods to counter the chill. So, we turn to serious red wines, like Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Zinfandel, Malbec….

Yet there are many white wines that work brilliantly with winter fare: Consider Chardonnay (oaked or not), Pinot Blanc and Gris with their ripe melon and tropical notes, mouth-filling Viognier, spice-laden Gewürztraminer and perhaps the most ideal winter white of all, Riesling.

Spain's Answer to Prosecco and Champagne  |  Could a High-End Cava Wave Be On The Horizon?

By now, the reputation of Cava in the U.S. is established as fresh, fun, lively and a great value. Yet there are plenty of people working hard at broadening the understanding of what Cava is and can be. While Prosecco, Cava’s Italian peer, has parlayed its similarly easy-to-drink bubbly style into explosive sales growth, the big picture for Cava is certainly on the upswing.

For six weeks at the end of the year, your customers are looking for gifts. They’re making lists; and wine, with its current cultural cachet, checks off a lot of boxes. All the more reason not to overlook the obvious at this critical time of year. Optimizing your customers’ gift-giving experience can be as simple as double-checking aspects of signage, stocking and service.

Endcaps are your fast movers and sure shots—make them count. Keep them clean, well-stocked—and as inviting as possible. Consider the cases themselves; can you put suppliers’ graphics to work for you? What sort of POS material is available? Case cards, neck hangers, recipes? Will they complement or compete with your signage? Take advantage of endcaps’ visibility; signs and special pricing should be easy to read from a short distance.

The good news is that the October fires in Napa and Sonoma didn’t do as much damage to the wineries, production facilities, and vineyards as feared. Save for a few hiccups in the supply chain, wine from these two regions is getting to restaurants and retailers and—tourism aside —business seems to be close to normal.

The bad news? It remains unclear, given that some fires were still burning towards the end of October, as to the extent of the damage. This includes smoke taint and burned-out vineyards in the two most important wine regions in the U.S.

Well, that was…an interesting year. Now it’s time for all self-propelled pundits to prognosticate forward. Here are some of the wine and spirits developments we foresee making some more noise in 2018.

PINK IN PERPETUITY

Next year marks the 75th anniversary of the Wine & Spirits Wholesaler Association (WSWA) Convention. Ahead of this milestone year, we sat down with WSWA’s President Craig Wolf, who weighed in on the changing dynamics in the direct shipping debate, the threat of private labels, and supporting women in the industry.

On The State of WSWA

Text by W. R. Tish & Marlena Hoffman   ⊗   Photographs by Samuel Bristow

It’s November; You are already well on your way to having your store in shape for the holidays. Decisions regarding staffing, displays, floor plan, signage, publicity, social media and in-store tastings have been made or are in the works. And with the calendar ticking, big inventory decisions loom. Time to clear out and stock up.

As is the case every year, suppliers are digging deep into their sacks of merchandising and marketing tricks to create gift-worthy pre-packed wines and spirits. The idea behind Value Added Packs (aka VAPs), as they are often called, is simple—make gift-giving even easier for shoppers. People love shortcuts. People love “extras.” VAPs deliver both. Whatever their motivation, VAPs offer prepackaged routes to gifting success—a resolution to which merchants and shoppers alike aspire.

Points to consider when adding seasonal staff

Each year, the news trumpets seasonal hiring—such as “Target to add 100,000 part-time employees for the holidays….” Which is all fine and good for a company that can afford to handle the holiday rush by throwing money at it.

But what if you’re a small wine, beer and spirits retailer facing the same sort of problem? It’s your busiest time of the year, too, but you don’t have massively deep pockets. It’s all about planning.

Scotch & Bourbon, While Still Strong, are Inspiring New World Distillers 

By Jeff Cioletti

If the past decade has taught us anything, it’s that consumers have a taste for whisky that’s not likely to disappear any time soon. Overall U.S. volume has settled into a stable pattern of year-on-year growth in the mid-to-high single digits; volume was up more than 4% and revenue was up 6.4% last year, according to the Distilled Spirits Council.

Most of the volume is still coming from countries that have historically been linked with whisky production, but distillers from non-traditional nations whose spirits have been coming into their own—“New World” whiskies, if you will—are banking on drinker curiosity and palate promiscuity to gain a foothold in the market.

Aiming to Stay Fresh & Competitive, Scotch is Awash in Innovation

By W. R. Tish

Scotch is looking and feeling more like the granddaddy of brown spirits these days. Naturally, those who craft the whisky—whether they be of the Highlands, Lowlands, Islay or Speyside—are not too keen on reinventing their spirit; but they are proving more than capable of re-framing Scotch for whisky enthusiasts: 

By tapping their existing reserves and putting on their creative caps, Scotland’s distillers and marketers continue to create “new” malts that they hope will sell at premium prices and solidify Scotch’s claim to reigning as King of Brown Spirits. Here is a look as some recent special releases from the magical land of Scotland:

At home and behind the bar, spritzy and still, bitter amaros are being embraced 

By Jack Robertiello

Nothing illustrates the rise of amaros (aka amari, plural in Italian) in the U.S. better than the dramatic growth of Aperol. At the start of the decade, the carmine-hued, citrusy, lightly bitter brand had even less impact on the U.S. bar world than Campari, which at that time was languishing at about 50,000 cases, a far cry from its own heyday in the 1980s. Aperol was a junior partner in the team, an afterthought, really, until the emergence of the Aperol Sprtiz.

A lot has changed in the world of bartending since Beverage Media’s firat "Bartenders to Watch" feature more than a decade ago. First and foremost is the increasing awareness that professional bartending is a legitimate hospitality career choice, one with challenges and pitfalls as well as great opportunity.

Included in the profession’s evolution is the constantly raised bar of cocktail competitions, giving the industry a greater chance to help discover talent and highlight their achievements. Competitions like these have become an essential component in the timeline of bartenders looking to make a national name for themselves, advance their careers and potentially move from behind the bar into sought-after jobs such as brand ambassador. Today, simply holding down a shift and ringing high numbers on the register while creating a welcoming bar atmosphere isn’t enough; 21st century bartenders need to possess deep ingredient knowledge, a mental rolodex of historic and trending recipes, and if they plan to go far, presentation skills at media-trained levels...

Bourbon: Seize the Month

by Jeff Cioletti

Bourbon, which has settled nicely into the role of America’s native spirit, has history, style and brands with colorful back-stories. While its spiritual home is Kentucky, craft producers have spread bourbon about as wide, geographi-cally, as ever in history. At the same time, established distillers have dipped into their warehouses and conjured up sundry other ways to create new bottlings and limited editions.In short, it’s a great time to sell bourbon in general, and with September being National Bourbon Heritage Month, now is the time to encourage even more experimentation within this corn-driven, barrel-aged whiskey subcategory...

Association Spreads the Message of Israeli Wine Quality as a Baseline

By Jack Robertiello

Whatever the situation and whatever the season, there’s a wine made in Israel that fits the message of the Israeli Wine Producers Asso-ciation’s (IWPA) American representative, Joshua Greenstein, who these days spends half his time out on the road visiting retailers and restaurateurs, persistently proselytizing about the merits of wines from the country.

The completion of the merger between Miami-based Southern Wine & Spirits and Dallas-based Glazer’s Inc. last summer created the largest wholesaler in North America. One year later, the Southern Glazer’s National Leadership Team describes why bigger means better for both suppliers and customers.

Text by Kristen Bieler

Photographs by Andrew KIst

With operations in 44 states, Canada and the Virgin Islands, the 21,000-person Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits (SGWS) distributes more than 150 million cases of wine and spirits each year to approximately 370,000 customers for a revenue stream of about $18 billion. Which translates to over one-third of the wine and spirits market, by value.

It’s time to reconsider the ways to sell wine from the Golden State

By W. Blake Gray

When talking about exciting wine regions, it’s easy to forget California. The Golden State is responsible for about two-thirds of all wines sold in the U.S., yet sometimes we take it for granted.

But California is one of the world’s most exciting wine regions. It’s not just the perfect weather: it’s the constant reinvention. Often we make that a weakness, reflexively favoring Nth-generation Europeans making wine just like their ancestors (though it’s actually rarely true), as opposed to California, where they produce whatever’s fashionable.

From Mezcal to Mules, Here are 8 Cocktail Trends to Ride into 2018

By Jack Robertiello

Drink trends move as fast as a bartender pumping out Margaritas on Cinco de Mayo. On the other hand, is there really anything new under the sun? Hoping to keep up with the currents moving through the cocktail world right now, we checked in with top bartenders and drink consultants across the country to get their sense of the most important waves to catch. 

Click Here to check out the entire article.

By Jeff Cioletti

The bad news: Vodka is shrinking on the global scale. According to the Global Vodka Insights, a report from just-drinks and the IWSR based on 2015, the latest full-year data available, vodka’s top four markets—Russia, the U.S., Ukraine and Poland—all lost volume and value in 2015. And while the U.S. is expected to be essentiall, the others will experience further declines right through to 2021.The good news: Globally, vodka is pursuing a clear trend of premiumization, the report notes. More specifically, low-price and value sales are declining; the standard segment is flat; but premium and super-premium sales are increasing.And most relevant of all: vodka is still the biggest-selling spirit in America. And it continues to be available in myriad forms and formats, despite it being famously neutral at its core. Here are a few Q&A’s to keep up to speed on vodka today. 

Neutral profile calls for tasteful marketing

BY W. R. TISH

Vodka’s wave of popularity, which began last century, may be cresting, but it remains America’s reigning best-selling spirit, so keeping the section well-stocked is certainly worth the effort. Moreover, because vodka is supposed to be tasteless—promoting the spirit has always called on marketers’ keenest creativity.

That silver lining is exactly what is keeping the spirit vibrant in the marketplace. Either way, neutral or flavored, there are plenty of creative approaches at work today—which in turn provide the points of distinction that retailers can use in conversation, signage, social media, etc. To wit:

The Undiscovered Complexity in Rosé Wine

By Kristen Bieler

Perhaps owing to its immense drinkability, rosé doesn’t invite the kind of contemplation reserved for the great red and white wines of the world. But just because it’s accessible, refreshing and often found pool-side doesn’t mean rosé can’t be complex.

Despite being crafted from one ingredient—sugar, either as cane or molasses—there may be no major spirits category quite as diverse as rum.  Having a handle on the types, flavors, and stylistic nuances of this extremely versatile liquor is invaluable when it comes to determining how to optimize crowded shelves, and how to guide patrons toward more educated buying decisions.

 Click Here to check out the rest of the article.

A NEW WAVE OF COFFEE-INFUSED SPIRITS, BEERS AND WINES BREW INNOVATION

BY DAVID LINCOLN ROSS

IN TODAY’S COMPETITIVE MARKET, HAND-SELLING GIVES SAVVY MERCHANTS AN EDGE

BY ZACHARY SUSSMAN

As anyone who has worked the retail floor knows all too well, the world of wine may be endlessly vast and complex, but there are ultimately just two categories that matter: the wines that sell and those that don’t.

WITH SUCCESS IN THE U.S. AS TOP PRIORITY, GLOBAL GIANT PERNOD RICARD STEPS UP THEIR GAME

BY KRISTEN BIELER

A company doesn’t become the second largest wine and spirits supplier in the world by sitting still. The Pernod Ricard success story—which dates back to 1805—is one of continuous evolution and adaptation, and a keen understanding that what worked a decade ago may no longer be relevant today.

Arguably no spirit has seen the highs and lows of gin, across centuries and continents. History has seen it hailed as a societal scourge as well as a miracle drug. It has been a political tool, a soldier’s support, and famously “mother’s ruin.”Locales with rich gin history run from Holland (where it all started) to Italy (where they, too, claim gin started) to London (epicenter of than two-thirds of the gin in the UK) to Spain (where “Gin Tonics” have developed into a national specialty) and, naturally, to America.Here, artisans and big brands alike are riding a current upswing in gin momentum, both off- and on-premise, and with a tilt toward the high end. Meanwhile, the gin-sipping public appears increasingly open to the particular possibilities of gin, whose styles nowadays often take juniper as a starting point rather than focus.

 Click Here to check out the rest of the article. 

IS IT FINALLY VERMOUTH’S TIME? 
SUPPLIERS ARE RAMPING UP…

BY JACK ROBERTIELLO