WIDE(R) WORLDOF 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” , 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 / Brenne, sourced in the region but channeling the spirit of Paris / Kavalan 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 volume (includ- distillery / The team at Hillrock: owner Jeffrey Baker, the beaten path? Mark Gillespie, noted ing Tennessee, bourbon and rye) grew 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 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, ’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 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 made from Pacific considered your grandparents’ drinks. have become household names among Northwest 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 / 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 ’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 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. has been around since has headed up Paul John’s U.S. market ef- In 2016, worldwide 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 -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 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. The ABOVE: American Allison Parc developed Brenne it offers a huge opportunity, especially for antipodean producers’ re- Single Malt Whisky with a distiller based in newer whisky nations.” moteness is part of the reason for their France’s Cognac region; its style is fruit-forward with complex-sugar notes, like crème brûlée, and Gillespie says Japanese distillers really spirits’ lack of presence in the U.S. warm spices like cinnamon and clove. helped open the door for other Asian Anchor Distilling Company is whisky-producing countries, and he bringing to the U.S. some of the na- believes Kavalan and some of the Indian tion’s rarest and oldest: expressions been doing it with , but they can brands can replicate Japan’s success. produced between 1987 and 1994 at make really good whisky.” “Kavalan has the same potential the Willowbank distillery. The New In fact, French consumers typi- that Nikka has,” Gillespie points out. Zealand Whisky Collection comprises cally drink more whisky—predominantly “It’s maybe four or five years behind it, 443 barrels worth of whisky, produced Scotch—than Cognac, as most of the lat- but I think in five years you’re going to using traditional Scottish methods of ter’s consumption is for export markets. see strong sales not only for Kavalan copper pot stills, which had been moth- and Amrut, but if the Australians ever balled at the end of the 20th century. Four M0RE EUROPE start importing into the U.S. in serious expressions are coming to the U.S. this amounts, you’re going to see strong sales fall, including Dunedin DoubleCask 16 The continental European whisky wave for those as well.” Year Old (80 proof, SRP $85/375ml) doesn’t end in France. The industry and South Island 25 Year Old (80 proof, should be keeping an eye on what’s hap- AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND $230/375ml). pening in places like the Netherlands, It- aly and Scandinavia as well. “The Swedes Australia’s craft whisky distilling industry FRANCE are doing really good stuff, but they’re just actually developed ahead of that in not producing enough of it,” Gillespie the U.S. The first on the scene was French producers already had several notes. “And the Dutch were distilling rye Lark Distilling in 1992, which founder hundred years of distilling expertise long before the grain came to America Bill Lark opened in Tasmania after he to draw on by the time Brittany-based from Europe.” lobbied the government to lift a distilling Distillerie Warenghem introduced Sheer novelty is enough to get most ban that had been in place since 1838. Armorik, the country’s first single malt whisky consumers to try a product from a Other internationally renowned and whisky of note, nearly 20 years ago. New World producer. But is it enough to award-whisky-makers soon followed—a Lakeville, MA-based Heavenly Spirits drive any sort of sustainable sales? “Once disproportionate number in Tasmania— imports the Armorik range to the U.S. they’re exposed to it and they see they’re including Sullivan’s Cove, Overeem and A brand that’s been helping put French just as good, if not better than a lot of Heartwood. single malts on the map in the U.S. has Scotch whiskies or bourbons, they’re going There’s been a bit of a whisky renais- been Brenne, launched about five years to go nuts with the stuff,” Gillespie reasons. sance happening in New Zealand as well, ago by American entrepreneur Allison Importers, he says, are really going to with producers like Thomson Whisky, Parc. She partnered with a distillery in have to work with distributors and get as Cognac to produce the product, now many tastings out in the public as they available in two expressions: the original can, through both on- and off-premise Brenne Estate Cask and Brenne Ten. promotions. “Brenne has created a market for “It’s easy to sell the first bottle,” French single malts and the French have Gillespie says. “But most of these are good been distilling just as long as the Scots enough that they’ll be able to sell that and Irish,” Gillespie notes. “They just had second or third bottle.” ■