InterTrade USA Company is an Importer and distributor of Beer, Spirits and Fine Wines from Around the World. Our wholesale network spans across 14 states in the US where we currently sell to 16 individual wholesale partners in those states. We work closely with our distributor partners in each market to maximize every brand building opportunity for each of our properties we import. Understanding the specific channels that offer the greatest fit for the strength of each of our brands allows us to maximize the opportunity for exposure and trial and raise the probability of successfully establishing each brand in that specific market. We take each success as steppingstones to building greater success across all states and all channels within a market. As a wholesaler in the state of IL we have a unique understanding of how our wholesale partners operate, what is most important to them as well as the challenges they regularly face across each channel of distribution in a market.
Aguardientes are strong alcoholic beverages, obtained by fermentation and later distillation of sugared or sweet musts, vegetable macerations, or mixtures of the two. This is the most generic level; by this definition, aguardientes may be made from a number of different sources. Fruit-based aguardientes include those made from oranges, grapes, bananas, or medronho (“cane apple”). Grain-based ones may be made from millet, barley, or rice and tuber-based aguardientes from beet, manioc, or potato, and finally what are classed as “true” aguardientes from sugarcane and other sweet canes, including some species of bamboo.
In neighboring and Middle Eastern countries, the drink is known by other names – Araka, Araki, Ariki, which obviously have a common basis. Residents of Iraq believe that this drink was first made in this country and then spread to other regions. Others say that “vodka” got its name from razaki, the grape used to make the drink. Both theories are acceptable. But there is another theory — that arak (arak) in Arabic means “sweating” and araki (araki) means “one who sweats.”
Beer is the oldest and most widely consumed type of alcoholic drink in the world, and the third most popular drink overall after potable water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches, mainly derived from cereal grains—most commonly from malted barley, though wheat, maize (corn), rice, and oats are also used. During the brewing process, fermentation of the starch sugars in the wort produces ethanol and carbonation in the resulting beer. Most modern beer is brewed with hops, which add bitterness and other flavours and act as a natural preservative and stabilizing agent. Other flavouring agents such as gruit, herbs, or fruits may be included or used instead of hops. In commercial brewing, the natural carbonation effect is often removed during processing and replaced with forced carbonation.
Bourbon (/bɜːrbən/) is a type of barrel-aged American whiskey made primarily from corn. The name derives from the French Bourbon dynasty, although the precise source of inspiration is uncertain; contenders include Bourbon County in Kentucky and Bourbon Street in New Orleans, both of which are named after the dynasty. The name bourbon was not applied until the 1850s, and the Kentucky etymology was not advanced until the 1870s.
Brandy is a liquor produced by distilling wine. Brandy generally contains 35–60% alcohol by volume (70–120 US proof) and is typically consumed as an after-dinner digestif. Some brandies are aged in wooden casks. Others are coloured with caramel colouring to imitate the effect of ageing, and some are produced using a combination of ageing and colouring. Varieties of wine brandy can be found across the winemaking world. Among the most renowned are Cognac and Armagnac from southwestern France.
Cider (/ˈsaɪdər/ SY-dər) is an alcoholic beverage made from the fermented juice of apples. Cider is widely available in the United Kingdom (particularly in the West Country) and the Republic of Ireland. The UK has the world’s highest per capita consumption, as well as the largest cider-producing companies. Ciders from the South West of England are generally higher in alcoholic content.
Cognac production falls under French appellation d’origine contrôlée (AOC) designation, with production methods and naming required to meet certain legal requirements. Among the specified grapes, Ugni blanc, known locally as Saint-Émilion, is most widely used. The brandy must be twice distilled in copper pot stills and aged at least two years in French oak barrels from Limousin or Tronçais. Cognac matures in the same way as whiskies and wines barrel-age, and most cognacs spend considerably longer “on the wood” than the minimum legal requirement.
Gin originated as a medicinal liquor made by monks and alchemists across Europe, particularly in southern Italy, Flanders and the Netherlands, to provide aqua vita from distillates of grapes and grains. It then became an object of commerce in the spirits industry. Gin became popular in England after the introduction of jenever, a Dutch and Belgian liquor that was originally a medicine. Although this development had been taking place since the early 17th century, gin became widespread after the 1688 Glorious Revolution led by William of Orange and subsequent import restrictions on French brandy. Gin subsequently emerged as the national alcoholic drink of England.
Grappa is an alcoholic beverage: a fragrant, grape-based pomace brandy of Italian origin that contains 35 to 60 percent alcohol by volume (70 to 120 US proof). Grappa is made by distilling the skins, pulp, seeds, and stems (i.e., the pomace) left over from winemaking after pressing the grapes. It was originally made to prevent waste by using these leftovers. A similar drink, known as acquavite d’uva, is made by distilling whole must.
Kashrut (also kashruth or kashrus, כַּשְׁרוּת) is a set of dietary laws dealing with the foods that Jewish people are permitted to eat and how those foods must be prepared according to Jewish law. Food that may be consumed is deemed kosher (/ˈkoʊʃər/ in English, Yiddish: כּשר), from the Ashkenazic pronunciation (KUHsher) of the Hebrew kashér (כָּשֵׁר), meaning “fit” (in this context: “fit for consumption”).
In some parts of the United States and Canada, liqueurs may be referred to as cordials, or schnapps. This can cause confusion as in the United Kingdom a cordial would refer to a non-alcoholic concentrated fruit syrup, typically diluted to taste and consumed as a non-carbonated soft drink. Schnapps, on the other hand, can refer to any distilled beverage in Germany and aquavit in Scandinavian countries.
Mead is a drink widely considered to have been discovered prior to the advent of both agriculture and ceramic pottery in the Neolithic, due to the prevalence of naturally occurring fermentation and the distribution of eusocial honey-producing insects worldwide; as a result, it is hard to pinpoint the exact historical origin of mead given the possibility of multiple discovery or potential knowledge transfer between early humans prior to recorded history.
The agave was one of the most sacred plants in pre-Spanish Mexico, and had a privileged position in religious rituals, mythology and the economy. Cooking of the “piña”, or heart, of the agave and fermenting its juice was practiced. The origin of this drink has a myth. It is said that a lightning bolt struck an agave plant, cooking and opening it, releasing its juice. For this reason, the liquid is called the “elixir of the gods”.
Organic alcohol is free from chemical pesticides and synthetic fertilizers. For alcohol to have organic certification, it must adhere to strict standards set by the government and the food industry. These standards include all stages of the production process, meaning production, processing and packaging.
There are a variety of beverages produced and marketed around the world as well as within each market which are described as coolers or alcopops. They tend to be sweet and served in small bottles (typically 355 ml (the normal size of a soda pop can) in the US, 275 ml in South Africa and Germany, 330 ml in Canada and Europe), and between 4% and 7% ABV.
The origin of the word “Rum” is unclear. The most widely accepted hypothesis is that it is related to “rumbullion”, a beverage made from boiling sugar cane stalks, or possibly “rumbustion,” which was a slang word for “uproar” or “tumult”; a noisy uncontrollable exuberance, though the origin of those words and the nature of the relationship are unclear. Both words surfaced in English about the same time as rum did (1651 for “rumbullion”, and before 1654 “rum”).
The origin of sake is unclear; however, the method of fermenting rice into alcohol spread to Japan from China around 500BCE. The earliest reference to the use of alcohol in Japan is recorded in the Book of Wei in the Records of the Three Kingdoms. This 3rd-century Chinese text speaks of Japanese drinking and dancing.
The tendency of still wine from the Champagne region to lightly sparkle was noted in the Middle Ages but this was considered a wine fault and was disdained in early Champagne winemaking although it was the pride of other historic sparkling wine production areas like Limoux. Dom Pérignon was originally charged by his superiors at the Abbey of Hautvillers to get rid of the bubbles since the pressure in the bottles caused many of them to burst in the cellar. Later, when deliberate sparkling wine production increased in the early 18th century, cellar workers would still have to wear a heavy iron mask that resembled a baseball catcher’s mask to prevent injury from spontaneously bursting bottles.
The specialty spirits category includes some of the more unique and individualized spirits that don’t fit into traditional spirits categories. Pomace brandies such as grappa and marc are included as part of this category as are aquavit, dry schnapps, and certain flavored spirits from around the world.
The distillation technology to produce mezcal from agave heart juice was first introduced from the coastal regions of what was then Nueva Galicia (present-day Aguascalientes, Colima, Guanajuato, Jalisco, Nayarit, and Zacatecas) into the highland valleys of Amatitán, Tequila, Magdalena, and El Arenal in the mid-1700s. The mezcal produced in these regions became distinctive enough as to become known as “tequila” (after the town).
Consumption of wines fortified with herbs or roots is believed to have begun in China at least as early as the Shang and Western Zhou dynasties (1250–1000 BC). The extra ingredients were added to wine to make it a medicinal drink. Medicinal drinks made by the alcoholic fermentation of herbs and sugars are mentioned in early Indian texts on medicine, though this does not imply that European vermouths originated from ancient Chinese and Indian drinks.
Vodka is traditionally drunk “neat” (not mixed with water, ice, or other mixers), and it is often served freezer chilled in the vodka belt of Belarus, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and Ukraine. It is also used in cocktails and mixed drinks, such as the vodka martini, Cosmopolitan, vodka tonic, screwdriver, greyhound, Black or White Russian, Moscow mule, Bloody Mary, and Caesar.
Whisky or whiskey is a type of distilled alcoholic beverage made from fermented grain mash. Various grains (which may be malted) are used for different varieties, including barley, corn, rye, and wheat. Whisky is typically aged in wooden casks, which are typically made of charred white oak. Uncharred white oak casks previously used for the aging of port, rum or sherry are also sometimes used.
Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are major factors in different styles of wine. These differences result from the complex interactions between the biochemical development of the grape, the reactions involved in fermentation, the grape’s growing environment (terroir), and the wine production process. Many countries enact legal appellations intended to define styles and qualities of wine.