Consumer tastes continue to evolve as drinking trends embrace craft beverages, ready-to-drink cocktails and non-alcoholic options
Have you noticed any changes these days in what everyone is drinking? Decades ago, it was all about spirits, primarily whiskies and beers. Then other forms of spirits became more popular as cocktails came into vogue again. Sales of vodka, gin and rum in particular picked up. Then along came the Millennials, they wanted drinks that were special so the spirits industry started putting gold flakes and flavours in their products to capture the younger drinking generation. Spirits produced in foreign countries like India (Amrut in Bangalore) and Japanese whiskies (Yamazaki 12-year-old by Suntory, and single malt Miyagikyo by Nikka) are winning awards and customers in North America. The age of designated drivers took hold and when they wanted beer, they started to give up on the large producers like Labatt’s and Molson where the beers seemed to taste the same while the prices (taxes) kept going up. So, we saw the creation of craft breweries across the country where a larger number of types of beer with different flavours you could actually taste came on the scene.
The Canadian wine industry underwent a rebirth, literally, when winery owners across Canada uprooted the old vitus labrusca vines (Concord, Niagara, Catawba) replacing them with vitis vinifera vines, or what we call ‘noble grapes’ like Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Riesling, Merlot, etc. which were largely imported from Europe. Customers continued to seek out fresher styles including lighter reds, sparklers, and light wines. The wine industry soon expanded sales as consumers learned and developed a palate for better quality wines, just as they did when craft brewers came out with many great tasting beers!
Then along came the next generation who were drinking less hard spirits but more mixed drinks, spritzers and in beer, radlers hit the scene where beer was mixed with citrus fruits. Convenience is their mantra and seltzer-style products, which offer a low-calorie alternative, remain the most popular type of ready-to-drink alcohol overall. People are forever seeking easy, ready-made products too and according to the LCBO ready-to-drink cocktails were the fastest-growing category, with sales rising 31 per cent. During this time, sales of de-alcoholized wines increased by a whopping 126 per cent as the manufacturing process was fine-tuned and some of the non-alcoholic beers taste just like their alcohol-based versions. I have written a few articles about these in the past and I remain partial to Heineken 0 and Guiness 0.
A few recommendations this month of some of these new, even exotic drinks at your local LCBO include: Hana Awaka Yuzu Sparkling Sake (LCBO#48410 250ml $9.35. This one is sake based with a tart flavour of the Japanese citrus fruit ‘Yuzu’, in a sparkling format making it a fizzy rice wine with a balance between tartness and sweetness providing a low alcohol (5%abv) summer refresher. Another refreshing wine at this time of year is Rose. There are several available in a range of prices and levels of sweetness. Ask the LCBO rep to help you pick one that meets your taste profile and pocketbook. For me, the best Rose is from Tavel, France, but it is higher priced. You can get several good ones in the range of $11 to $16.
For the hot weather, I stick with a crisp, lighter style lager beer like Hollandia Lager from Holland, brewed in the traditional style that pours gold and clear with a medium white head; the nose offers aromas of citrus and cereal. The palate is medium-bodied and dry with light bitterness and flavours of grain, citrus, light herb and tea on a refreshing finish. Great on its own or paired with spicy dishes. My go-to lower priced beer remains Maclay’s Traditional India Pale Ale, golden colour with a fine head; the nose shows mild aromas of binned apples, earth, floral hops and malt; light and creamy mouth feel with smooth, mild malt and hop flavours.
Stay tuned as next month I will write a few articles about my further tasting travels this spring which saw us circumnavigate all of Japan (my ninth time to my second home!), South Korea, Alaska and British Columbia on three different cruise ships. That’s one way to avoid duplicating the extremely long return flight from Japan – 10.5 hours to Vancouver and 5.5 hours to Ottawa.
Brian Preston – The Travelling Sommelier
brianpreston@hotmail.com
613.272.3129
The Travelling Sommelier column is a regular feature in our print/digital edition.
