Scotch, Superstars and Sales, Redefining Luxury Whisky

Can “quiet luxury” find a place in the premium whisky market, currently dominated by opulent packaging and high-profile brand collaborations?
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Could House of Hazelwood’s quieter approach to luxury branding show an alternative to the whisky industry’s trend of loud, extravagant releases? Photo: House Of Hazelwood

The premium whisky industry is dominated by car brand collabs, high impact graphics and outlandish packaging. It is arguable that the oldest whisky in the world, released by Macallan earlier this year, should speak for itself, however it was launched in a spaceship style decanter that can’t pour without a special contraption. In a landscape of ever expanding collaborations and increasing excess, can a “quiet luxury” model work? And is anyone trying.

What Is Quiet Luxury?

Today luxury is a statement that is thrown around quite easily. However historically luxury was a statement of wealth and by extension a declaration of belonging with the upper echelons of society. The idea of quiet luxury is that you still get the experience of luxury, but it removes the (obvious) statement that the item was expensive. Importantly it keeps the other trimmings of luxury, plus the price tag. Interestingly it’s also evolved into a kind of secret club of luxury, so that recognising it is a statement in itself.

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The true luxury whisky market is still relatively young in comparison to the likes of fashion. The rise of single malt scotch as a premium/luxury good has happened over the last forty years, and as such is still almost completely brand driven.

I’ve lost count of the collab announcements I’ve had sent to me this year. Many are incredible and interesting. But whether it’s artist collaborations, whiskies with premium car logos or global music superstars launching their own whisky; wherever you look you can see brands from countless sectors. These collaborations are largely there as endorsements, designed to act as a statement of quality, and often by extension, wealth.

Addicted To The Details Of Scotch

The balance with quiet luxury is to drop the branding but keep the other core trappings of luxury. I’ll preface this by saying that as far as I can see, no one in the whisky market, whether distillery or independent bottler, is fully going down the “quiet” route. However there are a few brands moving in this direction.

For high profile scotch distilleries, Springbank is perhaps the closest example you’ll find. They are determinedly small and, by the standards of the scotch industry, understated. All their labels are a bit too busy to be classed as fully quiet—more on that in a moment. But they are quiet in different ways. They are focused on a “drinkers first” rhetoric, even their core releases are limited edition by the nature of their small output and their branding is very traditional. Even though Springbank whiskies are some of the most collectable in the world, I’m certain you won’t see a TIME:SPACE style release from them for their 200th anniversary in 2028.

Of their releases the Springbank Cage bottlings and are about as subtle as you can get for an officially bottled single malt scotch whisky. Introduced in 2011 they are hand selected by the Springbank production team headed by Findlay Ross. I emailed Springbank about this iconic series and David Allen, Director of Sales and Marketing at Springbank, explained how Ross and the team “will select casks they think offer something different to our standard core range.”

The labels for the Cage bottlings are far from what you might expect from a distillery exclusive release. They are almost indistinguishable from the labels you received if you’re fortunate enough to own a full cask of Springbank and request a sample. That’s because they started out as exactly that; cask samples.

“These used to be single bottle samples from casks, with the same cask returned to every so often,” Allen said. Just like a trade sample the specific details of each release are hand written on a white rectangular label, the fields in red. And each release is recorded in a handwritten ledger.

The label for the Springbank Cage bottlings looks like a sample label because that’s what the release originally was; single bottle samples from specially selected casks. Photo: Mark Littler Ltd

There are no official logos on the bottles themselves. The only visible distinguishing factor is the small neck tag reading “Campbeltown Malts”. But it is the intangible that adds value to these; the experience of purchasing one. Allen explains that is what they were created for; “They were to offer those who made the long journey to Campbeltown something unique that could only be purchased from us.”

If you buy one of these direct from Springbank typical prices are a very reasonable $85 to $130 (£65 to £100). The price emphasizes the reality that these are far from being pushed as a luxury bottle—which I understand is exactly Springbank’s intention. The bells and whistles branding has been removed to try and keep the price down, not push it up. Which moves us further away from a true “quiet luxury” model.

Busy Whisky Labels

Scotch, and the global whisky/whiskey market to be honest, is a heritage market. The default setting seems to be to stick with what has always been done. And that is to give as much information as possible to the consumer.

The sheer quantity of information on labels is where I feel scotch—and whiskey in general—will struggle with the full potential of quiet branding. Whether it’s bourbon or scotch whisky, labels are often busy. Next time you’re browsing your favorite whisky shop, take a moment to consider the labels. They will be almost universally filled with small writing, signatures, multiple dates and numbers. 

There are a handful of other brands I feel may be moving in a different direction. As a category Independent bottlers are forced away from using a distillery name as their main branding. They must rely on their customer base trusting them to select the best whiskies.

Independent Bottlers And Quieter Luxury

House of Hazelwood bottle premium blends from the private cask collection of The Gordon family. The nature of blends means stepping away from the renown of distilleries and an emphasis on establishing a distinctive brand of their own. This is something House of Hazelwood have done through a series of exceptional, high age-statement blends. I contacted them to find out more about why they chose to work with premium blends and the challenges that brings.

The pared back design from House Of Hazelwood offers a step towards a more subtle style of branding for scotch whisky. Photo: House of Hazelwood

Jonathan Gibson, director at House of Hazelwood explained over email, “The biggest challenge is picking our way through the inventory to bring together a collection that is at once diverse and yet that carries an identity of its own. When we do this, we set out to ensure that the whiskies we present today reflect the family and individuals that laid the original stocks down all those years ago—their mindset, their character, their ambitions. These all need to shine through in the releases we make available.”

The Last Drop is another independent bottler I contacted because of their emphasis on quality over quantity. “We describe ourselves as ‘Curators (and Creators) of The World’s Most Remarkable Spirits;’ that sets quite a high bar for us in deciding what to bottle,” Rebecca Jago, Managing Director at The Last Drop, said over email. “No one criterion is enough: age, rarity, and deliciousness all play their part, along with a compelling story. But ultimately it’s a combination of all of those, plus a certain elusive quality that will set the spirit apart.”

Ultimately for both independent bottlers it is this combination of criteria—quality alongside rarity and a story—that makes their releases more than the sum of their parts. For both brands their bottles are luxuriously styled to match the rarity of the spirit they create. They are arguably paired back. Yet I’d say they are still not quiet because each label beautifully—and in great detail—tells the story of the precious whisky it holds. Ultimately they still adhere to the classic trap that premium spirits cannot seem to escape: a plethora of detail across every label.

A Step Toward Quiet?

Currently we’re still a way from true quiet branding within the whisky market—scotch or global. Probably brands like Macallan don’t need to care; they are concentrating on building and maintaining a global luxury brand and if you don’t go down the quiet route, then loud is good. For others however I’d argue that “understated” could be a growing solution.

Independent bottlers in particular, where the distillery names cannot be the main focus of their label and marketing, need to look for different avenues to distinguish themselves. This is where quiet—or at least quieter—branding can come in.

The Last Drop focus on quality and storied releases rather than quantity. Photo: The Last Drop

A New Approach For A New Audience

I embrace Beyoncé’s SirDavis whiskey for what it represents in terms of bringing whisky/whiskey to audiences that may traditionally feel excluded from the drink. I think the marketing is impeccable and the price on point. What I think is also interesting when you look at the industry through a quiet branding lens is; if you didn’t know it was Beyoncé’s whiskey, how would you know?

If you line SirDavis up against other recent or historic releases, then you will see a big difference. It may be a fancy bottle but it is paired back in terms of the details. It’s not shouting what it is. In an increasingly saturated global whiskey/whisky market it is time to step away from car collaborations and search for a new look? Has Beyoncé shown us how?

The original version of this article was written by me for Forbes.com

Mark Littler

Mark Littler is the owner and editor in chief of the Whiskey Wash. He is also the owner of Mark Littler LTD, a prominent whisky and antiques brokerage service in the United Kingdom. Mark is a well known voice in the whisky industry and has a regular column at Forbes.com and has a popular YouTube channel devoted to everything whisky.

Mark completed the purchase of The Whiskey Wash in late 2023.

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