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New World Whisky
“standfirst”>Scotch whisky innovators are adopting new world wine techniques to launch clearly labelled, easy to drink styles to help their product compete with bourbon and even white spirits, says Dave Broom
Let’s play a game of word association. If I say “the Scotch whisky industry”, what are the first words which spring to mind? I’ll wager they’ll include, “heritage”, “cautious” “tradition”, “boring”, and variations thereof. It is unlikely that any of you will say “innovative”, though this is the very term which is being applied to a new wave of brands which have appeared on the market in the past few years: whiskies such as the ranges from Compass Box and Easy-Drinking Whisky Co. There are oddities such as Ardbeg’s Serendipity (so named after someone in the bottling hall accidentally blended Glen Moray and Ardbeg together). There are also organic whiskies appearing (or being matured), and ranges of single grains from independent bottlers. And even Gaelic whiskies such as the well packaged Té Bheag and Poit Dhubh – new launches from The Gaelic Whisky Collection, a company with plans to build a second distillery on Skye.
The innovations don’t stop with the smaller firms either. In the past year Diageo has rolled out J&B -6°, while Wm. Grant has recently released its own vatted (blended) malt, called Monkey Shoulder. It all makes the last “innovation”, varying finishes, suddenly seem very tired.
“Yes, but what is innovation?” Compass Box’s John Glaser asks me. Something which pushes the envelope? Something which offers a new and radically different angle on an old, established product?
“Okay,” he says. “If that’s what innovation means, then look at what is happening in gin, vodka, or rum, tequila, Cognac. That’s real innovation. I guess you can say what we’re doing at Compass Box is innovative within whisky, but to be honest we’re just doing things slightly differently. We have a grain whisky, a funny label, strange brand names, an infusion and people in whisky say ‘wow!’ but, to be honest, people have been doing this in every other category for years – and doing more.”
Joining the cue
Though this might seem strange coming from the man considered as the great innovator, it is a brutally honest assessment of what is happening. What passes for innovation in whisky is, at its base level, mostly new ways of packaging and marketing vatted malts. Yet, the reaction that these brands have caused infers that this was a step which was badly needed in a traditional, some would say virtually moribund category.
“There is little doubt that premiumisation is happening across all categories,” says David Hume at Monkey Shoulder’s parent Wm. Grant. “Post Grey Goose, people are looking for something new – and it’s brown spirits. Social conventions are being relaxed and consumers want a drink which is relevant, but which also has quality and heritage. You’re seeing this being picked up by bourbon and by rum. We saw that there was also a need for a new premium Scotch with contemporary and authentic cues. We’re not trying to be über-cool.”
David Robertson at Easy Drinking Whisky picks up this theme. “Whisky has been downtrodden,” he says. “It has a tired image. In the UK you have the old blend drinkers on one hand and malt connoisseurs on the other; there is nothing in between.” And, as he argues, it is in this middle ground where other categories are attracting their new users.
“Our aim is to share the joys of the product,” says Glaser. “Whisky can be more if you loosen up the role of usage, change the product, change its image. Was innovation needed? Ab-so-lutely. The door is now open and firms now have the confidence about doing things differently.”
This means not being scared to take cues from other categories. Everything about J&B’s -6° says “vodka”; the name, the pack, even the style of the whisky which is almost colourless, light in aroma and flavour and intended to be mixed. Monkey Shoulder has gone in the opposite direction. Here, all the cues on the pack say “bourbon.” It is quite deliberate.
Varietal Whisky?
“There is a segment of the market between Scotch and bourbon,” says Hume. “We can appeal to people who already drink premium blends, and a new consumer who is drinking bourbon. It’s targeting the JD drinker with something new. This is a step-change in whisky, a newly-defined category and we’re looking for innovation within that.”
On the other hand, Robertson’s inspiration came from a more surprising category – new world wine. “The fact that the Australians labelled their wines by varietal helped me as a consumer,” he says. “It made it much easier to negotiate the aisles at the supermarket if you knew what Sauvignon Blanc or Merlot meant. You could trade across with confidence. So, when we came to name our whiskies we did so by style; Smoky/Peaty, Smooth/Sweet, Rich/Spicy.”
Hot prospectors
“We’re trying to reach a group which has either been turned off whisky, or never been turned on in the first place,” says Robertson. “We call this group ‘prospectors’. They’re early adopters, they had i-Pods when they first came out, they go on activity holidays, they wear outdoor fashion, they eat organic. The only other category looking at them is bourbon.”
While accepting that this whole process was part of a general “reappraisal of Scotch and reappraisal of the perception of Scotch,” Glaser warns against firms simply creating brands to fit what they see as a perceived need. Brands which are invented by simply ticking off the relevant boxes will not, he argues, survive. “Compass Box can be summed up as having product integrity and brand integrity. These whiskies weren’t thought up in a boardroom and developed by an NPD department. Scotch isn’t the same as gin or vodka. It does have roots and people expect that to be reflected in the brand; they expect it to be tied to people. When people look at our brands they see that we are real people, we’re sincere and we’re beholden to no one. Other people’s concepts of ‘innovation’ don’t have that integrity, they are brand concepts. Brand integrity is about more than simply making up a funny name, adding a funny label and tacking on some shallow story about what it’s about.”
What underpins the successful innovations is their determination to be seen as whisky. “Jon and Mark [his partners in Easy Drinking] were whisky lovers, but they didn’t like the way it was communicated, either on the pack or in advertising,” Robertson says. “People are amazed when we do sampling about how good whisky is, how good it can taste.”
This suggests that not only does Scotch have an outmoded image, but there is a perceived flavour barrier to surmount. Given this, is it harder for Scotch to innovate? “Since no one has done it, you could say it is easy as there is a far greater opportunity to get noticed,” says Glaser. “On the other hand, you could say it is a challenge! It is easier to create a new vodka brand because you can buy vodka easily in bulk. That is more difficult with whisky. Accessing stock is problematic, and that is a major barrier to new, small companies.”
A Matter of Taste
This also has an impact on their ability to create liquids which will appeal to today’s palate. “There shouldn’t be a flavour barrier because there is such a range of flavours across Scotch,” says Glaser, “but what we have found is that today’s consumer (other than the peat lover) wants something softer and sweeter. I wish there were more brands with that taste around today.”
Ultimately, what these firms are saying is that to entice this new consumer into whisky it might be necessary to find flavours which they find acceptable, though without losing whisky’s signature character.
The question is can they really push the envelope as far as they would like to – in other words, innovate – given the tight controls which govern the production of Scotch? “Look at vodka,” says Robertson. “Look at what you are allowed to do with it. Look at gin. Look at the real innovation behind a brand like Hendrick’s. It is pushing the envelope in that category. There can’t be anything like that in Scotch. We’re not allowed to. Even something like flavours or infusions are out. We are totally constrained by the rules.” Glaser – whose Orangerie infusion is a good example of an innovative product which isn’t allowed to be called Scotch – agrees. “The law has us handcuffed pretty effectively,” he says. “Making Scotch is a bit like making wine in France rather than in California. I understand the intent, but it’s too constraining.”
Will that stop innovation? It doesn’t seem likely. The majors are already beginning to take interest in this nascent “new generation” whisky category. The door is open and firms are slowly moving through it. As for the pioneer? Is Glaser simply John the Baptist laying the ground for a more successful brand from one of the giants? “Our ambition is to be a sizeable niche business,” he says. “We don’t have ambitions to be the next Johnnie Walker! Our role is to find new interesting perspectives for Scotch, to push the boundaries. We want something sustainable.”