Magnum whisky liqueur

A Speyside distillery is aiming to shake up the flavoured spirits category with the launch of Scotch whisky cream liqueur Magnum.

Magnum, made by the independently-owned BenRiach Distillery Co, is packaged in a stainless steel flask designed to echo the shape of a milk churn. It is available in 70cl (rsp: £19.99) and 50cl (rsp: £14.99) formats.

The product had a limited rollout last autumn and is available in selected Tesco stores in Scotland. The distillery, along with agent RTM Sales Solutions (RTMSS), is now looking to extend its distribution with Tesco and is also speaking to another multiple.

“Within other spirit categories, notably gin and vodka in recent years, we’ve seen the emergence of many new and successful premium-level brands,” said RTMSS director Steve Horne “We believe there is fantastic potential to also create similar market success for a premium Scotch malt whisky-based product.

“The market share potential for premium drinks brands in other categories such as gin equates to around 10-15 per cent of overall sales. If applied to the cream liqueur category Magnum could be on target for annual sales of around 100,000 cases in the UK alone.

“The initial consumer engagement, both in the UK and abroad, shows that there’s a great opportunity to establish Magnum as an international premium brand cream liqueur which can only be positive for the wider Scotch whisky industry.”

Regarding the similarities to the ice cream brand name, Horne said: ”The link to other products with the same name has so far not been an issue at any consumer trade events we have attended, in fact it has been very positively received.”

The leading whiskey cream liqueur, Baileys, is the number one flavoured spirit-based drink in the UK, with sales down 1.7% year on year to £80.54m [Nielsen 52 w/e 11 October 2014]. The best-selling Scotch whisky-based liqueur – Drambuie – is less than a tenth the size with sales of £7.9m (down 5.2% year on year).