A CHAMPAGNE TOAST

The 2023 James Beard Foundation Awards offers trends in the beverage industry

By Margaret McSweeney, Host and Founder of KITCHEN CHAT kitchenchat.info

The award-winning host of Kitchen Chat covered the Red Carpet for the 2023 James Beard Foundation Awards and discovered today’s significant spirits, beverage, and hospitality trends.

Let’sraise a glass of champagne, which is experiencing a rebirth, according to Mia Van de Water, the Head of Beverage Operations at New York’s Cote, a nominee for the Outstanding Wine & Other Beverages Program. It is also the first Korean steakhouse in New York City. Champagne, classic cocktails, and non-alcoholic drinks were on the menu and on the minds of the nation’s leading culinary and hospitality industry professionals and food media.

PR%F Magazine celebrated and spoke with the nation’s top culinary leaders, icons, and emerging chefs about the future of food and beverage trends.

This is from a culinary and cultural focus and what we will be sipping through 2023 and beyond.

The Lyric Opera of Chicago was the elegant venue for the James Beard Foundation Awards, widely known as the “Oscars” of the hospitality industry. The nominees and culinary luminaries spoke on the Red Carpet about beverage trends in the hospitality industry. I immediately thought of my friend Chef Mary Sue Milliken of Border Grill and Vice-Chair of the James Beard Foundation Board of Trustees about a recent fascinating conversation.

“I’ve been thinking a lot about beverages and how much they affect the hospitality industry so much more than when I first started… Beverages are as much a part of a meal. I don’t know if I can say this as a chef since it sounds a little blasphemous, but they’re almost as important as the food,” says Chef Milliken.

a champagne toast: the 2023 james beard foundation awards

Beverages were on everybody’s mind. As Chef Junghyun Park and Ellia Park, co-owners of Atomix and winner of Best Chef: New York State said, “Without a beverage, the meal cannot be perfect.” The assembled greats, including Donnie Madia, winner of Outstanding Restaurateur in 2015, declared, “The industry is on fire when it comes to cocktails and spirits. People are investing in the new companies… .batch cocktails, canned cocktails” Madia is correct since sales of alcoholic beverages are projected to reach $283 billion in the United States by the end of the year.

There are five common themes: Elevated Beverage Experience; Culinary and Culture Focus; Non-Alcoholic Drinks; Return to Classic Cocktails; and the Natural Wine Movement.

ELEVATED BEVERAGE EXPERIENCE:

“Experiential, not transactional,” is how multiple James Beard Award winner Steve Dolinsky, food reporter for NBC5 in Chicago, frames it. Dolinsky credits The Aviary in Chicago with elevating and redefining the “experience” of cocktails as envisioned by Chef Grant Achatz. Dolinsky emphasizes that with the high cost of drinks, the guest needs to have “a memorable experience of top-notch quality of product and excellent service.” It must be more than a drink on the table, incorporating elements such as smoke, infusions, and glassware rituals. The server should know “the origins and how it was distilled in the case of bourbon.” Aaron Verzosa, Best Chef: Northwest and Pacific nominee, mentioned that his restaurant Archipelago in Seattle “only focuses on small producers in the Pacific Northwest in origin, nothing from the Old World. These producers’ stories are shared with the guests.

At Grey Sweater, winner of the 2023 Best Chef Southwest, Andrew Black takes the cocktail experience “deeply,” beginning the Cocktail Journey even before a guest arrives at his door. At Grey Sweater, a phone call is placed to “interview” the guest before arrival. Black shared authentic passion, stating, “Beverages mean the world to us.” a champagne toast: the 2023 james beard foundation awards

CULINARY AND CULTURE FOCUS:

Global taste was on display in the JBF culinary and restaurant awards. It is no surprise that beverage programs equally are offering a massive trend of “global flavors” and cultural origins of beverage traditions and experiences. “It feels like a new frontier,” says Sam Fore, Chef/Owner of Tuk Tuk Sri Lankan Bites in Lexington, Kentucky, and nominee for Best Chef: Southeast, who is “seeing a lot more culinary focus” within the beverage service.

“Beverages are being made with culture in mind,” Erick Williams, Best Chef: Great Lakes 2022 winner, explains, “Spirits that are directed to particular cultures and how these cultures are harnessed with ingredients is what we are seeing come forth. We are excited about expressing our culture at Virtue.”

Grecia Ludena and Chef Macarena Ludena of Coracora, West Hartford, Connecticut, a nominee for Outstanding Restaurant, proudly represent their Peruvian heritage by featuring Pisco, the national Peruvian drink, throughout their menu. Nominee for Best Chef: Southwest, Jeff Chanchaleune of Ma Der Lao Kitchen, Oklahoma City, celebrates the flavor of Laotian cuisine ingredients such as jeow som dip and fish sauce in a signature drink called Little Dragon. Winner of Best Chef: Northeast Sherry Pocknett, Sly Fox Den Too in Charleston, Rhode Island, has Sassafrass Tea featured on her menu which is a taste that reflects the culture of her Wampanoag Tribal heritage.

Sake was another hot topic on the Red Carpet but with some surprises. Outstanding Chef nominee Hajime Sato, Sozai, Clawson, Michigan, is also a sake advisor and says, “People have to learn about sake. It’s not a rice wine. It’s more like a beer.”

David Utterback, nominee for Best Chef: Midwest, Yoshitomo, Omaha, has been working tirelessly over the past five years to help expand the sake market. “The midwest has been a desert as far as sake goes,” Utterback emphasized. He has brought in producers that weren’t previously available in the United States as well as working with local sake producers. According to Utterback, “Omaha is now one of the fastest-growing sake markets.”

NON-ALCOHOLIC DRINKS:

A growing number of people are toasting with non-alcoholic beverages. According to a recent report by Allied Market Research, “The global nonalcoholic spirits market size was valued at $281.1 million in 2021 and is projected to reach $642.4 million by 2031.” According to Fact.MR, the current non-alcoholic wine market is around $2 billion, with anticipated growth to $5.2 billion by 2033. This growing trend for non-alcoholic beverage consumption was noted repeatedly on the Red Carpet. Omar Anani, nominee for Best Chef: Great Lakes, has emphasized a dry bar at his restaurant Saffron de Twah in Detroit and “elevating the cocktail world without alcohol” for the past two years as “this industry is growing exponentially.” a champagne toast: the 2023 james beard foundation awards nominated for Best New Restaurant, “Non-alcoholic pairing is something that the industry is moving forward to, and we are extremely happy to be part of that.

Monti Carlo, a Puerto Rican Food TV Host, confirms the trends in mocktails. “It’s all about fresh, and it’s all about fruit, vibrancy, and of course, refreshing.” On a side note, Chef Jeffrey Harris of Nolia in Cincinnati, Ohio, a nominee for Best New Restaurant, shares that one of the trendy ingredients for the vibrant colors in both mocktails and cocktails is “Butterfly pea powder,” which also affirms “experiential” cocktail trending.

NATURAL WINE MOVEMENT:

Although natural wine has been around for thousands of years, it is now being recognized, appreciated, and called for by discerning diners and drinkers. Essentially, natural wine means the grapes are grown organically and that the wine is made with wild yeast for a natural process of fermentation.

Eric Prato, co-owner of Garagiste Wine Room/ Merchant, Las Vegas, a nominee for Outstanding Bar, confirms that the natural wine movement is a big trend. Garagiste focuses on “wines with low intervention, off the beaten path and obscure varietals in an effort to make wine more approachable to the local Las Vegas market.” Tahiira Habibi, a global award-winning sommelier and founder of The Hue Society, “a trailblazing organization increasing Black, brown, and Indigenous representation and access in the wine industry,” said that “natural wine is a top trend, and people are really starting to get into it.” She also mentioned that orange wine and low-alcohol and non-alcoholic wines are also trends in the industry.

RETURN TO CLASSIC COCKTAILS:

Shaking, stirring, and toasting signal a return of the Classic Cocktails. Anu Apte, the owner of Rob Roy in Seattle and a nominee for Outstanding Bar, is enjoying the trend of “a return to the classic classics, like really old school and adding one subtle twist.”

According to Bryce Blankenship, Bar Manager of The Black Cypress, Pullman, Washington, a nominee for Outstanding Hospitality, building on the tradition of Classic Cocktails, “The Espresso Martini trend has swept the nation.” Although a rendition is offered on the bar menu, Blankenship takes pride that the classics are all “balanced and innovative.”

Ellen Yin, High Street Hospitality, Winner of Outstanding Restaurateur, thinks “the love of cocktails will continue well into the future, especially with natural ingredients and things that come out of the kitchens.” Speaking of natural ingredients, Celebrity Chef Andrew Zimmern declared that “this is the year of the Spruce Tip.”

The After Party

The Moet & Chandon Champagne Tower, which was utterly spectacular and created by Belinda Chang, a two-time James Beard awardwinning Sommelier, and Sommpreneur, said, “For nearly three centuries, Moët & Chandon has been the champagne of choice to mark both significant events in history and personal celebrations, enhancing each toast with the spark of effervescence.” It was the perfect choice for the official after-party and to offer my toast of congratulations to all the nominees and winners.