Clear-Headed Choices for Conscious Consumers
By Lorrie Baumann
Consumers want choices, including the choice of whether or not to drink alcohol. But even when they’ve decided to take alcohol off their menus, they still want to participate in the social context that surrounds the kinds of occasions in which alcohol is generally served.
For those consumers, Ritual Zero Proof offers choices they haven’t had before – alternatives to whiskey, tequila and gin that mimic the flavors and even the burn of the alcoholic beverages to which they are analogs. “There’s a perception that this is about Millennials, but we’ve found it’s a much larger movement. People are demanding choice,” said Marcus Sakey, who founded Ritual Zero Proof along with his wife, G.G. Sakey; and his best friend, David Crooch. “People want a choice in the way they enjoy a sophisticated beverage.”
Ritual is the first American spirit alternative to use all natural botanical flavors – the Ritual Gin Alternative is bright and herbaceous, and the Whiskey Alternative has flavors with the warmth of a bourbon. The Ritual Tequila Alternative that’s the newest of the line was blended particularly to substitute for the spirit component in a margarita recipe, and it even brings in the grassy notes along with the bright flavor of a smooth-sipping tequila. The burn of an alcohol, present in all three, is an effect achieved by a complex blend of botanicals ranging from chili peppers to jambu to prickly ash along with other botanicals that calm some of the heat. “The burn comes from natural botanicals,” Sakey said. “It’s not alcohol with the alcohol removed.”
All three can be crafted into cocktails exactly the same way as their spirit analogs – they measure identically, and they are complemented by the same mixers, so everyone’s signature recipes will still work. “These are alternatives with a whole range of uses,” Sakey said. “All the botanicals are natural – organic when we can get them. It’s chef wizardry – not mad science.” The flavors are close enough to their spirit analogs that Ritual can even be blended into cocktails that also contain spirits, diluting their alcoholic and caloric content and providing another range of reasons to use them. “If I can make a drink that has half the alcohol and half the calories, then I can have two of them,” Sakey said. “I still love a good drink, and I drink regularly, but I wanted another tool in the kit. It lets you stay up and out and keep laughing and talking with your friends. It’s about having more – and then being able to crush the next day.”
Statistics show that best tadalafil prices impotence is 4 times more common in women than in men. The odds of achieving viagra cipla india success through an IVF pregnancy will increase if you make these changes. Regular intake of online viagra these herbal supplements boosts physical health. Medications of sexual brokenness are not all viagra without prescription about increasing the libido. Ritual started in Sakey’s home kitchen in 2018. A passionate amateur chef and bestselling novelist with nine books to his credit, Sakey, now in his mid 40s, was taking a conscious break from spirits. “I realized that what I missed was everything that went around making a drink – the process of crafting a cocktail, sitting around with a rocks glass in my hand in front of the fire,” he said.
He decided to try and recreate the experience he craved – but without the alcohol. “I came up with an early draft of Ritual, which I shared with my wife and my best friend, and right then, we realized this was something we not only wanted, we needed,” he said. Working with flavorists, distillers, chefs and bartenders through more than 500 iterations to achieve gin and whiskey alternatives that would share the gustatory delights of a fine spirit while leaving its consumers clear-headed, Sakey and his partners had a pair of products that were ready to launch onto the American market. “People have responded to this all over the country,” he said. “It’s been really thrilling to see that I wasn’t the only one waiting for this.” Development of a tequila alternative followed this year.
Ritual’s launch last year was embraced by both bartenders and liquor retailers, and the products were so dramatically successful that the company had a hard time supplying the demand. “At first, demand made it hard to get supply under control,” Sakey said. “It’s a very happy problem that can come with a new business.”
With production now scaled up, Ritual is ready for launch into conventional grocery channels, although the roll-out has been stalled by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Sakey has responded with vigorous online marketing to help the brand find its tribe, so that when those people return to their neighborhood grocery stores after retailing has returned to something approaching normal, they’ll be looking for a brand with which they’re already familiar. In early results, demographics for the Ritual products are evenly split between males and females from ages 25 to 65, according to Sakey. “It’s just something that people wanted – they might not even have known they wanted it,” he said. “If you’re pregnant and still want to hang out. If you’re training or dieting or it’s a work night…. You are better than club soda.”
Ritual has three SKUs that are widely available to grocery retailers – the Whiskey Alternative, Gin Alternative and Tequila Alternative. They’re packaged in 750 ml glass bottles that retail for a suggested $24.95.
Stop and Smell the Rosé at Augusta Food and Wine
By Greg Gonzales
Everyone likes to have “a guy,” whether it’s for car repair or some other service. In Chicago’s Lincoln Square neighborhood, Augusta Food and Wine is a go-to place for wines. The shop is a laid-back kind of place, dog-friendly, where Owner Shane Martin might be found playing guitar next to his own pup, Bradley. The store, named for the first designated American Viticultural Area, has earned a reputation as a local destination for small-batch European wines and providing specialty foods to match. From a limited inventory of 100 to 125 wines, customers will find small-batch, esoteric wines and a constantly changing list.
Patrons seem to enjoy it, too, as Martin’s wine club continues to grow, as does the traffic for weekly tastings. Club members get a discount, and a monthly email that details that month’s wine selection ― the wine itself, the history of the region, the story of the family of farmers and recipes to help members properly pair their wines with food. “Most of our wines are pretty small production,” said Martin, adding that most of the bottles are from Europe. “I’ve got a small collection of some Santa Barbara wines, Oregon, a few Napa cabs. You gotta keep those up top because there’s always that guy who only drinks Napa cabs.
Martin says his clientele tend to be adventurous and willing to try eastern European wines from places like Serbia, Hungary, Croatia and Slovenia. That, he said, might be due in part to how European wines go better with food. “European wines tend to be a little less punchy,” he said. “They’re a little more versatile when it comes to food. When I started bringing in wines, I brought in what I liked, and it worked. Then I started experimenting, putting some New World stuff on the shelf, and it didn’t move as much.”
Whatever inspires their interest in eastern Europe, Augusta’s clients include Millennials, from the mid-twenties and single, to the Gen-Xers their early forties and married with teenage kids ― new money types, said Martin, who like to spend a bit more to try something new and exciting. “They’re not really stuck in a box with what they drink. That’s one of the great things about this generation ― Millennials are my favorite to sell wine to because they are open to anything,” he said. “I feel like there’s an older generation where there wasn’t as much exposure to wine, and they only drink a certain style from a certain place, sometimes even one producer, and it’s very restrictive. So I love the younger audience right now.”
The shop’s location helps draw them in too, as it is literally across the street from the Brown Line stop in Lincoln Square, a route that comes straight from downtown Chicago. “People coming from downtown coming home from work, they can get off the train, come right across the street and come to grab a bottle of wine, maybe a cheese, and walk right home. That’s definitely a huge boon for our business,” said Martin.
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The strip of businesses Augusta operates in is strong on the shop small, shop local movement. And Martin lives close to the Lincoln Square Ravenswood Chamber of Commerce, which puts on a wine stroll every spring and fall, in which the businesses of Lincoln Square are temporarily transformed into wine tasting destinations; the locals purchase tickets, get a route map, and wander around to taste all kinds of different wines. Martin said these types of festivals are common in the area, giving the neighborhood a cohesive, family feel. “It’s one of those neighborhoods where, you could stay in Lincoln Square and never have to go anywhere else.”
In addition to wine, Augusta’s offerings include small-batch foods from smaller distributors ― cheese, olives, anchovies, pates, terrines, salamis, prosciutto, crackers, baguettes, condiments, salts, beers, ice cream, local pies, spirits, specialty bitters, brandy cherries, obscure Bloody Mary mixes. If it’s quirky, new and pairs well with a wine, customers can probably find it at the store.
The shop also puts together cheeseboards and charcuterie boards, and also gift baskets ― and those gift baskets are huge for the holiday season, when some corporate clients will place orders by the hundred.
Martin said local events, gift baskets and the wine club are extremely important to the business’ revenue stream. “The gift baskets are huge, the wine club is guaranteed cash flow that I know is going to happen every month ― it’s always good to have that certainty, where you know money’s going to come in every month,” he said, adding that all the shops are doing their best to fight the demise of the neighborhood small businesses. “That’s always a challenge because when you have a neighborhood like this, the thing that made it great starts to get driven out. We’re small business, we’re week to week. It’s not easy to run a small business, especially in Chicago. It’s very expensive, so you really have to be on top of things. There are little businesses that go under all the time, and I definitely have a different reaction to that now than I did before I owned my own business. It’s heartbreaking ― now I know how much work goes into it, how hard it is, how much passion you have to have to even attempt to keep it afloat.”
“It’s picked up a lot lately. I’ve noticed a lot of new faces, and the wine club is growing a lot,” he continued. “Over the last few months, I think a lot more people have become aware of us. It’s going to be a good year.”
Domaine Carneros Recognized for Green Business
Domaine Carneros, a family-owned winery committed to handcrafting ultra-premium sparkling and pinot noir wines from hand-harvested, estate grown grapes, has been named a California Green Medal recipient for the fifth annual Sustainable Winegrowing Leadership Awards. As the recipient of the 2019 California Green Medal Business Award, Domaine Carneros was recognized for demonstrating “Smart Business through efficiencies, cost savings and innovation from implementing sustainable practices.”
Since 1987, sustainability has been a main business practice employed by Domaine Carneros, instituted by Chief Executive Officer Eileen Crane, who has been with the winery since inception. Crane recognized that for philosophical as well as economic reasons, sustainability made sense as a tenet of doing business. Her open book management plan sets measurable goals every three years and reevaluates on an annual basis, ensuring employee involvement in managing the sustainability category as part of the winery’s culture.
“Domaine Carneros’ smart business sense and commitment to sustainability has been apparent in every facet of their operation, with both vineyards and the winery comprehensively certified to Certified California Sustainable Winegrowing (CERTIFIED SUSTAINABLE) and the Napa Green Land and Winery programs,” noted the award announcement.
Domaine Carneros has placed a high priority on living as lightly on the land as possible. One practice credited for earning the Green Medal Business recognition was the packaging reuse program, whereby cases and inserts are re-used for in-house purposes, which amounts to about a 20 to 25 percent reuse rate each year. This alone has saved the company an average of $75,000 per year since the program began in 2011.
In addition to the packaging reuse program, the company installed the largest solar collection system of any winery in the world at the time in 2003 (the system captured enough electricity to power 230 homes for a year in 2017 when the data was last measured). Utilizing skylights to reduce the need for electricity, building into the earth and using night cooling systems to maintain cellar temperatures, have all contributed to further energy conservation.
order levitra canada I was reminded of the Robert Heinlein quote: Never try to teach a pig to sing. It generic cialis overnight also helps the central nervous system to relax consequently boosting a person’s mental stability. Resale cheapest cialis soft only implies that you are going to be paying for from a past owner, by way of a timeshare reseller, as opposed to straight from your resort. For the individual member to survive he has to pledge his allegiance tadalafil 20mg to the organization. Other green practices at Domaine Carneros include composting, and the recycling of bottles, corks, foils, cardboard, paper, plastic wrap and more throughout the winery, which has helped to divert 90 percent of its solid waste from landfills.
Since 2013, Domaine Carneros has been CERTIFIED SUSTAINABLE. An annually renewed certification, CERTIFIED SUSTAINABLE vineyards and wineries produce high quality grapes and wine, protect and preserve the environment and enhance the community economically and culturally.
The company culture of sustainability extends beyond the walls of the winery as well. Since the late 1980s, Domaine Carneros has farmed sustainably, from using owl boxes as a natural solution for rodent management to using grape pomace from the harvest to feed local cattle.
An enduring focus on water conservation has led the winery to incorporate low flow toilets and employ reclamation systems through its properties. These are also some of the practices that led Domaine Carneros to be Fish Friendly Farming certified in 2015. Fish Friendly Farming is a certification program for agricultural properties managed to restore fish and wildlife habitat and improve water quality. The certification is renewed yearly.
In addition to these viticultural practices, Domaine Carneros follows vegan practices, using no animal-derived products at any point in the process, from growing the grapes to the winemaking.