Cocktail ingredients Utah update – January 2011

There’s not much happening at the Utah DABC State Liquor Stores this month; they seem to have exhausted themselves for the December holidays.  A quick scan of my local store showed a lot fewer sale tags than last month, but that should come as no surprise in January.  It looked like there was a great deal on Maker’s Mark (20% off), but it turns out that the 375ml bottle is the one marked down (from $15 to $12).  The reduction is steep enough, though, that it’s a couple of bucks cheaper to but two 375ml bottles than one 750ml bottle.  A mark-down this steep is often a sign that a product (in this case the 375ml size) might be discontinued soon.

The above is not intended to imply that there is nothing good on sale this month.  Gosling’s Black Seal® Rum, for example, is one item you should pick up if your bar is bare.  Gosling’s is essential for a “legal” Dark and Stormy, so if you decide to pick some Gosling’s up, grab some Ginger Beer on the way home.  There are also some good Tequilas that are normally in the $20-$30 range marked down around 10% this month, including a couple of 1800®’s and an El Jimador® Reposado.  Both 1800 Silver and the El Jimador make great Margaritas.  Last month had some quality Rums on sale, but this month they’re more commercial and homogenized: Bacardi®, for example.

Once again this month does not appear to deliver much in the way of exciting cocktail ingredients on clearance.  If you see anything good at your local state store, post a response to this article.  You can check out what’s on sale 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.