Month: September 2020

Highwayman whisky

Highwayman – A man on a horse, carrying a gun, who holds up and robs travellers on public roads.  Highwayman Whisky – an altogether different beast, as we shall see…

The “next wave” of Australian craft distilleries is washing across the nation at present, with the last six months seeing a large number of new names bring their debut releases to the market.  Most of those distilleries have taken the “traditional” route by setting up, distilling, and waiting patiently for their spirit to mature.  Others, as Whisky & Wisdom has written about previously, have adopted the strategy of purchasing spirit distilled elsewhere and then selling it under their own brand/label to establish their name whilst they wait for their own distilled spirit to mature.   They effectively operate as independent bottlers, until such time as the spirit they’ve made themselves is ready to launch.

Highwayman is one such distillery and operation.  Effectively established in 2018 by Dan Woolley, Highwayman is based in Byron Bay, adding to the rapidly growing number of distilleries in New South Wales.  Dan’s name is known to most Australian whisky enthusiasts, having worked tirelessly for many years as the brand ambassador for the Beam/Suntory portfolio in Australia, most notably with Laphroaig.    What many people weren’t aware of is that, during this time, Woolley would spend his holidays and time off working voluntarily at numerous distilleries in Scotland, the USA, Japan, and Australia, learning the art and craft of distillation.  Highwayman is thus the realisation of a long-term dream, in more ways than one. 

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The challenges of starting a new whisky brand

When new businesses are founded and launched, there are numerous financial and business models that help get the product to market.  There might be schemes to raise capital; funds assigned to support marketing and promotion; and then comes the down-and-dirty process of actually selling the goods.  It’s obviously a very diverse and varied minefield to tread.  If you’re wondering how to start a new whisky brand, or even how to start a new whisky distillery, the minefield is particularly tricky to navigate…

The whisky industry is an example of a sector where that diversity and variation is most evident:  There are brands and businesses that go large scale and are backed by investors who put up millions of pounds/dollars, and there are – quite genuinely – “mums and dads” businesses that are launched off little more than sweat and elbow grease in combination with passion to create a craft, artisan product.  And, in more recent times, there are distilleries that get established off the back of crowdfunding or barrel investment schemes – with mixed degrees of success.

William Grant and his wife
William Grant and his wife.  Were the challenges of establishing a whisky distillery and brand much different in 1887 to today?

A question often pondered is whether or not the process of getting a whisky business off the ground is easier or harder than it was in the past?   There’s a multitude of different factors and considerations.  William Grant, together with his family, spent over a year physically building Glenfiddich with his bare hands and started distilling on Christmas Day in 1887 to establish his own brand.  In contrast, if you’re armed with a website, a social media account, and access to some spirit distilled at Cooley, it seems you can quite easily launch an Irish whiskey brand overnight – complete with an impressive backstory!

In the harder basket, distilleries setting up today have planning and environmental controls that their predecessors didn’t have to worry about.  Council and municipal applications and approvals can take years to get through, and the days of casually discharging distillery effluent and by-products back into the river downstream are long behind us.

In the easier basket, as we’ve seen already, the internet and social media marketing means you can broadcast and promote your brand to a wider audience than ever for relatively little money.  Online sales via your own website mean you don’t even have to fight anymore with wholesalers or distributors to get your product on to the shelves of retail liquor outlets.   The days of Tommy Dewar hopping on a ship and spending months sailing around the globe to get sales are also well and truly behind us.

Let’s look at a few distilleries and brands from around the world that have forged very different steps in very different landscapes to see how the process unfolded….

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