The Third Dimension

Beer merits a place alongside wine and spirits on high-end restaurant beverage menus.

This article first appeared in the 1 April 2006 issue of Restaurants & Institutions (R&I).

R&I is the USA's leading source of food and business-trend information and exclusive research on operators and restaurant patrons. Editorial coverage spans the entire foodservice industry, including chains, independent restaurants, hotels and institutions. To find out more about R&I, visit its website www.foodservice411.com.

By Jamie Popp, Senior Editor

Not surprisingly, most discussion of beverage programs at white-tablecloth restaurants centers on wine and distilled spirits. Award-winning wine lists are undeniable lures for fine-dining guests, and creative cocktails are increasingly common. Beer's place in this mix often is overlooked.

Chicago-based researcher Technomic Inc. projects 2006 increases in on-premise sales of wine and spirits of 5% and 7.8%, respectively. While beer trails with a projected 4.4% sales increase, it presents an opportunity worth cultivating.

At Morton's, The Steakhouse, wine lists include from 200 to 400 choices while beer selections are limited to a dozen, says Tylor Field, vice president of wine and spirits for the 69-unit New Hyde Park, N.Y.-based chain. The category isn't ignored, however.

He says Morton's strategy involves stocking a few specialty beers and educating servers about brewing styles and food pairings, just as it does with wine and spirits.

"We do beverage training sessions quarterly. We try to rotate among wineries, distilleries and brewers as best we can on a national level," Field says. "Additionally, distributors conduct wine and beer tastings."

Morton's also welcomes beer companies that wish to host dinners with restaurant employees to educate them about beer styles and flavors.

Its beer menu is equally well thought out and opinionated, says John Gertsen, the restaurant's principal bartender. "We're not known as a beer restaurant, but we have high-quality beers from around the world chosen on merit," he says.

The list is a compilation of bottles that "could pair with a nine-course tasting menu," he says.

Among Gertsen's matches are one of two dessert beers that accompany chocolate tart with fresh pistachios, grapefruit confiture and salted-butter ice cream. A Belgian golden ale is his recommendation for No. 9's oysters on the half shell with prosecco mignonette, chardonnay vinegar, shallots and crushed black pepper. In winter, Gertsen stocks a heavy Abbey ale-another Belgian-style beer-that he says matches well with Lynch's roasted-squash soup with crème fraÁ®che.

Gertsen says many high-end restaurants feature specialty beers because they match well with complex flavors.

Margin Benefits

No. 9 guests are asked about their beer preferences, Gertsen says, and their descriptions help shape suggestions. Locally produced or small-batch beers are popular with many diners, a trend growing in strength. Morton's Field says its locations (in 29 states) stock craft brews as a way to connect with local tastes.

The Boulder, Colo.-based Brewers Association reports that sales of American craft beers-primarily all-malt products from small, independent breweries-rose 9% in 2005, which the association says makes craft beers the fastest-growing alcoholic-beverage category.

Brewers Association Director Paul Gatza attributes craft beers' sales increase in part to restaurants stocking more specialty brews, such as high-gravity beers (which have higher alcohol content than other brews).

Added hops in high-gravity beers means bolder flavor, mirroring the trend to strongly flavored foods. But these drinks also appeal to operators for their profit potential.

"Higher-alcohol beers are becoming more attractive because their prices tend to be higher, so there is a better sales margin," Gatza says. "It's more attractive to sell a beer for $17."

David Henkes, senior principal at Technomic, says the ability to price specialty beers closer to cocktails is an advantage that makes them valuable additions to bar menus.

"Imported beers typically are 50 cents to 75 cents more expensive than their domestic counterparts. By comparison, cocktails using brand-name products can be $3 to $5 more expensive than well alcohol," he says. "There is opportunity for variable pricing in beer, and there is room at the top for operators to charge more for higher-quality brands."

New Laws of Gravity

It's been little more than a year and a half since changes in Georgia laws governing beer brewing and sales permitted restaurants to stock high-profit high-gravity beers. Previously, beer with more than 6% alcohol by volume was outlawed, which eliminated many imports and microbrews from consideration. With the limit now at 14%, operators such as Restaurant Eugene in Atlanta can't get enough Belgian ale and other specialty beers.

"High-gravity price points are higher," says General Manager Patrick M. Mitchell. "One bottle we stock goes for $20. We also have customers who know we have the high-gravity beers and return regularly because they can't get them elsewhere."

Restaurant Eugene servers open 750-milliliter bottles of high-gravity beers-many of which are corked-tableside. The restaurant also pairs fruity Belgian high-gravity ale with a collection of hard cheeses including English Cheddar and farmhouse cheese from Spain.

Limited storage space for beers can make stocking the larger bottles a challenge for upscale restaurants, most of which still view wine as the most profitable component of the beverage menu. But Taho Rosslow, beverage manager and sommelier at Atlanta's Chops Lobster Bar-a Buckhead Life Restaurant Group concept that holds a place among R&I's Top 100 Independent Restaurants-says sales of high-gravity beers merit room in his small bar.

Rosslow stocks Belgian-style brews as well as high-gravity beers he says yield twice the profit margin of domestics.

Another Buckhead Life concept, Bluepointe, also in Atlanta, has a stylish multistory bar, a 14-page wine list and a global inventory of beers. Rosslow explains that a smaller, judicious selection of beers, as Chops maintains, can be just as popular with guests.

"I pick domestic and imports that already have a pull in the market," he says.

Fine Finishes

Beer may be the last thing that most diners think of when they order dessert. However, there are efforts to introduce diners to the possibilities of pairing beer with everything sweet, from chocolate to ice cream.

"There was a huge surge in fruit beers in the late 1990s, and they sold like mad until people realized many weren't that good," says Lew Bryson, a beer-industry expert based in Bucks County, north of Philadelphia. "Good fruit beers are a natural for desserts, however. There also is a realization that rich dark beers go well with chocolate."

Hot Chocolate, a Chicago cafe owned by Pastry Chef Mindy Segal, serves small plates for dinner and brunch. The restaurant recently hosted a dessert and beer tasting with three dark Canadian ales. "The range of flavors found in beer is wider than most people realize," Bryson says. "There are beers that have notes of chocolate, coffee, fruit and vanilla; beers that will seduce a dish of chocolate torte."

Cathedral Hill Hotel in San Francisco regularly plans beer dinners, which include a dessert-and-beer pairing course that involves more than chocolate.

Bruce Paton, certified executive chef at the hotel, has combined porters with chocolate because of the similar flavor profiles. But, he also uses barley wine-a style of beer named because of its 6% to 12% alcohol by volume content and aging ability-with milder desserts.

Paton likes a San Diego-brewed smoked porter and a trio of dark, milk and white chocolate flans. He has also paired a strudel made with roasted apple and cambozola cheese with a Colorado microbrewer's barley wine.

Bryson suggests that "hoppy" beers be bypassed at the dessert course. Hefewiezen, a style of German wheat beer, also can be paired with a dessert cheese course because of its broad palette, he says.