Scotch & Bourbon, While Still Strong, Are Inspiring New
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WIDE(R) WORLDOF WHISKY SCOTCH & BOURBON, WHILE STILL STRONG, ARE INSPIRING NEW WORLD DISTILLERS BY JEFF CIOLETTI f the past decade has taught us anything, it’s that consumers have a taste for whisky that’s not likely to disappear any time soon. Overall U.S. volume has settled into a stable pattern of year-on-year growth in the mid-to-high single digits; volume was up more than 4% and revenue was up 6.4% last year, according toI the Distilled Spirits Council. Most of the volume is still coming from countries that have historically been linked with whisky production, but distillers from non-traditional nations whose spirits have been coming into their own—“New World” whiskies, if you will—are bank- ing on drinker curiosity and palate promiscuity to gain a foot- hold in the market. CLOCKWISE from bottom left: Kavalan’s distillery in Taiwan / Brenne, sourced in the Cognac region but channeling the spirit of Paris / Kavalan Master Blender Ian Chang made Taiwan’s first single malt in 2005 But are American whisk(e)y consum- tilled Spirits Council. Last year alone, / Grain fields for the estate-distilled Hillrock in New York’s Hudson Valley / Pot stills at Nikka’s Miyagikyo ers ready to be wooed by brands from off American whiskey volume (includ- distillery / The team at Hillrock: owner Jeffrey Baker, the beaten path? Mark Gillespie, noted ing Tennessee, bourbon and rye) grew Master Distiller David Pickerell, Head of Operations whisky expert and host of the popular nearly 7%—and the super-premium tier Timothy Welly / Westward, a Portland-based spirit setting the pace for American single malts podcast, WhiskyCast, thinks so. “Look of the category grew nearly 12%. The at where American tastes are with wine: rest of the world has embraced Ameri- we drink Australian wine, we drink New can whiskey as well; category exports aquifer, but distills award-winning Zealand wine, we drink wines from all grew more than 10% in 2016—and ryes in downtown Baltimore. over the world here,” Gillespie reasons. have nearly doubled since 2006—ac- Single malt whisky may not be “I don’t think people are going to be pa- cording to the Council. of American origin like bourbon, rochial about drinking whiskey from a Bourbon has been the major jug- rye and Tennessee, but U.S. produc- country that’s not traditional…Ameri- gernaut among American-produced ers have been producing world-class cans are more willing to experiment with spirits, but rye has started to steal Scotch-inspired expressions in their whiskies from around the world.” some of its spotlight. Last year, U.S. own right. Portland, OR’s House Spir- There are a number of regions of the rye volume grew 17% off a still-modest its Distillery recently announced the world that have been gaining a great deal base to 785,000 cases. It could pass the nationwide launch of its Westward of attention of late. million-case mark this year or next. American Single Malt. Meanwhile, The style has attracted many of Nashville’s Corsair Distillery has won THE UNITED STATES the major bourbon trademarks. Brown- a host of awards for its Triple Smoke Forman’s Woodford Reserve, Diageo’s American Malt Whiskey. Just this It seems odd to be including the U.S. Bulleit and Beam Suntory’s Knob Creek summer, the Rémy Cointreau Group among “world whiskies,” but it really is all have released rye expressions. In 2015, bought Westland, which has been pro- where the current whiskey renaissance Jim Beam reformulated, repackaged and ducing spirits in Seattle since 2011. began.” Barely two decades ago bourbon, renamed their namesake’s rye extension Distiller Matt Hofmann uses locally Tennessee and rye whiskey were not the as Jim Beam Pre-Prohibition-style Rye. grown barley, peat from a bog in Shel- exalted spirits they are today—they were And smaller, independent brands ton, WA; and barrels made from Pacific considered your grandparents’ drinks. have become household names among Northwest oak trees. In fact, North American whiskies aficionados. Middlebury, VT’s Whis- Beyond single malts, experimentation (including Canadian), declined steadily tlePig is among the key players among is thriving among whiskey producers. One for 30 years, from 1970 to 2000, before those. The brand had been sourcing they bottomed out, according to the Dis- its whiskey from Canada, but this year WhistlePig launched Farmstock, the first expression that incorporates rye grown on its own farm. Virginia’s Cato- LAST YEAR, U.S. RYE ctin Creek gained such a following for its Roundstone Rye, that Constellation VOLUME GREW 17%. Brands earlier this year bought a minor- IT COULD PASS THE ity stake in the company. What’s more, small distillers are embracing a sense MILLION-CASE MARK of place; to wit, Sagamore Spirit uses THIS YEAR OR NEXT. spring water from a Maryland limestone WORLD OF WHISKY LEFT: Nikki’s Yoichi distillery, which specializes in a direct-coal-heated, peated yet fruity style / Kavalan bright example is the Catskill Distilling as the distiller of its namesake brand, but has earned multiple awards at various international whisky competitions / Kavalan distillery only began Company, in Bethel, NY, across the street also with Hibiki blended whiskies and the exporting in 2012. from where the original Woodstock festival Yamazaki line of single malts. Three years took place in 1969. All of the grains, fruit ago when Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible and botanicals that make up Catskill’s crowned the 2013 Yamazaki Sherry Cask now it and others that followed have spirits are grown right on the farm or expression as the world’s best whisky. been garnering accolades worldwide. sourced locally—including buckwheat, a Suntory and other Japanese producers Another brand that’s been making rare but distinctive base grain for whiskey. couldn’t buy better publicity for their a substantial play for the U.S. market Equine vet turned distiller Monte Sachs whiskies. is Paul John, from John Distilleries, a has also developed a unique “accelerated Taketsuru is directly responsible 25-year-old company that launched aging” process; specially designed, heat- for another well regarded whisky its first single malt in 2009. It had cycling warehouses imitate seasonal brand. After leaving Yamazaki, he been making Original Choice Whisky changes, but at a faster rate. founded what would become Nikka (actually molasses-based and now packed Whisky Distilling Co. “If you look at in Tetra-Pak cartons) for 17 years before it JAPAN Nikka from Japan, accounts can’t keep it released Paul John Single Malt. in stock,” Gillespie says. The growth of India’s middle class American whiskey may have kickstarted brought more disposable income to con- the worldwide renaissance, but it was INDIA sumers and enabled a high-end whisky Japan that really helped open the segment to emerge. “The game has floodgates for products from countries Amrut was the first Indian single malt on changed with regard to how Indians per- that had very little presence on the global the market, launched in 2004 (though ceive single malts,” says Ajay Bhoja, who stage, whisky-wise. Amrut Distilleries has been around since has headed up Paul John’s U.S. market ef- In 2016, worldwide Japanese whisky the 1940s). The distillery produces a forts. “With the U.S. market, it’s been a volume grew to 109.5 million liters from flagship 92-proof single malt, as well as pretty good challenge to get people to un- 80.2 million liters in 2011, a jump of peated and cask-strength versions and derstand that there are single malts that 36.5% or a compound annual growth rate a host of limited edition expressions are not only coming out of India, but that (CAGR) of 6.4%, according to market including a rye. Amrut paved the way for India is producing high-quality spirits. It’s research firm Euromonitor International. a viable single malt market in India and all education-based.” In the U.S., the surge has been even more pronounced. Back in 2011, Japanese whisky volume totaled a modest TAIWAN 172,100 liters; by 2016, that number had Elsewhere in Asia, the single malt brand skyrocketed nearly five-fold to 856,100. Kavalan has been making Western Japan’s whisky industry, as we know consumers take Taiwanese whisky-making it, began more than 90 years ago when seriously. Entrepreneur Tien-Tsai Lee and Masataka Taketsuru studied distilling in Master Blender Ian Chang consulted Scotland. He returned to Japan (with his with late whisky expert Dr. Jim Swan to new Scottish wife, Rita Cowan), where he craft what would become Taiwan’s first applied his new skill set. He was the first single malt whisky in 2005. The distillery Master Distiller for what would become started exporting in 2012, with the U.S. Suntory (and ultimately Beam Suntory). as one of its priority markets. A number of Suntory made a name for itself not only international awards followed, including WORLD OF WHISKY “world’s best single malt whisky” opened in 2010, and for the special release, Kavalan Cardrona, opened in Solist Vinho Barrique Single Cask 2015, starting to make Strength expression. a name for them for “After we won a lot of themselves in the whisky awards in some international space. Most distilling ac- competitions, people [whisky tivity had laid dormant drinkers] started to notice us,” after the Willowbank dis- says Nico Liu, Brand Ambas- tillery (once the world’s sador for Kavalan. “There are southern-most distill- more and more curious and ery), founded in 1974, open-minded drinkers today and shuttered in 1997.