Food For Thought: 2013 Beverage Trends
The end of one year and the beginning of a new one always lends itself to more than a few trend and prediction posts. The latest one from Patti Shock at Cvent was a great look at some trends on the rise in 2013. Here’s some of the ones we found most interesting:
Mixologists are now creating unique, special drinks for specific events. Old standbys are being reinvented.with fresh new ingredients, including herbs, spices and unusual fruits and vegetables.
House made mixers (sweet & sour mix, ginger ale, tonics, simple syrups infused with herbs and spices) are replacing standard bottled offerings.
image credit: Bernt Rostad
This isn’t too surprising. Consumers are ever more conscious of what they’re consuming and the overall shift towards more “local” offerings is trendy.
Beer tastings and Beer Cocktails (including beer margaritas) are on the rise
Beer tastings are an obvious hit. All the ones I’ve attended have been packed. It’s hard not to sell out an event where it’s easy to mingle, sip on delicious craft beers, and generally just have a great time.
Bourbon is back.
Since when can bourbon go out of style? We weren’t aware that was possible, but we’re certainly glad it’s back.
Green Event Planning Tips
The trend towards greener events has been coming on for quite awhile now. There’s some good tips here for event planners or caterers that are looking to make themselves a little more green in 2013.
The one that caught our eye was the growing viability of LED lighting:
Lighting – Use LED lighting for displays, billboards and banners. If you’re hosting a larger event, favoring LED will really add up in savings since they use a fraction of the energy that tungsten or halogen lights do.
8 Ways to Make a Skinny Cocktail
With the New Year comes New Year Resolutions. For a lot of people that means watching their weight and being more conscious of what they consume. Those nights out can get away from us though and a couple of drinks can turn into 4 or 6. If you’re downing a cocktail each time, those calories add up. Tablespoon gives a few tips of how you can tweak your favorite cocktail to be a little more in line with your New Years Resolutions:
Skip the pre-made mixers and simple syrup. They’re calorie bombs.
Opt for Diet Soda or Club Soda over regular sodas and tonic water which have over 100 calories per serving
Choose fresh fruit instead of the store-bought juices and mixes.
All very sensible recommendations, we’ll see how long they last…
