No one has ever seen the mysterious Shieldaig Distillery: it doesn’t exist. The whisky was created for mega-retailer Total Wine & More. Big-box stores like Costco and Walmart and grocers like Trader Joe’s also sell their own private-label whiskies. These bottles are created specifically and exclusively for large retailers and go by either a fictitious brand name (like Shieldaig) or a store brand, like Costco’s Kirkland.
An educated whisky drinker might feel she’s rightfully suspicious of whiskies that share a store-brand name with toothpaste and ketchup. But there is no reward without risk, so the Whisky Advocate panel tasted our way through over 40 private-label whiskies in search of hidden gems of the big box stores. We tasted them blind, against well-known whiskies of comparable age and style. Not all were winners—some cannot be recommended—but there were many pleasant surprises. In addition to the 18 year old single malt scotch under $50, we found an enjoyable 12 year old Speyside that’s half the price of Macallan at the same age. Then there was the high-proof, high-scoring 7 year old bourbon that compared favorably with Knob Creek, among many other whiskies that boast true value (
see full reviews).
While many retailers have their own bourbon barrel picks or exclusive single-cask scotch, only the largest chain stores offer consistently available proprietary whisky brands. Costco, Walmart, Total Wine, and Trader Joe’s—king of the grocery store brand—all sell their own private-label whiskies. Bottles that are offered under familiar house-brand names are easily spotted. (Disappointingly for fans of Trader Joe’s international nicknames, like Trader Giotto’s, there’s no Trader Jock’s for private-label scotch.) In other cases, the whiskies bear names and label designs that allow them to live inconspicuously among Glenlivet, Johnnie Walker, Jack Daniel’s, and Crown Royal. At Total Wine and Walmart, private-label brands are virtually indistinguishable as such on the surface, except that they cost less than similarly made and aged peers—sometimes much less. With clues, however, you can figure out which whiskies are made specifically for the store—see “Be a Private (Label) Detective” below.
WHY ALL THE SECRECY?
Only rarely will you see the name of a real distillery on a private label. (Costco once sold Macallan under the Kirkland brand.) Generally speaking, the most you’ll be able to ascertain about the liquid in the bottle is where it comes from—Speyside, Islay, Kentucky—and perhaps details about age and maturation. The stores aren’t trying to deceive customers; it’s the distilleries that require non-disclosure. “If the distillers, when they sell to us, say you can’t use the distillery name, then we don’t,” says Peter Currie, international sales manager at Duncan Taylor, which has supplied private-label brands to Costco, Trader Joe’s, and Total Wine. “If they don’t specify, then if [a retail client] wanted it, we would put that on.”
Some information is required on the label, like the name of the importer and country where the whisky was made. For bourbon and other American whiskeys, the label has to include the location of the bottler or producer. If where the whiskey was distilled is different from the bottler’s state, that also must be included. This can offer clues about provenance; for example, anytime Indiana is listed, it’s pretty much a guarantee that the whiskey was distilled at MGP Ingredients, which supplies hundreds of brands.
When sourcing scotch or Irish whiskey, large retailers often work with independent bottlers—companies that buy whisky from distilleries and then blend and bottle it for the client. Most are based in Scotland, but one company focuses its efforts specifically on supplying U.S. retailers. Steve Lipp, CEO of Alexander Murray & Co., was the first independent bottler to create private-label whisky for a U.S. store, launching Trader Joe’s 10 year old Highland single malt in 2004. A few years later, Costco approached him to help in sourcing their first Kirkland scotch. Today, Lipp still works with both retailers, as well as Total Wine and Walmart. He has an “exclusive production partner” in Scotland, a single malt distillery that both makes its own whisky and obtains casks of other distilleries’ whisky through trades. Lipp has access to these resources and also purchases casks and new-make spirit independently, using the array of styles and flavors to create custom brands for his clients. In addition to scotch, Alexander Murray provides private-label Irish whiskey for Costco and Walmart. Other independent bottlers, like Duncan Taylor, offer similar services to retailers alongside their main business of selling their own labels.