Cheers is dedicated to delivering hospitality professionals the information, insights and data necessary to drive their beverage business by covering trends and innovations in operations, merchandising, service and training.
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/700131
www.cheersonline.com 9 July/August 2016 • DRINK CULTURE JACK DANIEL'S CELEBRATES 150TH ANNIVERSARY Tennessee whiskey brand Jack Daniel's is celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Jack Daniel Distillery in Lynchburg, TN, this year. After ringing the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange on June 21, Jack Daniel's Master Distiller Jeff Arnett hosted a media tasting followed by an anniversary reception at Tao Downtown in New York. Arnett, who started his career with Jack Daniel's in quality control in 2001, was promoted to Master Distiller in 2008. He is just the seventh Master Distiller in the company's history. Arnett shared some details about the life of Jasper "Jack" Daniel. Born in 1850, Daniel started out making medicinal whiskey for the distillery owner's pharmacy. He later bought the distillery with money he inherited from his father's estate. The brand's flagship Old No. 7 whiskey is sweeter than others, thanks to the low rye content, Arnett said. "Each generation seems to like sweet drinks more than the last," he noted. "This gives our brand relevance." The company introduced Gentleman Jack in 1988 as a milder alternative to Old No. 7, Arnett said. It was the company's first new whiskey since the beginning. To appeal to customers who said they were looking for "Jack Daniel's on steroids," the company released its Single Barrel in 1997; a Single Barrel Barrel Proof launched last year. Jack Daniel's rye whiskey came out this past March, "our first new grain bill in 100 years," Arnett noted. The portfolio also includes Jack Daniel's Tennessee Honey, Jack Daniel's Tennessee Fire, Jack Daniel's Sinatra Select and Jack Daniel's Country Cocktails. The company shared a taste of whiskey from a special 150th anniversary barrel. It did a triple toast of the barrel, which took three times as long, Arnett noted, "but we wanted to get the sweet complexities out of the sugar in the barrel." He likened it to slowly toasting a marsh- mallow vs. a quick char. "I wanted to bring out the caramel flavor," Arnett said. "Liquid candy was what I wanted to achieve."—MD CONSUMPTION OF ALCOHOL ON-PREMISE TAKES A DIP Despite a plethora of options across the beer, wine and spirits/cocktails categories, restaurant guests aren't drinking as much alcohol these days. According to data from the Cheers On-premise Barometer Handbook, overall on-premise consumption of beverage alcohol has slipped slightly since 2010. Beers fared the worst, down 1.1% since 2010, including a drop of 2.7% from 2014 to 2015. The bright spot for wine and spirits is that declines in consumption have leveled off in the past two years. For more information about the Cheers On-premise Barometer Handbook and other beverage alcohol industry data from the Beverage Information Group, visit www.albevresearch.com and www.bevinfostore.com. ON-PREMISE BEVERAGE ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION (SPIRITS AND WINE IN 000 9-LITER CASES, BEER IN 000 2.25-GALLON CASES) '10-'15 CATEGORY 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 ACGR SPIRITS 46,727 45,638 44,151 44,198 45,040 45,766 44,930 44,410 44,279 -0.3% % CHANGE 3.5% -2.3% -3.3% 0.1% 1.9% 1.6% -1.8% -1.2% -0.3% WINE 66,360 63,085 59,380 59,945 61,030 61,310 60,949 61,290 60,779 -0.1% % CHANGE 4.0% -4.9% -5.9% 1.0% 1.8% 0.5% -0.6% 0.6% -0.8% BEER 760,062 753,540 719,233 701,819 691,200 692,235 682,190 672,435 654,555 -1.1% % CHANGE 1.9% -0.9% -4.6% -2.4% -1.5% 0.1% -1.5% -1.4% -2.7% ACGR=ANNUAL COMPOUND GROWTH RATE