Holds its Own

American Whiskey
Tradition and evolving palates continue to
show support for American brown goods.
By Jack Robertiello

The Maker’s Manhattan at

Café Nell in Portland, Ore.

22 | september 2009 www.cheersonline.com

I f you were wondering how the American whiskey business
is doing these days, a glance at The New York Times this past
summer might provide a hint.
A full page Knob Creek ad in late June announced that
demand for the Bourbon had outstripped supply, and that new
shipments wouldn’t arrive until November. In addition to being
a brilliant marketing play, this is a sure sign that the premium
and super-premium side of the American whiskey business is
humming along nicely despite the country’s economic woes.
American whiskies are benefiting from a number of trends,
not the least being the relative bargain they represent. “Even
at the high end, they aren’t outrageously expensive, and they
are a phenomenal value, especially compared to other brown
spirits like Cognac or Scotch,” says Michael Bonadies, president
and CEO of single location 21c Museum Hotel. The hotel has
a Louisville, Ky. location and is developing its second hotel in
Austin, Texas.
The return of classic cocktails also has helped drive the
category’s strength, pushing the Manhattan, Sazerac and Mint
Julep back onto many menus. Among whiskey connoisseurs,
the buzz about the return of rye is creating a halo effect for
all American whiskies, with brands such as Rittenhouse and
Sazerac ryes selling out their small productions.
Among leading straight whiskey brands, Jack Daniel’s continued
growing in 2008, up 1 percent in volume. Jim Beam, the second
leading brand, sank more than four percent, but Beam Global’s other
main brand, Maker’s Mark, grew 6.9 percent. Most brands that lost
volume last year—Early Times and Ten High, for example—do
a large share of their business off-premise. Meanwhile, strong
on-premise whiskies such as Wild Turkey, Jim Beam Small Batch
(Knob Creek, Booker’s, Baker’s and Basil Hayden) and Woodford
Reserve showed great strength.
Many brands that are popular on-premise but too small to
show up on the list of top brands by volume, such as Blanton’s,
Old Weller and Michter’s, also are gaining popularity among
consumers and mixologists.
Whatever impact classic cocktails are having, though, they’re
also not affecting trends much at the 99 Old Chicago and 35 Rock
Bottom restaurants, says Tracy Finklang, corporate beverage
manager for the two Louisville, Colorado-based chains.
“Bourbon is not an easy thing. If you’re drinking vodka and
cranberry, Bourbon is not likely to be your next thing,” she says.
When drinks featuring American whiskey make the menu there,
they usually include Maker’s Mark, Knob Creek or Woodford
Reserve, but Finklang doesn’t find her chain customers ranging
far beyond their own “classic,” for the most part: Jim Beam or
Jack Daniel’s and Coke. The super-premium brands make the
list to offer guests a trade-up, but they are not sales leaders.
Mixing it Up Down South
In the whiskey heartland of Kentucky and Tennessee,
operators report that traditional consumption patterns are
holding sway. At the contemporary American, single-location
concept, F. Scott’s Restaurant & Jazz Bar in Nashville, most
customers like their brands served straight or on the rocks
rather than in classic cocktails, says Elise Loehr, the proprietor
and wine director. “We’re a conservative market here—we
don’t have a lot of the trends that you might in more major
markets.”
To thrive in a whiskey market such as Nashville, F. Scott’s
stocks about a dozen whiskeys, mostly super-premium brands

Old Favorites
When it comes to American whiskey at casual dining chains,
sales are good but it mostly is the usual—Jack and Coke.
“When you look at what spirits we sell most, Jack Daniel’s
is in the top three,” says Peter Czizek, vice president food and
beverage research and development for Dave & Busters, the
53-unit, Dallas-based chain. While he offers drinks such as
Lynchburg Lemonade on the menu, Jack and Coke is the whiskey
sales leader. “The Jack drinker is a little more traditional, and
drinks in a fashion that hasn’t changed over the years much,” he
notes. Jack, Jim Beam and Maker’s Mark are the three straight
whiskeys on the concept’s core list, with units having leeway Proof (above) and other
Washington, D.C. restaurants say
to add up to three additional brands such Gentleman Jack and the Bourbon business is brisk.
other small batch whiskies.

www.cheersonline.com september 2009 | 23

 Leading Brands of American Straight Whiskey
(thousands of 9-liter cases)

Brand Supplier 2007 2008 % Chg

Jack Daniel's Brown-Forman Beverages 4,679 4,725 1.0%
Jim Beam Beam Global Spirits & Wine 3,264 3,129 -4.1%
Evan Williams Heaven Hill Distilleries 1,030 1,120 8.7%
Maker's Mark Beam Global Spirits & Wine 720 770 6.9%
Early Times Brown-Forman Beverages 687 649 -5.5%
Wild Turkey Pernod Ricard USA 588 636 8.2%
Ten High Constellation Spirits/Barton 487 486 -0.2%
Old Crow Beam Global Spirits & Wine 385 398 3.4%
Ancient Age/AAA Sazerac 365 380 4.1%
Heaven Hill Bourbon Heaven Hill Distilleries 270 290 7.4%
Kentucky Gentleman Constellation Spirits/Barton 194 217 11.9%
Gentleman Jack Brown-Forman Beverages 173 208 20.2%
Jim Beam Small Batch Beam Global Spirits & Wine 170 181 6.5%
Ezra Brooks Luxco 162 175 8.0%
Kentucky Tavern Constellation Spirits/Barton 163 166 1.8%
George Dickel Diageo 135 125 -7.4%
Old Charter Sazerac 130 125 -3.8%
Old Grand-Dad Beam Global Spirits & Wine 124 121 -2.4%
Woodford Reserve SBL Brown-Forman Beverages 95 102 7.4% Whiskey-based drinks such as the Hoodwinked cocktail
Old Forester Brown-Forman Beverages 104 100 -3.8% above are a growing share of the bar business at Proof
on Main in Louisville, Ky.
Source: The Beverage Information Group

such as Blanton’s, Booker’s and Black Maple Hills, priced from
$8 to $24 a serving. “They look for Gentleman Jack or Jack
Daniel’s Single Barrel rather than Jack Black,” she says.
In Louisville, there is no lack of operations featuring Bourbon.
In fact, the Louisville Convention and Visitors Bureau promotes
the Urban Bourbon Trail, a collection of establishments,
including landmarks the Old Seelbach Bar and The Brown, that
serve at least 50 Bourbons each.
While Proof on Main at the 91-room 21c Museum Hotel
makes the list, the restaurant was designed not as a Bourbon
palace but as a fine dining establishment and cocktail
destination, a place downtown where woman could wear their
little black dress, says Bonadies.
“It was key to include Bourbon, but also great cocktails
because there were plenty of great Bourbon bars but not so
many where you could get great cocktails,” Bonadies notes.
Tourists and locals are driving interest in whiskey, especially
among newer brands, so the restaurant offers regularly changing
whiskey flights for $16 to $18 and has partnered with distilleries
to choose single barrels for exclusive house usage. The menu
always includes at least one classic whiskey cocktail, priced from
$8 to $10, as well as house creations priced from $9 to $11 such
as Hoodwinked, made with Eagle Rare, Aperol, St-Germain
and Regan’s Orange Bitters. As hoped, the whiskey-based
cocktails are a growing share of the bar business.
Popular Quaffs Back East
Washington, D.C. has long been a whiskey stronghold
where connoisseurship runs high, says Derek Brown, drink
consultant and head bartender at the speakeasy-style bar, The
Gibson. “Bourbon remains the whiskey choice of consumers.
Rye has definitely made inroads, but Bourbon is the spirit I get
the most calls for.”
At the Gibson, he uses Old Weller Antique Bourbon in a
number of cocktails, which Brown calls “a great mixer that
packs an appropriate wallop.” Maker’s Mark and Knob Creek
are the most popular call brands, with Wild Turkey and Four
Roses also doing well.
Sambonn Lek, head bartender at the roughly 580-room
Renaissance Mayflower Hotel’s Town & Country Lounge in
D.C., reports that brands such as Gentleman Jack and Single
Barrel Jack Daniel’s, Woodford Reserve, Booker’s, Baker’s

24 | september 2009 www.cheersonline.com

and Blanton’s are popularly requested on the rocks, often by
international guests intrigued by whiskey. The hotel carries a
total of 16 American whiskeys, priced from $10 to $35.
Older regulars prefer Manhattans, and overall Maker’s
Mark, the house Bourbon, is most popular; he uses it in
his Old Fashioned and signature Whiskey Sour made with
Maker’s Mark, Bourbon, fresh lemon and honey. Both are
priced at $14.50. Lynchburg Lemonade and the Kentucky
Martini, made with Maker’s, amaretto and bitters, also make
the bar’s 101 Martini menu.
Various economic issues—the declining dollar, the high cost
of other brown spirits—have helped steer guests to American
whiskey, says Matthew Boettcher, director of restaurants for
the Mayflower. Interest has encouraged the hotel to carry the
three top Jack Daniel’s iterations after years of carrying only
Jack Black, as well as such top shelf tipples as the 20-year-old
Distillers’ Masterpiece, priced at $35.
Adam Bernbach, head bartender at D.C.’s Proof, says that
American whiskey’s attraction may fade when the weather
warms in other regions, but not in D.C.—especially as local
bartenders have championed the Rickey, the regional classic
often made with gin but originally made with Bourbon.
He credits the “amazing value” of American whiskey
as a reason why so many bartenders like to add classics and
experiment with new recipes, and he says greater rapport
between bartender and guest makes selling them easier. He’s
seeing growing interest in Bulleit, especially among women,
The Louisville Convention
and Visitors Bureau in
Kentucky promotes the Urban
Bourbon Trail, which features
restaurants that serve at
least 50 Bourbons each.
26 | september 2009
and he himself likes working with Buffalo Trace, Sazerac Rye
and Elijah Craig 12 and 18 year olds.
Bernbach is in the middle of changing the Proof menu, and he
says he intends to focus on the creative, the seasonal and the culinary,
with emphasis on lesser-known classics—including a highball
selection—and spirits served neat with garnishes. American whiskey
is to be front and center. “It’s a great spirit to work with, and we’ll
start with the original Rickey and build on that.”
Keeping Comfortable in the Northwest
In the Pacific Northwest, contemporary drinking trends vary
place to place. At El Gaucho in Seattle, one of four steakhouse
operations the company owns in the metro area, customers are
getting through rough economic times with comfort foods
and such familiar whiskies as Maker’s Mark, Knob Creek and
Booker’s. They’re often served neat or on the rocks, a style that
accounts for about 60 percent of whiskey business, says head
bartender Laren Waterbury. The restaurant group stocks 13
American whiskeys, priced from $7 to $20.
“They’ll spend $15 on a specialty cocktail if you push them
that way, sure, but they really want to be in their comfort zone,”
he says. With Bourbon and steak such a popular pairing, El
Gaucho goes through “tons” of Maker’s Mark and Blanton’s,
says Waterbury.
He does a brisk business in classic Manhattans and Old
Fashioneds, too, the former with Bulleit and orange bitters, the
latter in classic style: Peychaud bitters, Angostura bitters, Jim
Beam Black, simple syrup, orange twist but no muddled fruit.
Both are priced at $14.
At the Portland, Ore. American-style bistro, Café Nell,
American whiskey is a seasonal choice, more often ordered in
fall and winter, says owner and bartender Darren Creely. He
says his customers are warming up to the sippable, easy quality
of many modern whiskies, though it’s hard to say whether that’s
due to the improved quality of whiskies or the evolution of
customers’ palates. The classics are all represented on his menu,
including the lesser-known Williamsburg, $10, made like a
Manhattan but served in an absinthe rinsed glass, and the Mint
Julep, $8. The restaurant carries 10 American whiskies, priced
from $6 to $10.
Creely cites one trend that has pleased American whiskey
producers: His staff, mostly in their 20s, are big Bourbon fans,
something he also sees more among younger customers who
“seem to have skipped right past vodka and found their taste
buds more interested in whiskey.”
As if the longstanding dream of producers has come true, it
could be that the American palate finally has returned to its own
whiskey. Perhaps, like the intense interest in local ingredients
and traditional American dishes, the taste for our own whiskey
once again is in vogue.  l
Jack Robertiello is a former editor of Cheers and a judge at such
events as the San Francisco International Spirits Competition and
the International Rum Festival. More of his writing can be found
at http://drinksink.blogspot.com.
www.cheersonline.com