LEMON ADDED TO GIVE WHISKY YOUTH APPEAL
By Adnews Staff
Corby Distilleries is pouring a libation in Ontario that it hopes will be the drink of 20 and 30-somethings. C.C. Citrus from Hiram Walker & Sons, the Ontario distillery owned by Montreal-based Corby, is the first of what could be a string of products made to woo younger imbibers. The Canadian whisky with a touch of lemon is 35% alcohol by volume, making it slightly lighter than most whisky. Corby says that when it tested different flavors with consumers, more of them said they would be interested in buying the whisky spiked with lemon than any of the other concoctions. Since one of the best ways to get people to buy something like this is to have them try it, Corby is doing extensive sampling in Ontario liquor stores. It is also attaching 50 ml sample bottles to the bottles of other liquor brands it sells. No advertising is planned at the moment. If C.C. Citrus sells in Ontario it will be rolled out to the rest of Canada and the U.S. in the spring. Bruce Hipkins, Corby's marketing manager for whiskey and brandy, says his company is working on developing a number of new whisky products it hopes will suit taste of younger people, who now show more of a preference for vodka and rum. Whisky has 30% of the Canadian spirits market but it's on a decline.