Caorunn, a small batch Scottish gin, unveiled a new integrated marketing campaign to build awareness of the brand’s unique crafting process. The initiative, Forage to Glass, kicked off in Chicago, highlights the use of locally foraged ingredients to express flavor and a sense of locality in the glass.
To illustrate the gin brand’s terroir-driven profile, created from Celtic botanicals hand-picked from the hills surrounding the distillery, top Chicago bar chefs and mixologists convened in Lincoln Park to gather local edibles for the preparation of gin-based cocktails. Guided by urban forager Chris Mayor, the drink experts harvested herbs and botanicals including wild spicebush, mint and bergamot, which they then incorporated in a range of cocktails that truly reflected the Windy City.
Caorunn’s gin master, Simon Buley—an avid locavore—was on hand to provide technical insight on the gin’s production. The artisanal spirit is produced using natural resources from a boreal forest and distilled with traditional botanicals alongside the wild rowan berry, coul blush apple, dandelion, myrtle and Scottish heather in one of the world’s three Copper Berry Chambers.
“With Caorunn we have distilled our Celtic landscape into a glass. This campaign celebrates the lengths that artisans will go to create balance and flavor,” says Ibolya Bakos-Tonner, global brand manager for Caorunn Gin. “The year-long initiative not only allows us to illustrate the craft behind the liquid, but will act as a communication tool within the beverage industry, providing distributors with opportunities to interact with important accounts and drink influentials across the country.”
The brand, introduced to limited U.S. markets in 2010, recently announced that they had achieved national distribution, made possible through a network of high-performing distributor partnerships including Southern Wines & Spirits (California); Empire Merchants (New York); Wirtz Beverage (Illinois) and Glaziers (Texas).
Caorunn’s market performance in the U.K., where the company has focused its efforts in the last four years, has seen a 65% increase in the last year alone. The brand attributes this growth to investment in bartender and mixologist education, which has driven sales of the hand-crafted gin both on- and off-premise, growing it seven-fold since its launch there four years ago.
Caorunn will activate the foraging initiative at other key stateside events within the drinks world, including Tales of the Cocktail and select accounts nationwide. Consumers and trade members across the country will be introduced to Caorunn’s distinctive handcrafted process through a comprehensive media relations campaign that will include foraged cocktail recipes created by mixologists across the U.S.
For more information on Caorunn, visit www.caorunngin.com/.
