Glasses Up: A$AP Rocky Launches New Spirit Brand Mercer + Prince

Source: Mercer + Prince / M + P

A$AP Rocky confidently displays effortless style and cool, as evidenced by his brand partnerships over the years. The Harlem trendsetter recently announced his foray into the spirits world with the launch of Mercer + Prince, a brand that displays Rocky’s sharp eye for detail and should stand as a notable entry into the rye whisky space.

Aged in American oak barrels and inspired by Japanese Mizunara oak casks, Mercer + Prince is a blended Canadian whiskey developed via a partnership between Global Brand Equities and E. & J. Gallo, with A$AP Rocky named as the founder and face of the brand.

“I’m so excited and grateful to finally introduce Mercer + Prince to the world,” Rocky shared in a press statement. “I have wanted to launch a whisky for a few years, but it was difficult to find partners willing to innovate to the level I envisioned. Fortunately, I found those partners in Global Brand Equities and Gallo. I have been learning about whisky from all over the world for the past decade and wanted to defy the rules to create something unique, while honoring and respecting industry traditions. The bottle I designed is made to connect with the contemporary consumer. Mercer + Prince is smooth in taste, disruptive in packaging and close to my heart in name. It’s accessible to all and appeals to a diverse audience, which was very important to me.”

Mercer + Prince takes its name from a pair of cross streets in New York where Rocky was raised, and the bottle design was born of Rocky’s artistic jot on a napkin. The bottle is encased with two cups on both ends, allowing imbibers to pour themselves and a guest a dram of whisky. Certain to be a conversation starter, Mercer + Prince is positioning itself to innovative spirits packaging by way of the bottle’s design.

Source: Mercer + Prince / @mercerandprince

“Rocky has been a friend and someone I have always shared a creative connection with, so when he wanted to create a whisky, it was a no-brainer for us to create this partnership,” James Morrissey, Founder & CEO of Global Brand Equities, shared in a statment. “Rocky and I have always shared a vision to push the boundaries of innovation across genres and communicate with each other on the same frequency. Rocky is an intentional creator with a proven track-record to innovate and I knew he would have the inventiveness to build a consumer product that is sophisticated yet disruptive. We went from him showing me a napkin sketch, to what later became the Mercer + Prince bottle, to bringing on board the best partner for this project, global leader, E. & J. Gallo. They helped make this vision a reality and Britt West, the Vice President and General Manager of the spirit division at Gallo, has provided the tools for us to create an incredible whisky. It has been an honor to work alongside Rocky and Gallo on this project for the past two years and I am thrilled to continue to see Mercer + Prince grow in the years to come.”

Mercer + Prince is a relatively young spirit, aged over four years in white oak and blended in Canada. Like many other offerings in the rye whisky category, Mercer + Prince can be enjoyed neat, on the rocks, or in cocktails.

Mercer + Prince can be purchased exclusively at ReserverBar at the suggested MSRP of $29.99 and will go to market in the summer of 2022. For more information, visit the Mercer + Prince page here.

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Photo: Mercer + Prince