Cheers Features

Looking for ways to make your summer beverage sales soar? Many operators are finding unique ways to cool down guests and quench their thirst for hot summer deals. Summer seasonal programming and merchandising are great ways to enhance the guest experience and drive incremental revenue.

Cheers Beverage Conference News

How does the saying go – You can’t expect different results if you keep doing the same things? So break out of your comfort zone. Try new ideas. STIR THINGS UP!  It’s good for traffic, it’s good for sales, and it brings a whole lot of cash down to your bottom line.

Cheers Product Watch

Kahlua is adding three new flavors to its premium, 200-ml. Cans-To-Go pre-mixed cocktail portfolio: Kahlua Iced Espresso, Iced Mocha and Cinnamon Spice.

VNC Cocktails are a new line of ready-to-drink cocktail mixes from New Zealand available on-premise. The 13.9 percent ABV flavors include Strawberry Daiquiri, Pacific Mai Tai, Pomegranate Cosmopolitan and Passionfruit Caprioska.

Cheers Drink Recipes

Tito’s Handmade Vodka

Fighting Cock whiskey

Pican’s BBQ Bloody Mary juice (see below)

 

Old Bay Kosher salt for rim

BBQ Gulf shrimp for garnish

Pican’s Creole spiced bacon for garnish

 

For juice:

 

46 oz. Tomato juice from grilled heirloom tomatoes

1 Tbsp. Garlic powder

2 Tbsp. Black pepper

2 oz. Steak sauce

5 oz. Hot sauce

2 ½ oz. Lime juice

3 ½ oz. Lemon juice

2 Tbsp. Creole mustard

1 oz. Olive brine

½ oz. Pickling liquid

 

This unique drink is available for $18 at Pican Restaurant in Oakland, CA.

1 ¼ oz. Malibu Coconut Rum

1 oz. pineapple juice
1 oz. Mixed Berry Fruit Creations
2 squeezes of fresh lime juice

 

Combine ingredients in shaker with ice. Shake, pour and top the drink with additional ice.

 

This drink was created by consulting mixologist David Commer.

2-4 Basil leaves

2 Cucumber slices

1 oz. Apple juice

3 oz. Genevieve gin

Cucumber and apple slices

 

In an Old Fashioned glass, muddle the basil leaves and cucumbers with the apple juice. Fill the glass with ice. Add the Genevieve gin. Garnish with a cucumber and apple slice.

 

This drink was sent to us by reader Luis Grisko, a bartender at Cowboy Ciao in Phoenix, AZ.

 

Cheers Breaking News

Bloomin’ Brands, which operates several restaurant chains including Outback Steakhouse, Carrabba’s Italian Grill and Bonefish Grill, made its debut on the stock market Aug. 8. The Tampa, Fla.-based company’s shares rose 12.8% to $1.41 to close at $12.42 on the stock’s first trading day on the Nasdaq.

If the first half is any indication, 2012 is shaping up to be a good year for America’s small and independent craft brewers. Numbers released by trade group The Brewers Association show that dollar sales were up 14% in the first half of this year.

Certain Applebee’s locations, primarily in Florida, have become known as Club Applebee’s. The reason? These locations are attracting late-night drinking customers with offers such as half-price appetizers, drink specials and karaoke.

The wine list at seasonal hotel and restaurant in Montauk, N.Y., includes a special section for its chilled red wine. But while the idea of cooling red wine has gained some traction in recent years, some experts remain opposed to the practice.

Latest Blog Posts

Two New York newspaper food writers recently raised the issue of the role of the wine list. Should the selection always include safe wines that most mainstream consumers have heard of, or should the operators feel free to offer only wines that suit their mission, cuisine or brand–no matter how unknown or obscure?

When considering beer and food pairings, often one of the first that arises is the age-old marriage of oysters and stout. It’s an interesting pairing, as it involves two foodstuffs that make many people squeamish.