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Q&A with Gareth Evans of Absolut Elyx
The drinks business HK quizzed Absolut Elyx’s global brand ambassador, Gareth Evans on Absolut’s new sipping vodka and its potential for the Asia market.
Where did the idea for an Absolut sipping vodka come from?
Elyx is the essence of everything our master distiller and his team have learned over the last 30-plus years they have been distilling Absolut. Elyx is made by a very small team in a manually operated copper still dating back to 1921 using the best possible ingredients, and everything in the production from seed to bottle is not only controlled and overseen by Krister and his team but also all of this happens no more than 15 miles from the distillery. It is for me the reflection of what the modern consumer is looking for, products with not only high quality but also history, provenance, and more importantly, integrity.
Why would people choose a sipping vodka as opposed to having vodka in a cocktail?
I was a typical cynical bartender for 16 years before I took this role [as global brand ambassador] and my first blind tasting of Elyx was a real eye-opener. I think consumers are more open to drinking neat spirits and spirit-forward cocktails nowadays, and Elyx certainly doesn’t disappoint when it’s drunk in either of these ways.
What is it about the Hong Kong market which appeals to Absolut to release Elyx here?
I have been coming to HK for work for the last five years and what has always struck me about the place is the willingness of people there to try new things. Everything here is so dynamic and people’s tastes seem to reflect this. In some countries people are reluctant to try something new but in HK if you have a great product that’s new and exciting – be it a new bar, restaurant, art gallery, or in our case, vodka – it seems people will find you.
How would you position Absolut Elyx alongside other premium vodka brands?
We have a completely different manufacturing process, different heritage, different bottle, different everything than our competitors. Since the launch of Absolut the company has always done everything a bit differently and that has been the secret to the company’s success and I think Elyx is firmly in that mould. Even just looking at the bottle you can see it’s very different to the other “super premium” products around it. Elyx is a luxury vodka and I hope that it will, as Absolut did before it, be different enough to forge its own path instead of sitting with the others around it.
What do you think the main spirits trends for Hong Kong will be in 2016?
Hopefully people being more selective with their vodka choices!