Wisconsin Spirits: A Marketing Makeover
There’s an unofficial playbook at most craft distilleries. Submit the spirits for awards. Write effusive tasting notes. Speak of the ingredients in reverent tones. Pay homage to local histories and legends in the naming of the spirits. Invoke the word terroir. And so on. Indeed, a craft distillery website often leaves the impression that it employs a bearded hipster who carefully handpicks each heirloom ingredient in the morning dew.
Wisconsin distilleries are not immune to this sort of pretentiousness. In one sense, that is altogether fitting. The state has exceptional farmland and the entire local and craft movement began as a response to corporate behemoths that focused only on cost.
But at the same time, the focus on that kind of consumer feels essentially narrow. Spirits, after all, share the name with ethereal, heavenly bodies. What we drink is a product, but since we have access to a lot of high-quality products, what we buy is so often an idea.
Anyone who has been on either the Miller or Anheuser-Busch factory tours knows this is so. At Miller, after seeing essentially anodyne commercial brewing equipment, the Miller folks segue into advertising and the history of the Miller High Life Girl in the Moon. And, with Anheuser-Busch, why is a stable of Clydesdale horses maintained other than to evoke our fictional yeoman past?
Where is the magic that makes a product a must-have versus a me-too? By way of example, the Driftless Glen 5 Year Reserve Brandy and the Rehorst Gin by Great Lakes Distillery both delight the palate and will surely bring joy to aficionados. But in a crowded market are they really so different from existing offerings from major players?
In fairness, it is not clear whether all Wisconsin distilleries are even aiming for mass market success. And at times maintaining a reliable, steadily growing local business feels like a lost art — so if that is their intention, then by all means carry on. But could any Wisconsin spirit go the distance and break through into a mass, national market? Here’s three for consideration.
Door County Cherry
The sale here write itself. A pink hue vodka flavored with cherries is a proposition easily understood by even the dimmest retail consumer. Next, it’s not competing against an entrenched, category killing incumbent. For example, an offering of Irish Cream inevitably bumps against deep consumer loyalty to Baileys, but there’s no obvious incumbent for cherry flavored vodka even though there are other cherry flavored vodkas on the market. Beyond these marketing dynamics, Central Standard has delivered a smooth tasting vodka: add a touch to a Coca Cola and it’s practically just a Cherry Coke. There’s still some more marketing work, however, that remains. A more svelte version of the bottle would appeal more to female consumers (and let’s be real, they are selling a pink spirit) and including County in the name feels antiquated. Sell this as Door Vodka with notes elsewhere on the bottle that it’s cherry flavored. Midwesterners will still make the link to Door County with the shortened name and appreciate the heritage that it suggests, but a shorter name will roll off the tongue easier without the extra baggage.
Travis Hasse Apple Pie
Most apple spirits and liqueurs fail to find the right balance. It’s a category that often comes off as too sweet or too sour. The folks at Dancing Goat, however, have managed for a taste that suggests the faint tartness of an apple without veering too far into sour. Enjoyed neat, it hints at the subtle spice of a warm vin chaud at Strasbourg Christmas markets. The smell alone suggests a crisp, fall afternoon. The liqueur can also be used to provide further flavoring in an apple tarte. However, the marketing work here is substantial. Currently Dancing Goat sells their unforgettable Apple Pie liqueur in a rather forgettable, square and clear glass bottle that somewhat resembles a bottle of Jack Daniels. Although the barn wedding trend has taken a severe beating from COVID and perhaps was nearing the end of its natural life cycle, Dancing Goat should borrow from that milieu, energy and style in the marketing of this liqueur. Pictures like this, this or this evoke the more modern iteration of the Cracker Barrel aesthetic. Next, a spirit with the word Pie might struggle with health conscious, mass market consumers. Would anything be lost by calling this Rustic Apple Liqueur and perhaps selling in a bottle that evokes something like this instead of a hard liquor?
Twisted Path Chai
Flavors fall in and out of fashion and the risk here is that chai has already been steadily gaining in popularity for years. But it feels like this trend still has legs and this offering by Twisted Path will satisfy the same set who has been ordering chai tea at Starbucks. Added to milk or cream, the vodka essentially disappears under milky tea spiciness that itself will quickly disappear sip by sip. Twisted Path appears to market all of its spirts in the same bottle, a mistake common to craft distilleries. Undoubtedly the choice to do so is driven by economies of scale and a desire to present a cohesive brand image for the distillery — but is there really consumer loyalty to a distillery? Does a lover of Crown Royal seek out Kettle One because it is also made by Diageo? Maybe so, but Twisted Path’s Chai vodka deserves its own brand and name. Here, the brand should carefully borrow from chai’s Indian roots. However, avoid the Taj Mahal or other rote representations of Indian culture. First, because it opens the brand up to charges of cultural appropriation and next, because these have been used for generations in marketing Indian food in the U.S., which has had trouble emerging as a premium offering. Avoid henna as well because this brand flavor deserves a broader, less feminine appeal. Instead focus on the brand energy created by Badmaash, a premium Indian restaurant in Los Angeles with Gandhi in plastic sunglasses on the menu and big bold colors in its dining area. The opportunity for using bold colors, in fact, could really make this bottle pop on a shelf.
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Can any other Wisconsin spirits hit a home run in the national market? Tastings continue but send your suggestions via Twitter to Hunter St. James, IV.
