The caffeine pick-me-up is part of the draw: "It seems like people are viewing it as a classier vodka-Red Bull."Ĭonspicuously missing from the bartender hit lists are whiskey drinks, including the juggernaut that was the Old-Fashioned. That said, "once we get cranking on a weekend night, no one wants to see a menu. "It sells the most, I think, because it seems most approachable, and most of the ingredients are recognizable," says owner/beverage director Will Wyatt. And at Mister Paradise, a raucous, high-volume bar in the East Village, the top seller is the Party Lobster, a spicy, sweet-tart spicy marg with a split base of blanco tequila and mezcal, plus habanero and salted watermelon. (The Spanish-style gin and tonic holds the No.1 spot at Quijote). Measured by consumer spending, vodka retained its longtime leader position in 2022 as the most-purchased spirit by value, although IWSR predicts tequila will overtake vodka to become the most-valuable spirits subcategory in 2023.Īt El Quijote, the venerated Spanish hideaway off the lobby of Manhattan's reborn Chelsea Hotel, both margaritas and espresso martinis are "served by tray-full," says Brian Evans, director of bars for parent company Sunday Hospitality. Still, according to our bartender straw poll, another retro-tinged cocktail is never far behind: That 1980s baby, the espresso martini, is starting to feel like vodka's last stand in the cocktail sphere. There, the jalapeño watermelon margarita sells "a lot, a lot, a lot," alongside the Mezcalita, aka a mezcal-based margarita. "It has the DNA of a margarita, but it's more sophisticated," explains Alex Valencia, bartender at La Contenta, a Mexican restaurant with two Manhattan locations. Why spicy margs in particular? It's not a new drink: With roots in the mid-aughts making it sufficiently familiar to be the cocktail equivalent of comfort food, it has enough capsaicin-laden novelty to hold interest. Made with tequila, racilla and Empirical Spirits Ayuuk, a chile pepper distillate with a "tingly" quality, Elliott imagined the floral drink as "a Victorian notion of a margarita with hibiscus." He put it on the menu, "knowing agave is absolutely booming." Looking ahead, the compound annual growth rate for tequila from 2022 to 2026 is expected to rise an additional 8% while vodka flatlines.Īt Williamsburg, Brooklyn's Maison Premiere, where ice-cold martinis and oysters are the draw, the pink-tinged Margarita de Jamaica "became a top seller in no time," says bar director Will Elliott. Particularly in New York, anything remotely resembling a spicy margarita remains the drink du jour, as new data bears out.Īccording to IWSR Drinks Market Analysis statistics released Wednesday, in terms of cases sold in the U.S., tequila volume growth handily surpassed that of vodka in 2022, rising 12% year over year, while vodka eked out a 1% increase. Kind of as Frank Sinatra sang: If you make it here, it'll soon be made anywhere, with cocktail trends radiating across the U.S. Both of their most popular cocktails are agave-based: Under the Influencer (mezcal, lime, passion fruit, cayenne, lager, celery bitters) and Jalisco Sol (tequila, pineapple, lemon, apricot, chamomile, red bitter aperitif). "New York has been stricken with agave mania," says Robert Struthers, beverage director of Gair in Brooklyn's Dumbo neighborhood. As New York's bar luminaries recently raised spritzes to toast "King Cocktail" Dale DeGroff and collaborator Ted Breaux on their new spirits line, we took the opportunity to query the pros: What are customers ordering these days?
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |