Last week I wrote about the whisky boom in the far east and today the times online has a lengthy story as well about the whisky boom. They even go as far as to say that the Chinese are drinking the Scotch whisky stocks dry. This will be good news for some and bad news for others. It's obvious that low stocks will raise prices, there's no question about that. It will also be interesting to find out if the Chinese have a preference for a particular Scottish Whisky Region like Highlands or Islay. In the mentioned article you can find a few paragraphs about Islay's Kilchoman Distillery. Here is a quote from the article:

The unthinkable has happened. So much whisky is being exported that warehouses are being emptied and distilling companies are having to ration supplies. The shortage affects only the industry's most expensive brands - 12-year-old and older malts - sales of which are booming, especially in the world's fastest-growing economy, China. Production in the 1990s, when they were first distilled, hit a low. Hence the shortage and a £500million boom in building new distilleries and expanding old ones. The promise of this liquid gold has led to a rush of investment. The Scotch Whisky Association, a trade promotion body, believes that about £500million is being spent on expanding distilling this year and in the previous two years. Six new distilleries are being built, three old ones are being revived, and three well-established names are expanding.

The smallest new distillery is Kilchoman on Islay, an island which already has plenty of whisky makers. Set up by two local entrepreneurs, it aims to take distilling back to its origins by using barley grown on the farm where the stills are sited and malting the grain on the premises. Kilchoman is one of a few distilleries planning to break the self-imposed rule that malt whiskies must be at least 10 years old. It plans to sell its first whisky - a three-year old malt - later this year.

Tag: whisky distilleries kilchoman