In this Year of Food and Drink and in this Whisky Month of May, World Whisky Day 2015 on Saturday 16 May was a chance for Scotch whisky fans across the globe to celebrate our iconic national drink.
Yet the 2014 export figures suggested that this year's event may not have seen quite as many international Scotch enthusiasts raising a dram as in previous years.
Following several years of record-breaking growth, the value of Scotch whisky exports declined 7% in 2014 to £3.95bn. However, reining in distillery production plans at this stage would be premature.
Whisky writer-reviewer Jim Murray may be hailing certain Japanese, US and even English alternatives as being the world's current top five, but it will take more than his opinion, highly esteemed as it may be, to convince the body of new consumers in emerging markets that there is any substitute for the provenance of genuine Scotch.
And, despite the story told by the overall export figures, these new consumers are continuing to grow in number. Exports to the UAE, India and Taiwan were up significantly by both volume and value in 2014. While the figures for Singapore showed a change in the opposite direction, China is the ultimate destination for much of the volumes sent to Singapore, and Beijing's clampdown on gift-giving, as opposed to waning demand, is to blame at least in part for that decline. The growing middle-classes in these markets continue to seek out the provenance, prestige and authenticity offered by single malt Scotch, which the likes of Yamazaki Sherry Cask 2013 (Jim Murray's number one of last year) simply does not offer them.
The US is the market where Scotch cannot rest on its laurels and innovation is therefore paramount. While consumption figures suggested that high inventory levels accounted for the 9% drop in exports by value, the spirits market is becoming more competitive and US bourbons are said to be enjoying a renaissance. Our distillers would do well to look to our craft brewers, who are leading the charge in terms of innovating in response to the trends of the US market.
That said, the inevitable time delay in the production of Scotch whisky clearly presents an obstacle to any reactive measures in new product development. So a new approach to marketing and a reinvigorated image for Scotch in the US is perhaps the short term priority.
In so doing, Scotch producers may wish to keep a keen eye on their Celtic neighbours across the Irish Sea, who, despite having a more modest export industry (valued at just €300m), could arguably be the most convincing competitors in terms of regaling a rival provenance story. Irish whiskey shares the US with Scotch as its top market, yet it too suffered a slowdown in sales to the States last year. Its newly-formed trade body, the Irish Whiskey Association (IWA), intends to double exports by 2020 and like in Scotland, there has been an emergence of new and re-opened distilleries which will be seeking to appeal to US consumers in working towards that goal. One such example is the mothballed Waterford Brewery, a former Guinness site being converted into a distillery by part of the team behind Islay success-story Bruichladdich.
The new owner of the World Whisky Day concept, Edinburgh-based luxury drinks magazine Hot Rum Cow, plans to "develop the event in fresh directions" from 2016 onwards. An extensive relaunch event has also been promised by MSPs for next year. While the export figures for 2014 are not a cause for the drowning of sorrows, there is nevertheless ground to be regained and the industry will be hoping for a resounding slà inte across the globe on WWD 2016.
Rona Dennison, Director, Burness Paull
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