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If you want to get an insight into the Scandinavian market for whisky, look no further than the whisky cruises which sail out of Stockholm.
Over a couple of nights the ship sails into waters where the Swedish tax regime no longer holds sway. And over two intense days and nights enthusiasts drink, discuss and debate whisky. Scandinavians drink and the only thing that matches their thirst for whisky is their thirst for knowledge about it.
At the risk of broad-brush generalisations, Scandinavians are as passionate about whisky as anywhere else on the planet and their desire to know the most detailed minutiae ensures a vibrant and lively two days on board the cruise ship. A few hours into the first night and the tasting decks resemble a giant collection of weebles, with drinkers gently wobbling but never falling down.
These are the folk at the heart of the Scandinavian whisky world, and particularly the Swedish one. Sweden dwarfs its neighbours in terms of whisky sales, and provides the beating heart for the region to overcome considerable obstacles which include high prices, limited availability, and a state-controlled whisky market.
Unique whisky drinking
Ingvar Ronde, editor of the annually-released Malt Yearbook, says that Sweden is unique in the way it organises its whisky drinking.
“There are 210 whisky clubs affiliated to the Swedish Whisky Federation with 8,500 members having regular tastings, and a large number of other clubs active without having been registered by the Federation,” he says.
“Sweden has traditionally been a country of spirit drinkers rather than beer or wine. I think the numerous
TV series from the UK and the US, which started in the ’60s and ’70s, encouraged many to change from vodka and schnapps to whisky. Our ties with the Anglo Saxon world are much stronger than those with France, for instance. That’s why cognac is not a big thing in Sweden.”
Change on the horizon
Across Scandinavia spirits sales have always been far stronger than in many other markets and whisky dominates those figures. But that might be changing. Assessing the market from 2009 to 2014, Euromonitor International stated that spirits in general were increasingly being challenged by other drinks categories.
“An increasingly difficult environment will continue to result in major challenges for spirits,” it concluded. “Rising competition from alternative alcoholic drinks categories such as beer and wine with a lower abv level will continue to put constraints on the performance of spirits.
“Throughout the review period there has been a notable drift in terms of volume consumption from stronger spirits to lower-alcohol alternatives, mainly wine, but also more recently towards beer. Furthermore, as a result of very high average unit prices of spirits in Norway, a continued high degree of spirits sales will occur across the border in Sweden and in duty-free establishments. Additionally, duty-free sales will constitute an ever-bigger threat over the forecast period as the number of Norwegians travelling is rising at a steady pace.”
Other figures back this trend. Ingvar Ronde says that in the last five years total sales of spirits in Sweden have fallen by 9%. That said, within that figure whisky has been holding its own across the entire region.
Figures comparing December 2014 and December 2015 show that the whole whisky market in Sweden, Denmark and Norway grew by 1.8%, and Scottish single malt whisky growing by more than 5%. Ronde says that would appear to be right.
“Around 40% of all spirits sold in Sweden is whisky and it has been the same for at least five years,” he says.
Premium trends
“If we look at the different categories of whisky during these five years, they remain more or less unchanged. Blended scotch comes in at 62-63%, Canadian whisky 24%, Irish whiskey around 10%, scotch single malt 6% and American whiskey 2-3%.
“These figures are not 100% accurate as Swedish state figures only show figures for the top 100 spirit brands. On the other hand, they represent 85% of the total spirits volume.
If we were able to see the remaining 15%, I reckon the share of single malt would increase as many of
those brands have small sales figures but on the other hand, there are a lot of them.”
Euromonitor believes that Scottish single malt whisky is bucking the trend through its premium positioning as a category with heritage and history.
“Single malt scotch whisky and bourbon and other American whiskeys have, despite their higher prices, managed to display a vibrant total volume growth throughout the 2009-2014 review period,” it concludes. “Brands within these categories have been highly successful as a result of their heritage value and their unique production processes, which have generated interest amongst Scandinavian consumers.”
When Ingvar Ronde talks of state figures, he’s referring to figures from Systembolaget, the Swedish retailing monopoly distributing wines and spirits through more than 400 dedicated stores and a further 500 partner sites. These shops tend to stock a standard range of 300 whiskies, though another 1,200 can be ordered and are delivered in about a week.
The system is obviously important because it provides the only route to market. But it has become more so because it has recently been changed.
Seemingly there is movement towards a more liberal way of operating, but not everyone is convinced by the changes yet.
Help and hindrance
Angela D’Orazio is the whisky maker and master blender at Mackmyra, Sweden’s first and largest whisky
distillery. Traditionally the company has done well in Sweden, but she sees the Systembolaget as both a help and a hindrance.
“Obviously it’s great if you get listed in those 300 whiskies but once there you have to achieve sales
targets to stay there.
“There are different levels within the 300 whiskies, dependent on sales. It is much easier to be moved up and down the scale and that is not necessarily so good,”
Ingvar Ronde agrees.
“The dream for any producer is of course to be present in the regular range where the brand is exposed in the shop,” he says. “But achieving that is very difficult.
“For example, Systembolaget has, at least in the past, favoured producers which offer bottlings with age statements and that will be available for a number of years. They seem to like continuity.
“This has been problematic for new distilleries such as Scotland’s Kilchoman, which discontinues bottlings and releases new ones every year. On the other hand, a total range of 1,500 different whiskies is not bad even if you have to wait a while before you get it.”
Valid point
The point about small producers is a valid one. Look at those year-on-year figures again, and while Irish
whiskey sales and Scottish single malt sales were up by 6.7% and 5.7% respectively, other whiskies were up an impressive 13.8%, albeit from a relatively small base.
This is the category which will include new world whiskies as well as the growing number of new Scandinavian — with Denmark, Finland, Ice-land and particularly Sweden bottling whiskies regularly now.
One of the most successful new world distillers is The English Whisky Company, and according to managing director Andrew Nelstrop, the system makes for very unpredictable and volatile trading conditions.
“Scandinavia has proved to be a slight roller coaster for us,” he says.
“We sell to Sweden and have maintained a nice level of sales but because the market is government controlled, winning a national tender can dramatically increase sales for a given period as your product is suddenly widely available and visible in the government controlled liquor stores.
“However these tenders are quite few and far between for less well known types of whisky and therefore whilst it is lovely to see these occasional flurries of sales, they are not to be relied on.”
Spread the word
“We bottle single cask whiskies specially for the Swedish market place. Due to the ban on advertising etc in Sweden — we rely on our distributor and these customers to spread the word about English whisky and slowly build our customer base.”
It seems the state model can also benefit the new of Scandinavian producers. “So far I think the Scandinavian distilleries, even the smallest ones, have had an advantage from the monopoly,” says Ronde.
“I don’t think this is because Systembolaget tries to be especially nice to the producers but rather that the interest in Swedish whisky is big right now and having Systembolaget as the distributor means that the producers are able to reach consumers in the entire country.
“Swedish distiller Box sold out its first two releases of 5,000 bottles each in fewer than 30 minutes. It remains to be seen though if this interest is here to stay.”
Meanwhile back on the cruise liner, a group of members from the Stockholm Malt and Metal Society is waiting for an on-board masterclass by Laphroaig master distiller John Campbell.
“Scandinavians will always love good whiskey and Swedes specially like peaty whisky such as Laphroaig,” one of them tells me.
“That will not change. As long as we have money and Scotland has whisky we will continue to sail down there like Vikings to raid its whisky stocks.”
His friends laugh heartily, raise their glasses in agreement, cheer “skål” and finish off their malts before heading off for a refill.
And with that you can’t help but think that whisky still has a future here. A big one.
