It's Called Rum, Vijay

With a population of more than a billion people, rapidly rising prosperity, and a more and more Western popular culture, India represents a tremendous opportunity for Western companies, particularly those that manufacture or sell consumer products. One problem for them has typically been that India's trade policies since independence have been resolutely protectionist. Although that has changed somewhat in recent years, protectionist tariffs still represent a considerable barrier to entry. Take, for example, liquor: import duties on foreign liquor can be up to 550% ad valorem. At that rate, even the cheapest American or Scottish rotgut would cost $40 or more a fifth in India, and the price for decent liquor like Johnnie Walker Black Label could easily be over $100 a fifth. Friday's Wall Street Journal has a front page article ("Western Liquor Makers Eye Rich Indian Market") that explores the potential and the problems of the Indian market for big Western spirits companies like Diageo (which owns Johnnie Walker and many other liquor brands), Pernod Ricard (Glenlivet, Chivas Regal, Ballantine's, etc.), and Fortune Brands (Jim Beam, Laphroaig, Dalmore, etc.).

Problem #1 is the aforementioned exclusionary tariff rate. Problem #2 is a traditional antipathy to alcohol by both Muslims and Hindus, who make up the vast majority of India's population. Gandhi famously disliked liquor, and his home state of Gujarat still bans it. Nationwide prohibition was attempted as recently as 1977, and alcohol advertising is still completely banned. Problem #3 is Vijay Mallya, whose United Spirits company has a stranglehold on the Indian spirits market (his beer company, Kingfisher, likewise has the lion's share of the Indian beer market). Modernization has helped to break down the anti-alcohol taboos in India, particularly in the cities, and Mallya and his company have been very successful at grabbing market share through Western-style marketing and distribution practices. If the Western spirits companies succeed in getting Indian liquor tariffs repealed or reduced, they're still going to have to deal with Mallya.

All of this is very interesting, but there were two sentences in the article that was almost an aside that caught my attention:

Indian whiskies are usually made of sugar-cane molasses, and can be bitter. Western whisky is made of grains.

We have a name for a distilled spirit made from a mash of sugar cane and/or molasses. It's called rum. There is nothing wrong with rum, and, when properly made, it can be sublime (Ron Zecapa Centenario 23 year old is an example of a sublime rum). But it is not whiskey. It is not better or worse for not being whiskey; it's simply a different category. Beer can be wonderful. So can wine. But beer is not wine, and wine is not beer. United Spirits wants to call their rum whisky because whisky apparently has more prestige in India than does rum. Well, tough. It must be made from grain to be called whisky. Calling a molasses distillate whisky twists the meaning of the word so severely that it can no longer be said to have any meaning. For shame, Vijay Mallya!