SirDavis whiskey and Beyoncé go on tour
As the Cowboy Carter tour traverses the globe, Beyoncé’s American whiskey SirDavis is playing an important role.
There is a moment during the Cowboy Carter tour when a gigantic, gold-plated robotic arm pours Beyoncé a glass of whiskey and you do not need front row seats to know that it is SirDavis.
Working with Moët Hennessy and Dr Bill Lumsden, the cultural icon launched her own whiskey brand last autumn. The whiskey is made from a mash of 51% rye and 49% malted barley and finished in PX Sherry barrels, influenced by American distilling history and her preference for Sherried Japanese whisky.
SirDavis is the official spirit of the Cowboy Carter tour, and while it serves as a smash study in integration, it also demonstrates the ways in which Beyoncé’s new whiskey and her new music – chock with country influences, odes to Americana, and references to whiskey – remain in conversation with one another.
“The two are forever entwined and interlinked together,” SirDavis head blender Cameron George says.
George has worked with Lumsden for years under his previous capacity as an Ardbeg brand ambassador and the two were together last week in an upstairs room at New York’s Legacy Records leading a deconstructed tasting.
The Cowboy Carter tour finished up a five-show leg at MetLife Stadium on 29 May, and after the tasting, a bus took us all to New Jersey. This was George’s fifth time seeing the show and Lumsden’s first.
“We actually had the amazing privilege of, on that first visit, she actually played us some music, which was the prototype that became the Cowboy Carter album,” Lumsden said, sporting a suede jacket with a newly-acquired grey cowboy hat looking mint nearby.
“She is an intentional artist in every single one of her mediums,” George added, “and so there was no way that this artwork or this expression was going to come out without representing what she was doing [musically] at the same time.”
In February, Cowboy Carter was awarded Album of the Year at the Grammys, Beyoncé’s first time winning the category after years of nominations. The hope is that SirDavis will have the same crossover appeal.
While the mashbill, finishing, and blending minds behind the project will speak to seasoned drinkers, there is an understanding that SirDavis will likely be the first whiskey that many Beyoncé fans taste and so approachability is key, too.
Visitor centre plans
Thus far, George reports that the brand has moved roughly 30,000 cases since launching, and is eyeing 2026 to open a visitor centre in Houston, Texas.
George points to a multi-cultural and progressive brand identity for helping to fuel the brand’s initial reception, and that is certainly on display on the Cowboy Carter tour, where fans can drink SirDavis cocktails out of souvenir cups and immerse themselves more fully in the Beyoncé experience.
In an industry with few black, female owners, any cynicism surrounding the notion of a ‘celebrity spirit’ is offset in the moment, as you consider Beyoncé’s role in American culture, the narratives she is emphasising on Cowboy Carter, and the way that the American whiskey industry reflects many of those same ideas. All of this crystallises at the show, as the imagery, music, and whiskey are laid overtop one another.
“We know that we built something that’s going to be around, not just for five years or 10 years, that it’s truly going to be something that’s a story of legacy, reflective of where the industry has come from, where her family’s come from, but then also creating a much more diverse and beautiful tapestry moving forward as well,” George said. “It’s a very powerful vehicle that I think it’s going to move the whiskey industry.”
The Cowboy Carter tour meanwhile moves on to London for a four-show run beginning 5 June.
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