THE dandy has been striding out ever since he rst graced a bottle of Johnnie Walker in 1908, becoming the world’s favourite
Scotch whisky. Having made his name along the trading routes of the British empire, Johnnie Walker might be expected to support the Eurosceptics’ contention that Britain would be better o unshackling itself from an ailing EU to seek its fortune on the global stage. After all, the best hope of nding new Scotch-drinkers lies with newly auent Indians and Chinese.
Yet talk to whisky-makers and what is striking is that they see the EU and its single market as vital, both now and in future. Far from being a ball and chain, the EUis now the industry’s essential sword and shield for conquering world markets.
Why? Start with the EU’s single market. It is the world’s biggest economic block, in which most goods can be sold anywhere without hindrance. Despite its woes, the EU accounts for about
40% of total Scotch sales. France is the largest market, nearly twice as big as America, says International Wine and Spirits Research, a market-intelligence rm. Spain is a larger one than China, despite all its troubles (or perhaps because of them).
As new countries join the EU and remove their trade barriers, sales of Scotch tend to shoot up. This happened in Spain after the end of Franco’s authoritarian rule, when whisky-drinking became a symbol of auence and emancipation.
In Greece a whiskaki, preferably a Johnnie Walker, became the preferred middle-class drink, a sign of being truly European.
Sales in Greece have recently dropped because of the recession and rising excise taxes. But they are booming in Poland, which joined the EU in 2004 and has enjoyed stronger economic growth than other EU countries.
Whisky palates vary from country to country. For Johnnie
Walker as a brand, Europe has become a relatively smaller market.
But for Diageo, the British multinational that owns the label,
Europe still accounts for nearly 30% of total sales. And precisely because Diageo is a global company, the EU’s weight in trade negotiations is crucial. Paul Walsh, Diageo’s boss, says that many of the hundreds of drinks Diageo sells owe their place in the world to the EU’s ability to negotiate trade deals.
The biggest prize is India, which consumes almost as much whisky as the rest of the world put together. Yet instead of Scotch,
Indians drink local varieties bearing Scottish-sounding names, such as McDowell’s or Bagpiper, that are made from molasses.
Scotch purists say these are rums not whiskies. But India imposes taris of 150% on imported whisky, putting true Scotch beyond the reach of all but the rich. Whisky-makers hope the EUwill win abig tari reduction under a free-trade agreement that it is negotiating with India.
Scotch producers moan about protectionism elsewhere, but they benet from EU rules dening Scotch whisky narrowly by
geographic indications. It must be distilled in Scotland from the fermented mash of malted cereals, with or without whole grains, and matured in wooden casks for three years or more. It cannot be sweetened or avoured. Such rules preserve the distinctiveness of Scotch against competing whiskies from, say, America or
Canada. They also allow the industry to create an aura of whisky connoisseurship like that for ne wine.
What about claims that the EU ties rms in red tape, hampering their competitiveness? Whisky-makers acknowledge some irritants. But they prefer common EU rules to lots of national ones on everything from bottle-sizes to labels. Harmonised regulations reduce costs and can set global norms. The worst country for adding labelling rules on top of EU ones, says Nick Soper of the Scotch Whisky Association, is Britain. All told, whisky-makers say, British EUmembership has produced benets that