Suntory Global Spirits (SGS) is eyeing a growing opportunity in Japanese spirits, having launched its own standalone business in the UK.
The supplier – formerly known as Beam Suntory – has this week established a commercial unit in the UK after mutually agreeing to call time on a distribution tie-up with Edrington last year.
The unit would look to leverage Japanese whisky brands including Yamazaki and Toki to drive growth in the country, said Nick Temperley, SGS managing director for UK & Ireland.
“We are strongest in and see a big opportunity in Japanese spirits,” he said. “It’s still quite a niche category; the whisky market in the UK is around 8.5 million [9 litre] cases, and Japanese whisky is less than 1% of that.
“When I look at the quality of the liquid that we’ve got, I’ve got to get excited about the fact that we can grow these brands from a pretty small category that it is today.”
Alongside “sponsorships and brand partnerships to place Japanese whisky in [UK] culture”, SGS would look to drive interest in Japanese spirits via its innovation pipeline, Temperley said.
Roku Gin Sakura Bloom Edition – a limited-edition gin made using six Japanese botanicals including freshly picked sakura blossom – has this week rolled out in Waitrose and on Amazon (rsp: £33.50/70cl).
The gin would be followed by further NPD on SGS’s Yamazaki and Toki whisky brands this year, Temperley said.
He acknowledged the high price point of Japanese whisky – a 70cl bottle of Yamazaki Distillers Single Malt Japanese Whisky retails for £82 in Waitrose – was a barrier to mass-market appeal.
But tipples like Toki Suntory Blended Japanese Whisky – sold in Waitrose for £38 per 70cl bottle – could still be an effective recruitment tool for the category, he insisted.
“We’ll look to invest behind that brand to grow it so we can bring Japanese whisky to a broader selection of the UK population through retailers,” he said.
Tariff threat
Outside of Japanese whisky, SGS’s portfolio includes scotch whisky brands such as Laphroaig and Bowmore, as well as bourbons Jim Beam and Maker’s Mark.
With US president Donald Trump this week threatening to impose tariffs on European and UK imports, SGS had “taken some steps to protect ourselves” in the event of any retaliatory charges introduced by the UK in response, Temperley revealed.
“We’ve had tariffs on bourbon products before, and we hope we don’t have that again,” he said.
He also criticised the government’s decision to increase duty on spirits in line with inflation from this month. “We had huge duty increases as a category [in August 2023] and we got another one today,” he said. “It’s really unhelpful. It adds to inflation and makes our products less affordable.”
No comments yet