Absolute Values In Spirits
It Takes A Unique Brand at Just the Right Price Point to Pour On the Profits


By Michael Harrelson




If X represents taste profile and Y equals the price point of a given brand in a given category, then it takes X plus Y to add up to Z –– namely absolute value in a spirit. In an industry increasingly driven by big advertising budgets and clever promotions for premium and super-premium spirits products, profile and price are the great equalizers of the multi-billion-dollar, on-premise beverage trade equation.


Whether a spirit attains value brand status instantly or it accrues over time, it represents that intangible plus factor that cannot be gained through brand equity or marketing alone but instead is bestowed on a spirit by a million palates and a million pocketbooks anywhere and everywhere in the great, wide world of spirits and libations.


Given that tastes vary and price, too, is as relative as each customer who walks through the door of a venue, there is in truth no actual mathematical formula for weighing spirits in all the varied categories, one against another. Yet there is no denying the existence of that unique fraternity of distilled spirits that defies neat labels –– cutting across all brands and categories to become value brands and giant killers on the back bar at Happy Hour and at all other opening hours in between.


“I think there are some great and undiscovered values in spirits that require a little searching out,” says Tony Abou-Ganim, a Las Vegas-based master mixologist and beverage consultant with more than 24 years of behind-the-bar experience. “Price is not always a great indication of value.”


Here are Abou-Ganim's picks in the value brands category sure to serve both the house and the customers in 2004. All deserve a shot in your venue's value corner.


Gin

Gordon's London Dry Gin ––The category continues to recover from the one-eighty consumer elbows made from gin to vodka in the past few decades and continuing into the new millennium. Some observers read the success of recent releases such as Tanqueray N.º Ten as an indication that Martini drinkers are returning to their roots. As to value, however, Abou-Ganim's money is on Gordon's London Dry Gin ($8 to $9 for a 750-milliliter bottle) –– a gin produced in the United States but long identified with 007's Vesper cocktail. “It's always included in the premium well –– always a staple behind a lot of good cocktail bars,” Abou-Ganim says. “I think it encompasses the gin category. Its mixability is good in a classic Martini as well as a Gin and Tonic, and it will not overpower you.”


Bourbon

Jim Beam Black –– Kentucky is blessed with great bourbons. It's a spirit rapidly gaining popularity and sales throughout the world. With the exception of a few boutique brands, Abou-Ganim says the entire bourbon category represents a bargain. However, Jim Beam Black, a product based on 200 years of Beam family distilling secrets, still represents one of the best bangs for the buck to Abou-Ganim at $17.99 for a 750-milliliter bottle.

“It's eight years old and bottled at an honest 86 proof,” Abou-Ganim says. “I think it is a sleeping giant.

Apparently, the drinking public agrees. In 2002, Jim Beam Brands sold approximately 5.5 million 9-liter cases, or the equivalent to more than 2 billion individual drinks worldwide.


Rum

Cruzan Single Barrel –– There is no better category in which to seek out value than rum. It's the No. 3 category of spirits in terms of sales and one full of heavy hitters like Bacardi with its solid benchmark Bacardi Light. Nevertheless, when you're talking value behind the bar, Cruzan Single Barrel ranks high on any list.

“All of the Cruzan rums are standouts, but at $28 for a 750-milliliter bottle, Cruzan Single Barrel is a true value,” Abou-Ganim says. “It is one of those little specks on the map that is worth tracking down. When you look at quality versus price, it is a great gem.”


Vodka

Wodka Wyborowa –– Vodka was the top spirit category even before the flavored vodkas craze in the late 1980s and ‘90s. Now, scarcely a month goes by without the release of a new vodka brand. Along with the Russians and Europeans, American distillers have leaped into the category. Even so, Poland's centuries of experience in distilling vodka is evident to Abou-Ganim in its Wodka Wyborowa export, priced as low as $17 for a 750-milliliter bottle.

“I think it is a premium vodka that is selling at a call price,” Abou-Ganim says. “It is a brand you have to search out, but it has been around for a while, and is one of the better-selling vodkas in the world.”


Flavored Vodkas

Stolichnaya Ohranj –– Stoli was among the first to produce flavored vodkas and their reputation in the category remains solid. By virtue of its versatility in a wide range of standard cocktails and signatures as well as its under $20 price tag, this flavor in particular is a value-brand standout. “The flavored vodka category continues to expand with great new entries from the likes of Belvedere as well as boutique American distillers Charbay and Hanger One. Here the value lies in the small-batch, artesian approach to their production,” Abou-Ganim says.


Brandy

Germain-Robin Fine Alembic Brandy –– Sometimes the value in a spirit is tilted slightly to the price side and sometimes it leans to the quality side. In the case of Germain Robin VSOP brandy, however, the value is definitely to be found in what goes into the bottle, Abou-Ganim says.

“They are making the brandy out of Pinot Noir grapes,” Abou Ganim says. “They are distilling in small batches in alembic stills and aging the brandy in French oak barrels. They are handcrafting brandy in the style of Cognac.”

This, plus a price as low as $35.99 in some areas make Germain-Robin VSOP a spirit Abou-Ganim calls a great value in a beautiful domestic brand.


Irish Whiskey

Powers Irish Whiskey –– The entire Irish Whiskey category is one that Abou-Ganim says is still awaiting discovery. And chief among the good values that are out there is Powers Irish Whiskey, competitively priced at $16.99 for a 750-milliliter bottle.

“It is great in Irish coffee and it's great on its own,” Abou-Ganim says. “And as far as value goes, it is priced below the heavy hitters and is every bit as good. It is all Irish.”

100 Percent Agave Tequila

El Tesoro Tequila Plata –– Gone are the days when tequila represented exceptional value across the board. Particularly in the 100 percent agave category, the high price of agave has made value hard to come by. But given everything that goes into the distilling of 100 percent agave tequila, it's still a bargain category to buy into, Abou-Ganim says, “even at today's prices.” And one of the best values is El Tesoro Platinum, a tequila distilled, rather than brought down, to proof.

“It is a lot more expensive to produce that way,” Abou-Ganim says, “But is concentrates the flavors. Here, value is in the production process. And if you compare the $40 cost of El Tesoro Platinum to others, it is very competitive.”


Mixto Tequila

Sauza Conmemorativo ––Anyone looking for value in mixto tequila would do well to consider Sauza Conmemorativo. Abou-Ganim calls it “a solid representative of the category.”

Competitively priced at around $20, it has the added benefit of being a true añejo –– meaning it sees a minimum of one year in oak barrels.


Scotch

Johnnie Walker Gold Label –– The Johnnie Walker Blue Label Scotch Whisky gets so much attention, the real value in the Walker family of Scotches often gets overlooked, namely the Johnnie Walker Gold Label.

“Here, you're not looking at price per bottle but value of Scotch for the price,” Abou-Ganim says. At approximately $56 for a 750-milliliter bottle, compared to $150-plus for the Blue Label, this 18-year-old blend of Scotch whisky represents real value in a spirit. NCB