Ksh 568 Million: The Staggering Amount Worth of Scotch Whiskey Kenyans Guzzled Last Year

Congratulations drinking Kenyans, your drinking prowess has been noted and your money highly appreciated by Scotch distillers!
A report by a Scotland-based association which monitors the industry shows that Kenyans guzzled Sh 568 million worth of Scotch whisky last year as a growing middle class splashed on middle to high-end alcoholic spirits.
This represented a six per cent growth from the previous year’s Sh534 million, according to the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) whose members include Diageo, the East African Breweries Limited’s (EABL) parent firm.
Kenya has recorded over the past five years significant growth in whisky sales driven by demand from the growing, well-travelled middle class with high disposable incomes.
“This uptake of Scotch is being driven by Kenya’s increasingly sophisticated middle class as well as the country’s growing economy,” Helena Mumdzjana, SWA’s trade policy manager for Africa, said in an interview.
The association gathers its data from UK customs officials and internal research, implying that its figures exclude Scotch that gets into the country through non-formal entries.
SWA’s data only looks at Scotch whisky, indicating that Kenyans drunk more than the reported Sh568 million when whiskeys from American and Irish distilleries are included.
The data includes brands such as Dewar’s Ballantine’s The Glenlivet, Cutty Sark, Famous Grouse, the Johnnie Walker range, Cragganmore, Cardhu, J & B, Talisker and Vat 69 among several others.
Additional Reporting by Business Daily.