Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/97133
CATEGORY REPORT Hard Luck Candy Root Beer Flavored Vodka If someone doesn���t have a good time behind the bar with Hard Luck Candy Root Beer Flavored Vodka, check his or her pulse and call a medic. Launched in 2010, the brilliantly lavored vodka is an unpretentious, great tasting product that���s chafing at the bit to have some fun. Hard Luck Candy is a line of lavored vodkas produced in Michigan from neutral grain spirits in a technologically advanced continuous still. The vodka is then infused with proprietary lavors and bottled at a reasonable 70 proof (35% alcohol by volume). Hard Luck Candy Root Beer is a lighthearted product that was created for good times and to raise a few smiles. The amber/brown colored vodka has a lush, full body and the aroma of freshly poured root beer, a convincing recreation of a sarsaparilla���s semi-sweet and somewhat bitter bouquet. The vodka immediately ills the mouth with the lavor of a sudsy root beer, which persists on the palate for an impressively long time. Here���s a vodka that was created with drink making in mind. It mixes beautifully with a wide range of spirits and liqueurs. Its slightly bitter edge is a wonderful counterbalance to the sweeter ingredients often used in cocktails. ���We launched��our line of candy lavored vodka because we saw such a great response to the lavors we experimented with at our bar, says Chris ��� George, COO of Hard Luck Candy. ���People���s faces would light up when they tasted the vodkas and it tasted just like the candy they loved. We felt that there was a broad segment of the market that would enjoy these lavors as they are based on candies that have been enjoyed for generations. ��� The Hard Luck Candy range also includes berry-lavored Red Fish, Orange Dream (a conventional take on the classic Creamsicle) and the neon-colored Lemon Drop. Hard Luck Candy Distributors 124 / the tasting panel / december 2012 to the contemporary mixology trends? Levi Walker, Craft Spirit Specialist for Young���s Market Company in San Diego, thinks in this age of healthful lifestyles that artiicially lavoring vodkas with artiicial lavors may be excessive. ���There is something inherently imbalanced when consumers are asking themselves questions like ���Did they use real Tang to make the Tang-lavored vodka?��� I think more natural lavors are what���s needed, such as lavender, rosemary or hops. These are products I make for cocktails and they are delicious. But then again you have to ask the question what���s wrong with an adult wanting to enjoy a beverage that makes them feel like a kid again?��� Los Angeles-based beverage consultant Marcos Tello believes the recent explosion of more abstract lavors���buttered popcorn, salted caramel, whipped cream and PB&J��� are welcome additions to the market as long as they are high-quality products: ���I love the creativity that the vodka brands are employing, but I think the emphasis needs to more on ���Should we make this?��� and less on ���Could we make this?��� I admire distillers who produce lavors that are abstract and natural.��� Starwood���s Mac Gregory thinks there is room for growth in lavored vodkas speciic to seasons and growing regions. ���Likewise, there is an abundance of sweet lavored vodkas on the market, but relatively few choices when it comes to well-made savory vodkas. These provide the ability to create refreshing, fashionable cocktails for consumers.��� In the inal analysis, says Gregory, lavored vodkas allow a broad base of consumers to enjoy their lives and why would any of us want to get in the way of happiness?