Inside Beyoncé’s New Whisky With Moët Hennessy: SirDavis

There are celebrity spirits brands…and then there’s anything by Beyoncé.

The 32-time Grammy award winner has a new shiny object for the top shelf in the form of SirDavis, a Japanese-style inspired whisky made in collaboration with Moët Hennessy.

But unlike a lot of celebrity spirits brands, which often feel like someone just slapped a famous name on a bottle, SirDavis is touted as a work of art and love from top to bottom, with Beyoncé Knowles-Carter’s fingerprints everywhere—starting with the name itself.

As described to me during a media preview in July at Moët Hennessy’s offices in New York City, Cameron George, global head of advocacy and blender for SirDavis, said Knowles-Carter was involved in much of the design development of the bottle, inside and out.

“Beyoncé has always felt a calling to whisky, which she expressed in the first meeting with us to develop SirDavis,” George recalled about that meeting at Beyoncé’s home in Los Angeles two years ago. “Whisky is in her DNA. She used the word ‘kismet.’”

SirDavis is named in honor of Beyoncé’s great-grandfather, Davis Hogue, who George noted was a moonshiner during Prohibition. As George described, when Knowles-Carter’s father visited his grandfather at the distillery, it was the first time he heard a black man referred to as “Sir.”

The bottle size is the most noticeable quality right off the bat. Many whiskey bottles are, frankly, short and stout. But the SirDavis bottle is tall with rounded fluted edges, looking more like a statue or a vase that would stand out on a top shelf or be comfortable as a statement piece on its own with its rose gold hue.

“There was intentionality in building the bottle and the packaging,” George said. “There was this beautiful thing Beyoncé said to us, describing her own tension between femininity and masculinity, asking herself why can’t she be both?” This tension plays into the design of the SirDavis bottle shape.

And then there is the very notable spelling choice: using “whisky” rather than “whiskey.” Most American-made whiskeys are spelled with the extra “e” compared to Scotch and Japanese counterparts.

But on this occasion, whisky was selected to reflect the liquid inside and the production process. While made in the U.S. at LVMH-owned Woodinville Whiskey Co. in Washington state, George noted Beyoncé’s palate favors Japanese-style whiskies, which in turn are inspired by traditional Scotch whisky.

“There is some Scottish-ness with malted barley in the mashbill,” noted Dr. Bill Lumsden, head of distilling and whisky creation, at The Glenmorangie Company (also under the LVMH umbrella), who oversaw the whisky production process for SirDavis. And for the record, the mashbill is 51% rye and 49% malted barley. “But we were making an American whisky with the flavors of Scotland and Japan.”

But hardcore bourbon fans probably won’t be disappointed once they taste SirDavis, given the potent flavor notes of honey, brioche and orange marmalade—and even toffee brought out from sherry casks used for aging. SirDavis goes through two rounds of aging: first in American oak barrels, followed by a second maturation in Pedro Ximenez sherry casks.

“It’s clean tasting, smooth and rounded, incredibly mellow and easy to drink,” Lumsden said, adding it is meant to be enjoyed by casual drinkers and whisky connoisseurs alike.

Lumsden was at that first meeting with Knowles-Carter. While she has long been fond of Japanese whisky, he noted, they started brainstorming flavor profiles by tasting lots of Scotch—naturally Glenmorangie and sister brand Ardbeg—as well as American and Irish whiskies. Lumsden admitted that it was a bit of a daunting challenge to take on the task of developing a whisky blend that accurately reflects Beyoncé’s brand and palate. “She has a huge personality and life,” he said.

After coming up with ideas that went into production, Knowles-Carter continued to meet with the Moët Hennessy team at Woodinville to settle on a final product.

“The mark of true genius is her ability to understand concepts she hadn’t been presented before and took to whisky like a fish out of water,” Lumsden said.

Knowles-Carter’s choice to work with Moët Hennessy on SirDavis reflects her ongoing relationship with LVMH, notably Champagne Armand de Brignac (a.k.a. Ace of Spades), which is co-owned by her husband, Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter.

However, even though the new spirit has the financial backing of one of the largest spirits conglomerates on earth, the rollout is actually going to be smaller and slower than one might expect.

With a suggested retail price of $89 per bottle, online pre-sales for SirDavis open on August 20 with an official launch date on September 4. SirDavis will initally be on store shelves in select U.S. states as well as with select retailers in London, Paris and Tokyo as well as in duty free shops at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, Los Angeles International Airport and San Francisco International Airport.