India tops

[Sally Toms]

India has officially become the largest international whisky market, topping the United States by volume.

Indian whiskies (mostly non-matured alcohols made from molasses and therefore not considered whisky by the Scotch Whisky Association) have reported staggering growth over the past decade, going up from 35-38 million cases in 1998 to 60 million in 2005/06.

Besides India, Indian whiskies sell in the Middle East and Asia, but have no market access to the West.

Conversely, the Indian market is fiercely protective of its 98 per cent share of domestic sales, to the extent that importers are faced with duty levels of up to 550 per cent.

A recent court case in Delhi ruled that a whisky company was banned from calling one of its products “Red Scot” or using the word Scot or Scotch on any of its products.

The SWA had brought the case against the bottler to ensure customers were not being misled.

[Deactivated Member]

Well, it's not really whisky, is it? If I decide to call the stuff that comes out of the taps here in Springfield "whisky", this fair city will automatically become the top consumer of whisky in the world.

[PuckJunkie]

No kidding, Mr. TH. Seriously:

...mostly non-matured alcohols made from molasses and therefore not considered whisky by the Scotch Whisky Association...

... or by anyone else that's ever had whisky. They make it sound like it's a byzantine policy by an overzealous group of xenophobes! Really, is there any point to having separate words for rum and whisky when someone can make rum, slap a label stating "whisky" on it and immediately claim they're a top-selling whisky? It's not the SWA that has the biggest objection; I think their concerns are trumped by, oh, I don't know, the English language?

whiskey, var. whisky Etymology: Irish uisce beathadh & Scottish Gaelic uisge beatha, literally, water of life
1 : a liquor distilled from the fermented mash of grain (as rye, corn, or barley)
2 : a drink of whiskey

Puck