EDITOR'S NOTE StateWays
Sr. Vice President and Group Publisher Charles Forman Tel: 845-426-6072 Fax: 845-426-6423 email: cforman@m2media360.com
Vodka Power A
s we go to press, the latest industry news flash is that Beam Inc. is buying Pinnacle Vodka and Calico Jack Flavored Rum from White Rock Distilleries for about $605 million. Though Calico Jack has been a vibrant brand over the past few years (300,000 9-liter cases nationally in 2011), clearly, the centerpiece of the deal is Pinnacle, with its approximately 30 flavors of vodka. Indeed, Pinnacle was one of the hottest spirits brands on the market last year, growing sales by 92.9% to 2.7 million cases nationally, on the strength of newer flavors such as Whipped Cream and Cotton Candy. Not only does the deal, once again, underline the undeniable power of the vodka category relative to the entire U.S. spirits industry, it also emphasizes the increasingly large footprint that flavored vodkas have created in the marketplace. Here are the facts: Vodka depletions rose 6.0% nationally in 2011 to 65.85 million 9-liter
cases, now representing almost one-third of total spirits volume, according to the Beverage Information Group's Handbook Advance 2012. And while flavored vodkas now account for about 20% of the entire vodka market, their growth far outpaces unflavored vodkas: flavored vodka sales grew by 18% last year while unflavored vodkas gained just 1%. That old, overused expression, "Variety is the spice of life," is nowhere more true than among vodka offerings. Putting aside the wide range of unflavored vodkas available, for your amusement, here's a list of vodka flavors: acai, apricot, anise, apple, artichoke, bacon, banana, birch, biscotti, bison grass, black cherry, black currant, black tea, blood orange, blueberry, blue raspberry, bubble gum, butterscotch, cake, caramel, cherry lemonade, cherry whipped, chocolate, chipotle, chocolate whipped, clementine, coconut, coffee, cinnamon, cola, cookie dough, cotton candy, cranberry, cucumber, dill pickle, dragon fruit, dulce de leche, espresso, fig, French vanilla, fruit punch, ginger, gingerbread, grape, grapefruit, green apple, green tea, gummy, hazelnut, hibiscus, honey, honeydew, jasmine, kaffir lime, key lime, kiwi, kiwi-strawberry, lavender, lemon, lemonade, licorice, lychee, lime, marshmallow, mandarin, mango, maple, melon, mint, mojito mint, neopolitan, orange, orange whipped, passion fruit, peach, pear, pepper, peppermint, pineapple, plum, pome- granate, pumpkin, rangtang, raspberry, red berry, root beer, rose, spiced pear, spiced root beer, salmon, strawberry, sweet tea, tangerine, thin mint, tiramisu, toffee, tropical punch, tomato, vanilla, whipped cream and the recently released flavors key lime whipped, jalapenos and the old reliable PB&J. As an observer in our vodka story (turn to page 34) points out, "it seems like there's a new vodka coming out every week." The issue for state stores and other retail outlets is, as always, how to make space on the shelves for these products, which ones to keep and which ones to weed out. The problem is that nobody knows what will catch the fancy of the vodka consumer, so it's hard not to give a new flavor a chance. Vodka, it seems, has become as American as apple pie. Hey, come to think of it, there's a new, can't-miss vodka flavor, Apple Pie…unless someone's already working on it.
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Richard Brandes, Editor-in-Chief 6 jnedelka@m2media360.com StateWays www.stateways.com May/June 2012 ®
