FOR RELEASE: June 19, 2012
IMAGES: See directions at end of release.
HEAVEN HILL DISTILLERIES INTRODUCES EVAN WILLIAMS APPLE ORCHARD™ SEASONAL LIQUEUR FOR FALL 2012
New Ready-to-Serve Fall Product is the first Bourbon-Based Apple Cider Liqueur
BARDSTOWN, KY—Heaven Hill Distilleries, Inc., the country’s largest independent family-owned and operated spirits producer and marketer, announces the newest addition to the Evan Williams Bourbon family—Evan Williams Apple Orchard Seasonal Liqueur. Available nationally starting in September, Evan Williams Apple Orchard is the first Bourbon-based apple cider liqueur and leverages the popularity of this seasonal flavor and the popularity of the growing Evan Williams brand franchise.
Designed to be available to consumers during the fall months of September through November, Evan Williams Apple Orchard marries flavor and heritage by using real apple cider and Evan Williams Bourbon, the nation’s, and the world’s, number two selling Bourbon brand. This unique ready-to-serve seasonal specialty can be enjoyed right out of the bottle, or for a real treat can be warmed for a more traditional usage.
Heaven Hill is taking advantage of the remarkable popularity and growth of the Evan Williams brand and the recently introduced Evan Williams flavored Reserves—Honey Reserve, Cherry Reserve and the newest, Cinnamon Reserve—to create a truly new type of Bourbon-based liqueur, but one which has a long and storied tradition. For many years southerners have combined warmed apple cider or applejack with some good straight Bourbon for what is sometimes called a ciderhouse whiskey cocktail. Now Evan Williams Apple Orchard makes that tradition easy and fun to replicate.
Like Evan Williams Original Egg Nog, another seasonal product intended to be sold from November through the new year, Evan Williams Apple Orchard will be pre-sold by Heaven Hill’s national network of wholesalers, and will be only available for the limited September through November time period. Once shipments are depleted, no more will be made available until the next fall season. And because it contains real apple cider, it should be refrigerated by consumers after opening, and shaken well before being poured.
Evan Williams Apple Orchard will be available in the 750ml size initially at an average national retail price of $11.99, and is bottled at a modest 17% alcohol/volume or 34 proof. It will be packaged in the familiar Evan Williams proprietary square bottle, and will leverage the equity of the Evan Williams logotype, but the label will be an autumnal russet, red and brown variation which features stylized apple illustrations and a descriptor that reads “the smoothness of Evan Williams with the taste of spiced apple cider.” The capsule closure also features the Evan Williams Apple Orchard logo in a step and repeat pattern, with the apple renderings, on a deep maroon background. Copy along the sides of the label tells the story of Evan Williams, describes how apple cider has been mixed with Bourbon since colonial days, and suggests to consumers that they “heat and enjoy.”
Evan Williams Apple Orchard will be supported at retail with a number of highly functional and attractive point of sale pieces, all of which utilize the same attractive fall apple graphics and all of which carry the tag line “A Bushel of Flavor Meets a Barrel of Smoothness”. A case card, which also carries the call to action “Savor it this Fall”, will make an arresting centerpiece for a multiple case floor stacking, and the attractive decorated case shippers will draw in consumer’s attention. A recipe card, featuring tempting cocktails such as a Bourbon Cider Twist and a Hot Cider Nog, will also be available for retail or on-premise use.
“We believe that Evan Williams Apple Orchard will be a major consumer sensation this fall,” asserted Evan Williams Senior Brand Manager Susan Wahl. “There are no other ready-to-serve products like it available today, and we believe the combination of an authentic apple cider and real Evan Williams Bourbon, warmed and served in a mug, will be one of the biggest new seasonal spirits launches this fall.”
As the nation’s second largest selling Bourbon, Evan Williams already commands a great deal of retail shelf space and an increasing share of the on-premise back bar as well. With the national roll out of the Evan Williams Honey Reserve, Cherry Reserve, Cinnamon Reserve, and now the Evan Williams Apple Orchard, there will be many facings of the familiar square Evan Williams bottle on retail shelves nationwide this fall.
Founded in 1934, Bardstown, KY-based Heaven Hill Distilleries, Inc. (www.heavenhill.com) is the nation’s largest independent, family-owned and operated spirits producer and marketer and the world’s second-largest holder of Kentucky Bourbon. Heaven Hill’s diversified portfolio of brands includes The Christian Brothers Brandies; Evan Williams and Elijah Craig Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskeys; Burnett’s Vodkas and Gin; Hpnotiq Liqueur; PAMA Pomegranate Liqueur; Lunazul and Two Fingers Tequilas, and Dubonnet Aperitif.
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CONTACT:
Larry Kass
Director of Corporate Communications
Heaven Hill Distilleries, Inc.
(502) 413-0220
lkass@heavenhill.com
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