Your intrepid beverage dork was on the road in June, teaching at Bar Convent Brooklyn, also known as BCB. It’s a bar-industry trade show that brings more than 230 brands and thousands of bar professionals to Brooklyn to taste, learn and nerd out over the latest and greatest in the bar world.
This show is a great place to get an idea of what’s trending and exciting in the world of beverages, so I am sharing some of the key takeaways—to keep you on the cutting edge of hip liquids.
So. Much. Tequila.
This trade show had more tequila to taste than any show I have ever been to, in my almost two decades of working in the bar world. Every other booth was a new tequila brand reaching for attention.
Those of you who do not spend your life in the world of bars may not know that the tequila world is experiencing soap-opera levels of drama. In May, a class-action lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, accusing one of the world’s largest spirits producers, Diageo, of falsely labeling tequilas as “100% agave.” This is a significant development, as the brands in question, Don Julio and Casamigos, are among the industry’s top-selling brands. Smaller brands see an opportunity, and they are pressing hard to step into the spotlight and capitalize on Diageo’s stumble…