OCTOBER 2020 Maryland l Washington, DC 22 14 26 30 FEATURES 26 06 34 STAYING AHEAD OF WINE AUCTIONS PIVOT: NEW PRODUCTS 14 THE STORM The booming success of & PROMOTIONS UNITED MALTS Portugal emerges as a global remote auctions is OF AMERICA leader in responding to the transforming the 38 Ten rising stars charting climate threat fine wine market PROPRIETOR PROFILE: creative new paths—and S & W Liquors ... pushing for inclusivity—in Celebrating 50 Years 30 the world of wine, spirits, DEPARTMENTS BRAND PROFILE: and beer Crillon’s Two Stars ... 02 Absente & Barbancourt 22 PUB PAGE CANNED COCKTAILS COVID-19: More Numbers ARE CRUSHING IT 32 Bartenders and craft BRAND PROFILE: 04 distillers are revolutionizing J. Lohr ... BRAND PROFILE: the fast-growing RTD Bounceback to Basics category with bar-quality Nikita Corn Vodka ... cocktails in a can Ukrainian Gold VOLUME82NUMBER10 October 2020 BEVERAGE JOURNAL 1 PUB Maryland l Washington, DC PAGE COVID-19: MORE NUMBERS The beverage alcohol industry is con- Published Monthly by sidered one of the most recession-proof (no The Beverage Journal, Inc. pun intended) in America. According to (USPS# PE 783300) David Ozgo, Senior Vice President, Eco- nomic and Strategic Analysis at the Distilled Over 80 Years of Continuous Publication Spirits Council of the U.S. (DISCUS), during BEVERAGE JOURNAL, INC. economic downturns, overall consumption producers have seen their sales soar, while others have seen them decimated. President / Publisher Stephen Patten of beverage alcohol wouldn’t change much: [email protected] beer and wine sales Some numbers 410.796.5455 would rise and from the onset of Board of Directors Lee W. Murray liquor sales would the lockdowns: Thomas W. Murray decline. Demand tequila saw the Information Technology Peter Williams for budget and mid- biggest spike, up Director [email protected] more than 75%, priced spirits would EDITORIAL increase, while de- wine sales were up Senior Editor Kristen Bieler mand for high-end 66% and beer sales, [email protected] super-premium and in a reversal of the Managing Editor W. R. Tish [email protected] ultra-premium spirits usual recession con- would diminish. sumption pattern, Contributing Editors Alia Akkam, Arielle Albert, Keven Danow, Edward Durgin Simply stated, the lagged even though David Lincoln Ross, amount of beverage they still rose 42%. Ed McCarthy, Jack Robertiello alcohol purchased Overall, sales of ART & DESIGN doesn’t change, beverage alcohol Creative Director Larry Lee however the dollars soared by 58% for [email protected] Senior Designer Jeff Tsui spent and products the week ending [email protected] purchased changes March 21, according TECHNOLOGY & WEB dramatically. to Nielsen. eCommerce Director Ian Griffith On-premise Obviously, these [email protected] eCommerce Managers Karli Del Rossi, Evan Berube sales would decline. sales were signifi- Online Web Programming Vali Balescu While off-premise cantly dominated by sales would off-premise retailers. PRINT & PRODUCTION increase. From Print Services Manager Lee Stringham It’s estimated [email protected] the standpoint of that 85% to 95% of 410.519.7034 a producer, they COVID BUSTER bars and over 80% PRICING ADVERTISING & MARKETING would roughly sell of sit-down restau- 1 CS-$80 / 3.33 BOTTLE MD & DC Advertising Sales Stephen Patten the same amount, 3 CS-$70.50 / 2.94 BOTTLE rants initially closed. [email protected] only the distribu- 410.796.5455 Since March 1, tion channel would National Advertising Sales Jody Slone-Spitalnik Ask your OPICI rep for details: the U.S. restaurant change. [email protected] 800.562.3771 industry has lost 212.571.3232 Joseph Micallef Case of 24-200 ml 7% ABV more than three of Forbes crunched million jobs and $25 some data, "In billion (yes, billion, 2018, off-premise with a B) in sales. It's estimated that 20% of POSTMASTER: Send address changes to sales of liquor in the U.S. represented around bars and restaurants will never reopen. THE BEVERAGE JOURNAL, INC. $113 billion, about 47% of alcohol sales. So here we are at six months to "Flatten P.O. Box 159, Hampstead, MD 21074-0159 On-premise sales represented $147 billion in the Curve". A far cry from the original 15 The Maryland Beverage Journal, the Washington, DC Beverage Journal and the sales, about 53%." Delaware Beverage Journal are registered trademarks of Beverage Journal, Inc. days we were asked to accept. Is this current All rights reserved. So far, the impact of COVID-19 on U.S. situation acceptable? I fear the reason we are Periodicals postage paid at Baltimore, MD and additional mailing offices. Subscription rates: MD edition; 1 year $45.00 plus tax, 2 years beverage alcohol sales has been different where we are is that for too many the answer $75.00 plus tax, 3 years $100.00 plus tax, FedEx Ground delivery $85.00 plus from the experiences in past recessions. Bev- has been (unfortunately), 'yes, this is accept- tax per year per edition, single copies $10.00 plus tax. DC edition; 1 year $36.00 plus tax, 2 years $60.00 plus tax, 3 years $83.00 plus tax, FedEx Ground delivery erage alcohol sales initially spiked significant- able'. n $85.00 plus tax per year per edition, single copies $5.00 plus tax. The opinions expressed by guest columnists are their own and not necessarily ly, but the impact has been uneven. Some STEPHEN PATTEN those of The Beverage Journal, Inc. The Beverage Journal, Inc. is an affirmative PUBLISHER action/equal opportunity corporation. Copyright 2020 the Beverage Journal, Inc. No part of this magazine may be reproduced without the written consent of the publisher. Not responsible for unsolicited material or advertising claims. 2 BEVERAGE JOURNAL October 2020 www.BeverageJournalInc.com BeverageJournalInc.com BRAND PROFILE NIKITA CORN VODKA UKRAINIAN GOLD he story of Nikita Corn Vodka starts but undergoes a series of transformations to conform to the during the Cold War Era when the highest standards. “For example, if a batch has a high ferrous content it will go through the oxygen ‘shower’ to oxidize the then Premier of the Soviet Union excess into a sediment. After reverse osmosis purification the Nikita Khrushchev, impressed by the water gets a final treatment to achieve a perfect pH balance and T mineral composition,” explained Khizder. corn agriculture in the U.S., sought to plant corn throughout all the regions of the country- The ingredients deemed the highest quality are then married to give birth to a 40% ABV liquid that goes through a four-stage -even in Siberia. filtration--a mixture of birch and beech activated charcoal, which The idea proved to be mostly a disaster, but not for Ukraine. frees the vodka from undesirable aldehydes and esters. Once fil- Corn is considered the "gold" of Ukraine. It is one of the main tration is complete the mixture is left to rest for at least 72 hours. agricultural crops. There are ideal conditions for its cultivation, Before bottling, Nikita Corn Vodka undergoes a physico- including fertile Ukrainian chernozem (soil rich in minerals and chemical quality check in a modern laboratory, and an organo- high moisture retention capacity). leptic check by a technician. Then, on the bottling production Corn is the second best-selling grain crop in the world (after line, each bottle is examined and only after complete compari- wheat). Today Ukraine (now an independent country) is one of son with the reference sample is Nikita Corn Vodka made avail- the three global leaders in the exportation of corn and one of able for distribution. the largest producers of non-GMO corn. Khizder concluded, “At Interbalt Products Corp. we live by The discovery of corn spirits in the the famous Occam’s Razor principle; ‘Don't multiply the agents 1960s in the USSR (with minimal levels in a theory beyond what's necessary.’ of aldehydes, oils, and esters) made the Striving to achieve perfection we were idea of creating high quality alcohol pos- in pursuit of a perfect vodka … pure, sible. There is much agreement that zea great tasting and healthy. Twenty years of luxurians (yellow corn) produce alcohol searching, trials and errors have paid off. of the highest quality. The corn grown in We finally found one of the best products, Ukraine is non-GMO and has been used in our humble professional opinion.” to produce LUX class spirits according to The taste of Nikita Corn Vodka has the Ukrainian Research Institute of Alcohol shades of corn bread, poppy seeds and and Food Biotechnology. pure artesian water. It gives a dry after- “Our grain neutral spirit starts from taste of a medium duration. n a proprietary recipe of the finest corn mash distilled seven times in column stills, creating a cleaner, higher-purity distillate without any presence of methyl alcohol,” The Roswell and Elizabeth Garst Farmstead explained Konstantin Khizder of Interbalt in Guthrie County, Iowa, was visited in the Products Corp. 1950s by Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev Artesian water collected from a 300- as part of his corn agriculture research for the foot deep well within granite bedrock is Soviet Union. One such visit made the cover not distilled (which is the usual practice), of LIFE magazine. 4 BEVERAGE JOURNAL October 2020 www.BeverageJournalInc.com WINE AUCTIONS PIVOT—PROFITABLY— TO THE VIRTUAL WORLD HOW THE BOOMING SUCCESS OF REMOTE AUCTIONS IS TRANSFORMING THE FINE WINE MARKET BY ALIA AKKAM n July, Chicago’s Hart Davis Hart Wine Co. held an auction for the powerhouse New York restaurant Del Posto. All of the 3,422 lots, including vintage Quintarelli, Sassicaia, and a full case of 1999 Case Basse Brunello di Montalcino Riserva, were sold, with 80 percent of the Ilots selling for quite a lot more than was predicted.