Niall Murray shows a bottle of Irish whiskey
A new magazine, called Whiskey Magazine, has launched in Hong Kong seeking to educate and support the growing trend of whiskey consumption across the two SARs. Whiskey Magazine is the latest in a series of developments that may finally put China on the map as a major whiskey consumer, and may provide business opportunities to the more “mature” whiskey market in Macau.
Ricco Ho, the editor of the newly launched magazine – a spin-off from Cru Magazine that deals with wine and whiskey, told the Times that they are latching onto “a hot and growing trend” of interest in whiskey in the two regions.
“Macau and Hong Kong are becoming more interested in whiskey, as is the rest of China, but Macau is already a mature market, whereas there is still a lot of growth in Hong Kong,” said Ho. “[For this reason], although the magazine will cover both Hong Kong and Macau, our focus will be on Hong Kong.”
According to the data from Hong Kong’s Statistics and Census Department, the per capita alcohol consumption in Hong Kong in the period of 2004 and 2015 ranges between 2.53 and 2.87 liters. In 2010, the figure stood at 2.64 liters, with the per capita consumption of spirits significantly lower, at 0.83 liters.
According to the World Health Organization’s “OECD Health Data 2012” report, the per capita consumption of alcohol in Hong Kong reached 2.8 liters in 2012, while the same study puts Macau’s per capita consumption of alcohol at 6.1 liters.
Comparative figures were not available for Macau’s spirits consumption, but a report released by the Global Agriculture Information Network in 2007 noted that Hong Kong faced regional competition from spirits sold in Macau, partly due to lower import taxes for spirits.
According to some, the comparative advantage may be the positioning of the MSAR as a distributor of whiskey to Hong Kong visitors.
“Hong Kong has more variety of whiskeys but Macau has a competitive advantage because the tax on spirits is lower,” said wine and spirits expert and Times columnist, Jacky Cheong. “Hong Kong travellers sometimes come to Macau to buy whiskey and bring it back to Hong Kong.”
Niall Murray is currently the owner of Prem1er Hospitality Management Macau Ltd. and Prem1er Bar and Lounge in Taipa – the former of which distributes imported whiskeys to the Macau market. He too has noticed Hong Kong buyers in Macau seeking the “water of life,” as the drink is known.
“Hong Kong buyers do find us on TripAdvisor and visit us,” observed Niall Murray. “Some people come over to try our whiskey or Irish craft beers. We want to give them a ‘Macau experience’ so we throw a few Portuguese wines on the list, which you often can’t get in Hong Kong.”
Ho told the Times that he believes many people from Hong Kong travel to Macau to buy Japanese whiskey, which is also becoming very popular in the region.
Neither SARs produce significant quantities of their own whiskey, though Taiwan does and is attaining international acclaim.
Last year Taiwan’s Kavalan Solist Vinho Barrique beat competition from around the world to be named the best single malt at the 2015 World Whiskies Awards.
It is part of a larger trend described by Jim Murray in his annual whisky guide, the “Whisky Bible,” of the rise of “new world whiskey,” hailing from areas outside of the beverage’s traditional homeland in the Gaelic countries.
“China, Russia and Southeast Asia generally are seeing demand for whiskey rise significantly, which has resulted in dwindling reserves [of the beverage],” explained Cheong. “For over 20 years, premium whiskey has been in demand and international companies have started to rebrand themselves [to appeal] to the Asian market.”
India dominates the consumption of whiskey, easily outstripping any other country. In 2014, Indians were known to consume 1.5 billion liters of whiskey, dwarfing the 462 million liters consumed in the U.S. Although consumption in China is on the rise, it still only accounted for 17 million liters in the same year.
This is partly because luxury wines still remain the love affair of China. According to Cheong, “China is still in love with Bordeaux though [the country] is now looking at Tuscan wines and Spanish reds.”
Despite China’s preference for wine, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, which have traditionally been more receptive to western exports, are registering a strengthening of the whiskey industry due to the widening demographic of consumers.
“Previously in Hong Kong, men aged between 40 and 60 were the main consumers of whiskey, but nowadays younger people as well as women are drinking [whiskey],” observed Ho, challenging the stereotype of the beverage as an ‘old man’s drink.’
“I do see the demographics of whiskey drinkers changing,” added Niall Murray in response to an enquiry about the type of people consuming whiskey in Macau.
“Many people initially come in [to the bar] and say they hate whiskey. But it’s always the same story; normally involving a bad experience as a teenager. They normally have a problem with the mass-produced stuff,” he said. “What we do is bring people to a new ‘place’ to try different whiskeys. Then they become more willing to explore new tastes and more accepting of the drink.”
“Often they can’t believe that it [what we provide] is actually whiskey!” he exclaimed.
Niall Murray’s observations might be due to his focus on premium Irish whiskeys that he says are both “beautiful and unique.” According to the distributor, there are plenty of such whiskeys that are far superior to what is normally sold on bar shelves. Many of these may be making a name for themselves in Macau.
One such product, a 50-year-
old whiskey called “The Last Drop,” can go for between MOP30,000 and MOP88,000, he explains, as there are only about 200 bottles left.
Jim Murray, author of the “Whisky Bible,” has awarded that particular whiskey a score of 96.5 and rates it among the world’s top 20 whiskeys.
Whiskey takes on wine for food pairing privilege
A new trend of pairing high-end whiskeys with food may be beginning to take off in Hong Kong and Macau.
At the Hong Kong Whiskey Festival 2016, a number of seminars were held to educate interested parties in how to pair whiskeys with food. There is an interest in using the drink to accompany Cantonese dishes, particularly seafood such as crab, oysters, smoked salmon and sea cucumbers, with which Scottish island whiskeys are said to have an affinity.
“Wine is very important to pair with food, but beer or whiskey can also work well to complement a dish. Hong Kong doesn’t have so much experience with pairing wine with food, but [more of] this can enhance the dining experience and educate people [about alcoholic beverages],” said editor Ricco Ho.
“There is a trend for high-end whiskey to be paired with food,” agreed Jacky Cheong, before admitting that he finds this “a bit difficult because of the strength of whiskey. I have always found wine to be more food-friendly,” he added.
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