The unsurprising constant is Diageo’s Johnnie Walker, which is flying high – or walking fast – among the industry’s elite. Once again it is the most popular brand within the World’s Best Bars and was voted the number one Scotch in almost a quarter of the polled venues. In fact, the blended scotch is so dominant that it was a top-three choice of almost half the participating bars and, with the opening of its flagship visitor experience in Edinburgh earlier this year, the brand is only going in one direction.
While the top 10 bestselling scotch brands are majority single malts, William Grant & Sons’ Monkey Shoulder secured the runner-up spot with ease to make it a solid one-two for blends – albeit in this case a blended malt. Despite only being a little over 15 years old, the brand has been pushed hard by William Grant & Sons in the on-trade since day one, and its approachability makes it easy for bartenders to work with.
Completing the podium is The Balvenie, which also takes the crown for the bestselling single malt, narrowly ahead of The Macallan. The two Speyside malts are the preferred option among the industry’s top bars, with both whiskies being a top-three choice for around 20% of our polled bars.
In terms of the top trending scotch whisky brands, Bruichladdich has crept on to the list while Johnnie Walker looks set to continue its dominance in 2022 as it rides high on both our rankings.
The most likely brand to upset the rather settled bestselling list next year is blended scotch Compass Box, which sits fourth in the trending list. Meanwhile, Highland single malt Glenmorangie, which narrowly missed out on the bestselling list, is a possibility for next year given its introduction to the trending ranks and a ramp up from LVMH in its on-trade activations.
Methodology
The results of this report are the culmination of a questionnaire of 106 bars around the world, each cherry-picked to take part based on their performance in global bar awards. We aim to find out not only which brands sell best but also what’s trending. These two data sets give us an insight into the brands that are doing the most volume and the brands that are hot right now.
To read more on the methodology of the Brands Report click here.
