South Africa’s Amarula gains listing on board Emirates

South Africa’s Amarula cream liqueur has been listed on board all Emirates flights, as part of a revamp of the airline’s wine and spirits offering.

Amarula, made from the fruit of the Marula tree which grows in Sub Saharan Africa, is now available in all classes on all Emirates flights, with the listing expected to last until at least 2022.

Spirits on board are served complimentary across all classes and routes and include a range of whiskeys, cognacs, gins, vodka and flavoured liqueurs.

“Airline listings play an important role in our global travel retail strategy by presenting excellent opportunities for trial and providing an airborne gateway to key Amarula markets around the world,” said Luke Maga, managing director for Distell Travel Retail.

“Our association with industry-leading airlines also enables us to leverage our brands as truly global players,” Maga said.

In addition to Emirates Airline, Amarula is also listed on South African Airways, ComAir and Virgin Atlantic Airlines.

In recognition of its elephant iconography, since 2002 Amarula has been involved in conservation efforts to save the remaining African elephants living in the wild.

Its latest program is the “Name Them, Save Them” campaign to give names to the estimated 400,000 remaining wild African elephants.

Its introduction to Emirates follows a more widespread revamp of the airline’s wine and spirits offer. The new selection was made by an in-house team of experts who spent two years working directly with suppliers to curate the brand new spirits offering.

The new spirits menu on board includes a mix of niche, hand-crafted brands as well as spirits such as Hennessy Cognacs in all classes and the limited edition Hennessy Paradis in First Class.

Also available for a limited period from September, will be the “extremely rare” Hennessy Paradis Impérial, which will be served on a select number of routes including London Heathrow, London Gatwick, Manchester, Glasgow, Newcastle, Birmingham and, when it launches on 8 June, on the new UK route to London Stansted.

Other brands served in first class include the Dalmore King Alexander III; Belvedere vodka; Johnnie Walker Blue Label Scotch and Guatemalan rum Ron Zacapa Centenario XO.

In business class and at the iconic Emirates A380 Onboard Lounge, customers can order Glenfiddich Solera Reserve 15 year old single malt Scotch whisky, small batch premium Bourbon Woodford Reserve Distiller’s Select and Sipsmith gin.

Spirits available in economy class include Dewar’s White Label Scotch whisky, Beefeater gin, Russian Standard Original vodka, Jack Daniel’s Tennessee whiskey and Bacardi Carta Blanca rum – the world’s most awarded rum.

In economy, Jack Daniel’s whiskey is the most requested drink from Emirates’ list of spirits. In business, Sipsmith gin takes the top spot, while in first, the most popular spirit requested is the 21-year-old Chivas Royal Salute whisky.