At a time when sales of spirits over all have been sluggish at best, as people drink less or choose to drink wine or beer instead, the auction was a chance to cherry-pick a few hot-selling brands and accelerate sales growth.
Coca-Cola has made several small acquisitions this year to increase sales of juice, water and noncarbonated beverages to combat sluggish demand for soft drinks.
Faced with sluggish sales of carbonated soft drinks at home, Coca-Cola has steadily increased its range of natural drinks.
The line, as usual, was out the door, the baristas -- those charged with making the hot drinks -- moved in a sluggish manner paradoxical to their product.
And then that holiday food and drink hangover kicks in, making you sluggish, tired, bloated, constipated and irritable.
The drinks were selling well despite the sluggish economy thanks to a "combination of energy-giving functionality and taste", Mintel said.
Absinthe's mythic properties are supposed to cause mind-altering hallucinations, but up to that point, the drink seemed instead to be making everyone sluggish.
Coca-Cola Enterprises the largest bottler of Coca-Cola drinks–said Thursday its profit fell 20% in the third quarter, as volume was hurt by bad weather, a sluggish retail environment and a turn away from regular soft drinks.
The sluggish economy has pared the number of business and leisure travelers, who drink much of the pricier wines and top-shelf liquors, said Marc Greenberg, a beverage analyst at Deutsche Bank.
The Goldman report blamed "sluggish sales" for the downgrade, coupled with the fact that millennials don't drink as much beer as previous generations, opting for wine and spirits over beer.
