IS WHISKEY THE NEW WINE? - THE LIQUIDS ARE DIFFERENT, BUT THE TRAJECTORY BEGS COMPARISON - Beverage Journal
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IS WHISKEY
THE NEW WINE?
THE LIQUIDS ARE DIFFERENT, BUT THE TRAJECTORY
BEGS COMPARISON
BY W. R. TISH
Highland Park has embraced Viking imagery in
developing their portfolio, packaging and promotions.
// Brenne, sourced in France by Allison Parc, is fruit-
forward whiskey aged in Cognac casks; she smartly
T
followed up the initial release with a 10 Year Old. //
Stillhouse is among the increasing cadre of distillers
hose selling wine in the varietally charged toying with novel barrel additions—in their case,
1990s remember how a 60 Minutes report roasted coffee beans.
on The French Paradox kicked off an
unprecedented run of wine popularity. As
Americans came to embrace The Grape, consumption The proliferation of brown goods naturally makes a
rose steadily, and the market exploded with expressions: merchant’s job more challenging—it means editing the
single-vineyard wines, reserve wines, varietal extensions, expanding whisk(e)y universe down to a sampling that
works for your clientele. Unlike wine, whose character is
new labels, cult wines, kitsch wines, Euro-style blends,
influenced by myriad aspects of grape, place and treatment,
proprietary blends, alternative packages, and so on. The whiskey operates within a more focused playing field, and
wine boom reverberated loudly if not clearly for decades. its inherent logic is ready to help sellers connect buyers
to whiskies that appeal to their tastes and curiosity. While
Today, brown goods are enjoying a similar type of explosion— every bit as handcrafted as fine wines, whiskies are apt to
products seem to be appearing at warp speed, diverse in styles and reach shelves with distinct selling points—calling cards,
origins, reflecting varied techniques, and stratified in price, prestige, if you will, that can make for concise, compelling, shelf-
usage and appeal. talker-length stories.
WHISKEY IS NEW WINE
Elijah Craig is arguably America’s original “Small
Batch” bourbon. // Outside-the-box marketing has
AGE STATEMENTS ramped up as brands aim for the attention of newer
Whiskey does not develop further in whisky enthusiasts; seen here, The Macallan’s
immersive “4D” experience that virtually transported
the bottle, which makes age statements, participants to the new distillery in Scotland.
rather than vintages, the de facto measur-
ing stick. Single malts represent the pack
leaders, with pricing escalating naturally
with age. Interestingly, supply pressure in
STRENGTH MATTERS
Overproof whiskies carry an air of au-
recent years has some leading brands to
thenticity and uniqueness, and have
abandon age statements purposefully and
helped inject terms like “cask strength”
successfully, e.g., Elijah Craig 12 Year Old
into the whiskey lexicon. Michter’s has ished releases have become quite popular
becoming Elijah Craig Small Batch. Jim
developed a collectible reputation based among international distillers. Sherry bar-
Beam Black, featuring Extra-Aged on its
on their varied finishes and proofs; Dis- rels are classic; Laphroaig Cairdeas Fino
front label, positions itself as a smoother,
tiller Willie Pratt believes that bottling at Cask, the brand’s latest annual limited
mellower complement to the ever-popu-
barrel strength yields a richer, more full- edition, which imbues notes of toasted
lar White Label. Others have retooled to
bodied whiskey, as seen in such examples almonds, dried fruit and sea salt along-
position themselves in the contemporary
as Michter’s US*1 Barrel Strength Rye. side the whisky’s signature peaty charac-
market; Bunnahabhain 12 Year Old, for
Bottled in Bond whiskies are becoming ter. Even wine (Woodford Reserve), Port
instance, re-launched to acclaim in 2010
more common, bearing both high proof (The Dalmore) and beer barrels (Jame-
at 102.6 proof, with a declaration of no
and retro appeal. Historically defined, son) have gotten into the whiskey act.
chill-filtration and no added coloring.
bottled-in-bond whiskey must be the
product of a single distillery from a single OTHER FINISHES
distilling season, aged a minimum of four Barrels are not the only way to generate
years, and bottled at 100 proof. of distinct liquid. Consider Clyde May’s
“Alabama style” whiskey—a bourbon
WOOD FINISHES
Shifting a whiskey into a
freshly used barrels that
contained a different liquid
is a classic—and utterly
intuitive—means of shap-
ing a different final prod-
uct. Bourbon barrels may
only be used once—in
turn, bourbon-barrel-fin-
WHISKEY IS NEW WINE
Bulleit’s Tattoo Edition features designs by prominent
with dried apples added to barrels as they artists in four different cities: NYC, LA, Austin and
age. Stillhouse Black Bourbon is the first Portland. Adding a touch of AR, each bottle includes STAR POWER
ever to be rested in roasted coffee beans. a hangtag with a scannable QR code that brings
the design to life digitally. // Highland Park brought Celebrity whiskey is a real thing now. A
Tap 357 is rye-driven Canadian whiskey, an authentic replica Viking ship into several U.S.
aged in bourbon barrels and finished with harbors this year. prime time TV ad campaign has made
Mila Kunis is the face of Jim Beam.
a touch of maple syrup. Oak & Eden comes
Matthew Maconaghy took time away from
bottles with piece of an actual barrel.
making movies to creative-directing Wild
Lambay, a new Irish whiskey, purports boom. Limited editions abound.
Turkey. Drake released Virginia
that their unpeated, triple-distilled spirit Among the prime providers:
Black between hits. Bob Dylan
benefits from exposure to the sea air and Heaven Hill, with multiple followed up his Nobel Prize with
maritime winds on Lambay Island. brands; The Macallan; Michter’s; a whiskey, Heaven’s Door. And
Buffalo Trace; even Jim Beam maybe the biggest whiskey star
FLAVORS and Jack Daniel’s have done a of all will turn out to be Conor
Flavored whiskey is not like flavored nifty job of releasing a stream of McGregor’s new Irish Whiskey,
vodka, presenting a narrower range, evocatively conceived projects. (Jim Beam Proper Twelve.
and flavored whiskey fans tend not to “Repeal Batch” is hitting shelves this fall.)
overlap with single malt enthusiasts—but Highland Park has cornered the whiskey
smart merchants will have a spectrum market in terms of editions honoring Gods
of flavor options available. Cinnamon, of ancient Norse mythology. blending and maturing select casks of
Honey, Vanilla and to a lesser extent fruit In taking on different shapes and con- Irish spirits; Brenne is another woman-
(Cherry, Apple, Peach…) and Spice are cepts, these special editions often arrive led whiskey, sourced from France’s
among the 21st-century hits. with compelling backstories. To wit: Jef- Cognac region. Hunters might enjoy Bird
ferson’s “Ocean” bottlings, which have Dog; John Wayne film fans can drink
been aged aboard a ship crossing the The Duke; outdoors enthusiasts would
LIMITED EDITIONS
Equator multiple times. And eye-catch- appreciate Boone and Crockett Club, a
The creativity of marketing departments
ing packaging is yet another way brand bourbon label from the nation’s oldest
has been a byproduct of the whiskey
teams are reaffirming their market pres- conservation organization, founded in
ence; a good recent example is Bulleit’s 1887 by Theodore Roosevelt.
“Tattoo Edition.”
CRAFT FACTOR
COLLECTIBILITY & GIFTABILITY On top of the brand stories and special
Aside from limited editions, evocative bottling accounted for by mainstream
labels are another way that whiskies whiskies, the craft arena is of course
can project simple yet endearing appeal, brimming with novel producers. Local
enhancing their giftability. J.J. Corry distillers, specialists and evocative labels
is made by a woman distiller who has can colorfully round out any wine shop’s
revived the tradition of bonding—as in or back bar’s stylistic selection. ■
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