Drink

Alcohol brands are thinking outside the bottle to fuel and gratify a new drinking culture. Cocktails have always combined kick with craft.

It’s a curiosity of confluence that the trends of wellness, NoLo and all-day drinking have emerged alongside the increasing availability, legality and social acceptability of recreational drugs. According to a 2021 paper in the “Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs,” an analysis of the 100 most popular TikTok videos hashtagged #alcohol (collectively viewed some 292 million times), found that 98 expressed pro-alcohol sentiments; 69 conveyed positive experiences with alcohol; 55 contained humor; and 45 included associations of alcohol with camaraderie. E-commerce · In addition to the impact of direct-to-consumer sales and subscriptions, companies offering home delivery have revolutionized the customs of alcohol browsing and purchase. Alcohol’s embrace of “wellness” is yet another example of dazzle branding — where products elide the harm they cause not by denial but distraction. In 2015, four men (including Josh “The Fat Jewish” Ostrovsky) launched Swish Beverages and released a number of calculatedly controversial wines, including Babe and White Girl Rosé, before selling the company to Anheuser-Busch in 2019. Social media · Notwithstanding the rules, regulations and “responsible practices” governing alcohol’s advertising, social media and online influencers are an increasingly key part of booze branding — whether it’s the Twitter snark of BrewDog, the Instagram curation of Veuve Clicquot or the Facebook clout of Crown Royal’s 1.9 million followers. Contrast the spirit of this venture with Black Girl Magic Rosé which is made by two Black female vintners, Robin and Andréa McBride, who established McBride Sisters in 2005 and built it into one of America’s most respected Black-owned wineries. As a result, brands of every size in every segment are promulgating “planet positivity” and “carbon credibility” often with warm words, but occasionally with actual innovation: As Mallory O’Meara explores in her 2021 book, “Girly Drinks: A World History of Women and Alcohol”: adlibbing the groove for Suntory Whisky to “The Most Interesting Man in the World” ads by Dos Equis. That the biggest beverage conglomerates are dancing to the tune of upstart disruptors and craft distillers is notable. Even as wine aficionados endlessly debate the (de)merits of screw caps and wine boxes, the rest of the industry is seizing on any innovation that can pour its products down consumers’ throats.