Inventory for July 24th, 2016

Welcome back! In this week’s inventory The Spirits Business explores the relationship between bars and booze brands, Deliveroo launches its alcohol delivery service, Angus Winchester tells us a little bit about his new bar, and there’s a new drinks magazine in town: Fine Drinking. Cheers! 

Sad that you can’t be at Tales of the Cocktail? So are we. We are however, there in spirit and will be making a sazerac (or more than just one) in honor of New Orleans. Be like Jeffrey Morgenthaler and follow his “The Dos and Donts of Sazeracs”.

The Spirits Business: The Relationship between Bars and Brands is Broken

“Relationships between spirits brands and bars in the UK are ‘broken’ as bar owners increasingly seek hefty discounts in exchange for menu listings, according to the founder of Maverick Drinks Michael Vachon”. The founder and brand development manager for craft spirits importers spoke to The Spirit Business last week. In this conversation he explained how the relationship between UK bars and spirit brands needs to be redefined. “I think the system that exists between bars and brands in the UK at the moment is broken, in fact I think it’s bullshit. Bars want discounts, incentives, retros, buybacks and ‘your best price’, but all of this is requested in an under the table manner.

Bars have been conditioned in this way. They think they will get something in exchange for listings and there’s increasingly less focus on the product itself. Larger brands can walk into bars and say ‘what do we need to do to become your signature Martini’. This has created an expectation on both parts. Shouldn’t great products be enough to drive everything else?” One would think. His remarks have proven to be polarizing, just take a look at the articles’ comments section. One commentator argues that Vachon is “clearly just a bit cross that it is so hard to get cocktail listings”, a fact to which Vachon replies in a clear, and well thought out answer.

Deliveroo Launches Alcohol Delivery Service

In case you’ve been living under a rock (or you know, offline): over the last year the food delivery service Deliveroo has taken off in a big way across Europe. Now the UK leg of the business announced its partnership a BrewDog, Majestic, and “a number of independent wine merchants” to supply customers with alcoholic drinks. Consumers have been able to order alcohol with their food for a while now, but this is the first time that Deliveroo is selling “wine and beer from dedicated retailers, separates to their food orders”.

Independent beer and wine merchants involved in the scheme include: The Humble Grape, The Sampler, We Bought Beer, Albion Wine Shippers, Clapton Craft, Jeroboams, Fine Cocktails, Caps and Taps, White Lyan, Mother Kellys, Honest Brew, Lea & Sandeman, and Vagabond. The Drinks Business notes that couriers have been trained to request an ID from customers who look underage.

Angus Winchester: new Bar

Last week Angus Winchester proudly announced the fact that he would soon be opening a new bar. We immediately jumped on him, begging for details. Not much is known, but he did share this with us: The bar will be located in Crown Heights in Brooklyn and is set to open in early 2017. The space is 4,000 sq feet of “old lagering vaults in the old Nassau Brewing Company”, basically two large basements and it will be home to two concepts – a smart cocktail bar, as well as a more ‘egalitarian’ beer and mixed drinks space. We for one, can’t wait and will keep you up to date as the news unfolds!

Fine Drinking Magazine

We’re always pleased to see more drinks publications gracing the shelves of our local magazine store. This week, a fine one (get it!) joined the ranks. Published by the people behind bar Baba au Rhum, the first issue of Fine Drinking Magazine covers local Peruvian spirits, the one ingredient every bartenders needs to know, and an introduction to some tricks of the trade. For more information check out their Facebook page here or email them at [email protected].