BY THE TIME YOU READ THIS , Fred Wooton , Commissioner of the West Virginia Alcohol Beverage Control Administration , will have been sworn in as the next NABCA Chairman . All chairs come into this position with their own theme . Wooton ’ s is : New Horizons , New Opportunities .

Like any good chairman ’ s theme , his is broad and ambiguous . It purposely leaves room for a variety of interpretations and inspirations . Reading Wooton ’ s words myself , I see an industry post-Covid and hypercharged by digital technologies . Alcohol reflects the rest of the world along these lines : leaving the pandemic behind , but forever changed , and in a moment of significant transition .

In many ways , it feels like we ’ re playing catch-up with trends thrust forward by Covid-19 ’ s extreme circumstances . The impact of ecommerce , social media and the digital flow of information and opinions increased exponentially during the pandemic . Everything happened online : our economy , our friendships , our national attitudes forming ( and souring ) in various echo chambers . It got ugly , but it also got us through this generational health crisis .

Now what ? We are on the other side of Covid-19 , but still looking for where we stand . This is unsurprising , given the once-in-a-lifetime pandemic . Naturally , it takes time for all things to settle afterwards . Inflation remains , as do certain shortages and bottlenecks .

Conversely , technology is way ahead of where it likely would have been otherwise , without the pandemic . Consider how much people now rely on the internet for business , for community , for marketing — for all matters of everyday life . Obviously , this was true pre-Covid . But the trend of digitizing everything definitely sped ahead while we were all at home , locked on our computers , for better or for worse .

Suddenly , everything online has become politicized . And everything online is seemingly for sale , or part of some thinly veiled influencer marketing . Social media communities like whiskey groups form consumer sentiment , popularizing brands and viewpoints while poking holes in others . The internet has never been more important .

Trends shift fast . Single barrel whiskey picks have cooled off as unique blends and sourced bottles gain steam . No / lo-alc and THC beverages are budding , while another premium RTD hits the market every 15 seconds . Consumers now know and care as much about products as the distillers , brewers and winemakers themselves . People don ’ t just drink ; they want to experience and understand everything that ever went into that bottle or can .

Which is all to say that we face new horizons with new opportunities . Post-Covid is fluid world . We need visionary leaders like Wooton to guide us through these changing times , as the world continues to emerge from a multiyear pandemic that both held us back and catapulted us forward .

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4 StateWays | www . stateways . com | Summer 2023