One of the topics I was considering throughout Martin's presentation on Monday was the role that time and product cycles play in these industries and whether it differs materially vs. that of others. Specifically, whisky has historically been a product where age is correlated with value, at least for a lot of brands and styles. With this in mind, how does one start a business where its key product will be on a 12+ year cycle, or the time between production and consumption? Even if one has the patience and capital to wait, the risks could potentially be immense due to a shifting market landscape over this time period. This relates to wine, but perhaps to a lesser degree, since there are so many varietals that require significantly less time to get to market.
Part of the solution here for whiskey may be related to some of the new brands we saw on Monday that require significantly less time for ageing. It appears that whiskey brands are moving away from putting age on the bottles, and I would imagine that this trend would help start-ups and younger companies as they look to compete in the market. Perhaps the market is growing so rapidly that there is just so much space for new entrants and the incumbents are focused inward, but I am surprised that more established brands have also begun taking age off of the bottles. I would have thought it would serve as a competitive advantage and barrier to entry; however, it appears the opposite is occurring.
I ran across an interesting article on the blog Eater, which speaks about the trend of moving away from age.
http://www.eater.com/drinks/2015/5/21/8633711/does-whiskey-need-an-age-stamp-to-be-good
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