Tom Gabb: American whiskey vs Scotch whisky

In the state of Kentucky the number of full whiskey barrels outnumbers the human population considerably. So, with more than enough to go around it’s no wonder that American whiskey has muscled in to the UK. What really shocked me though, is that American whiskey is now the UK’s fastest growing spirit category. So, why is our western friend challenging the hegemony of scotch?

I love American whiskey and even I didn’t realise that it was getting so profitable. To put it into perspective, sales of American whiskey grew 9 per cent in 2016, compared with 7 per cent for gin and a decline of 1 per cent for scotch.

What is the reasoning behind this oddly surreptitious rise in popularity? Officially, many would say that it has to do with a new generation of drinkers who have been watching heavily Americanised television. However, I think the reason is altogether more subtle.

I spoke at an event held by the British Bourbon Society recently and what I enjoyed most about the evening was the lack of pretention about the spirit. The society itself is very inclusive and bottles are bought to be drank, rather than being bought to appreciate in value. It’s unsurprising then that compared to scotch, bourbon does not suffer in the slightest from a perception problem. While scotch drinkers in popular culture are mostly portrayed as smoking chair bound bourgeoisie, American whiskey has always been the drink of rock stars and cowboys.

Bringing the subject on to home turf, here in Brighton we have bars that specialise in gin, tequila, rum and most importantly The Great Eastern that offers over 130 American whiskeys, but no Scotch equivalent. I think at the end of the day bourbon is a drink better enjoyed with company.

I realise I may have got swept up with all this bourbon talk so to conclude, Scotch is still amazing and on a quiet cold evening a hot toddy is the apex of the artform but maybe for Christmas this year try it with bourbon, see how it feels.