Quality Over Quantity, A Global Affair
This isn't just about a few hipsters in Shoreditch. The world, it seems, is getting thirstier for the good stuff. The trend has a rather corporate name, "premiumization", but the idea is simple. People are choosing to drink less, but drink better. They are trading up from the paint stripper vodka of their youth to something with a bit of character, a story, and a price tag to match.
And this isn't a purely Western phenomenon. Look at emerging markets. A rising middle class from Shanghai to São Paulo doesn't just want a new car or a fancy handbag. They want the status that comes with a bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue Label or Hennessy cognac on the table. These brands have become global symbols of having ‘made it’, and that kind of brand power is incredibly difficult, and expensive, to replicate. It creates a moat that smaller players find almost impossible to cross.