NEWS mw On-Premise News USHG operates several New York City spirits from Maryland to New York, thus venues, including Gramercy Tavern, Blue depriving the Empire State of millions Kimpton Debuts Smoke, Untitled at the Modern and the of dollars of tax revenue. This illicit Chicago Hotel And Lounge cocktail bar Porchlight. activity allegedly started in 2008 and The Kimpton Hotel & Restaurant continued until recently. The complaint Group has opened a new hotel in a Off-Premise News contends that, in addition to pecuniary converted vintage office building in gain, Merinoff—who was CEO of Chicago. The Gray Hotel Chicago Drizly Enters Bay Area, The Charmer-Sunbelt Group during that features an upscale, 70-seat cocktail Adds E-Commerce period—aimed to weaken Empire lounge called Vol. 39. Named for the Beverage alcohol delivery platform Merchants by offering New York retailers books reclaimed from the building’s Drizly has entered San Francisco, bringing cheaper spirits from Maryland. Merinoff former law offices, Vol. 39 offers a drinks its reach to 25 markets throughout the is also part-owner of Breakthru Beverage, menu that includes a flight of six Martinis United States and Canada. Concurrently, which formed when Charmer-Sunbelt ($25) in 1-ounce pours. Also on the list is Drizly has unveiled new “marketplace” merged with Wirtz Beverage Group earlier a vintage Old Fashioned that’s made with features, allowing customers to shop this year. Empire Merchants wasn’t a 30-year-old Delord Bas-Armagnac XO, the inventories of multiple retailers, included in that deal. The complaint also Bourbon-barrel aged Demerara sugar, compare pricing, and choose from delivery, names Breakthru CEO Greg Baird and Angostura and orange bitters poured in-store pick-up and shipping options. Sobel, who has been replaced by longtime over hand-carved ice ($35). Drinks are Drizly—which sold a minority state to Empire Merchants executive John Devin, mixed tableside from a serving cart, the Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of as well as retailers in both Maryland and which serves Champagnes and caviar as America last year—recently told Shanken New York. Breakthru Beverage issued a well. In addition, the menu features six News Daily that it plans to grow its foot- statement denying the allegations and said Calvados labels, including the 15-year-old print to around 30 markets by year-end. it will fight back aggressively. Chateau de Breuil at $25 a 1½-ounce pour. The beverage program is headed The Growler Station Breakthru Acquires by Jessica Lambert, formerly of Kimpton’s Rolls Out Crowler Option Colorado Beer Distributor Sable Kitchen & Bar in Chicago. The Growler Station is partnering with Breakthru Beverage has expanded its Oskar Blues Brewery and Ball Corp. to craft and imported beer business in the HopCat Opens First market and distribute the Crowler—a Colorado market with the acquisition of Chicago Location single-use, aluminum 25-ounce or distributor C.R. Goodman. Operating in Grand Rapids, Michigan–based craft beer 32-ounce container—and the accom- the state since 2006, C.R. Goodman bar chain HopCat has opened its first panying All-American Crowler Seamer. distributes such craft brands as Left Hand, location in Chicago. Located in the city’s The packaging and the seaming device Upslope, Stone, Dogfish Head, Firestone Lincoln Park neighborhood, the new were developed in recent years by Walker, Boulevard, Bristol, Victory, 8,500-square-foot HopCat venue features Oskar Blues and Ball and have rapidly Funkwerks and Odd 13. Breakthru three dining rooms and serves 130 draft spread among brewers, beer retailers and Colorado’s existing craft beer portfolio beers—nearly half of which are made on-premise operators as an alternative includes Odell, Avery, Great Divide, locally. Founded in 2008 by former invest- to traditional glass growlers. The Growler Denver Beer, Ska and Guinness. ment manager Mark Sellers, HopCat now Station provides retailers with a custom- has 10 locations in seven states. izable, turnkey alternative for offering Supplier News—Spirits growlers in-store and currently has over USHG Introduces 200 units around the country. William Grant Revamps Parental Leave Policy Drambuie Liqueur Union Square Hospitality Group (USHG) Distributor News William Grant & Sons has refreshed its rolled out a new parental leave policy that Drambuie whisky liqueur brand with a will take effect in 2017. Under the plan, Empire Merchants Files Suit new bottle design and rebranding initia- full-time employees with more than a year Against Co-owner tive. The new look is intended to leverage of service are eligible for four weeks of fully Empire Merchants, New York’s biggest the brand’s history, which purportedly paid leave and four weeks of leave at spirits and wine distributor, fired CEO dates back to 1745, while emphasizing 60-percent pay. The plan, a rarity in the Lloyd Sobel and filed suit against co-owner its current use in cocktails. The updated hospitality industry, follows the elimina- Charlie Merinoff and others in September. bottle features design elements meant tion of tipping at USHG’s restaurants over According to the complaint, Merinoff to mirror vintage Drambuie bottles, as the past year. Owned by Danny Meyer, took part in an illegal scheme to smuggle well as a new bottle shape and reframed OCTOBER 2016 | MARKETWATCHMAG.COM | MARKET WATCH 93 mw NEWS brand logo. The new dark-brown glass veterans James Espey and Tom Jago. are taller with cleaner lines and feature bottle is also topped with a red cork Espey, currently Last Drop’s co-chairman, “1789,” the year of the distillery’s closure. William Grant & Sons acquired said in a statement that the acquisition founding, embossed on the glass. Addi- Drambuie from Scotland’s MacKinnon “allows us to grow our international foot- tionally, a dark brown wood closure now family for an undisclosed sum in 2014. print and broaden our opportunities to crowns the bottles. The initiative comes Drambuie’s depletions have hovered search for the rarest spirits in the world.” as Heaven Hill looks to boost Elijah around 60,000 cases in the United Craig’s availability amid the current States in recent years, according to Buchanan’s Launches Bourbon craze. “We’re renewing our Impact Databank. Dual-Language Campaign commitment to crafting Elijah Craig Diageo is backing its Buchanan’s Scotch Small Batch so we can have it more Bacardi Rum Unveils whisky franchise with a new national broadly available in the market, rather New Campaign campaign aimed at the brand’s core Latino than always on allocation or simply out of Bacardi has unveiled a multimillion-dollar audience. Titled “Es Nuestro Momento,” stock,” noted Heaven Hill president Max global campaign intended to reinforce which means “It’s Our Moment,” the push Shapira. Earlier this year, Heaven Hill the nightlife credentials of its namesake stars Grammy-winning musician J Balvin revealed plans to invest $15.5 million in rum brand. Bacardi North America chief and encourages a younger generation of its Bernheim distillery, where the company marketing officer Mauricio Vergara told Latinos to embrace their heritage and produces Evan Williams, Elijah Craig, Shanken News Daily that the new shared sense of cultural pride. The Larceny, Old Fitzgerald and others. “We Are the Night” push is focused on campaign includes both English and “our big night out occasion” and targeted Spanish language spots and is running Letherbee’s Partners at both men and women. The new effort across television, digital and out-of-home With Maritime includes television, online video and channels. Buchanan’s, the U.S. market’s San Francisco–based importer Maritime targeted social media aspects, among fourth-largest Scotch brand, reached Wine Trading Collective has been other initiatives. “We Are the Night” 425,000 cases on 8-percent growth last named the exclusive North American follows a $25 million U.S. campaign year, according to Impact Databank, marketer for Chicago’s Letherbee behind Bacardi that began last year and has more than doubled in volume Distillers. Founded in 2011, Letherbee’s under the tag-line, “Nothing in the Way.” since 2010. portfolio includes Original Label gin, Both campaigns tie into Bacardi’s overall Barrel-Aged absinthe, Autumnal and “Untameable Since 1862” positioning. Beam Suntory Invests Vernal gins, Bësk and Fernet. The craft After declining 2.7 percent to 7.1 million In Home Cocktail Device distiller’s current annual production is cases in the United States in 2015, Beam Suntory made an investment in 60,000 bottles. Maritime is part of according to Impact Databank, the at-home cocktail technology company Bacchus Capital Management’s portfolio Bacardi brand is down by about 2 percent Bartesian this month. Financial terms and also markets the Graham Beck, in both NABCA and IRI channels were undisclosed. Beam Suntory will Jules Taylor and Quinta Nova wine year-to-date. now serve as the exclusive spirits partner brands, among others. for the Ontario, Canada–based Bartesian, Sazerac Acquires which produces an at-home cocktail Diageo, Pernod Target Frïs Vodka, Last Drop machine that’s intended to allow Mezcal Market Pernod Ricard has sold Frïs Vodka to consumers to combine spirits with pre- Both Diageo and Pernod Ricard are Sazerac Co. for an undisclosed sum. mixed ingredient capsules to create reportedly eyeing growth in the mezcal Bottled at Pernod’s plant in Fort Smith, more consistent cocktails at home. category, which has been drawing rising Arkansas, Frïs retails for around $15 a Under the agreement, the cocktail interest among consumers. Pernod is 750-ml. bottle. The brand sells about ingredient capsules will feature several working on a new mezcal brand slated 250,000 cases in the United States annu- Beam Suntory brands. The Bartesian to launch in the first half of next year, ally.