I was like a maverick. I thought I should do something for myself. Starting from scratch in 1999, Roux established Paramus-based Crillon Importers, which sends around 30 spirits and a few wines from Mexico, Haiti, Sweden, Netherlands, and France to distributors throughout North America. You cannot drive three cars or sleep in 15 beds. Roux said many of the 50 to 60 large importers prior to the mid- 1970s have collapsed or merged, narrowing the landscape to about a dozen large companies today.
Taxes make up more than half the price consumers are charged for most liquor.
Federal, state, and local governments combined make 14 times more in tax revenue from liquor than the distillers make in profits, according to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, a national trade organization for producers and marketers of distilled spirits. After sliding off in 1991 and fluctuating through the mid-1990s, sales of spirits have increased for five consecutive years, said Lisa Hawkins, a spokeswoman for the distillers' trade group. Recently, consumers tend to favor premium and superpremium spirits, the more expensive products, Hawkins said. High-end tequila and niche bourbons have been particularly well received. It's not uncommom to go into a restaurant and see 40 types of tequila on the menu, Hawkins said.