In the beverage alcohol trade, the winter holidays are already upon us, and executives at all three tiers of the industry are banking heavily on another strong festive season to round out what has been, for many, a tumultuous year. Brands are releasing new expressions, new packaging, or in some cases, re-releasing holiday favorites in attempts to inspire some holiday magic. “Because we see more at-home entertaining and gifting around the holidays, holiday-centric products— be they LTOs (limited-time offers), packaging, a cocktail recipe, or otherwise—provide an effective way to stand out with shoppers seeking products for those occasions,” says Campari America managing director Melanie Batchelor. “The products themselves tend to stand out more, but often they’ll also receive better in-store placement as retailers are aware of the influx of shoppers looking specifically for holiday entertaining and/or gifting options.” 

Marc Hindorff, director of trade marketing and advocacy for Brown-Forman, also extols the benefits of holiday-centric efforts that inject new life into brands. “Holiday products, particularly value-added packaging (VAP), help brands stand out in a crowded environment during one of the most important selling seasons,” he says. “Having an eye-catching gift display that intrigues shoppers can help our brands gain premium floor space in accounts. Limited holiday releases are often excellent opportunities to tell authentic brand stories with great imagery. This generates excitement and anticipation with core consumers and attracts new consumers.” 

Gift packs with add-ons, special holiday blends, holiday-centric flavors and packaging, and other items are all part of the supplier efforts to appeal to existing and new consumers. Purchases during the holiday season are sometimes one-offs, spurred by a cadre of consumers who might be buying products outside their normal consumption patterns. “We use the holidays as a way to educate consumers about the many festive ways to make a cocktail during your next gathering,” Hindorff says. “These activations all give us another way to showcase our production and innovation capabilities.” 

Retailer Perspective

Retailers stand to gain big with holiday packs, brands, and displays that inspire purchases from longtime clients and new customers alike. But feelings are mixed on the efficacy of the supplier efforts. 

Carlos DeOliveira, president and CEO of Rhode Island’s Wine & Spirits Retail Marketing, is a fan. Holiday products in their various iterations are “not just important, they’re final to our annual performance,” he says, noting that the sales surge in the holiday season helps sustain the stores through slower periods of the year. “Limited-edition holiday releases tend to fly off the shelves,” DeOliveira says. “These products often come with higher profit margins, which is great for our business. Plus, they create a sense of urgency among customers, driving more foot traffic to the store. We also see an increase in sales of seasonal spirits like flavored whiskies and cream liqueurs. These products not only boost our sales but also help to create the holiday atmosphere in the store, encouraging customers to explore and purchase more.”

Dustin Mitzel, CEO of the Happy Harry’s Bottle Shops chain in North Dakota, is also enthusiastic about the holiday approaches from suppliers each year. “We are typically excited to see what new and exciting packaging there will be each holiday season,” Mitzel says. He notes that gift sets and gift boxes can generate new sales, and points to the Fireball Miniature Candy Cane 10-pack as a “a great add on sale for gifting. Kahlúa or Baileys gift sets certainly set the tone for the holidays as well.”

But Mitzel isn’t completely sold on the latest supplier efforts. “Holiday products help create some energy and buzz with the season, but they’re not as important to the bottom line as they once were. Unfortunately, much has changed over the last 20 years,” he says. “There’s been a significant reduction in items that are offered, and packaging isn’t always that exciting.” Happy Harry’s creates its own gift baskets to “fill a need that the pre-packaged holiday gift sets do not always provide.” 

Limited-time offers also pose some challenges, Mitzel adds, explaining that sometimes supply of limited products can’t meet demand. “The numbers are so tight that certain items that really take off and sell out early cannot be re-ordered and thus potential bonus sales are lost,” he says. “I understand the reasoning, but I feel there’s lost potential with certain packages.” 

Retailer Dave Garfield of Garfield’s Beverage in Barrington, Illinois, is also frustrated with the supply-demand equation. “The packages are very, very limited in what they offer and quantity available,” he says. “It seems like we don’t even see a lot of the packages—they end up at the big club stores and big chains.” Garfield also says the unpredictable availability is a challenge, noting that retailers need to purchase when the wholesaler gets the item in stock, “whether that is in October or whether that is in December.” It becomes problematic to access these products as part of volume deal purchases, he says. 

The limited-time-offer aspect of holiday products remains positive for Peter Granoff, owner and partner in San Francisco’s Ferry Plaza Wine Merchant & Wine Bar and Oxbow Cheese & Wine Merchant. “Our inventory is predominantly small production items and is changing constantly,” he says, noting that part of his stores’ appeal is that customers “know there will always be something new and interesting to try.”

Granoff doesn’t go all-in on the holiday offerings from suppliers though. The stores create their own gift packs, including customizable options. “This allows customers maximum flexibility and access to our entire inventory, rather than forcing folks into a couple pre-defined choices,” he says. What does resonate is special packaging “if nicely done and without a huge upcharge,” he adds. “We tend to stock more large formats during the holidays, as well as wines with their own gift packaging, wooden box assortments, that sort of thing.”

Cocktail Focus

With the holiday season accounting for an outsized percentage of spending in most stores, suppliers are eager to capitalize on the gift-giving and celebratory vibes. The industry’s largest suppliers have a wide range of holiday-centric efforts for their brands, and many smaller suppliers follow suit with similar efforts. 

This year, for its Cocktail Collection, Diageo is focused on driving its entire, everyday available lineup, according to Nikhil Shah, brand director for The Cocktail Collection. The holiday angle comes in the form of holiday cards and gift tags. “Take the Espresso Martini as an example, this is one of the most popular cocktails of all time, especially during the holiday season,” Shah says. “But we know what a hassle it can be to make at home, so offering our premium, pre-mixed version using Ketel One vodka is already a huge help to our consumers. Plus, with the enhancements via holiday cards and gift bags, we aim to take even more time out of planning and gift giving for holiday gatherings, and of course, doing it while elevating the experience.” 

Pernod Ricard is also capitalizing on the popularity of the Espresso Martini with the Absolut Espresso Martini gift set ($20), which includes a 750-ml. bottle of Absolut vodka, a 50-ml. bottle of Kahlúa Coffee liqueur, and an 8-ounce can of Owen’s Espresso Martini Mix. Other Pernod Ricard brands are also getting the VAP treatment, including the Chivas Regal x Filthy Gold Rush Cocktail Kit ($32) which includes a 750-ml. bottle of Chivas 12-year-old alongside a custom Gold Rush premium cocktail mixer from Filthy Food; and the Martell Blue Swift Holiday VAP ($48), a gift set containing two cocktail glasses, garnish picks, and a 750-ml. of Martell Blue Swift Cognac.

Glassware is a component of key gift packs from Campari. “We’ve found that glassware is still the most sought-after gift in holiday packaging, and it helps to guide consumers on the perfect glass for the perfect drink,” Batchelor says. 

Gift packs from Campari USA include the Campari Negroni gift pack with glasses, a mixing spoon, and the classic Negroni cocktail recipe on the back. The Grand Marnier holiday pack comes with two glasses and two cocktail recipes on the back—Grand Margarita and the Grand & Ginger. Also capitalizing on the trending Espresso Martini, Campari USA has packaged Frangelico with two martini glasses to showcase the “nutty side” of the popular drink. Finally, the Aperol gift pack includes an iconic balloon glass. Campari USA gift packs start at $32. 

Brown-Forman’s Hindorff also stresses the appeal of glassware-focused VAPs. “Our research suggests that glassware ranks high as a value-added gift for consumers,” he says. For Jack Daniel’s Tennessee whiskey, the company is offering a gift pack ($25) with decorative high-ball glassware and a cocktail suggestion. Also in the Jack Daniel’s line, Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel is offering a variety pack where consumers can gift a set of Single Barrel releases ($129 a 2-pack of 750-ml. bottles). “Offers that provide consumers with choice and sampling are popular as gifts during the holiday season,” Hindorff says, noting that Old Forester is getting similar treatment. The Old Forester’s Whiskey Row Series ($100 a 3-pack of 375-ml. bottles) is available as a set, offering Bourbon-lovers the opportunity to taste the different expressions in the series. 

In a luxury offering, Johnnie Walker this year introduced the second drop in a series of annual limited editions. Johnnie Walker Blue Label Ice Chalet ($420 a 750-ml.) was created in collaboration with luxury skiwear brand Perfect Moment. The new expression and campaign, fronted by Johnnie Walker Blue Label ambassador and Perfect Moment shareholder Priyanka Chopra Jonas, features a reversible cross-body bag designed by Perfect Moment.

Holiday Flavors

Many brands seek to capitalize on holiday flavors that begin in autumn with pumpkin spice, cinnamon, and cloves, then continue into December with doses of chocolate, peppermint, and other flavors of the season. Whiskies, brandies, liqueurs, and other spirits can capture the spirit of the season with flavor tweaks, which drive new trial and sales. 

Creamy drinks are particularly popular during the winter holidays, and cream liqueurs—often with seasonal flavors—are staples in the holiday-centric lineup. Key liqueur brands like Baileys and Kahlúa lean in heavily on variations of these flavors, some of which are limited-time offers for the holidays. This year Pernod Ricard is offering Kahlúa Chocolate Sips ($25 a 750-ml.), the brand’s first foray into the cream cordials category.

And the bigger brands have competition from a slew of smaller volume brands eager to take a share of the popular sub-category. Mozart Chocolate liqueur is one such brand. The latest flavor in the line is Mozart Coconut Chocolate ($30 a 750-ml.), joining Chocolate Cream, Chocolate White, Chocolate Dark, and Chocolate Coffee. 

Eggnog, and many flavor variations of the classic holiday drink, becomes a category on its own during the winter holidays. But the selling window is short, with little or no demand prior to Thanksgiving or after the New Year, and thus its popularity can be challenging to manage. “A lot of the time we’ll either run out or we’ll have too much,” Garfield says, noting that the ability to place multiple orders has been limited in recent years. Among the many eggnog-based offerings on the shelves this holiday season is Skrewball Eggnog ($20 a 750-ml.), a combination of Skrewball Peanut Butter whiskey and eggnog.

Package Promotion

Flavors aside, many brands use the winter selling and gifting season to launch line extensions or variants, often with holiday-centric packaging to spur demand. For example, William Grant & Sons in October introduced a limited-edition holiday pack for Glenfiddich that features artwork by Artist Raku Inoue, who reimagined Glenfiddich’s iconic stag as a symbol of “blossoming futures,” according to vice president of marketing Greg Levine. The festive editions feature the core range collection in limited edition versions of Glenfiddich’s signature bottle canisters ($220), while Gran Reserva 21-year-old is presented in a vibrantly designed gift box ($240). 

Brown-Forman offers a special holiday bottle for Woodford Reserve ($50 a 750-ml.), which this year features a textured label that can be personalized at home. “The textured label elevates the holiday cues and showcases our beautiful bottle and liquid in a premium way,” Hindorff says. “This holiday bottle stands out beautifully on a bar car and is a great gift to take to holiday parties. 

Diageo has also added personalization options for Johnnie Walker Blue label. Bottles purchased on ReserveBar.com are eligible for custom engraving, at a suggested retail price of $249 a 750-ml.