Latest Party Mix: Imbibers of Light and Hard Drinks

They haven’t quite divided themselves into “Tastes Great” vs. “Less Filling” camps, but Los Angeles social circuit drinkers have recently taken two distinctly different tracks.

In the first group--which many observers consider to be a steadily growing majority--are those favoring lighter fare: champagnes, wines (usually white), beer and all manner of imported mineral waters. This familiar contingent has been growing in size for several years and typically shuns hard alcohol, affording it the same social status as red meat, cigarettes and Mallomars.

Lately, however, according to some caterers, partygoers and beverage merchants, a counter group has emerged: connoisseurs who prefer hard liquor--straight or mixed-in traditional cocktails (martinis and Manhattans as opposed to margaritas and banana daiquiris). The most extreme in this group of purists consider white wine or mineral water to be wimpy and dated, the equivalent of mung bean sprouts, tofu and ginseng tea.

“I think the two (drinking) trends are coexisting in the same parties,” says Lyn Kienholz, chairwoman of the board of the Los Angeles-based California International Arts Foundation.

A regular attendee at both gala fund-raisers and private dinner parties, Kienholz claims she’s been repeatedly surprised of late that more traditional drinking styles have been on the upswing at many events.

“People I didn’t know even drank martinis are ordering martinis,” she says. “Some people have gone back to the era where people have hard liquor before dinner. I’ve heard people ordering things I haven’t heard of since I was really young, drinks like Manhattans or Rob Roys.

“The other night when I was waiting for my scotch and water, I heard somebody order a whiskey sour and I thought, ‘I wonder if the bartender knows how to make one?’ ”

Beverage of Choice

Hallee Gould, a party coordinator at West L.A.-based Somerset caterers, agrees that two opposite beverage trends are happening simultaneously. Among fashion-conscious Westsiders tending toward lower alcohol consumption, champagne has become the beverage of choice, she reports. Meanwhile, vodka and gin have become “the hot drinks” among more serious imbibers.

“There are still definitely the die-hard wine drinkers. I think a lot of women still drink white wine and spritzers because of the (lower number of) calories,” Gould says. “But people are drinking more hard liquor. Vodkas have become quite sophisticated. At one time, there were fine wines and whiskey. Now, there are fine wines and fine vodkas, fine gins, fine scotches and fine whiskeys. Drinking pure vodka or pure gin or pure scotch has become kind of chic. The martini craze is also pretty hot.”

With such developments appearing within the last six months, Gould’s found herself roundly amused when hosts or hostesses insist on claiming, “My friends don’t drink.”

‘I start laughing,” she says. “I even had one client, it was for an 80th birthday party, and the people said their friends didn’t drink, they were all old. They were true drinkers. We had to send out twice for more scotch.”

Trend Still Strong

The trend toward lighter alcohol consumption is still strong, however, at many fashionable spots around town. At the Beverly Hills Hotel, for instance, bar manager Henry Haid observes that most evening customers prefer wine to hard liquor and that “after-dinner liqueur has become almost non-existent.

“In the daytime, I would say the liquor business is off too,” says Haid. “People drink a lot of waters now, all kinds of imported water. At night . . . there are more wines and champagnes being served.”

At almost all of the hotel’s parties, however, Haid notes, hard liquor is available, except at events such as some bar mitzvahs where young people are present.

What accounts for such contradictory trends?

Steve Wallace, owner of Westwood-based Wally’s Liquors, credits the cyclical nature of trends in beverage choices for the return to classic liquors and cocktails.

“It’s fashionable,” he says. “I think the era of the ‘30s and ‘40s is becoming popular again.”

Return to Tradition

Wallace, who confirms that champagne, wine, mineral waters and beer also remain in fashion, credits the emergence of new, high-end liquor products with the return to more traditional drinking practices: “Gin used to be a very slow-moving item. Now there’s a gin called Bombay Sapphire, a high-quality gin, and other high-quality liquors.”

But the same case can be made for wine, says Robert Ehrman, president of Rococo Custom Catering in Van Nuys. Ehrman suspects one reason many partygoers are favoring wine over hard alcohol is that “people are more aware of fine wines, especially here in California, and they’re enjoying and appreciating them more than they ever did.”

Mary Micucci, owner of the Los Angeles-based catering firm Along Came Mary, believes the trend to lighter or non-alcoholic products is the result of our “health-conscious society and people who think white wine isn’t as detrimental.”

Micucci says that at most of the entertainment industry parties her firm caters, guests still prefer wines, spritzers, mineral waters and even beer.

“There’s also a lot of consciousness around drinking and driving now,” says Sandra Ausman, chief of protocol for Los Angeles County, explaining the continued acceptance of low- or no-alcohol beverages.

Not Anti-Alcohol

“Obviously, we’ve had an effect on the consciousnesses of people who are going to drink and drive,” affirms Micky Sadoff, national president of Mothers Against Drunk Drivers, noting that the organization is not anti-alcohol, but against the combination of drinking and driving. “People are being more careful about their drinking and driving.”

“When we’re doing a charitable event,” Ausman adds, referring to her work on private sector benefits, “I don’t feel we must provide all the range of alcohol we used to before. Time and time again, we’re realizing: Why have an open bar when people aren’t going to avail themselves of it anyway.”