It takes an arm and a leg to sip this American single malt whiskey with two fingers, but the daughter-in-law of real estate mogul Harry Macklowe is betting it will become a staple in trendy bars across the country.
Julie Mucklow, who is married to Prince Harry’s son Billy, has developed a range of whiskies, called The Mucklow. While its name may bring to mind New York City’s next skyscraper, it’s actually a passion project for a mother of two.
She unveiled Mucklow’s Kentucky Gold Edition at a launch party held Monday at The Shanghai, a new cocktail lounge in the hutong, an upscale restaurant known for flaming Peking duck and dim sum in midtown’s Bloomberg Tower. did.
The whiskey is a 10-barrel blend and sells for $250 a bottle, a relative bargain compared to the $1,500 price tag of the Mucklow Black Single Cask version, which won a double gold medal at last year’s San Francisco World Spirits Competition. .
“A $250 bottle, Mucklow Gold, is also in a better price range because you can get shots for $40 to $45. It’s not $20 a shot, but it’s an accessible premium (liquor),” she said. He told Side Dish.
Mr McCraw, 46, has invested “nearly $5 million” since 2019 to create ultra-refined whisky.
The first bottles were delivered in 2021 during the pandemic, and she $1,500 single malt at her 45th birthday party in leather and lingerie attended by 600 people in December 2022.
The business generated about $1.3 million in revenue last year, McCraw said.
Her interest in whiskey began 20 years ago, when, as a 23-year-old finance graduate, she began collecting whiskey while working in Asia.
For years, she wondered why there were so few premium single malt American whiskies.
“It was so weird that I thought I’d make it myself,” McCraw said. McCraw previously ran Steve Cohen’s consumer retail fund and did the same for Israel Englander’s hedge fund.
“At the time, I was a token female portfolio manager. So was the alcohol, and there’s a sense of security in that. I’m used to working in an all-male environment.”
The process of creating her precious whiskey begins with malt grown in Danville, Kentucky, near Louisville. However, the distillery is located in Scotland.
Much of the flavor creation and blending is done with the help of FedEx. The Kentucky whiskey is sent to Scotland where it is evaluated, and McCraw does many of the tastings and blends via video with the Scottish team in his New York office.
“They guide me, I follow, and we approve of it together,” she said.
While McCraw participates in tastings, she is also more involved in the brand’s packaging and marketing.
She is currently targeting high-end restaurants in New York. Dallas; Aspen, Colorado; “Gold Fashioned” cocktails made with Macklowe Gold are being served in Los Angeles; Las Vegas; Miami and Toronto, as well as select retail stores, cruise ships and FlexJet G4 jets, she said on a flyer. Ta.
McCraw said this is not a vanity project, but a full-time business that he hopes to leave behind for his children, similar to his real estate business.
“I want this to be a family business that my daughters, who are 16 and 5, can join someday,” she said. “I think about my daughters and want them to be involved in both businesses. I like the idea of girl power.”
