Monkey Shoulder is winning over a new generation of whisky drinkers

The slow burn success of this playful malt has inspired a bevvy of rival brands to enter the category. But Monkey Shoulder’s fans are not drinking it because it’s a blended malt. For many it is just a cool, lifestyle brand discovers Tom Bruce-Gardyne. That cheeky, fun-loving malt from William Grant Sons, known as Monkey Shoulder, has undergone ‘a global brand relaunch’.  The three little monkeys that sit on the shoulder of the bottle have been slightly enlarged, given ‘a premium antique-copper finish’, and moved from right to left! It’s the kind of thing that gets PR agencies fizzing with excitement. For a whisky that doesn’t take itself too seriously, there’s a nice irony in how seriously they take things behind the scenes. “We put an enormous amount of care into the finer details of our packaging because it’s a new challenger brand that people are still discovering,” says Ifan Jenkins, Monkey Shoulder’s global brand MD. “Most people meet the brand for the first time th