For a Tiny Cocktail,
Shooters Pack a Big Sales Punch

Shooters are a cocktail institution — a tasty, colorful little libation for all times and all ages in their fun, spur-of-the moment, what-the-hell, group appeal. Sassy and provocative, and often accompanied with risqué names, shooters may be the quickest sales draw in the West and the East for their ability to create a cause to celebrate among patrons looking to have their birthday cake and drink it, too.
    Not to be confused with a simple shot of bourbon or flavored vodka, a shooter is a bona fide cocktail –– only smaller –– although there’s nothing diminutive about the price points they currently fetch in bars and nightclubs throughout the country.

Join the Party
    The names of the countless concoctions and latest shooter sensations may have changed. In the latter decades of the 20th century, B-52s, Kamikazes and Lemon Drops were big on-premise. Today, while all of these classics still are racking up sales and keeping cocktail waitresses and bartenders busy gathering empty glasses, some new names have been added to the lexicon of the shooter that are helping to spur it on to even greater success.
    At Chilkoot Charlie’s in Anchorage, Alaska, Duck Farts, made with Irish cream coffee liqueur and Crown Royal, and Red-Headed Sluts, consisting of Jägermeister, peach schnapps and cranberry juice, are all the rage with customers these days, says Bartender Michael “Mikee” Clark. And Kamikazes? “Those flow through the well like you would not believe,” he adds.
    Typical of venues today wherein the shooter not only has survived but excelled, sales largely are an after-dark phenomenon at this, the largest nightclub in Anchorage, where Clark says everyone, from tourists to locals, eventually ends up for the evening.
    “I would say during the day we are more of a bar,” Clark says, with $3 beers serving as the beverage and revenue mainstay. “After 10 (at night) we are more of a club, and shooters are as much a part of life here as beer would be.”
    Except that the average shooter commands double the price of beer as patrons loosen up and enjoy the live music for which Chilkoot Charlie’s is famous. “They start at $5. Most everything is based on the main liquor in it. Red-Headed Sluts are $6 because of the Jäger.”
    Although Clark says the pleasant atmosphere of Chilkoot Charlie’s in itself is enough to ensure brisk shooter sales, he and the rest of the staff don’t leave the nightly procurement of this added cushion of revenue and precious profit to goodwill alone.
    “We have a live band beginning at 10. That helps,” Clark says. “And, we have trivia games Monday through Saturday, and Wednesday through Saturday, a chance to win $1,000.”
    Almost any night of the week, a Shooter Girl can be found selling test- tube shots for $1 each, and table books that feature monthly shooter specials such as May’s Lemon Drop enhance Chilkoot’s lock on local entertainment and libation even further.
    Although part of the viability of the shooter lies in its group appeal and in its colorful presentation, Clark says its endurance in the modern cocktailing age is owed to a more basic sales principle that has governed the on-premise from the beginning. “I would like to think they are popular because they are drinks that taste good.”

Shoot the Moon
    In the lower 48 states as well, shooter sales show no sign of slacking off at watering holes such as the Crazy Armadillo Bar in Las Vegas. “Anyone who can breathe buys them,” says Frank Lopiccolo, manager of the bar and eatery at the Stratosphere hotel casino.
    In the fast and two-fisted setting of Las Vegas, the shooter is more of a solo drink, and just what the doctor ordered for patrons looking to live a little, whether enjoyed by themselves or along with another cocktail or a beer, he says.
    “Our top three shooters are probably Kamikazes, Purple Hooters and Dirty Apples. Those are the few that we push the most.” But, as Lopiccolo is quick to add, “We don’t have a mental attitude of (serving) a few drinks.”
    In all their infinite variety, shooters are survivors for all their proven ability to produce instant profit based largely on a liqueurs subcategory of spirits said to be among the most profitable of all pours. At the Crazy Armadillo, where they sell ‘round the clock, 24/7, for $4.50 up to $7 for shooters with premium and super-premium call brands, the best testament to this mini-drink institution is the fact that they hold their own on a cocktail menu containing hundreds of different drinks.
    As Chilkoot’s bartender Michael “Mikee” Clark puts it, “They have become a cocktail institution.” NCB