EC clients return to travel retail brand activations in 2021

Despite the ongoing travel restrictions due to Covid-19 emerging variants, and fewer PAX in airports, Essential Communications has seen a number of our clients returning to the tried and tested purchase driver of airport brand activations in collaboration with travel retailer partners. Here’s a round-up of this year’s highlights. 

Rodenstock for Porsche Design

 June and September saw major airport and downtown brand activations for Porsche Design eyewear, by Rodenstock. 

 

Porsche Design chose to partner with Beirut Duty Free to spotlight its iconic Porsche Design P’8982 model, which was the focus for a high-profile, 360-degree campaign at Beirut-Rafic Hariri International Airport. The promotion featured the lifestyle brand’s eyewear ambassador Patrick Dempsey in advertising hoardings at the retail pop-up alongside the brand’s sunglasses and readers ranges. The campaign was supported by a 360-degree omnichannel campaign, with social media engagement and selling incentives for store staff to drive interaction and to enhance the shopper experience. 

In September, Rodenstock also partnered with China Duty Free Group (CDFG) to highlight its Porsche Design brand at the Sanya International Duty Free Shopping Complex in Haitang Bay, Hainan.

The promotion featured Porsche Design’s Vision Drive lenses, Collector’s Edition and Reader’s Range.

Porsche Design ambassador Patrick Dempsey again featured across the campaign’s visuals located in various high-traffic locations at the CDF Mall. The promotion also tied in with the CDFG 88 Eyewear Event, which ran throughout August and highlighted the sunglasses offer at the CDF Mall.

Café Drambuie, William Grant & Sons

Through October, Drambuie launched a new Café Drambuie retail activation as a trial at Heathrow Terminal 3 in partnership with Dufry. The travel retail concept featured a café bar with baristas on hand to serve a choice of three coffee cocktails as a tester for new ways to serve the coffee spirit. 

 

Drambuie welcomed passers-by to its ‘coffeehouse with a whisky twist’ café retail concept, where visitors were greeted by bartenders turned baristas, who enticed travellers with the easy to mix Drambuie and coffee cocktails.

On offer were three tempting cocktail serves: Drambuie Iced Espresso, Drambuie Iced Coffee and Drambuie Coffee Tonic. 

Brand ambassadors dressed as baristas were on hand to make to order the trio of cocktails serves and the activation proved a hit, attracting passengers with the signature Drambuie logo, café bar design and the cocktail instructions cards, which was a key conversion metric, said the brand.  

Drambuie brand-owner William Grant & Sons continued the trial in the Nordics with Scandlines in the Puttgarden Border Shop in November and December.  

James Taylor, Global Marketing Manager for Drambuie, said of the T3 Café Drambuie activation: “The response has been amazing. It has more than covered our expectations for testing out the ways Drambuie can be used for coffee cocktails. 

“People were intrigued by the bar activation, especially with the impactful Café Drambuie neon sign. The coffee station peaked their curiosity making them want to go straight to the bar. Our efforts to revive Drambuie as a premium liquor choice have caused people to see it in a different light. They are interested to try Drambuie at home and make the cocktails that were featured to them during their journey.”

Champagne Lanson

Champagne Lanson has said that a two-month ‘bistronomie’ activation at Nice Airport Terminal 2 delivered a 12-fold increase in sales compared to the same period (September and October) in 2019.

The campaign, a partnership with Lagardère Travel Retail, “proves the value of customer engagement to drive sales” according to the Champagne house.

Lanson Head of Travel Retail Edouard de Boissieu said: “Despite passenger numbers still being quite low, the activation was an amazing success with sales of Champagne Lanson seeing a twelve-fold increase on the same period in 2019. This really was beyond our expectations and just goes to show the value of promotions which engage directly with passengers. We are extremely pleased with the results and now hope to repeat the activation in other key airports during 2022.”

Elit Rye, Stoli Group

November saw Stoli Group release an exclusive limited edition of its Elit vodka brand with partner Dubai Duty Free at Dubai International Airport. Only 350 bottles of Elit Rye were available through the retailer’s liquor and tobacco store in Concourse B, Terminal 3.  

A bespoke activation to promote the ultra-premium vodka expression ran throughout November, highlighted in-store with an eye-catching branded liquor pillar.

Stoli Group Global Duty Free and Travel Retail Director, Jean-Philippe Aucher said: “Elit Rye is another example of Stoli Group’s commitment to releasing exclusives that create excitement among consumers in the travel retail channel. We are now in the tenth year of our close association with Dubai Duty Free and are delighted to produce this special edition especially for one of the world’s great travel retailers.”

Stoli said that Elit Rye Vodka “celebrates and elevates the original vodka ingredient, rye. For over 300 years rye was the most important base for vodka, its characteristic flavours making the spirit famous around the globe.” Elit Rye uses the signature filtration process of Elit Vodka, freeze filtered at -18°C.

Grant’s, William Grant & Sons 

In November, William Grant & Sons kicked off a multi-location promotion for the global travel retail launch of its Grant’s Triple Wood 12 Scotch whisky with a series of high-profile activations in Europe, the Middle and Near East and South Africa.

The pop-ups highlight the new Grant’s Triple Wood 12’s bottle design and invite travellers to experience the blend, which is the result of three-barrel aging and flavour layering

Following a successful kick-off in Larnaca and Istanbul Airports along with Romanian Border Shops during September and October, activations moved to Johannesburg and Beirut- Rafic Hariri International airports and Warsaw Chopin Airport (Baltona). Delhi Duty Free, the Nordics (Scandlines’ Puttgarden Border Shop) and Moscow SVO Airport were all scheduled during December and into early 2022. 

 

Activations have been adjusted for regional consumer preferences. For example, at Istanbul Airport, WG&S focused the activation in the arrivals duty free area, as there is a strong brand presence in the Turkish domestic market. “We wanted to make sure we are targeting and attracting the right consumer in this premium blended scotch led market,” says Oksana Ohene-Adu, WG&S Customer Planning Activation Manager. 

“The big G we are showcasing represents our team badge and is at the heart of our new brand world that champions the power of collective achievement. We also developed glorifiers to elevate our premium bottle and a custom-made sampling trolley was built to support this activation which enabled our team of promoters to offer tasting of our award-winning liquid.”

Ritter Sport

The colourful world of Ritter Sport was reinvented as a sampling and tasting pop-up at the German chocolate brand’s first brand activation since the Covid-19 pandemic. The retail pop-up in collaboration with Dufry has been in place at Zurich Airport’s airside Level 1 Generation Store then the level 2 walk-through area throughout November and December 2021.  

The impactful retail activation has interactive traveller-focused elements that encourage passers-by to sample the flavours, and experience Ritter Sport’s individually wrapped chocolate in the engaging pop-up space.  

The pop-up is well timed, with the brand’s enduring sustainability mindset and visibility in the travel retail marketplace a key strategic focus in the second half of 2021 and into 2022. Promotional staff are on hand to help explain about Ritter Sport’s new packaging designs and sampling experience – the activation also highlights that low-touch sampling is available for confectionery brands to successfully trial product tasting opportunities.   

The Zurich Airport activation is a key example of how Ritter Sport is targeting the travel retail market with updated packaging designs that feature across its bestselling products. The packaging targets the sustainability minded traveller with redesigned paper-based packs, as Ritter Sport builds on its ‘Taste Chocolate in Full Colours’ advertising campaign.

Jan Pasold, Managing Director Global Travel Retail for Ritter Sport, said: “We wanted to translate the emotion of travel and wanderlust firstly into a new colour coded design and packaging concept and secondly to provide a retail experience that passers-by will find intriguing. The aim has been to create a destination for their curiosity, so that they could learn more about Ritter Sport’s latest sustainability initiatives.”

Accolade Wines 

During November and December Accolade Wines invested in a dedicated brand activation at Dubai International Airport. The pop-up store for its Hardys brand is in partnership with Middle East retail partner Dubai Duty Free and exclusive distributor, Gulf Beverage.

 

The activation is well positioned, according to the brand. The pop-up is sited outside one of the retailer’s main stores in Terminal 3 Concourse C and is so far attracting healthy levels of footfall thanks to its premium position in the Emirates Terminal, which also services Qantas and FlyDubai.

“This makes it the ideal location for an Australian wine company to showcase to international travellers, as well as Antipodeans travelling to the region,” said Accolade Wines Senior Regional Manager EMEA Jeff Bond.

The wines on offer include the global travel retail-exclusive Hardys Premium Selection. Other highlighted wines include Hardys Heritage Reserve Bin and releases from Accolade Wines’ Global Vintage Release programme, Eileen Hardy Shiraz and Eileen Hardy Chardonnay.

Whyte & Mackay’s The Dalmore Decades Collection

Coinciding with a unique October auction, Whyte & Mackay revealed The Dalmore Decades, a ‘once in a lifetime’ selection of six single malt whiskies, that celebrates six decades of whisky excellence. 

On 8 October, the Dalmore Highland Single Malt secured a record sale of HK$8,750,000 / US$1,124,000 for a one-of-one, exceedingly rare collection of six extraordinary whiskies at Sotheby’s in Hong Kong. The Dalmore Decades No.6 Collection, the only complete set of The Dalmore Decades, sold as a dedicated single lot auction to a private collector. 

During Golden Week in the first week of October, Whyte & Mackay celebrated its landmark The Dalmore Decades auction sale with a series of pop-ups in Asia in partnership with some of travel retail’s most prestigious stores.

The Dalmore Decades range underscores Whyte & Mackay’s commitment to the growing prestige plus price segment, which according to Travel Retail Director Richard Trimby is one of the sector’s most dynamic, he told The Moodie Davitt Report.

The spread of Asia travel retail distribution was focused on five key partners. As Trimby highlighted: three sets went into Hainan with China Duty Free Group (CDFG); one set in Hong Kong with Duty Zero by cdf [CDFG and Lagardère]; another one with Lotte Duty Free [at Changi Airport]; one with DFS in Macau [for Master of Wines and Spirits]; and one more with Ever Rich Duty Free in Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport. “So travel retail is not just a commercial operation. We could sell these sets to private clients very easily, but for us it was about putting The Dalmore on the stage,” 

He said: “Travel retail is the ideal channel to showcase exceptional masterpieces from The Dalmore in both duty free and digital channels, allowing us to recruit millions of luxury consumers into the brand franchise.

“We only wish we could have more of these exceptional masterpieces from The Dalmore to meet the incredible demand for it in the travel retail channel.”

The Dalmore Decades omnichannel campaign in travel retail generated over 86 million impressions in October across Chinese social media and KOL outreach campaigns.  

Nuwave Channel Partners’ breakthrough range: The Bitmore recycled plastics tech collection listed with travel retailers in three continents

Company achieves airport retail listings for the first time in Europe, Asia and South America

Travel and technology product manufacturer and distributor Nuwave Channel Partners has achieved a long-held ambition by breaking into airport retail for the first time through its in-house Bitmore brand with a range of tech products, made using recycled plastic.  

The company has achieved listings with World Duty Free in the UK, Cell Shop Duty Free in Brazil and India’s Mumbai Duty Free. The new Bitmore range offers over 25 products including powerbanks, QI chargers, headphones, speakers, cables and wellness and travel accessories, with many of the products available in a range of colours.  

The Bitmore products are certified by RCS, which means their production is audited and tested to verify products are made from recycled plastics. Nuwave’s aim is to reduce its use of new plastics by a minimum of 80% by the end of 2022.  

The made using recycled plastic Bitmore range had initially gained traction with Nuwave Channel Partners’ core airline retail market. It is already listed with some of the biggest commercial airlines in Europe, Asia Pacific and the Middle East.  

The first airport store to stock the Bitmore range was World Duty Free in London Heathrow Terminal 5. The store is stocking about 90% of the full range, with bespoke point of sale materials created by Nuwave to give it stand out shelf appeal. The range will be available in other World Duty Free stores in the UK in the near future.  

Also stocking the vast majority of SKUs from the Bitmore range is Cell Shop Duty Free, which is selling the products across its network of stores in Brazilian airports. 

Meanwhile, in India, the made using recycled plastic Bitmore range is available through Mumbai Duty Free (MDF) stores in Bengaluru Kempegowda International Airport and Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport. At the latter airport, the range is available in all MDF stores in arrivals and departures, and also in its Digi Store chain of shops.  

A key part of the Bitmore range’s appeal in the travel retail market is that it is very competitively priced against big name tech brands, offering the value proposition that travel retailers are increasingly looking to share with travelling consumers.  

An example of this from the new range is Bitmore’s latest touch control TWS earbuds, which offer high fidelity true wireless stereo sound. They come with a charging case with a digital screen that lets the user know exactly how much power is left inside each earpiece, as well as the case itself. A fully charged case offer up to three full charges for the earbuds. The recycled plastic earbuds are retailed at an exclusive travel retail SRP price of €30.

Reflecting on the appeal of the Bitmore range and looking ahead to its potential for growth in travel retail market, Parmar said: “We work exclusively within travel retail and offer highly-competitive prices to retailers. We understand this channel well, we understand the consumer, which is increasingly looking for products with sustainability credentials and we make sure our product offering is relevant to travellers.

“Travel retail itself is a very dynamic, ever-evolving, and amazingly resilient channel, as we have seen across the past two years. I’ve worked with high street retail as well, but travel retail for me personally is just on a different level in every respect.”

Of his company’s achievement of its first ground store listings, Parmar added: “These past two years have been extremely difficult, so expanding our customer base into airport ground stores is a very satisfying development for the business. Breaking into South America and India is huge step for the global profile of the Bitmore brand.

“We’re very proud of the environmental credentials of these products, which we know has resonated with these new customers. We already have 25 SKUs in this eco-friendly travel tech range, and we continue to work on new product development to add to that.”

Café Drambuie activation finds new fans at Puttgarden Border Shop

 Drambuie has extended its latest Café Drambuie retail activation for the Nordics region, in partnership with Scandlines in the Puttgarden Border Shop. 

The travel retail concept features a café bar and a barista on hand to serve a choice of three delicious coffee cocktails to treat travellers as part of a Drambuie 1L bottle price promotion in the run up to the Christmas season. The trial is a continuation of the William Grant & Sons-owned brand’s initial pop-up activation at London Heathrow in October. 

Drambuie positioned its new activation concept, a ‘coffeehouse with a whisky twist’, as a sampling opportunity on the cross-border shopping journey, mainly targeting Swedish and Danish travellers crossing via Germany.  Here, visitors have been able to discover three tempting new ways to serve Drambuie: Drambuie Iced Espresso, Drambuie Iced Coffee and Drambuie Coffee Tonic.  The easy to mix coffee cocktails have been created for coffee and cocktail lovers and to help the brand understand how customers react to the new serves.

The gift with purchase (GWP) offer that Drambuie introduced at the Heathrow promotion is also available at Puttgarden. The miniature whole-bean coffee sack and grinder have helped draw attention to the promotion with customers encouraged to make their own cocktails at home after sampling the new Drambuie serves. One visitor commented: “It's a very easy drink (Drambuie Espresso) to make, and it tastes delicious!” 

In-store for six weeks from 4 November to 12 December, Drambuie sales have seen an impressive uplift. Plus, customer feedback during the promotion in-store has highlighted very good levels of consumer awareness for the Drambuie brand (62% have heard of Drambuie) and over half (53%), would recommend one of the new Drambuie serves to friends. After tasting the cocktails, 80% of customers liked the new serve they tried and 98% agreed they would try it in a bar or at home. 

Hanh Bui, Trade Marketing Manager, said of the Puttgarden Border Shop activation: “In the first few weeks of the activation we’ve seen sales increase significantly. The promotion really resonates with customers who are not only sampling the new Drambuie serves, they are making purchases, because they want to try the cocktails themselves – 98% of samplers told us they were inspired by the serves and they would make their favourite Drambuie cocktail at home.”

Henkell Freixenet showcases key GTR product portfolio at Cannes, focus on growth drivers

Henkell Freixenet returns to the TFWA World Exhibition to showcase its top performing sparkling wine, wine and spirits category brands for the travel retail market. The global sparkling wine leader plans to highlight growth potential for the GTR sector from across its brand portfolio: Mionetto, Freixenet, Henkell and Segura Viudas.

“We are delighted to be back exhibiting again in Cannes. While we know it won’t be as busy as usual, we wanted to show our support to the industry by returning to the TFWA World Exhibition as soon as possible,” says Sandra Janetzki, Senior Vice President at Henkell Freixenet Global Export.

Mionetto Prosecco Rosé

Mionetto stands out for its modern, stylish and Italian approach, keeping up with the new and significant market trends thanks also to the strength of its roots and a close link with tradition.

Precisely this attitude towards change and challenges has meant that the new Mionetto Prosecco Rose DOC Prestige Collection was created, a sparkling wine, which is perfect as an aperitif, delicious throughout any meal and ideal for all drinking, occasions to be spent in pleasant joy.

Additionally, Mionetto won a gold award and was named “Best of Show Prosecco Rosé in retail markets” for Prosecco Rosé at MundusVini Summer tasting 2021.

Henkell Freixenet plans to develop Mionetto’s premium positioning in the travel retail market across the Prestige Collection: Prosecco of the DOC area of Treviso in its Extra Dry and Brut versions as well as the organic variant and the new Prosecco Rosé DOC, which has notes of grapefruit and red berries. Launched in November 2020, the new Prosecco Rosé is a blend of Glera and Pinot Noir, in accordance with the production regulations surrounding Italy’s newly accredited pink fizz.

   

Segura Viudas Relaunch - #Respecttheroots

With its eyes fixed firmly on its origins and the concepts of craftmanship and authenticity, Segura Viudas, Henkell Freixenets premium cava house with a history of more than 800 years, entered a new phase, which is characterised by innovation and sustainability.

Under the strap-line “Respect the roots”, the new positioning underlines the value of the Penedes based bodegas origins and highlights the exceptional quality of its vineyards and the grapes with which it creates its products. The nonconformist and creative character of the brand seeks to attract selective and curious consumers, who appreciate the high quality of Cavas.

The new positioning will help to premium and organic wine category featuring both the Brut Rerserva cava – known for its elegant dry serve derived from white fruits that lingers on the palette and is a perfect accompaniment to soft mild cheese and seafood; and the Brut Rosé – known for its soft finish derived from berry fruits and a light acidity that is an ideal summer drink well suited to sweet dishes such as figs and crema catalana or even as a celebratory sip on its own. The flagship of the brand is the Segura Viudas Heredad in its iconic bottle. The Reserva Heredad offers an elegant and versatile Cava that is aged in the bottle for more than 24 months.

Christian Witte, Key Account GTR, adds this year at Cannes will be an

opportunity for Henkell Freixenet to showcase its extended sustainability offer: “we now have a wide range of organic and vegan certified sparkling wines from across different global brands and product categories,” he says.

Trend topics: Minis, RTDs and alcohol-free categories show growth

Henkell Freixenet is seeing sustained growth from its wide range of sparkling wines in small and special formats, such as 200ml, 3x200ml or 5x200ml bottles.

  strengthen the brand firmly in the

  

 Press Release

 The global icons Henkell Trocken, Freixenet

Cordon Negro Brut, and Mionetto Prosecco

Orange are all available as Piccolo and minis,

alongside many more of our sparkling wines.

“We have seen strong sales from our special

mini multi-packs available in three and five

bottles, especially designed for the duty free

customer looking for 1L purchases,” says

Witte. “For example, we have seen great

growth from our inflight partners; Mionetto

Prosecco DOC Treviso Brut (Prestige Collection) is served on board Ryanair flights and consumption has picked up in summer 2021,” says Witte. The minis theme continues with a marketing focus for travel retail across Henkell Freixenet’s Ready To Drink (RTD) portfolio: Offer a wide range of RTD’s across many categories such as Hard seltzer, wine & spirit based cocktails and sparkling wines.

Additionally the category of alcohol-free products is showing good growth. Henkell Freixenet will display different alcohol-free products such as Henkell Alcohol-free, Mionetto 0,0% or also Freixenet 0,0% at Cannes.

Henkell Freixenet will have a new stand position at the TFWA WE: Blue F11 – in the Blue Village.

Imperial Brands to inspire travel retail to rebuild Together as One in Cannes

Imperial Brands is delighted to be returning to Cannes for the Tax Free World Association (TFWA) World Exhibition & Conference taking place this month (24 to 28 October). The occasion, which will be the first major in-person industry event following the pandemic, provides the perfect platform for all stakeholders to re-unite under one roof and focus on crafting a brighter future for duty free and travel retail.

At the TFWA exhibition, Imperial Brands will showcase its ethos, Together as One, as it calls on all industry stakeholders to work together in a unified and innovative manner, as the travel sector rebuilds from the pandemic. 

Christian Münstermann, Imperial Brands’ Global Duty Free & Export General Manager said: “We are very excited to be able to meet with industry partners in person in the TFWA Exhibition & Conference in Cannes once again. I believe the pandemic has taught all of us how vital strong partnerships are, and as we now focus on recovery, this will be more crucial than ever.

 

Our ethos, Together As One, is about just this - close collaboration with our partners – both established and new - to ensure we are providing the right products, in the right place, at all times, in order to inspire traveling consumers and drive growth.

The tobacco category will always be an integral part of Global Duty Free and Travel Retail, offering opportunities for retailers to boost average spending. This unique feature places the category at the heart of the recovery, and Imperial is ready to welcome travellers back into stores with its complete tobacco offering.”

Imperial Brands firmly believes in the enduring resilience of the travel sector, and is confident of the recovery of Duty Free and Travel Retail. As tobacco is one of the original categories in Duty Free, generating footfall and increasing shopping basket sizes, it will play a core role in shaping a more robust future.

Visitors to the Imperial Brands booth at the TFWA World Exhibition will be able to share in the brand’s strategy for the future. This focuses on Imperial’s unique proposition of offering leading international brands, such as Davidoff cigarettes, complemented by dominant regional brands, such as Gauloises and strong local brands, such as Lambert & Butler.

Christian Münstermann added: “As we turn our focus on building a successful and sustainable future, we cannot stress enough the importance of all of us speaking with one voice and working to find innovative solutions - Together as One”.

For more information, please visit the Imperial Brands stand, GO 6 in the Golden Village, during the TFWA World Conference & Exhibition, 24-28 October 2021.

Mars Wrigley Confectionery NL/ITR strengthens team with new position to drive category growth

 Anouk Aansorgh has been named Head of Category & Customer Marketing ITR for Mars Wrigley Confectionery NL/ITR (Netherlands/International Travel Retail). This follows the decision to merge the divisions earlier this year and is a new position set up to further accelerate the company’s treats and snacking category growth agenda. 

Reporting directly to Global Commercial Director Raghav Rekhi, Anouk has been with Mars Wrigley Confectionery for five years, previously Portfolio Director responsible for Bitesize and Seasons in the domestic market in NL. She has a strong background in brand & portfolio management within domestic markets and has wide-ranging experience in both retail and supplier roles at Pepsico and biggest Dutch retailer Albert Heijn. 

Anouk joins Mars Wrigley Confectionery NL/ITR at a pivotal time for the company as it sets out its strategy for 2022 at the approaching TFWA World Exhibition this month.

“TFWA WE will be my first physical event in this industry, and I am very much looking forward to meeting both our retail partners and key players within this incredible business sector,” says Anouk. 

“It has been an incredibly challenging time for all of us over the past 20 months, but we are now seeing the green shoots of recovery and I am delighted to be part of the team that will drive category recovery in 2022. 

“Mars Wrigley remains committed to the philosophy of ‘Better Moments make the world smile’ and my role will be pivotal to interpreting that within the travel retail sector, through understanding the traveller and unlocking conversion.”

Adds Raghav Rekhi: “I’m delighted to welcome Anouk to the growing travel retail department here at Mars Wrigley. We now have an incredibly strong management team and together we are 100% committed to becoming the number one contributor to driving category growth as we move forward from Covid-19. “

Bonjour, Tullamore D.E.W. Rouge! William Grant & Sons set to release travel retail exclusive from Tullamore D.E.W. Irish Whiskey

The new Irish whiskey expression will be exclusively available at The Loop, Dublin Airport for six months.

William Grant & Sons is launching an exciting new limited-edition, travel retail exclusive expression from Tullamore D.E.W., its world-famous Irish Whiskey brand. The very best of Irish single malt whiskey collides with the finest Bordeaux Red Wine casks to bring you Tullamore D.E.W. Rouge. Making its global travel retail debut at The Loop, Dublin Airport on 1st October, this 13 year old Irish Single malt whiskey is finished in French Bordeaux Red Wine casks and is the perfect drop for whiskey explorers and red wine connoisseurs alike!

Tullamore D.E.W. Rouge is a union of Ireland’s whiskey-making excellence and France’s unrivalled wine traditions, which has resulted in the creation of a smooth and approachable Irish Whiskey with the fruity aromas and full body of a Bordeaux Red Wine.

Tullamore D.E.W. Rouge (RRP €58) will be sold exclusively as part of The Irish Whiskey Collection at The Loop, Dublin airport for six months, with the wider Global Travel Retail roll-out planned for April 2022. Travelers can pre-order a bottle via The Loop Click & Collect service at theloop.ie and can also trial the liquid at the Tullamore D.E.W. Rouge pop-up activation in Terminal 1 during the month of October.

David Wilson, Managing Director for GTR at William Grant & Sons, said: 

“The launch of Tullamore D.E.W. Rouge is a very exciting development for the brand and underlines our commitment to releasing unique and interesting exclusives into the travel retail space”

“We are delighted to launch this liquid exclusively with Dublin airport in the brand’s home country and we look forward to the wider availability of Tullamore D.E.W. Rouge in Global Travel Retail next year”

Speaking about the new release, John Quinn, Tullamore D.E.W. Global Brand Ambassador said: “

“After maturing the single malt whiskey in Bourbon casks for 13 years, it is carefully finished in ex-Pomerol casks, a renowned red wine from the Bordeaux region of France. It gives incredible fruity aromas and full body – with deep and luscious notes of ripe grape and soft tannin spice.

He continued; “This is a very special liquid and one that we are incredibly proud to release. We are big admirers of France’s unrivalled distinction in wine production as we ourselves aspire to the same excellence in whiskey production. We are delighted to combine these unparalleled flavours and celebrate this fusion of craft from two countries to bring both whiskey and wine lovers a rich tasting experience.” 

Speaking on the collaboration, Tracey Jordan, Alcohol & Tobacco Buyer ARI Ireland said: We are delighted to secure exclusivity for Tullamore D.E.W Rouge and add it to our ever expanding multi award winning ‘Irish Whiskey Collection’ at The Loop, Dublin Airport.  We look forward to welcoming our customers to taste this splendid whiskey and we are delighted to give them the opportunity to purchase this special release within Travel Retail.

Tullamore D.E.W. is a whiskey with a long and rich heritage since the creation of its original distillery in 1829. As the world’s second largest selling Irish whiskey brand with global sales of 1.2m cases, Tullamore D.E.W. remains a proud leader in the Irish whiskey category. 

Premiumisation is set to lead Irish whiskey market growth over the next five years. Tullamore D.E.W. Rouge plays in the ultra-premium space, which is valued at US$141 million globally and US$13 million in Global Travel Retail.

-ends- 

Notes to editor:

Tasting notes

Colour: Deep gold with a hint of red.

Nose: Red berries, violets and orchard fruits blend in a rich vanilla oak masterpiece.

Taste: A red wine spice, sour cherry and an abundance of fruits.

Finish: Dry and ripe with lingering woody notes.

About Tullamore D.E.W. 

The Tullamore D.E.W.’s distilling heritage dates back to 1829. Tullamore D.E.W. is the original triple blend of Irish whiskey, by combining three spirits the blend gives three dimensions of flavour to explore; malt whiskey gives us fruit, pot still whiskey gives us spice and grain whiskey gives us sweet. 

These three spirits come together to give us a balance of flavour like no other in the category. 

The award-winning range includes Tullamore D.E.W. Original, Tullamore D.E.W. XO Caribbean Rum Cask Finish, Tullamore D.E.W. 12 Year Old Special Reserve, Tullamore D.E.W. 14 Year Old Single Malt, Tullamore D.E.W. 18 Year Old Single Malt and Tullamore D.E.W. Old Bonded Warehouse Release.

The name of the whiskey is derived from the town where it’s made and from the initials of its founding father Daniel Edmund Williams, who became the owner of the business in the 1890s and inspired the launch of world famous Tullamore D.E.W. Irish Whiskey.    

About the Tullamore Distillery

The Tullamore Distillery opened its doors on the 17th of September 2014, heralding the return of whiskey production to Tullamore for the first time in 60 years. Tullamore D.E.W. Irish whiskey has been distilled & matured in Tullamore since 1829 but in 1954 the original distillery was closed and production bounced between Dublin and Cork. 

When William Grant & Sons added Tullamore D.E.W. to their portfolio in 2010, they set out to return the distillery to its ancestral home.

From the beginning, they wanted to create a new home place that would reflect the quality of the craftsmanship within. And after a year-long search of more than 50 locations, they settled on a 58-acre site in Clonminch, on the outskirts of Tullamore. This is the first distillery in Ireland to be built on a greenfield site in Ireland in over 100 years. 

The initial €35 million investment involved more than 1,200 specialist distillery engineers and construction workers working a combined 475,000 days. Built on the Bog of Allen, in order to lay the foundations, more than 250,000 tonnes of peat had to be excavated. Construction began in April 2013, 20 months after planning permission was granted the first drops of whiskey flowed from our stills. 

Set in the heart of Ireland, the location provides a good supply of quality, soft spring water from the nearby Slieve Bloom Mountains, ideal for the triple distillation process used in Tullamore D.E.W.

Six hand crafted copper stills designed to resemble the original stills of the old distillery further preserve the exceptionally smooth taste the brand has become famous for. And with the addition of twelve brew house fermenters, warehouse storage for more than 300,000 casks, a new bottling plant, grain distillery and on site cooperage this facility is now one of the few ‘grain to glass’ distilleries in Ireland.  These additional elements have brought the total distillery investment to more than €100m.

Today, they make whiskey 7 days a week, bottling an average of 350K bottles per week on 24 hour shifts to keep up with the demand that makes us the second largest whiskey brand globally. Our distillery employees play a crucial role in sending our whiskey out to the world.