What will you have: Wine or Beer?
Beer and wine -- have been stirring up the industry and hitting it big with diners around the country.
by
Kelly
Tokarski
America’s love affair with alcoholic beverages began centuries ago. We love everything about it, and we use it in our everyday lives for celebrations, relaxation and in some cases at doctors’ recommendations. But what is it about alcohol; what is its attraction?
Throughout history, people have treated the consumption of alcoholic beverages as rituals, habits, customs and of course – as a form of entertainment. Alcohol beverage trends come and go and are glamorized in everything from magazines to newspapers and television. Drinking is chic or that is what we are told to think? From Superbowl Sundays to happy hours to wine tasting events, America’s love of booze is timeless and is often paired with food, which equates to big bucks for manufacturers, distributors, grocers, restaurateurs and bars. Recently, two beverages in particular – beer and wine -- have been stirring up the industry and hitting it big with diners around the country.
Wine is in. What was once considered stuffy, conservative and expensive has now become a hot trend – not just with baby boomers, but also increasingly among Generation Xrs. Wine is stylish. Wine magazines are popping up, wine auctions are proliferating and most notably for restaurateurs, wine bars are packed. "Merlot is a huge seller in our restaurant," says Tom Norris, Black Angus bartender. "People aren’t just ordering it with steak, they are drinking it with potato skins, chips and salsa and other greasy treats – it goes with everything," he says.
Unlike previous generation of wine bars, which paired expensive vintages with either prix fixed meals or a few crackers, today’s new wine concepts are all about casualness and the relationship it has to food. White wines no longer have to go with fish, red wines with meat or dessert wines with dessert. Today anything goes. White Zinfandel with pizza or Cabernet Sauvignon with enchiladas is perfectly respectable and expected.
In addition to wine, beer has also entered a new age of respectability in part from the plethora of brewery-style restaurants and bars popping up all over the country. From microbrew beer of the month clubs to home brewing and bar-drink consumption, Americans spent $60 billion for 196 million barrels of various beers in 1998. Retail profits were estimated at $29 billion with the average American adult consuming 22 gallons of beer a year. "Microbrew beers are popular, and trying anything different is usually exciting," says Nick Ruggles, Cedar Creek Inn bartender. "People feel like they are hip by drinking microbrewed beer," he says.
The popularity of microbrews is astonishing with restaurateurs cashing in all over the country. Not only are restaurants pushing their brews, they are pushing them with their food. From haute cuisines to casual dinner houses, operators are matching beers to their menus, often using brews as cooking ingredients in recipes and as accompaniments to specific-flavored entrees. Some restaurants bring in microbrews to add a zest of individuality to their offerings. It seems to be working. For instance, Gordon Biersch uses various types of beers in its cooking. With entrees such as spicy beer boiled prawns and beer marinated sausages with marzen mustard, customers can enjoy their brews not only in a pilsner glass but also on a porcelain plate.
Efforts like these are at the crest of a major trend across the nation where restaurants use beer, particularly microbrewed beer, to broaden their client base, increase frequency and enlarge the average check. Culinary Institutes are also catching on to the importance of cooking with ales by developing seminars and a greater aptitude for cooking with beer. The popularity of beer-inspired entrees is growing. "Our chefs use about two quarts of beer a night for their various entrees," Norris says. "It’s funny because we give it to them, and they disappear into the kitchen – who knows if they are cooking with it or drinking it themselves." So whether its wine, microbrewed beers, martinis or margaritas, Americans will continue to drink up, eat up and spend, spend, spend – that’s definitely the American way.
What will you have: Wine or Beer?