As Scotch and Bourbon Stumble, Continental European Whiskeys Wait in the Wings

“It’s kind of crazy that we drink whiskey from basically only five different places.”

Few drinkers would think to question this, but it’s no surprise coming from Fred Barnet. Yet even as president of Anthem Imports, a Georgia-based operation specializing in international artisanal distillers — with global craft whiskeys the crown jewel of the portfolio — the vastness of the whiskey world continues to amaze him. “It’s everywhere! Pakistan has a single malt whiskey distillery, of all places,” he says. “You can grow barley in a lot of places — and rye.”

Back in 2019, momentum for mainland Europe’s whiskey was building, but they hadn’t yet reached the popularity of Irish, Canadian, and Japanese whiskeys — let alone Scotch or bourbon.

It’s been a hell of a mess since then. Tariff entanglements, atrocious wars, and continuing fallout from both Covid and Brexit have knocked major spirits categories off course. Scotch and bourbon, as well as other categories like Cognac, have been hit hard, while continental European whiskey has slipped quietly out of focus. Industry headlines have been trained on global marquee products, but what’s been happening with Europe’s aspiring alternatives — and are these current whiskey curiosities on a trajectory to ever compete with the big boys?

Euro Whiskey Upstarts and the Imposing Gaelic Shadow

While the widespread whiskey industry on continental Europe is a relatively new phenomenon, the spirit has been produced there in some form or another for centuries, with evidence suggesting that rye distillation and extended barrel storage at the Czech Republic’s Green Tree Distillery goes back about 500 years.

Granted, mainland whiskey was still minor compared to the Gaelic motherlands of Scotland and Ireland, but by the early 20th century, continental Europeans had developed a clear taste for it. Scotch had already achieved dominance over France’s esteemed grape brandies — Cognac, Armagnac, and various cousins — in part due to the onslaught of the phylloxera grapevine plague and its desolation of European vineyards. It’s a cross-channel obsession that continues today, particularly with French drinkers, and it’s underscored by the 177 million bottles of Scotch whisky imported by France in 2024, second globally only to India.

But continental European whiskey production wasn’t a growing cultural and market phenomenon until after World War II. Over the subsequent decades, more distillation gradually came online. But it wasn’t until the turn of the last millennium that mainland European whiskey cleared the tower on the back of the craft distilling boom. “There are basically about twice as many whisky distilleries now in France and Germany than there are in Scotland and Ireland,” Barnet says. “They’re Scotch drinkers … [but] they want to make something for themselves. They have access to some really cool barrels.”

But it’s not just the wine-centric countries of central and southern Europe. The Nordics have built their own distinctive whiskey culture over the past couple of decades. “They’re absolutely obsessed with whiskeys from their own country,” says Sukhinder Singh, legendary whiskey merchant and managing director at Elixir Distillers in the U.K. True to form, the northerners pair local raw materials with a resourceful approach and strong sustainability credentials — Flóki’s Icelandic sheep-dung-smoked single malt, anyone? (Yes, an island, but deservingly counted among the flock of alternative EU whiskey countries.)

Despite the progress that was being made, overbearing economic and geopolitical machinations over the past five years have put immense drag on the overall spirits market. Like many burgeoning industries, continental Europe’s whiskey producers appear to have been struck at a vulnerable moment.

Scotch Noise, Bourbon Drama, and Rye Realness

The litany of challenges had been piling up. But while the lack of an alcohol tariff exemption perpetuates some pain, EU and American producers have now been receiving a bit of desperately needed relief on other fronts.

Brexit ramifications, however unfortunate, are now factored in, and pandemic-hangover trade disruption and inflation extremes look to be settling down. Likewise, the health warnings rattling the industry as of late may be just that: frightening, but a relative paper tiger. And Canada’s renewed trademark claims over the term “Rye Whisky” is viewed by most as inconsequential, given it hasn’t been enforced for 20 years and is far too generic to lord over the EU whiskey dominion. In the end, the claim will probably be negotiated reasonably or thrown out altogether.

“We’re definitely seeing some pockets of growth within the European whiskey category, France and the Nordics especially within this segment.”

In theory, all of this should allow for clearer data points with which to forecast and implement appropriate production and pricing levels.

There is one major issue still sloshing around, though: The world is awash in a staggering ocean of excess stocks. “There’s been a global overproduction of whiskey, especially in Scotland, Ireland, and the U.S.,” says Patrick van Zuidam, master distiller at Netherlands operation Zuidam Distillers. “One of the downsides of publicly traded companies is that they’re always focused on the here and now,” he says. “You [should] produce based on what you think you can sell 20 years from now, not what you’re selling now.”

As maker of Millstone Dutch Single Malt Whisky, he’s had to carefully ballast stocks and prices to navigate the loch. “At this moment in time, you need to give people high-quality products at a competitive price,” he says, but that’s more handily managed with some semblance of scale. For smaller artisanal European whiskey distillers without the requisite margin and export channels to bolster volume, the situation has gotten quite rough indeed. “I think, sadly, that there will be thinning of the herd,” van Zuidam says. “I see friends in the business struggling. You want everybody to do well, but I’m afraid that it’s going to be hard on some brands and some people.”

But maybe the biggest systemic challenge to face is the underlying nature of whiskey production itself — and its perception in the mind of consumers.

Age obsession is a very real phenomenon — and it’s perfectly understandable. But according to Singh, the idea that older equals better isn’t always grounded in the facts. “You’ll always get the new consumer looking at age,” he says. “People are brainwashed with [it]. In a lot of peoples’ minds, single malt isn’t single malt until it’s 10 years plus.”

For a relatively young set of continental European whiskey distillers, that’s a milestone many have yet to put behind them. What’s more, they’ll have to compete with all those excess casks aging away in the rafters of Scotland, Ireland, and the U.S.

New Horizon for Euro Whisky

For those who can weather the current storm, opportunity awaits on the other side.

“Our customers [are] becoming much more adventurous and willing to step outside their comfort zones to try new flavors.”

Dawn Davies, buying director at London’s lauded The Whisky Exchange, has already seen a glimmer of hope. “We’re definitely seeing some pockets of growth within the European whiskey category, France and the Nordics especially within this segment,” she says. “We’re starting to see more interest at a consumer level as well with bars and restaurants, which is really exciting.”

In line with her enthusiasm for the continental European whiskey category, she’s steering the Exchange toward more engagement with — and dedicating more shelf space to — compelling Euro misfits. “[There’s] fatigue in the market around Scotch whisky,” she explains. “Our customers [are] becoming much more adventurous and willing to step outside their comfort zones to try new flavors.”

Generational change in tastes may very well be playing right into the hands of continental whiskey producers, too. And if oversupply reigns in problematic pricing across the board, more affordable entries could boost interest further.

Davies says that the quality and the regional uniqueness are there — along with desirable sustainability credentials — but bigger brands are needed to lead the way and bring these whiskeys into global glasses. “I think that there is certainly ambition,” she says. “We saw it with Diageo’s initial interest in [Denmark’s] Stauning — although sadly this support has now been withdrawn.” She adds that collective marketing can help immensely as well, and points to the new Nordic Whisky Collaboration as a promising multi-country model.

In the coming years — for producers that survive — continental European whiskey should have a prime opportunity to resume the expansion of its global footprint, and it won’t all necessarily be about hitting the gym to bulk up and take on the Diageos and Suntorys of the world. According to Barnet, in this new consumer era, the richness of unique regional attributes waiting to be leveraged is paramount to progress.

He sounds giddy about the possibilities — and for the reactions when drams hit lips. “I’ve got German whiskey aged in German Pinot Noir barrels. There’s no limit to what can be done,” he says. “There’ll be a point where the category will be viable no matter what. I’ve got some whiskeys, that if they said Ardbeg on the label, it’d go for 200 bucks. People would be all over them. These are world-class whiskeys.”

Whether or not Barnet’s optimistic outlook actually takes hold remains uncertain, but after a tumultuous five years in the shadows, continental European whiskeys are brimming with renewed promise.

The article As Scotch and Bourbon Stumble, Continental European Whiskeys Wait in the Wings appeared first on VinePair.