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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the grapes were cultivated. Just as with wine, the microclimate, soil composition and growing conditions under which grapes are cultivated have a pronounced impact on the finished spirit. As a result, a Grande Champagne cognac will be characteristically different than one blended with brandies from Petite Champagne, the Borderies or the Bons Bois. Conveying this most basic of information is crucial to selling cognacs and brandies, especially as one ascends the price scale. Likewise, give the customer a sense of the nature of the blend—called the assemblage— used to create the brandy. This is where the wealth and sophistication of a particular brand comes into full play. For example, Richard Hennessy Cognac is comprised of a rare assemblage of more than 100 eaux-de-vie primarily from the Grand and Petite Champagne regions. The youngest brandy in its blend is 50 years old, while a percentage is more than two centuries in age. The youngest brandy used to make famed ultra-premium Remy Martin Louis XIII registers a half-century in age. A handful of American craft distillers, most notably Germain-Robin, Jepson, Domaine Charbay and St. George Spirits, have entered the category over the past decade. These boutique distillers approached the making of their world-class offerings differently than their French counterparts. Cognacs are traditionally distilled from the ugni blanc, better known as the trebbiano, the oldest grape varietal in Italy. A small percentage of contain colombard and folle blanche. Instead, the American brandy makers rely heavily on premier wine grape varietals, most notably pinot noir. Like their cognac-producing counterparts, these distillers utilize small copper alembic stills and age their brandies in small oak casks. Upselling Superpremium Vodkas A mericans are buying vodka at a record pace and there seems to be no end in sight. Vodka accounts for over 33% of all distilled spirits sold in the United States, eclipsed only by the combined sales figure for all whiskies—Scotch, Irish, American and Canadian. One of the main reasons for vodka's market dominance is mixability. The spirit is featured in more recipes StateWays I www.stateways.com I November/December 2013 Introduced earlier this year, Absolut Elyx is a superpremium handcrafted vodka, produced in small batches. than any other, largely because it often bolsters nearly any combination of disparate ingredients. Still, some people still hold to the misconception that all vodkas are essentially the same. Educating the American palate is difficult to do when vodka is typically mixed with every combination of juice and mixer. To many consumers, upper echelon vodkas seem like uncomplicated propositions. But that's far off mark. They are loaded with nuances that make them well worth their lofty price points. Selling high-end vodkas is straightforward and relies on stressing four cruGrey Goose concial variables. The first is the tinues as one of character of the water used in the top-selling superpremium its production. Water is the vodkas in the unsung hero of vodka's surging U.S. popularity and arguably the most significant variable. Today's generation of vodkas feature spring waters, artesian waters, peat-filtered water and water derived from glaciers. It's a major point of differentiation between the brands. Secondly concentrate on what the vodka is distilled from, such as winter wheat, corn, rye or barley malt. Each will produce a distinctively different spirit. Next, mention how the spirit is distilled. Most are made in continuous stills, but a growing number of brands are crafted in small batch alembic stills. Finally, premium vodkas are very much products of their homelands and affected by their terroir. As such deserve to have their nationality discussed. Upselling Superpremium Scotch W hen trying to interest customers in a higher-end Scotch, a superior malt with a compelling story line sells better than one draped in medals. Consumers have The ultra-premium Highland Park Loki, the second in a series of limitededition single malts from the Norseinspired Valhalla Collection, debuted this past spring. 23