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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gin's mystique is that each brand is distinctive- ly individual. An exceptional gin etches itself on one's sensory memory like a lilting per- fume. No two major labels of gin taste or smell the same, so it's easy to appreciate how once smitten, people can become such devo- tees of one brand over the rest of the field. One sales key is to determine if the client prefers a dry gin—such as Beefeater—or one that is softer and slightly sweet like Tanqueray. An innovation being well received by enthusi- asts is gins distilled using fresh rather than dried botanicals. Brands such as Tanqueray Ten and Nolet's are popular examples. They feature lush, succulent bouquets and mar- velously flavorful palates. RUM E verything that you might have heard about rum being the next hot spirit is true. In the past five years, sales of rum have significantly cut into vodka and tequila's once insurmountable lead. Rum sales last year continued soaring skyward, posting an increase of 6.6% to 20.8 million 9-liter cases. It now ranks as the second largest category of spirits in the U. S., with flavored rums accounting for roughly a third of the sales. Appleton Estate Extra 12 Year Old Jamaican Rum is one of the several expressions in this leading premium rum brand. Understanding the phenome- non is easy. Rum is a dynamic and diverse spirit with a "fun in the sun" image. It's made in exotic places like Martinique and Barbados and graced with rich hues and utterly captivating flavors. Rum's approachable taste profile means that there's no learning curve necessary. It adapts well to barrel aging and is produced in an intriguing array of styles and types. Throw in that rums are relatively inexpensive and you've got the makings of a long run. • Game Plan. Marketing great rums has every- thing to do with eliciting the romance of where the rum is made. Think of any brand of rum as having originated in a tropical paradise and you'll be just about right. Whether selling to a novice or connois- StateWays s www.stateways.com s November/December 2011 10 Cane is one of the superpremium cane juice. offerings, made from free-running sugar seur, first find out if the person is more inter- ested in a dark savory rum to enjoy in a snifter, or one to use in an exotic drink. Since many enthusiasts have yet to experience the joy of rhum agricole, this makes them excellent brands to recommend. Rhum agricole is made from free-running sugar cane juice and is a style preferred by the former French colonies, such as Martinique and Haiti. Finally, many of the up-and-coming brands entering the mar- ket hail from Central and South America. It is a trend likely to continue. TEQUILA T he proliferation of tequila brands has left many consumers feeling overwhelmed and genuinely wondering about the differences between them. After all, if 100% agave tequilas are made from nothing but agave, then how can there be such a disparity between quality, taste and selling price? The explanation is similar in depth and complexity to describing the quality variables in wine. But like the subject of wine, the answer lies in the quality of the raw product. The essential difference between brands of tequila is principally the difference is the character and quality of the agaves used to make the tequila. Making premium tequila begins with mature, sugar- laded agaves grown under optimum conditions. It's expensive to keep the plants in the ground for the 8-12 years it takes them to reach maturity, but only mature agaves though can produce genuinely flavorful, exuberant tequila. To a large extent, that's why tequila the category is more expensive than most of its counterparts. For the record, other quality fac- tors include how the agaves are baked and the length of fermentation. Methods of distillation and depth of aging finish off the equation. Within each of these points there exists another subset of variables. Suffice to say, crafting great tequila is a precise science and an art requiring just about Superpremium Tequila Cazadores is nearing sales of 300,000 9-liter cases for its three expressions. 35 rhum agri- cole