‘Versatile’ Jameson wants you to bottle your own

At the Old Jameson Distillery in Smithfield, Dublin, there's a new addition to Irish whiskey's "brand home": a "Bottle Your Own" stand where visitors can bottle their own 700ml bottle of Jameson Select Reserve Cask Strength Black Barrel: filling it, sealing it, attaching a signed label, writing it in the ledger with a personal note and paying €100 for the pleasure.

Irish Distillers Pernod Ricard chief executive and chairwoman Anna Malmhake says the company is responding to demand "for an authentic whiskey experience".

It's true that the facility is the kind of thing you would expect to find at such a tourist attraction. The Old Jameson Distillery hasn't been a working distillery in decades, but some 400,000 people visit it and its Cork sister venue, the Midleton Experience, each year. Never mind authenticity, the key word is "experience". People adore falling for personalised products that make it seem like they're doing a thing, not buying a thing.

There is more to whiskey marketing in 2015 than just this, of course. Jameson may have been kicking around for some time (since 1780), but in common with other spirits, it is enjoying fast growth in new markets, with global sales rising at a rate of 10 per cent at the last count.

"Our line is 'triple distilled, twice as smooth' and we're constantly having to translate it into new languages," says Dan Lundberg, Jameson's global brand director. In more mature markets, meanwhile, it has the task of putting its head above the parapet to recruit new drinkers, while not doing anything to jeopardise its premium positioning.

Brian Nation, Jameson's Cork-based master distiller, is on hand on Bottle Your Own launch day. Around him, the bar is serving cocktails: the Jameson Elderflower and Cucumber Smash, or the Jameson Cranberry and Toasted Orange Punch. It's all part of the experience.

Nation, who took over the role in March 2013, bats away any assumption someone with the title “master distiller” would be a purist when it comes to how Irish whiskey is consumed. “I would never prescribe to people the way that they drink it – as long as they’re drinking it,” he says.

Whiskey is generally regarded as a male drink, though Lundberg says the Jameson brand is more female than most, which he attributes to an "accessible" taste. Nation, interestingly, plumps for "versatile" – a word that pops up in The Future of Irish Whiskey, a Bord Bia report from 2013 that explores "the opportunities and challenges" for the drink. That report, co-authored by The Futures Company, stresses that Irish whiskey "needs to identify its unique point of differentiation" and that it should "align on an emotional level with the Irish culture and temperament". This involves some premium guff about versatility being a way of life in Ireland because Irish people had to adapt to survive the Famine, occupation and boom-and-bust.

Versatility is also “a credible entry point”, it goes on, because of Irish whiskey’s “smoothness on the palette, which enables it to be accompanied by many flavours”. This sounds entirely reasonable – and closer to what Nation meant – but it is followed by the more dubious assertion that the “more fluid personality” of Irish whiskey “connects with the down-to-earth and open-minded attitude” of the Irish. It’s certainly the kind of marketing-speak that would turn anyone to drink.

The serious business opportunity as Bord Bia spells it out arises because sales of Irish whiskey account for a tiny proportion of global volume compared to, say, “the more traditional and stoic” Scotch. There may be a “renaissance”, but it is coming off a small base. So to create “a compelling identity” and build affiliation, Irish whiskey needs to come up with some “captivating stories” that can set it apart from the competition and secure growth.

No one needs to tell Irish Distillers Pernod Ricard any of this. It’s been responsible for driving exports in the category in the first place. “Bottle Your Own” is just its latest brand story. Malmhake and Lundberg are also chuffed about another evolving chapter, Jameson Caskmates, in which the whiskey has been partially aged in stout-seasoned barrels from Cork brewery Franciscan Well. It ticks another key box in premium alcohol marketing: stress the point of origin.

“It’s not what you expect, right?” says Malmhake, after a tasting. “To me it is so milk chocolately, which is strange.”

Happily, the official line on these limited edition bottles is “a flavour of coffee, cocoa and a gentle hint of hops”. There’s open-mindedness and there’s plain gimmickry, and as every premium brand owner knows, it’s easier to cross over that line than it is to cross back.