flavored vodka

F R O M
S A V O R Y
T O
S W E E T
FLAVORED
VODKA
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T H E
R I S E
By Laura Holmes Haddad
G
reen tea, blueberry, pomegranate, honey pepper, kiwi fruit. These are just a few of the new vodka
flavors showing up on back bars and retail shelves today, and there are many more to follow.
While total vodka sales slowed to 1 percent growth last year, flavored vodkas grew by 16 percent.
With over two hundred flavored brands on the market, plain vodka is taking a backseat to its flavor-spiked
cousin. Growth in the premium sector is even higher; flavored vodkas represent over 20 percent of the premium vodka category. According to The Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (DISCUS), in 2000 fla-
FLI
FLA P FO
VO R
RS
vored vodkas represented a 6.9 percent share of the vodka category but rose to 12.4 percent in 2005.
The best-selling flavors in the U.S. market are lemon,
orange, raspberry, and vanilla, according to Adams Beverage
Group. To make these flavors, distillers add either purchased
flavorings, made with real fruit oils or synthetic blends, or
use flavors from fresh ingredients. Some are even infusing
their vodkas, a process which saturates the ingredients in an
already distilled vodka.
The Young Consumers
Why are consumers turning to flavored vodkas? The demographic profile for flavors is pointing to the younger consumer. “Flavors seem to be big with the 21 to 35 year old set,
especially the female consumer who doesn’t want a beer,
but rather a Martini,” says William Eldien, president of
Nolet Spirits USA, which has one flavored vodka,
Ketel One Citron, in their portfolio.
Martin Silver, president & CEO of Star Industries,
distributors of Georgi Vodka, also attributes vodka’s stillgrowing success to the younger, more adventurous crowd. “The
flavor craze is growing because the younger legal-age consumers
are into wildly different flavors and this fuels the growth.”
With flavored vodkas, distillers are giving the younger consumer what they want. “You’ve got this generation of legal
drinking age customers and they expect flavors, so these flavors
are not unique; it’s what they’re accustomed to,” says Todd
Nickodym, executive marketing manager at Luxco, importers of
the Pearl brand. And Nickodym notes that flavors aren’t limited to vodkas; he points to flavored rums, tequila, and whiskey
entering the market.
Kelly Spillane, executive VP of Castle Brands, whose
portfolio includes a line of Boru flavored vodkas, offers a
similar perspective. “Flavored vodkas are what the 21 to 30year old consumers are expecting from their beverages. It’s
changed the drinking landscape,” says Spillane. “When I was
kid it was Pepsi, Coke, and Canada Dry. As these kids, who
grew up with so many different flavors, become adults, they
will demand that from their beverage alcohol choice going
forward. Flavored rum, flavored whiskey, liqueurs; you’re
starting to see the beginning of what adults of the future are
going to demand and that’s flavor choice.”
The overall cocktail trend of fresh flavors is another
factor in the flavored vodka success. As John Higgins,
marketing director for Finlandia, points out, beverage
consumers want fresh and light. “Look at consumer
trends,” he says. “Consumers are going to lighter,
smoother, easier to drink beverages and then look to flavored vodka: it’s clean and naturally flavored. It’s easy to
put a natural flavor with the product.”
Consumers’ Evolving Palates
Others note the overall shift in consumer’s palates to higher-quality beverages. “For the consumer, what tastes good and what doesn’t is slowly evolving. It’s the same with craft brewing. There’s
been this huge shift, a shift driven by palate,” says Lance Winters,
distiller at Hangar One Vodka in Alameda, California, who
makes seven flavored vodkas.
With seemingly endless flavors to choose from, distillers are
taking many factors into consideration when they are approach-
“There is a glut of flavored
vodkas, but amongst that glut,
there are a lot of good ones.
It takes a discerning palate to
choose the best.”
– Duggan McDonnell, Frisson, San Francisco
ing new flavors. For Pearl vodka, the
pomegranate flavor came from looking
beyond the traditional spirits market.
“We looked outside the spirits industry in
a broader sense and looked at the success
POM brand had and decided this flavor
would help us meet our objectives,” notes
Nickodym. “Five years ago POM was a
blip and now it’s close to a $100 million
business. Pomegranate has gone from a
niche market to mainstream.” Nickodym
also identifies grape and cherry as emerging flavors.
At Charbay, based in St. Helena,
California, distiller Marko Karakasevic
produces six flavors, including their most
recent launch, raspberry, and a pomegranate releasing in Fall 2006. “I like to
say we’re on the pulse of flavor. We’re not
a giant corporation so we can react fast;
our only limitation is when the fruit is
ripe,” remarks Karakasevic.
For Finlandia, pinpointing the consumer palate is always a challenge. “People
are looking to try exotic new things
and they challenge us to come up
with new flavors, to challenge consumer’s palates,” says Higgins.
“Orange and mango are hot flavors; berry is also hot.” Mango is
Finlandia’s best-selling flavor.
Hangar One’s Winters
notes that the flavor possibilities are endless and
sees flavoreds as a permanent fixture in
the vodka category. “Because vodka is
completely flavorless, you can’t continue
that forever. You’ve got to find something
that differentiates that,” he notes. “As we
grow and become part of a world market
and find more flavors we need new flavors to keep our palates interested. As
long as there are interesting flavors to
play with it can be sustained.”
Absolut recently added a unique flavor to its extensive line of flavoreds:
Ruby Red. And another recent, innovative addition from Pernod Ricard: Stoli
Blueberi, which features the essence of
fresh ripened blueberries.
Two new flavored vodkas with a
kick — and not a part of the fruit category — is Van Gogh Espresso and
Double Espresso Double Caffeine
vodka. Dave Van de Velde of Van Gogh
vodka, says, “Espresso and Double
Espresso Double Caffeine vodkas provide consumers with a better flavor
than a real cup of Espresso. It took several years of research to develop this
perfect espresso flavor formula.” Van
Gogh currently has fifteen flavors
in its line. Van de Velde adds,
“Our vodkas are unique in the
fact that they are all natural
and provide a high quality,
bold taste; all of our flavors
are intermixable.”
Lending Bartenders a Hand
While Karakasevic feels the move to flavoreds
is coming from the consumer, he notes that it
also helps the bartender. “If you can make a
pomegranate martini by putting Charbay
pomegranate vodka in a shaker and not having
to do anything to it, that’s pretty exciting,” he
says. “When I talked to bartenders in Vegas and
they said, ‘Why are you doing this? It’s our job to mix
flavors’, I told them, ‘I’m helping you out.’”
Georgi Vodka also has a pomegranate flavor in its line.
And in addition to the current consumer enthusiasm for all
things pomegranate, CEO Silver feels there is an added benefit
for bartenders as well. “We came out with a pomegranate flavor
last year and we immediately found that it eliminates the need for
bartenders to mix. In a crowded bar, when someone orders a
pomegranate martini, they use our vodka.” Silver also notes that
orange is Georgi’s best-selling flavor.
Creating Cocktails
Bartenders often make their own vodka infusions to create certain flavors but are now turning to flavoreds to create specialty
cocktails. Duggan McDonnell, a mixologist who most recently
worked at Frisson in San Francisco, saw customer demand for the
flavoreds. “People walk up to the bar and say ‘Stoli Raz and tonic’
or ‘vanilla and soda.’ People will call ‘Effen Black Cherry Vanilla
and soda’ again and again,” he says. When he’s deciding what to
stock, McDonnell says it’s a matter of how the bar approaches the
cocktail, and views citrus and orange flavors as staples of any bar.
“At Frisson we have fewer [brands] but we emphasize quality,” he
says. “We have three orange vodkas, two lemon, and one vanilla
vodka. I chose not to carry peach because too many flavored vod-
kas become garnish on the back bar. They simply
become baggage.”
McDonnell incorporates flavored vodkas into
many of his drinks and notes that creating a cocktail with a flavored vodka has more to do with the
brand than the flavor. “It’s a give and take. It
depends on how good the product is and what
the consumer wants. If I have a good product
I will put it into a great drink,” he says. “There
is a glut of flavored vodkas but amongst that glut
there are a lot of good ones and it takes a discerning
palate to choose the best.”
Colleen Duggan, manager of Honey Bistro in Los Angeles,
sees her customers asking for specific brands. “People request flavored vodkas a lot; Stoli Vanilla is very popular,” she says. “The
palate now is going a little sweeter but more of a purist.” Duggan
uses flavoreds differently from the infused vodkas. “We are using
them to accentuate a drink but we use infused vodkas on their
own; right now we have one by Modern Spirits.” Honey carries
ten different flavors, including chocolate.
Boutique Brands
As new flavored products arrive to off-premise outlets, retailers
see the category growth in the most direct way. Retailers point to
boutique distillers, who are setting themselves apart from the
crowd with hand-crafted, all-natural flavors such as Hangar One’s
Buddha’s Hand Citron and Charbay’s Blood Orange. “There is a
flood of products,” says Mike Ulanday, a sales staff member at Red
Carpet Wine & Spirits Merchants in Glendale, California, who
carries approximately 30 different flavored vodkas. But Ulanday
doesn’t see it lasting. “I think it’s a trend. Vodka is the most popular spirit but quality is tough. Some of them are too sweet, viscous, or syrupy – one of the three,” he says. Ulanday points to the
“We stock flavors
based on requests.
But quite honestly, the
next hot flavor is...
...whatever’s next.
– Janie Westla, Ansley Wines, Atlanta
quality of the flavored line as the differentiating factor. “I like
the local guys – Hangar One and Charbay. Everything they do
is good. I would say there’s a lot out there but the basic difference is between a small versus a larger guy,” he notes.
At Union Square Wines in New York City, spirits manager
Kenneth Posner is seeing strong sales in the smaller brands as
well. “Some of the better selling flavoreds are the boutique vodkas,” he says. Ponser stocks approximately 25 different brands of
flavored vodkas and notes that “the citrus stuff goes the quickest and seems to appeal to a lot of people.”
For Janie Westla, a manager at Ansley Wines in Atlanta,
the flavors she stocks is determined by her customers. “We
stock flavors based on requests,” says Janie Westla, a manager
at Ansley Wines in Atlanta. “But the next hot flavor is really
whatever’s next. There are certain ones that stay, like citrus
and orange,” remarks Westla. She also points out that what
customers will spend depends on how they plan to use the
vodka, and she currently doesn’t price anything above the
Grey Goose Citron and L’Orange. “It’s a matter of pricing,
too. People who are purists and drink it straight up, they will
spend more,” she says.
With palates tuned in to sweet and savory, expect to see
more flavors emerge in the next year. But don’t get too attached
to that melon-kiwi-berry; as Spillane notes, “You’re going to see
a rotation of hot flavors faster than other spirits.” n