Skip to main content

Which brands to use? David vs. Goliath?

I just read today a newsletter of Jörg Meyer (owner of the amazing bar Le Lion Café de Paris), that he has silently taken almost all products of DIAGEO from his shelves - as well as other brands of multinational spirit companies. And I can very much sympathize with that.

Unfortunately if you are in Dubai, it isn’t that easy - as these companies co-own the liquor suppliers (hence getting support as well as reasonable pricing is without the brands basically impossible). I also don’t have exactly the same pragmatism as Jörg. I am not necessary against brands only because they are owned by multinationals. Except of course, that these companies reasonably bad screwed up...

But I do agree, that if companies are managing with their red pencil and do quality downgrades, because of profit efficiency it really pisses me off.

These are my points I do consider:


  • Several expensive ultra-aged rums (e.g. Ron Zacapa) using sugar, to smoothen out the palate.
  • Deceptive labeling (e.g. Zacapa’s “23 sistema solera"
  • A lot of liqueurs are just shadows of their former selfs, as companies changed to cheaper ingredients (aromas, HFCS, cheaper neutral alcohol) - think about Southern Comfort...
  • Sneaky reduction of alcohol contents
  • Sneaky reduction of bottle sizes) from 750 ml to 700 ml
  • If the product is subpar (look at you Carta Blanca)
When Bombay Sapphire reduced their alcohol content from 47% to 40% in Germany, I was for sure a very firm critic. However now, that I am in Dubai, where I get still the 47% gin - I am rather ok. 

Cost is for sure also a very important point! In Europe, bartender can use “fancy” products, without damaging the profitability too much - due to 50% income tax, additional charges/margin of the 2 main suppliers plus 30% consumer tax, less expensive brands are profitable - more expensive products tend to be rather unreasonable. In this climate, you try to understand, if a good quality gin (or other spirit) of a multinational, is so different than the fancy product which costs about 3 times more. Or Mr. Meyer's mentioned Bulleit Rye - I knew about the “re-labelling” and that the products was made of MPG in Indiana - but on the other hand it is a quite good product and as said, it comes at an acceptable price point (and to be absolutely frank: in Dubai, there aren’t a lot of choices, when it comes to Rye).

I think Jörg Meyer’s stance for local and small producer is great. And his attitude, that he is just keeping it for his own bars, is even better. It is a personal opinion, where he wants to take his business.

For my “opinionated” self - I just don’t have that much choice - and I am less pragmatic.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Agar-Agar Clarification

Not often, I am posting here things, which are clearly not my ideas... However Dave Arnold is clearly a mad scientist [no, he really is!] - and he posted amazing stuff on his website www.cookingissues.com - no - don't click now - just follow the link later. One of the most impressive posts about mixology, besides of demystifying the mechanics of shaking, were clarification techniques. Look, after him, you could use a centrifuge [which would set you back a couple thousand bucks] and a chemical compound, which solidifies sediments. I am not a fan of that. Then there is gelatine clarification; this works quite well [I tried it several times my self] - you gelatinize a liquid [with little gelatine only], freeze it, thaw it [in the fridge] over a colander and a muslin cloth. Thats it. Unfortunately this has several problems: Gelatine is made out of animal bones - hence it is neither vegetarian nor vegan, which you won't usually expect of a beverage. You have to freez...

How to use citric acid - and why you might not want to use it anyway!

To be honest, I shied away of this topic, because I think, people can misinterpret this - big time. I don't want to be part of the problem - I want to be part of the solution!  But when Chris, over at A Bar Above  discussed this subject- I literally could not resist to join into "the discussion". Here is the video: I - however take a bit slower approach than Chris. What is citric acid? Chemical Compound Citric acid is a weak organic acid with the formula C6H8O7. It is a natural preservative/conservative and is also used to add an acidic or sour taste to foods and drinks. Wikipedia Formula: C6H8O7 Molar Mass: 192.124 g/mol Melting Point: 153C Density: 1.66 g/cm3 Boiling point: 175C Soluble in: Water Why is it controversial? In my "mixology world" it is controversial, as citric acid is the stuff, which makes the nightmarish sour mix [ preferably in powder form ] sour. Yeah - citric acid is the main ingredient in one of the most ...

"Monin Rocks!" - Really?

R ussell S anchez MONIN UAE MONIN Rocks @ HARD ROCK CAFE Dubai  — with   Rhiandro Gardiner  and Louie Aquias  at  Hard Rock Cafe . I have seen this on my Facebook timeline. And well... I wanted to write about Monin since quite a long time, but haven't. However this message was a catalyst, to speak up. It is already a couple of months ago, that I routinely checked the ingredient list of a Monin bottle. ...and was shocked.... Point is, that I have always defended Monin against my US colleagues as decent brand. At least with the products they offered here in the Middle East and in Europe; they came from their factory in France. Most of the ingredients [except lets say in Blue Curacao syrup] were natural. Long time ago, somebody from Monin explained, that this is due to the quite strict regulations in France for syrup - there it is a family culture to drink syrup sweetened water/seltzer. And off course ...