Keeping Up Our (High-End) Spirits

Posted on June 26th, 2008 2:02pm by Glenn Hunter
Filed under Business, Local News

There’s a DMN business story today (apparently not online) about high-end liquor sales holding up in the down economy. Chuck Shaw, the local honcho for spirits distributor FutureBrands LLC, confirmed the trend the other day, jawboning at a banquet in Dallas. Surprisingly, Shaw said, sales of the cheaper stuff have tailed off recently, while premium booze like Maker’s Mark bourbon has kept selling well. So, if and when the economic apocalypse hits, at least we’ll all be well-soused.

10 comments

  1. You’d think that would be on the web site since it’s the kind of news that would help us “live better here”.

    @ 2:12 pm on June 26, 2008

  2. But you know what? High-end spirits advertising is down–at least in print. Our ad department recently compared sales in categories (auto, travel, health, etc.) with our numbers from last year. Liquor was down the most. Per usual, blame the web.

    From this NY Times article: “[M]arketers of alcoholic beverages are joining a lengthening list of purveyors of consumer products that are devoting more of their ad budgets to digital media.”

    @ 2:16 pm on June 26, 2008

  3. I was actually reading a story about this the other day….high end bourbon is made from corn (at least 51%)…each barrel has to be aged 6 years before its ready to drink…so in 6 years, we will see a drastic increase in the price of bourbon….i just thought that was interesting.

    @ 2:19 pm on June 26, 2008

  4. That just means there’s more Early Times for me.

    @ 2:37 pm on June 26, 2008

  5. And when the agave plantations in Mexico convert, belatedly, to corn for ethanol, the tequila market will implode. Blue agave takes 8-10 years to reach maturity, and the individual plants are cut apart for the process. So we’ll have many years without tequila. Then the inevitable world rejection of corn-based ethanol will leave the former tequileros broke, so many more years will pass without tequila. All we’ll have are those bottles of flavored tequila, an abomination that will survive even the demise of the current crop of $30K millionaires.

    Have a shot today – salud!

    @ 2:56 pm on June 26, 2008

  6. Because everyone knows that classy drunks get on the internet when they’ve had a few. Right?

    @ 2:57 pm on June 26, 2008

  7. amandacobra, I’ve gotten on a lot of things after having a few.

    @ 3:23 pm on June 26, 2008

  8. score: MP! That’s gotta be the line of the day!

    @ 3:33 pm on June 26, 2008

  9. someone remind me to buy lots of bourbon 5 1/2 years from now

    @ 3:53 pm on June 26, 2008

  10. Makers Mark is a HIGH-END brand?

    @ 5:25 pm on June 26, 2008