StateWays is the only magazine exclusively covering the control state system within the beverage alcohol industry, with annual updates from liquor control commissions and alcohol control boards and yearly fiscal reporting from control jurisdictions
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31 StateWays ■ www.stateways.com ■ January/February 2015 Irish in particular," Pfenning says. "At Julio's Liquors, we are seeing two different customers. The fi rst consumer is buying Jameson, but doesn't know much about Irish," Fisher says. "Then there is the consumer who knows whiskey, who is searching out the other expressions. The Bushmills, John Lane, Redbreast, Green Spot, and Tryconnell. They're real fans of whiskey." Beam Suntory's portfolio is diverse with a number of Irish brands and many options to appeal to consumers, Melamed points out. The range includes the single malt Tryconnell, the peated Con- nermara with smokiness similar to Scotch, and single-grain Gre- enore, with a corn fl avor profi le that may appeal to Bourbon drinkers. As for 2 Gingers, "we call it the 'Converter,'" Melamed says, because it converts newcomers to the Irish whiskey category. "It's also genderless, because both men and women drink it," she adds, "and because you can drink it year round, we call it 'season-less.'" Marketing efforts are built around a core drink strategy, with the Big Ginger and the Skinny Ginger cocktails, which consumers at sampling programs fi nd more ap- proachable than straight whiskey. "Redbreast, Powers, Midleton are Green Spot are single pot still whiskeys, which is exploding and is positioning it- self long term with the premiumization of the Irish whiskey category," explains Bajaria at Pernod Ricard. Consumers may start with Jameson, then trade up or trade over to other whiskeys in the portfolio. "Redbreast has gained a cult following. You will see more innovation in this area from us. Whiskeys like that lend expertise to the category and appeal to the discerning whiskey drinker." Other avenues to try S ome consumers are led to the Irish category by the novel or the sweet. Poitin, an un-aged spirit (a white whiskey if you will), has been notorious as Irish moonshine for centuries and now a few, more refi ned examples are breaching our shores. Flavored expressions, a blazing fi re- ball in the overall whiskey category especially among young legal-age drinkers, has only a few adherents in Irish—so far. "Poitin is a novelty, but it received a much better than expected turnout when I featured it on a Whiskey Wednes- day," marvels Fisher at Julio's Liquors. "Most people don't know what it is." Part of the success of that promotion, which featured Glendalough Poitin, was that the brand rep not only showed how sippable the white whis- key was, but offered easy- to-make cocktails. At Peco's Liquors, Mul- vihill is hesitant to take a chance on poitin because sales of domestic white whiskeys weren't as strong as antici- pated. "White whiskey is a departure from what most drinkers like about whiskey - the color, caramel, vanilla and spice notes you get from wood," he says. Bushmills was one of the pioneers in Irish fl avored whiskeys with the release of Bushmills Irish Honey in 2012. Now Per- nod Ricard has joined the fray with Paddy Devil's Apple and Paddy Bee Sting. "The fl avored whiskey category is growing sig- nifi cantly, which appeals to both new and existing consumers, probably in the early (9-Liter Cases) 12/13 Brand Supplier 2012 2013 % Chg Jameson Pernod Ricard USA 279,655 318,178 13.8% Bushmills Diageo 35,586 37,042 4.1% Tullamore Dew William Grant & Sons 23,054 25,535 10.8% John Power Pernod Ricard USA 9,203 8,252 -10.3% Paddy Irish Whiskey Pernod Ricard USA 852 3,831 ++% Redbreast Irish Whiskey Pernod Ricard USA 3,308 3,506 6.0% Black Bush Diageo 3,194 3,150 -1.4% Kilbeggan Beam Inc. 2,600 2,580 -0.8% Clontarf Castle Brands 1,160 1,401 20.8% Tyrconnell Beam Inc. 684 809 18.3% Top Ten Leading Brands 359,296 404,284 12.5% (++%) Greater than 100%. Source: The Beverage Information & Insights Group from NABCA data. Connemara Single Malt The Tyrconnell Single Malt Irish Spirits Leading Brands of Irish Whiskey In The Control States