Mittwoch, 3. April 2013
Scotch whisky exports decrease in 2012
There have been several forecasts already on the decrease of Scotch single malt during the last months. Today, figures published by BBC confirm that apparently the golden times of Scotch whisky we saw over the last years might be over: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-21996285
I really hope that the times of disproportional prizes will now also come to an end... Obviously less and less people are willing to pay fantasy prizes for their malt. Need an example? Only 3 years ago I paid around 100 Euros for a bottling of Highland Park, today you will have to pay more than 200. Another one? Just google prizes for any recent Port Ellen bottling, my first one 5 years ago was at 120 Euro. Same happens to Talsiker 25 or others, I could name many many more. The sales indeed are effected with the standard 10-12-16-18 years old bottlings which have only increased smoothly - but as they are sold on large scales they make the biggest parts of the profit of the distiling companies - next to the proportion dedicated for the blending industry.
Malt whisky has unfortunately become en vogue during the last years and the whole industry was booming. As a result everything that could be sold was bottled, we saw (and still see) various no age statement bottlings, poor quality single casks and an artificial shortage by offering bottlings only to members of societies in order to make them more exclusive (and more expensive, of course). All this resulted in an increase in prizes and at least partially in a lack of quality. Those who suffer mostly from these tendencies are the malt aficionados looking for great and affordable bottlings... hopefully, the whisky bubble is bursting now, making single malt become again what it once was - a drink for lovers, not for speculators or en vogue people... Amen.