Stateways

StateWays - November/December 2016

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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w w w.BevInfoGroup.com 10 Beverage Information Group • Sustainability Guide 2016 of the Earth, but it's also about being good to your body. I think baby boomers might have had a bad experience with organic wine many years ago, but your average millennial is super psyched about all things green. There's no question that green has become mainstream." Local products are another type of sustainable beverage category that can be a big selling point for wine and craft beer. Eve Geroulis is a senior lecturer at Loyola University Chicago's Quinlan School of Business. She says that the key to sustainable alcohol consumption is using local alcohol products, and that operators need to understand the value of locale and articulate that information to consumers. "It's challenging because with alcohol, you're dealing with an adult audience, and people who are making a luxury purchase," Geroulis says. "It's also an emotional purchase and a pleasurable purchase, and these things don't lend well to the notion of being green. People don't often think about how to tell consumers that the bottle of wine they're selecting has travelled 5,000 miles to get to their bar stool." Integrating a selection of local products into the display mix at your store, bar or restaurant will add a new twist to sustainable beverages and also encourage consumers to support their surrounding communities. MARKETING SUSTAINABLE While retailers have many options for displaying product information and engaging with customers, it can be more difficult for bars and restaurants to showcase their green product offerings. Jennifer Colliau is Bar Director at The Perennial, a San Francisco restaurant and bar focused on the benefits of progressive farming. Educating customers about the bar's unique offerings can be challenging. "Finding that right balance of customer service in this case is touchy, because not everyone wants a lecture when they're going out," Colliau explains. "The whole point of going out to eat is not to get educated about something, unless you want to. But if people watch us making the drinks, they'll see we do it differently, and that prompts a conversation." The Perennial focuses on minimizing energy use and waste. All domestic wines on the bar menu come from producers who Perennial management feels do their best to source from organic vineyards. All European wines come from producers that are at minimum certified as organic, and many of them are farmed biodynamically. The bar at The Perennial lacks an ice cube machine and utilizes several innovative cocktail mixing methods, including one known as empirical dilution. The process involves using thermometers to craft stirred drinks, thereby regulating temperature and ensuring greater consistency. Colliau says she can measure the amount of dilution she's getting by stirring with a thermometer, which ultimately gives her more control over the process and results in a better drink, she believes. Additionally, because the process eliminates the use of ice, the typical "shake, strain and dump" process of cocktail mixing is eliminated, resulting in zero waste. For shaken drinks, Colliau and her team use a blender to mix in exact amounts of ice, once again eliminating any wasted resources. Although the bar currently doesn't explain its unique cocktail preparation process on its menus, staff are always available and eager to discuss these innovative methods. Many of The Perennial's cocktails are also sustainable in that they eliminate the use of waste. Such as the Grapefruit Marmalade, which incorporates into the drink both the juice and the peel of the fruit. These details are included in the menu to alert customers of their sustainable option. MELISSA NIKSIC is a freelance writer and marketing communications strategist from Chicago, IL. Her work has appeared in Chicago's Daily Herald newspaper, Time Out Chicago, Suburban Life newspapers, and various magazines. She is also the author of several children's books. Follow her @MelissaNiksic. The keys in Bay Ridge Wine and Spirits provide useful information for customers and help sell more wine. SELLING SUSTAINABILITY

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