"distillers" news and stories

With the legalization of making beer at home, microbrewing took off as homebrewers figured out how to sell their beer in the commercial marketplace. Whiskey is distilled beer, so it only makes sense that the passion of some of these brewers led them to diversify their business to also include distilled products, as well.

With home distilling still illegal, craft distilling isn't necessarily following the same growth pattern as craft brewing, but you will find small brewers such as Oregon's Rogue Ales and California's Anchor Brewing distilling innovative spirits such as single malt high proof rye and spruce gin. Like the craft brewers, many craft distillers are unfettered by tradition and shareholder profit pressure so they explore and create adventurous spirits that the big corporate distillers don't have the freedom to.

Scotch whisky is enjoying unprecedented popularity around the world, especially in Asian countries. The annual foreign market is more than £2 billion. Understandably, the distillers would like to hold on to as much of this market as they can, but there are some who are none too happy about the current market.

In India, sales of whisky have enjoyed a fifty percent increase in the last year and a Scotish Whisky Association (SWA) representative said that "India is the industry's number one trade priority." That is where the trouble starts. The SWA is protesting the 212-525% taxes and tariffs on their imports, which the Indian government and distillers say is necessary to protect local products. Indian distillers, in turn, are protesting the fact that the EU does not permit them to sell their own brew as "whisky" in Europe because it is molasses-based, not cereal-based. The Indian distillers, like magnate Vijay Mallya, say that having to call their beverage an "Indian spirit" hurts sales and the EU's labling requirements amount to protectionism, especially since they are not asking to call their products "scotch," and are willing to use the label "Indian whisky."

Efforts towards a settlement have failed thus far, but the EU is apparently conducting negotiations to see if a resolution can be reached.

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