In the midst of a white spirits boom in the U.S., we may be missing a bigger worldwide trend - according to a recent story in the Telegraph of London, international Scotch whisky sales jumped 6 percent last year, with more than one billion bottles shipped last year. And while the worldwide vodka craze has been fueled by U.S. trends, this whisky surge came with little help from us - U.S. Scotch sales increased a modest 0.4 percent last year, according to the 2007 Adams Handbook Advance. That increase marked a return to the nine million case mark after dropping below that symbolic mark in 2005 for the first time in modern memory, but a look at the long term U.S. trend is still mostly down.
News like this probably helps explain why companies like William Grant are investing in new facilities, as is Diageo, the first new distilleries built in the country in at least 30 years. Russia, China, Mexico, Latin America, Brazil and Poland are being seen as key markets of growth for Scotch overall.
Last month, Diageo NA's vp for Scotch marketing Chris Parsons told me about the changes in the U.S. market: "With the movement of consumers from [Latin America] to the U.S., it creates a perfect storm for us with Buchanan as they bring their brand choices with them." In markets like Texas, Southern California, Florida and parts of New York and Illinois, Diageo has started to feed the growth of Buchanan, with billboard ads showing up to push the once- dormant brand now showing significant growth.
Other growing Scotch whisky brands here? Johnnie Walker Black continues to put distance between it and the other blends, though it still trails market leader Dewar's by miles. Most of the growth comes from single malts - Glenlivet, Glenfiddich, Macallan, Balvenie and McClellands all coming on strong. McClellands? Yes, McClellands, a sort of mystery brand that has stayed below the radar while growing steadily in control states and slowly expanding nationally. More about them later.
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