Let's Get This Liqueur Par-TEA started
Dropping dad jokes and I'm not even a dad
We Brits are known for a lot of things: complaining about the weather, Full English breakfasts, football and plenty of sarcasm (Sometimes, I think sarcasm is my default setting).
Oh, and let’s not forget tea.
Tea drinking is synonymous with England and when you infuse that with some alcohol, you’re going to have a good time.
Tea and alcohol are the heart of Whistler’s Storm, a liqueur brand set up by Dom Richardson.
I met Dom at the Northern Bar and Restaurant Show in my home city of Manchester (Met an Irish whisky ambassador too and that’s an interesting story to read…)
I was hooked by the logo of Whistler’s Storm and we got to chatting.
Dom’s incredibly passionate about his product and I’ll let him tell you more about it.
If you’d also like to subscribe to Drink To That while you’re at it, that’d be nice.
Prior to setting up Whistler’s Storm what was your background in the drinks industry?
I've never worked in a bar, though liqueur making started as a hobby. It stemmed from a trip to Spain with friends and we found that limoncello was cheap in the shop. We drank a lot of limoncellos and from there I started making the recipe along with other fruit-based liqueurs.
I then had this idea for tea and started experimenting with recipes for fun and it turned out they tasted pretty good. I then did some research and found there wasn’t much going on with tea-based liqueurs in the UK or Europe and decided to turn the idea into a brand.
There are a lot of tea varietals out there and it’d be interesting to know what the process was like for narrowing down the right ingredients.
It was a fun process and started during 2020 in the early stages of lockdown. With more time on my hands, I bought different types of tea and spent the next 6 - 7 months trying different recipes.
I tried Darjeeling, jasmine and even a chocolate kind of tea and more. They were combined with different alcohol bases and I used a scoring system until I settled on Earl Grey and Assam black tea.
I also have a green tea recipe that I’m currently perfecting and hoping to launch in the next year or so.
That’s awesome. I love the creativity that goes into creating distinct drink brands and I think a lot of that has to do with labelling too. Speaking of which, I was first drawn to Whistler’s Storm through the label and it gave me seafaring rum vibes.
What’s the story behind the label?
The idea behind Whistler’s Storm and the label is we've got a whistling kettle, which creates a storm in a teacup. The ship on the bottle is a tea clipper ship and in the 1800s these types of ships were used to deliver tea shipments from the East. Places like India, China and Japan used the clipper ships to deliver tea to the West.
The ships were used to race each other and the vessel that arrived first would receive awards and the crew would be given prizes from buyers in the UK.
That’s fascinating. I wasn’t aware of the history of clipper ships. What was the design process like for the label?
For the label, I worked with a graphic designer called Sean Harvey from a company called Sand Creative. Sean put together the initial images and then we worked with a French artist who does a lot of board game and card game artwork.
It took a few months to get it perfected because I wanted a label that stood out if it were on a bar shelf. There’s a lot of competition out there and it was important to stand out with something different.
Personally, I love storytelling and how it relates to crafting narratives for drink brands.
You have a strong identity with your tea-related story and I wanted to know what your thoughts are on combining narratives with drinks and brands you think are doing this well.
I think having a specific story to share is great and goes a long way to promoting drink products.
Brands that I think have a good story are in the rum category. My favourite drink is spiced rum and I took inspiration from Kraken for Whistler’s Storm. I’m not too sure about the story behind Kraken, but their branding is really cool.
My next question is to do with the liqueurs category. Why do you think it’s become so popular?
What I’ve found is that people have a sweet tooth and liqueurs can fulfil that need. There’s a lot of variety in drinks today and liqueurs fit with a lot of other categories because they are available in different flavours.
Another factor is that people aren’t necessarily going out for just a beer or a mixer. There’s a greater demand for innovative new products and liqueurs work well in cocktails for example.
Where would you like to see Whistler’s Storm in the next few years and do you plan to bring out any new products?
As mentioned, I have the green tea recipe I’m planning to launch and there’s scope for many other tea flavours. I’ve thought about going into the ready to drink category with canned drinks.
In terms of the journey over the next few years, I’d like the brand to be global. We’re only selling in the UK at the moment but tea is a huge industry and finding the right export and distribution partners will be key to growth.
What’s your best advice for someone who’d like to set up their own drink brand?
Be prepared for things to take much longer than you originally planned. I'd say make sure that you have a good product because you need to carve out your niche and stand out in a crowded market.
You should also build a strong network, especially if you haven’t been in the hospitality industry before. For me, that was going to events and trade shows and I’ve met some great people who’ve shared their experiences.
Finally, make sure you understand and get all your licenses for starting an alcohol business. There are so many and while I figured it out, it would’ve been helpful if there was a complete list on a website.
Check out Whistler’s Storm for some excellent tea-based booze products!
I’d also like to mention that I love helping to share the stories of drink brands from around the world through copywriting and content marketing.
This includes blogging, website pages, brand tone of voice creation, content strategy, white paper development and more.
If you’re looking to grow your drink business through the power of content marketing and copywriting, all you’ve gotta do is reply back and we can start by chatting about our favourite kind of drinks.
All the best,
Jamie