NICKY MARR: It makes no sense to penalise our whisky industry

This time last year I was gifted a bottle of whisky.

Distilled in Kennethmount, a village in Aberdeenshire, the dram was a new one to me, an Ardmore Legacy.

I stashed the bottle in the van, and on my next solo trip away cracked it open after I’d parked up for the night. The light outside was soft, and the evening still. I lit a candle and swirled the light amber liquid around my glass.

Sitting on the van step, I inhaled. Lightly peaty. I raised the liquid to my lips – this was a soft dram. Plenty of flavour, though; mild, slightly sweet, with a hint of spice.

I’d parked under trees, half a mile from the road, and could only hear the final goodnights of the birds. The dram was excellent company as it slipped down my throat.

I poured another and slept soundly.

When it comes to food and drink, the French have a passion for “terroir” and a fierce pride in it too. The idea is that the land from which produce is grown, raised, or created, is an additional ingredient in its character and quality.

The French fiercely support their food and drink industries.

That same support and recognition must apply to whisky. With every single dram made with just three humble ingredients – water, yeast, and cereals – it’s remarkable that each is so distinct.

That’s down to environmental factors, the casks in which the spirit is matured, the conditions in which casks are stored, the length of maturation.

All these elements collude to create the magic in the glass. But the water from this spring here, and the malted grain from that field there, all play their vital parts.

Whisky is from the land, and it’s from our land.

No matter how well whiskies from Japan seem to be doing in competition these days the world and her auntie see whisky as Scotland’s.

Uisge Beatha is synonymous with the Highlands, Speyside, the islands, and with Scotland’s people.

Of course, it’s so much more than romance and a warming swig from a hipflask at the top of a hill, it’s big business too. Whisky accounts for 77 per cent of all Scottish food and drink exports, and employs 11,000 Scots, of which 7000 are in the rural Highlands, Islands and Moray.

In 2022, global exports topped £6 billion.

Which is why it feels like such a slap in the face that far from taking measures, as promised, to “ensure the tax system is supporting Scottish whisky”, Westminster has once again penalised Scottish consumers with a massive 10.1 per cent hike in duty.

That rise equates to around £1 a bottle. Not helpful. It is the highest duty increase for over 40 years, and it’s our home market that is hit hardest, both in terms of the cost of a bottle to enjoy at home, and the spirits we drink in the pub.

Back to my bottle of Ardmore. I poured the last dram from it after Belladrum, so it needs to be replaced, which will set me back around £30. Of that £30, 75 per cent, £22.50 will now be paid in tax and duty, leaving just £7.50 for the distiller for raw ingredients, casks, staff wages, maturation, bottling, labelling, marketing, and the rest.

I’m no economist, but I can’t see that as a sustainable business model. Sure, the whisky giants like Diageo, The Edrington Group, William Grant, and Pernod Ricard have the heft and resources to survive what may be a dip in sales, but what about smaller, newer distillers? Like Glenwyvis in Dingwall, or Uile-Bheist in the centre of Inverness?

Our country is on its knees, and we desperately need resources to support the NHS, education and more. But why hit an industry that supports rural Scottish jobs? An industry that does wonders to enhance Scotland’s reputation worldwide? It doesn’t make sense.