The year in BevAlc kicked off like it usually does, ripe with prognostication about the storylines likely to define 2023. Most aren’t a huge roll of the dice because they are based on category sales momentum (looking at you, tequila, mezcal, spirit-based RTDs and NA beer). The more daring predictions typically handicap which brands within those anointed categories are likely to wither or thrive.
We look at things a little differently: with fresh eyes at the start of Q2, looking at not just the numbers, but on what our industry friends are starting to buzz about, and what we are seeing starting to pop on-premise, and also in pop culture.
Our agency source code now public (please use it to peaceful ends), we’ll be sharing our take on the three most intriguing stories likely to develop as the year rolls on. This week… we start with number one.
Amaro
Ciao (as in, hello) bella! Italy’s staple herbal digestif isn’t just for occasional, after dinner stateside sipping by Amalfi-smitten Americans. It is having a moment – one we think will endure – in twists on classic, and in more experimental cocktails.
As a prescient Food & Wine story tells, amaro is finding its way into earthier twists on mainstays spanning Manhattans to Palomas to Paper Planes, while top mixologists have long been cooking up amaro-kissed recipes, like James Ives’s rye cocktail twist, Northern Standard.
Meanwhile, American producers have taken note and are getting into the amaro game, meaning, we can expect to see SKU proliferation on shelves and back bars. Moreover, amaro sports a range of styles along the bitter-to-sweet spectrum, with lots of room for exploration.
And last week brought news of a Jennifer Lopez-owned line of upscale, spirit-based, glass bottled spritzes (dubbed, Delola), with an orange, passionfruit and amaro SKU front and center.
If that’s not proof of amaro’s bigtime American arrival, then what, one asks, is?
Keep reading next week when we reveal trend number two.
