Although 1983 saw the foundation of the Society, in many ways the year was a low point for the overall Scotch whisky industry. Gavin D Smith reports on how the tide began to turn, with a rise in single malt offerings, visitor centres and of course the single cask
If 1983 represents something of a low point for the wider whisky industry, matters began to look less bleak by the middle of the decade. The late Alan Gray wrote in The Scotch Whisky Industry Review that “consumption recovered between 1985 and 1988 as economic conditions improved. Moreover, even during periods of volume declines, values generally continued to rise or were less badly affected.”
ABOVE: Lagavulin distillery in the 1990s
Describing the 1990s, Gray noted a decline in volumes during the severe economic recession of 1990-92, adding that: “There was in fact a marginal increase in world consumption of Scotch whisky in 1992, which gathered pace between 1993 and 1995…”
Recession in Asia during 1997-98 and relatively weak economies in South America and Europe led to a sharp decline in exports during 1998, with overall exports falling by more than eight per cent. The following year, however, “…a modest upturn in Europe, a strong recovery in Asia and the millennium factor resulted in 1999 exports rising by 5 per cent, from 234 million litres of pure alcohol to 267 million.”
By this time, global interest in Scotch whisky was such that whatever the worst vicissitudes of recession in any or all markets, passion for the spirit remained undimmed, even if sales sometimes fell as well as rose.
When it came to single malts, the statistics for increased variety are most revealing. In 1980, a total of 27 were noted as being available, and that figure rose steadily, until by the end of the decade more than 100 single malts were on the market.
The numbers continued to grow, with limited edition and cask-finished expressions adding to the multiplying core ranges from distilleries the length and breadth of Scotland, both in proprietary bottlings and increasingly in variants from independent bottlers.
Interest was driven by the publication of dedicated whisky books and the establishment of Whisky Magazine in 1998, while whisky festivals, most notably on Speyside and Islay, gave consumers the opportunity to interact with distillers and sample rare and new expressions, while a growing number of specialist retailers were established across Scotland and beyond.
Noting this apparently ever-growing interest in Scotch whisky, distillers began to organise tastings and appointed brand ambassadors to spread the gospel. Distillery visitor centres proliferated and companies began to vie with each other to offer the best experiences to members of the public.
An early initiative to showcase the Scotch whisky industry to visitors from all over the world was the Scotch Whisky Heritage Centre – later renamed the Scotch Whisky Experience – which opened during 1988 in a prominent position at the top of Edinburgh’s Royal Mile.
ABOVE: the Scotch Whisky Experience
Arguably the biggest game-changer, however, was the spread of internet usage during the 1990s. Older readers will remember pre-broadband ‘dial-up’ access, using existing phone lines, which meant you could either use the internet or the telephone, and this at a time when mobile phone ownership was still relatively rare.
Access to a vast amount of information did much to create a thirst for ever more knowledge about Scotch whisky, both mainstream and altogether more arcane. Lyne arm angles and mash tun circumferences became hot topics in some of the more specialist forums.
ABOVE: a distillery tour underway at Raasay
When it came to how single malts were presented, the Society was definitely ahead of the curve in offering single cask bottlings.
United Distillers’ Rare Malts series launched in 1995 with Brora, Dallas Dhu, Millburn and St Magdelene, and although they represented a breakthrough in offering ‘natural strength’ proprietary bottlings, these were not single cask releases.
Mike Collings, who created the series, explained in Rare Malts by the late Ulf Buxrud that:
“only if at least three casks, from a single year, show identical character or consistency and a perfect quality, are they selected as candidates for marrying and bottling.”
An early candidate for a single cask ‘house’ bottling was Macallan’s 60-year-old, with a dozen bottles initially being filled from cask #263 in 1986 with label illustration by Peter Blake, but this was an ultra-rare creation and bottles now fetch a million dollars plus at auction.
The company that can probably claim credit for the first single cask, cask strength independent bottlings was the low-profile firm of James MacArthur, established in 1982, followed a decade later by expressions from Jamie Walker’s Adelphi Distillery company.
The Society may have been born at a time of pessimism in the Scotch whisky industry, but as it grew and developed into the much-loved institution it is today, so the fortunes of Scotch improved exponentially, with ever more information and varied experiences being made available, accompanied by infinitely more choice in the marketplace.
Today’s whisky drinker has never had it so good!