The American Distilling Institute (ADI), Hayward, Calif., held its ninth annual Craft Distilling Conference from April 1-4 at the Huber Winery and Starlight Distillery, Starlight, Ind. Bill Owens, founder and president of ADI, reported that this year’s event was almost 30 percent larger than last year’s conference. This year’s event featured a focus on whiskey and rum with hands-on distilling classes, distillery tours, a vendor expo and a program of educational seminars.
Beam Inc., Deerfield, Ill., announced a definitive agreement with White Rock Distilleries, Lewiston, Maine, to acquire Pinnacle Vodka, Calico Jack rum and other related assets for $605 million in cash. Pinnacle Vodka’s 2012 volumes are expected to exceed 3 million 9-liter cases and will significantly enhance Beam’s presence in the growing vodka category, the company said.
As one of the top-selling flavored malt beverages (FMBs), Mike’s Hard Lemonade has found a niche with consumers. Yet, Seattle-based Mike’s Hard Lemonade Co. is not resting on its flagship brand and recently created new products to extend to new usage occasions, demographics and category niches.
Dill pickles, cookie dough, and peanut butter and jelly hardly sound like inspiration for adult beverages, but each of the aforementioned flavors were launched by vodka-makers within the last year. As these new product introductions show, one of the largest trends in the spirits category is unusual flavors, analysts say.
Chicago-based Technomic’s Adult Beverage Resource Group reported that the Top 250 spirits brands grew 3.1 percent in total volume in 2011, which is slightly lower than the total market’s 3.5 percent increase. Deerfield, Ill.-based Beam Inc.’s Skinnygirl Cocktails outpaced all other brands with a 388 percent gain to break the 500,000 case mark and rank as the fastest-growing brand, according to Technomic.