The Moodie Davitt Report was invited as the sole representative of the travel retail media to a remarkable spirits tasting event hosted recently by Bacardi in Paris.
The event gathered together the Master Blenders and Master Distillers from across the company’s brand portfolio, offering guests the opportunity for personal tastings, guided by the experts responsible for the liquid in each bottle. John Matheson reports on location from Paris.
Hosted at one of the city’s leading bars, Loft du Pianiste brought together Masters from across the Bacardi drinks portfolio, including rum, whisky, tequila, gin, vodka, Bourbon and Cognac. During a remarkable evening event some of the world’s most respected spirits makers shared their insight and experience to media and VIP guests.
The event was just one element of what has become an annual five-day internal conference of Bacardi’s experts from across the world, enabling them to share ideas, inspiration and innovation.
Bacardi Global R&D Director Guillaume Dock said: “This event is not only expressing the great diversity of the premium quality spirits we’re selling all over the globe but also our intense focus on the origin of the product. Whether we’re talking about Scotch, gin, tequila, rum or any other category in our portfolio, what makes all these brands so special is the craftsmanship, the savoir faire of our Master Blenders, which ensures the continuing and consistent quality across all our products.
“This evening presents a unique opportunity to meet all of our Master Blenders in one place and this invited audience is lucky to have the opportunity to interact with over a dozen Masters who are leading their categories.”
Meet the Masters….
Each of the Bacardi Masters shared their category perspective, emphasising quality and innovation as the key drivers for their brand. Here we feature their thoughts on their brands and categories.
Maestro de Ron Juan Pinera: “I have been working for Bacardi for 33 years but the most important aspect for me, as Maestro de Ron, is that it demonstrates that I have the confidence of the Bacardi family. The environment that we work in is always professional but also happy and relaxed.
“In our work at Bacardi we have three key pillars to uphold. The first is safety for our ‘primos’ – the Spanish word for ‘cousin’ – which is what we call all the people who work in Bacardi. They’re like cousins and this company is like a family. The most important issue is their safety. The second thing is environment; we must care for the environment and reduce the impact that we have on the planet.
“Last but not least, a key responsibility of my role is to maintain quality. If you drink Bacardi Carta Blanca or Bacardi Gold in any part of the world, you always will find exactly the same profile, and that is the single most important thing for me as a blender. We also ensure that we maintain that quality when we develop new products to meet consumer needs and reach new markets.”
The vodka visionary…
Francois Thibault, Creator of Grey Goose vodka, emphasised how consistency of quality is the backbone of the brand’s growth. He said: “When we launched Grey Goose in 1997 the goal was to create a glamorous, stylish vodka of the highest quality with a careful focus on every aspect of the production process, no matter how small.
“The key characteristic that differentiates Grey Goose and drives its originality is that it was a personal inspiration, my own creation, in wanting to create a vodka unlike anything on the market. In fact, until Grey Goose was launched, this level of premium quality in vodka simply did not exist. The second characteristic is that it is ‘made to measure’ from the field to the bottle, taking a meticulous quality approach that is perhaps comparable to that of haute couture.
“The image and quality of Grey Goose has been carefully maintained from the day it launched to today and, as the leader, it is a brand that is always being followed. Although others try to copy, they simply cannot match the quality and image of the brand. It’s a little like when I cook at home, I try to replicate the dishes of the world’s top chefs – but it never really works, of course. We maintain that focus and, now in our 21st year, we ensure that the image, quality and taste of Grey Goose are always consistent, matching the creation that we first presented to the world in 1997.”
Scotch innovator…
Stephanie Macleod, Master Blender at Dewar’s, explained how innovation works for the Scotch portfolio. “Innovation is more important than ever but you’ve always got to ensure that, when you’re developing a new product, it is for a specific market need. It’s never driven by the marketing department or a marketing angle; it’s always got to be driven by a passion to create something that our consumers will actually love to drink. I make Scotch for people who love to drink whisky and appreciate great flavour.
“We’re always ready to assess and recognise that consumer needs change, especially in the emerging markets where there are such exciting, vibrant segments that are constantly evolving and, as we’ve seen in the response to our previous launches, these consumers have such an enthusiastic interest in Scotch whisky.”
The Masters representing the key Bacardi brands: Scotch whisky: John Dewar & Sons Master Blender Stephanie Macleod Source: Bacardi |
Macleod also offered an update on the development of the Exceptional Cask Series, a travel retail-exclusive collection of rare, aged single malt bottlings selected from the distilleries for Aberfeldy, Aultmore, Craigellachie, Royal Brackla and Glen Deveron. These comprise a limited number of single cask, double cask and small batch releases.
“Creating the Exceptional Cask Series is an exciting but very time-consuming creative process that begins with me looking at our inventory and identifying pockets of stock that I think look interesting or spark an idea. I then get the guys in the warehouses to bring those casks out, open them up and I sample them. As such, it’s a very time-consuming process. Age is a hugely important factor to us but we can’t just rely on it being a great whisky simply because it’s been in that cask for 30 years.
“The age statement is so important to us and to the customer, especially for a single malt, and we make sure that we can always put an age statement on our products. If that means that we can’t release as much as we’d like to then that’s just how it is. We must always remain true to our heritage.
“We’re certainly looking to make further launches in the Exceptional Cask Series next year but we’re determined to make sure that we’re releasing absolute gems. We’ll never release something simply for the sake of having something new. Travel retail is a fantastic opportunity for the whisky industry because the whole world is concentrated in some wonderful retail settings and we have to take advantage of that unique opportunity.”
Francisco Alcaraz, the Master of Tequila: learning from other Masters
Bacardi’s recent completion of the takeover of Patrón not only added the world’s leading tequila brand to the range, it also brought in the expertise of industry legend Francisco Alcaraz, Maestro Tequilero and the original creator of the tequila recipe.
“I left university as a chemical engineer and my career actually began in 1968 as one of Mexico’s first tequila inspectors. In 1989 we started producing Patrón with 34 staff; now we have 1,600. So I’ve seen many changes but we also fully maintain our quality and traditions.
“Patrón is an artisanal tequila, so all the processes are still done by hand. In fact, we always say that 60 pairs of hands take each bottle from beginning to end. That’s why we have so many people working with us, from harvesting the agave to the hand-written labels on the bottles and applying the labels to the bottles.
“We now have more than 17 different products and I developed them all, so you can imagine how diverse my work is. I still have to learn though, so I participate in seminars to learn and acquire more knowledge. Now I’m blessed with working with all these remarkable Masters from the Bacardi portfolio, learning from them in many different areas and ways.
“I’m especially fascinated by the work of the Bombay Sapphire Master Distiller Dr. Anne Brock and the crucial input of Ivano Tonutti, Master of Botanicals at Bombay Sapphire. It is so interesting to learn from Ivano, one of the world’s leading herbalists, and Anne’s focus on quality across all processes of production is fascinating.
“We have such a strong spirit of innovation across Bacardi and, when working on new products, I think it would be very interesting to learn from a herbalist and I’m always keen to learn more about the different processes like fermentation and distillation used across the Bacardi portfolio.”
Gin – everybody’s favourite?
When each Master was asked a fun question about which of the other Masters’ roles they would most like to assume for a day, the most popular choice was the gin category. Dr. Anne Brock, Master Distiller at Bombay Sapphire, understands the passion that her category arouses. “I think the great thing about gin is that it’s such an incredibly innovative and vibrant landscape right now. You see so many styles and brands and different production methods and botanicals being used across the industry. In a company like Bombay Sapphire which has access to a unique range of the world’s botanicals, we can really push that forward.
“What I love about the category is the scale of innovation and how people are being creative, even at home. For example, my mum used to make a simple gin and tonic but the versatility of Bombay Sapphire gives people like her the confidence to be so much more creative.
“That’s one of the reasons why our consumer messaging for Bombay Sapphire has evolved from last year’s ‘the perfect gin and tonic’ to ‘Stir Creativity’, reflecting the increased interest in gin and the fact that we know with Bombay Sapphire that we have a truly versatile gin. It’s something that is vibrant, it’s balanced, it’s bright and I can’t think of a single gin cocktail that Bombay Sapphire doesn’t make superbly well. That versatility inspires people at home as well as professional mixologists and bartenders to be more creative and that’s helping the gin category to reach all age groups and consumer profiles.
“I don’t often buy spirits in airports but I have a friend who is a bit of a whisky collector and if there’s a particular whisky he’s looking for I’ll keep an eye out for it in duty free. But I must admit that one thing I did do when I first started working for Bombay Sapphire was to look and see what’s in the duty free stores. When there was a stunning shelf with the unmistakable Bombay Sapphire blue bottles I wouldn’t be able to resist taking the odd selfie in front of them and feel very proud of my brand!”
Bacardi – a family spirit
Andy Del Rosal, Vice President Liquid Innovation & Quality, Bacardi, closed the event and explained the company’s focus on its Masters: “I’m actually a sixth generation Bacardi family member and, as Juan emphasised earlier, the family spirit is obviously a crucial driver in this company. But I told our Masters, the closest thing to family that you can be in this company is to be a Master Blender. It’s quite simply the single most important job in the whole company.
“These are the experts who safeguard the quality, the consistency and the secrets that have been held for generation after generation in our company. We’ve organised this conference so that we could get all of them together to share their experience with each other. It’s very important for us because we want to form a real Bacardi community where we can share their skills and expertise and become even more of a family.”
