Market Watch October 2022

Amid tariffs, the pandemic, and a host of supply channel issues, we all know what happened with single malt Scotch in recent years. With the tariffs lifted, there’s now a sense that single malt Scotch is on the road back. In Scotland itself, distillery visits, whisky festivals, and other consumer-facing events are going full steam, and that’s true here as well. On the product front, the U.S. market is seeing a host of new packages, finishes, and also new expressions as the innovation train gathers steam. Restraining things now are prices of raw materials and supply chain issues. Deep water shipping costs have risen an estimated three-fold, according to some executives, and glass prices have also created issues for all but the biggest players. Hopefully those issues can be resolved…

Beam Invests In Distillery Expansion…. Beam Suntory is set to invest $400 million to expand its Booker Noe distillery in Boston, Kentucky, which produces the Jim Beam brand. The expansion will increase capacity by 50%, while reducing the distillery’s greenhouse gas emissions by half through the use of anaerobic digestors that will produce renewable natural gas to power the facility. “This expansion will help ensure we meet future demand for our iconic Bourbon in a sustainable way that supports the environment and the local community that has helped build and support Jim Beam,” says Beam Suntory president and CEO Albert Baladi. The move to expand the Booker Noe distillery comes on the heels of a recently completed $60 million project at the James B. Beam Distilling Co.’s brand new home…

Chicago: Canal Street Venue Opens With Italian-Themed Restaurant And Bar Located in the new 320 South Canal building in Chicago’s West Loop neighborhood, Canal Street Market and Eatery opened in August with retail and restaurant elements. The Market by Spearhead Hospitality offers upscale deli sandwiches, pastries, and coffee, as well as a gourmet retail space that incorporates drinks and curated picnic baskets containing bottled cocktails and wines. Adjacent to this in the same 11,000-square-foot space, Canal Street Eatery boasts an Italian-inspired menu with handmade pastas, wood-fired pizzas, and larger entrées ranging from steak with marrow butter to salmon piccata (food is $8-$28). The Eatery has a full Italian-themed beverage program, including wines like Selvaggio Prosecco, ColleStefano Verdicchio di Matelica, and Donnafugata Sherazade Nero d’Avolo ($10-$16 a glass; $45-$75 a 750-ml.).…

Compass Box Ultramarine & Flaming Heart 2022 Compass Box has announced two new limited releases, set to hit shelves around the world in November. Ultramarine ($375 a 750-ml.) is a 51% abv blend of single malts from Caol Ila and Glendullan with grain whiskies from Cameronbridge and Girvan. It kicks off Compass Box’s new Extinct Blends Quartet, meant to emulate past styles of blended Scotch. The second new release is Flaming Heart 2022 ($155), the seventh entry in the whisky’s namesake series. The 48.9% abv bottling is blended from Laphroaig, Talisker, and Caol Ila malts, with a portion of highland whiskies and past Compass Box releases blended in as well. Ultramarine is limited to 5,430 bottles, while Flaming Heart 2022 is limited to 9,606 bottles. For more information, visit Compassboxwhisky.com.…

Since she was 14 years old, Jessica Everett has held every front-of-house restaurant position, from busser to manager, but the bar was where she found her true calling. “When I was 22, I moved to San Francisco and was lucky enough to land a gig bartending at a high-end restaurant under an amazing woman who ushered me into the world of craft cocktails,” she says. When her mentor left, the role of creating cocktails for the menu landed on Everett’s shoulders. “The chef and owner encouraged us to use local and seasonal ingredients in our bar program—I had always loved to cook, so once I realized I could apply my love of cooking to the world of cocktails, I was hooked,” she notes. “From there I devoted myself to the…

Around the single malt Scotch industry, sales and marketing experts are exhaling again: The unforeseen sales dip in 2020 amid the Covid-19 pandemic and new import taxes has turned out to be short-lived. Single malt, in fact, is back. That might come as a surprise to some, as the hottest spirits categories in the past few years have been rivals Bourbon and Irish whiskeys. Sales of those spirits have skyrocketed, sometimes at the expense of Scotch, but single malt Scotch is staging a comeback. After volume declined 5% in 2020, single malt rebounded in the U.S. last year, gaining nearly 10% to more than 1.9 million 9-liter cases, according to Impact Databank. Importers agree that sales in the current year remain on a solid upward trajectory, and are expected to…