“Red Hook was overrun by the Sea,” my friend Jack Summers owner of SorelArtisanalLiqueur, told me when I called to check in with him. “The storm was a disaster, but not a catastrophe.”
From what I read and saw, I’m not sure that’s totally accurate but then again, Jack is the most can-do person I know with a strong positive outlook.
Red Hook is the home of many of the Brooklyn distilleries and breweries and the area was among the hardest hit neighborhoods in New York City. Sandy killed people there and knocked out power for hundreds of thousands.
Some booze business distilleries were destroyed, some somehow managed to survive unscathed and some, like Jack From Brooklyn were dealt serious, but hopefully not fatal blows.
Drambuie Liqueur has been around for quite some time gathering dust in a very limited number of liquor cabinets. At best, consumers think of it as a drink their parents or grandparents enjoyed. At worst, few contemporary drinkers have never heard of it.
The brand is independently owned and sells in the 300,000 case range – close to 400,000 ten years ago. The signature and mainstay drink is still the Rusty Nail (one part Drambuie and one part scotch on the rocks). Although, the company has worked hard at contemporizing the drink choices and has also introduced upmarket line extensions based on the age of the scotch.
There is no question but that Drambuie has a unique taste that is, according to their website, “a unique blend of aged Scotch whisky with a secret combination of spices, heather honey and herbs.”
To address the brand’s image problems, the London ad agency, Sell! Sell! Has come up with a campaign called “A Taste of the Extraordinary.” According to Adweek, the “ad features all sorts of odd characters in a surreal and foreboding landscape.” The message seems to be that “Drambuie is the favored booze of those trapped in an existential hell from which there is no escape.”
Huh? It’s just booze folks.
Nevertheless, it’s a fun ad that’s just in time for Halloween. Unfortunately, it will run in Canada and the UK. Guess they don’t know how important Halloween is for US booze sales.
What’s your opinion of the ad?
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Buffalo Trace Newsletter reprinted a WSJ article with the headline, After Long Downturn, Beer Sales Are Back.
Are they? Well, yes and no.
Beer shipments in the US rose nearly 2% to over 141 million barrels in the first eight months of 2012 after falling three straight years. In fact, sales fell 1.5% in 2011.
But, it’s not the shut-up-and-drink-or-guzzle-it brands. The growth is coming from craft beers whose sales have grown 12% in volume in the first half of this year. Craft beers represent 6% of the beer market in volume and 9% in dollars.
