Premium spirits distributor Blue Caterpillar has secured a partnership with Milestone Beverages to distribute the Onikishi whisky brand in travel retail.
The new collaboration comes as Blue Caterpillar looks to underline its strength in the spirits category at the forthcoming IAADFS Summit of the Americas (Stand #1E) in West Palm Beach, Florida, 16-19 April.
Blue Caterpillar Co-founder and CEO Michael Gebrael said: “We are thrilled to add Onikishi to our portfolio of premium spirits. Japanese whisky is a rapidly growing category, and Onikishi is a perfect fit for our global travel retail customers.
“We look forward to working closely with Milestone Beverages HK to bring Onikishi to travellers around the world.”
Onikishi – which means ‘Demon Knight’ in Japanese – is born of a passion for Japan’s culture, heritage and traditions. According to brand owner Milestone Beverages, it is also fuelled by the “unstoppable demand for Japanese whisky”.
Onikishi is produced in Japan’s Hyogo Prefecture, “the birthplace of the best sake rice”, an area which features strongly in Kojiki Japanese mythology and is also renowned for its ability to produce fine beverages. The Onikishi line-up includes Demon Knight Blended and cherry blossom cask-finished Deadly Sakura. |
The company cited data from the Japan Spirits & Liqueurs Makers Association indicating that Japanese whisky production has more than doubled in the past decade, from 37.8 million litres in 2010 to 88.3 million litres in 2019, reaching 109 million litres in 2021, an increase of +23% from 2019.
“This growth will be fuelled by factors such as increasing consumer interest in premium spirits, the rising popularity of Japanese culture, and the expansion of Japanese whisky producers into new markets” – Blue Caterpillar
“This growth is being driven by increased demand for premium spirits, especially in Asia and the USA,” the company added.
Further data from the Japanese Ministry of Finance indicates that Japanese whisky exports to the US increased by 48% in 2021. “Looking ahead, the global Japanese whisky market is expected to continue its upward trajectory, with a projected compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.8% from 2020 to 2030, according to a report by Future Market Insights.
“This growth will be fuelled by factors such as increasing consumer interest in premium spirits, the rising popularity of Japanese culture, and the expansion of Japanese whisky producers into new markets,” Blue Caterpillar noted.
Milestone Beverages HK Founder & Managing Director Joe Milner commented: “We are excited to partner with Blue Caterpillar to bring Onikishi to global travel retail customers. Blue Caterpillar has an excellent reputation for quality and service, and we are confident that they will help us expand the reach of Onikishi to new customers around the world.”
During the Summit of the Americas, Blue Caterpillar will also highlight other new additions to its spirits line-up. These include Anora Group’s Koskenkorva Vodka, Nordic Spirits Lab Gin’s hybrid gin with akvavit botanicals, Distell’s Amarula Chocolate liqueur and Los Amantes Mezcal.
They will feature along with other Blue Caterpillar brand partners which include Ron Carupano rum, Revanche Cognac, Two Stacks Irish whiskey and DM Sparkling Wine.
Blue Caterpillar Co-founder and COO Christoph Henkel said spirits continue to be the distributor’s “laser sharp focus” for travel retail in the Americas.
“While we are very passionate about both the wine and spirits categories, the reality is that the vast array of regions, grapes, and vintages makes wine a much more complex category for duty free on the pure notion of the shelf space constraints that retail partners are challenged with,” he said.
“On the other hand, spirits on average carry a higher average price per bottle, thus, optimising the yield for space. Obviously, we always have our eyes wide open and ears on the ground as there are some true heroes in the wine space that will have the ability to manage a breakthrough in the channel.”
Henkel noted increased interest from retail partners to “drive discovery and premiumisation in stores”. “We have also seen faster adoption rate from our partners into new and uprising trends. Some players in the past jumped very late into the Gin Boom, and coming off the pandemic everyone is on a mission to not leave any stone unturned in their journey to surpass 2019 numbers.”
He underlined Blue Caterpillar’s aim to embrace “thriving or underrepresented categories”. “Rum is probably the best example, and Blue Caterpillar was founded on a thesis we wrote on rum as a category.
“We have seen the exponential growth of rum in domestic markets globally, and the projected CAGR is remarkable and very promising. What makes it even more compelling is the fact that rum in global travel retail is under indexed as a category, relative to others such as vodka, gin and whiskey.
“Our approach is very systematic and based on the Laws of Growth, a CPG method that has been proven overtime in many categories.”
Considering the increased interest in non or low-alcohol, Henkel said Blue Caterpillar is “taking time to further assess its right to play in the channel before we become intentional about it.
“We are of the opinion that it does not belong on duty free shelves and that it is a fad that will evaporate quickly. In domestic markets however, we believe the growth will continue and the addressable market will continue to expand.” 
