Beyoncé has some news today: she’s just launched her own whisky, SirDavis. B’s whisky is a collaboration with Moët Hennessy, she’s been working on it for at least a couple of years, and as she does, there have been hints about it along the way.

 

What’s more obvious is the timing. We are in act ii, COWBOY CARTER, with Beyoncé reminding us through her music that she’s always been country, that country music has always been a part of her soul. And it turns out, whisky is also part of her heritage. With the announcement of her whisky, Beyoncé is making it widely known that her great-grandfather, Davis Hogue, was a moonshiner in the Prohibition era. 

“Davis in my bones”

That’s a line from “BODYGUARD”, not too long after a line about whisky. 

 

Her father, Mathew Knowles, visited his grandfather at the distillery, and he’d later tell his daughters that that was when he first heard someone call a Black man “sir”. 

Many decades later, this would be the name given to Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s son, Sir Carter. Baby Sir was named after his great-great-grandfather. And now those two names have been combined to become whisky… without an “e”. 

SirDavis is an American whisky, spelled without the “e”. According to Forbes: 

“Most American-made whiskeys are spelled with the extra “e” compared to Scotch and Japanese counterparts. But on this occasion, whisky was selected to reflect the liquid inside and the production process. While made in the U.S. at LVMH-owned Woodinville Whiskey Co. in Washington state, George noted Beyoncé’s palate favors Japanese-style whiskies, which in turn are inspired by traditional Scotch whisky.”

 

The Queen’s palate favours Japanese style…

And, well, where was she on COWBOY CARTER release day? Japan! 

Also, the bottle… 

 

Chardonneigh on the label? 

This bottle is gorgeous, a main character, and not much like most whisky or whiskey bottles – it’s giving elevated, expensive, aristocratic, deserving of its namesake, “Sir”, the ancestor of the eventual cultural monarch. 

I can’t wait to try this. Sipping Beyoncé’s whisky after a satisfying day seems like a perfect fall night. On my birthday in a month, that’s exactly what I’m doing. 

 

Will you be trying it? Let us know at The Squawk!  (app link here)