Beverage Dynamics is the largest national business magazine devoted exclusively to the needs of off-premise beverage alcohol retailers, from single liquor stores to big box chains, through coverage of the latest trends in wine, beer and spirits.
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Market Profile www.beveragedynamics.com July/August2017• Beverage Dynamics 25 behind Applejack and Argonaut," he says. "We take a sense of pride in that." Carlson says Mulberry tries to curate the best wines it can find within the coveted $10 to $20 price point. Wine is still the driving force at Hazel's too. Craft beer and beer sales in general in Colorado and nation- ally are slowing down, the Denver Post reported last year, a trend Dean says also impacts his store, where many shoppers are wary of so-called big beer. "The big brands—Bud, Coors and Miller—they've just been buying them up," he says. "A lot of people won't even buy Goose Island anymore because it's owned by An- heuser Busch." Dinsmore says he is seeing domestic sales sink, while craft has plateaued because consumers are scoff- ing at $20 and $30 bombers. "Odell and New Belgium sell great because they're both in our backyard, and there is literally a new craft brewery opening on every corner," he says. "I don't think the sky is falling, but a lot of people are going out more." He has also done well with Dry Town gin and vodka from Old Elk Distilling, which just opened in Fort Collins and is backed by the owner of OtterBox phone cases. While Dean says local spirits like Leopold Bros., Breckenridge, Fiesty Spirits and Spirit Hound are re- ally growing, "the high end spirits are still the big thing: Scotch, Bourbon, Yamazaki." Dean says these are highly allocated. "I might have 2,000 people who want Pappy Van Winkle, and I might get 60 bottles. Our distributor only gets so much." Because of the new laws, up to 20 percent of a liquor store's revenue can come from non-alcohol products. Carlson says Mulberry is seizing on this and has started to expand outside of standard beverage alcohol sales, recently opening a full-service home brewing supply shop. "Everybody in Fort Collins brews beer," he says. "There are some rock star brewers in this town, and CSU has a very solid fermentation science program." While he is still climbing the marketing hill and getting the word out, he already has 68 kinds of yeast "and all the grains you can possibly need." As of now, Carlson is the only liquor store in the Fort Collins/Loveland area that sells homebrew sup- plies, and he is thinking about more stores in Fort Col- lins, which already has 48 retail liquor licenses within its city limits. "We're looking at targets of opportunity more than anything else," he says. "But after the big legislation passed last year, everybody is in wait-and- see mode." BD SARAH PROTZMAN HOWLETT is a freelance writer and editor based in Boulder, Colorado. A veteran of Condé Nast Publications in New York City, her work has appeared in O, The Oprah Magazine; Prevention; Denver's 5280; and trade magazines across various industries. Under Colorado law, up to 20% of a store's revenue can come from non-alco- hol products, including home-brew equipment and supplies.