AUSTRALIAN WHISKY

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28551, 2 April 1958, Page 15

AUSTRALIAN WHISKY

Comparison With Scotch

“The Press' 1 Special Service WELLINGTON, April 1. Whisky was being distilled in Australia which the average whisky drinker could not tell was not from Scotland, said the Australian Trade Commissioner in Wellington, Mr W. R. Hudspeth. He was commenting on the statement in Christchurch of Mr Eric L. Roberts, the managingdirector of a large Scotch whisky distilling firm. Mr Roberts was reported as saying there were a great many reasons why Scotch whisky could only be produced in Scotland. Mr Hudspeth said that he did not pretend to be an expert on whisky, but he did know that Australian whisky had improved “out of sight” recently, and particularly in the last two or three years. Generally speaking the Australian whisky drinker was satisfied with his own country's product. Whisky had been distilled in Australia for many years but efforts to make a great improvement had been exerted only in recent years. One firm claimed that it had taken the art out of the process and reduced it to exact science. There was a firm that brought peat from Scotland, which he understood it used for treating the water. Unfortunately some inferior Australian whisky of the past had given Australian whiskv a bad name in New Zealand. Even now an expert could detect a diffierence between Australian whisky and Scotch whisky, but the difference could not be called an inferiority and some persons preferred the flavour of Australian whisky. Only a small percentage of the whisky now drunk in Australia was imported. Licensed Trade "I can heartily endorse what has been said by Mr Roberts," said Mr P. Coyle, a former director of the National Council of the Licensed Trade. The Royal Commission on Licensing, which went into the question of distilling spirits in New Zealand about 1946, had no recommendation to make, he recalled. The only demand was for whisky made in Scotland and for whisky made in Ireland, in the bog country and the peat country. No single whisky could be made to satisfy the demand of people as against Scotch whisky, which had the products of so many distillers blended into one. Distillation of any kind in New Zealand was not desirable not only because the distillery would be called on to match the quality of imported spirits but also because it would be unsound economically. Great expense was involved in the keeping of stocks of spirits while they matured. The arguments against distilling in New Zealand applied to all spirits, including gin. Mr Coyle agreed that quantities of whisky were produced in the United States and Australia, but said that neither country had an export market, and America was the Scottish distillers’ largest market. Australian whisky had improved, but without tariff protection it would not compete with Scotch for the taste of Australian whisky drinkers.