If It Was Between Scotch and Nothing…. I’d Probably Drink Scotch
MOST recession-blighted manufacturers worry that their next order is likely to be for mothballs. Not so Scotland’s whisky makers: they are busy bringing old distilleries back to life and building new ones. The reason is not that the British are drowning their economic sorrows; it is that exports of single malts are booming. [...]
Though sales of whisky in Britain are broadly declining, consumption elsewhere has risen. In 2007 it reached 318m litres, a 15% increase on 1997, and £2.8 billion ($5.6 billion, at the exchange rates of the day), an 18% increase. Blended whiskies, it is true, faltered in 2008 but single malts forged ahead. Drinkers have got keener on the more expensive stuff (made from malted barley and generally matured for at least ten years) and less keen on grain and blended whiskies (usually kept for three). [...]
The trade association says that in 2008 and 2009 a total of about £500m will be spent building six new distilleries, bringing two old ones back into use and expanding five sites.
From The Economist UK
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