Cocktail ingredients Utah update – January 2015

BLT Cocktail... better than a sandwich!

When Utahans walk into the Utah DABC State Liquor Stores this month, they will know that Santa Claus has left the building.  Special Price Adjustments (SPAs) originate with the distributors of the products, not the UDABC (only Clearance item price reduction come from the UDABC).  Last month they were generous with the holiday promotions.  This month those promotions are scarce.  The number of items on SPA drops from over 600 last month (when Santa was here) to barely over 200 this month.  Part of the reason this post is so late is that things are so very depressing…  Cocktailians in search of ingredients who didn’t stock up in December will wish they had.  If this post seems short, you now know why.  The forecast for next month is not much better (230 items?), so tighten up your belt and wait for March.

Tequila lovers may shed a tear at the lack of SPA tags on the Tequila shelves; unless there is something wrong with my program, they will find none!  For those who love Vodka Martinis, 1750ml bottles of Tito’s Handmade are marked down 13% to $35, plus there is a small selection of other Vodkas on sale.  There isn’t much excitement in the Rum shelves either this month: a trio of mid-price Darks marked down around 20%: Cruzan, Bacardi Añejo, and Bacardi 1873 Solera.

If you’re into Bourbons, liter bottles of Jack Daniels Black Label is marked down 10% to $27. These should make a great BLT; too bad that’s about it for Bourbons (unless you count the $2 off Knob Creek).  There are a couple of single malt Scotch Whiskies that reside in the $50 range marked down this month (a Macallan 10 Year and a Highland Park 12 Year) if you’re looking for something to put into a high end Bobby Burns, give one a try.  As usual, the number of Rye Whiskies on SPA this month is low: one. Knob Creek Rye Whiskey is marked down $2 to $33. Try it in a Rye cocktail like the Scofflaw Cocktail.  If you need some liqueurs, there’s not much action there, either. Tuaca is marked down a little over 10% this month; this vanilla and citrus-based liqueur mixes well with Tequila (too bad there’s none of them on sale!)

As to any other sale or clearance items, if you see anything at your local state store that other cocktailians might enjoy, post a response to this article.  See the following list “Suggested by the author” for information on how to use the Utah DABC website.  You can check out what else is on sale (e.g. the wines etc.) 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.