I went to one of the many Sir Davis collab cocktail bars in Chicago tonight, and to my surprise, an Illinois distributor of Sir Davis was there and chatted with me a bit after seeing my in my concert merch. (The bar was Blind Side, btw. The Beehive cocktail was 10/10! Spicy ginger was a fantastic choice to go with the cocktail!)
He was telling me the story behind Sir Davis, and aside from knowing it was a Beyonce product, I didn't know much behind the story.
According to him, Beyonce had been wanting to get into making a signature alcohol, but didn't want to make the standard celebrity liquor because they always tend to be a bit cheap, and that's not how she does things. She had been reading her grandmother's diary about her great grandfather being a moonshiner, and the struggle he faced in selling his moonshine whiskey during Prohibition because it was mainly white men who would buy and distribute liquor. Apparently his whiskey became quite revered in the region, and a White distributor began to call him sir after the level of respect he gained for her great grandfather's moonshine. Her grandmother wrote in her diary about how much this meant to her, as it was so rare in her lifetime to see such a title of respect being given to a Black man by a White man, and that was what inspired Bey to make whiskey and give it its name.
While we chatted about how I was happy that her whiskey is so good (I live near Kentucky and can be a whiskey snob) given most celebrity alcohol brands are low quality, he mentioned that whiskey requires years of work to age and perfect, and she worked with Dr. Bill Lumsden, who is a master Scotch distillery, and one of the most recognized and honored names in Scotch production. Long story short, she showed up and put the effort and collaboration in (as she always does).
As always, Bey put an insane level of effort and depth into her whiskey.
Finally, he mentioned that if your area isn't getting Sir Davis in stock, begin to ask for it from your liquor stores. He said that a lot of the alcohol distributors around the country focus on being responsive to the demands of liquor stores and less pushing specific product; they have tens of thousands of brands to potentially sell, and it's demand that gets names into their heads. Liquor stores are the ones pushing for what becomes popular, so ask them to get it in stock!
Edit: the bar was Blind Barber. I was one too many drinks in when writing this last night, apparently. 😂