For the fourth consecutive year, Indian whisky Officer’s Choice of Allied Blenders & Distillers has retained its position as world’s largest selling whisky. The only spirit that sells more than Officer’s Choice whisky is Korean spirit Jinro which is not a whisky.
Indian liquor continues to dominate the top 100 spirits brands worldwide in 2016 despite the overall slowdown and increasing prohibition. Three local whisky brands figure within the top 10 according to a July International Wine and Spirits Research (IWSR) report.
The other two Indian brands are McDowell’s and Impreial Blue whiskies, owned by USL-Diageo and Pernod Ricard respectively. Officer’s Choice whisky has registered overall volume sale of 32.32 million cases, MacDowell’s 25.63 million cases and Imperial Blue 18.02 million cases.
At an overall level, India added more than a million cases, and remained flat in a market that consumes about 400 million cases of spirits annually. Also, reflecting its status as a highly aspirational drink in the developing world, whisky is the most represented category in the top 100 brands, with 28 brands and thirteen of these whiskies are Indian, of which nine are owned by either Diageo or Pernod Ricard.