Jewish Whisky Company Announces Significant Changes in 2019 for Single Cask Nation and Whisky Jewbilee
Building off 2017’s successful expansion of Single Cask Nation from a membership-only model to offering additional single cask bottlings of malt whisky, grain whisky via retail stores, Jewish Whisky Company plans a further expansion of their Single Cask Nation line of independently bottled whiskies into UK, European and Canadian markets in 2019.
“We constantly see great demand for our whiskies from many non-US markets,” said Jason Johnstone-Yellin, the company’s COO, “and as a result, we are keen to break into these markets while mirroring how we currently operate in the US.”
Jewish Whisky Company offers two separate outlets for Single Cask Nation sales: online, referred to internally and amongst their membership as ‘Special Projects Division,’ and retail. Single Cask Nation retail bottlings are currently available in the following US states: CA, CT, IL, LA, MA, NJ, NY, RI, WI, and IN with additional states being added as part of a national rollout in 2019.
“We’re proud of the fact that we bottled 28 casks in 2018 across both online and retail platforms,” said Joshua Hatton, the company’s CEO, “but we have every intention of tripling that number in 2019.”
With grand plans in place for 2019 and beyond the company has decided to mothball their globally regarded Whisky Jewbilee whisky festival to allow the needed time and focus to successfully realize their 2019 Single Cask Nation aspirations.
Whisky Jewbilee was built as a whisky geek’s whisky festival and, in the minds of Hatton and Johnstone-Yellin, must continue to evolve and innovate, challenging those very same whisky geeks who helped reinforce the reputation of the events across the United States. With an aggressive expansion plan in place for Single Cask Nation in 2019 there is no longer adequate time or focus to keep the Whisky Jewbilee held in high regard. Accordingly, the decision has been made to mothball the Whisky Jewbilee while tickets remain in high demand. All thirteen events have sold out and online publications like the Spirits Business and ScotchWhisky.com have named Whisky Jewbilee among the world’s top whisky festivals.
“We never want to phone-in any Jewbilee event,” said Hatton, ”The support Whisky Jewbilee has received in New York City since its inception in 2012, combined with the support it has garnered since it first started moving west to include Chicago in 2015 and Seattle in 2016, has been unbelievable and very much appreciated. Whisky Jewbilee attendees have a reputation unsurpassed on the whisky festival circuit. We’ll miss seeing so many familiar faces at future Jewbilee events but we’ll still visit these wonderful markets to share new Single Cask Nation releases.”
While both Hatton and Johnstone-Yellin lament the need to mothball Whisky Jewbilee, Johnstone-Yellin said “when we launched our company in 2011 it was with the intention of being an independent bottler first. While operating a whisky festival has been fun it’s time to refocus on our number one priority and, as such, mothballing the event is necessary to ensure that our UK, European, and Canadian expansion starting in 2019 is as successful as we can make it.”
About Jewish Whisky Company:
Established in 2011 , Jewish Whisky Company is the first and only US-based independent bottler of scotch, bourbon, rye, rum, and other world spirits. Owned and operated by Joshua Hatton and Jason Johnstone-Yellin, the company is home to Single Cask Nation, Whisky Jewbilee, WhiskyGeek Tours, and One Nation Under Whisky podcast. For more information, visit www.jewishwhiskycompany.com or contact Joshua & Jason at INFO at JEWISHWHISKYCOMPANY dot COM.
