Edrington to bottle Cutty Sark in India

Edrington is to expand its global distribution network by forming a new Indian unit to bottle and distribute its Cutty Sark blended Scotch.

Edrington has entered into a joint deal with Kyndal Group to bottle and distribute its Cutty Sark brand in India

In a 50:50 joint venture between Edrington and Kyndal Group, the new distribution arm, named Edrington Kyndal Group, will bottle, market and distribute blended Scotch whisky brand Cutty Sark across the country.

This is the first time Cutty Sark would be bottled in a country outside of Scotland. However Edrington will continue to bottle the brand in Scotland for all other markets outside of India.

According to The Economic Times, Edrington also announced aims to achieve 10% of the Scotch whisky market in India over the next three years.

The partnership will also allow Kyndal to tap into the northern Indian markets, as until now its brands have only been present in southern states.

Just last month, the southern state of Kerala – the Indian region which consumes the largest amount of alcohol – revealed plans to enter complete prohibition, with the proposals partly ratified soon afterwards.

In October last year, Kyndal – formerly owned by Whyte & Mackay – and Perthshire distiller John Fife & Co., unveiled a joint venture project to build a £6.7m malt whisky distillery and warehouse in Glenrothes to produce liquid solely for India, Africa and the Far East.

This recent endeavour by Edrington follows its launch of a wholly-owned marketing and distribution company in the US. The group, which also produces The Macallan Scotch whisky and Brugal rum, opened a travel retail unit in July this year.

The Scotland-based group first revealed ambitions to expand its footprint through the establishment of local operation arms in the US, South East Asia and the Middle East, in June last year.