BROWN SPIRITS: BEAM SUNTORY
Whisky and bourbon pipelines gain momentum for Beam Suntory
Japanese whiskies and small-batch bourbons are sowing the seeds of heightened consumer engagement and Beam Suntory is capitalising with aplomb. Luke Barras-Hill takes in a busy 12 months for the firm and discovers what the future holds.
rich portfolio straddling whisk(e) y, tequila, cognac, vodka, gin, rum, cordials & liqueurs and read-to- drink beverages. Roku, Larios and Sipsmith
continue to be big winners in the booming gin category, while the likes of Jim Beam, Maker’s Mark, Baker’s Bourbon, Booker’s Bourbon, Knob Creek and Basil Hayden’s set Beam Suntory apart in the bourbon segment.
High-rye/wheated bourbon Small-batch propositions
in
particular are catching Stening’s eye through expressions from Maker’s Mark and (perhaps the lesser known) Basil Hayden’s. High-rye and wheated bourbons
Above: East meets west; Storytelling and craftsmanship – from Kentucky to Japan – is driving customer engagement.
Right: An appreciation of the art of blending is helping brands such as Hibiki develop a loyal following.
S
untory Holdings’ recent acquisition of a 10% stake in Edrington can
only spell good news for Beam Suntory and its global travel retail division. “Let your mind wander,” utters Ed
Stening, Global Marketing Director Global Travel Retail, Beam Suntory, leaving TRBusiness to ruminate on the permutations of the deal and what it means for travelling shoppers. It is worth noting that Edrington
and Suntory Holdings already possess a relationship dating back to the early 1990s and Suntory has a long-term shareholding in The Macallan.
“Over 50% of our sales are still very much going through the airport business with double- digit growth.”
Ed Stening, Global Marketing Director Global Travel Retail, Beam Suntory
56 TRBUSINESS
For Beam Suntory, 2019 played out positively. “We definitely saw double-digit growth across the entire business,” comments Stening. “Across the world, we saw growth in Europe, the Americas, Oceania…so it wasn’t just Asia Pacific. “Over 50% of our sales are
still very much going through the airport business with double-digit growth. “We are going
through a lot of changes as our business matures. Our understanding of our customers – retailers and as shoppers – has gotten so much deeper.” Beam Suntory’s
combined 200-plus years of whisk(e)y distilling experience was born when Japan’s Suntory Holdings announced it would acquire Beam in a $16bn deal in 2014, creating a drinks monolith that today commands a
are creating a new phenomenon in their own right, so it is easy to see why demand for premium and small- batch variants remains high. “If we look in travel retail, we’re a
great channel for people wanting to trade up anywhere across any category” observes Stening. “When we look at small- batch specifically, we are very
lucky.
“We are really trying to figure out how we get our hands around that premium segment for bourbon and we see it being ‘the opportunity’ for whisk(e)y. We are seeing from our consumers that they are looking at it as the category of whisk(e)y and we are using our bourbon portfolio to hit that.”
Personifying the fusion between
Kentucky distilling tradition and Japanese master blending is Legent, a Kentucky straight bourbon partially
MARCH 2020
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