Next Century Spirits (NCS)—a Raleigh, North Carolina-based full-service distilled spirits company—has launched Bear Fight American Single Malt Whiskey with an online national rollout across Reserve Bar and ForWhiskeyLovers.com. Bear Fight is also available in CO, CT, NC, and NY with a much broader rollout to come in fall 2022.
When the NCS team looked at the American whiskey category, they recognized American Single Malt was an up-and-coming subset. According to Anthony Moniello, Chief Commercial Office of NCS, “We also looked across the business landscape that included tariff wars, supply chain challenges and consistent price hikes, and realized there was an opportunity to provide a best-in-class product at an approachable price, within the American Single Malt and even the broader Single Malt category.”
After recognizing that the American Single Malt category is under-developed, NCS saw a unique opportunity to create a product that would take old world tradition and merge it with new world attributes. The liquid is approachable and versatile, as it mixes new world flavors (similar to American Whiskey or Bourbon) with old world notes (similar to Scotch).
“The final flavor profile decision was made in order to create the most approachable, daily drinker American Single Malt in the world,” says Master Blender, Nick Scarff, who has earned more than 130 medals in international tasting competitions for products he has developed. “The inspiration for this product came from a combination of a lifelong love affair with Scotch combined with the desire to prove that America could also produce top quality single malt whiskies.”
“We believe Bear Fight can create a new value proposition for consumers that shows amazing whiskey can be found in all categories and prices,” says Moniello. The brand has been awarded gold medals across multiple international spirit competitions including: Double Gold at the World Spirits Competition in San Francisco, Best in Category at the World Whiskies Awards (the only American Single Malt under $150) and Double Gold at the New York International Spirits Competition (the only American Single Malt under $75), to name a few.
Bear Fight Whiskey is available on Reserve Bar and ForWhiskeyLovers.com, and is available at retail in select markets for $39.99.