Whisk(e)y Trends in 2015
Ireland
Confidence is at an all-time high. With exports booming and investment being carried out at an unprecedented level. But what can we expect as punters?
There is no doubt that we will see a lot more brands coming on stream. However, the liquid has to come from somewhere, and there will be some very similar tasting whiskeys out there which have been drawn from existing stocks.
The big guns at Midleton, Kilbeggan and Bushmills are keeping their cards close to their chests. It is unlikely we will see any surprises from Kilbeggan other than some rebranding to continue their emphasis on the Kilbeggan label. However they do have some single pot still whiskey maturing, could we see some of this in 2015? Bushmills' new owners may well decide to create some extra interest in the brand by releasing some limited editions. I personally would love to see some single cask releases from them, but they may also decide to tweak some of their core single malt range- pure speculation though! Midleton are rumoured to be releasing another 3 single pot stills, most likely a 'Red Spot' to accompany the Green Spot and Yellow Spot whiskeys, plus perhaps a Jameson Single Pot Sill.
We can expect to see new brands from a lot of the new distilleries. Most of this can only logically come from the Teeling Whiskey Company who have decent reserves of mature stock. However the question that I would ask is do they have enough whiskey for everyone? Probably not, therefore they may draw the line somewhere and decide that their stocks are needed for the future of their own brands.
Scotland
To the dismay of many consumers there is a continued push towards NAS (No Age Statement) single malts. The best of these are actually pretty good. I have been impressed with the Aberlour’s A’Bunadh and the more recent Macallan releases, although not enough to buy one for myself! There are other good ones out there, it’s just that the sceptic in me believes it is generally a way of passing of inferior or younger whisky whilst still charging a premium price tag. What is sure is that we will see more of them, especially from long established distilleries with supply & demand issues.
More emphasis on raw ingredients and barrel selection. Bruichladdich, Kilchoman and Springbank have already released whiskies which claim single origin or organic barley. We will see more of this from other brands as the growing number of premium distilleries look for ways to differentiate their products. Much in the same way that Slane Distillery hopes to produce a single origin whiskey made from their own estate grown barley. The importance of wood selection and barrel sourcing will also be something you can expect to hear about. The distilleries who do it well are going to shout about it more, the others may well keep their cards close to their chests!
Marketing people love the word ‘premiumisation’. Expect to hear this more in 2015 as companies switch to flashy branding, celebrity endorsement, flavoured whisky and all kinds of other tricks to justify price increases. Flavoured whisky is, of course, not allowed to call itself ‘whisky’ and it remains to be seen if European tastes will embrace this in the same way that the States has.
USA and elsewhere
Rye whiskey and small craft distilleries will continue to drive innovation in the States. Expect some of these small fry producers to get snapped up by the big guys. This is already happening in the beer business where craft beer is where the growth in revenue is coming from.
Emerging countries are set to become more successful. Japan’s success has already paved the way for countries such as Taiwan, India and Australia to get in on the act. Hopefully we will see more from all these countries in Ireland.
