Strategically curated collections of spirited and non-alcoholic beverages, selected to span the entire day and accommodate the full scope of members’ and guests’ preferences, are helping the “B” in F&B take off.   

Over the past three years, beer sales on the golf course at Manchester Country Club in Bedford, N.H., have increased 114%, and liquor sales have soared 853%, reports David Smith, the club’s Executive Chef/Director of Food and Beverage. Overall, total beverage sales on the course have risen 215%, from $14,224 in 2016 to $44,941 in 2019.

“Member-satisfaction scores are higher in this area as well,” Smith notes.

Much of the boost reflected by both barometers can be attributed to the introduction of a mobile beverage cart during regular play times at Manchester CC in 2019, Smith says. While previously the cart had been available only for special member events or when it was purchased for golf outings, that was changed after a member survey indicated they would like to have the cart be part of their everyday experience at the club, too.

“Our cart is stocked with full-size bottles of several spirits; nips just don’t satisfy our membership’s tastes,” Smith notes. “Our members demand the same pour on the course that they get in the club, and the cart attendants are trained as bartenders, to maintain the continuity of the drink on the property.”

In addition to the bottled spirits, the club offers more than 20 different labels of regional New England craft beer in cans on the cart, as well as in the dining room.

“Our Dining Room Manager, Sarah Dunn, prides herself on finding unique and seasonal craft cans, and members really appreciate her efforts,” Smith says.

This year, Smith adds, Manchester CC is “stepping up our game with an improved new model cart, which will allow us to offer more beverages and hot and cold food items, enhancing the experience even more.”

Value Pours

Attractive pricing is one way that The Union Club in Cleveland, Ohio encourages spirit sales. Alcoholic beverages, including wines, are priced 5 to 10% lower than in the surrounding market, said Lawrence McFadden, the club’s General Manager and COO.

“Our members get the same exact product at a better price,” McFadden says. “To make sure members get the full value from bottles of wine they purchase for dinner, we secure the unfinished bottles so the wine doesn’t oxidize, and put them in a nice-looking to-go bag.”

Members of The Union Club also like to attend wine tastings paired with activities such as yoga, knitting and book clubs. “People seem to be more comfortable having a couple of glasses of wine when it’s part of a special program,” McFadden points out. “If we just do a wine tasting, we might get 10 people; but if we combine it with an activity, we’ll double that number right away.”

Every Friday, he adds, The Union Club features a community or chef’s table, for which members can purchase one to 12 seats. The prix fixe degustation menu, created by the club’s chef and sommelier, includes a suggested wine pairing that many members opt to include. 

Twice a year, McFadden notes, The Union Club does a “Cellar Sweep” to clear out its wine cellar and let members buy wines, at a significant discount, that they might not see again.

A Variety of Wine-Selling Techniques

Talbot Country Club in Easton, Md., is licensed to sell wine in bulk, so members of Talbot’s Wine Club can always have their favorite bottles available, reports Jen Moran, the club’s Beverage Manager. A staff member also works as a personal wine buyer for members, tracking down labels that they request.  

On the regular dinner menu at Manchester CC, Smith explains, all entrees are paired with by-the-glass wine suggestions, to take advantage of the club’s preservation system (see box, pg. 28). The same goes for weekly features.

Jenn Paciotti, Director of Clubhouse Operations at Daniel Island Club in Charleston, S.C., describes her members as wine aficionados. So not surprisingly, Daniel Island has two wine clubs, one being a cellar club. 

Daniel Island’s dining menu also features different varietals by the glass, and spotlights a Wine of the Month.

“Whether it is a Far Niente Chardonnay that we were able to bring in at a good price or a Chateauneuf-du-Pape that they had never tried, the wine-by-the-glass program drives our members to try new varietals and wineries,” Paciotti says.

Return of the Classics

Classic cocktails are also making a comeback at Daniel Island Club. “We are seeing a resurgence of the pre-Prohibition Era cocktails, with a modern twist or unique technology,” Paciotti reports. “These tend to be very simple drinks with a minimum amount of ingredients, all of which must be of the highest quality.”

In 2019, she says, the club’s vodka sales were around $280,000, followed by bourbon at $71,000. Gin and tequila tied for third at around $42,000.

One of the club’s most popular cocktails is the Viola, a variation of a dramatically purple classic cocktail from the early 1900s called the Aviation (see recipe, pg. 26). Other big sellers are Mezcal Tequila and bourbon transformed at the table into a multi-sensory experience with the application of a smoker gun, for a smoked Manhattan.

Details can also help to elevate the beverage experience. Paciotti says she has seen ice cubes or balls branded with a stamp or mold, and is looking to introduce one with the club’s logo. She is also exploring having a supplier produce liquors such as vodka and gin under the Daniel Island Club brand.

“We want to offer liquors at the quality levels and price points as the ones we currently offer,” she said. “Gin is particularly exciting, because we can customize it with herbs and botanicals.”

Just as people are buzzing about farm to table when it comes to food, they’re now also looking for “farm to glass” in beverage offerings, Paciotti notes. “We work with the kitchen staff to use unique ingredients in our cocktails,” she explains. “Members enjoy watching their juice get freshly squeezed or herbs muddled into their cocktails, as opposed to something poured from a bottle.” 

Much of the appeal of cocktails now served at Manchester CC also stems from the freshness of the ingredients, including herbs, peppers and different kinds of mint grown in the club’s three large gardens, as well as honey from its on-site beehives, Smith notes. “We actually grow mint inside the bar over the winter, so we can serve the freshest Mojitos all year round,” he reports.

Pretty as a Picture  

Good looks can also go a long way to increasing liquor sales. “We are living in a visual society, so presentation matters, from glassware to garnishes,” Paciotti says. “Every drink has to be ‘Instagrammable.’ ”

Picture-perfect tropical libations fit the setting at the Pier House Resort & Spa in Key West, Fla., reports Joe Dantoni, Divisional Vice President of Operations for Remington Hotels, the property’s parent company. Guests can sip a signature rum punch made with light rum, banana liqueur, Malibu Rum, pineapple and orange juice with a dark rum floater. And in One Duval, the property’s fine dining room, the signature cocktail is the Pier House Royal—vodka, Chambord and sweet and sour in a sugar-rimmed glass with a floating lemon peel.  

Colorful concoctions such as the Cranberry Mule (cranberry juice, agave nectar and ginger beer topped with club soda) and the Strawberry Banana Soda made with Monin Strawberry and Monin Banana topped with club soda are served at the Daniel Island Club.

Manchester CC has taken the wine flight concept and applied it to cocktails such as margaritas, Smith reports. Little placemats are printed with descriptions of each of the three versions of the cocktail. 

Spirit consumption changes with the seasons at Talbot CC. During the winter months, single-malt scotch dominates, while in other seasons, sales trend to rums and “Dark and Stormy” cocktails, Moran says. 

More established members at Talbot prefer port or sherry to finish out their meals, Moran adds, while younger members will go for more fun and trendy dessert-style cocktails, such as a chocolate martini made with “peanut butter whiskey” (infused with peanuts, for a creamy mouthfeel and finish).

At The Union Club, McFadden reports, “anything in a barrel is popular now.” At first, he notes, that primarily applied to bourbons and rums. But now vodka, gins and even wines aged in old bourbon barrels are also on trend. Sustainable and organic liquors are also popular when they can be offered at the right price point.

How members drink at The Union Club is also a generational thing, McFadden notes. Those in their mid-50s usually start with a cocktail that they generally bring into the dining room from the bar or order at the table. Younger members, between the ages of 30 and 45, lean more toward wine.

No matter what the age group, almost everybody orders something to drink at the beginning of the meal, McFadden says. “You could say it’s a social lubricant,” he offers.

Drinking Without Excess

Lighter libations—both spirited and non-alcoholic—are showing strong growth in demand from among health- and fitness-conscious members and guests at club and resort properties around the country. 

At the Pier House Resort and Spa in Key West, Fla., guests are increasingly choosing to quench their thirst with lower or non-alcoholic options such as spiked seltzer, light beer and organic coconut water, according to Director of Food and Beverage Blanka Lamberson.  

“We still sell a lot of frozen drinks such as margaritas at the pool and beach bars, but spiked seltzers are definitely becoming extremely popular,” Lamberson notes.  

“Anything light and fizzy” such as spritzers, flavored seltzers or Aperol “makes members happy” at Daniel Island Club in Charleston, S.C., adds Jenn Paciotti, Director of Clubhouse Operations. “And it’s not just the women,” she emphasizes. “Even the men are asking for these beverages.”

At Talbot Country Club in Easton, Md., notes Beverage Manager Jen Moran, male golfers are looking for beverages that are “full-flavored, but not full of calories,” such as a mango fizzy water or pomegranate spritz cocktail. Crushes made with fresh-pressed fruit juice such as grapefruit or watermelon and combined with flavored vodka are also popular at the club, as are non-alcoholic versions made with club soda or Sprite. Lower-calorie IPA beers are also in high demand at the pool. 

“This is 100% driven by a focus on fitness, decreasing sugar consumption and reducing carbs,” Moran says.

In a recent blog entry, IRI research reported that sales of hard seltzers (carbonated and usually fruit-flavored malt-based beverages, such as White Claw and Truly) have been “exploding,” achieving $1.3 billion in U.S. sales in 2019. The researchers attribute this meteoric rise to consumer thirst for better-for-you products, interesting flavor profiles, and convenience. There have been few instances over the past several decades where specific spirited beverage products have grown to such a high level so quickly, it was noted.

The makers of drinks in this category—which now also includes Bud Light Seltzer—are targeting young adult consumers (including millennials and the first Gen-Zers who have reached the legal drinking age) who grew up on fruity drinks and are carrying that taste for sweet, fruity products with them as they age, IRI research noted. 

Preserving Profits

Wine-by-the glass sales, including higher-end labels that would typically be offered only by the bottle, are getting a big boost at Manchester Country Club in Bedford, N.H., since last winter’s debut of a wine-preservation system, reports David Smith, the club’s Executive Chef/Director of Food and Beverage. Even during the winter off-season, wine sales show that members have embraced the by-the-glass program.

“This program opens up opportunities for members to try different wines, and we don’t have to be worried about when we’re going to sell the next glass, because the system preserves the bottles and keeps them fresh,” Smith says.  

On its weekly dining-room menu specials, Manchester CC now features a page that offers tasting notes of selected bottles that are using the wine-preservation system. The club is also now able to offer wine flights (three three-ounce pours) utilizing the system. 

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Recipes

Viola
Yield: 1 Serving
INGREDIENTS:
2 ozs. gin
1 oz. Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur
1 oz. freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 oz. Crème Yvette
(for garnish) fresh flowers
procedure:
1 Shake and strain into a martini glass.
2 Garnish with fresh flowers.
Submitted by Jenn Paciotti, Director of Clubhouse Operations, The Daniel Island Club, Charleston, S.C.

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Smoldering Knob Creek Manhattan
Yield: 1 Serving
INGREDIENTS:
2 1/2 ozs. Knob Creek Bourbon
1/2 oz. Carpano Antica Sweet Vermouth
2 dashes Orange Angostura Bitters
2 Bada Bing Cherries
1 orange slice
1 rosemary skewer, slightly dried (for better smoking effect)
procedure:
1. Pour the bourbon, vermouth and bitters on the rocks.
2. Garnish with orange slice and cherries skewered on rosemary.
3. Light the rosemary before bringing it to the table, and trail the smell throughout the bar to delight the guest.
David Smith, Executive Chef/Food & Beverage Manager, Manchester Country Club, Bedford, N.H.

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1910 Pomegranate Spritz
Yield: 1 Serving
INGREDIENTS:
sprig thyme
.5 oz. Seacrets Orange Infused Vodka
.5 oz. Pama Liqueur
1 oz. Aperol Aperitivo
splash sparkling water
(for garnish) fresh pomegranate seeds
(for garnish) orange twist
procedure:
1. Shake all ingredients, except the sparkling water.
2. Strain into a stemmed glass over fresh ice and top with sparkling water.
3. Garnish with fresh pomegranate seeds and orange twist.
Submitted by Jen Moran, Beverage Manager, Talbot Country Club, Easton, Md.

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Gin Grapefruit
Sour
Yield: 1 Serving
INGREDIENTS:
2 ozs. Botanist Gin
1 oz. freshly squeezed grapefruit juice
1 oz. freshly squeezed lemon
1 oz. whipped egg whites
simple syrup
(for garnish) fresh grapefruit wedge
procedure:
1 Shake and strain into a coupe.
2 Garnish with a fresh grapefruit wedge.
Submitted by Jenn Paciotti, Director of Clubhouse Operations, The Daniel Island Club, Charleston, S.C.

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Mango Margarita
Yield: 1 Serving
INGREDIENTS:
1 oz. Milagro Silver Tequila
.75 oz. Cointreau
2 tbsp. mango puree
2 tbsp. fresh key lime juice
ice
salt for rim
procedure:
Shake all ingredients together and pour into salt-rimmed glass.
Submitted by Joe Dantoni, Divisional VP of Operations, Remington Hotels, and Blanka Lamberson, Director of Food & Beverage, Pier House Resort & Spa, Key West, Fla.

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Thyme Collins
Yield: 1 Serving
INGREDIENTS:
1 oz. freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 1/2 ozs. gin
1/2 oz. sugar syrup infused with thyme (see recipe below)
soda water
procedure:
Add all the ingredients except the soda into a highball glass with ice. Stir and top with soda.
INGREDIENTS For Sugar Syrup Infused with Thyme:
1 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
3 fresh thyme sprigs
procedure:
1. Bring water to 190 degrees; add the sugar and melt together for 5 minutes. Add the thyme sprigs and take off the heat.
2. Rest for 24 hours; strain to remove the thyme.
3. Chill.
Submitted by Lawrence McFadden, General Manager/COO, The Union Club, Cleveland, Ohio

C+RB