Roe & Co ‘will not go head-to-head’ with Jameson

Diageo has confirmed its new premium blended Irish whiskey brand Roe & Co will be “playing in a very different space” to Irish Distillers-owned Jameson.

Roe & Co will be “playing in a very different space” to Irish Distillers-owned Jameson

Speaking at a press briefing yesterday (31 January), Nick Morgan, head of whisky outreach, outlined that the brand is designed to bring Irish whiskey into cocktail culture “where it is hugely underrepresented”.

Inspired by historical distiller George Roe, who is credited with building the golden era of Irish whiskey, Roe & Co will be positioned as a “21^st century Irish blended whiskey”.

“In the last few years, the growth in the premium segment has far outpaced the growth in standard, and we believe that’s where the commercial opportunity lies for this brand,” he said, who stated that premium accounts for just 6% of the Irish whiskey category, while standard constitutes 92%.

“Don’t think [that] it’s about going head to head with Jameson’s,” he added, “we’re playing in a very different space.”

Charlie Greener European director of innovation, Diageo, said the project represents a “desire to drive overall category growth” and support the “second golden age” of Irish whiskey.

“Jameson have done a phenomenal job,” he said, “globally they’ve got about 67% market share of the entire category – so they are by far in a way the predominant player, but we’ve got Bushmills, we’ve got Tullamore, we’ve got brands like Teeling coming to the fore now as well, so I think there’s space within the category which isn’t just Jameson.

“Premium Irish whiskey globally is still so small, [and] we see huge opportunity to grow that. If we look at other spirits categories – vodka, Tequila gin, – the overall category growth has usually been triggered by one brand coming in a price tier above where the majority of the volume in the category sits.”

The project marks a re-entry into the Irish whiskey sector for Diageo, which agreed to give its Bushmills Irish whiskey to Jose Cuervo in 2014 in return for full ownership of Don Julio Tequila.

The deal also included the early termination of Cuervo’s production and distribution of Smirnoff in Mexico, and a lump sum of US$408m.

Greener said the decision to sell Bushmills was “the correct decision for the business at a strategic level”, and that at that time there was “no specific view” regarding if or when the company would re-enter the category.

Developed by Diageo’s master blender Caroline Martin and her team, Roe & Co combines hand-selected stocks of Irish malt and grain whiskies, aged in Bourbon casks. A “small amount” of caramel is used during production, but the majority of the colouring is said to come from the wood influence.

The group has refused to disclose which distillery provided stocks for the blend, but confirmed the liquid contains whiskey aged for more than five years, describing it as “very well matured”. “If we told you where we’re getting it from we’d sort of be giving you the recipe, which is a trade secret,” said Morgan.

Diageo also announced plans for a new €25 million (US$26.7m) distillery in Dublin, housed in the former Guinness Power House on Thomas Street.

The site will be begin distilling malt whisky in the first half of 2019, and as such will not produce all of the liquid for Roe & Co.

“The new distillery will produce a proportion of the liquid for the blend ongoing, and the rest we will continue to source from our partners in Ireland,” said Greener.

Roe & Co is set to initially launch in Europe from March within leading on-trade outlets in key cocktail-forward cities, with a view to “going global at a later date”.

Initially, the liquid will be released in a series of batches to commemorate the launch of the brand. It will be available at the RRP of £30 in the UK and will be introduced into the off-trade “further down the line”.

Greener added that Diageo is “looking at future opportunities” to  expand the brand over the coming years.