Once again, consuming spirits neat is starting to find its place in many modern consumers’ drinking repertoires, only this time for sipping and discernment occasions. Jaq Bayles explains.
From Casablanca and Our Man in Havana to The Shining, classic movies are littered with scenes of world-weary protagonists turning to neat serves of ‘the hard stuff’ in their solitary darker moments – which doesn’t exactly add a gloss to the potential pleasures of a fine dram.
But times change, and rather than being perceived as a mind-numbing panacea shared only with a sympathetic bartender, neat spirits have found a more refined place in many modern consumers’ approaches to drinking, particularly on discernment occasions.
There was already a spirits premiumisation trend when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, but holing people up at home led to a further shift to drinking better and experimenting with cocktails.
Earlier this year, The Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (Discus) reported that its Luxury Brand Index (LBI), a tool to analyse sales of spirits brands at the top end of the market, showed luxury brands grew 43% in 2021 compared with 2020 – “more than double the average 18% annual rate observed over the previous five years”. Tequila had the biggest gains with a 75% annual growth rate, according to the LBI, followed by American whiskey and Cognac at 46% and 31%, respectively.
This may seem surprising, given that Tequila is the spirits category that’s had the toughest image to turn around, but the increasing emergence of 100% agave brands in recent years has seen perceptions change and led to the shift.
Ansis Ancovs, global brand ambassador for Amber Beverage Group-owned Rooster Rojo Tequila, says the brand needed to convince the consumer that it is a premium sipper – not a serial mixto shot that would leave them with a raging hangover and a pathological fear of the very word ‘Tequila’.
“Spending time to educate them about this category is the way to achieve this, by explaining that not all Tequilas are the same and reminding them where all those bad memories come from,” Ancovs says. “Asking people to give the category another chance is important. Individual brands from the mixto sector are mistakenly considered as the only Tequila and we try to prove [consumers] wrong by opening them to other possibilities.”
He also points out that “Tequila has never shunned sipping”, but there is a generational difference. “Younger adults obviously tend to show off more and like to show bravado and so choose ‘shots, shots, shots’ at the crazy party on a Friday night,” explains Ancovs. “A metre of Tequila shots served with sliced lime or orange remains a youngsters’ craze and 95% of what is being used here is cheaper mixto Tequila. But, when you grow older you realise that there is also another more pleasant and more sophisticated way to enjoy a drink.”
Ancovs has seen the sipping occasion grow more prevalent in the US, Canada and the UK, and Rooster Rojo has been running a marketing activation to educate the rest of the world. “A global campaign is being rolled out in our main focus markets promoting this idea to consumers,” he says. “Rooster Rojo’s edgy, appealing new advertising campaign has the headline ‘Sip Don’t Slam’. Rather than using models, we used actors who imbue a sense of fun and civilised enjoyment when sipping this spirit.”
High-end rum appreciation becomes a ‘global movement’
Another fast-rising sipping spirit is, of course, rum, which has also been undergoing something of a shift in focus when it comes to premium, especially since the creation in 2015 of the production-based Gargano classification by Luca Gargano, promoted by Richard Seale of Barbados-based Foursquare.
At the higher end, the rum category is also benefiting from consumers’ desire to prioritise sustainability and provenance from their chosen drinks. “I’ve been noticing people are looking for more education on rum and choosing rum of better quality and value for money,” says Foursquare global brand ambassador Gayle Seale. “People are asking questions about what they’re purchasing. Where is it from? Is it made honestly? Are there confections in it and why? Am I spending my money on quality or marketing? People are spending wisely.”
It seems there’s plenty of scope for growth. “The sipping occasion still has a lot of room to grow as we are seeing more great-quality rums coming out each year,” Seale adds. “The rediscovery by consumers of the rum distilleries in the Caribbean will lead the way in showcasing how much diversity can come from each island, their terroir and their people that make that difference. There’s a library of spirits to be discovered in the world of rum, one sip at a time.
“For us, the UK was the most evident in moving towards well-made, high-end rums with more consumers asking questions about Foursquare, Barbados rum and rum in general. Knowledge had been lacking in the Cuba Libre/Mojito era and many of our future Foursquare fans were eager for knowledge, history and stories.
“Now, it has become a global movement, where we have digital clubs connecting on a weekly basis to discuss new rums and sample old ones together. Europe has really developed at the same pace as the UK, and the US market has been extremely receptive to the rum movement. Rum’s presence has also been steadily growing in South East Asia and China and we’re only scratching the surface.”
That said, rum consultant & educator Peter Holland, of The Floating Rumshack website, believes there is still a lingering suspicion among consumers that rum is low on quality. “The biggest issue I struggle with is the general perception of rum,” he says. “The vast majority of it is inexpensive and probably not blended to be an out-and-out sipper. Tethering rum to the bottom with a constant drive to make it cheap means that most folks don’t even realise that rum is a sipping option.
“Once you explore the category, you realise it can be a very characterful spirit, and some of it is absolutely fabulous to enjoy neat. There are more and more longer-aged expressions of rum on the market these days, fabulously approachable blends, and lots more independent bottlers bringing interesting single cask/cask-strength expressions to market. The confidence that there’s a market means that producers are bringing more expressions to market.”
Cocktails remain the ‘gateway to sipping spirits’
Generally, cocktails are considered the gateway to sipping spirits. This notion is backed up by Jacob Briars, global advocacy director for Bacardi: “Brands have been talking ‘sip and savour’ for 20 years, he says. “But, certainly, the pandemic gave people the chance to learn more about their favourite spirits – greater knowledge drove greater appreciation, which drove greater enjoyment.
“This wasn’t entirely about sipping. The enjoyment of cocktails has been a big part of this too, but certainly people seem to have leaned into cocktails where the spirit was allowed to shine.
“Iconic cocktails like the Margarita and the Old Fashioned are the bridge between highballs and sipping. It’s cocktails like these that showcase the spirit and that consumers were quick to master in lockdown. At the same time, these cocktails gave them an appreciation of how a quality spirit, like Patrón or Angel’s Envy, makes a quality cocktail.”
This, explains Briars, is what has given consumers the confidence to trade up, helping to “accelerate the premiumisation trend in categories where there’s a simple archetypal cocktail”. “We’re seeing the same discernment and appreciation impact the rum category and the growing appeal of our Bacardi aged rums,” he adds. “Rums like Bacardi Ocho and Diez are crafted to be enjoyed neat.”
While Scotch has long been recognised by connoisseurs as a sipping spirit, American whiskey is now muscling in on its territory, with Bourbon particularly appealing to first-timers because of its sweeter taste profile, according to Justin Ames, VP of international sales & marketing at Heaven Hill.
“It’s important our consumers get to taste our whiskey to see the variety, not only within the American whiskey category itself, but how the taste profile differs to Scotch and Irish whiskey. Sipping American whiskey allows people to enjoy its quality, aromas, flavours and mouthfeel, while we educate them about the history and authenticity of our whiskies’ heritage.”
Ames believes cocktail bars are crucial to consumer education, as American whiskies form the backbone of many classic cocktails and bars allow consumers to try sipping a variety of styles and brands before committing to a purchase.
“The kind of person who will enjoy sipping a spirit cannot be defined by a demographic, it’s more a mindset,” he adds. “There are times when sipping a particularly special spirit just feels right. For those moments shared with good friends that you don’t want to ever end, serving a well-chosen spirit can add a real sense of occasion to those gatherings.”
As premiumisation continues across all spirits categories, and sipping and discernment become more of an everyday event, those seminal classic movie moments that depict a melancholy alcoholic drowning his sorrows alone in neat serves might start to shrink the limits of Hollywood credibility.
This article was initially published in June’s issue of Global Drinks Intel magazine. For details on how to subscribe, click here.
