A SCOTTISH whisky cream liqueur brand has clinched its first export deal with the US.
Magnum, which is made with single malt Scotch whisky from Speyside, is now shipping to around 250 outlets across Minnesota and Tennessee, with talks now under way that could lead to the brand being sold to the states of Georgia and Texas in 2024.
The breakthrough comes after Magnum, which is described as a fusion of single malt and cream and comes in a stainless-steel flask that removes the need for ice, linked up with New York-based importer MHW. The brand has also been collaborating with Brio Brands, a Tennessee-based importer, on targeted state distribution in the country.
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Lee Schofield, managing director for Edinburgh-based Hemisphere Brands, brand agent for Magnum, said: This is a really significant milestone for our truly Scottish brand. Magnum is now the only single Scotch malt whisky cream liqueur available in the US that is exclusively crafted and bottled in Scotland.
“Our strategy is to introduce Magnum to globally significant ‘cream’ liqueur category markets, including Canada, South Africa, and the United States. The US is the largest cream liqueur market, maintaining around a quarter of the world’s consumption, so there’s great potential to widen our distribution across the country.
“We’re keen to establish Magnum in our launch states of Minnesota and Tennessee through 2023 and early 2024. From there, we plan to expand across Texas and Georgia.”
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Hemisphere Brands manages Magnum from production planning through to the strategy for market entry, which includes implementing the brand’s sales, marketing, and distribution plan. Ms Schofield said the process of taking the brand into the US was the product of nearly two years’ work and highlighted the challenges involved in breaking into the market.
She said: “It’s an arduous process, from registration of the trademark, formula, and certificate of label approval to market research and finding our way around the unique US three-tier alcohol and distribution system.
"We needed to find an importer and distributor, as well as manage an effective route to market. Cost and effort is substantial even before the brand hits the shelves.
“In the UK we’re free to sell directly through a variety of trade channels. The three-tier system in the US prevents this. Each US state has its own legislative, trading, retailing and marketing environment.
"Our business is mostly international, so we learnt from our experience of researching and processing market entry, as well as from support and feedback from our US importer.”
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