by Smoke | Aug 26, 2015 | 2015 Event, Blog, Brand Management, Brands & Distribution, New Products - Brands, Taliera
I’m very excited to announce our new brand – Beach Whiskey. More to come…
Cheers, Smoke

BEACH WHISKEYâ„¢ INVITES YOU TO YOUR PLACE IN THE SUNâ„¢
Brand new whiskey says, “life’s a beach†in the super-premium segment
Los Angeles, CA (August 27, 2015) … The Ultimate Beach Party has begun! Beach Whiskey™, a meticulously crafted super-premium American whiskey is set to launch this fall.
“Over the last decade, the spirits industry has seen significant growth in both market size and share,†said J. Smoke Wallin, co-founder and CEO of Beach Whiskey and CEO of Taliera, a brand incubator and global sales, marketing and distribution agent. “At the same time, global fascination with American whiskeys and the explosive growth of flavors in the category means the time is right for a new brand like Beach Whiskey.â€
Beach Whiskey (SRP $27.99, 750ml) is carefully crafted in the United States from corn at partner distilleries to produce a clean and crisp base, before filtering and blending to exact specifications. The team at Beach Whiskey spent much of the past year tasting whiskeys and flavors and testing those profiles with consumers and trade experts to perfect the recipes and final product.
At launch, the Beach Whiskey portfolio includes Original (40% ABV / 80 proof), Bonfire Cinnamonâ„¢ (35% ABV / 70 proof), and Island Coconutâ„¢ (26% ABV / 52 proof).
Beach Whiskey celebrates the beach life and all that comes with it… parties, sports, relaxing, good music, and having fun. Even the packaging – an etched label on an embossed sea glass bottle – is designed to evoke the spirit of the beach life and it’s a love of the beach that brought the Beach Whiskey creators together. In addition to Wallin, founding investors of Beach Whiskey include TV and radio personality Billy Bush, and entrepreneurs Andrew McGinnis and Kenny Dichter.
Wallin, a native of Longboat Key, Florida, said while growing up he spent all his free time either at the beach or in and around the water. “Because we all love the beach, we also share the responsibility for protecting it. Beach Whiskey believes in preserving the world’s water and beaches, and by promoting the beach lifestyle, we hope to raise people’s awareness of this precious natural resource.â€
Andrew “McG†McGinnis, co-founder and SoCal native, is an avid surfer, waterman and beach volleyball player, who grew up playing beach sports and living the beach life in Santa Monica, Malibu and on Lake Tahoe. “Beach Whiskey is about combining my love of whiskey with my love of the beach,†said McGinnis. “It’s about creating a fun and delicious whiskey that can be enjoyed at a daytime beach party or by a bonfire at night.â€
Beach Whiskey will be featured at the Hospitality Executive Exchange (HEE), a gathering of food and beverage industry leaders, at the beach on Amelia Island, FL (August 29-September 2) where Bush will be giving the keynote. “I love the idea of combining fine whiskey with the beach life,†said Bush. “Beach Whiskey provides the right mix of fun with great flavors. I’m excited to be a part of this ground-breaking brand!â€

ACCESS HOLLYWOOD — Season: 2014 — Pictured: Billy Bush — (Photo by: Chris Haston/NBC)
“We are absolutely thrilled to be the first conference to introduce Beach Whiskey to the Hospitality Industry, and having Billy Bush as our welcome keynote speaker is the icing on the cake,†said Jen Robinson, CEO/Duchess of The Pineapple Group LLC, which owns and manages HEE. “Beach Whiskey is definitely a brand that we want as a long-term partner, and where better to showcase it than at the beach.”
Simply delicious and smooth, Beach Whiskey cuts across traditional beverage categories and appeals not only to whiskey aficionados but also to anyone who loves a great cocktail and a fun time in the sun. “Beach Whiskey is exceptional!†said Kendall Lockwood, Indianapolis Craft Mixologist and GM of the Ball & Biscuit, who created signature cocktails for the brand. “It is wildly versatile – great straight, on the rocks or blends beautifully with a variety of flavor profiles in cocktails.â€
Michael Tolley, CCO/Beverage By Design agreed. “As a seasoned beverage trainer, bar consultant, and a drink recipe developer, there is nothing I enjoy more than a spirit in the raw! Beach Whiskey is one that can stand on its own, conceived in an era of craft, not misery. A spirit of today, for today… Beach Whiskey! I’ll have mine on the rocks.â€
Beach Whiskey will be initially available in Southern California and Florida, with a selective rollout planned in major markets during early 2016.
About Beach Whiskeyâ„¢
Beach Whiskey was founded in 2015 by entrepreneurs who are leaders in the beverage, entertainment, lifestyle and business services industries. Beach Whiskey is an American whiskey made for sun worshiping, moon chasing, fun seekers. A whiskey for the wise and the whimsical. A whiskey for those drawn to the water, the waves, who welcome a little wickedness. Beach Whiskey is about time…… your time, our time, our whiskey! Born on the beach, enjoyed everywhere. No matter where you are, our mission is to bring the beach – “your place in the sun†– to thirsty, fun-loving whiskey drinkers everywhere. Please sip and swim responsibly!
Media samples and hi-res images are available upon request.
Contact Laura Peet, PeetCom, Inc., lbptalk@aol.com, (917) 860-6285.
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by Smoke | Mar 9, 2015 | Blog, Brands & Distribution, Distributors, Law and Policy
Last week I wrote about Channel Conflict in the 3 tier system of alcohol distribution between wholesalers and Anheuser-Busch Inbev and the craft community. I received quite a few interesting comments from my friends on both sides of the issue.  One highly respected industry member commented to me “Very nice job trying to ride the third rail of these issues and explain a complex issue in simple terms.â€
Well here goes again with an issue that I get asked about frequently. Another interesting channel conflict is between and among the members of the retail tier. This channel conflict involves questions regarding who (what types of retailers) can sell which types of beverage alcohol and when alcohol can be sold (e.g. Grocery Sales of beer spirits and wine and Sunday Sales). These questions are raging across the country in different states. The conflict pits independent liquor stores (and specialty chain liquor stores depending on the state) against the corporate chains (Costco, Kroger, Publix, Target, Walmart etc). An example of this is the Sunday sales of alcohol at retail in Indiana. After passing out of committee with a “poison pill change†Sunday sales was killed in the Indiana legislature. Sunday Alcohol Sales Meet Familiar Fate.
 
In a closely related question pertaining to which type of retailer can sell which products, in 2014 Tennessee passed a law allowing grocery stores to sell not only beer, which they already could sell, but also wine. Wine in grocery stores passes; what’s next?
In Florida, Walmart and others are pushing legislation for the right to sell spirits within the same store as groceries and not be required to have a separate stand-alone entrance. Publix, another grocer, does not support the change since they already have stand-alone entrances throughout the state. Beer and wine are treated differently in Florida and groceries are able to sell inside a grocery store. Publix opposes, Walmart backs Florida bill to let grocers sell liquor. Update – More Here: Florida: Spirited Battle Ahead over Florida’s Liquor Separation Law
3/23 Update: Beer bill on tap in Florida House on Tuesday

In some cases, these fights are spilling over into the courts and not just the legislatures. Walmart lawsuit highlights Texas’ surprising alcohol laws. In the case of Texas and Walmart’s litigation, it is about their right to sell products that the specialty retailers currently have a lock on and have created work-arounds for ownership of large-scale chains. UPDATE:
The reality is there are so many new brands, it is hard to keep up with them all, for people in the industry, let alone consumers. This proliferation of new brands is driven by today’s consumer thirst for new things, literally. Generally speaking, I believe more open markets are better for consumers, but taken to extreme can cause massive consolidation and the independent specialty liquor shops and specialty chains find themselves at a significant disadvantage to the corporate chains. Markets like California and Arizona are examples of wide-open sales of beer, spirits and wine. This has been the case for a long time. In these markets the corporate chains dominate the retail landscape. The independent sector is a much smaller portion of the total business. The large specialty chains have also been very successful in these markets (Bevmo! and Total Wine & More).

The relative advantage of full line retailers (grocery) is what is driving the fights over Sunday sales. Liquor stores are not open on Sundays, but the grocery chains are. The groceries of course want to be able to sell alcohol, as they are open, fully staffed and have consumers in their stores who would like to purchase it. The liquor stores would have to man their stores with staff and the thinking among many is the incremental sales on Sunday will simply come out of sales during the week they would get anyway. Their worse fear is that the groceries will end up with a greater share of the incremental business with so many consumers already shopping in their stores on Sunday. The package stores won the recent Indiana fight by taking a quite reasonable position – that all retailers should be under the same sets of laws. In the end, the groceries could not support losing the significant freedoms they currently have just to get Sunday sales.

To people (consumers) who live in both more “open†or “closed†states, these fights seem strange indeed.  There has been a long-term trend to more liberalization of alcohol laws on a state-by-state basis. But this liberalization has been gradual and certainly not continuous. As the large grocery/mass retailers have shifted their attention to gaining share of the increasingly important beverage alcohol market and Total Wine continuing their massive expansion around the country, the independent sector will continue to be under pressure and where organized, able to continue to slow the pace of change through state legislatures and regulations. That said, the most strategic of the independents and specialty chains are innovating and investing
in their ability to serve their customers and compete effectively with the other retail sectors. Walmart and most other full service retailers will never have the specialized staff that a focused specialty retailer of alcohol can have (There are exceptions on a store level, but this is true overall). This high level of knowledge and service with customers is what will keep consumers coming back. I think the bigger fear is a large specialty retailer (Total Wine) that has it all – scale ($1.5 million in alcohol sales) and low pricing, product depth (10,000 skus typically) and highly knowledgeable employees. They are very strong.

The wholesalers and most of the suppliers all try to stay out of these arguments, since both sets of retailers are their customers. DISCUS (Distilled Spirits Council Of The United States) though has a long-standing policy to fight against anything that disadvantages spirits to other types of alcohol. They have been quite effective on this front in many markets. The craft (beer, spirits and wine) producers definitely benefit from a thriving independent market as they get more opportunities for their smaller or new brands than in the corporate chains, but they also benefit by having a more open market with multiple channels for consumers to buy alcohol. It’s a tough balance to maintain with many competing interests, but in the end the market will drive it, albeit more slowly than many consumers want with the local legislation and regulations market by market.
I’d love to hear you thoughts on these issues and other examples in your state.
Cheers,
Smoke
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