Espresso martini vodka short drink as a coffee cocktail inclduing coffee liqueur and vanilla syrup.New cold brew and coffee spirits join classic brands in the caffeinated cocktail craze.
By Lara Creasy
I’ve always got a bottle of Kahlua in my liquor cabinet. Being someone who’s always loved coffee, it’s just a go-to, one of those comfortable brands that have made us all feel better during this pandemic. Research shows that consumers turned to brands that make them feel comfortable in droves over the last18 months, with sales of comfort brands registering as a “trend” on many market watch websites.
Recently, however, I was wanting something different to make with Kahlua than the standard White Russian, and I discovered the obvious but delicious caffeinated cocktail called Brave Bull. A very simple combination of tequila and Kahlua, this “why didn’t I think of that” cocktail reminded me that caffeinated cocktails don’t always have to be “dessert-y.” It was also a slam-dunk for inclusion on the menus at the Tex Mex restaurants I work for.
Fast forward to a few weeks later and I went to the liquor store to buy another comfort brand of mine, Jameson. Attached to the neck of the bottle was a 50ml sample bottle of Jameson’s line extension, Jameson Cold Brew. How funny that another coffee spirits experience just fell in my lap! It felt like a sign. Then I started seeing new coffee spirits ideas pop up everywhere.
The 90’s Seattle Vibe is Back in Style
Back in 2016, I wrote a piece for this very magazine about the innovative uses of coffee at the bar. It was part of the so-called Fourth Wave of coffee culture, and we talked about everything from serving nitro cold brew on tap at the bar (brand new that year!) to using coffee liqueurs in craft cocktails. Coffee has been a thing for a long time, ever since the 1980s when Howard Schultz bought a tiny coffee shop at Seattle’s Pike Place Market and started plotting to sell Italian-style espresso drinks to as many Americans as he could. It worked. We’re obsessed. Coffee is everywhere.
Five years later, I find myself talking about coffee at the bar once again, because there seems to be yet another explosion in the market. I chatted recently with my industry friend Thomas Panza, district manager of Empire Distributors, and we mused about reasons for coffee’s ubiquity.
“Coffee is a cool flavor,” Thomas told me. “Young people feel grown up with a coffee in their hand. They start drinking coffee at age 14 or 15, and by the time they are old enough to drink, they have a taste for coffee, and they translate that to their alcoholic drinks.”
Makes sense. People do gravitate to what they know, and what makes them feel good. There’s a wave of nostalgia happening right now for the ’90s, and we all remember how Seattle and its flannel shirt/Doc Martens-wearing, coffee-drinking vibe captured our imagination back then. Today’s young Gen Z’ers, feeling grown up with a coffee in their hands, could be riding that wave.
Cold Brew is Hot
But this time around, coffee is appearing in alcoholic beverages in different ways than it was even 5 years ago. Beverages based on the milder, less bitter coffee preparation known as cold brew, which we saw popping up for the first time 5 years ago, are now über familiar to the current generation from their time spent in the “other bar” known as the coffee shop. Most spirits new to market in the last 18 months are based on this preparation.
“The millennials tend to have a softer pallet, and cold brew dilutes the bitterness of coffee,” Thomas says. Quoting from some research he did before our conversation, he told me “60% of millennials say they like to try new drinks, and cold brew consumption skews under 40 years old. Cold brew is expected to grow 163% worldwide by 2023. This health-conscious generation is also viewing the high-energy cold-brew cocktail as a more natural and lower calorie alternative to options from the past.”
While classic coffee liqueurs like Kahlua and even Patron XO, are still around and thriving (Kahlúa is still the largest coffee spirit in the U.S., at roughly 800,000 9-liter cases in 2019, according to Impact Databank), the new wave of coffee spirits and caffeinated cocktails is moving away from the syrupy sweet flavors of years past and modeling the current trend of drinks that feel like they are “good for you.”
Today’s newer brands of coffee spirits, like Mr. Black Cold Brew Coffee Liqueur, have 50 percent less sugar than their predecessors did, along with an average of 10 times more caffeine than the classic brands, according to Break Thru Beverage Group.
“While Red Bull and vodka played a major role as the high-energy celebratory drink in years past, cold brew is eating into that trend,” Thomas says. “People use cold brew cocktails as a daytime drink. It’s more socially acceptable to have an energized cocktail at 4:00. It relaxes you, and it keeps you pepped up.”
Classic Brands Spread Their Caffeinated Cocktail Influence
Capitalizing on the cold brew trend, Jameson launched what has turned out to be a fairly successful brand extension early last year, Jameson Cold Brew. Another industry friend of mine, who asked that I not use his name due to the media policy of the company he works for, told me a few interesting tidbits.
Jameson Cold Brew has done well since it entered the market, he says, and it gained traction really quickly, particularly in retail. “Sales have stayed strong. And it’s sold a large amount without cannibalizing any of the core brand’s sales, an ideal situation for a new product launch.”
That means the sales Jameson Cold Brew is achieving aren’t just regular Jameson drinkers changing up what bottle they buy. The sales are from drinkers new to the Jameson brand, adding to their overall bottles sold.
“I think it’s a really familiar flavor, people are ultra-comfortable with it, and it appeals to every demographic in the country,” he adds.
Jägermeister, a classic brand with a party reputation, entered the field with their Jägermeister Cold Brew Coffee liqueur, which is designed to appeal to an entirely different drinker than the classic Jäger does. “Jäger markets to cocktails with Jägermeister cold brew,” Thomas says. “Mixologists use it just as ‘coffee liqueur’ on their menus. Drinkers are often shocked that the product exists, or shocked when they see it in their cocktail. There is a connection to that party shot that they (at Jägermeister) are trying to break a little bit. Jägermeister doesn’t even mind if the brand isn’t listed when used in cocktails.”
My anonymous industry friend told me that he thinks a lot of brands entering the market are just jumping on the bandwagon, and they might have momentary success but soon fade away. “These brands may help build the category of coffee spirits, they may get people excited about it, but they may eventually get swallowed up by the core brands like Kahlua, Patron XO and Jameson.”
“It happened when Fireball came around,” he says. “All of a sudden every whiskey line had a cinnamon flavor trying to get a market share of what Fireball was getting.” A lot of those imitators have faded away, he said, and he predicated something similar in the cold brew spirits market.
Thomas agrees. From his point of view, sales have not been as robust for the new brands jumping on the bandwagon. “For as many as there are, you would think sales were exploding. Unless you have a mixologist, or meet with a brand ambassador, buyers don’t always know what to do with it.”
Capitalizing on the cold brew trend, Jameson launched what has turned out to be a fairly successful brand extension early last year, Jameson Cold Brew. Another industry friend of mine, who asked that I not use his name due to the media policy of the company he works for, told me a few interesting tidbits.
Jameson Cold Brew has done well since it entered the market, he says, and it gained traction really quickly, particularly in retail. “Sales have stayed strong. And it’s sold a large amount without cannibalizing any of the core brand’s sales, an ideal situation for a new product launch.”
That means the sales Jameson Cold Brew is achieving aren’t just regular Jameson drinkers changing up what bottle they buy. The sales are from drinkers new to the Jameson brand, adding to their overall bottles sold.
“I think it’s a really familiar flavor, people are ultra-comfortable with it, and it appeals to every demographic in the country,” he adds.
Jägermeister, a classic brand with a party reputation, entered the field with their Jägermeister Cold Brew Coffee liqueur, which is designed to appeal to an entirely different drinker than the classic Jäger does. “Jäger markets to cocktails with Jägermeister cold brew,” Thomas says. “Mixologists use it just as ‘coffee liqueur’ on their menus. Drinkers are often shocked that the product exists, or shocked when they see it in their cocktail. There is a connection to that party shot that they (at Jägermeister) are trying to break a little bit. Jägermeister doesn’t even mind if the brand isn’t listed when used in cocktails.”
My anonymous industry friend told me that he thinks a lot of brands entering the market are just jumping on the bandwagon, and they might have momentary success but soon fade away. “These brands may help build the category of coffee spirits, they may get people excited about it, but they may eventually get swallowed up by the core brands like Kahlua, Patron XO and Jameson.”
“It happened when Fireball came around,” he says. “All of a sudden every whiskey line had a cinnamon flavor trying to get a market share of what Fireball was getting.” A lot of those imitators have faded away, he said, and he predicted something similar in the cold brew spirits market.
Thomas agrees. From his point of view, sales have not been as robust for the new brands jumping on the bandwagon. “For as many as there are, you would think sales were exploding. Unless you have a mixologist, or meet with a brand ambassador, buyers don’t always know what to do with it.”
What Caffeinated Cocktails to Offer, What to Skip
On that note, what should restaurant operators focus on in looking at how to respond to this coffee-alcohol resurgence? The espresso martini is definitely having a moment once again, from Decatur to Cobb County, so why not offer one and have some fun with it, dressing it up in fancy glassware or garnishing with something unexpected?
There are several brands to choose from when considering a cold brew spirit, from F.E.W. Cold Cut Coffee Bourbon to St. George NOLA Coffee Liqueur to the ones we’ve already mentioned.
If your location has a mixologist, chances are they are already experimenting with coffee liqueurs and cold brew on your menu. If not, keep it simple with updates on classics like the Irish Coffee, perhaps iced and using the new Jameson Cold Brew, or try a slight tweak to the Old Fashioned to make it a “Cold Fashioned.” (See sidebar.)
Drinks with caffeine in them are great options at brunch as an alternative to the Bloody Mary, and offering a caffeinated “happy hour” feature can help guests get their night started without crashing too early.
One other major thing afoot in the caffeinated beverage world worth mentioning briefly is the proliferation of RTDs or ready-to-drink cocktails. Brands like Kahlua have followed Starbucks’ lead in marketing cans of caffeinated beverages to young people on the go, including the recently released Kahlua Nitro Cold Brew.
“Kahlua’s canned caffeinated cocktail is replacing the Red Bull can in people’s hands. It gives them that feel,” Thomas says. “It’s just like cigarettes. 90% of addiction is that mouth to hand motion.”
Don’t expect demand to be there for these products on-premise, however. Much like the proliferation of seltzer products, these RTD cocktails will most likely remain more of an allure at retail. You can still expect your on-premise guests to come to you for that cocktail they can’t make at home.
“People don’t know how to make themselves a cold brew cocktail, but they can go buy a can,” Thomas told me. “What people drink at home isn’t always what they order in a restaurant.”
One small relief for restaurants in this crazy time.
Lara Creasy is Beverage Director for Rocket Farm Restaurants, overseeing 8 Superica locations in 4 states. She loves all things beverage from tea to tequila, coffee to cocktails, whiskey to wine, and gets to make a living at it.
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