Cola-flavored ‘America’s liqueur’ a hard sell

updated 5:43 p.m. ET Dec. 22, 2006

LAS VEGAS - Alcohol fuels this city's all-night clubbing scene and greases the gears of gambling, so it's perhaps not surprising that a Las Vegas man has added his own cocktail ingredient to the mix — "Redcliff: America's Liqueur."

Entrepreneur Frank Arcella, a former Seagram executive who made millions creating Corazon tequila, has tried to fill what he saw as a cavernous gap in the industry: a premium American liqueur.

Along with a friend who is a drink chemist and his daughter-in-law, Arcella spent two years in a small room tasting some 500 different versions of a distilled liquid he wanted to capture the taste of an American tradition: cola.

In the end, he settled on a 15-item mix that includes cinnamon, lime, eight-year-old Virgin Islands rum, vermouth, vodka, bourbon bean vanilla, anise and hazelnut.

The hip-flask-shaped bottle pours out a caramel-colored snifter that beverage magazine Patterson's spirits editor Anthony Dias Blue ranked 90 out of 100 in an individual tasting this year. That put it in the "outstanding" range, he said.

But strong reviews don't always equate to sales.

Arcella has carted samples around the country for the past year and now has distribution in 13 states. While many liqueur brands ship more than 1 million cases a year (including Southern Comfort, which Arcella doesn't consider a premium), so far Redcliff's highest order from a single retailer was about 20 cases.

At The Thin Man bar in Denver, owner Eric Alstad said he's not sure what to do with his growing supply of Redcliff. His distributor has thrown in a bottle or two for every large order of vodka. But his patrons seemed to dislike the spirit's lingering aftertaste.

"I've tried getting rid of it at a buck a shot, but nobody buys it," he said.

Arcella remains proud of the taste, but the truth is there's more to liquor sales than taste buds.

Coffee-flavored Kahlua didn't take off until the post-World War II period when a bartender mixed it with vodka and called the drink a Black Russian, or another added milk or cream for a White Russian.

"It's always been a particular cocktail that has jump-started and made a particular category very famous," said Alberto Berentsen, 70, who headed Kahlua in the 1960s. "Look at what the Cosmopolitan (vodka, Cointreau or triple sec, cranberry and lime) today has done to the vodka business. It's just unbelievable."

The mixed-drink market is more crowded than several decades ago when cocktails also were on the rise. The industry is awash with flavors, twists on long-standing favorites, from watermelon- and grapefruit- flavored vodka to pomegranate schnapps and orange-flavored tequila.

Experts say that makes it hard for upstarts without a name brand like Absolut, Jose Cuervo or SKYY to make it onto the jam-packed shelf behind most bars.

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