You can find out who won what in the first standalone People’s Choice Spirits Awards by going to its website here.
Drinks producers of all shapes and sizes can no longer just rely on being very good at making the products they do. That’s just the starting point. The reason to get out of bed in the morning and go to work. Much of the real work starts when the product is made, bottled and then sent out to the market.
How are you going to make your gin, whisky, vodka or rum stand out on the back bar? To alert a trade drinks buyer, never mind the final consumer that you have a product worth taking notice of.
The arrival of social media has given brands their own platforms to tell their stories on through words, pictures and increasingly video content. The chance to take your target audience behind the scenes to show them what you are really about and the art, skills and expertise that goes into making the final product they enjoy enough to buy.
That’s where YouTube and other video platforms have taken brand story telling to another level and what the People’s Choice Spirits Awards’ Story Behind The Label category is all about. The chance for brands and producers to tell their story through a short video.
Much of the content The Buyer produces comes via a keyboard, but we very much appreciate the talent needed to create an engaging video that truly captures your attention and tells the story of a brand. We are delighted to partner the People’s Choice Spirits Awards, not only as overall media partner, but for the sponsor of the Story Behind the Label Video Challenge.
WINNER
Speyside Distillery
Story Behind the Label winners sponsored by The Buyer. Pic copyright Phil Tragen 2022
Speyside Distillery walked away with the top prize in the Story Behind the Label category for its behind the scenes journey into how this family-run distillery works, told by its chief executive and owner John Harvey McDonough. What really shines through in this video is how much it is about its “people” and how it is their “heart and soul” that goes into making a special whisky. It also shows how Speyside is still using distillery techniques from 100 years ago and that it is its traditional roots that really shine through.
The beautifully crafted short video is so carefully put together you can almost hear the water trickling in the stream, the mill turning, the steam pushing out of the stills and the noise of the distillery floor. It’s as warm and welcoming as a dram itself. Click below to see what we mean.
Finalists
Canaima
Our next video takes us off to the rainforests of South America to see how this small batch craft gin is not only a quality, award-winning product but is being made to support the indigenous population of the rainforests, with 10% of its sales going back to support local rainforest schemes It work with locals to source up to 10 Amazonian fruits, sustainably sourced in the rainforest, with one botanical from the distillery region in Venezuela, and eight traditional gin botanicals. All the botanicals are individually macerated and re-distilled in a 500 litre copper pot still to create a truly small batch gin. A brand, as it is says, very much with a purpose. A great evocative video takes you to the heart, soul and sounds of the Amazon and the work being done with local people. It is imported and distributed in the UK by Speciality Brands. Click below to watch.
York Gin
Next we are off somewhere a little closer to home – and York and the story of York Gin. This is a lovely, personal behind the scenes look at how York Gin is made and the team behind it. It’s a video that takes a lot from cookery and daytime TV shows with tight close ups of ingredients and herbs and spices being chopped and ground and the busy bustle of its York Gin shops. It also gets across the local community that is behind the brand, both in how it has created work for people in the city and is a gin that York can be truly proud of – as well as sponsoring York City Football Club. There is also a clear sense of fun the company and the team behind the brand clearly have in their work. Watch their finalist entry below.
The video is age restricted but you can watch it on YouTube by clicking here.
Nantwich Gin from Cheshire Botanicals
Nantwich Gin is the third gin brand to make it through as a finalist in the Story Behind the Label competition. This video has a nice ‘made at home’ feel to it that helps get across the small, local family approach that Nantwich Gin is all about. It tells the story about how the brand was created during lockdown and how the gin is inspired by a local botanist John Gerard. It really gets across the passion and drive behind the brand and how it has been able to scale up its production right from launch, when its initial batch of 500 bottles sold out within three months. A video to warm the cockles of your heart. Click below to watch.
- To find out more about the People’s Choice Drinks Awards click here. The entries for the wine competition are now closed with judging due to take place in London and Manchester during March. The People’s Choice Wine Awards take place in Manchester on April 25.
