BROWN SPIRITS REPORT: BOURBON
Flourishing US spirits’ exports salute bourbon’s golden age
American whiskey – particularly bourbon – is carving a niche in travel retail as expertly as the craft barrels the liquid is aged in, as Luke Barras-Hill reports.
“B
ourbon is cool again and nobody is happier about that than us,”
enthuses Colton Payne, Customer Marketing Manager Global Travel Retail, Brown-Forman. “We’re excited about the
continued strength of American whiskey in travel retail.” While Kentucky is frequently
associated with bourbon’s spiritual roots, it’s fair to say that the exact history of the liquid is rather harder to pin down. Prohibition put the stoppers on
many distilleries in the early part of the 20th Century, but tentative growth has given way in recent years to a monumental revival in the spirit’s popularity. Across the American whiskey
categories, bourbon, Tennessee and rye posted strong performances in 2016, according to the US Distilled Spirits Council. Volumes grew by 6.8% to 21.8m
cases and revenues increased by 7.7% to reach $3.1bn. Interestingly, total US spirits’
export volume, which rose by 6.8% last year, was mostly driven by bourbon, Tennessee and rye (+10.2%). Distilled Spirits Council Senior Vice
President for International Affairs Christine LoCascio put this down to the globe’s fascination with American whiskey, its cocktail exports, mixability and versatility.
Woodford in new clothes Brown-Forman, which counts the super-premium Woodford Reserve and acclaimed Jack Daniel’s Tennessee whiskey among its portfolio, has introduced a newly repackaged offering for the Woodford Reserve Distiller’s Select range. This includes Kentucky Straight
Bourbon and Kentucky Straight Rye, which has started shipping
MAY 2017 ‘Bourbon is cool again’, says Brown-Forman’s Colton Payne.
in global travel retail. Both are flanked by the ultra-premium Double Oaked edition. Woodford Reserve Kentucky
Straight Rye and Coopers’ Craft Bourbon recently made their bows at the IAADFS Duty Free Show of the Americas. “Rye within American whiskey
is extremely hot – we haven’t been the first to release something, but we wanted to wait to get it right,” says Payne. “There’s a couple of things in
American whiskey you can do to innovate, whether that’s with the water, the grain bill, the wood, the distillation, or maturation process – we try to flex all those muscles.” The company has never been shy
of its barrel-making credentials, and claims to be the only major spirits company that owns and operates new barrel-making cooperages for its brands. “The barrel has such a marked
effect on the end flavour of the whiskey – it gives up to 50% of the flavour and 100% of the colour and having control over that is important to us,” Payne continues. For competitor Beam Suntory,
innovation remains top of the agenda. The firm recently announced
a global packaging upgrade for Jim Beam Black. Tying in with a broader upgrade of the Jim Beam portfolio, the 1 litre, 43% ABV liquid hit Europe, Asia Pacific and Americas travel retail shelves last month. It features a bold bottle structure,
refreshed labels with gold foil, matte textures and a refined logo. Product development aims to raise interest in the category, particularly in the case of Bourbon Legends.
Bourbon Legends “Our Bourbon Legends portfolio looks to establish the foundations of the category across all global travel retail and boost the footprint of leading US whiskeys such as Jim Beam, Maker’s Mark and Knob Creek,” says Michael Cockram, Marketing Director Global Travel Retail, Beam Suntory.
Across the American whiskey categories, bourbon, Tennessee and rye posted strong performances in 2016, according to the Distilled Spirits Council.
TRBusiness TRAVEL RETAIL BUSINESS 159
Below: Woodford Reserve Classic Rye 1L from Brown Forman.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164 |
Page 165 |
Page 166 |
Page 167 |
Page 168 |
Page 169 |
Page 170 |
Page 171 |
Page 172 |
Page 173 |
Page 174 |
Page 175 |
Page 176 |
Page 177 |
Page 178 |
Page 179 |
Page 180 |
Page 181 |
Page 182 |
Page 183 |
Page 184 |
Page 185 |
Page 186
