A social network for whiskies

Connosr is a social network for whisky lovers. It uses Google Maps to identify the origin of each whisky, plus whisky-related event listings and discussion boards. There are also affiliate links to partner sites where you can purchase whiskies. There is an iPhone version of the site.

via Mashable

Maker's Mark inspires young artists...

Maker's Mark have organised a series of distinctive sampling events which used young and upcoming artists to create one-off and exclusive art out of 50kg of Maker’s Mark red wax. Four bars across London and Brighton created the perfect setting for the Maker’s Mark experience, not only did you get to enjoy the pleasure of a Maker’s and Ginger served by a fantastic (and über cool!) promotional team, all clued up on what makes Maker’s Mark so special, you also got the opportunity to see inspired pieces of art unfold with every sip.

Cargo was the location for the first artist event and saw Oscar and Ewan, a Swedish and Scottish duo now based in London, create a wax painting of the Master of Maker’s himself – Bill Samuels Junior. However it wasn’t simply a spectator event and in true Maker’s Mark style you were given the opportunity to create your own, shall we say ‘individual’ (!) art. All it took was a table, a block of wax and some Perspex and I was totally gob smacked on the number of people that actually participated out of their own free will. Not that I doubted the activity, but more surprised by the overwhelming enthusiasm and response.

The atmosphere and feedback received was brilliant. This first event definitely set the standard for the remaining 3 artist events. I will do a summary post of all events in the upcoming week or so.

Overall, a great start, very enjoyable and we got some people to “Wax Lyrical” for sure!

Knob Creek Drought

From Adrants:

"So Knob Creek, due to demand for its bourbon, is running low on supply and is at risk of running dry before its next batch is ready in November. Rather than bottle the next batch before its full nine year maturity, the comapny has turned its lack of product into a promotion. A sick joke of a promotion but a promotion none the less.

We've been sent all sorts of goodies from marketers in the mail. Sadly, most are of the throw-a-way variety. This is most certainly not the case when it comes to liquor, unless you consider pouring the product down one's throat throwing it away.

So we were quite pleased to see the FedEx man drop off a package which, when opened, turned out to be a nicely designed box from Knob Creek. Ooo...more liquor, we thought. And borboun. And a really good bourbon at that!

Sadly, upon opening the box, all we got was an empty bottle of Knob Creek and a letter explaining the company's predicament. OK, so it is a fairly ingenious promotion but, dudes, the whirlwind of anticipation and resulting depression caused us to go sulk in our bedroom for at least five minutes before we could come back to work.

At least Jim Beam sends full bottles of its product! Then again, Jim Beam isn't Knob Creek so we're inclined to understand. Anyway, there's the story of Knob Creek's latest promotion."

The comments are broadly positive:

"To me this is a great technique for grabbing attention and instigating curiousity to stand apart and generate demand for your product. With this kind of promotion they are bound to turn the retail outlets dry of supply sooner than they actually anticipate thereby creating a following of curious first timers who would wait for the new supply in Novemeber. Though the challenge would be to engage and make sure the brand recall is fresh until then."

"I got a "I survived the drought of 2009" t-shirt. I'm quite pleased with it, actually."

It reminds me (a tiny bit) of Burger King's Whopper Freakout. Holding back your product is an interesting mechanic so long as you do it in the right way. For Knob Creek it is a sign that they are so committed to creating top quality bourbon that they wouldn't dream of cutting corners.