Feel like everything has gotten more and more silly in terms of what many brands are trying to sell or market. There is a now a "glazed donut" flavored vodka?! doesn't anyone feel as if this is being marketed towards underage drinkers too? http://www.web2carz.com/lifestyle/fo...to-hit-shelves heres the link for an article on it... truly disgusted
Yes! Liquor products that cater to juvenile taste abound: how about vodka flavored like "Froot Loops" breakfast cereal (Three Olives Loopy) or the Jolly Rancher-like Pucker liqueurs from DeKuyper? The list goes on and on. The liquor industry—particularly the big players—market to underage drinkers and immature drinkers through the technique of plausible deniability. It’s dishonest, morally corrupt, and in bad taste.
A good example is DISCUS’ transparently idiotic policy of age check filters in front of their member’s brand web sites: the bit where you have to laboriously input in your birth date before accessing the site. This policy inconveniences everybody, has zero enforcement effectiveness, yet allows them to claim they’ve met their responsibilities. Of course, once you get past that filter, the marketing is often as youth-oriented as the products. And by “youth oriented” I mean calibrated to appeal to the highly profitable 16-28 year-old segment that appears to me to exhibit increasingly infantile taste year-over-year.
I -- and I'm pretty sure every contributor here -- have little regard for "kiddie" flavored liqueurs and spirits.The word "flavored" doesn't appear on any of the bottles in my home bar. My orange liqueurs are made from, well, oranges, not synthetic chemicals.
But I do recall an age when I had a keen interest in drinking to get drunk and hated the flavor of alcohol. We can debate the most appropriate minimum drinking age*, but certainly once one is of legal age, I see nothing wrong with companies developing and marketing alcohol to that segment. If someone truly held off drinking until 21, they would probably have not yet developed a taste for, say, gin or whiskey, and would rather drink Rum-and-Cokes or Screwdrivers or Red Bull / Vodka. That they can now drink marshmallow vodka and peanut liqueur to get drunk on PB&J's doesn't seem all that bad to me. Let them mix Kahlua with that glazed donut vodka for a late night breakfast drink.
By analogy, I have quite specific taste in cars. I personally think the Scion xB looks silly, but there are lots of youthful driver who think it's great. (I suspect is is so uncool that it's cool.) I'm not disgusted by it, but rather just realize that it isn't being marketed to me.
The only part that irritates me is when limited shelf space at the liquor store is consumed by the expansion of this segment and forces out low-selling awesome bottles like, say, Laird BIB Apple Brandy or Cynar. So I find another liquor store that caters to me and I buy slow-selling bottles like Black Balzams and Lemonhart 151 so that they know there is demand for them.
And as for the drinking age: I think we've mixed up the drinking age and the driving age. It is relatively safe to drink poorly, but it is hugely dangerous to drive poorly. Driving requires a great deal of maturity and concentration.
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I found this old post to further your point http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/27/worst-liquor-flavors_n_1423784.html
What is interesting to me about the horrible flavored spirits (although I admit I am not turned off by the bacon flavored) is that they are all vodkas. I attribute this to the "martini" craze where anytime you mixed a flavored or colored liquor with vodka and poured it into a martini glass, you could give it a funky name and charge a premium for it.
I am hoping that the recent renaissance of cocktail classics will put an end to the overly sweetened, flavored sprits (fingers crossed).
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As a mere junior Fellow here a the Society I try to mind my P's and Q's - lest I come off on a full boil on this topic but my answer to your question and tangent points is a resounding "Yes!"
One of the primary reasons my wife and I indulge in a home bar (I'm not a bartender now, nor ever have been) is because I can't afford to regularly imbibe at the places I would truly want to (unless someone can get me a free pass to the Connaught, Savoy, or special seating at Hix?).
The places nearest to me, and at a reasonable cost simply cater to the Spring Break crowd (an American college invasion of booze and bikinis). On the rare instance I visit a club or bar the music is loud, the neon is abundant, and the speed rail is right next to the flavored pre-mix bottles (did you know there is an "Old Fashioned" complete in a single bottle - just add vodka????).
So, like KC/Dan Chadwick above, my bottles that are flavored are because they have the culinary product as part of the process. What one or two "flavored" bottles I do have are set aside for friends who have expressed enjoyment and won't be quickly replaced when depleted.
My Winter Scotch (a yearly Thanksgiving tradition) contains ingredients from the grocery story spice and produce departments. My syrups and reductions all begin at the grocery store, too. So, I obviously agree the silliness factor has gone too far. What does a "Whitewater Mist" vodka taste like? Don't even get me started on marshmellows.
Classics and classically inspired cocktails are enjoying a renaissance and I think it's marvelous because some traditions such as fresh fruit, infusions with culinary ingredients, kitchens and front bars working together are being revived.
[Stranded on an island essential cocktails: Sidecar, 3:1 Dry Martini with 2 olives, my own Neo Old Fashioned.]
Dan Chadwick: But I do recall an age when I had a keen interest in drinking to get drunk and hated the flavor of alcohol. We can debate the most appropriate minimum drinking age*, but certainly once one is of legal age, I see nothing wrong with companies developing and marketing alcohol to that segment.
But I do recall an age when I had a keen interest in drinking to get drunk and hated the flavor of alcohol. We can debate the most appropriate minimum drinking age*, but certainly once one is of legal age, I see nothing wrong with companies developing and marketing alcohol to that segment.
I think this statement is highly debatable, particularly the assumption that it is actually possible to produce and market these products purely for those of “legal age”. I’m certainly not so sure precisely where my opinion stands on the larger questions, but I am sure that the industry and regulators are playing a dishonest political game.
Martin Doudoroff:Yes! Liquor products that cater to juvenile taste abound: how about vodka flavored like "Froot Loops" breakfast cereal (Three Olives Loopy) or the Jolly Rancher-like Pucker liqueurs from DeKuyper? The list goes on and on. The liquor industry—particularly the big players—market to underage drinkers and immature drinkers through the technique of plausible deniability. It’s dishonest, morally corrupt, and in bad taste.
I've tasted the Three Olives Loopy, and it is indeed awful... I don't understand this marketing strategy at all, considering that the target audience isn't the audience with the money to spend for one; also, as you point out, it is a morally corrupt double standard. Please drink responsibly, but we'll market shitty sweet booze for your kids to binge on.
Horrendous...
"The trouble with jogging is that the ice falls out of your glass."-Martin Mull
While I might personally find some of these products disgusting and worthless, and while I might also find them deplorable, I feel I need to have a bit of a broader mind and accept them as part of the spectrum. Just as there needs to be room in the culinary world for fast-food joints, greasy spoon truck stops, toaster pastries, and instant coffee, I suspect in the grand scheme of things there also needs to be room for some of these products that none of us here would consider using on a bet.
Often, some of the other folks here at work will comment about how they love (or at least are excited to try) some of these "disgusting" products. For some of them they love the "reminds me of my childhood" aspect of them, or perhaps it's just the "so sweet it hides the alcohol". Hopefully, given a little time and encouragement, they will move past such products just as we perhaps moved past "Annie Greensprings" (or am I revealing my age with that comment?)
Well, I can't argue with Robert's point about personal love of something because an emotional, nostalgic element. I'm guilty of it myself, so I should probably review my attitude a bit about this. I just had a "classic" Gimlet and yup... Rose's Lime Juice came out of the back shelf of the refrigerator, snuck onto the bar, then went away into hiding - and it was delicious.
Good points, Robert.
Now, what Bordeaux pairs well with a Reuben sandwich with coleslaw?
I don't know if its so much about trying to market to underaged drinkers as it is to trying to sell to the average 20 something. Keep in mind we are enduring the "jersey shore" generation...
Well stated. My daughter in law, a lovely woman in her early 30's, has a sweet tooth and loves some of these horrendous, to me, concoctions. I keep hoping that they will be a gateway to finer (in my opinion) things.
It is morally very doubtful - but not necessarily only because of the target group - "around" the legal age.
Main problem is - exactly these products [and many more] are just promoting irresponsible drinking and the abuse of alcohol! Even people who don't "like" the taste of alcohol are drinking things like discussed infused vodkas and liqueurs - mainly to get drunk.Pragmatically seen, people who aren't appreciating the taste of alcohol, might not be really eligible for its consumption!
These beverages, which don't taste like alcohol are not the only way to alcohol abuse and alcoholism - but I guess, that nowadays these are the most common ones.
But the problem is, that not only the spirit companies are exploiting this market; but also a lot of bartenders are doing the recipes, which are having the same effect - what else is a frozen strawberry margarita, your banana daiquiri or your mudslide? I don't see a big difference - we have to clean up in front of our own doors, before we are disgusted by the industry [which surely keeps their focus on their profits - not on their responsibility].
Dominik MJ:... exactly these products [and many more] are just promoting irresponsible drinking and the abuse of alcohol! Even people who don't "like" the taste of alcohol are drinking things like discussed infused vodkas and liqueurs - mainly to get drunk. Pragmatically seen, people who aren't appreciating the taste of alcohol, might not be really eligible for its consumption! These beverages, which don't taste like alcohol are not the only way to alcohol abuse and alcoholism - but I guess, that nowadays these are the most common ones.
Pragmatically seen, people who aren't appreciating the taste of alcohol, might not be really eligible for its consumption!
Perhaps we should prohibit alcohol so people don't get drunk. Wait...
There is nothing wrong with someone of legal age getting drunk. It's OK to get drunk on Laphroaig. It's OK to get drunk on girlie drinks. I certainly enjoyed some drunkenness in my youth. And in my youth, I certainly didn't get drunk on Fernet swizzles. Not liking the taste of alcohol does not reduce one's right to drink alcohol. I see nothing wrong with companies marketing to this demographic.
Please cite your research that drinks that don't taste like alcohol lead to abuse and alcoholism. My mental model is that alcoholics tend to get drunk on something cheap like vodka or maybe a case of beer. I just don't see many folks blending up 5 pitchers of Bubblegum "Daiquiris" to get their load on.
I'm a bit confused as to how these are actually targeted to underage drinkers. I've done branding work on children's products and the prevailing wisdom is (right or wrong) that you skew the message and product to be a couple years older than the age of your intended target market. I definitely did not have a developed palate when I was in my teens, but would not have really been attracted to flavors like bubblegum that seemed like they were for "kids". Maybe I am too old and we're actually talking about 8- or 9-year-olds nowadays...
But like how most of our palates change from preferring sweet as a child to more savory and bitter as an adult, perhaps cocktail tastes follows a similar arc. Thus, these candy liquors are targeted less to youths than they are to inexperienced drinkers (legal or otherwise). Flavors like bubblegum, caramel apple and razz-razzberreee pucker are more identifiable and approachable to novices than "flavors" like Chartreuse, Campari and Benedictine.
These simpler, sweet, sour and fruit flavors are easy and cheap to synthesize and dump into a tank of GNS. They can be sold at a very low price point to attract people who want alcohol but don't care for beer or wine. And throw in the fact that they're essentially a bottled vodka mixed drink for consumers without any other technical knowledge. Just add a bit of 7-Up and some ice and... voila. Sounds more like legal, novice drinkers to me.
I do also notice that companies like Bols and DeKuyper (Hiram Walker is still an outlier) seem to be moving away from novelty and candy liquors and into budget versions of more expensive, complex and "mature" bottles. There's still the odd "flavor" like Blue and lots of fruit, but I do see several things like budget maraschino, elderflower, and anise. Perhaps liquors like the glazed donut vodka are now filling a market space that the larger, budget and novelty distillers have abandoned.
There is nothing legally wrong; but yes - it is irresponsible and wrong!
Ok - I cannot come up with a study - but it is quite obvious and the legislative of several companies tried already to limit the sales of alco-pops [ready to drink] due to this fact. You won't be as naïve, to think, that the increase of abuse of alcohol won't have anything to do with the strategy to hide alcohol-flavors?
It seems like a strategy of the liquor industry to harvest a new market. If alcohol doesn't taste like alcohol, it is much easier to consume - there are very few people, who get drunk purely on Laphroaig - just to use your picture...
Vodka is usually a vehicle for "seasoned" alcoholics - but yeah - vodka is also often used by people who want to hide the flavor of alcohol - due to its rather neutral character. I would be the last, who won't criticizes vodka for that. The same which applies for spirits and cocktails also applies to beer: producers try to make very light beers [chilled extremely cold, to hide the rest of the alcohol character] and flavor the beers which a lot of dubious flavors...