Bottled Bartender

They laugh when the shy little man in the TV commercial steps up to the bar and orders Byrrh (pronounced beer) on the rocks-but the laughter does not last long. Byrrh is a French aperitif wine that has up to now been unfamiliar to Americans, but it is getting a big introduction from a company that knows what Americans like to drink and how to sell it to them: Hartford's Heublein, Inc. Heublein (pronounced Hue-bline) invented the ready-made cocktail, led the trend to vodka drinking in the U.S., and was among the first to take advantage of the shift to sweeter and lighter alcoholic drinks. The company makes or distributes about 125 different products, ranging from Smirnoff Vodka to Grey-Poupon Mustard and A.I. Steak Sauce. It has just added 25 more products to its line-including Lancers sparkling rose-by buying out the New York importing firm of Vintage Wines.

Appeal to Youth. Founded as a family wholesale wine dealer in 1875, Heublein moved into distilling and distributing liquor, gradually acquired the importing and distribution rights for many well-known foreign products: Perrier Mineral Water, Harvey's sherries, Rose's Lime Juice, Irish Mist Liqueur, Guinness Stout. In its four plants it now makes vodka, gin, mixed cocktails, a line of liqueurs and several food products, including a breakfast cereal called Maypo. Through acquisitions, the success of its products and some high-powered promotion, the company has boosted its sales from $37 million a decade ago to a record $136 million in the last fiscal year. Its boss is John G. Martin, 59, the British-born grandson of one of the original Heubleins, who owns 10% of the company (which he runs with the help of President Ralph Hart) and likes to sip Bell's twelveyear-old Scotch, another of the products that Heublein distributes.

Heublein's market researchers, who go in for a lot of bar-hopping to find out what Americans drink, believe that there is an increasing trend to drinks in which the whisky taste is either disguised or nonexistent. This theory is behind the biggest ingredient in Heublein's success: vodka. The company paid a White Russian $14,000 for his Smirnoff distillery in Bethel, Conn., in 1939, but did not really decide until the 1950s to convert whisky-drinking Americans to the almost tasteless drink.

Through intensive publicity and clever advertising ("It leaves you breathless"), Heublein succeeded with Smirnoff far beyond its hopes. Vodka somehow appealed to youth, seemed lighter and thus less fattening (it isn't), and was so versatile that it could be mixed in anything from a Bloody Mary to a Russian Virgin (vodka with a whisper of Cointreau). It has been the fastest-growing liquor in the U.S. for the past five years and now accounts for 70% of Heublein's total sales; Smirnoff has also become the fourth biggest seller among all liquor brands in the U.S.

Proven Products. With vodka so well established, Heublein expects to get its next big lift from an increased flow of pre-made cocktails. Besides its regular Manhattan and martini line, it has added such mixes as stingers, sidecars and daiquiris, has more than doubled sales since 1960, and now commands 70% of the business. It is also testing a new, lower-priced Club brand of premade cocktails (with a lower proof) before introducing them nationally by the end of 1965. Heublein generally prefers to acquire a proven line of products rather than develop entirely new ones. "I'm different from other people in this business," says Martin. "They are whisky people&-I'm a merchandising man." By being so successfully different, Martin and Heublein have left a large part of the industry breathless.

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