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Company type | Joint venture |
---|---|
Industry | Whisky |
Founded | 2024 |
Founder | Beyoncé Knowles-Carter Dr. Bill Lumsden |
Headquarters | Houston, Texas |
Website | sirdavis |
SirDavis is an American whisky launched in 2024. The brand is a joint venture between Moët Hennessy and Beyoncé Knowles-Carter. [1] SirDavis is named after Knowles-Carter's great-grandfather Davis Hogue, a Prohibition-era moonshiner and farmer in the American South. The whisky is finished, blended, and bottled in Texas, with headquarters in Houston. [2] In August 2024, Moët Hennessy announced that the product would be available in the U.S. and select stores in London, Paris, and Tokyo beginning in September 2024. [3]
I knew I wanted to create a whisky brand before I knew the story of my great-grandfather. Discovering my history has been deeply inspiring and motivating. Our whisky’s legacy dates back over 200 years to a Black man in Alabama in the 1800s... a man who was a businessman and an entrepreneur, but would have never had the opportunity to create a mainstream whisky back then. Systemic barriers would not have allowed it.
Hogue, Knowles-Carter's paternal great-grandfather, was a farmer and moonshiner in the American South during Prohibition who is said to have stashed whiskey bottles in the empty knots of cedar trees for friends and kin to discover and imbibe. [5] [6] When Mathew Knowles visited his grandfather at the distillery, it was the first time he heard a black man referred to as “Sir.” [7] [8]
Knowles-Carter, a whisky enthusiast, approached Moët Hennessy about developing a new whisky. [1] Dr. Bill Lumsden, who helped create Glenmorangie and Ardbeg, worked with Moët Hennessy to lead creation of the product. [9] Working with Knowles-Carter and blender Cameron George, he selected the brand's mash bill of 51% rye and 49% malted barley and incorporated traditional whisky-making techniques from Japanese and Scottish whiskies. [1] The product is aged in American oak barrels and finished in Pedro Ximénez sherry casks, and is the first spirits brand developed entirely internally by Moët Hennessy in the U.S. [3]
SirDavis is 44% alcohol by volume and 88 proof. [3] It has no age statement. It is deep copper in color, with a fruity (Seville oranges, raisins) and spicy (clove, cinnamon, ginger) aroma with notes of Demerara sugar and toffee. Its taste is reminiscent of toffee and spices (cinnamon, clove, rye spice), followed by malty and biscuity notes, and a citrus top note. The finish has hints of honey with notes of sultanas and cherries. [10] [11]
Prior to its announcement, SirDavis was anonymously submitted to several spirits competitions under a "Davis Hogue Distillery Co." pseudonym. The whisky won Platinum and Best In Class for American Whiskey at the 2023 SIP Awards. It also scored a rating of 93 points at the 2023 Ultimate Spirits Challenge. [3] [12]
Awards | |||
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2023 | SIP Awards | ![]() | [13] |
SIP Awards American Rye | ![]() | [13] | |
Spirits Challege NY International | ![]() | [14] | |
Ultimate Spirits Challenge | ![]() | [15] |
Canadian whisky is a type of whisky produced in Canada. Most Canadian whiskies are blended multi-grain liquors containing a large percentage of corn spirits, and are typically lighter and smoother than other whisky styles. When Canadian distillers began adding small amounts of highly-flavourful rye grain to their mashes, people began demanding this new rye-flavoured whisky, referring to it simply as "rye". Today, as for the past two centuries, the terms "rye whisky" and "Canadian whisky" are used interchangeably in Canada and refer to exactly the same product, which generally is made with only a small amount of rye grain.
Whisky or whiskey is a type of liquor made from fermented grain mash. Various grains are used for different varieties, including barley, corn, rye, and wheat. Whisky is typically aged in wooden casks, which are typically made of charred white oak. Uncharred white oak casks previously used for the aging of port, rum or sherry are also sometimes used.
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American whiskey is whiskey produced in the United States. American whiskeys made from mashes with at least 51% of their named grains include bourbon whiskey, rye whiskey, rye malt whiskey, malt whiskey, wheat whiskey, Tennessee whiskey, and corn whiskey.
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The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to whisky: