Bourbon Causing a Headache for Scotch

April 6, 2015 — The Wall Street Journal reports that Scotch whisky sales to the U.S. fell nine percent last year due to a shift to bourbon and other American whiskeys.

Scotch whisky exports have dropped worldwide, not just to the USA.  China, once a promising market, has declined since the government cracked down on high living by bureaucrats.  Most luxury products have suffered.

Back in this market, there are several factors affecting Scotch’s decline, the cocktail craze being one of them.  American whiskeys are slightly sweeter and are mix better in cocktails.   American whiskey is usually less expensive than Scotch.  To further complicate matters, when Americans do buy Scotch, they want the best.  This puts some major distillers in a bad spot.  Lower priced blends such as Diageo’s Johnnie Walker Red Label and Bacardi’s Dewar’s White Label are down five percent.

When we write about Scotch and bourbon, we have to watch our spelling since one lot is “whisky” and the other is “whiskey”.  We found this clever way to remember which is which created by kitchn.com:

• Countries that have E’s in their names (UnitEd StatEs and IrEland) tend to spell it whiskEy (plural whiskeys)
• Countries without E’s in their names (Canada, Scotland, and Japan) spell it whisky (plural whiskies)

• http://www.thekitchn.com/whiskey-vs-whisky-whats-the-di-100476

Now we all know!  Thanks, kitchn.com