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ANYONE WITH ANY misgivings about the UK’s decision to leave the European Union should have been highly alarmed by foreign secretary Boris Johnson’s comments about whisky trade with India from a few months back.

Not only did he offend an entire religion by waving scotch whisky bottles around in a Sikh temple, but what he said was, to use language that he would understand, a load of old piffle and balderdash.

The gist of what Johnson had to say was that once the UK was free of Europe, it would be free to do a deal with India to sell lots of whisky there. Leaving to one side the fact that the first thing India is likely to want is more travel visas to the UK for its citizens –pure anathema to the Brexiteers – he revealed he had absolutely no understanding of India and whisky whatsoever. The facts are these:

The European Union has had scores of negotiators fighting the scotch whisky cause, and others, since 2007. Without any success. Talks stalled in 2013 ‘due to a mismatch of the level of ambitions’. They resumed in 2016 but no real progress has been made. At the EU-India Summit of October 6, 2017 the leaders: “Expressed their shared commitment to strengthening the Economic Partnership between India and the EU and noted the ongoing efforts of both sides to re-engage actively towards timely relaunching negotiations for a comprehensive and mutually beneficial FTA (Free Trade Agreement).”

You don’t negotiate with India. You negotiate with 29 separate States. Foreign whisk(e)y brands have struggled to capture the market due to a complicated federal tax structure, high import duties and policies favouring domestic producers. The tariffs imposed on Europe are partly due to the fact that much of what the Indians call ‘whisky’ is not recognised as such by Europe because it is made with molasses. Messing with the definition in any post-Brexit scenario would be akin to importing chlorine-cleaned meat from America.

India is a vast market – there are 1.34bn people – but three quarters of that number, about 1bn, are living in poverty, are not necessarily benefitting from economic growth and would not be able to afford scotch, even without tariffs and taxes

India already has ‘whisky’. A lot of it. Indeed, it has the biggest brands in the world, most with a long history of marketing and advertising support, and many with a huge and loyal pool of drinkers. It is hard to track reliable statistics for the size of the total spirits market in India but United Spirits estimates it at approximately 270m cases, approximately 33m of which are its Officer’s Choice brand. The Scotch Whisky Association estimates the Indian spirits market at 250m 9-litre cases, of which 140m are ‘whisky’. India remains the world’s largest consumer of ‘whisky’, an industry worth about $10bn. Does Mr Johnson really think there is a huge group of people just waiting for new scotch brands to enter the market?

These counterpoints to Boris Johnson’s poppycock are not intended to embarrass or humiliate him, but rather to reinforce the point that the Indian whisky market is like no other, has a unique set of challenges, and cannot be treated in simple black and white or binary terms, as the foreign secretary tried to do.

When we consider Indian whisky we’re looking at what is effectively a whisky Apartheid. If we were writing about Australian or Swedish whisky we would write about the country’s leading brands and how they are doing across the world.

But India is different. There are two distinct definitions of what Indian whisky is: the one that covers the whisky brands operating in India, but virtually nowhere else. That would make for a fine feature if this magazine were called Drinks Internal, but it’s not. And then there is the definition of it that focuses on the distilleries which are Indian but trade internationally.

LONE VOICE

For many years, that meant writing a feature about India’s lone voice, Amrut Distillery in Bangalore. Slowly and surely, though, that’s changing. Indian whisky has not only carved out its own identity, it has won itself a hard-earned reputation for quality.

The latest Indian drinks company to enter the international market is Radico Khaitan, which markets Rampur single malt whisky. President for international business, Sanjeev Banga, pays credit to Amrut but thinks Indian whisky is about to take another leap forward.

“Credit goes to Amrut for introducing Indian single malt to the world,” he says.

“We are taking the legacy forward and to a new level. India has huge potential and it’s about time we made our presence felt on the world stage. Our Magic Moments vodka is already creating waves globally. So are Indian wines – and now is the time for Indian single malt.

“Our malt distillery has been in operation for 25 years and we have been ageing malts since then. We were never in a hurry to launch our single malt. Only once we felt confident of having a very fine product and adequate stock did we decide to venture into single malt whisky.”

Amrut had a relatively low profile in some territories during 2017, choosing to target its limited stocks at core markets. But the company’s general manager for international sales and marketing, Ashok Chokalingam, reckons that this may well have been a calm before the storm.

“2017 was pretty good for us,” he says. “We, as the pioneers of Indian single malt, see a potential for strong growth and this category will become even stronger than it was before. The future is bright. Overall this has been much better in terms of consumer understanding than the past and I see this movement will continue in terms of education. I am seeing the world whisky movement getting stronger day by day.”

For Shilton Almeida, regional manager for the Paul John whisky range, consumer knowledge has moved forward noticeably. “People are very surprised at the fact that India makes single malt whiskies and impressed at the same time once they try them. Certainly the brand is better known in the market nowadays compared to two or three years back. Most consumers have moved from ‘new to Paul John and Indian whiskies’ to ‘new to a particular Paul John expression’.

“As long as people have an open mind to try world whiskies, we have a trend setting in. Otherwise, blind tastings are also a way to break in.”

Indian whisky finds itself benefiting from a surge of interest in whiskies from non-traditional territories.

Chokalingam thinks the move away from age statements on many expressions of scotch whisky has led to a better understanding of maturation and that has made a difference.

“I think they are copying us because of the shortage of stocks,” he says. “Our position has been very clear from the beginning that age does not always matter. They are the ones who are now doing flip-flops.”

ISSUES OF AGE

Rampur’s Sanjeev Banga agrees that the issue of age has become far less important to the consumer.

“We are not making any age claim on the product though it is matured for a very long time in harsh Indian weather conditions,” he says.

“Even Scots admit ageing in India is about four times faster than Scotland. We feel age is just a number and should not cloud the consumer opinion.

“For us the most important thing is that the consumer should like the liquid and desire to have it repeatedly. Single malt consumers prefer uniqueness in the taste. They are always keen to try a new malt. “

Paul John’s Shilton Almeida thinks the consumer definitely understands more about maturation. “I believe after the Japanese whiskies were out in the market, people became aware of the fact that whisky matures faster in hotter climates,” he says.

“Consumers nowadays are intrigued and want to learn more about world whisky offerings and how it is different from whiskies from traditional areas. And they really appreciate them once tasted.

“But it could be the other way round too. With the love for whisky that I have, I personally feel that age is just a number. At the same time I would like to know more about it, and we can always find out a lot more in today’s digital world through various social media platforms from the brand and experts.”

The Indian whisky producers certainly feel that the somewhat patronising Rest of the World tag for anything outside the five traditional whisky-making regions is well and truly consigned to the history books. The next step is for India to break free of the New World whisky label, too.

Overall consumer understanding has been much better than in the past and I see this movement will continue in terms of education” says Chokalingam. “We have a strong world whisky movement now, and perhaps we will get an Indian whisky movement in a few years’ time I guess.”

Absolutely, says Almeida.

“Personally, I can see that in the future we will have a separate nation-wise category for whiskies such as Indian whiskies, Irish whiskies, Japanese whiskies, etc, rather than calling them all ‘world whisky’. And why not when there are so many distilleries opening up across the globe with such fantastic liquids? This is just the beginning for me, we have a long way to go.”

With all three distilleries ramping up stocks in 2018, and other distilleries set to join the fray, Indian whisky is stepping back up to the plate and reclaiming its place in the sun. The future for it looks very exciting indeed.

Indeed, it may well be that the real winners in the Brexit stakes will be them, and not the British. Sorry Boris.