8 minute read
Whisky | The Dram Bring It On
BRING IT ON!
IN 2020 THE CORONAVIRUS TURNED THE WORLD UPSIDE DOWN AND FORCED US TO RETHINK HOW WE LIVE OUR LIVES IN EVERY WAY. BUT AS WE MOVE THROUGH 2021, THE WORLD OF WHISKY ISN’T JUST OPTIMISTIC. IT’S POSITIVELY BULLISH. DOMINIC ROSKROW REPORTS
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Iain Stirling Matt McKay
It is a vast understatement to say that rarely has a New Year been more welcome than that of 2021.
The second decade of the millennium began with a nine month long tsunami, as coronavirus wreaked havoc across the world, claiming hundreds of thousands of lives, destroying entire industries, causing mass unemployment, and changing the way we live our lives forever.
The hospitality industry had a particularly hard time during 2020, with pubs, bars and restaurants across the world forced to close their doors for long periods. Many will never reopen. International travel all but ground to halt and passenger numbers went in to freefall. That in turn ripped the floor out of the travel retail market.
For smaller distilleries relying on tourists to provide cash while they waited for their spirits to mature, the year was particularly difficult. But no area was left unscathed, as producers struggled to get their casks out of their distilleries, and bottling plants were closed.
“It only takes one bottling hall worker to test positive for the virus and all the other 30 or so employees working there have to self- isolate for two weeks,” one distillery manager observed.
As a result there has been a backlog of companies wanting their whisky bottled, with the larger companies ensuring that they are first in line.
We’re not out of the woods yet. The virus hasn’t gone away and the fallout from it will influence events for months or even years to come. But there is light at the end of the tunnel. In mid-December the United Kingdom became the first country to authorise a vaccine and began inoculating its health service employees and care workers.
It’ll take time before the virus is properly tamed. And yet overall the whisky industry is highly optimistic – bullish even – that 2021 will be a succesful year, if the first five months are anything to go off.
We took an industry snapshot in December. And this is what we were told:
IAIN STIRLING ARDBIKIE DISTILLERY, ARBROATH, SCOTLAND: “We are very optimistic about 2021 as the world hospitality industry starts to recover from the pandemic and with global consumers more likely to buy sustainable and premium spirits. We are introducing our rye whisky to new markets on-going and with a number of other major distilleries due to launch their own rye whiskies soon, a new rye whisky category will be created and create an exciting event for the global whisky industry..”
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Daniel Szor, Photo Credit: Lorentz Gullachsen
MATT MCKAY, BIMBER DISTILLERY, LONDON “Despite the testing circumstances of 2020, Bimber has had a remarkably successful first year for bottling and distributing its London single malt. The company has seen all of its releases sell out rapidly, has expanded into a variety of new overseas markets and has launched a new membership option (Bimber Klub) which has resulted in over 1,400 members in under six months. 2021 will see Bimber consolidate and build on this strong performance. New expressions will be added to the distillery’s evolving range, whilst we continue to explore the versatility of our spirit in a broader variety of wood types.
“We hope to be able to once again welcome visitors to the distillery in 2021 and are already planning a selection of outstanding experiential events for when it is safe for us to open our doors once more.
“We are very optimistic about the outlook for next year. Whilst 2020 has disrupted the competitive landscape and market dynamics of world whisky, the traits which underpin the industry remain robust and demand – particularly for high-quality, craft products – is still extremely buoyant.
“Over the last five years, English whisky has undergone a renaissance moving from niche product to mainstream attention. This revival has only just begun and 2021 will see several new English distilleries releasing their first ‘of-age’ products. All these things provide great reasons to be positive about the future fettle of the whisky industry.
DANIEL SZOR, OWNER, COTSWOLDS DISTILLERY, ENGLAND “We’re looking forward to another very busy year in 2021 on the whisky front, following a surprisingly strong 2020 despite all of the well-known hindrances. As was the case in 2020 the focus will be on UK off-trade and grocery, online sales (our own and others) and export. We have a number of new releases planned including the second in our annual Hearts & Crafts series and our much-awaited Bourbon Cask – 100 per cent first fill bourbon, five years old. We also expect to see a number of single cask releases, both in our own retail channel and also for a number of our overseas distributors.
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“We feel there is good reason to be optimistic about 2021. At the end of a year like 2020 you can’t help but feel that short of an asteroid hit or a world war there’s little that can be thrown at us that we haven’t seen in 2020. Seriously though, we believe people will continue to work from, and enjoy their premium spirits moments at home for much of the year in a way that will benefit whisky in general, and in particular those brands which reward ‘flavour explorers’ with creativity and authenticity.
“As far as our company is concerned, we’ve managed to keep production – both distilling and bottling – going through the worst of the year so far, and our management team is working more effectively together than ever in the past. Our brand continues to grow, and as the first English whisky to grace the shelves of both Waitrose and Sainsburys we are proud to be at the forefront of what is a truly exciting new category (we can call it that, with nearly 25 distilleries in or near production) – English Whisky. ASHOK CHOKALINGAM, AMRUT, INDIA: “Our plans for 2021 are to get back to where we were in 2019
On a scale of one to 10 and one being very optimistic, I will rate it as five at the moment. A lot depends on how different countries are planning on vaccination programmes and travel restrictions. This will have a profound effect on our business”
ROBERT RANSOM, LANGATUN, SWITZERLAND: “We have basically lost a quarter this year, so expect sales to be 25 per cent down. Compared to others, particularly our friends on the front line of hospitality, we have fared better. The small size of the business, with no employees nor office or retail rent bills to pay, has been a blessing in disguise. Similarly with next to no travel nor events to participate in our overheads are down.
As for 2021 we have plans for new releases of Angels’ Nectar. Asia is having more success at controlling Covid-19, so
Patrick Zuidam
I expect to see Asian markets bounce back first. Elsewhere we will get better with | living with the virus, so economically things will slowly improve. Whisky Festivals though, will be one of the last things to return, whilst at the same time I suspect consumer’s interest in on-line festivals will dwindle. Why do an on-line tasting, if your local pub has re-opened? I envisage a new whisky festival format which is 100 per cent master class with the consumer staying seated (socially distanced), whilst a series of distillers present their drams to the audience in turn.”
PATRICK ZUIDAM, ZUIDAM, THE NETHERLANDS: “The whisky industry will remain strong and hopefully the lockdowns of 2020 will be behind us. That will hopefully give our friends in the on-trade around the world some chances of recovery as they have had the worst burden to bear in 2020. We had a pretty decent 2020 given the circumstances but expect a stronger growth in 2021 as we finally have more stock of Malt and Rye Whisky that we can sell. Rye whisky is doing great and seems to finally get some traction in the rest of the world as opposed to only in the United States.”|.
PAUL DEMPSEY, SPEY , SPEYSIDE, SCOTLAND: “I’m optimistic for the industry and ourselves next year. Independent specialist retailers in many countries (where most of our whisky is sold) have mostly managed to stay operational through Covid, and have adapted their businesses to embrace virtual tastings etc. Hopefully as physical events start to return, these can be combined with the virtual events to reach an even wider audience.”
These industry experts from around the world all seemed optimistic in December, but have their predictions come true? Sources point to yes: with the lifting of lockdown restrictions in many countries, and the distribution of millions of vaccines in the UK, Europe, and America, travel - and tourism - is on the rise. Globally, people are scratching the itch to be active again, and what’s better then a distillery tour in doing so? While this story will continue to develop throughout the rest of 2021, we at Explore Drinks echo this message of optimism.
