“Dating can sometimes be a challenge, and it’s no secret that after the last year of being stuck at home and away from others, getting back out there might require a little extra help,” says Brandon Lieb, Vice President of Marketing, Spirits Business Unit, E. & J. Gallo.
To help those dating make new connections get back into bars and restaurants, Camerena announced a new sweepstakes with actual limes printed with pickup lines and $30 via PayPal to covered their first round of tacos.
Heaven Hill Distillery joined with Independent Stave Co. (ISC) to sponsor loggers to complete sustainability certification. The move is part of Heaven Hill Brands’ corporate sustainability strategy first announced in January 2021.
A sustainable supply of white oak is critical to the future supply of American Whiskey and the generations of loggers whose livelihoods depend on the trees, Heaven Hill said. .
Much like the whiskey process from grain to glass, the journey of an American white oak takes years of patience. From an acorn to a tree ready for the cooperage, a span of 30-100 years may pass. Long-term forest management is crucial to helping trees thrive, and cooperages rely on certified loggers to implement timber stand improvement, tree-felling and general safety guidelines.
“A sustainable supply of white oak entails relationships with the landowners, loggers, cooperages and the distilleries who all rely on each other as good stewards of these natural resources,” said Rachel Nally, Heaven Hill Environmental & Sustainability Manager. “We often consider the life of a barrel after the Whiskey is dumped, but it’s the sustainable forestry management that enables us to start that lifecycle. Heaven Hill’s partnership with Independent Stave Company to educate loggers is another step in ensuring the future of the industry.”
Novo Fogo Cachaça, a Seattle-based, environmentally-minded brand of cachaça, handcrafted at the company’s carbon-negative, zero-waste distillery in Brazil, said Seattle pro goalkeeper and two-time champion Stefan Frei, has become a partner in the company.
For each save recorded by Frei or his replacements during the 2021 professional soccer season, Novo Fogo will contribute $100 to Novo Fogo’s reforestation project named The Un-Endangered Forest, which seeks to remove 36 species of native Brazilian trees from the threatened list.
As of July 8, the tally for the season is 36 with Frei’s team undefeated in the league and tied for the lowest number of goals allowed after 13 games.
Off the soccer field, Frei is an artist and an appreciator of Brazil’s national cocktail. To raise awareness for the Tree-Keeper project Fei developed a custom packaging series for two Novo Fogo caipirinha products. Frei developed original artwork based on the inspiring landscapes and community of Morretes, Novo Fogo’s home base in the Atlantic Forest of coastal Brazil; his colorful artwork acts as a mural of natural scenery, wrapped around the packaging boxes for two products:
The Brazilian Caipirinha Kit (SRP $29.99) – includes a Novo Fogo Silver 750ml bottle, certified 100% organic by the USDA, two custom 10-oz jars, and a custom muddler, plus recipes and stories.
The Sparkling Caipirinha Tropical Variety 6-pack (SRP $14.99) – includes “toucans” (two cans) of each of the Lime, Mango, and Passion Fruit flavored cocktails (8.2% – 8.5% ABV, 128 – 135 calories, 10 – 11 g of carbs).
From its launch through 2018, when it accounted for just 5% of the market, hard seltzer was pretty much an afterthought in the bev/al marketplace. But it exploded in 2019, surpassing light lagers as the No. 1 seller by 2021 with 23% of share on Drizly.
Until 2019, a few big hard seltzer brands dominated sales: White Claw, Truly, and Bon V!V. But “innovation and new brand and product entry has drastically changed the hard seltzer landscape over the past few years,” says Liz Paquette, Drizly’s head of consumer insights.
Many spirits and wine companies have also launched canned, liquor- or wine-based beverages marketed as hard seltzer, one of the most successful of which has been the uber-popular High Noon, which debuted in 2020 from wine conglomerate E. & J. Gallo. Drizly defines hard seltzers as fermented malt beverages, classifying brands like High Noon (which is vodka-based) as RTD cocktails.
As hard seltzer has taken share from light lager, RTD cocktails may be poised to steal share from hard seltzer — and indeed, they are likely a contributing factor in the category’s slowing growth. Currently, hard seltzer holds four percent of share across all subcategories on Drizly, while RTD cocktails hold two percent.
“Share is still growing but slowing growth shows that saturation may be a possibility in the not so distant future, particularly as ready-to-drink growth skyrockets,” says Paquette. RTD share growth is up 15 times the rate of hard seltzer share growth in 2021 to date, she adds.
According to Drizly’s recently published 2021 consumer report, only 32 percent of respondents correctly identified what hard seltzer is; 54 percent selected responses that were the definition of a ready-to-drink cocktail. “There is a clear blurring of the lines between the two categories as innovation continues, and the majority of consumers do not know the difference,” says Paquette.
Sales on Drizly have been dominated by millennials (ages 26 to 40), who hold 62% share year-to-date. However, this has declined by four percentage points over last year as more Generation Z purchasers hit the legal drinking age; Gen Z (ages 21 to 25) now holds 14% of share on Drizly, up from (9% in 2020. Gen X users (ages 41 to 56) hold 21% of share, while baby boomers (ages 57 and up) hold 3% percent of share.
Reyes Beer Division agreed to buy the assets of Greenco Beverage Co. in Greenville, S.C. The transaction
is scheduled to close on September 24, 2021. Terms weren’t disclosed.
The acquisition will add approximately 200 customers and 2.8 million cases and includes brands from key
suppliers such as Molson Coors, Constellation, Yuengling, Heineken, Diageo, Boston Beer, Mark Anthony
Brands, Lagunitas and Sweetwater.
“Greenco Beverage Company runs a great business and has a long-standing history of success in the state of South Carolina,” said Tom Day, Chief Executive Officer, Reyes Beer Division. “We are grateful for
the opportunity to continue to grow our business and we look forward to building great relationships with
our new customers and our new employees.”
Stephen Reyes, President of Reyes Beer Division East, said, “Reyes Beer Division started as a small Schlitz beer distributorship in Spartanburg, S.C., 45 years ago. To have the opportunity to service the market and give back to the surrounding communities in which we first established our roots is truly special. The Farr family has built an incredible business with a great foundation and we respect everything they’ve accomplished over the years.”
Salt Point Canned Cocktails offers a new ready-to-drink canned Margarita cocktail. Made with Blanco tequila using the finest Weber Blue agave mixed with house-made triple sec, agave syrup, lime and just the right amount of carbonation, the result is a fresh and bright tasting Margarita with sweet aromatics, 10% alcohol by volume and no artificial preservatives.
One can is equal to two ready-to-drink cocktails that can be enjoyed straight from the can or poured over ice making it convenient for outdoor or indoor activities, with no mixing necessary. Now there is no longer a need to buy premium tequila, triple sec and limes at an approximate cost of eighty dollars and look for a place to store the sticky mess.
The ready-to-drink sector is now bigger in volume than the total spirits category in the US, and is expected to overtake wine this year, according to the June 2021 IWSR Drinks Market Analysis.
All Salt Point cocktails retail for $4.99 per can or $17.99 4-pack in 11 states including California, Oregon, Washington, Hawaii, Nevada, Arizona, Montana, Tennessee, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Connecticut and online at www.saltpoint.co.
