What is the next big thing in liquor?

Never thought of it that way–it’s just the name of the herb that’s used to infuse the vodka.

Rye Whiskey is very much already on the upswing. I predict two major categories which are going to see explosive growth:

Out of fashion and foreign liquors: Rye, Pisco, Cachacha, Arak, Grappa, anything you can market as “Grey goose level quality for Smirnoff prices”. These will be viewed as the neglected cousins of much more popular liquors where high end production can be had for affordable prices.

More and better modifiers: An increasing interest in modifiers like triple sec, maraschino liqueur, boutique bitters, higher quality tonic water, flavored simple syrups etc. I predict people will be cutting back more on the base liquor but making up for it by adding a small and affordable doses of premium modifiers.

Yeah, it’s quite delicious. I first had it in Spain years ago and then it was launched into the Irish market but it seems to have fizzled out a bit. There are plenty of Polish people here so maybe they buy it.

As I indicated above, both of these categories are already huge, at least in D.C./NYC/Portland/SF (and I’d imagine most other blue-state cities).