In the short run, based on the blog I read on The Scotch Blog, it doesn’t appear as though the wine industry’s move to screw caps will effect the whisky industry signficantly. In the long run, time will tell…

The whisky pundits agree that consumer perception plays a role in how they go about bottling their high end / older expression spirits, with blends and some entry level whiskys having screw caps, but narry a screw cap on a Macallan 50 or The Balvenie 30. While I wasn’t able to obtain any specific data on this, one would think that if there is significant overlap between wine and whisky connoissuers and the tasting/drinking experience of the wine connoissuer’s screw-capped wine bottle is a positive one, he or she may be more inclined to purchase their favorite whisky expression in a screw cap.

For distilleries with scale, screw caps provide a more cost effective means by which to bottle their casks. Perhaps, if the whisky distilleries were to overhype the TCA or cork taint effect of cork on a whisky bottling, they might be able to move their customers over to whisky with screw caps. But there isn’t agreement across all the whisky experts on cork taint. In fact, Jim McEwan, veteran distiller, blender, cooper and taster goes as far to say, “.. if cork was a problem surely, over the course of 300 years, someone would have spotted the problem. Or could it simply be that the distilleries and blenders of yester-year were not nearly as clever as today’s ‘experts’?”

Economics are not the only reason why a distillery might move to a screw cap, security, according to the blog, is another. Given that there are parts of the world where fradulent use and counterfeiting are prevalent, “it is preferable to use bottles with a non refillable closure”.

All in all, it didn’t appear as though some segments of the whisky industry (smaller distilleries / older expressions of any distillery) would be quick to move to screw caps, but given the move in wine, we may see more screw caps on “entry level” (my term) expressions from mass produced single malts or in more blends…

Slainte!