Industry & Beverage Trends

A beverage director at a midtown Manhattan hotel sat across from her general manager last quarter with a single sheet of paper. Down the left column: the hotel's twenty most-requested cocktails, by volume. Down the right: the corresponding non-alcoholic alternative, by guest satisfaction score. The pattern was hard to miss. Wherever the menu offered an Italian aperitivo, a Tuscan red pairing, or a Prosecco service moment, the non-alcoholic version had been quietly losing the comparison — …

On a Friday evening at a design-forward Manhattan hotel, a guest checked in jet-lagged from Seoul and made her way to the rooftop bar before she even unpacked. The bartender placed a chilled glass in front of her, then turned the bottle so she could see the label — a riot of color, bold cartoon strokes, signed by an artist she happened to follow on Instagram. She pulled out her phone before her first sip. That photograph reached 14,000 people overnight. The bottle in question was BONBON …

In a quiet dining room in Midtown Manhattan, a sommelier sets down a bottle of Spanish wine at a table of four. The label is elegant. The pour is deep ruby — rich with the promise of Merlot. One guest looks up and asks, “Is this the zero-proof option?” The sommelier nods. What follows is not compromise. It is craft. That scene — once unimaginable in fine dining — is now playing out across the United States. And at the center of it, with growing frequency, is Luss …