Charming a younger audience to love scotch
‘There’s a place for very expensive whiskies, but there’s also a place for accessible, affordable whiskies as well. As the biggest scotch company in the world, we certainly feel partly responsible for recruiting the next generation. And you don’t do that
SPIRITS (the ones you drink, that is), come and go, but nothing quite tastes like your very first sip. Unfortunately, for lots of people, their first brush with great whisky wasn’t so great. An uncle hands it in a glass, you put your lips to it, and before that moment, you didn’t know that flame came in liquid form.
Diageo, the liquor giant behind such brands as Johnnie Walker, Crown Royal, J&B, and Smirnoff, among others, is trying to charm giddy, lovestruck youngsters (of legal age, of course) to fall in love with Scotch with a month- long celebration called #LoveScotch.
Love Scotch kicked off earlier this month with a whisky tasting with Diageo Global Scotch Whisky Master Ewan Gunn ( kind of young, but his three-piece suit screamed Old World). No bangs and whistles here: Mr. Gunn gave us three glasses for tasting, and it was kind of like seeing old friends: Johnnie Walker Black Label, Johnnie Walker Gold Label Reserve, and The Singleton of Glen Ord. Most of us knew what they taste like, and the experience of closely drinking it kind of gave it new life. Though some men can chug Black Label like water, if you smell and drink it slowly, it can have the odor of fresh grass, and it’s more complex with notes of smokiness, which you should bear in mind next time you’re swirling it in a glass.
The tasting on Feb. 7, at Makati Poblacion’s Oto Bar, was filled with young people, and Mr. Gunn gave them pointers for tasting. He debunked old myths such as a single malt being better than a blended scotch. “Usually, a blended Scotch will have more layers of flavor, and have a little bit of complexity, but that doesn’t mean it’s better or worse. It’s just different,” he said. Since single malts distill the spirit of one place, through its local distillery, a blended scotch is more of a trip around several regions. “One is more of a singular experience, as the name suggests; one is more of an... involved experience.”
There is, time and time again, a stereotype that drinkers of whisky are old, grizzled men; like a wealthy grandfather, perhaps. Mr. Gunn said: “It’s a stereotype we keep hearing perpetuated, and we can’t find any grounds for it.” He cites women, and men of all ages drinking whisky during the 1800s, and even during the 1920s (of course, women weren’t usually portrayed as drinkers in media from these earlier periods, as drinking women were frowned upon; and Scarlett O’ Hara, 1800s alcoholic heroine of the book written during the 1930s, had brandy as her preferred tipple).
“It’s very frustrating to us, because whisky has never been exclusionary,” he said.
According to Mr. Gunn, Diageo charms younger audiences through tastings, introductions, and education. For tastings, he talks about making exciting cocktails, because for most people, as we noted at the beginning, their first taste of whisky is usually a terrible surprise. “That’s quite a blunt introduction,” he said. As for educating people — not just about how to drink scotch (there really are no rules, according to him), there’s an introduction to the ingredient and the production. For 20- to 30-year-olds, he said: “It really matters to them, the provenance of what they’re enjoying.”
Diageo is still a leader in terms of volume, but for example, in matters such as price, brands like Dalmore have already leapfrogged over the competition (really, how can it not with a bottle of Dalmore 62 retailing at $ 250,000?). Mr. Gunn says: “We’re there to really help the world fall in love with scotch. There’s a place for very expensive whiskies, but there’s also a place for accessible, affordable whiskies as well. As the biggest scotch company in the world, we certainly feel partly responsible for recruiting the next generation. And you don’t do that by selling very, very expensive scotch.”
# LoveScotch has whisky events planned all the way until March 15, and Diageo will keep interested parties posted through its Facebook page (JohnnieWalkerPH). —