MAGAZINE
Issue 8 - July 2012
esdmagazine.com
The
Stafford
The Art of Informal Luxury
In this issue, we showcase
Super Premium Vodka:
Chase • Belvedere • Cîroc
PLUS:
Antico • Assaggetti • Cambscuisine
K West Hotel & Spa • St. Ermin’s Hotel
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Dream
: Chase Vodka
Chasing
the
Having spent his life working with the humble potato,
William Chase first rose to prominence as the founder of
Tyrrells before conceiving Chase Vodka in 2004. We caught
up with the man himself to find out more about
his distillery’s world-beating vodka.
Whilst travelling the USA in 2004
searching for packaging equipment for
Tyrrells, William stumbled upon a small
distillery making potato vodka – the rest,
as they say, is history. Having become
disenchanted with the crisp market,
William decided it would be more fun
making vodka. Much like with Tyrrells,
William’s strategy was refreshingly
simple: to make a quality product with
provenance and pedigree – a strategy
that has taken the industry by storm.
Quality not quantity
“When I first started Chase, the whole
aim was to make something better
and to try and get the industry to
buy into it, not from brainwashing or
sponsoring bartenders, but from a quality
perspective,” he begins by telling us.
“I didn’t want to just throw money at
the product. Indeed, I felt like we had
a real story to tell and that the vodka
should speak for itself without massive
advertising campaigns and billboards
plastered everywhere.
“Tyrrells was a massive success but it
had reached a point where it was going
to masses and so I fancied a change in
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direction, which coincided with my trip
to America in 2004,” he recalls. “Before I
tried the vodka from this small distillery
I had no idea that it could taste so good
and it really opened my eyes to what
could be done with the humble potato.
Obviously it is quite a big jump from the
crisp market to vodka and, although we
began by making the vodka alongside
Tyrrells, I soon realised the two wouldn’t
work alongside one another.
“Because of the premium market we
were aiming at, we weren’t able to tie
in premium spirits with salty snacks, so
it was a big leap of faith to leave Tyrrells.
However, I knew from experience that
if you have a good product, breaking
into the retail sector is relatively easy.
Retailers are now quite open to stocking
quality products, particularly in the
premium market, so if they like it, the
chances are they will begin to stock it,
which was perfect for Chase Vodka.
The pain barrier
“With the on-trade, however, we found
that this was totally dominated by the
large brands, so we had to work on
a campaign that educated the buyers
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about the quality and pedigree of our
vodka,” William explains. “Nearly all of
the big players sell mass produced vodka,
so we wanted to break the
mould by using all of our
own ingredients, grown
on our own farm and by
making the vodka in our
own distillery.
“This was a painful
experience because
although the vodka tasted
fantastic it cost a hell of a
lot of money to put the
infrastructure in place to
make a suitable premium
spirit from scratch in any
sort of volume,”
he testifies. “Just
to put things in
perspective, we
could probably
buy a spirit in for
about 50 pence
a litre, like many
of the larger
distilleries do, and
finish it off with
a bit of vanilla.
To actually go
out and make it
ourselves costs
five pounds per
litre, making it a
very expensive
process in
comparison.
“Consequently,
the only way to
really market
Chase was to rely
on its quality and
by inviting buyers
and consumers
to taste it. We
hand-picked all
of the bars that
weren’t controlled
by the big players
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“We realised that we could
never compete with the likes
of Bacardi or Diageo, so it
was up to us to spread the
word by inviting bartenders
and owners to our distillery
and see the pedigree and
provenance with their own
eyes”.
and went to
all of them to
find out who
was genuinely
interested. We
realised that
we could never
compete with
the likes of Bacardi or Diageo, so it was
up to us to spread the word by inviting
bartenders and owners to our distillery
and see the pedigree and provenance
with their own eyes”.
In Chase Vodka’s first year, the
company ran 200 buses from London
full of bartenders from the capital, which,
as William continues by explaining,
was the start of the Chase revolution.
“This grew to 500 buses the next year
and last year we had 1,000 tour the
distillery. Our distillery is a trade facility
for professionals to come and see the
process, so they can ultimately believe in
what they’re selling. We started an event
in 2011 called ‘Rock the Farm’ that is
solely for the on-trade and it had 1,000
guests and this year we’re expecting
around 3,000.
“In a sense it is kind of like a festival
where visitors can come and make
their own vodka out of parsnips, so it’s
injecting a real ‘hands-on’ experience to
our potential buyers. Once they’ve tasted
the vodka and seen the pedigree, the
product tends to sell itself,” he affirms.
“At the beginning in 2008, this was the
hardest part of the business – getting
potential customers to try Chase, but
now the strategy has been vindicated,
which is a great relief!”
of quality.
“Because
I was coming
into it without
any knowledge
of the vodka
market and
thus without
knowing how to market Chase in a
suitable way, it took quite some time to
scale the business in appropriately,” he
asserts. “The production process was
more straightforward because I had
experience with the ingredients. Today,
we do the majority of our sales through
wholesalers such as Bibendum but it is
integral that we have our team of ‘foot
soldiers’ on the ground spreading the
word about Chase Vodka and what we’re
all about.
“Rather than just pay brand
ambassadors, we train our team to know
the vodka and the pedigree inside out,
because I think to sell something of this
nature you have to have a real passion
for it,” William affirms. “The branding, too,
was a result of passion and quite a bit of
hard work. We often do special edition
bottles for customers, which really look
great on the shelves and in high-end
bars. It took a long, long time to get the
brand reflected in the bottle – if the
bottle is too exclusive it has the potential
to alienate customers, whereas we didn’t
want to undersell it either.
“As we’re always focused on the liquid
inside the bottle it was critical that the
brand was communicated through the
bottle and I think we’ve achieved that
now”.
All grown and made
Bespoke and Flexible
As with almost all premium food and
beverage products, those that can tell
the difference are the connoisseurs who
tend to be positioned at the top-end of
the market – a fact that William realised
from the very beginning. “When I saw
the big brands marketing ‘super premium
spirits’ I noticed that they were still made
en masse, in stainless steel distilleries.
Whereas our vodka is made in a copper
still and unfiltered; this is the true mark
As well as Chase Vodka, the company
has also become famous for its
Marmalade Vodka with its distinctive
orange bottle that reflects the Seville
oranges used in the distilling process.
“Although I wouldn’t say that we’re an
artisanal brand, we certainly do have the
flexibility to produce bespoke vodkas
for particular clients, which is a massive
asset. Because our vodka is expensive
to produce, we have to ensure there is
enough turnover in the market to cover
our costs,” William tells us. “But the fact
that our vodka has won so many awards
is a great testament to the strength of
our products”.
“The really exciting thing about Chase
Vodka is the strength of the export
market, so rather than having to saturate
the UK, we have been able to focus on
the overseas sectors, such as Hong Kong
where we do a phenomenal amount
of business,” he notes. “We sell directly
overseas and with the growing strength
of social media, we are increasingly
renowned the world-over, which is a real
affirmation of the brand”.
Despite the much publicised recession,
there has been a crystallisation of quality
Because our vodka is
expensive to produce, we
have to ensure there is
enough turnover in the
market to cover our costs.
But the fact that our vodka
has won so many awards
is a great testament to the
strength of our products”.
all people and
our price point
(£36 per bottle)
means that we
are, by definition,
a premium brand,”
he asserts. “Our
heritage and the
whole ethos behind Chase means that
we are more than just a marketing
gimmick, which is confirmed by the
quality of the vodka.”
An exciting year
“This is a massively exciting year for us as
our main USP is the quality of the core
ingredients and the meticulous distilling
process,” William tells us. “Across the
William’s Elegant and Crisp Gin being bottled
in the market whereby consumers have
become more receptive than ever to
genuine pedigree – something that
William continues by clarifying. “I think
that people are perhaps more prepared
than ever to pay for quality as long as
they’re not being pushed into it. Indeed,
if people discover it themselves there is
a sense of delight that comes with such a
genuinely great-tasting drink.
“It’s very hard to be all things to
world, the Union Jack is becoming one
of the coolest ‘brandings’ around, which
you wouldn’t have believed 20 years ago,
so we have slowly incorporated it into
our bottles. We were recently awarded
the Gold at the San Francisco World
Spirits Competition, which was a huge
affirmation of our hard work, particularly
because we, as British vodka, beat the
likes of Russian, Polish and French vodkas.
“Because of the Olympics and the
Jubilee, 2012 is
going to be our
best year yet,”
he concludes.
“We are
already one of
the best-selling
products in
World Duty Free at UK airports as we’re
a British brand with true pedigree.
“With regards to
the future, we are
not looking to
expand too much
in the UK because
that will lead to
oversaturation and,
thus, undermine
the strength of the
brand. As they say,
exclusivity is not
just about
price but
availability.
“As there is
no danger of
us outsourcing
production,
we know
and, most
importantly,
our customers
know, that
the quality
of Chase will
be constant,
so although
we could
increase our
production,
we are far
happier with
making quality
vodka in small
batches for
discerning
customers”.
Visit: www.chasedistillery.co.uk
Twitter @chasevodka
Facebook: www.facebook.com/
worldsbestvodka
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