StateWays ■ www.stateways.com ■ March/April 2015 32
The honeymoon may be over, but consumers
are still enamored with fl avored vodka.
BY THOMAS HENRY STRENK
A
n entity as large as the $5.8 billion vodka category in the
U.S. is not monolithic, and it's not surprising that it's split
like an iceberg into two divergent subcategories (regular
and fl avored), each with its own consumer demographic, drinking
occasion and growth arc. Mimosa, habanero, cinnamon bun - the
variations keep proliferating on retailers' already crowded shelves as
producers cast about for the next "it" fl avor. But fl avor fatigue seems
to be setting in, or perhaps fi ckle customers are straying to categories
other than vodka for their fl avor fi x.
THE SPLIT
Has the behemoth spirit category indeed fi ssured in twain following
different paths? Retailers and producers are divided on the topic.
"There's straight vodka and there's fl avors; they are two different
segments," declares Fredric Leighton, owner of Bayway World of Li-
quor in Elizabeth, NJ. "We are certainly seeing two different custom-
ers for regular and fl avored vodkas," echoes Louis Dachis, owner of
three Merwin Liquors stores in Minneapolis, MN. Both retailers say
the customer for unfl avored vodka tends to be older and male, while
more Millennials and females are purchasing the fl avored variants.
"Yes, absolutely, the vodka category is defi nitely divided into two
segments—fl avored and straight—with consumers for both," reports
Norman Bonchick, chairman and CEO of 375 Park Avenue Spirits
(formerly Van Gogh Imports; the name change is part of a recent
integration into Sazerac Company).
"Certainly among younger legal-drinking age consumers, fl avors
FLAVOR-PHILES
