World's 50 Best Bars Brands Report: Liqueurs

22 January, 2013
World's 50 Best Bars Brands Report: Liqueurs

World's 50 Best Bars Brands Report: Liqueurs

Liqueurs is a massive category stretching from Baileys to Chartreuse to Amaretto. But which brand came out top in the Brands Report, our spin-off survey of The World's 50 Best Bars.

Chartreuse heads up the liqueurs sales in our poll of the World’s 50 Best Bars but it is number eight in the trending list, leading us to believe the brand may have already reached its popularity peak.

Interestingly orange Grand Marnier is winning the battle of the fruit bowl, with Cointreau trailing
in both the trending list and in straight sales. The marula fruit-based Amarula and Merlet are well beaten at the bottom of the list. Margaritas and Cosmopolitans will, of course account for much of the volume of the orange liqueurs. 
The World's 50 Best Bars Brand Report: Best Selling Liqueurs

The world’s number one liqueur, Baileys, has held strong in our list, making number two in the sales ledgers and number four in the trending list. Perhaps its global Cream With Spirit TV campaign that launched in the autumn of last year inspired its consumers. The campaign, said the press release, “recognises that women can be strong and feminine, beautiful and witty”.

Well Diageo, nice lady-lecture presumably being so strong, Baileys drinkers are not patronised easily. God help all those weak, manly, ugly and serious female drinkers out there, not to mention the male ones. But despite all this, Baileys is a classic brand, the imprint of which in the backs of bars and minds is so ingrained it is unlikely to fade.

Saint Germain, with its on-trend elderfl ower ingredient, was a big hit in the UK market, where 29 of the hundred bars polled originate. Whether it be partnered with gin or sparkling wine, the brand was an essential part of some of the summer’s hit drinks, explaining why it fi nished third on the trending list and sixth on overall sales.

Fernet Branca, while actually a bitters rather than a liqueur, came up at number five in both lists and is a
firm favourite of the trade. This is often requested neat, but it’s the men and women at the business end of the bar who can claim credit for the brand’s success in cocktails 2012.
The World's 50 Best Bars Brands Report: Trending liqueurs

Luxardo, the UK’s biggest sambuca brand, makes the best-selling list too. Sambuca doesn’t have a famous cocktail as a vehicle so, in most cases, it will have made its way into peoples’ mouths in hurried fashion; the shot. No matter what level of bar you are in, UK punters are particular fans of this form of drinking.

How we did it

Since we relaunched the World’s 50 Best Bars, we think we’ve built up a pretty fantastic list of top bars and phenomenal bartenders from all over the world.

To create an even better global picture, we also polled 100 of the top 200 bars. When I say ‘we’, it was actually an independent research company called Leslie Henry Marketing & Research.

It’s still growing, make no mistake – and we feel really quite excited about it. So excited in fact, that this year we decided to reinvent the way we conduct the artist formerly known as Hot Bar Brands by polling our very own top 50. 

Voices from the team at Leslie Henry could be heard through telephone receivers from Melbourne to Budapest, Edinburgh to Singapore. The team asked the top bars which brands were best-sellers and which were – to borrow from Twitter – trending. 

A trending brand might not be doing the same volumes as a best-seller but it’s a brand that customers are increasingly asking for. We also included a couple of new categories this year – champagne and water – as well as expanding the cocktail questions to include the likes of aperitifs and after-dinner drinks. The idea is to paint as accurate a picture of what is being consumed in bars around the world as possible. 

Respondents – to use the fancy terminology – included bar owners and bartenders from the likes of the best bar in the world, the Artesian, London; PDT, New York; Nightjar, London; Bramble, Edinburgh: Employees Only, New York; Dry Martini, Barcelona; Black Pearl, Melbourne; Asoka, Cape Town; American Bar at the Savoy, London; Tippling Club, Singapore; Palmer & Co, Sydney; Boutiq Bar, Budapest; Chainaya Tea & Cocktails, Russia and Schumann’s Bar, Munich.

Let us know what you think of the survey: lucy.britner@drinksint.com





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