David’s time in Taiwan and South Korea

Our Commercial Director, David Ferguson, shares how his latest international trip went.

I recently flew across to Taiwan and Korea to support our import partners in each market. These trips always offer a fascinating insight into how Lochlea whiskies and the Scotch category as a whole is perceived by different countries and cultures. Here are some of my highlights, and one terrifying lowlight!

Taipei was my first destination. Following a 26-hour journey door-to-door, I was welcomed by our import team from Drinks Wines & Spirits with a beautiful traditional Taiwanese meal and a glass of wine from 7 years before I was born! Jetlag cured. I walked back to my hotel given it was still 28 degrees at 10pm, contemplating my ill-prepared suitcase full of trousers and shirts. I often find these are the only times we get to see some of the city on packed work trips, and the only times I remember my phone has a camera.

My dysfunctional body clock woke me up at 4am the next morning so I caught up on emails as the sun rose, before heading on the subway to Day 1 of the Taipei Wine & Spirits Festival. This was unrecognisable from traditional UK and European spirits events. I was greeted by a 7-foot-tall cat in the lift, and there was some frustratingly catchy house music blaring inside the vast sprawling exhibition centre. For the next 3 long humid days, I worked alongside the professional, polite and personable team from DW&S as we poured and talked all things Lochlea to the throng of eager Taiwanese consumers. One of the highlights was hosting several short 30-minute tastings around a cask each day, which allowed groups of people to experience a more in-depth tasting of our range.

The last couple of days in Taiwan were spent meeting the rest of our importer’s team at their office, hosting brand training sessions, visiting new and existing off-trade customers, and covering on-trade in the evenings. The Malt was a standout whisky bar in the city centre, and I managed to squeeze in a meeting over dinner with our Chinese Importer on the final night as well. There was one glitch during the Taipei leg of the visit, a 6.3 magnitude earthquake which rocked my hotel building at 2am and sent regular tremors every half hour until the next morning. Just when I though the jetlag had worn off…

So my main takeaways from Taiwan were firstly that despite only being in this market for 18 months, I was blown away by the reach and recognition that our Lochlea brand has already across all channels. Secondly, I was very encouraged to see the demographics of whisky consumers there, definitely a more even split in terms of age and gender when compared with Europe. Next stop, Korea.

I landed in Seoul the next morning and headed straight out to see some customers with our importer Whyte & Partners. We managed to cram in a handful of key off-trade accounts, securing new customers for Lochlea and taking orders for those who were already supporters. This was followed by a tour around halo on-trade venues in the evening who are bringing our brand to life on their outstanding whisky and cocktail menus. The level of product knowledge in these places was exceptional, and again the audience came from all walks of life, which I loved.

On my last day, there was time for a few more customer meetings and to pick up presents for my daughters, before I jumped on the A380 back to the UK via Doha. Another exhilarating and exhausting trip in equal measure, worth every minute to continue accelerating the growth of Lochlea across these important markets. Massive earthquake aside, it was fun!

You can follow David’s whisky adventures on Instagram at @davedistilled