BLT Cocktail... better than a sandwich! |
When Utahans walk into the Utah
DABC State Liquor Stores this month, they will know that Santa Claus has
left the building. Special Price
Adjustments (SPAs) originate with the distributors of the products, not the
UDABC (only Clearance item price reduction come from the UDABC). Last month they were generous with the
holiday promotions. This month those
promotions are scarce. The number of
items on SPA drops from over 600 last month (when Santa was here) to barely
over 200 this month. Part of the reason
this post is so late is that things are so very depressing… Cocktailians in search of ingredients who
didn’t stock up in December will wish they had.
If this post seems short, you now know why. The forecast for next month is not much
better (230 items?), so tighten up your belt and wait for March.
Tequila lovers may shed a tear at the lack of SPA tags on
the Tequila shelves; unless there is something wrong with my program, they will
find none! For those who love Vodka Martinis, 1750ml bottles of Tito’s
Handmade are marked down 13% to $35, plus there is a small selection of other
Vodkas on sale. There isn’t much
excitement in the Rum shelves either this month: a trio of mid-price Darks
marked down around 20%: Cruzan, Bacardi Añejo, and Bacardi 1873 Solera.
If you’re into Bourbons, liter bottles of Jack Daniels Black
Label is marked down 10% to $27. These should make a great BLT; too bad that’s about it for
Bourbons (unless you count the $2 off Knob Creek). There are a couple of single malt Scotch Whiskies
that reside in the $50 range marked down this month (a Macallan 10 Year and a
Highland Park 12 Year) if you’re looking for something to put into a high end Bobby Burns, give one a try. As usual, the number of Rye Whiskies on SPA
this month is low: one. Knob Creek Rye Whiskey is
marked down $2 to $33. Try it in a Rye
cocktail like the Scofflaw Cocktail. If you
need some liqueurs, there’s not much action there, either. Tuaca is marked down
a little over 10% this month; this vanilla and citrus-based liqueur mixes well
with Tequila (too bad there’s none of them on sale!)
As to any other sale or clearance items, if you see anything
at your local state store that other cocktailians might enjoy, post a response
to this article. See the following list
“Suggested by the author” for information on how to use the Utah DABC
website. You can check out what else is
on sale (e.g. the wines etc.) by clicking through to the “SPA Product
List” to open a price book in PDF format that shows all of the markdowns
for the current month.