When the first bottle of BELUGA Vodka rolled off the production lines at the Mariinsk Distillery on December 13th, 2002, the brand positioned itself at the highest end of the market niche for Vodka. This is (the brand owners are quick to point out) not a brand for the masses, rather it is a brand which seeks those consumers who wish to separate themselves from those masses in terms of aristocracy, sophistication, and self-realization. In short the company has positioned the BELUGA brand as a “Monumental Spirit.”
I have written a two-part article which explores the BELUGA brand, attempting to help us understand the two aspects of a Monumental Spirit. My first article delves into the production process of all four BELUGA Vodka brands explaining where and how they are made and the differences between them as far as production is concerned. My second article will delve into the marketing and branding concepts which along with the production methods strive bring these vodka spirits to the status level of Monumental Spirits.
You may read my first article by clicking the following link:
Danfield’s Canadian Whisky is produced in the small City of Lethbridge in my home Province of Alberta. It is produced for Williams & Churchill by Schenley Distilleries Inc. at the Black Velvet Distillery, (also referred to locally as the Palliser Distillery). Williams and Churchill are not distillers themselves, rather they appear to be a third-party company which owns the Danfield’s Brand. They are also very difficult to contact, and therefore the only information I have about the Danfield’s Limited Edition 21 Year Old Canadian Whisky comes from the little booklet which is strung around the neck of the bottle. According to this booklet, the 21 Year Old is a small batch whisky produced from rye, corn and malted barley. It is bottled at 40 % alcohol by volume and prior to this bottling, the whisky is apparently “diamond filtered” to add further polish to the whisky.
Sortilège Maple Cream is a Canadian Whisky based cream liqueur produced by 
The Rum Howler Blog 