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StateWays | www.stateways.com | May/June 2017 36 NEW ON THE SHELF Nearly 30 years after the debut of Absolut Citron, Pernod Ricard recently launched Absolut Lime. "What is absolutely driving the growth within the fl avor segment is citrus," says Absolut Brand Director Nick Guastaferro. Absolut Citron, Guastaferro says, is the number-one lemon vodka, along with the strongly performing Absolut Mandarin. "So we are building off a posi- tion of strength with the launch of Absolut Lime. If you look at the broader food and drink picture, lime is driving a lot of the macro trends." In March, Svedka debuted Blue Raspberry, bringing its fl avor portfolio to 14, according to Brand Director Vick Arcos. Also in March, the Deep Eddy brand added a sixth fl avor with Deep Eddy Orange, according to Reid Hafer, Senior Brand Manager for Heaven Hill. "Stone fruits are on-trend," notes Richard Black, Vice Presi- dent of Marketing, white spirits and cordials for Campari Amer- ica. The company recently launched Skyy Infusions California Apricot, which joins Skyy Infusions Georgia Peach in the fl avor portfolio. This April, the brand also initiated a new advertising campaign, entitled "Make Every Day," which hearkens back to the San Franciscan roots of Skyy Vodka; California Apricot will feature heavily in the campaign. Also in April, Cîroc released its fi rst limited-time variant, Cîroc Summer Colada, infused with coconut, pineapple and other natural fl avors. It joins Cîroc Mango, which was released last September, according to Brand Director Ryan Robertson. Smirnoff made news last year with the launch of Smirnoff Sourced, which is made with 10% real fruit juice from concen- trate. This year, the brand is re-releasing popular seasonal offer- ings like Smirnoff Red, White & Berry and Smirnoff Peppermint Twist for a limited-time, according to Jay Sethi, Vice President of Marketing for the brand. FLAVOR POPS "While there is still a very robust market for fl avored vodka, the category was either fl at or down in the last few years," says David Ozgo, Senior Vice President for Economic and Strategic Analysis for the Distilled Spirits Council (DIS- CUS). However, volumes of fl avored vodkas were up by 800,000 cases in 2016, representing almost 8% growth. Of the 800,000 in increased shipments, around 600,000 cases represented new product introductions. "Thus, much of the increase went to stocking shelves and building wholesaler inventory," Ozgo adds. "Sales of fl avored vodka have rebounded," says Absolut's Guastaferro, conceding that the category had experienced a bit of a contraction in past years. "A lot of the rebound can be at- tributed to a focus on core, higher-productivity SKUs."