Pernod Ricard opens luxury spirits boutique

Pernod Ricard has opened the Luxe Boutique, a first-of-its-kind exclusive wine and spirits store at Mumbai Duty Free’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Terminal 2. Two bottles of Chivas Regal The Icon retailing at $3,500 were sold the day the store launched.

The opening of the Luxe Boutique at Mumbai Airport Terminal 2

Exclusive digital interactive area

Created in partnership with Mumbai Duty Free, the Luxe Boutique houses a vast portfolio of the most premium and rare drinks collections.

Featuring over 40 skus, the premium selection available at the Luxe Boutique includes Royal Salute 62 Gun Salute, Chivas Regal 25 Year Old, Ballantine’s 30 Year Old, The Glenlivet 25 Year Old, Ballantine’s 17 Year Old, Royal Salute 38 Year Old, Absolut Elyx, GH Mumm Champagne and Brancott Estate wines.

Innovation, authenticity and diversity are values at the core of concept of the Luxe Boutique. Designed with the theme of fluid architecture, the store has an illuminated droplet-shaped centrepiece and houses an exclusive digital interactive area created for shoppers to learn more about their favourite single malt or Scotch brand simply by placing the bottle on the interactive screen.

Kartik Mohindra, Business Head - International Brands at Pernod Ricard India, said: “We are proud to present our first exclusive luxury retailing experience with the Luxe Boutique store here in India. Indian consumers are increasingly adopting luxury wines and spirits and this unique boutique will provide an exclusive yet intimate brand experience to showcase our entire portfolio. We are sure travellers and shoppers will enjoy a truly luxurious experience with our brands.”

New Zacapa rum set to delight adventurous palates

Diageo and Ron Zacapa have announced that the latest edition to its family of rums, Zacapa Edición Negra, is now available in travel retail stores worldwide.

Zacapa Edición Negra rum

A gifting opportunity 

Inspired by traditional Mayan rituals, this slow-aged artisanal rum is described as a true expression of Guatemalan heritage and culture. 

The new spirit showcases a different Zacapa flavour from the sweet butterscotch notes identified in Zacapa 23, to create a distinctive and remarkable chocolate taste.

The new bottle is designed to stand out from the crowd and enhance the gifting opportunity.

Introducing a hypnotic MCM collection

MCM is commemorating 40 years of innovation by introducing a limited-edition collaboration with German visionary artist Tobias Rehberger which blurs the lines between fashion and art. In this exclusive accessories collection, the German luxury brand’s logo signature, known as the Visetos, has been reimagined in a stripe rendering, presenting viewers with hypnotic visuals and eclectic patterns.

Artist Tobias Rehberger's reimagined MCM Visetos monogram

Inspired by the British Navy's dazzle concept

“This collection is about the history of MCM, how MCM has created a strong brand ID by making patterns that only consisted of logo repetitions all over a bag,” says Rehberger. “I played around with that idea and reinterpreted it with a redesigned MCM logo rendered in stripes. Instead of repeating the logo as a pattern, I decided to print only one big logo all over the bag.”

From polychromatic block colours to binary linear patterns, the MCM x Tobias Rehberger Collection presents viewers with visual paradoxes through bold shapes and colour. Inspired by the “dazzle concept”, the signature designs were based on a camouflage military tactic used by the British Navy during the First World War, which entailed painting battleship surfaces in repeating patterns that made the ships difficult to target. The tactic created an optical illusion and obscured the vessel’s form, resulting in the ability to avert enemy attacks.

The large Kira shopper in the MCM x Tobias Rehberger Collection

Unique serial numbers and customised labels 

The collection features a variety of bag shapes that blur the lines between product and art. Each limited-edition style is available in a series of 250 pieces, numbered with unique serial numbers and customised labels created exclusively for the collaboration.

Designed exclusively for the MCM x Tobias Rehberger collaboration, the large Kira shopper is crafted in coated canvas with leather trim. Adorned with matte black hardware, the Duke backpack features a single top-handle with adjustable shoulder straps. Available in a duet of colours, the MCM x Tobias pouch can be used as a case for daily organisation or can double as an edgy evening clutch. Meanwhile, a futuristic bag can be transformed from a 3D cube to a 2D diamond, making for the perfect clutch.

This 3D cube clutch can be transformed into a 2D diamond shape

Made-to-order hard luggage 

Inspired by the golden age of travel, MCM’s Tobias Rehberger hard luggage collection celebrates a bold revival of the brand’s classic valises. Handcrafted in Italy, the limited-edition made-to-order collection features one-of-a-kind travel accessories. The five-piece range offers only the most classic, enduring styles of hard-case luggage couture with an artistic twist. Adorned in a colour-block graphic motif, the exclusive collection features opulent jewel tones that subtly spell the letters M-C-M.

Davidoff Art Initiative crafts 2016 Limited Art Edition

The Davidoff Art Initiative has announced the 2016 launch of the second Davidoff Limited Art Edition featuring a specially commissioned video work by artist Olivia McGilchrist. An exclusive preview of the video, titled “from many sides”, took place at the Moving Image Art Fair from March 3-6 in New York City.

As a Jamaican-French artist and videographer, Olivia McGilchrist’s work is rooted in a Caribbean-centred, multi-media art practice that couples new technology with local platforms to explore contemporary cultural connections from the African diaspora. By interweaving moving images and sounds, the artist suffuses the natural world with new meanings and colours that capture the history of the Caribbean.

Artist Olivia McGilchrist's "from many sides" video still (Picture: Oettinger Davidoff)

An immersive, multi-sensory experience

“from many sides” uses digitised renderings to create an immersive, multi-sensory experience that blends landscapes, cultures, stories and people of the Caribbean region and highlights the rich heritage of the region through a variety of content unique to local experiences, reworked and presented as an interactive work of art.

McGilchrist, who was born in Jamaica and moved to Europe when she was three, said: “My recent creative practice is deeply inspired by a longing to reconnect with my birth land as well as the cultural space of the Caribbean. My education abroad awarded me the opportunity to learn new media technology platforms, but I also had access to local art hubs and traditional artistic practices when I returned home to Jamaica. Because of the duality of my experiences, I aspire to create artwork that overturns biographical or social expectations through a Caribbean-centred, multi-media arts practice.”

Launched by Swiss cigar specialist Oettinger Davidoff AG in 2012, the Davidoff Art Initiative was designed to build more visibility for art and artists in the Caribbean. In addition to offering residencies and grants, the initiative produced the first Limited Art Edition cigar box in 2014, featuring the work of Cuban-born artist Quisqueya Henríquez.

The values of crafting and blending

“Davidoff is continuously looking for new ways to engage with and support contemporary art. The Limited Art Edition supports the Davidoff Art Initiative’s mission of familiarising the international audience with artists from the Caribbean and it helps fund the Davidoff Art Initiative at the same time,” said Hans-Kristian Hoejsgaard, CEO of Oettinger Davidoff AG. “Olivia’s video work is a fascinating visual blend of regionally specific elements. Because crafting and blending are the same values at the heart of everything we do, we feel that Davidoff is perfectly matched with this extraordinary artist.”

The Limited Art Edition 2016 will be produced in an edition of 7,000 and will include the digital work of video art on carrier media with custom-made cigars designed specifically for the project. A highly limited run of Collectors Editions is also being released. These will include one of 16 numbered editions of the commissioned video, a unique still image from the video, and a signed certificate by the artist.

Shortly after the premiere at the Moving Image Art Fair in New York, a preview and artist introduction will take place during Art Basel in Hong Kong from March 24-26, 2016. Both the Limited Art Edition 2016 and Collectors Edition will be unveiled in June 2016 during Art Basel in Basel, Switzerland.

The 2016 Davidoff Limited Art Editions and Collectors Editions will be available at Davidoff flagship stores in the US, Europe and Asia, starting June 2016. A percentage of the proceeds from all special art editions will be dedicated to sustaining the Davidoff Art Initiative.

Bacardi creates a buzz in Auckland

Bacardi and travel retailer Aer Rianta International (ARI) have partnered at Auckland Airport in a major shopper experience incorporating three category-leading brands: Bombay Sapphire, the leading premium gin in travel retail, Grey Goose super-premium vodka, and the John Dewar & Sons Fine Whisky Emporium featuring Dewar’s, the world’s most awarded blended Scotch whisky portfolio. This major category initiative targeted white spirits and whisky lovers alike in a two-month campaign. 

The John Dewar & Sons Fine Whisky Emporium at Auckland Airport

Prominent position with sampling activity

The prominent position was also key, located immediately facing passengers as they cleared security and entered the departures lounge. Impactful branding and sampling activity led by brand ambassadors at The Loop Duty Free, ARI’s store, attracted noticeable increases in footfall. The promotion continued in-store in the spirits area.

This is the first time that ARI has featured a multi-brand promotion like this. Tom Byrne, General Manager of ARI Auckland, said: "We are delighted with the Bombay Sapphire and Dewar’s activation at The Loop Duty Free. The brands and their following in New Zealand speak for themselves and this bright, eye-catching activation at the front of our shop engages passengers even before they clear security. Being able to sample the products further enforces the ‘want to buy’ and enhances the overall experience for the passenger."

Irving Holmes Wong, Regional Director, Asia Pacific and MEA at Bacardi Global Travel Retail, added: “Only Bacardi has the category-leading brands to deliver a luxury activation of this scale, and it’s amazing to see how positioning three of our star performing brands of Grey Goose, Bombay Sapphire and Dewar’s like this is delivering such positive shopper interaction as a result of the broadened shopper appeal.  This is a fantastic example of the sum of the whole being greater than the parts and we are delighted with ARI for sharing our vision and joint business planning in ways that unlock incremental growth for us all. Together we are offering shoppers at Auckland Airport a genuinely exciting shopping experience with premiumised and differentiated products. This activation is certainly inspiring strong conversion.”

The promotion’s Emporium space featured a range of age statements from the range and the Bacardi collection of single malts. Against a backdrop of digital screens showing film footage of Dewar’s, trained brand ambassadors tutored shoppers through a range of tastings from a whisky stave presented on Dewar’s barrels.

The recently introduced super-premium gin Star of Bombay was elegantly presented in a rocks glass over ice with a twist of orange and equal parts gin to Fever Tree Indian tonic water, delivering an intense flavour experience. Design cues in the bar played to the signature blue vibrancy of the Bombay gin portfolio with graphics depicting the key botanicals from the ends of the earth. 

Grey Goose completed the offer with the full brand portfolio available on-shelf in the spirits department supported by sampling of key serves.

The Chinese zodiac meets the MCM zeitgeist

MCM has debuted the Year of the Monkey in its stores with gilded, theatrical installations that highlight the German luxury brand’s 2016 Monkey collection. The dramatic store displays feature an asymmetrical facade, with a curvilinear aesthetic that invites movement. The installations also incorporate a playful treetop silhouette, reminiscent of faraway rain forests and distant tropics.

Monkeys in full swing

In Shanghai, the sumptuously ornate façade of MCM’s Grand Gateway Boutique introduces four playful monkeys within a gilded case, showcasing MCM’s Milla totes. From curved palms to the brand’s signature Cognac-coloured cases, the brand’s iAPM flagship in the Chinese city has a scenic interior display, featuring four playful monkeys in full swing. Meanwhile, in Beijing, the Shin Kong Place flagship boasts a colourful veneer, complete with mirrored palms connected by vine-like ropes.

MCM's Grand Gateway Boutique in Shanghai

Theatrical corridor

In Hong Kong, behind a brass-plate facade, MCM’s rotunda-like entrance to its Entertainment Building store conceals a series of flipping monkeys, welcoming visitors into the theatrical corridor with a series of red and black Milla crossbody bags and a duet of totes from the same line.

The entrance to MCM's store in Hong Kong's Entertainment Building

Electrifying neon-lit display

In Seoul, the hot fashion city of the moment, MCM’s huge Space flagship presents sweeping views of the Chinese New Year collection, presenting a series of standout styles from the Claudia Studs and Monkey Visetos collections. The Kunsthalle flagship, also in the South Korean capital, features an electrifying neon-lit display that celebrates the Year of the Monkey with vivid hues and animated elevations.

MCM's Space flagship in Seoul

Bushmills launches first travel retail collection

The Steamship Collection is the name of a new, travel-inspired range from Bushmills Irish Whiskey, Ireland’s oldest working distillery. These limited-edition Irish whiskeys are available exclusively to shoppers in selected travel retail outlets. The first release in the collection, Sherry Cask Reserve, combines centuries-old fine Irish whiskey-making with intercontinental flavours, to mark the 125th anniversary of the maiden voyage of the SS Bushmills steamship.

The Steamship Collection from Bushmills Irish Whiskey

Maritime-inspired packaging

The limited-edition collection is inspired by the voyages of SS Bushmills to new corners of the world and introduces a range of cask-matured Bushmills Irish whiskeys. In 1890, the ship, commissioned by then owners The Boyd Brothers, set course for America, travelling as far as Philadelphia and Yokohama, before returning refilled with casks of rum, fortified wine and bourbon – the gateway to new flavour possibilities.

David Phelan, director of Jose Cuervo Global Travel Retail, said: “The launch marks an exciting phase for Bushmills and demonstrates Jose Cuervo’s commitment to unlocking the potential of this legendary whiskey in the high-profile travel retail channel. The Steamship Collection is available now in Belfast, Dublin and London Heathrow, and while it can’t be purchased elsewhere, we hope distribution will extend across the world, just like the voyages of SS Bushmills to the USA, Asia and beyond.”

Sherry Cask Reserve (40%abv) is exclusively matured in first-fill Oloroso sherry butts to deliver additional spiced honey, dark chocolate and rich dried fruit flavours. The bottle is presented in a distinctive maritime-designed packaging featuring a replica illustration of the famous Bushmills steamship.

Speaking about Bushmills’ tradition for innovation, Colum Egan, Master Distiller at The Old Bushmills Distillery, said: “For centuries distillers have experimented with different barrels, so naturally I was inspired by the adventures of the ship and the opportunities it opened to experiment with various casks from around the world. So, together with Master Blender Helen Mulholland, we created a whiskey with a rich, complex flavour and a smooth finish – a characteristic synonymous with our range of triple-distilled whiskeys.”

A limited number of bottles of Sherry Cask Reserve are available now exclusively to travellers in Belfast City, Dublin and Heathrow Terminal 5 priced at €80 (£65/$89) for one litre. It is the first release in the collection, which will soon comprise three permanent expressions plus regular special releases.

Tasting notes

Oloroso is a darker sherry, with a rich and nutty flavour profile, which provides a new layer of complexity in the whiskey. A medium rich gold in colour, the nose has a full-bodied, intriguing aroma with dried fruit, spices and burnt sugar sweetness. Bushmills’ distinctive honeyed maltiness is intensified in this robust, darker liquid. Dark chocolate, nuttiness and spice with sweet oils mingle with vanilla and honey. The long, sweet and smooth finish has subtle liquorice notes.