Demand for whiskey, (the famous spirit from Scotland, not the alternatively spelt whisky, from America, Ireland and elsewhere) has always been consistently strong in Asian countries. 90% of all international spirits sales in the region are accounted for by whiskey, and Singapore ranks as the highest Scotch-consuming nation in the world, each person purchasing an average of 13 bottles per year.
But the market is changing, and with a growing middle class consumer market showing a greater interest in luxury goods, many whisky drinkers in the ASEAN region are moving away from their favorite blended brands, and introducing their palates to the more refined and unique taste of single malts. Despite a slight downturn of sales in the UK this year, the Scotch whiskey industry is on track to break export records. Owners are even warning that this surge in sales to Asia and the Americas could lead to supply shortages of their high end whiskeys.
The best single malt Scotch whiskies have a ‘lag-time’ of at least 10 years, as the spirit is matured and flavored in wooden casks before bottling, and this lengthy process of production means that the supply cannot immediately meet the increasing demands of customers. In Asia, and in ASEAN countries especially, there has been a huge surge in popularity of these finer more luxurious and expensive malt whiskeys, driven partly by the well-established tradition of using Western celebrities to advertise whiskey to the Asian market. A recent example of this is Grants using David Beckham to launch their new luxury single grain brand Haig Club.
Although Johnnie Walker continues to be the best-selling international spirit brand in the region, with Thailand being the third largest consumer of Black Label in the world accounting for over 20% of their global sales, consumers are also taking a greater interest in their more distinguished and more expensive Blue, Green and Gold label brands.
Much of Scotch whiskey’s success overseas had been driven by the growth in consumers who see the higher end brands as a prestigious symbol of wealth and status, and are moving away from locally produced spirits. There are exceptions to this however, and despite the global appeal and historical importance of Scotch, the Japanese whisky giant Suntory is mixing things up.
In the recently released 2015 Whiskey Bible, expert Andrew Murray awarded the title of World Whiskey of the Year to the Suntory owned Yamazaki Single Malt Sherry Cask 2013. This brand retails at upwards of US$1,000 a bottle and due to the limited production, Asian whisky fans are clamoring to get their hands on a bottle before stocks dry up.
Although currently number 1, Japanese single malt whisky has a long way to go before it can fully compete with the appeal of the Scottish malts. Suntory also owns a number of Scottish distilleries, including brands such as Bowmore, Laphroaig and Ardmore. As well as producing very fine Asian whiskies, they are using their expertise to bring these brands to a whole new and very eager market.