Lessons From the Barrel: Bourbon’s Global Presence

In our previous, three-part series, Lessons From the Barrel: Bourbon and Branding (part 1, part 2, part 3), we observed the rapid jump in bourbon’s popularity since the turn of the millennium. If the year 2000 could be considered the foothill of bourbon’s current boom, then 2019 could be considered its peak… for now. International tariffs had put a dent in bourbon’s volcanic upward trajectory, and the seismic blow Covid landed on this industry (and most others), was a two-part combo that set the industry back. Although, even stumbling, bourbon as a worldwide entity remained triple what it had been back in 2000 before the boom. Fortunately, since many of the international tariffs have been at least temporarily lifted, and the world is slowly moving back to pre-Covid rhythms, bourbon is already starting to bounce back and will likely surpass its current peak sooner than later.

It’s clear that Kentucky, and the rest of our fellow United States, are not the only bourbon lovers on the globe. Of all the nations besides the USA, Spain is the thirstiest for America’s Native Spirit, with 4,057,057 “proof gallons” imported between January and September of 2021, which is the most recent data available. (A proof gallon, a unit used to measure the volume of a distilled spirit, is one liquid gallon of spirits that is 50% alcohol at 60 degrees Fahrenheit.)

Coming in second in the Outside-the-USA-Bourbon-World-Cup is Japan, which hauled in 2,709,577 proof gallons in that same period of time. Although Japan ranked second in bourbon imports, they ranked first in overall American Whiskey imports, which would include a number of other spirits besides bourbon, such as Tennessee’s famous Jack Daniels. In the decade between 2010 and 2020, Japan went from the fifth-largest importer of American spirits to the first, with their numbers increasing by nearly 51%.

A big key to this roaring cross-nation trade was Japan’s official acknowledgment that only bourbon made in America can truly be considered bourbon. A similar official acknowledgment was made for Tennessee whiskey, and so only bourbons and Tennessee whiskeys from the USA may now be sold under those designations in Japan. Though the efforts between nations to reach this agreement were initiated in 2015, it wasn’t until 2021 that the designation became official. This made Japan the 44th nation to acknowledge what Kentuckians have known for decades. In return, the United States made similar official concessions regarding certain Japanese whiskeys.

While bourbon is popular in numerous other countries, another great cross-cultural love affair worth noting is the one between our native spirit and the good people of Australia. Bourbon first arrived in the great down under via California gold rushers questing after Australia’s untapped bounty in the 1850s. While they were seeking to depart with one valued treasure, they ended up leaving one of America’s greatest treasures behind.

Although it took some time for bourbon and American whiskey to catch up to British whiskeys in Australia, today, bourbon accounts for 60% of all whiskey drunk in the country. While no other nation can touch the USA’s overall bourbon consumption numbers, per capita, Australians drink 2.5 times as much bourbon as Americans. And while the majority of this bourbon is accounted for by the giant Jim Beam, other big brands, and even a host of craft bourbon brands, are making up more and more of Australia’s whiskey landscape.

The reasons for the change of tides in the land of the outback are not as easily quantified as the hard sales numbers, but changing national sensibilities are believed to be at play, and branding is at the forefront of it. The thought is that bourbon represents a sort of swashbuckling, foreward-looking American individualism in a land where British whiskeys had come to represent the stuffy, imperial, past. “Premiumisation” also appears to be on the rise, with Australian tastes said to be opening wider to invite more than just the old standard bourbon and cola, which has traditionally been the favored way for Australians and many others to enjoy the drink. Premium, $100+ bottles are growing in popularity down under, and so a whole other type of bourbon enjoyment is driving continued bourbon popularity in the Land of Oz.

Be it through generational behavioral shifts or government legislation, bourbon is making its way further and faster around the globe, proving that the bourbon boom is far from an American-only phenomenon.