Almost all categories under the world whisky umbrella witnessed steady growth in 2016, as new distilleries opened at a rate of knots and multinational drinks groups coveted high-growth brands.

The world whisky category is booming

The world whisky arena – constituted by any whisk(e)y category outside of Scotch for the purposes of this report – has been particularly active in the past year. According to forecast data from Euromonitor, sales of American whiskey will hit almost 350 million litres in 2016, up from 337m in 2015. Over the past 12 months, a number of leading drinks firms – including Sazerac, Beam Suntory, Diageo and Brown-Forman – continued multi-million-dollar expansions of their existing production sites and also progressed with the construction of entirely new distilleries. This is a sure sign that the industry does not view American whiskey’s boom time as a short-term fad.

Emerald potential

Look to the Emerald Isle and it becomes clear that Irish whiskey is one of the most remarkably fast-growing categories in spirits. In recent years, the industry’s total production has been sustained by just four distilleries, but 2016 figures from trade body the Irish Whiskey Association (IWA) show there are now 32 new or proposed distilleries in Ireland. As the sector’s rapid growth ramps up, the IWA recently launched the ‘Protect Irish Whiskey’ campaign to combat counterfeit products.

“Irish whiskey represents 28% of Ireland’s total drink exports, and it is the fastest growing premium spirit globally,” says Daniel Lundberg, global brand director for Jameson. “A rapidly developing recognition of the premium potential of Irish whiskey has helped move the category forward in more mature markets, with a proliferation of new super-premium products launched. But there are still many parts of the world where Irish whiskey is the newcomer, which means there is still huge potential.”

Hot property

For categories such as American, Irish and Japanese whisk(e)y, where consumer interest and enthusiasm appear unrelenting, supply is a pervasive problem. “One of the major ongoing challenges for Irish Distillers is ensuring that we are constantly investing in our capacity to keep pace with the growth of our products,” continues Lundberg. “That’s why we have invested over €220m in the Midleton Distillery [home of Jameson] since 2012.”

As more established world whisk(e)y categories play catch-up, emerging segments are capturing consumer attention. Whiskies from regions such as Australia, Scandinavia and Taiwan and becoming hot property, as evidenced by the investment of Diageo’s Distill Ventures unit in Melbourne-based Starward Whisky.

“I want to see Starward next to Scotch, American, Japanese, Irish whisk(e)y on the back bar,” the brand’s founder, David Vitale, told The Spirits Business earlier this year. If current trends and predictions are anything to go by, this wish may come true in the coming year.

Click through the following pages to discover which brands and trends we have predicted will dominate the world whisky sector in 2017.

Starward Whisky

After receiving an undisclosed investment from Distill Ventures at the end of 2015, Starward Whisky announced plans to open a new distillery in Melbourne that will double the brand’s capacity. While Starward is currently available in Australia and the UK, it intends to launch in the US next summer, and is also seeking distribution in Europe and Asia.

High West Distillery

If reports are to be believed, Utah-based American whiskey producer High West Distillery found itself at the centre of a bidding war earlier this year. While sources claimed Pernod Ricard had made a beeline for the distillery, Constellation Brands was victorious, buying the company for US$160m and announcing plans to significantly increase capacity.

Southern Comfort

While many may view Southern Comfort as a whiskey-flavoured liqueur, Mark Brown, CEO of Sazerac, believes that following his company’s acquisition of the brand this year, it is on track to become a “serious mainstream whiskey”, hinting that flavoured brand extensions could be culled from the portfolio.

Key trends in 2017

• Look out for a greater focus on terroir and single-estate products across the spectrum of world whisk(e)y, with US-based Buffalo Trace and WhistlePig, Ireland’s new Waterford Distillery and Japan’s new Akkeshi Distillery pioneering the trend.

• Rampant merger-and-acquisition activity in the spirits industry looks set to continue, and multinational drinks groups will most likely diversify their portfolios with purchases in interesting emerging whisky regions.

• As the market for third-party distillation becomes squeezed, and consumer interest and scrutiny of brand provenance grows, expect brands to open more wholly owned distilleries.