Beverage boosters try to track the ever-shifting tastes of L.A.

Beverage boosters try to track the ever-shifting tastes of L.A.

Will rich dark beers ever overtake the wimpy light stuff? And what about Scotch whiskey? Can a drink made from malted barley surpass a colorless and unaged liquor of neutral spirits--better known as vodka?

That, in a shot glass, or maybe a mug, is what the experts at two locally based beverage industry publications with decidedly spirited views on booze have on their minds.

Tom Pirko, 39, president of the parent of Beverage Hotline, a Los Angeles-based trade newsletter, is at one end of the bar. Max J. Kerstein, 64, publisher of Southern California Beverage Bulletin, is at the other.

"We are tracking a very large trend back to more substantial beverages,' opines Pirko. "It is partly motivated by our political life. People are looking for more substantial politicians and are tired of "easy answers.''

Despite its recent vintage, Beverage Hotline has already made international headlines, predicting Americans will abandon the light, less strongly flavored drinks associated with fern bars and yuppies.

Swings in consumer preference could mean the difference of millions of dollars for local beverage wholesalers and retailers. Southland drinkers rang up close to $4 billion in liquor sales last year.

Kerstein is an industry veteran and, as publisher of the Beverage Bulletin of Southern California, the dean of the trade. He says Southern California's thirst for white wines and liquors is far from slaked.

"Everything that I have seen, and based on my experience in this market, would indicate the overall trend toward lightness is firmly entrenched in the life-style of consumers today,' he says.

Consumer concern about diet, health, drunk driving and alcohol abuse are strong, says Kerstein, and will continue to influence their liquor choices. He predicts new lighter product rollouts in Los Angeles "will be absolutely unbelievable over the next five to 10 years--200 to 300 new products that you have never heard of before: natural fruit juices and fruit flavors combined with some form of alcohol content that will be very light, maybe 5 to 20 proof,' says Kerstein. "It will open up a whole new dimension of consumer interest.'

His trade magazine has been tracking liquor consumption in Southern California for almost 30 years. The numbers document the growing popularity of lighter drinks and the relative decline of the darker, heavier liquors.

Back in the 1950s, says Kerstein, Southern Californians' consumption of vodka was virtually nil. Ten years later, it had shot up to 14 percent of all liquor consumed here. By 1975, vodka drinking peaked at 25 percent and has settled in at approximately 23 percent for 1986, according to Kerstein.

On the other hand, blended bourbons reigned supreme in the '50s, accounting for 50 percent of all liquor consumed. Consumption dropped dramatically to 18 percent by the 1960s. And now blended bourbon accounts for barely 5 percent of all liquor consumption in the Southland.

Today Los Angeles bar and restaurant customers do not seem to have lost their taste for light beverages. The Beverly Hills Hotel's Polo Lounge reports its upscale patrons are drinking more vodka and more champagne than ever. Max Hamilton, 33, assistant bar manager notes, "Scotches and bourbons are way down.' In the eight years he has been there, he says vodka drinks have continually gained in popularity.

In the 1950s, Hamilton says, the Polo Lounge stocked specialty vodkas flavored with orange, lemon, or port. "We never moved them, though,' he explains. "We kept them for special customers.' (Ivan Boesky downed pepper vodka at the Polo's bar.)

Today, in an effort to squeeze more sales out of the market, vodka makers are again rolling out special-flavor versions of the popular spirit.

These specialty vodkas, including Stolichnaya's lemon and honey flavors, are being rediscovered by the younger set, mainly 25- to 35-year-olds, at the crowded 66-foot bar in Teasers Restaurant in Santa Monica.

"We carry nine different kinds of vodka, 12 kinds of tequila and six different kinds of gin,' reports Tony Palermo, who along with fellow 30-year-old Dan Ringwood, owns the nearly two-year-old restaurant.

Wine sales make up 15 percent of his liquor tabs, says Palermo, and 90 percent of his wine-drinking customers are sipping white wine.

Corona, the phenomenally successful super-mild Mexican import, has not lost its cachet with style-conscious beer drinkers and is still the best-selling beer at Teasers, says Palermo. Amstel Light comes in second.

Pirko would probably like to lift a few with people like Palermo.

From The New York Times to the Holloywood Reporter, Pirko has been quoted saying Guinness Stout will soon be the choice of sophisticated trend setters.

He says Corona and other light beers will lose market share as Los Angeles' more forward types down stouts and ales. (Guiness, by the way, is not one of Pirko's clients.)

Pirko bases his predictions on his company's monthly survey of 2,000 American households and national beverage taste tests.

Just down the street from Teasers, but miles away in terms of style, is the seven-year-old Michael's Restaurant, perhaps the quintessential upscale Southern California eatery. Here patrons quaff chilled white wine along with their California nouvelle cuisine. Bar and wine manager, Tom Kuhnmuench, 34, has worked at the restaurant for four years.

Wine he notes, is drunk far more often than distilled spirits. And white wines are most often called for by customers. "When it first started, they were drinking a lot of burgundies and cabernets. Now, it's a lot of chardonnays and french whites,' he says.

Women, claims Kuhnmuench, are leading the way in the light beverage boom. "Women don't want hard liquor and especially they don't like hard, dark liquor,' he remarks. Men, he believes, are learning from their wives, turning toward lighter drinks, too. Kuhnmuench is convinced Angeleons' preference for light, white beverages is not a trend. "It's more something that has evolved. People are going to stay with it.'

Pirko is adamant. "We've been riding a very large trend in terms of lightness, ease, and simplicity. But, we're at the very beginning of the turn. The numbers are small, but significant.'

Photo: Stocking up: Southlanders drank $4 billion worth of liquor in '86