Locally Grown Spirits

The National Restaurant Association’s recent annual beverage survey, which tapped an exclusive chef audience, revealed that 65 percent of participants believe that locally produced spirits will be the year’s top trend, followed by house-roasted coffee (51 percent) and brewed-on-the-premises beer (50 percent). Broken down by gender, 73 percent of women and 63 percent of men say they’d go to an account offering local options. Taking a page from the locavore food movement, many craft distilleries around the country like to boast about the quality and local source of their ingredients. Some even go so far as to talk about how their liquor reflects the so-called terroir of the area. Ooh, la la.

Obviously, there is a definitely a thirst out there for local products. While the “support local” trend has been abuzz over the last five years, it has recently reached new levels of importance to your customers. In fact, according to Tehnomic, Inc. in Chicago, sixty-two percent of consumers are more likely to buy food and beverages described as local, and 57% seek out restaurants offering locally sourced products.

But defining “local” is kind of like trying to define what “craft” is. Everyone has their own definition and there is no right or wrong answer. But essentially, “local” does not just mean a physical destination in the neighborhood, it is more so about bringing the sense of community to life within that beverage. And buying locally produced items helps everyone out! It is almost like the customer has a sense of involvement and pride when a product comes from their hometown or home state. Think of it as rooting for the underdog—we all want to see them win and we all have the opportunity to help them win with a purchase of their product.

But there are just a handful of brands that are truly “grain-to-glass.” These producers are truly in control of every single step of the distillation process, actually going so far as to grow their ingredients themselves on-site, such as: 1857 Spirits in Upstate new York (Potato Vodka), Reno’s Frey Ranch Gin, Vodka, and Absinthe come from estate grown grains, Far North in Minnesota makes Rye Whiskey, Gin and Vodka, Harvest Spirits in Albany, New York, squeezes out Applejack and “Core” Vodka from its apples, Corbin Cash makes Vodka, Gin and Liqueur from its Atwater Sweet Potatoes in California, and Wollersheim Winery & Distillery in Wisconsin has been making “Coquard” Brandy since 2015.

The rise of locally produced items is pretty astonishing. Each town or state has the “originator” which usually becomes the staple local product. However, after others start seeing the success around those brands, others want a piece of the pie, so we should start seeing more and more of these, locally grown, “farm to glass” spirits coming down the cask.

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