Glasgow-based rum creators Wester Distillery, is toasting growing its business to £1 million turnover – a 400% increase on the year before.
The sales growth was achieved in part due to the business pivoting during the Covid-19 pandemic to focus on direct to consumer sales, with the closure or restricted opening of many trade outlets and the demand for products such as its Chocolate Rum, infused with discarded Dominican cocoa husks, which proved to be a bestseller with 16,000 bottles sold since it launched in April 2021.
Now the distillery, which launched in 2017, is aiming to build on this growth in the coming year, with a number of new products planned to further diversify its range with the launch of new limited-edition batches, from the seasonal Winter Spiced Rum through to further products tailored to customer demand.
The company also has its sights set on international markets, but meanwhile it is concentrating on a renewed focus with trade stockists in the UK, to allow the distillery to further diversify its audience and achieve its target growth figures.
Commenting on the success of the business, co-founder Zander Macgregor said, “At Wester Distillery we’re united in our passion for creating the best possible rum variants to appeal to consumers across the world. Since setting up the business in 2017 we’ve seen steady growth but over the last year demand for our products has soared and we believe this is due to not only the high quality of product we produce but also our ability as a small business to adapt to changes in customer tastes and respond to the changing marketplace.
“Over the past year we’ve focused on building our direct to consumer sales and with sales in the first two months of the year showing us as already being on track to hit our growth targets for this year, this is something we hope to build even further. We’re also engaging with potential trade customers to allow us to bring our in-demand products to consumers whether they are at home or in bars or restaurants. Our team has also grown to allow us to achieve further growth, with two permanent members of staff joining the business in our bottling and order fulfilment teams.
“This year we have plans to bring even more limited-edition batches to our customers, allowing them the opportunity to try new flavour profiles and discover their perfect rum match. We have big ambitions for Wester Distillery and can’t wait to see what the rest of 2022 brings.”
The growth of Wester Distillery comes as rum continues to grow in popularity across the country. Figures from the Wine and Spirit Trade Association show that between April – June 2020 an extra 1.3 million bottles of rum were sold compared to the same time period the previous year. This, coupled with increased demand for flavoured and spiced rums, puts Wester Distillery in a strong position for continued growth.
Jason Caddy delves into the rum category in Scotland to see what’s hot brand and trends-wise and ponders whether it’s ever going to eclipse its old nemesis gin.
Scotland and rum production go way back before the current sonic rum boom that’s almost deafening thanks to brand innovation and customers getting more of a taste for it. Sailors introduced it to the UK in the 17th century and it quickly went viral, then a sugar revolution eclipsed tobacco and up popped refineries in Glasgow, several housing rum distilleries.
But fast-forward a few centuries and is rum in Scotland destined to be forever the bridesmaid to the bride that is gin?
Said Fraser McIlwraith, Director at HOSPO Talent, Dark Art Drinks & Glasgow Cocktail Collective, “Rum has the potential to be as big. I think that one of the reasons that gin did so well is that male and female customers were happy with flavour profiles. Gin and tonic is pretty universal.
“Rum was seen as a masculine drink, but we have seen a change in this perception over the last five years, it’s got more flavoursome. Some great Scottish rums are ripping up the rule book by adding ingredients not traditionally associated with the spirit and this is widening its reach.”
How are sales of rum doing in the bars of some of his clients?
“In the last three months cocktail sales in Scotland’s bars have gone through the roof. My clients can’t believe how many of their customers are ordering cocktails and for efficiency and to keep up with demand, instead of say 20 cocktails on a list, a bar may have only six at the moment.
“Strawberry Daiquiris and Mojitos are two of the biggest hitters. Customers have missed good cocktails and because it’s a limited cocktail list, they are driven to the easy classics.”
Market Data Forecast says that the global rum market is worth $15 billion in 2021 and is set to grow to $21.5 billion by 2026. Statista predicts that in the UK, the rum category as a whole will see volume reach 26.9ML by 2025 with volume growth of 15.8% by 2022.
The number of rum brands in the UK has also gone from 50 in 2009 to over 200 in 2021.
Which rum brands are doing well across the bar across Scotland?
Michael Woods is the owner of St Luke’s and The Winged Ox and The Amsterdam in Glasgow has seen rum sales outstrip gin sales lately across his two venues.
He said, “Bacardi White, Bacardi Gold, and Sailor Jerry are our biggest sellers across both venues and rum sales have actually been slightly better than gin sales lately, despite the hot weather and customers associating gin and tonic with summertime drinking and dark rums with winter generally.”
Meanwhile, over in Edinburgh, it’s homegrown rums that are pretty much unstoppable at the moment – with a mixer and as part of a cocktail.
Said Scott Kirk, manager at Edinburgh’s Nauticus, “Our top-selling rums are all from Scotland. Sweetdram Smoked Spiced rum is Edinburgh-made and our biggest seller. SeaWolf is second. Then it’s J. Gow Rum.
“We’ve also got a cocktail on the menu called Loose Canon that flies out the door and is popular with all ages and both sexes. It’s made of Sweetddram, lime cordial, Bon Accord ginger beer, and Angostura bitters. “
Stuart McPhee owns Aberdeen’s Siberia Bar & Hotel where it’s arguably chillier and where rum is yet to completely shake off its seasonal warming shackles that may stand in the way of it being a summer drink.
He said, “We do a decent volume of our house-pour, Bacardi Spiced. We also do a ludicrous amount of frozen daiquiris using Bacardi Carta Blanca so it’s nothing overly adventurous.
“I don’t sell as much dark month as used to which has more to do with changing demographics towards younger clientele whereas this is traditionally an older person’s drink plus rum is still seasonal – it’s got an ingrained warmth to it.
“Vodka has always been a year-round choice whereas gin was pigeonholed as a spring/summer drink but it’s broken out of that now and so might rum break beyond being a go-to on dark winter nights.
“I’m always being encouraged by reps to move into flavoured rums and I guess this will develop as we expand cocktails.”
Moving further north again, Cru Holdings’ MD Scott Murray, owner of seven Inverness bars, said, “Customers are expanding their repertoires and understanding that there’s a difference between brands and that a rum is not just rum. There’s a drive toward quality and more Cuban rums too.
“Our biggest sellers are Brugal Blanco rum because of all the amount of daiquiris we sell, and Old J Tiki Fire rum because of its strength.”
In the beginning, there was Dark Matter and its Banchory distillery in 2015. This was the first rum to come from Scotland and now it’s in good company.
J. Gow Rum takes its name from the infamous Orkney pirate John Gow. His short, violent career began in Amsterdam in the Netherlands and ended in Orkney. The distillery sits metres away from the sea, on Lamb Holm, a tiny Orkney island, just 0.15 square miles across.
Head Distiller Collin creates a range of rum styles on what may well be one of the smallest rum-producing islands in the world. J. Gow Rum focus on cask-ageing and unique fermentation techniques to produce a range of rums that are full-bodied and decadent. Their range currently consists of Spiced Rum, Fading Light – a chestnut cask-aged rum and their newest release, Revenge – an ex-Bourbon and Virgin Oak cask-aged three-year-old rum.
William Grant & Sons’ Discarded Spirits arm includes Banana Peel Rum. This one embraces sustainability by creating cocktail recipes with ingredients that have been repurposed and is part of the green spirits revolution. It’s a cask-aged rum with the extract of banana peel. Discarded Spirits is also sponsoring the Cocktail Bar/Initiative of the Year at this year’s Scottish Bar & Pub Awards.
Kopparberg, sponsor of Best New Bar and Best and Most Improved Outdoor Area at the awards, recently expanded its spiced rum range with the launch of Dark Fruit Spiced Rum.
The new Dark Fruit Spiced Rum is the second rum from Kopparberg, following the release of Cherry Spiced Rum in June 2020.
Rob Salvesen, head of marketing at Kopparberg, said, “Following the success of our Cherry Spiced Rum launch earlier this year, our new Dark Fruit variant allows existing and new Kopparberg Rum fans to discover a new way to enjoy the bold fruit flavours the brand is famous for.”
Elsewhere on the wider brand front, Pernod Ricard expanded its Havana Club range in the UK this year when it introduced Havana Club Cuban Spiced and hopes that the new product will also attract millennials and ‘Gen Z’ drinkers into the rum category.
It supported the launch with on-trade activity which has included bar takeovers in Glasgow and Edinburgh – as well as consumer-facing social media activity.
Said Ian Peart, commercial director at Pernod Ricard UK, “The launch is well-positioned to capitalise on the growth opportunity in spiced rum, and we will be focusing on educating and inspiring UK bartenders on the liquid’s versatility to establish menu visibility across the on-trade.”
The final mention should go to some of the newest Scottish rums to have entered the market in the last year or so.
Freddy Drucquer, Dougie Jeffries and Chris Dowdall united in their enthusiasm for rum to create Brass Neck Rum, based in Glasgow and develop a recipe for a spiced rum that combines Scottish botanicals like nettle and milk thistle with tonka bean and orange peel. The label features an urban fox, elements of the Glasgow skyline and the Scottish countryside.
Thurso’s North Point Distillery was founded in 2020. It produces small-batch, sustainable Scottish spirits that boast Caribbean-style rum, aged using Scotch Whisky maturation techniques.
Askival Botanical Rum based on the Isle of Rùm. Establishing Eos Distillers Ltd a year ago, Fergus, Josh Kerr and Ali Gray have teamed up with Scottish chef Craig Grozier to bring their product to the market in November 2020. They are importing five-year-old rum from the Caribbean to make the botanical product initially while the business grows to finance its own distillery where it can produce the product from scratch.
Edinburgh’s Harpalion Spirits launched a new rum brand, ‘Cabal’ in May this year, and more than half of the first batch of its first expression No.1513 sold during the pre-order phase.
Livingston-based Matugga Distillers owned and operated by husband-and-wife duo, Paul and Jacine Rutasikwa has unveiled Liv Rum that is ‘inspired by the nation’s love for craft spirits and locally made produce, is handcrafted from start to finish using natural and seasonal ingredients.’
The range includes two white rums and a black spiced rum infused with Scottish heather. The artisan collection also includes. Raspberry and Hibiscus Rum Liqueur, made using seasonal hand-picked raspberries and Honey and Lavender Rum Liqueur created using Scottish honey and locally sourced lavender.
Master of Malt, the multi-award-winning eCommerce platform, has been gearing up to support the hospitality industry as the final stages of lockdown are lifted through its wholesale arm, Master of Malt Trade.
Founded in 2010, Master of Malt Trade is a one-stop-shop for incredible drinks, offering competitive prices on over 10,000 products. While its portfolio of course includes top-notch spirits such as whisky, gin, and rum, you’ll also find a diverse range of mixers, beers, syrups, canned cocktails, wine, Champagne, and more.
Following its re-launch in January 2021, the retailer has been expanding its team and establishing its social media presence with its Facebook and LinkedIn profiles, ensuring it’s fully equipped to support the reopening of the on- and off-trade. It also recently extended the cut-off for next day delivery to 6pm.
It is prioritising five key pillars, with simplicity and flexibility is at its core:
Fast service
Next-day delivery as standard for all UK mainland orders placed before 18:00
Free delivery
UK mainland customers will always benefit from free delivery on orders over £200+VAT
No minimum order
From one bottle to hundreds, no order is too small
Expert advice
Via either a serviced or managed account, businesses of all sizes can access trend insights and advice from the expert WSET-trained in-house team, on hand between 8:00 and 18:30.
Competitive prices
Customers will be able to access Trade pricing across Master of Malt’s range of 10,000 spirits, mixers, beers and wines
Customers also get access to Master of Malt Trade-exclusive products, such as the Base Spirits range from Atom Labs, the agile innovation arm of Atom Group. The range of high-quality affordable spirits, aimed at providing a base for cocktails, is now available in environmentally friendly 10-litre bag-in-boxes, solely through Master of Malt Trade.
Account-holders include, but are not limited to, independent retailers and convenience stores, bars, restaurants, and events companies – of course, other businesses with drinks sourcing requirements are more than welcome to create an account. Sound like you? Sign up for an account today!
Scots duo Richard Dixon and Claire Kinloch have unveiled a new rum portfolio from Scotland which will launch later this year. Entrepreneur Richard Dixon (who sold his successful Vets Now chain in 2018) is the Chairman, and is led by Chief Executive Claire Kinloch, also CEO of strategy consultancy Genoa Black.
Together the pair plan to unveil their first release – a premium spirit comprising five aged rums naturally finished in Speyside – to on-trade, off-trade and online channels in March, with more exclusive products to follow. Commenting on the venture Kinloch says, “Richard has a real knowledge and passion for rum and last year he approached Genoa Black to carry out a feasibility and strategy project looking at the spirit sector worldwide. We quickly uncovered a strong and unmet demand for a high quality ‘sipping’ rum. So we decided to establish our own company – Harpalion Spirits – to create the premium sprits we understand consumers desire.” Their first release comprises single source rums from the Caribbean, Guyana, Guatemala, Trinidad and Panama, naturally finished in Scotland in Pedro Ximénez sherry casks. It is uncoloured, non-chill filtered and comes in at 43% ABV.
Richard Dixon commented, “The spirits sector is fascinating – it constantly needs to reflect the changing nature of consumer behaviour and is always innovating. Never more so than in the current climate where despite a real shift in consumer behaviour and the obvious current challenges in the sector, this brings real opportunities to think differently.”
Rum sales rose 7.0% year-on-year in 2019 outpacing many other popular spirits in the UK on-trade according to CGA’s On-Premise Measurement Tool. The upward trend is being driven by the popularity of rum drunk in cocktails or with mixers, and by flavoured and spiced rums rather than dark, white or golden varieties.
This puts rum well ahead of other mainstream spirits including brandy (up 3.1%), whisky (up 0.9%) and vodka (down 0.4%).
CGA’s BrandTrack survey suggests just over five million consumers now drink rum out-of-home—a figure that has jumped 10.0% year-on-year.
Rum contributed to a spike in sales across the spirits category in 2019, with total value up by 6.2%, compared to a 0.6% drop for wine. Growth has been powered by gin, which has seen its on-trade sales more than triple in the last five years—but rum could now be positioned to follow its upward trajectory.
Said Phillip Montgomery, client director at CGA, “Sales have got a long way to go to match the stellar performance of gin, but its variety and versatility makes rum a major growth opportunity for operators and suppliers in 2020 and beyond.”
CGA’s research highlights the opportunity for premium rum brands in particular. Rum drinkers have an average of 4.6 brands in their repertoire—but since only 1.7 of these are premium brands, there is scope to increase consumers’ awareness of niche and craft rum varieties.
There are also opportunities to vary consumers’ attitudes to mixers. With four in five rum drinkers choosing to have it mixed with cola (51%) or diet cola (32%), there is relatively little awareness of the potential to drink it neat, or paired with juice, ginger ale or other alternatives.
CGA’s MATCH segmentation tool meanwhile shows that the spirit is starting to penetrate mainstream consumer groups as well as early adopters. BrandTrack meanwhile indicates that price influences two in five (40%) rum drinkers, making it the leading factor in choices ahead of the availability of a favourite brand (34%) and visibility on the bar (29%).
“Compared to some categories, rum consumers are fairly limited in the number of brands they use and the ways they drink it. If operators and suppliers can educate and inspire people about the potential of rum, we could well see more and more people trading up and experimenting,” said Phillip Montgomery.
“But with many operators expanding their cocktail and mixer selections, it’s becoming a very competitive arena, and brands are going to have stay right on top of their ranging, pricing and serving strategies to generate drinkers’ loyalty.”
Wester Spirit Co. is set to open a new rum distillery in Glasgow’s Partick in November – the first for the city in over 300 years, say the company.
It has moved away from conventional copper stills in favour the multi-faceted future of stainless steel. The Still is equipped with fully programmable technology to increase the efficiency of the distilling process and has the option of manual control to allow changes to the smallest details in the flavour profile.
Combined, this helps to create a spirit hand-crafted with intuition, expertise and enhanced flavour with guaranteed consistency. The distillery will also provide the opportunity for the brand to meet the growing demand for spiced rum by increasing the production limit from 250 bottles per month to 6000.
The distillery will also host pop-up restaurants and secret gigs, offering everyone the best of city living. http://www.westerspirit.com
William Grant & Sons has unveiled a new limited-edition bottle design for its spiced rum, Sailor Jerry. The new bottle has been designed to reinforce the brand’s premium spirit status, heavy tattoo influence, personality, and to make a statement. The new design is an evolution on the clear glass bottle, showcasing a gloss-black concealed wrap and featuring prominent homages to the iconic tattoo designs of the late Norman ‘Sailor Jerry’ Collins.
The hero bottle image is one of Norman Collins’ iconic designs the hula girl, reminiscent of his early tattooing days inking fellow soldiers and sailors at his legendary tattoo parlour in World War II-era Hawaii and establishing himself in history as the undisputed father of American old school tattooing. The bottle also features the brand’s famous anchor – a traditional symbol of stability which harks back to Norman Collins’ professional sailor roots.
Aberdeenshire’s own Ryan Rhodes has emerged as the victor at the UK leg of Nicaraguan rum brand Flor de Cana’s Rum Frontiers competition.
Rum Frontiers pits cocktail making experts from around the world against one another, with a grand final taking place at the Flor de Cana distillery in Nicaraguan capital Managua this September. Simply reaching that final is a big achievement and a prize in itself, as all the contenders – who have beaten top class competition in national heats – are treated to six days of Central American adventure before facing the final showdown.
Ryan secured his place after facing off against nine other bartenders at an informative and fun event held at the Drygate Brewery in the East End of Glasgow. In addition to on-stage presentations by the competitors there was music from DJ Rebecca Vasmant, some stunning live graffiti courtesy of street artist Mark Worst and, most importantly, a free bar showcasing some of the finest Flor de Cana serves!
The ten original contenders were narrowed down to four by the judges – Whyte & Mackay Head of Brand Experience Daryl Haldane, Flor de Cana Area Manager for Europe Marc Catalan, Drink Cabinet UK Director Andy Gemmell and Tristan Stephenson, renowned bartender, bar owner and author of the The Curious Bartender book series.
The final four were Ryan, who works in Dusk, Aberdeen, Alex Palumbo of Sygn Bar, Edinburgh, Giorgios Terzakis of The Bon Vivant, also in Edinburgh, and Jamie Buchan of Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Cafe. Ryan, Alex, George and Jamie were all engaging presences on stage and had clearly done their research into both the brand and the personality of Nicaragua, producing flavorsome cocktails that reflected the Central American nation’s status as a major coffee producer and advocate of renewable energy.
Ryan, who was supported on the night by a very vocal band of fellow bartenders from up north, got his start in the industry 11 years ago in Inverurie and went on to work for Malmaison, Aberdeen cocktail bar Orchid and Singapore establishment House of Dandy before accepting the role of head bartender at Dusk.
He said, “I have used Flor de Cana for many years in a few bars and have always loved its flavour and character. The way it stands out from the crowd and isn’t afraid to shout about it just fits my outlook on bartending.
“I really love seeing new places and being part of another culture. The vibrancy and exotic feel of Nicaragua will surely inspire me to be more creative with my drinks and future ventures.”
Distributed by Whyte & Mackay in the UK, Flor de Cana is family-owned and celebrated its 125th anniversary in 2015.
“Rum Frontiers was a fantastic event,” stated Whyte & Mackay’s Jonathan Gillbanks, UK Sales Director for the On-Trade and Specialists division. “We witnessed some of the most exciting bartenders from the UK come together to learn and create with Flor de Cana premium rum. The creations from the competitors were truly outstanding.”
The activities Ryan will partake in out in Nicaragua include sand-boarding on the active Cerro Negro Volcano, a visit to the Masaya Artisan Market, a city tour of Granada and a trip to a private island.
Famous London cocktail bar Mahiki has launched a new coconut rum liqueur to mark its 10th anniversary, with a range of bottled cocktails to follow in the coming months.
Mahiki Coconut Rum liqueur is bottled at 21% ABV and blends Jamaican and Polynesian rums with Western Samoan coconuts. Its clear glass bottle was designed by British fashion designer Henry Holland and features bright,
Its clear glass bottle was designed by British fashion designer Henry Holland and features bright, colourful Polynesian tiki motifs, Hawaiian botanicals and flora.
Mahiki bar manager Georgi Radev said, “There is a very pleasant coconut flavour and you can really taste the rum base. It lends itself well as a base for cocktails, and also stands out on its own.”
Three new Mahiki bottled cocktails in single serve 20cl bottles will also soon launch for the on-trade, each inspired by the popular Treasure Chest, Pina Colada and Coconut Grenade cocktails created for Mahiki by Radev. Both products are distributed by Cellar Trends.
Bramble bosses Mike Aikman and Jason Scott have teamed up with Gavin Ferguson, co-founder of Scottish independent wine merchants Vino Wines, to create Seawolf – a new white rum made in Scotland.
Together, the trio formed Boilermaker Drinks Co. with the aim to create a portfolio of spirits distilled in Scotland. They claim their first launch, SeaWolf, is the first white rum to be distilled on Scottish soil.
Bottled at 41% abv, the new rum is 18-months in the making and will have a limited first run, with only 300 bottles available before the end of the year.
Mike Aikman, who also runs Edinburgh bars The Last Word and Lucky Liquor Co with Jason Scott, said, “Rum is a massive player in the cocktail world. However, when we started looking around for a British brand, we realised that very few brands are distilled here and so SeaWolf was born.”
“British rum is about to have its time in the spotlight”
He added, “Unlike gin which we feel is reaching saturation point in the market, British rum is about to have its time in the spotlight and we aim to be at the forefront of this.”
SeaWolf is produced in Angus at Ogilvy Spirits by fermenting the spirit’s base ingredient, cane molasses, at low temperature using rum and champagne yeasts.
It is described as having “notes of unripe banana and sugar cane” that give way to “tropical fruits on the palate with a faint citrus and spice finish”.
Aikman added, “Scotland is not the ideal climate to be making rum in but we love a challenge so we set about developing a full-flavoured rum good enough to work well straight and as a base for cocktails.
“It had to have character, flavour, mouthfeel and body which can be difficult with an unaged spirit but we hope we’ve delivered on all aspects.”
The name “SeaWolf” is taken from the Native American term for killer whales. It offers a subtle nod to both Britain’s naval links with rum importation but also the pods of sea wolves that are found dotted around the Scottish coastline today.
It’s clear medicinal-style bottle is an extension of the company’s contemporary outlook, with the whale illustration adding an artisanal touch.
SeaWolf launches 1 December priced RRP £29.99 for 50cl bottles and is available here.
The Aberdeen unit is expected to open in the former Wagamamas in Aberdeen Shopping Centre in November.
A second site is scheduled to open in Glasgow at 28 Renfield Street, in December.
The company already operates its Revolution vodka bar chain in both cities and plans to open a second vodka bar in Glasgow.
Revolution Bar Groups confirmed it would open four Revolución de Cuba units in total across the UK after it announced a pre-tax profit of £7.1 million in the year to June 30, up from £2.9m.
A spokesman for the brand said, “Revolución de Cuba Aberdeen and Glasgow will be our first Scottish bars in the group. They’ll offer a melting pot, a fusion of flavours from Cuba, Spain, Mexico and South America. Pair that with live entertainment and premium rum cocktails and you’ve got a full-on fiesta!”
Katharine Gemmell will be following our DRAM Mixxit Bar Apprentices of the Year 2016 each week as a quasi-contestant to experience the competition and let us know what they have been up to.
Today’s session turns our attention to a more in-depth look at certain spirits on Maxxium’s drinks catalogue. To my disdain, we are greeted first thing in the morning with the bar lined up for a vodka tasting. My stomach churns at the thought of vodka at 10am, but my fellow apprentices are made of sturdier stuff and throw themselves right into the smelling of the ‘little water’. As I take a sniff, I immediately knock my head back and flinch at the smell. David tells us that I have committed the mortal sin of tasting spirits – in knocking my head back I have also essentially knocked out my sense of smell as it is a very delicate. He stresses that you will get more out of it if you give it a chance, as tasting is primarily ruled by our sense of smell and only secondarily by our taste buds.
The apprentices are well aware that vodka is an important spirit in the cocktail business; it is immediately agreed that it is the best selling spirit in most establishments and popular for its minimal taste and alcohol content. But there doesn’t seem much excitement from anyone at the prospect of a vodka tasting. David laughs as he explains the American legal definition of vodka is a drink with ‘no distinctive flavour, taste or character’. We all look around at each other and wonder what the point of a vodka tasting actually is? However, David convinces us that vodka is actually a very interesting spirit and the legal definition does not do it justice. It immediately becomes a lot more interesting to everyone as we learn about the different types of grain that can make vodka and how this affects the flavour.
Maxxium’s three vodka products are Stolichnaya, Elit and Snow Leopard. The products have extremely interesting background stories, which we all furiously note down on our notepads. This is some great knowledge to talk to customers about and help upsell the products. So how, then, can bartenders upsell vodka when there is this myth surrounding it that it is all tastes the same? David stresses that with vodka it is all about the branding and the marketing – people buy it because of what it says about them. This makes it the perfect product to up-sell as it’s not about gaining more flavour, but about gaining more status. We then turn our attention to an attempt at making the classic vodka Martini. Top tips include the difference between wet and dry, and that James Bond was all wrong when he asked for shaken not stirred. All of these tips are now little weapons in our repertoire which we can use on our customers.
The next spirit in the spotlight is rum and we explore and taste a variety of Brugal products: Añejo, Especial and 1988. The bottle of 1988 is quite a treat to my fellow contestants as their eyes sparkle at getting to try the very expensive bottle. Interestingly, we find out that compared to the 5% angels share that comes off of Scottish whisky, Brugal loses 10% to the angels due to the temperature in the Dominican Republic.
To finish off the afternoon our cocktail making session focuses on ‘The Essential Stir’. This is used for some of the world’s most sophisticated cocktails and is apparently where drink making gets its Zen. Loren is first up and uses the vodka Martini build and recipe that we learned earlier and substitutes it with gin, exhibiting nice versatility with the recipes. I start to feel very special as it seems the contestants keep picking me to be the taster – I don’t think they realise that I’m even more inexperienced than them! Sandy is then given a hard challenge: to make David’s favourite cocktail and get him to judge it. The hardest challenge is remembering what it was, but Sandy takes it in his stride and serves David a beautifully crafted drink up to his standards. We finish off by being given homework for the rest of the week. Each contestant has to take a Maxxium product and compare it to a similar product and then present their findings to next week’s master mixologists.
Pernod Ricard UK have introduced Malibu rum variant Malibu Pineapple. It’s cocktail maestros mixed the ever-popular coconut rum with pineapple – and the suggested long serve is either with lemonade or orangeade. To celebrate the launch more than 1,000 phone boxes have been transformed into Malibu Pineapples – if you spot one, tweet or Instagram a picture to @MaliburumUK with #pineapplephonebox and #becausesummer.
Revolution Bars Group is to spend £1.4m on a new Revolucion de Cuba in Aberdeen’s Academy Shopping Centre. The bar, on the site of the former Wagamama restaurant, will have a capacity of around 550 people inside and space for 110 outside. The Cuban-themed bar will primarily serve cocktails, rum and a selection of tapas. The group already operates Revolution Bar in the city’s Belmont Street with the new bar expected to open by the end of the year.
Captain Morgan is taking its iconic ‘Captain’ back on TV with a new £4.6 million marketing campaign that will also make use of social media and digital platforms.
With the tagline ‘Live Like The Captain’, the 20 second TV advert shows a party in full swing on a pirate ship, the main character has the Captain’s face superimposed onto his. A 10 second TV spot shows the same Captain character with another character on horseback on the beach. The female rider has a can of cola superimposed on her. The juxtaposition is meant to highlight the perfect serve of Captain Morgan and cola. The 10 second clip will be available to view on YouTube, VOD, Vevo pre-roll, digital out-of-home and mobile.
Claire McQuattie, head of Captain Morgan marketing for Western Europe, said; “We hope our campaign will drive excitement and mass awareness for our portfolio in an engaging way that consumers can relate to. Rum is one of the fastest growing categories within spirits. This trend presents a great opportunity and with Captain Morgan White we hope to replicate the fantastic growth we’ve seen with Captain Morgan Original Spiced Gold.”