By Adrian Gomes
If the old adage goes that bass players are just frustrated guitarists, surely spirit marketers are actually just frustrated bartenders. Whilst the bassist watches with bitter envy as the lead guitarist commands the attention of the crowd, does the spirit marketer wish that they could sway the purchase of the consumer with as much ease as a bartender? Or are bassists and marketers just content to play the supporting role? I was a bassist and I absolutely wished I could play lead guitar.
Fortunately, as a bartender by trade, I see the advantage of being able to enjoy a conversation with a guest in the bar, finding out what they like, what mood they’re in, and seeing what the scope is to suggest something new and obscure. Marketers only wish they had that depth of intimate ‘data’ when they’re sending their message out, very often with minimal feedback. Aside from focus groups and surveys, which do not always accurately reflect the mood of the nation, sometimes it’s a case of ‘suck-and-see’. Which brings me to the contemporary trend for ‘mixing’ whiskies.
The Scotch whisky category has undergone a huge transformation in recent years, moving away from the stuffy, male-centric pretentiousness of last century into a more modern, inclusive category pushing a very democratic view on how you can (not how you ‘cannot’) drink the amber nectar. I’m old enough to remember the change in attitudes from ‘ye cannae put a single malt intae a cocktail’ to this new, fresh approach of ‘here’s a new expression of our brand and it should go into a cocktail’.
These days, we’re spoilt for choice with a number of single malts and grains, as well as blends, which are promoting their mixability and versatility. We can go back to the 2005 release of Monkey Shoulder Blended Malt by William Grant & Sons (a company that’s always had a very active trade advocacy programme) as a significant moment in the industry’s attitude to whisky democracy, but I do also remember a push (circa 2013/2014) by the brand reps to insert the brand, not into the whisky or Scotch page of the drinks menu, but under ‘Bourbon’ so I do question whether the initial intent was to break new ground in Scotch or take sales away from bourbon, given that the ongoing modern era of cocktail culture seemed to favour bourbon in popular drinks such as the Whisky Sour and Old Fashioned. I’m sure someone in marketing thought they’d landed on a great idea but any semi-serious whisky bar, or cocktail bar for that matter, will likely have politely refused, given that a blended Scotch whisky is not a bourbon (I’m not expecting anyone to debate this point).
At The Tippling House, we ended up house-pouring with it for a couple of years (as our rail Scotch), and it does indeed make tasty Sours and stirred drinks, but regardless we always give the guest a choice of Scotch, bourbon or rye (in our venue, it’s 50/50 between those who go for Scotch and those who prefer bourbon as the base). Their latest release Fresh Monkey is a very positive step for the industry, and for years I have been (quietly, to myself) advocating for new make to break out as a new sub- category. White dog and corn whiskey has been widely available for years, not only in the States, but over here too. Closer to home, it’s surprising that no one made the leap into new make territory earlier (although I do remember a small batch GlenGlassaugh release, ‘Clearac’).
In the interest of transparency, I’m going to (belatedly) declare that I have an involvement in Cutty Sark, as a freelance ‘brand activist’ (this is what happens when they let you make up your own title). The reason I mention this, is merely to bring the brand into the conversation as a vintage blend that has pushed its versatile credentials from day one. Cutty Sark was created 100 years ago as a lighter, non-coloured style of whisky, aimed at the US market and promoted as a blended ‘Scots’ whisky (the SWA insisted that the word ‘Scots’ was replaced by ‘Scotch’ in the early 90’s, I believe).
A lot of the work undertaken by the Glen Turner team and myself revolves around breaking down the mystery of blended whisky, dissecting the components and letting the on- trade taste the key elements, including the new make grain and malt. It’s our hope that this deep dive into the liquid will help bartenders when it comes to flavour pairing and matching mixers.
The more recent release, Cutty Sark Prohibition Edition, was the work of previous owner Edrington who saw the potential for a higher ABV (50%) expression that worked as both a sipper and a stirred-down-and brown ingredient.
It would be a fallacy not to mention Johnnie Walker and their loyal services to the Highball craze. The brand has more than 200 years under its belt and continues to innovate, more recently with the opening of ‘whiskyland’, aka Johnnie Walker Princes Street in Edinburgh. Their 1820 Rooftop Bar boasts a number of Highball and cocktail serves on the drinks list, and I can first-hand confirm that there are some delicious curations on there.
Going back to the 1990’s though, the brand’s communications strategy didn’t seem as integrated as it is today. Faced with declining sales, there were allegedly as many as 27 different marketing campaigns globally, which can send a very confusing message in a transient world obsessed with wanderlust. Imagine being on a backpacking trip, visiting 6 – 8 different airports in as many weeks or months and seeing 6 – 8 different marketing campaigns for the same brand, none of them necessarily related to the other. Or a business traveller, being in Singapore one week, New York the next.
Born out of this stark realisation came a rebrand with a new contemporary logo and the acclaimed ‘Keep Walking’ campaign, which included a fantastic one-shot short film with actor Robert Carlyle of Trainspotting-fame.
So that’s blends and their mixing credentials – but what about single malts (or single grains) for that matter? Crabbie’s Yardhead (a single malt from an unnamed distillery created for consumers who ‘want to do more with whisky than just sip it’), Glasshouse (an independently-bottled single grain whisky from Loch Lomond Distillery) and Glenmorangie X Single Malt spring to mind – the latter’s logo is actually ‘Made For Mixing’ and was indeed the inspiration for this opinion piece.
How far we have come when a single malt from a traditional distillery can shout loud and proud that this release is one to be drunk in any way you please. The ‘Men (and women) of Tain’ have further democratised the whisky industry and bartenders all around have another weapon to fight the staleness of the ‘ye cannae dae that with whisky’ crowd.
Adrian Gomes, The Tippling House (Aberdeen)
To find out some interesting facts about whisky click here.