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OCG Show Daily Sunday, June 4, 2017 2 6 AMERICANS PUCKERING UP FOR CRAFT SHRUBS AND BITTERS By Lorrie Baumann Interest in craft cocktails is propelling the development of a wide range of syrups, shrubs and bitters, and these same prod- ucts are also drawing interest from the consumer who's looking for a healthier alternative to sugary sodas, the cocktail experience without the alcohol or the good-health associations of fermentation. Shrubs are syrups made by blending fruit and spices with vinegar and sweet- ener, while bitters are tinctures of botani- cals in alcohol that are used as flavoring agents or tonics. Bitters are ingredients in classic cocktails like the Manhattan, the Old Fashioned and the Sazerac, which is thought by some to be the first cocktail ever invented, but they've become increasingly popular with mixologists over the past few years because they add the bitter flavor that's unfamiliar to many Americans. That unfamiliarity is part of what enhances the taste experience, says Marianne Courville, who makes The Hudson Standard, a line of artisanal- quality shrubs and bitters that reflect the flavors of the Hudson River Valley. "It puts the body on a kind of alert, because a lot of poisonous plants are bitter," she said. "The idea of a cocktail is that you want to hit all of those taste notes, but in a very cohesive way, in a way that makes sense." The Hudson Standard's Catskill Masala Bitters won a 2017 Good Food Award. Others in the line of bitters include Ginger Bitters, Spruce Shoot and Celery Bitters and Love-Struck Bitters. Love-Struck is based on an ancient Roman recipe for an aphrodisi- ac that combined hyssop, thyme, pep- percorn and ginger, which Courville says struck her as a nice combination of ingredients for a bitters drink as she was reading the recipe. "Then I added quas- sia bark, which is a very strong bark and very bitter. You just have to be very careful about how much you use because it's strongly bitter, aromatic and spicy," she said. "It's fun. People really like it." Her shrubs, which include Pear Honey Ginger Shrub, Strawberry Rhubarb and Apple Coriander Maple, and Cassis Berry and Peach Lavender, are sour rather than bitter. While there are many cocktails that include a sour note that often comes from the addition of cit- rus juice, the sour notes in a shrub origi- nate in vinegar. They're particularly use- ful to mixologists who are mixing cock- tails in big batches or making them ahead of time, since vinegar preserves the cock- tail's flavors better than citrus juices, which change their flavors when they're exposed to air. Courville is finding that her shrubs have also begun to attract the attention of those who see them as a healthier alter- native to sugary sodas. "The popularity of shrubs in the last three years, in our experience of tasting all over the place, is that they are equally used as a craft bev- erage, as a soda or syrup. What we like is that people are recognizing that using a shrub soda is way healthier than a high fructose soda," she said. "It is being seen now as a healthy alternative. Seven grams of sugar would be about average for a serving for a shrub today – it's a lot less than a brand-name soda. That varies by maker, of course, and we're a little bit more in the vinegary side." For more information, visit www.thehudson standard.com. Courville is, of course, is not the only maker of artisanal cocktail mixers who's seeing the explosion of interest in the craft cocktail mixers. Q Drinks introduced Q Grapefruit at the Winter Fancy Food Show for its line of fizzy cocktail mixers designed to bring out the flavors of the spirits with which they're mixed. They're sold in four- packs of bottles or cans, each one sized to make one cocktail. The Tonic, Ginger Ale and Club Soda are also packaged in a 750ml bottle that's great for a party. The Tonic that's the original product in the line and a finalist for the sofi Award in 2010 is made with agave nectar for a flavor that's less sweet than other tonics. It's also fizzier than other tonics, and it's flavored with real quinine. A newer Indian Tonic is made with cane sugar for a sweeter flavor that brings out the juniper flavor of a dry gin. Q Ginger Beer also has less sugar than other gin- ger beer brands, and it's very spicy and extra-carbonated, made especially for mixing rather than drinking on its own as a soda. A four-pack of 6.7-ounce bottles retails for around $5.99 to $6.99. Visit www.qdrinks.com. Despite their new enthusiasm for the sour and bitter, Americans haven't lost their sweet tooth, either, and Sonoma Syrup Company's line of fla- vor-infused simple syrups, cocktail mixers and apple cider drinking vinegar is a whole range of products that will enhance both bar and coffee cupboard. Artisan bar mixers in the line include Classic Grenadine, Sweetened Lime Juice, Five Citrus Sweet & Sour, Pure Olive Juice and Olive Mary Mix. On the sweeter side, the flavor-infused sim- ple syrups, useful for coffee drinks, homemade sodas, flavored iced teas and for cocktails include White Ginger Infused Simple Syrup for Moscow Mules and Ginger Lattes; Meyer Lemon Infused Simple Syrup, which adds bright flavor and sweetness to lemon- ade, teas and Lemon Drop Cocktails: Pomegranate Simple Syrup for Lavender Lemon Drop cocktails, over ice cream or in iced tea. A Sonoma Syrup Six Pack includes Classic, Lavender, Meyer Lemon, Almond Orgeat, Mint and Pomegranate and retails for $79.95, while a Barrista Latte Gift Set includes Vanilla Bean, Hazelnut Syrup and Classic Simple Syrup along with two pumps and retails for $55. Each 8-ounce bottle of the bar mixers makes about eight cocktails. Each 12.7-ounce bottle of syrup makes about 16 cocktails. For more informa- tion, visit www.sonomasyrup.com. Simple syrups from quince & apple are made by hand in Madison, Wisconsin. Fruits are sourced from the Midwest when possible, and all ingredients are all natural and non-GMO. Varieties include Tart Cherry Grenadine, which won a 2014 Good Food Award; Rhubarb Hops; Lime and Cucumber; Honey Lemon; and Citrus. For more information, visit www.quinceandapple.com. Runamok Maple offers its barrel- aged, smoked and infused maple syrups in beautiful heavy glass bottles that suggest cocktail uses while the bottle is still on the shelf. To make the barrel- aged maple syrups, the maple is poured into recently emptied bourbon, rye or rum barrels, and as it ages, the syrup draws in the essence of the spirits with- out the alcohol. The company's Cardamom Infused Maple Syrup is infused with organic cardamom from Guatamala, and a tablespoon or two in a cocktail will add this sultry flavor, while background notes of smoke and caramel can be added into a cocktail with Runamok's Pecan Wood Smoked Maple Syrup. All of Runamok Maple's products are certified organic. Visit www.runamokmaple.com. DRY Sparkling markets its products as lightly sweet, culinary-inspired sodas, but Sharelle Klaus, the company's Founder and Chief Executive Officer, is far from oblivious to the products' poten- tial uses for craft cocktails, and the com- pany's website features a plethora of recipes for pairing the sodas with alco- hol. The company debuted its bold and spicy Ginger DRY Sparkling flavor in easily transportable 12-ounce aluminum cans at Natural Products Expo West. Demand for this popular flavor is strong, as DRY saw with its limited edi- tion 750 mL holiday bottle offering, and the company offers recipes for cocktails called The Southern Belle, which includes bourbon, peach liquor and lemon juice; and the Dry Tequila Fizz. Ginger DRY is made with four all-natural ingredients, including a touch of cane sugar – about a third of the sugar of lead- ing ginger beers and ginger ales. It is Non-GMO Project Verified, gluten free, OU Kosher certified, caffeine free, sodi- um free, and made without any artificial flavors, colors or sweeteners. Visit www.drysparkling.com. DIETZ & WATSON: PARTNERING WITH RETAILERS TO MEET CONSUMER NEEDS Philadelphia-based Dietz & Watson is a principle player in meat delicacies and artisan cheeses. A family-owned compa- ny for four generations, Dietz & Watson strives to produce the highest quality deli meats to satisfy consumers, and meets retailer needs by leveraging innovative category management strategies. In today's dynamic retail environ- ment, Dietz & Watson takes a specialized category management approach in each market to cater to the needs of targeted consumers. Through a variety of analyti- cal tools, Dietz & Watson tailors protein assortments, deli meat display size and promotional strategies to best fit with a store's shoppers, therefore growing suc- cess in the deli meat category. In a time when consumers demand a wide range of clean label requirements, flavor preferences and pricing levels, retailers are challenging suppliers to meet their specific needs. It is imperative that retailers and suppliers work together to identify and provide the ideal products at the proper price points and with the optimal promotional strategies. Dietz & Watson excels in this area. Consumers are seeking out retailers that help meet their dietary needs through clear labeling and coding systems for quick and easy shopping. Dietz & Watson takes the extra step to educate consumers about the health attributes of their product. Dietz & Watson provides retailers with deli case marketing materi- als to inform consumers about the high quality, low sodium, no MSG and gluten- free nature of Dietz & Watson deli meats. As a business partner to retailers, Dietz & Watson con- ducts flavor-by-segment analy- sis to ensure the correct flavor assortments are in place at a retailer. Additionally, Dietz & Watson works with Nielsen Spectra to create custom consumer profiles for each of their retailer partners to match product assortment down to store level, to ensure Dietz & Watson has the proper fit. Dietz & Watson also works with retailers to better understand what pro- motions are most effective. The company monitors product performance via point- of-sale data to determine week-by-week promotional efficiency, subsidization level and volume sold on promotion. This knowledge helps Dietz & Watson determine the most effective promotional strategies and tactics. To help grow success of the deli meat category overall, Dietz & Watson devel- oped a tool that details optimal price points based on uplift and pro- motional efficiency for any brand of deli meat. The tool shows weekly information for a desired timeframe and is able to sort on many variables, such as promotional efficiency, uplift, retail price point or rate of sub- sidization, depending on the most impor- tant variable to the retail customer. Dietz & Watson also utilizes Market Track to monitor the weekly circular promotions at the retailer and the competitive market levels to understand the full scope and interaction of promotions. The bottom line is this. When a retailer chooses Dietz & Watson as the primary premium service deli offering, the retailer is choosing a category part- ner. A company that long ago figured out that when a customer succeeds in service deli, Dietz & Watson succeeds in service deli. For more information, go to www.dietz vandwatson.com or stop by booth #3141.