Rushing seems to be the MO (Modus Operandi) of McGregor’s Proper No. Twelve Whiskey. The initial release of the whiskey was launched in a flurry of half completed and illegal decisions that, most notably, saw the whiskey released into the European market in 750ml bottles (EU legally requires spirits to be bottled in 700ml formats). Furthermore, their bespoke embossed green bottle was nowhere to be found and the replacement bottle was painted an odd green hue which did not bond with the glue of the label creating a very shabbily hashed together product. So, surely they can only go up from here?
(You check out our first look at Batch 1 here).
It appears, that these decisions were taken to ensure that the launch McGregor’s whiskey was ahead of his fight against Russian, Khabib Nurmagomedov. This obviously, would allow McGregor to cash in on the publicity that he would get ahead of this lightweight bout.
Many onlookers, including myself, were perplexed at the half completed job that was sent to market by McGregor’s ‘Eire Spirits’. He is MMA’s man of style and this release was anything but stylish. A rush job indeed, but all would be rectified for the second batch, we assumed.
Today, we received the confirmation from McGregor’s social media pages, that they had officially ditched the painted green bottles and his whiskey had finally found its home in its intended bespoke, green glass bottle.
In a recent ‘apology’ (read ‘press release’), Eire Spirits apologised for McGregor’s whiskey selling out ahead of schedule and, promised that it would be back in time for the Christmas market.
Thus the race was officially on. The task ahead of the team was to repackage Proper No. Twelve in its intended bespoke bottle, and deliver it to its main market, the United States, all within a month, in time to cash in on the Christmas rush.
Thankfully it seems that Eire Spirits have begun to pull this off. The bespoke bottle has arrived and McGregor plastered his social media channels with images of three new size variants of his whiskey, 1 Litre, 750 millilitre and 375 millilitre, soon to be available in the United States.
There has been no confirmation of a 700-millilitre edition for European markets, although Eire Spirits ‘apology’ did note that they would be expanding their European footprint into the ‘U.K., Australia, New Zealand, Russia, Canada, and others’. As such, we assume other size variants will become available.
McGregor’s recent posts show him standing in one of the Old Bushmill’s Distillery‘s (the manufacturer of his whiskey despite his own claims of owning a distillery) tasting rooms, proudly holding a bottle of the new packaging Proper No. Twelve. Although, its a long way from Antrim to Atlanta but fear not, we’re sure the whiskey is making its way stateside as we speak. Keep an eye out for the flashy new bottles in your local stores, this side of Christmas.
As always, it is our opinion that this whiskey is fine. It is a simple blended whiskey (unfortunately drowned in E150a, caramel colouring), that is neither terrible nor amazing, just right for the price category in our opinion. McGregor’s whiskey is an opportunity to draw in untold amounts of consumers who have never experienced Irish whiskey before. This could prove to be an incredibly important brand for the Irish whiskey industry, if McGregor’s global reach manages to boost the industry’s success even further. This will no doubt be at the top of the stocking filler list for the special man in your life and it will undoubtedly fly off the shelves.
In our opinion though, the success of the Christmas rush on this product could give a brief indication into the future of this brand. Assuming that it will be the Christmas smash hit, that it appears it will be, there is no doubt in my mind that international drinks companies will come knocking for a sit down. It is not unusual for celebrities to establish their own drinks brands before flipping them to one of the industry greats. For example, if we look at George Clooney’s Casamigos Tequila which he set up with his friends, that sold for a cool $1 Billion Dollars, in 2017. While it might be early days yet for McGregor’s Proper No. Twelve, we can already see that this is becoming a global sensation and part of me wonders if someone has the right price to take it over?
Who knows, until then enjoy your Proper No. Twelve responsibly and enjoy the new chic, bespoke bottle! And if you’ve got a bottle yourself and want to let us know what you think, catch us on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook.
Sláinte.
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