Starbucks and the Booze Business

There’s been lots of press (WSD among others) about Starbucks testing a concept in Seattle to sell wine and beer in a store location to be named 15th Avenue Coffee and Tea.

Presumably, if the concept works they will roll it nationally. And if they put spirits on the menu it’s fun to think about what these “bars” might be like.

So, borrowing a page from David Letterman, here are my top 10 reasons I won’t be having a drink (other than coffee) at a Starbuck bar/café:

10. Can’t see myself saying, “I’ll have another please barista-keep.”

9. The new drink sizes called “buzzed,” “blitzed” and “I love you man.”

8. Drinks like the Seattle Slammer made with Frappuccino, Starbuck Cream Coffee Liqueur and Puget Sound Vodka.

7. PIA, the instant Whiskey powder.

6. Martinis served in recycled paper cups with caff/decaf and other shot options.

5. Iced Chai Latte with a shot of Sochu.

4. Bar food choices like oatmeal, hummus and veggies and apple bran muffins.

3. Scotch from Kenya, Costa Rica, Sumatra and Pike Place.

2. You line up to order and wait for the staff to stop talking about their date last night and for the customer ahead of you to search for money. Then you wait again for the drink, complain that they got it wrong and leave in disgust vowing never to come back.

1. The thought of a 90 proof soymilk shot with a beer chaser makes me want to gag.

Okay, okay…so I’ll keep my day job.

Care to offer any reasons of your own?

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Bronfman Troubles

I’m away this week but saw this lead story in Wine & Spirits Daily today. I’m sharing it with you with permission from Meghan. My comments will be posted soon.

Wine & Spirits Daily

October 13, 2010

How a Cult Allegedly Swallowed $150m of the Seagram Fortune

Dear Client:

Vanity Fair has published a detailed, fascinating account of the Bronfman sisters’ alleged involvement with a so-called cult, resulting in a loss of roughly $150 million over the past 6 years.  The article sums up how the heiresses to the Seagram fortune, Sara and Clara Bronfman, became involved with nxivm (pronounced Nexxium) and its founder Keith Raniere.  It also speculates about their relationship with their father and how Raniere “seems also to have tapped into a complex emotional rift between the sisters and their father, billionaire philanthropist Edgar Bronfman Sr.”  Note that Raniere, Edgar Bronfman Sr., Sara and Clare did not comment for this story.

“What seems clear, from court documents and interviews with ex-nxivm members–and those who have come into conflict with the group and its mysterious guru–is that Sara and Clare Bronfman could be in serious trouble,” says the article.

The author, Suzanna Andrews, says that as much as $150 million was taken out of the Bronfmans’ trusts and bank accounts over the past 6 years, according to legal filings and public documents.  $66 million was allegedly used to cover Raniere’s losses in the commodities market, $30 million to buy real estate in Los Angeles and around Albany, $11 million for a private jet, and millions more to fund “a barrage of lawsuits across the country against nxivm’s enemies.”

A number of people have reportedly come forward in recent months with stories about nxivm regarding “private detectives allegedly obtaining bank and phone records of nxivm opponents; stories of its critics being followed and threatened and, in one case, reportedly run off the road by a black limousine; accounts of a motherless three-year-old boy, brought into the group as a newborn under mysterious circumstances, and about the circumstances behind the Dalai Lama’s visit to Albany.”  In all, there are “multiple lawsuits” today involving the Bronfman sisters, with allegations of possible blackmail, perjury, theft and “a conspiracy to forge documents.”

Here’s a link to the full article: http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2010/11/bronfman-201011?currentPage=1

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Tequila Sunrise, Ascent, or Hype?

Wine and Spirits Daily had a story last week entitled, IS TEQUILA THE NEW VODKA?

Good question.

The article quoted a writer at the Washington Post who said… “A new trend emerges: the proliferation of ‘ultra-premium’ tequilas targeted at a club crowd that slowly has begun to trade in Grey Goose for Patron.” The article goes on to point out that “various social indicators, such as Al Roker claiming on the Today Show that Tequila is the new Vodka.” (I must have missed the announcement about Al Roker as social forecaster. I thought he did the weather.)

A few observations:

Drinking Patron at clubs at the expense of Vodka brands like Grey Goose is not a new concept. They are often interchangeable depending on the mood and occasion. Both brands are at the top of the heap in terms of being icons.

Further, it’s not Tequila, it’s Patron. Generally speaking, among most consumers, the Tequila category has three brands…Patron, Cuervo and all others. Remember the old adage? Consumers drink brands not categories.

Tequila will grow as it continues to be the focus of new product introductions and in that regard, it will be the new Vodka. I don’t have the actual data but I’d bet there have been more new Tequilas introduced in the last few years than Vodka. The shifts in Vodka preferences from the high end to mid-priced and value brands make new Tequila entries more enticing.

So, among most consumers, Vodka will continue to rule. Whether Al Roker thinks so or not.

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