Liquor industry article

[grehorst]

Good article on the importance of holiday sales to the industry.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22329431/from/ET/

Don't know about you but getting distributors attention when they are getting major holiday spiffs from the big guys is a real challenge.

[JohnD]

Seems like much of the challenge lies in building the reputation of brands and scale. If we can build the reputations of our small brands, and our movement in general, to the point where the prestige of buying a "craft" or "artisan" outweighs the prestige of buying yet another product put out by the large commercial producers, we will be cutting into that market.

I was just discussing today one of my recipes with a larger retailer here in Chicago(actually the liquor buyer for Sam's Wine and Spirits mentioned in the article), and he was suggesting that it would make a great holiday drink, and if marketed as such in small batch releases could facilitate just that shift in perception that we've seen in the food industry with farmer's markets. I don't have much specific experience with the distributors themselves(which may of course alter my perspective), but I think we could be going for just the kind of exclusivity that people feel when a high end liquor store person tells his customers about this wonderful small batch cognac from xy distiller in France, or when we meet the actual farmer at the farmer's market who gives us a real reason to pay a bit more for a product we can find on super market shelves for less.

Some of you guys are already trailblazing that path. All of the restaurant and bar owners in Chicago know about the local distilleries like yours Guy, or North Shore and are excited to have the option. Seems like they are the first step; the merchants, and the excitement will trickle down to the consumer making it easier to get the attention of the distributors at key moments.