Ep 22: Everyone Swears They Want Authenticity. But We Keep Buying Big Brands. Why?

Does it matter where your favourite drink comes from or who makes it?

Using the tangled origin story of the Tequila Sunrise, the secretive monks behind Chartreuse, and the very manufactured “Irishness” of Baileys, Lulie and Felicity ask whether the truth still matters… or whether it’s all about who has the best story. 

Listener Adele from Australia sets the core question: younger drinkers say they want authenticity, but it’s the big, well-distributed brands that keep growing. Felicity and Lulie pull apart what “authentic” actually means for regulators, for brand owners, and for Gen Z with limited budgets and offer a simple framework: heritage, origin, and founder or personality

There are frameworks, fierce debates and a lot of discussion of the merits of Baileys. Plus, your personal tour of Lulie’s Christmas tree. It’s an episode that will challenge what you believe about stories, status, and what’s really in your glass.

• Authenticity in drinks isn’t one thing but at least three: heritage (history and continuity), origin (place and terroir) and personality (founder or celebrity).
  
  
• Big brands keep winning not because they’re more “authentic” but because they have mental and physical availability plus coherent, consistent stories.
  
  
• Gen Z say they value authenticity, but the data shows they mostly buy convenience, price and coherence — “no bullshit” and repeatable quality beat obscure terroir.
  
  
• You can’t simply declare yourself “fine wine” or “authentic”: status is conferred by others, and when stories clash with facts (see Trump Vodka, Goose Island) drinks punish the gap.
  
  
• Authenticity is really about ethics and trust: fake heritage, fuzzy origin claims or outright fraud don’t just hurt one brand, they poison whole categories.

Meet Your Hosts:

Lulie Halstead founded and led international consumer research and strategy consultancy Wine Intelligence, and led it to a successful PE exit. Today she is a renowned global beverage alcohol and wine sector specialist, focused on consumer behaviour, strategy, retail and hospitality. An accomplished keynote speaker, she has spoken at more than 70 international events over the past 20 years.

Felicity Carter is an award-winning wine and drinks journalist, editor and content strategist. She led Meininger’s Wine Business International to become the world’s most must-read wine trade magazine, and was founding Executive Editor of The Drop/Pix, which the Wall Street Journal named one of the most trusted sources of wine information. A regular keynote speaker, she was named a 2024 Industry Leader by WineBusiness Monthly. Her Drinks Insider podcast won the 67 Pall Mall Global Wine Communicator Award for Audio.