Distell, a global business with roots in South Africa, produces and globally markets a diverse portfolio of award-winning alcoholic brands. The company entered the Indian market 4 years ago with its blended whisky brand, Scottish Leader, bottled at 40% ABV. It is now looking to aggressively consolidate its market share. Brews&Spirits recently met with Guirec Danno, Managing Director for Asia-Pacific at Distell International, and Gillian Skinner, the company’s Global Marketing Director. Excerpts:
Distell International as a brand is relatively unknown in the Indian market. Could you tell us something about the company?
Distell is Africa’s leading producer of spirits, wines, ciders and ready-to-drink beverages (RTDs). It is also the world's second-biggest producer of ciders. Apart from its African roots, the business has a huge international presence in the UK, Europe, Taiwan and the Americas.
Some of the company’s top brands include Amarula, Hunter’s, Savanna, Bunnahabhain, Deanston, Tobermory, Nederburg, Richelieu, Viceroy and J.C. Le Roux. Of these brands, premium Scotch single malts include names such as Bunnahabhain, Tobermory and Deanston. Distell’s blended Scotch portfolio includes Scottish Leader.
What brings you to India? How are you handling the complexities of the Indian market?
India’s growth story has been remarkable and it is currently a very exciting market for us. It is the largest whiskey market in the world, and although Scotch has a relatively smaller market share of around 3%, it is growing at an exponential rate.
India has overtaken France as the largest importer of Scotch whisky in volume, which is a 60% growth over the 2021 figures.
Add to this the demographic profile of 20% of the world’s population, 50% of which are below the age of 50 years, and includes a big number of Millennials. The sky is the limit!
We are happy with what we have achieved so far. We have been importing our bottled Scotch till now; but we have also started importing our Scotch in bulk and commenced bottling operations in India. Depending on the tax requirement of each state, we use the most viable option.
Can you tell us about Scottish Leader? What makes it the “ultimate” luxury spirit?
At Scottish Leader, we take a different perspective on making blended Scotch whisky. Our dedicated blending team hand-picks the best whiskies from across Scotland and by producing and bottling in batches; they create the highest-quality blends for the next decade and beyond.
It is a whisky of singular rich smoothness, with sweet and smoky flavours, benefiting from more malts and older single malt Scotch whiskies. The product was first created in 1976 and is made from only 15 different components.
Blended categories can go up to 50 ingredients and sometimes even 70, which makes Scottish Leader appealing – but quite generic in its flavour profile. We work quite hard with each component to harmoniously get its flavour profile and that is why the brand has won several recognitions and awards.
It is able to stand up really well if you drink it neat, with soda or in cocktails. The distinctiveness of each ingredient, and the smoothness and sweetness comes through from the bourbon and sherry casks that we use.
The minimum age for blending is 3 years, but they might have a little bit of 5-YO, a little bit of 7-YO and even 15-YO components to create the blend. Scottish Leader is quite young compared to other Scotch whiskies, but it is quite contemporary and innovative.
In 1997, it won the International Spirits Challenge. It has also won several other prestigious awards and recognitions.
You have travelled around the country and witnessed, first-hand, the Indian market. What are your impressions?
What we have seen is that in India, whiskey consumption has evolved a lot – it was considered a traditional drink with a traditional way of consuming it. But what is interesting for us is that the profile of the consumer is rapidly changing. We see younger drinkers – and even more interestingly, an increase in the number of women consumers who are open to experimenting!
Another fact that struck us was how the retail trade has evolved and become more sophisticated. More large outlets have come up where you can actually go in and see the brands, have a conversation with the person in charge and make an informed purchase – isn’t that exciting?
We are available in 15 states that are important whiskey markets. Our focus is to strengthen our distribution to make our products available both in the off-trade and on-trade. We have conducted several events at bars and office locations where young people are allowed to discover Scottish Leader.
Are you happy with what you have achieved so far in terms of market share? How do you plan to consolidate?
In the category of blended Scotch, we are relatively young in the country and that is very short in the life of whisky. In that time we have also had the pandemic and dramatic changes in legislation; but we are quite happy with our progress.
We’re positioning ourselves as a brand that would be appealing to the affluent, middle-class people who are aspirational and see Scotch whisky as the drink of choice.
The market is huge and there is always the temptation to go everywhere, but we are really focused on where we want to go. Our strategy is first to get the liquid to lips and get the consumer to taste it. Once that is done, everything else will fall into place!
A lot of attention is being paid to how the product looks. What has gone into the design of the bottle?
The design was kind of based on the prism because it brings differences to life with all those lovely angles. If you stretch your mind’s imagination you could look at it as a diamond, I guess!
The colours are all quite bold and the labeling does not have a lot of filigree – it is very contemporary and straightforward, but very visible and very bold. It has got proud shoulders and is quite a striking bottle. We were out in Bengaluru bars and noticed that the bottle stands out really well.
