Warming trend: winter warmers can spike drink sales this holiday season

Cheers, Oct, 2006 by Jamie Popp

Dressing up drink menus with unique twists on warm beverage favorites keeps operators ringing up holiday sales while helping guests celebrate or even dash a bit of seasonal stress. Perfecting familiar classics with choice ingredients and introducing more tea to the stable of expected coffee drinks is what's hot this year, according to experts.

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"The basic hot beverage mediums are coffee and tea," says Michael Cecconi, resident mixologist at New York City's Institute of Culinary Education and cocktail consultant at the city's Savoy eatery in Soho.

Chains such as Starbucks provide a wealth of insight into mainstream consumer habits, adds Jackie Tentinger, assistant restaurant manager at Landmark Bistro in Marshall, Minn. The restaurant tested warm drinks and found familiar options fared best. But even as she maintains those favorites, she is looking to turn desserts such as Black Forest Cake and Peach Cobbler into something sippable.

The Nutty Irishman--a mixture of DeKuyper Hazelnut Liqueur, Baileys Irish Cream and coffee--is a twist on what Bennigan's Grill & Tavern customers expect. The Plano, Texas-based chain of more than 300 restaurants keeps the warm drink on the menu whatever the weather because guests look for some version of Irish coffee in an Irish pub, says Shawn Glenn, manager of creative services.

Chains with a conceptual theme typically have the challenge of creating unique menus but also appealing to mass audiences, says Philip Raimondo, director of beverage development and training at Patrick Henry Creative Promotions in Stafford, Texas. For a conglomerate such as Arlington, Va.-based Interstate Hotels & Resorts, which operates 282 properties, featured drinks must fit the needs of each location.

Raimondo works on the drink menus used at Interstate properties, where specialty coffee remains high on the list of guest favorites and tea is on the rise. Hot Spiced Apple Tea, made with Captain Morgan Original Spiced Rum, apple schnapps and hot tea, appears on holiday menus at top-tier Interstate properties such as The Roosevelt in New York City and Hamilton Crowne Plaza in Washington, D.C.

"Last year, we did a Cafe Almond Joy with coconut rum, Amaretto, Starbucks Coffee Liqueur, chocolate syrup and coffee garnished with whipped cream and coconut flakes and chocolate syrup," says Raimondo. "This year, I'm going to try to get tea involved; we're looking at a warm pomegranate tea drink."

The trend of infusing tea has moved behind the bar as more operators venture into steeping leaves to create unique combinations of flavors and herbs to combine with alcohol.

"People are excited about making teas and infusions," Cecconi says. "You'll see more [infused vodkas and brown liqueurs added to tea] on cocktail menus this winter." For instance, he says Elderflower tea is trendy when combined with high-quality dark rum and locally sourced honey.

TAILORING TRADITION

Simmering favorites that combine rich and frothy ingredients are also popular. Only during the coldest months does Cyrus Restaurant in Healdsburg, Calif. tempt guests with Hot Buttered Rum, says bar manager Scott Beattie. The warm drink--served as of the first cold day in Sonoma Valley--is a lone soldier among many citrus-laden cocktails at Cyrus. Beat-tie says the season wouldn't be complete without Hot Buttered Rum, but it has to be made right.

"Hot Buttered Rum is labor intensive and most people aren't willing to do it correctly," Beattie explains. "You have to make batter from unsalted butter, nutmeg, cinnamon and ice cream. When you get an order you scoop out a chunk and steam it in a three- or four-inch high two-layered glass cup with equal parts of water and steam until really hot and add a shot of Charbay Tahitian Vanilla Bean Rum and nutmeg."

The sweltering rum-based cocktail is only one of several options to headline winter menus. Complete a classic hot beverage list with a Hot Toddy, Mulled Wine or Irish Coffee, Cecconi says. Mixing drinks in Manhattan for 10 years at clubs such as Time Cafe and restaurants including Tribeca's Le Zinc, Cecconi makes several favorites to warm guests during cold-weather months.

"I like to think of mulled wine as cold-weather Sangria with cinnamon and cloves and sugar that breaks up the tannin quality of a red wine. I like a full-bodied, high-in-tannins red wine," he says. "If you use too light a red wine, once you heat it all the alcohol is gone immediately and the spices you want in mulled wine will overpower its flavor."

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Over-proofed rum or even a 120-proof bourbon is a perfect Hot Toddy ingredient, and Irish Coffee should be made with dark brown sugar syrup and chantilly to create "a really cool cream on top and sweet coffee underneath," Cecconi says of the recipe learned from cocktail expert Dale DeGroff. If that doesn't warm the heart ...

Jamie Popp is a beverage and foodservice writer based in Glen-view, Ill. who has covered industry leaders and trends for a variety of media outlets.