Taiwan Whisky drinking Culture and Working Style
閱讀前言
因著世界公民文化中心多年來與百富門酒商教育訓練合作的關係，7/1我們藉酒交流，以酒會英文，度過了一個愉悅的午後時光，也特別在會後請百富門總經理Jason以他多年經營管理經驗談他對台灣酒文化的了解。
文/Jason Pan (Brown-Forman GM)
In many ways, Taiwanese whisky drinkers are very sophisticated compared to other Asian countries, for example lots of Taiwanese whisky drinkers are familiar with the differences between, Single malts, blended malts, and blended whisky. Furthermore, some drinkers are knowledgeable of the different region of whiskies. And the most advance drinkers possess in-depth understanding the unique taste of each whisky region’s characteristics; however, the one thing which these consumers are not able to overcome is the age statement of the product.
台灣威士忌的愛好者對這款酒的瞭解，可以說是世界排名數一數二，並不輸給威士忌出產國。
In many cases consumers are still using the age statement to determine the quality, taste and price of a whisky. There is nothing wrong with such a practice but sometimes drinkers overlook the fact that each individual has a different taste profile, the oldest and most expensive products might not be the right choice for your profile; yet, due to peer pressure almost all of us will give in at the end.
不過，我們對酒還是存有「年分」的迷思—並不是名酒就會適合你，更重要的應該是自己對酒的喜好和口感偏愛的差異。
It is difficult to promote premium non-age whisky in Taiwan as most of Taiwanese whisky drinkers are still mythical about age statement. For the past many years brands such as Jack Daniel’s, we are trying to break the myth on importance of age statement and in many ways, we are able to communicate successfully with young adults to direct them to enjoy the drinks that can reflect their own personality not price; however, once the person goes into the business word, status becomes more important attribute for them to choose their drink in all occasions. This is certainly different from western countries. In the western world, consumers are very taste driven and age statement is not the most important factor of choosing a product. For this reason, we often see brands that are not particularly big in western countries but become popular brands in Taiwan, yet, those top selling products in western world are not generate much sales in Taiwan.
西方人會以自己的口感為優先考量，選擇適合自己的威士忌。但是在台灣，如果是沒有年份和名氣的威士忌，就很難跟消費者溝通。以Jack Daniel這款酒來說，我們花了很長的時間試著打破大家對年份的堅持，雖然成功說服年輕人依場合來選擇而非價錢，不過，一旦他們進入職場，還是又回到舊有的飲酒習慣。
During the tasting session at Core- Corner I have noticed that those who tried Jack Daniel’s before found Jack to be as good as any 12 year old Scotch, but those who hadn’t tried Jack in the past the first questions was what age is this product. Does age really make difference in a drink? The answer is the taste of a whiskey is not all about age. Age provides some flavors and characteristics to a whiskey but at the same time, age can also overpower each distillery’s uniqueness. If the whiskey has been age for too long in an ordinary cask, the whiskey can be very woody which covers all other flavors.
在這次世界公民文化中心舉辦的品酒活動就發現，喝了Jack Daniel的朋友覺得這款酒並不輸12年陳年蘇格蘭威士忌，但還沒喝的夥伴就先問這是幾年的酒。年份對酒的口感或許會有影響，但並不是年份越高的口感就越好，陳年酒的好壞與釀造酒桶有很大的關係，舉例來說，如果沒顧慮到酒桶本身的品質，多年以後，木桶的味道會蓋過酒本身的味道，這酒當然就不會好了。
Taiwanese consumers are very trend driven. The trend can alter consumers drinking choice completely. Trend sometimes just occur because of rumors. For example, Taiwanese used to drink lots of Cognacs but nowadays cognacs are very rare. The transition away from cognacs is mostly due to rumor in the market about side effects on health of drinking cognacs. Trend can be built through marketing campaigns. If a campaign can build buzz between consumers and customers, then the product will grow in a very short period of time.
台灣的飲酒潮流變動很快，有的甚至在一年內完全顛覆，你可能不相信，有些是因為「傳言」所造成的。例如，干邑白蘭地幾年前曾站上銷售冠軍，但之後卻因為白蘭地可能對健康有負面影響的謠言讓銷售突然一路衰敗。相對的，有些酒類品牌也可能因為廣告打中消費者內心需求而輕易的一炮而紅。
Taiwan’s whiskey market it is all about consumer. Distributors can have huge budget to support their marketing campaign but if the campaigns are not aligned with consumers and customers’ needs the deep pocket, the brand cannot survive in Taiwan’s market. Not all brand issues can be solved through huge investment in marketing campaign; there are well-known brands who’s investment is on the top tier but still not able to turn the market around as their marketing did not generate any echo among consumers and customers.
也就是說，在台灣，威士忌的銷售市場完全取決於酒商是否能抓到消費者習慣，如果不理解，就算付出再多宣傳預算，也都是白花的了。
Like all other industries consumers and customer are the keys to success of a brand, therefore, comprehensive full understanding of consumers and customers. No brand in this market can sustain for ever without any experience of sales decline. The trend can change within couple of years and one day consumers and customers might overcome the age statement issue and find a whiskey this is a true reflection of their personality.
因應市場需求是成功的要素。只有深入了解者才可能在市場上存活。
文章出處：世界公民 College
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