Edrington Head Says Resilient Scotch Entering Unique Era

LONDON, January 24, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --

The CEO of Edrington has said that broad-based demand for Scotch whisky has given the category a momentum "that we haven't seen before".

In an exclusive interview with just-drinks, Ian Curle, whose company has invested GBP100m (US$166m) in a new distillery for its The Macallan Scotch brand, said that the category is as strong as it ever has been, despite the financial crisis that has affected the western world in the last five years. "It was one of the most dramatic events of a generation and yet Scotch has continued," he said. "You can never say never, but it's happening on more frontiers than ever before."

He added: "Some places will take a knock, there will be headwinds. But that basket of opportunity, it just feels like momentum."

In the wide-ranging two-part interview, Curle also said that the US is behaving like an emerging market in premium spirits.

"In the US, there are 1m new legal drinking age consumers every year that are buying more premium spirits," he said. "If you chose to segment the US in a certain way ... there is a big chunk of the population that is behaving comparably to an emerging territory."

To read the two-part interview, click here and here.

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