Glenfiddich hosts a ‘Single Malt Salon’ to foster conversation around creative passions
Glenfiddich recently brought people together through a monthly culture-focused panel discussion, designed for those with refined taste – and hopefully that taste extends to finding new fans of the whisky.
Glenfiddich hosted a series of monthly events, the 'Single Malt Salon,' that centered on a different cultural topic and occasion. The goal was to bring like-minded individuals together – united by refined taste, influential status and cultural prowess – to foster conversation about creative passions, the greater occasion at hand, and what new luxury means across the cultural spectrum, all over a glass of Glenfiddich.
The series was hosted by fashion veteran Josh Peskowitz, who also teamed with the scotch brand for Wardrobe XXI, a limited edition menswear collection designed and curated by Peskowitz and inspired by Glenfiddich 21 Year Old Reserva Rum Cask Finish.
In the series, Peskowitz sat with influential people in the luxury space, including Greats Brand founder Ryan Babenzien, Lizzy Goodman, author of ‘Meet Me in the Bathroom’, and Eneuri Acosta, chief operating officer of Hodinkee, a luxury timepiece publication. Through all of them, the Glenfiddich brand was up front, with bottles of its traditional and Experimental Series whiskeys at a table on stage.
“Single Malt Salon was designed to bring together like-minded innovative thinkers who push the boundaries in their fields, and who – united by their refined taste, influential status and cultural prowess – to foster conversation about creative passions and what new luxury means across the cultural spectrum,” said Michael Giardina, director at William Grant & Sons Inc., which makes Glenfiddich.
The latest salon talk, and the final one in New York for the season, was between Peskowitz and luxury and classic car impresario Hannah Elliott. In it, the two talked about the future of the automotive industry and how high performance and craftsmanship are crucial to a brand’s prestige and longevity, something pertinent to cars, fashion and high-end spirits.
The salon series and campaign was put together by the brand with Team Epiphany, a consumer marketing agency that specializes in influencer marketing.
“In an age of quantified-everything, where many companies use algorithms and machine learning in order to match the perfect influencers with the right brands, we do things the old fashioned way: we have conversations,” said Douglas Brundage, vice president of strategy at Team Epiphany. “We are friends with the influencers in our networks, or we are friends with their friends – Ryan Babenzien, Eneuri Acosta and Hannah Elliott are all good friends of ours.”
Brundage said that the subjects discussed were all those that Peskowitz wanted to discuss, and all related to Glenfiddich, a brand he said is “rooted in heritage and old-fashioned whisky making, but obsessively focused on how to do things differently as well.”
While the series has ended in New York, its influence extended beyond the city through coverage and social media. The brand has more planned in 2018 that will take similar experiences and bring them around the US.