When working with cruise companies, Skrewball Whiskey, a peanut butter-flavored American whiskey producer, is seeing its cruise business pick up.

According to Global Business Acceleration Director Juan Manuel Gomez, Skrewball’s offering is also very unique within the whiskey space, as the flavor makes it perfect for mixing into cocktails and different recipes.

“It’s perfectly in balance with these peanut butter nutty vanilla notes and the smoothness of the whiskey. It’s a delicious, delicious whiskey,” Gomez said.

“It’s an unexpected combination. For us, it’s important to say to the company what’s the best way of making them try the product in a way that will be fun and memorable,” Gomez said.

“With the cruise lines, what we are seeing is that the experience is like a souvenir, like a memory saying, ‘Okay, I interacted with this brand in different ways; I had fun.'”

According to Gomez, the company sells its flavored whiskey at both the ship bars and through the onboard retailers.

He explained that this allows guests to experience the product and different ways while on the ship but then also be able to take the product home to continue the memorable experience.

The majority of sales are currently made at onboard bars.

Gomez told Cruise Industry News that the company supplies to the following cruise companies:

• Carnival Cruise Line
• Royal Caribbean Cruises
• Princess Cruises
• Norwegian Cruise Line
• Disney Cruise Line
• Celebrity Cruises
• Margaritaville at Sea
• Oceania Cruises, and
• Regent Seven Seas Cruises.

Perfect Cruise Partner

“Cruise companies want to offer the best experiences possible for their consumers,” he explained, and said that this entails understanding what the guests’ mindset is when getting on a cruise.

“Your partners must understand that mindset and understand that even during a voyage, there are going to be different mindsets or different moods, depending on what guests want to do,” Gomez added, saying that Skrewball is a great fit as a cruise partner because it understands the consumer.

He highlighted the importance of understanding how future consumers of the product, like Gen Z, think and meeting them with what they are looking for.

“That’s why I believe that the product will work so well, because both from a functional and emotional point of view, it’s working very well with these new generations,” he said.

“Skrewball is also redefining spirits in the industry. We are talking about a brand that’s coming from a quite conservative spirit category,” Gomez noted, pointing out that almost 90 percent of whiskey consumption is regular whiskey, not flavored ones.

Gomez said that the challenge remains to convince more cruise companies and guests to taste the product.

“Once consumers try the product, they see how versatile it is, how well it works and how refreshing it is,” Gomez said.

Roots

Since its launch in 2018 in San Diego, the company has seen success in the U.S. and, in the last three years, from international markets.

It has sold more than three million 900 cases, which Gomez said is a very high mark for a spirit brand.

Skrewball was founded by Steve and Brittany Yeng, but the peanut butter inspiration is rooted in Steven’s childhood.

After having contracted polio in Cambodia and being sent to a refugee camp as a child, he was sponsored by an American family to come to the U.S. for treatment.

One of the things he received in a food gifting basket was peanut butter, which to him tasted like freedom.