William Grant Buys Steven Grasse’s Art In The Age & Root

Those of you who came to our PSFK Conference New York were lucky enough to see Steven Grasse close the day with his talk about the Art In The Age of Mechanical Reproduction brand that he created when his interests changed and he became concerned about organic foods and local craft.

The team at William Grant & Sons must have been monitoring the Twitter comments because the drinks company has decided to purchase the brand from Steven Grasse. The press release reads:

Art in the Age revolves around the philosophy of organic produce and a form of farmer’s market ethos that appeals to consumers’ desire to move away from the corporate and back to a more local community orientated culture. The first product to be launched by Art in the Age is ROOT, a spirit which is incomparable to anything on the market today, and is the first true American Liqueur in nearly 100 years. Already available in Pennsylvania, this rustic spirit has a full, rich smoky flavor, inspired by a Pennsylvania folk recipe, which eventually evolved into Root Beer. The recipe stems from Root Tea, an eighteenth century Native American recipe. Since its limited launch in 2009, ROOT has created a huge buzz both as a sipping drink and as a unique mixology ingredient.

Art in the Age will eventually feature a line of highly differentiated, organically certified spirits, and future releases are already in the works, including SNAP which, like ROOT, was inspired by a historical recipe: Pennsylvania Dutch black strap molasses ginger snap cookies.

Folks at Grasse’s Quaker City Mercantile agency told PSFK that they will continue to manage the brand creatively and this deal will enable them to take Root to the national marketplace. In the words of Seth Godin, Grasse “shipped” big time. Congratulations from the team at PSFK. Here’s the video again of Steven Grasse at PSFK Conference NYC 2010:

For those of you interested in the Root drink, AITA created this video:

Art In The Age Of Mechanical Reproduction