Black to the future for Famous Grouse as Edrington challenges Islay malts

Published on Sunday 19 August 2007 00:17

EDRINGTON, the privately owned Scotch whisky group, is trialling a new version of its iconic Famous Grouse brand in a bid to take on the popularity of the Islay malts.

Famous Grouse Black, a heavily peated blend, aims to tap into the new breed of younger Scotch whisky consumers who prefer the strong, iodine flavour of Islay malts but cannot afford their hefty price. The move, which comes just months after the group cancelled its 17-year sponsorship deal with the Scottish Rugby Union, is evidence that the Perth-based group is repositioning Scotland's most popular whisky brand.

Famous Grouse director Gerry O'Donnell plans to roll out the Black variant across the Scandinavian market and then introduce it into the UK.

He said: "We're aiming to bring more innovation to the marketplace through expanding the Grouse portfolio. Black Grouse was designed primarily for the Nordic market, where we were quick to spot there was a group of consumers that were a little bit younger than the usual Scotch consumers and who were interested in a fuller flavoured delivery of Scotch whisky.

"The traditional Islay malt whiskies are probably out of reach in terms of price. Black Grouse delivers an Islay flavour in a format most consumers can afford as well as carrying the benchmark of Famous Grouse."

Famous Grouse is the top-selling blended whisky in Scotland and number two in the UK behind Diageo's Bell's brand. Last year it saw volume sales rise 5% and is now selling more than three million cases for the first time.

But the success of its range extensions - such as the blended malt that was introduced into Taiwan and is now the number one bestseller - has encouraged Edrington to extend the range.

One industry observer said: "The problem is you can dilute the main brand. People can get bored with their brand and every new marketing director wants to do something different.

"Grouse users are getting older and they recruit new people by constantly reinventing the brand. But they have to be careful not to take it so far away from the core values that it becomes no longer Grouse."

The news comes on the back of Glenmorangie unveiling its first major branding exercise in a bid to tap into emerging markets such as China and India. Last month Bacardi announced plans to invest 120m to expand the production of Dewar's Scotch and in February, Diageo, maker of Johnnie Walker, said it would build a 100m distillery.

O'Donnell added: "One of the great phases for Scotch whisky is now on our doorstep. The trick is to withstand some of the pressures to promote and discount in the more mature markets while opening up new, interesting fronts for Scotch."

Edrington, which employs around 800 staff, is one of Scotland's largest private companies. Including the Macallan, Highland Park and Cutty Sark sales, the company puts itself at number four in size terms in the global Scotch whisky market, with a 9% share.