Boozin’ Blog

Have you been to the liquor store lately? The holiday booze has definitely arrived.

The most noticeable of the lot are those spirits gift packs. They usually consist of a distiller’s most popular product and a couple of old fashioned glasses. Sometimes, especially with spirits like gin that are primarily mixed there will be a cocktail shaker or some other bartending implement. These are wrapped up in oversized packaging with, perhaps, a bow printed on the packaging.

I used to look at these silly things and wonder who would buy them. Clearly someone was spending money on them because every year they moved and every next year they returned. Actually, I even bought one once. It was well into January and the package was marked way down – cheaper than the regular bottle. I can’t remember what kind of whisky it was, just that it was whisky. I still use the old fashioned glasses, though. The gold print that branded them has long worn off but they are my favorite daily sipping glasses.

Anyway, back to who would buy these before they’re marked down. If there’s a boozer in my circle of friends or family who might appreciate the spirit there’s no way for me to guess if he would like those glasses. And as for the shaker; if someone wants a cocktail shaker he probably already has one.

Then I got a job in a corporate office. Employees never know what to buy their boss. They don’t want to spend too much – he might start thinking that they are overpaid – but they don’t want the gift to look too cheap. If they happen to know that he likes, say, Crown Royal they can all pitch in and get him the gift box. It’s big, garish, probably useless once the bottle’s empty, and perfect for the crap that goes down in most offices.

So, on behalf of office workers everywhere, thanks for making our office parties cheap and easy, booze-makers!

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A few months ago on this very blog I declared gin to be “stodgy as shuffle-board.” Well, it looks like I may have to issue an apology to gin.

With a 1.1% increase in sales, the first increase in 6 years, gin may be on its way back. According to “Gin Is the New Vodka,” an ironically named article when you consider that a big contributor of gin’s decline was vodka replacing it in the martini, bartenders are driving a return to gin. In a mix of classic drinks made with gin and new gins that include flavoring agents such as grape vine flowers and sarsaparilla and orange-peel, drinkers are rediscovering gin.

So, will gin be sexy again? It’s hard to say. As I’ve said before, the liquor market is fickle and it’s hard to say what will catch and what won’t. It will take quite a lot for gin to dethrone vodka. But you never know. Perhaps those pioneering mixology-minded bartenders will create a revolution.

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