Rockland Distilleries will highlight two artisan brands, Ceylon Arrack and Colombo Gin No.7, at next month’s TFWA Asia Pacific Exhibition in Singapore (Booth: B2 A11).
The Sri Lankan company believes its brands match the growing trend for craft spirits and are tailor-made for travel retail.
Rockland Distilleries began on a family estate in 1924 with the aim of producing high quality arrack. It remains a family-owned business and is regarded as one of the most advanced distilleries in the country.
Rockland Distilleries Managing Director Amal Wijeyeratne said: “Ceylon Arrack is a craft spirit that other spirits brands will struggle to match for price, packaging, provenance and historical relevance, especially given that the ‘coconut craze’ is one of the strongest and sustained trends in the world at the moment.”
Distilled from the sap of the coconut flower and aged in Halmilla wood barrels, Ceylon Arrack is described as medium-light bodied, with floral and citrus notes and a hint of coconut and honey.
At TFWA Asia Pacific Rockland Distilleries will highlight a travel retail-exclusive Ceylon Arrack pack which includes a mug and a copy of The Adventure of Arrack, detailing the company’s development. Sales of the pack support a local project to rescue baby elephants.
Colombo No.7 Gin, described as a “distinctly Sri Lankan take on a London dry gin”, is handcrafted in small batches using copper pot stills. It is made from a blend of seven different botanicals including juniper, coriander seeds, angelica, liquorice root, Sri Lankan cinnamon bark, curry leaves and ginger root.
Its label features the ancient Gajasingha logo with the head of an elephant and the body of a lion. According to the distillery, this symbolises the wisdom to pioneer the first gin to be manufactured in the Indian subcontinent when the island of Ceylon was still under UK government and the courage to use ingredients that “were not the norm”.
Commenting on the development of craft spirits in travel retail, Wijeyeratne said: “Craft spirits in all categories have shown remarkable growth and consumer demand in all parts of the world and yet the big travel retailers seem to have missed this trend.
“To this date, there are virtually no craft spirits brands available in duty free shops across the world. Rather unusual, when that is exactly what consumers want and especially when craft spirits, through their price positioning, will offer travel retailers both top and bottom line growth.
“Instead travel retailers seem to try and fill this need with special limited-edition offers with the same brands that they have been selling for the past 30 years. Limited edition or not, that seems a bit out of date, and not well matched with what consumers want.”
Wijeyeratne said millennials tended to opt out of mass-produced brands and were not looking for discounts: “They just want great brands with provenance, excellence and integrity and craft spirits perfectly fulfil that demand”.
Rockland Distilleries rates travel retail as one of its most successful channels and its spirits are available onboard Sri Lankan Airlines and in selected Sri Lankan duty free stores.
Development plans for the next two years focus on the UK, French and German markets, with increased interest in Singapore and Malaysia. Japan, Australia and the US domestic markets are also earmarked for expansion.
