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The creativity of the bourbon industry might be even a bigger threat for Canadian whisky than for themselves

So made the statement, that the ongoing creativity of the Bourbon industry could very much hurt themselves - especially their reputation for quality products.
I still think this is true to the mark - however today it stroke me - what they could have done better and who is really threatened.

As you can already see in the headliner, Canadian whisky might be even more threatened. Why?
Well - because they are not as creative - but they also don't have such a highly respected product if compared to US straight whiskey.

Canadian whisky was always the cheaper and lower quality option. Yes - there are Canadian whiskies, which are ok. But truly great are non.
All starts in how, Canadian whisky is produced - bear with me...
Canadian whisky contains also different grains - corn [as main grain], barley and rye. Different than in straight whiskey, Canadians are fermenting, distilling and aging their different grains separately [at least this is what liquor.com can add to the subject]. And the whisky is then the product of different barrels blended together.

But truth has to be told - one big part is always NGS [Neutral Grain Spirit] or light whiskies.
This brings the Canadian much closer to his American cousin - the blended American whiskey.

And here is, where the whole story comes together. Instead of using the names of their straight whiskey brands - the US whiskey industry could have used the names of Blended US whiskey to do some infused and flavored whiskey - so the customer could still choose still between strict quality controlled straight and flavored blended.

Anyway - as flavored whiskey [infusions, liqueurs etc] are always in a lower price level, as the original straight whiskey, they will have a massive impact in the other players in the same category - blended US whiskey and Canadian whisky.

So flavored whiskey is endangering different product categories - due to different reasons: they threaten the "bourbon and straight whiskey category" due to confusion of the customer, who cannot possibly understand anymore, if there are strict laws or not when it comes to Bourbon, Rye or Tennessee.
On the other site they threaten Canadian whiskies and their US counterparts, just as they get strong into a market with a fresh approach.

Looks like everyone will loose...



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