In a move that confirmed growing consumer thirst for what was once a niche spirit, last year the U.S. Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) announced that it is on the cusp of releasing an official definition of American single malt whiskey, the first new spirit category to be defined in several years. As producers await the official standard, we checked in with several leading brands about what it means and what comes next.
For one, they’re historically a bit late in the game: American single malt styles didn’t appear until the 1980s and 1990s, by which time regions like Scotland and Japan were already dominant. As of 2024, there are over 200 American distilleries making single malts according to the American Single Malt Whiskey Commission. They make up one the fastest growing spirit categories, American whiskey, which was up 2.9% off-premise in value in the last 52 weeks ending December 23, 2o23 compared to the same period last year.
Craft distillers have led the development of the style in the U.S., leveraging a sense of terroir and playing up the unique aspects of American malted barley to differentiate from bourbons or ryes. But will protecting American single malt distillers with an official classification propel the style’s reputation globally and provide a new platform for education and innovation?
The Scotch Opportunity
The concept of a single malt whiskey— the product of one distillery using malted barley— may be most familiar to Scotch drinkers, which is where some U.S. producers are eying both domestic and global opportunities.
That may be in part because the Scotch industry is fresh off one of its best years: in 2023, exports were nearing $7.5 billion for the second time in history and were up by 17% over 2019, according to the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA). One of the driving factors behind the growth of higher end Scotch brands has been Americans’ interest in single malt varieties: since 2003, super premium single malt Scotch volumes have grown by 192%, according to the Distilled Spirits Council of the U.S.
With a master and head distiller who both trained in Scotland, the team at Utah’s High West Distillery has a particular interest in single malts, and their High Country— a limited edition single malt production that has more than doubled in the last few years— sells out quickly. It also brings in new consumers, said Daniel Shear, general manager and vice president of craft spirits at Constellation Brands, which purchased High West in 2016.
“To those 20-25% of people who roll through Park City and say, I’m not really a bourbon fan, I’m more of a Scotch fan, we got High Country,” he said.
The company recently introduced High Country in Japan and Korea where there are also more consumers with a malted barley palate, he said.
“We’re hoping that being able to connect Scotch and American single malt in terms of their inputs and process could lead to that consumer becoming aware of American single malt and open to buying it instead,” said Shear.
The comparison to Scotch also provides an opportunity to peel away consumers who factor environmental concerns into their purchases, argues Shear. American single malt producers can give consumers that malted barley flavor without the climate impacts of burning the decomposed plant matter called peat, a process that defines the typically smoky character of popular Scotch single malts. It should be noted, however, that the Scotch industry is responsible for extracting only a small percentage of peat, one of the world’s “unsung heroes of carbon capture.”
But Shear aims to make the case that as the segment builds a reputation, American single malt producers can build a unique environmental proposition together by caring for the environment, sourcing locally or developing thoughtful methods of distilling and disposing of grains.
“It can be part of that mission as American single malt in a way that it doesn’t seem like the other single malt partners globally are thinking,” he said.
The Education Challenge
With three locations attracting up to 300,000 visitors per year, High West’s ability to educate consumers on the emerging spirit is higher than most. But it’s still a challenge.
“It’s still very much an aficionado category,” said Shear. “To the mainstream consumer the name already gives it an intimidating feel.”
As the recently appointed head blender at Stranahan’s, a single malt pioneer and one of the category’s top sellers, Justin Aden is hopeful that the new status will continue to create media buzz and offer a stable template for education for the 20-year-old Colorado brand.
“Single malt as a category abroad has been around for hundreds of years, but one aspect of consumer education is explaining what our classification and designation means here in America,” he said. “And it’ll really help boost consumer education to point to this concrete set of rules,” he said.
Anthony Moniello, co-CEO of Next Century Spirits, has aimed to take the mystery out of the segment by offering a brand priced $20 below most of its competitors with a distinctive, more modern label. Bear Fight, which soft launched in 2022, is financially backed and founded by Seth MacFarlane, the creator and actor behind the TV series Family Guy.
“We’re not too pretentious in our marketing and we think it’s a differentiator,” he said.
The brand has rapidly expanded into major retailers and was scheduled to be distributed nationally by the end of 2023 following a $1.9 million investment in May.
Bear Fight’s use of proprietary technology for maturation and finishing processes may be a symbol of what’s to come. The TTB standards are written in a way that makes the segment approachable and friendly to new entrants, said Aden.
“I think we’ll see a lot of innovation in the short term mimicking the trajectory of craft whiskey, so you’re going to see a flood and an inundation of new players,” he said.
Those include strategics leveraging the style to broaden their portfolios in the growing higher end American whiskey category: Jack Daniel’s released its first permanent single malt last year, and Diageo purchased a leading producer Balcones Distilling in 2022.