Maroc - NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - 07/Nov 09:53

Sobering times ahead for limers, barflies

PAOLO KERNAHAN A long time ago, in a galaxy far away, a friend of mine concocted a scheme that was nothing short of diabolical. When we’d go away for long weekends to stay by the seaside, the drinks would always run out. This was hugely problematic as our dollars weren’t very tall back then, being the young working stiffs we were. Keeping the lime going hinged on keeping the drinks flowing. The costs added up. So, this friend started secretly thinning out the booze with water in order to stretch it. His evil deception wasn’t discovered for quite a while. Suspicions were aroused when it became apparent that it was taking nearly all of the daylight to catch the power; conversations were far too coherent and slur-free. Drinkers in the group were, unbeknownst to them, adding a chaser to the rum that had already been chased (chastened?). This was back when the accoutrements of the Trini lime weren’t nearly as expensive as they are today. As you can imagine, that friend was almost excommunicated for his treachery, and what was plainly just bad alcohol “mattymatics.” Recently, in a WhatsApp chat with some veterans of those weekend wars, I saw it mentioned that a bottle of White Oak rum now costs $175. In the days of yore, White Oak was the accelerant of last resort. You’d only crack that tipple if every last drop of Alcolado Glacial was gone. Aside from the liquid lobotomy that is puncheon, what are people now drinking as a nip in your average hawk-and-spit? When the government announced the imposition of 100 per cent duties on booze and cigarettes – AKA, the age-old sin tax – Finance Minister Davendrenath Tancoo imagined this move as a revenue-generating measure and also a disincentive to copious drinking. From a policy standpoint, the measure can’t be both a revenue spinner and a deterrent, so that’s just a thing to say. The restaurant industry isn’t taking the news well, with some describing the increase in alcohol prices as an "extinction-level event." CEO of Trotters Group Peter George hit the nail on the head without, perhaps, realising he’d done so. “Price-conscious customers can now achieve four times the value by buying alcohol at retail stores and drinking at home, undermining a crucial profit centre for restaurants.” It eventually dawns on even the most devout patrons that spending that kind of money regularly is not only unsustainable but entirely unnecessary. It’s safer, cheaper and more fun to do it at home. For several years, many of these high-end food joints benefited from a profusion of price-unconscious customers who fed the explosion in the number of disposable income collection points, commonly called restaurants and bars. As the oil and gas economy entered senescence, the costs of living increased, expatriates with expense accounts departed, and crime worsened; the fortunes of these businesses declined. Additionally, the average consumer has changed, while the products offered by these places have become far more expensive. It’s tough to see how such high-end watering holes (not to be confused with fine-dining, as there are few of them in TT) will survive – extinction is, after all, part of evolution. A few months ago, I was shooting some video on Ariapita Avenue on a Friday night. This is an area where businessmen invested heavily in the Trini penchant for liming. The entire strip was surprisingly quiet; a shadow of what it used to be when I was a young man out on the town looking for trouble. Places where you once had to line up outside to be permitted entry were, on that night anyway, haunted houses of that former grandeur. The sprouting of salary capture spots in Central and South Trinidad likely poached the avenue’s traditional demographic. With these further price increases, the culture of liming will continue to shift as young people grapple with tightening financial demands in other areas of their lives, like food, housing, clothing, bills and assorted whatnots. With carnival around the corner, the prices of all-inclusive events and band participation are probably going to start looking like a phone number. After the revelry is over, the hospitality industry can expect a further slump in business as consumers recover from the debts incurred over the carnival season. Tourist dollars could help in the long term, but the state hasn’t demonstrated any appetite to go after this source of revenue. The Trini lime isn’t going anywhere, it’s just going to be different – a bit watered down…like that bottle of black label that bastard half-filled with water. The post Sobering times ahead for limers, barflies appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.