🥃 Is History Repeating Itself?
Email newsletter originally sent to subscribers on 17 October 2024
No doubt, some of you have already read Dave Broom’s excellent piece There’s A Storm A-Comin’. He writes:
The whisky market cannot be built at the commodity end either. It has always been built in the mainstream – great whisky at an affordable price.
Which reminded me of something I came across whilst researching Opening The Case. 125 years earlier, in September 1899, Peter Mackie addressed shareholders at the annual meeting of the Craigellachie-Glenlivet Distillery Company.
Peter Mackie - Image credit: scotchwhisky.com
After explaining that profits were down, primarily as a result of the collapse of Pattisons Ltd, - although the company was still faring much better than a number of others - Mackie continued by suggesting that many firms had been selling inferior quality whisky. And, therefore, according to Mackie, although it was up to the public to decide how they should spend their money, he thought they would be unwise to purchase inferior Scotch whisky when they could buy much better for roughly the same price. He concluded by encouraging customers to ask themselves, 'Who will provide the best quality?'
He highlighted that there were 103,000,000 gallons of whisky in bond at that time. For those metrically inclined such as myself, this equates to 468,247,270 litres. Today, according to the Scotch Whisky Association’s website, there are 8.4 billion litres of whisky maturing in warehouses in Scotland.
Before wishing that distilleries would now refrain from producing more than they could sell, Mackie made mention of those large stocks:
“This is the strongest indication that customers should receive good value for their money. Some fear these large stocks, but to me, this is the one redeeming factor for the continued popularity of Scotch whisky.”
With the expectation of a troubled time ahead for the Scotch whisky industry, Dave Broom’s conclusion that
“Whisky will recover because that’s what it does. How quickly is unclear and depends on distillers learning from history…”
is, for want of a better expression, right on the money.
Please do get in touch if you have any questions or comments. It’s always lovely to hear from you.
Slàinte!
Justine