The FINANCIAL — Although Georgia enjoys the status of being the “cradle of wine”, beer products are the top alcohol import in the country. 6,704,000 litres of beer with a total value of 4,700,000 USD was imported in the first half of this year, while 1,376,000 litres of beer was exported in the same period.
The leading drink in terms of the export of alcoholic beverages is wine. 3,110,000 litres of wine with a total value of 17,041,000 USD was exported in the first six months of 2011.
In the first half of 2011 the total import of whisky was 354,000 litres, liqueur – 69,000 litres, rum – 37,000 litres, gin and wine liquor – 14,000 litres.
Wine, vodka and beer are the leaders in terms of alcoholic beverage consumption in the country. Drinks bring in far more profit than food for restaurants and bars.
In total there are 1,283 eating places all around Georgia according to the National Statistics Office of Georgia. 558 of them are located in Tbilisi. The largest share of the total amount is eateries but the majority of them are outside of Tbilisi. 380 out of the 1,283 eating places are restaurants, 303 – cafes, and 151 – bars.
The main income for restaurants and bars comes from alcoholic drinks, restaurant representatives say.
“Alcoholic drinks bring in the largest share of profit. The most popular drink is wine. The wines that are in highest demand cost 10-15 GEL. Vodka is very popular as well,” said the Manager of restaurant Faetoni.
“Cocktails are also in demand, but mostly in the summer. We have our own special cocktails as well as the usual popular ones in Tbilisi including Cuba-Libre and Mojito,” she added.
Whereas in restaurants food is also in high demand, in bars food is sold much less. The clientele at bars seldom eat there, they mainly drink. The most common drinks at bars are beer, vodka and cocktails.
The bar Dublin in Tbilisi tends to have more guests than the other bars on Akhvlediani Street.
“Every day we get 500-600 GEL from drinks alone,” Ketevan Okromchedlishvili, Director of Dublin told The FINANCIAL.
“As we are a bar, the biggest demand is for beer, especially Guinness. It is priced at 11.90 GEL. Cocktails are also quite popular. The best sold ones are Mojito, gin and tonic, and Sex on the Beach. They all cost 8.50 GEL,” she said.
“The majority of clients are from the middle classes of the local population, as each of them spends only 20-30 GEL daily. About 10 percent of our customers are foreign,” Okromchedlishvili added.
Unlike at Dublin, whisky is the most popular drink at the bar Belle-Ville.
“Several times a week I and my Georgian friend go to the bar. We almost never eat, but always drink. We usually drink Vodka mixed with Redbull,” said Azer Nazarov, an Azeri student.
“One measure of the whisky Chivas Regal, which is in the biggest demand, costs 10 GEL,” said Nestan Mikadze, Manager of the bar. “Cocktails are also in high demand, especially the drink Mojito.”
“About 8 tables are occupied every day. Each guest spends up to 150 GEL. I can say that the average customer is quite wealthy and more than 30 years of age,” she stated.
Small shops get quite good profit by selling alcoholic drinks as well. Goodwill however says that alcoholic drinks are only 3 percent of their whole realization. Goodwill offers 2,621 types of alcoholic drinks in total. 646 of them are wine, 589 – vodka, 386 – whisky, 347 – beer etc.
“Every day we sell about 1,600 alcoholic drinks,” said Thea Gotsadze, PR Manager of Goodwill. “Beer is the most sold. The average monthly number of beers sold is 29,299, wine – 9,925, vodka – 5,270.”
The most expensive alcoholic drink for sale at Goodwill is the cognac Hennessy. It costs 941.7 GEL.
“We sell about one bottle of Hennessy cognac a month,” Gotsadze said.
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