Imbibe Live – Our Best Sips

Okay. So you put a lot of people who are passionate about taste, craft and drinks in a (big) room with a lot of … well drinks. If you can’t make that into a great event, it’s time to pack up and leave the event business behind you.

Our impressions of Imbibe Live this year were really positive, not just because there were a lot of tasty treats to enjoy, and interesting people to meet and talk to, but the quality and variety was back in good form (lest we forget Gin-bibe last year).

So here are a few of our best impressions (and sips)… I hope you enjoy them as much as we did…

Not All Elephants Are Pink

Let’s start with the alcohol elephant in the room. From the oodles of reports and studies we’ve nerded our way through, we have seen a reduction in alcohol consumption amongst socially-drinking Gen Ys (Millennials) and Gen Zs – not exactly ‘new’ news. There are certainly some exceptional alcohol-free drink brands out there answering this call (yes, Drynks Unlimited, we mean you guys…#lovingyourwork).

Your first thought on this generational matter might lead to it being a rejection of alcohol, but actually digging a bit deeper it’s more an appreciation of quality over quantity. With factors like ‘variety’ ‘accessibility’ and ‘provenance’ carrying more currency than whether the drink is alcoholic or not.

Discerning behaviour like this certainly challenges the drinks industry to not only up their quality game, but also to make their brains ache in coming up with new and exciting ways to tickle our taste buds. Judging by the array at Olympia in London yesterday, it’s a challenge the industry is not only embracing, it is squeezing every drop of juicy distilled goodness out of it that it can.

A Range To Inspire Even The Most Diverse Taste Buds

Take Tiptree’s Wilkin & Sons. If ‘variety’ is the spice of Gen Y and Gen Zs taste buds, then Tiptree is certainly tipping the balance in their favour. Not content with being the purveyors of delicious marmalades and other fruity conserves, those clever Essex preservers have turned their hand to an exciting portfolio of gin and vodka liqueurs (complete with some rather delicious cocktails ideas to boot).

So delicious are the cocktail ideas they are releasing the best of the best as canned RTDs, and we were lucky enough to have a cheeky taste of them ahead of their launch later this year. In fact, their mixology talents have brought them around full circle – to some delicious cocktail based preserves (the Moscow Mule preserve is marvellous with a ginger hit that kicks like a mule of course).

However, the challenge now for Tiptree is to ensure that this great product range does not become one of the industry’s best kept secrets, because ultimately it will be consumer awareness and understanding of how they can enjoy the product that will make or break this range of delicious goodies.

An Uncompromising Approach To Broadening Appeal

When it comes to ‘commercial accessibility’, it’s not a problem you would like to think applies to our Gen Y and Gen Z cohorts. Never before have we had such a varied and plentiful supply of channels to market.

Accessibility becomes more of a challenge at the moment the drink is actually being consumed. It comes down to the consumer feeling comfortable (or brave) enough to enjoy, or even try, the product. Whisky (or whiskey depending on where you started your journey) is probably one of the most challenging categories to access. Traditionally it takes about as long nosing, sipping, rolling and tasting (ideally with a number of distillery visits thrown in to boot) as it does for the wonderful stuff to mature, before you feel fully armed to make an informed choice.

Granted that journey is not a completely arduous one, but it’s not the journey that is the barrier, it’s where to begin the journey and how to take your first sips that close off the category for many new consumers. Thankfully, it’s a barrier that those rather splendid fellows at Ian MacLeod are positively bouncing over.

My business partners and I spent a very enjoyable 15 minutes with Alan Wardrop, the UK Sales Manager of Ian MacLeod, putting a dent in their ‘Smokehead’ range – which comes in three varieties;

• Smokehead 43%. A delicious Islay single malt, with the region’s characteristic smokiness (as the name suggests), but light and smooth enough for a less seasoned palette.
• Smokehead Sherry Bomb. Again a very drinkable smoky Islay malt, but with a hint of sweetness from its sherry cask maturation.
• Smokehead High Voltage. At 48%, this is a very characterful cask strength variant of the original, but smooth enough to enjoy without adding water.

As a range, Smokehead has enough taste for a more seasoned whisky drinker like myself to enjoy, but it is also not so polarising that a less experienced drinker would be turned off by it. In fact talking to a mixologist who was visiting the stand at the same time as us, she was interested by the more simple smokey flavours – which she said was great for adding an extra layer of flavour to the cocktails she was working on (which was harder to achieve with the more complex smoky Islay whiskies).

What was particularly nice to see from Ian MacLeod, was rather than maintain the position of having to earn the right to enjoy a single malt, they had a product that not only gave a new whisky drinker a solid first step on an amazing journey of exploration, it also gave an old whisky drinker a range that could be savoured and fully enjoyed like any other great single malt.

I think the ‘Smokehead’ range is definitely one to watch as a modern and accessible whisky with the backbone and substance to stand up to the rest of the Islay malts. “Awards ahoy” I am sure.

(We also checked in on their Tamdhu and Glen Goyne whiskies, and it’s safe to say they are as good as always !)

Something In The Water

When it comes to ‘provenance’, the company that hit the mark for me was those rather modest people at The Lakes Distillery. Yes, I am originally from that lovely part of the world, and so could be accused of a bit of bias. My opinion however pales into insignificance when you take into account they not only produce the highly awarded ‘The One’ blended whisky, they also produce the World’s Best Vodka – aptly named ‘The Lakes Vodka’, (not bad for a product that was actually created as a bit of a ‘side hustle’, whilst waiting for the single malts to reach full maturity).

Historically my go-to vodka has always been Ketel One, because to me it has a lovely smooth, almost vanilla-like finish. Now I’m no connoisseur, I just know what I like, and I’m sorry Ketel One because I like this one more. Like Ketel One, The Lakes Vodka is distilled in a copper ketel, and like Ketel One it has a lovely smooth finish. Where it differs is, it’s just better (I told you I wasn’t a connoisseur). To my untrained taste buds, The Lakes Vodka has all the great qualities of Ketel One, but better. Where Ketel One scores a 9 out of 10, The Lakes Vodka scores an 11.

Now back to the single malts. This year marks the release of The Quatrefoil Collection: a collection of four rare single malts, produced from an extremely small batch and with the intention to explore the use of American, Spanish and French Oak and a distinctive sherry-led maturation style. The four bottles that make up the collection are consecutively named ‘Faith’, ‘Hope’, ‘Luck’ and ‘Love’, and will be released separately over four years, beginning with Faith in 2019. We were VERY lucky to try Faith, and it was fantastic. Very reminiscent of the Yamazaki 12 year that won best single malt in 2017 — reminiscent in the sense of an excellently crafted whisky that isn’t overly focussed on a regional trait. Granted, this could be seen as a good thing or a bad thing, depending on your perspective, or mood at the time. However, one thing’s for certain a wee (or a large) dram of ‘Faith’ improves any mood.

So what is it that makes The Lakes Distillery so good at turning out superbly crafted spirits? (Their gin is rather tasty too!) The climate and geography is not too dissimilar to Scotland — which, as we all know, is ‘ideal’ for making great whisky. There is an abundant supply of water that’s good enough to bottle (a suggestion was made). A meticulous attention to detail when it comes to the process (as Alex the Regional Sales Manager informed us, Dhavall Ghandi, the Master Distiller is very hands-on and involved from the bottom-up with every stage in the process).

However, if £900 for the The Quatrefoil Collection is a little out of your price range fear not because we also got our eager hands, and delighted tastebuds, on their new whisky blend ‘Steel Bonnets’. Steel Bonnets is a beautiful marriage of Scottish and English malts with a great palate and really nice warm finish that genuinely brought back memories of sitting by a fire back home while the winter rain battered down the fells. The only problem I can see for The Lakes Distillery team, and it’s a nice problem to have, is being spoilt for choice. They have an abundance of really good products to take to market and there is a danger that some of their less recent successes are eclipsed by more current ones.

From talking to Alex, Lakes very much have a focus on developing their whisky presence in both the on- and off-trade, which is completely understandable. However, they have other products that are more suited to other circumstances where whisky may not be as relevant, like The Lakes Vodka. This is when a simple strategy like the one devised by Ketel One really pays dividends. In other words, get the best bar staff and mixologists in the world to serve your vodka and arm them with the brand stories that excite and inform their customers’ purchase decisions in the off-trade. I can’t think of a better brand story than that of award-winning British vodka to accompany a great British martini.

This not only opens up channels for The Lakes Distillery — that may not be as suitable for their whisky — but also establishes their provenance as a truly great distiller of very fine spirits (of which whisky is one).

Still Some Room For Cool Stuff

Whilst we know our market is looking for ‘variety’ ‘accessibility’ and ‘provenance’, we all (Gen Z and Gen Y included) like something new that makes us smile. We know ‘innovation’ in the industry rejuvenates a tired product curve. This is not about an ‘exciting’ new can, or a bottle with a temperature gauge on it, or even a taste variant made from something ‘unexpected’. We were looking for things that were a more innovative take on the category, something that intrigued or made us smile — and we found two.

Danish Genius

The first one was Nohrlund, who are a rather clever Danish company founded in 2014 by two rather talented mixologists with an uncompromising attitude to ingredients, and a love of creating their own cocktails. So together with a few friends they have been storming the Danish drinks market, with a range of pre-mixed cocktails.

So…what’s new about pre-mixed RTD cocktails? Which to be fair was a question we had for one of the founders, Søren Aamand. First of all, it can be served draft from a tap. Secondly, unlike a lot of pre-mixed cocktails, the recipes are of their own making and unique to Nohrlund. Thirdly, and most interestingly, they approach cocktail production like a microbrewer. In other words, if they have an idea for something they think will work — they make a batch of it, give it a name and wing it out to a very receptive and loyal audience.

This became apparent when I put the age-old Pimms problem to Søren “this is great in summer, but what happens when it’s winter?” Søren looked at me with the polite sympathy you reserve for the person who asked the dimmest question in the room, and with perfect honesty and disarming charm said that “unlike Pimm’s which relies on a single, well-known recipe, Nohrlund had the benefit of changing their recipes whenever they wanted to, and could easily react to different seasons with more appropriate ingredients e.g. red berries spices for winter…or anything else that inspires us.”

It took some Danish common sense and confidence to answer a question in seconds, that it took Pimms to answer in years! Tippling in at around 8% (your typical bar cocktail ranges in at between 10–15%), and served in long-drink size glasses it’s certainly a drink you can happily enjoy over a day or night (or both). With a product range only limited by the imagination and ingenuity of its creators, the only issue you’re likely to encounter is missing out on a flavour you wish you hadn’t.

Probably the best cocktails in the world? Possibly, but I am sure they won’t need to launch any ad campaigns apologising for the taste any time soon.

Magical Mythical Fun… Tastes Good

The second innovative brand, and probably the most fun we encountered at the event, was a range of rather delightful tears harvested from a range of mythical beasts. Worry not, Jenni Day, Head of Trade Sales for Unicorn Tears assured us no animals — mythical or otherwise — were harmed in this experience — apparently, they only “harvest tears of joy”.

With any ethical concerns allayed we got stuck into a really fun range of spirits — well what would you expect with super-cool, fun gift company Firebox behind them. We tried the ‘Tears (of joy)’ range which comes in 7 flavours of different tears:

• Dragon Tears — Whisky with cinnamon
• Phoenix Tears — Spiced rum
• Unicorn Tears — Original white variant is a Gin Liqueur, and the pink variant is with raspberry (there is also a black variant with blackberry, but we didn’t get out sticky mitts on that one)
• Pixie Tears — Elderflower and cucumber gin
• Mermaid Tears — Blue tinged vodka
• You can tell that they are all actually magical because when you give the bottle a shake they all shimmer and sparkle in their own unique way.

Okay, fun aside (as we know drinking isn’t all about fun, it’s very serious business…naturally). How did they taste? Personally I loved the Phoenix Tears, which was dangerously enjoyable and very easy to drink. In fact, they were all really nice tasting drinks, as well as good fun — granted I’m not holding out for ‘Dragon Tears’ winning the high-brow whisky awards, but as we’ve seen sometimes, it’s just nice to drink something that is different, tastes great and doesn’t take itself too seriously.

I think, if Firebox want to get any significant volume from their Mythical Tears range, crossing the threshold from “quirky/fun one-off gift” to “regular purchase” will be the first challenge that comes to mind. However, not an insurmountable one. The trick will be to create some unique and ownable drinking occasions and recipes — whether that is a ‘Dragon-bomb’ or a ‘Mermaid-martini’ — it gives the drinking public more reasons to buy, and also arms them with something to inspire and excite the on-trade.

The End Bit … (Phew)

In summary, I would say, yes, drinking with the intent of consuming alcohol is on the decline. However that is not driven by a rejection of alcohol. It is more that the alcohol content is no longer the priority, instead greater weighting is placed on pleasurable and interesting taste experiences.

Younger consumers (particularly Gen Z) have been heavily shaped by the effects of the 2008 crash, not just in terms of social values, but also in terms of the importance of getting good value for money. What’s more, like many consumers, they understand that ‘quality’ is as important (if not more so) as ‘price’ in the ‘value equation’.

Couple these two elements together, ‘lower volume consumption’ and a ‘willingness to pay for quality’ and we start to get a clearer picture of what is driving the shift in drinking habits.

This obviously has significant implications for mass produced stock alcoholic drinks, but is also a very positive trend for smaller independent brands offering something new and interesting, and who have a story to tell.

And if what we saw at Imbibe Live this year is anything to go by our consumers will not be disappointed!