Which whiskies most popular for Chinese culture!?
Johnnie Walker Blue Pernod Ricard’s Chivas Regal In the more established Asian markets-South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore-Diageo’s (DEO) Chris Parsons, vice-president of the Reserve Brand Group, is seeing a significant shift to higher-end bottlings like Johnnie Walker Blue, which sells for more than $200 a bottle. “A lot of this is due to cultural aspects,” he says. “They have a very high degree of gifting, and gifts are a very important aspect of business and the value implied by the price of the gift is reflective of status in a very meaningful way.” But the real story in Asia is, of course, China, where Parsons has seen massive growth in the sale of blended whiskey. The numbers are barely credible-sales of Scotch in China grew tenfold from 2002 to 2007, according to IWSR, a London-based research company specializing in the global wines and spirits industry, with the most popular brand, Pernod Ricard’s Chivas Regal, growing from 71,000 to 729,000 cases. “What’s interesting about China
