-- If you’re invited to a wedding in Southern China you might see couples perform an unexpected ritual. First their hands are bound together, then the pair imbibe a shared toast of Scotch whisky. Its an invariably heart-warming symbol of shared destiny that might seem to hark back to ancient Celtic lore.
“Asia is where the longer-term growth will be, especially as you convert people from whatever the local whiskies are or the cheaper blends to more expensive whiskies over time,” said Bloomberg Intelligence consumer goods analyst Duncan Fox. Euromonitor International valued the global market for whiskies at $139.5 billion in 2022.
Recent earnings reports bear this out. In late August, Pernod announced that Scotch sales had increased 17% for the year ended in June to hit a 10-year high; Asia was the biggest contributor to that growth, with sales up 21% there. Chivas’ Royal Salute, whose bottles can sell for tens of thousands of dollars each, saw revenue rise 32% — an increase Gourgues says was mostly driven by rising Asian consumption.
Understanding the hyper-niche areas in Asia’s markets has been key to beverage producers making inroads in the region. India’s cultures and regulations vary state by state, while the Chinese market requires focusing on individual cities and age groups divided into targeted five-year segments . That’s why weddings have been such a good opportunity for the whisky industry, bringing together cultures and generations.
“It was pretty dead—there were seven or eight bars for whiskey and they didn’t bring in many different products,” he says.