French whisky makers target global market for Scotch as their range of tipples continues to grow
- Scotland is still the home of whisky, with more than 1.28 billion bottles of Scotch shipped from there around the world every year
- France’s output is much less, but with 42 distilleries creating at least one whisky, they want to grab a share of the market
They are known the world over for producing some of the best wines in the world; now the French have set their sights on nipping into the international whisky market.
“Not many of our clients are surprised that French whisky exists,” says Matthieu Acar, a whisky salesman and French whisky specialist at La Maison du Whisky in Paris. “But a lot of them are surprised at how many French whiskies there are.”
When it comes to quantity and quality, the Scots – purveyors for centuries of “uisge-beatha” (or water of life in Gaelic) – will take some beating.
According to the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA), more than 1.3 billion bottles of Scotch are shipped from Scotland every year. In comparison, France’s whisky production would barely break through the atmosphere.
But with 42 distilleries creating at least one whisky, according to the French Whisky Federation (FWF), the French seem determined to grab a share of what has become a lucrative market.