Whisky trade chokes as tycoon targets youth with 'alcopops'

HE IS the outspoken whisky tycoon who has ruffled more than a few feathers since snapping up one of Scotland's biggest firms last year.

Now Vijay Mallya has set himself on a collision course with traditionalists by calling for the industry to experiment with flavours to make Scotch more attractive to young people.

Purists are likely to be spluttering into their drams when they hear how the head of the United Spirits group, which now owns Whyte & Mackay, wants to see natural additives added to Scotch to help it compete with other spirits, such as vodka.

The Indian billionaire, whose firm paid £600 million for Whyte and Mackay almost a year ago, said Scotch producers needed to "innovate".

But the prospect of alcopops-style whisky products being developed has alarmed whisky experts and licensed trade bodies.

Mr Mallya told an industry conference: "I'm not suggesting radical changes, but maybe natural additives could be used to make it more exciting for this young target market.

"There is a trend towards different-tasting products and Scotch is losing out to categories such as vodka, which is growing at 30 per cent, and wines, which is growing at 50 per cent."

Mallya said that there were 500 million people under the age of 25 in his native India that could be targeted by new innovations in Scotch. He added: "This exceeds the entire population of Europe or the US. These are the people we should be targeting – young and upwardly mobile Indians."

However, a spokesman for the Scotch Whisky Association said it would be illegal to market the drink as Scotch if additives were included.

He said: "There are very strict rules about what can be marketed as Scotch. These rules are there to protect the traditions of whisky producers that go back centuries and something with additives cannot legally be called Scotch whisky.

"There are already products like this that have been successful, but have not been labelled as Scotch whisky. Millions of people across the world already enjoy Scotch whisky in different ways."

Alastair McIntosh, chief executive of the Scotch Whisky Experience, an attraction on Edinburgh's Royal Mile, said: "I'm not fundamentally against any kind of innovation in the industry, but I do think we have to be very careful that we don't do anything to damage the quality or the heritage of our product.

"We've seen some attempts at this kind of thing with whisky-cola products, which have sold well in Australia, but they've not really taken off. I would like to see a lot more detail on what he is proposing."

Colin Wilkinson, spokesman for the Scottish Licensed Trade Association, said: "We have seen a lot of problems with alcopop-style drinks in recent years and a huge variety of new products have appeared.

"Our problem is when they are deliberately marketed at young people and it's extremely important that the right balance is struck with these things."

The Scotch Malt Whisky Society, which has branches all over the world, declined to comment last night.

Mr Mallya recently accused the Scotch Whisky Association of "paranoia" about the growth of the Indian market.

Whisky accounts for the vast majority of the 100 million cases of spirits drunk each year in India, but high taxes mean Scotch has captured less than 1 per cent of the market.