Fruity Rebels

That’s right, folks. Domestic American breweries have put on their
fancy pants and are beginning to produce alternative flavored beers.
Served at pubs everywhere this summer and also stocked on grocery
shelves next to cases of old-school Budweiser, Coors and Miller Lite
products, you will find bottles of Bud Light Lime, Miller Chill and
Tuscan Orange Grapefruit Michelob Ultra (initially labeled as 9th
Street Market). Many once-proud men are having trouble refraining from
blowing the foam off these fruity temptations while women who had
previously sworn off wrapping their lips around a heady bottle of beer
find the taste “not too bad.”

This flavor-infusion beer is scaring the pants off conservative sots.
John Latocha, on-premise manager for the Onondaga Beverage Corporation,
local distributors of Coors, Saranac, Labatt, Corona and a host of
other brewskis, has seen trends come and go in the libation market and
offers some logical reasoning behind these bi-imbibers.



“The younger crowd seems to be the majority drinking these new beers,”
Latocha says. “There’s really no brand loyalty with them like there is
with older generations and they seem to be more willing to try craft
beer and other alternatives. Right now, we’re even seeing a big
resurgence with Pabst Blue Ribbon among younger drinkers, and the logic
we came up with is that they’d rather drink what their grandfather
drank instead of what their father drinks. . . they just want something
different.”



Latocha mentions that Zima was the first “fad beer” that made the
market take notice of “alcopops,” a loose term used to describe these
liquid amalgams. It was released in the United States in 1993 after
being test-marketed successfully in Nashville, Sacramento, Calif., and,
leaving us partly to blame, Syracuse. Since then, other alcopops such
as Mike’s Hard Lemonade, Hooper’s Hooch, Smirnoff Ice, Twisted Tea and
similar non-beer flavored beers have made appearances wherever people
were getting drunk. “The week we distribute the most beer all year is the week before the
Fourth of July,” continues Latocha. “And coincidentally, it is usually
right before that time when the beer companies launch their most
widespread campaign to promote these new drinks.” Last summer, the Miller Brewing Company was the first major domestic
label to introduce a fruit-based product with Miller Chill, a
traditional lager brewed with lime and salt. This summer,
Anheuser-Busch jumped on the bandwagon with their self-explanatory Bud
Light Lime, while Michelob followed suit with three varieties including
the aforementioned Tuscan Orange Grapefruit as well as Lime Cactus and
Pomegranate Raspberry Ultra.


The Onondaga Beverage Corporation has more than 1,100 accounts on their
delivery route, and, according to Latocha, orders for these types of
beers go through the roof in the summer, with most invoices being sent
to grocery stores and restaurants and bars with decks or patios. One of
the stops on Onondaga Beverage’s route, replete with outdoor patio, is
the Limp Lizard Lounge Bar and Grill, 4628 Onondaga Blvd. (472-7831),
and owner Chuck Orlando explains the appeal of these hot weather
refreshers.

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“People like things with a little more flavor during the summer
months,” says Orlando. “And when they’re out on the patio and the
weather is nice and they’ve got a tropical flavored drink in their
hand, it kind of makes them feel like they’re on vacation in a way.”



The Limp Lizard sees one of the most diverse crowds of any Syracuse
bar. Live music brings in crowds young and old, while every Tuesday
night throughout the summer is bike night whereupon legion of bikers
rumble into the bar. But they also pop in randomly on other nights and,
reminiscent of the café scene in the counter-culture flick Easy Rider,
you might witness bikers commingling with nurses from nearby Community
General Hospital after their shifts. In a sense, the Limp Lizard is a
perfect microcosm of a test market to see who is really getting
involved in this fruity business.



“The Bud Light Lime is selling really well with the girls,” continues
Orlando. “We get a lot of bikers and other guys that vehemently stay
away from any of that stuff and if they are drinking it, they’re
drinking it out of their girlfriend’s bottle while no one’s looking.”
Apparently, like some guilty pleasures for guys in this world, these
drinks are fun until their friends catch them.



Both Latocha and Orlando agree that while a handful of people might
stick to drinking these beers after trying them, the majority who do
not like the taste of beer and don’t care to sip liquor ultimately end
up back at fruit square-one: Corona with lime. “All these beers are
trying to steal some of Corona’s thunder,” continues Orlando. “And guys
won’t catch as much slack from their buddies drinking one of those and
many of the girls that don’t feel like mixers usually drink Corona.”


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Another aspect of these beers that gets people on the bandwagon is that
they are typically lower in carbohydrates and calories than a regular
Budweiser or Labatt and go down a little easier. And while most guys
won’t ask their friends if a certain shirt accentuates their physique,
there is an underlying cause as to why they try to sneak in one or two
of these light-in-the-loafer lagers during the summer.



“Wine and spirits have been showing an increase in sales because of all
the diet crazes,” notes Latocha. “Beer makers have just been trying to
capitalize on that market share and are just kind of going with the
flow. Our accounts keep putting in orders for these beers and as long
as there is a crowd out there willing to buy the stuff, you’ll most
likely see more and more alternative beers in the coming
years.”