world's biggest selling whisky

[Ken Gargett]

from the always useful 'drinks international' mag, we have the list of the top ten selling whiskies in the world.

they also note that there are 172 spirit brands which sell more than one million cases (as in 9 litres - 12 750ml bottles).

i'm scrolling it down before putting the answer - and the full top ten list - as it might surprise and some may wish to have a guess. what is mindboggling is that 7 of the top ten come from the one country. and that is not scotland, nor the USA.

• Bagpiper, India
• Officer’s Choice, India
• Johnnie Walker, Scotland
• McDowell’s No.1, India
• Royal Stag, India
• Original Choice, India
• Jack Daniel’s, USA/Tennessee
• Old Tavern, India
• Ballantine’s, Scotland
• Imperial Blue, India, and in eleventh place:
• Jim Beam, USA, bourbon

[Michel1968]

And to know there's more JW Red Label sold in India alone than Diageo can produce on anual basis...

[Montaigut]

So if I get this right the next best selling whisky(ies) will from China... as soon as there are Chinese distilleries.

Can't say my purchases have contributed to this ranking in any way!

[MoneyPit]

Quite interesting, can't say that I'm familiar with any of those from India.

Ken, did the article provide any sales numbers with the rankings? I'm curious how close they all ranked.

[Habanos2000]

So is it fair to say that India also consumes more whiskey than any other country?

[Ken Gargett]

Quite interesting, can't say that I'm familiar with any of those from India.

Ken, did the article provide any sales numbers with the rankings? I'm curious how close they all ranked.

didn't see any specific figures. have to assume that the vast bulk of these are simply cheap as chips spirits for the masses. certainly there would be considerable interest in the top stuff, but to get these figures, someone is swilling buckets of the stuff.

[carnivalhobo]

The bars are going to account for the vast majority of these sales, so if well/rail/house whiskey is the most popular drink in India then I would expect these are cheap ass brands that have pour costs measured in cents.

More googling shows that bagpiper is actually made from molasses, making it a rum by most accounts.

[PAL]

Yes, as far as I have seen Indians like whiskey. Great fun at parties. None of the stuff I had there would be what one might call 'sipping whiskey' suitable for a contemplative moment with a vintage cigar. As mixers they one I had were good enough, if taken in quantity....

[Styler]

I suppose it's like cigars. If you lumped NCs and cheap, machine made, short filler crap like hamlets in with our glorious CCs and compiled a list of the biggest sellers then I'd hate to see the results. I know that cost isn't always a great indicator of quality but I'd be interested to see how this list changed if it was ordered by 'number of cases'x'cost per case'.

[StumpyJoe]

The bars are going to account for the vast majority of these sales, so if well/rail/house whiskey is the most popular drink in India then I would expect these are cheap ass brands that have pour costs measured in cents.

More googling shows that bagpiper is actually made from molasses, making it a rum by most accounts.

Funny enough, I was listening to Whiskycast.com and they confirmed that nearly all Indian "whisky" is made using molasses rather than being grain based. Real scotch and wine is taxed at over 500%!!! Indian govt taxes that high to protect their whiskys and because they can't import to Europe...Euope counters with...that is not whisky!!! Have to side with Europe...you can't call it whisk if you make it with molasses...might be great...it just isn't whisky!