Out of favour at home
"Prophets are not without honor except in their own country and in their own house."
I'm not sure if a quote from Jesus has ever been used in a study of the UK whisky market before - it's a little strange I concede. But without wishing to get too theological this piece of wisdom is a very apt one to describe the state of whisky in the UK, compared with its status outside its homeland.
According to AC Nielsen, sales of blended whisky in the UK are down 10 per cent year on year up to July 2006. Malts don't fare much better, down five per cent. They are both losing value - down seven and five per cent respectively.
And yet speak to bodies like the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) and they seem positively upbeat. David Williamson, public affairs manager at the SWA, claims "the picture is bright".
This is because outside the UK drinkers cannot get enough of whisky from the UK, particularly scotch. Export sales are as good as they ever have been. More and more markets across the world are gaining an appetite for the spirit. From America to Japan and China to Taiwan, scotch sales are booming. In Russia, the young Moscow hipsters are not drinking vodka - they are buying the most premium Scottish single malts they can find and taking them to parties as a status symbol. So it seems all the world is in love with scotch whisky - well, all except us.
While spirits sales in general are having a hard time in the UK on-trade at least there is life in vodka, gin and rum. When it comes to pubs life just seems to be a bit of a struggle for whisky.
A question of culture
John Glaser, managing director of whisky company Compass Box, and former marketing director of Johnnie Walker, believes there is a cultural problem with spirits in the UK at the moment.
"In pubs there is not much of a culture of spirits drinking in this generation. It is very rare to go into a pub that is proud of its spirits - especially whisky," he says.
Lindsay Tier, senior brand manager for Glenfiddich, agrees it is a challenging market for all whisky brands. "I think there is no argument we have a big job to do," she says. "We need to restore relevance to today's spirits drinkers because whisky drinkers are getting older. The challenge is getting modern drinkers interested without alienating the traditional consumer."
One significant problem is that the pub is losing its whisky drinkers - they are shifting away from the bar and onto the armchair at home. It is a problem most drinks categories face but at least lager is
topping up its lapsed drinkers with newer graduates to the pub arena every year. More and more the whisky drinker is someone who will only partake of a snifter after a good dinner or on a special occasion. And more often than not those occasions are not taking place in the pub.
Abroad, whisky is sexy with all kinds of mixers and cocktails being created to keep consumers interested. This simply is not happening in the UK. The only sector of the UK market that is bucking this trend is imported whiskey - particularly American brands like Jack Daniel's.
Despite this gloomy picture, John Glaser sounds a note of optimism for the future.
"One thing to bear in mind in this industry, however, is the pendulum does swing both ways," he points out. "When I started working for Johnnie Walker in New York in 1994, sales of spirits in bars were falling.
"Spirits consumption was falling and whisky consumption was falling even faster. Twelve years later this has all changed and spirits consumption has risen again." The same could happen in the UK.
