You know how QVC works, right? You watch the channel and when you spot a product you love — say, for example, a hand-carved wooden puzzle box that will make a perfect gift for your mother — you call up the station and place an order right there from the comfort of your own home. That model has been around for decades, and of course, online ordering has been added to the QVC shopping process. But you know what they never added? Booze.
If you want a premium on-demand Scotch, tequila, or rum shopping experience, you’ll want to hop over to the brand-new Spirits Network, the (in their own words) world’s “first-ever shoppable streaming entertainment channel.” The Spirits Network produces weekly original content, including documentaries, interviews, mixology how-to’s, and more, all centered on top-shelf alcohol.
For people who genuinely love the culture of fine spirits, the Spirits Network promises to be a new favorite media destination. For starters, they create programming you will actually enjoy. The production value is top-notch, and the people they bring onto their shows are celebrated spirits and cocktail industry authorities, like whiskey expert Fred Minnick, owner of the Brandy Library Flavien Desoblin, and master mixologist Rob Floyd. You’ll also spot celebrities such as Sean Puffy (or is it Diddy these days?) Combs and Chelsea Handler.
But how does it work? If you have ever watched a YouTube video, then you already know, except that when there’s a popup window at the bottom corner of the screen, it’s one you will actually want to click on, as it will be a quick link to ordering, say, the bottle of Scotch you are practically drooling over as you watch a master distiller discuss how it was aged.
Spirits Network members create a customized account that makes the user experience both enjoyable and efficient. You can create a watch list of bottles you plan to order in the future, put programs in your queue for later viewing, and enjoy content and get suggestions curated based on your own input and past purchases. You know how Netflix makes suggestions based on shows you have enjoyed in the past? It’s rather like that here, except it’s gin, bourbon, or brandy.
The basic membership costs $10 and gives you access to all content and to on-demand delivery. The $99 and $149 memberships come with shipments of hand-selected bottles, glasses, and varied barware. And all three membership levels include invites to occasional in-person events.
There is already plenty of great content out there that focuses on booze, but how frustrating is it to learn about a bottle you’d love to try only to spend the next few hours searching in vain for a way to buy it? For its content alone, the Spirits Network would be a welcome if not entirely necessary addition to media writ large. For the ease of the buying process, it is the aficionado’s godsend.
