StateWays is the only magazine exclusively covering the control state system within the beverage alcohol industry, with annual updates from liquor control commissions and alcohol control boards and yearly fiscal reporting from control jurisdictions
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content and a series of online videos featuring the Sauza Lifeguard, the company says. Noting that besides Sauza, Beam also markets Hornitos, Tres Generaciones, El Tesoro and Cien Anos brands, Lewis explains that because Mexican farmers added acreage and planted thousands more blue agave plants in recent years, this has now resulted in ample supplies of the raw material. In contrast to severe agave shortages of only a few years previously, this "oversupply" makes it now possible to find 100% agave tequilas sometimes retailing for less than mixtos, says Eric Goldstein, of New York City's Park Avenue Liquors in Manhattan. "We tell our customers to look for 100% agave on the label." And while Cuervo and other mixto brands remain huge and enormously popular sellers, retailers like Brett Pontoni, specialty spirits buyer at Binny's, the 29-store group based in the Chicago area, notes, "The 100% agave segment is continually and rapidly growing." Innovation Works A t Brown-Forman, marketer of the line of Herradura Tequilas, brand manager Valdemar Cantu says, "In the past 10 years, we've seen more sophistication among the trade and consumers." Herradura's Coleccion de la Casa, an ultra-premium, limited-edition tequila, offers unique merchandising programs to retailers. E&J Gallo's Familia Camarena is the fastest-growing tequila on the market, increasing sales last year by 90% to 475,000 cases nationally. The brand's successful proposition is that it is a line of 100% blue agave tequilas selling at very consumer-friendly prices. To tap into this thirst for unique, unusual tequilas, for the second consecutive year, Cantu say Herradura is offering merchants two interesting programs. The first involves Herradura's Coleccion de la Casa, one of whose tequilas is an ultra-premium, limited-edition tequila reposado, which has been aged a minimum of 11 months, plus an additional 2 months in port casks. This port cask-finished tequila retails for a suggested $90 for a 750 ml. Herradura's second program involves participating merchants more directly, where the merchant is intimately involved in tasting and then selecting specific barrels for purchase and bottling. Again with the Herradura Coleccion de la Casa brand, Brown-Forman arranges participating merchants to partner with Herradura's Master Blenders in creating unique doublebarrel aged, limited-edition reposado tequilas. Working together, the merchant buyer enters a direct dialogue with Herradura Master Blender, via tequila samples sent back and forth between them, with the aim of selecting two or three barrels of tequila for special aging. Once aged, these tequilas are then bottled in Mexico, and ultimately sent to the merchant. (9-Liter Cases) Brand Supplier 2011 Jose Cuervo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Diageo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .647,178 Sauza . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Beam Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .207,961 1800 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Proximo Spirits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .208,747 Patron . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .The Patron Spirits Company . . . . . . . . . . . .182,397 Montezuma Tequila . . . . . . . . . .Sazerac . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .110,550 Juarez . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Luxco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69,673 La Prima . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Paramount Distillers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .62,204 Aristocrat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Heaven Hill Distilleries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41,405 El Jimador . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Brown-Forman Beverages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30,812 El Toro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Sazerac . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33,982 Total Leading Brands 1,594,909 Others 425,704 Total Tequila in the Control States 2,020,613 2012 . . . . . . .628,900 . . . . . . .225,640 . . . . . . . .208,778 . . . . . . .191,101 . . . . . . .110,564 . . . . . . . .72,148 . . . . . . . . .57,682 . . . . . . . .39,012 . . . . . . . .36,646 . . . . . . . . .35,072 1,605,543 470,537 2,076,080 % Change '11/'12 . . . . . . . . .-2.8% . . . . . . . . . .8.5% . . . . . . . . . .0.0% . . . . . . . . . .4.8% . . . . . . . . . .0.0% . . . . . . . . . .3.6% . . . . . . . . . .-7.3% . . . . . . . . .-5.8% . . . . . . . . .18.9% . . . . . . . . . .3.2% 0.7% 10.5% 2.7% Source: Beverage Information Group Data from NABCA data. 56 StateWays I www.stateways.com I May/June 2013