(Not) drowning their sorrows

Although it is commonly believed that in hard times people turn to alcohol to ease or forget their problems, this does not seem to have been the case this past year in Lebanon. Despite all the issues the country has faced, 2018 did not translate into greatly increased sales for the country’s spirit distributors. In fact, Lebanese spirit distributors mainly complained about the same challenges that were affecting many industries in 2018, namely low purchasing power among local consumers and a decrease in high-spending tourists. Growth in spite of everything While all distributors Executive spoke to reported some growth in revenues from their spirits portfolio, this gain was not achieved without struggle. For Ziad Nacouzi, head of the spirits distribution division at Neo Comet KFF Food and Beverage, 2018 was a difficult year. “We invested a lot [in marketing the brands] to reach only a slight increase from 2017—a 2