Whisky Advocate Blog

I though I’d take a brief break from discussing all the new whiskies flooding the retail shelves these days and address a different topic that comes up a lot.

I get emails on a fairly regular basis from “malt advocates” asking me how they can get into the whisky business. Many of you are passionate about whisky but have a job that doesn’t have anything to do with whisky. That’s how it was for me about 17 years ago. I was a scientist before Malt Advocate magazine was born.

There are many ways to break into the business. Some people write a book, blog, webcast, or even publish a magazine, preferring the communications end of things. Others organize whisky festivals. I know some people who went the retail route, becoming a whisky specialist for a specialty retailer (or wholesaler).

Another angle is working for a whisky company as a brand ambassador. Every once in a while, I get an email from a whisky company letting me know that they are looking for a whisky enthusiast to fill a position. I received such an email just this past week and, since I was going to write about this topic anyway this weekend, I thought I’d pass it on. (I don’t plan on making a habit of this.) The Balvenie is looking for full-time brand ambassadors for the East coast and West coasts. Here’s the link: http://www.thebalvenieba.com/. One could certainly do worse that promote and drink Balvenie for a living.

Whichever direction you chose, I wish you all the best. The more the merrier. It’s a great time to jump into the whisky business because the category is growing at the moment.

Looks like Anheuser-Busch might be getting serious about expanding into the distilled spirits industry. (If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em, right?). Issue #92 of American Distiller posted a job offering by A-B for a Director of Distilled Spirits Development. And if there are any craft brewers lurking out there, I think the pay is a little more than what you’re making right now. Try a salary range of $100k-$150k. 

According to the posting, the job responsibilities include:

• Being responsible for the business development aspects of A-B’s distilled spirit entry, partnering with the innovation team to build a portfolio of internally developed and 3rd party spirit brands.
• Develop and implement new distilled spirit alliances to support NE distilled spirits test.
• Identify and target companies for acquisition and/or partnership. Act as principal negotiator representing A-B’s interest in the development of master distribution or import agreements. Evaluate alternative structures for AB to participate in the value created.
• Lead due diligence team and manage transaction to closing. Coordinate and negotiate where appropriate the legal documentation of the transaction.
• Work with the business process transition team to ensure proper accounting and reporting of financial, sales, and operational information.
• Coordinate brand right transition to A-B wholesaler system in open states. Lead the development of a state by state plan to sell distilled spirits in control states.
• Gather critical information regarding distilled spirit market conditions and business requirements from internal and external sources.
• Construct a thorough analysis of brand past sales performance and build detailed multi-year projections which forecast brand future sales.
• Evaluate the potential for spirit brand acquisitions.

Wow, that’s a lot of stuff. You’ll need, among other things, an MBA in finance with 10-15 years experience. The website listed to find out more information is: www.buschjobs.com. I checked the site to see if the posting is up there, and I couldn’t find it. That, along with some typographical errors I had to clean up when I imported the posting, makes me a little sceptical of the validity of the posting. Still, if it is legit and if you do get the job, go out there and make some good whisky (or rum or gin) for us.

I wonder:  if they make scotch-style whisky, will they get some Highland cattle and use them in commercials instead of the Budweiser Clydesdale’s? (Please, no sheep!)