“The one thing I can usually be certain of as I meet people from other parts of the world is that what they think they know about Taiwan is almost inevitably not true.” This is the view of Mike Cottingham, founder of Cottingham, the first company in Taiwan to import international alcohol brands, which celebrates its 30th anniversary in 2022. Mike was speaking in general, but his words ring especially true in the world of whisky. Taiwan is a gold-medal winning, high-end drinking mecca.
Taiwan is the world’s third largest export market by value for Scotch whisky, behind the US and France, according to figures from 2020 from the Scotch Whisky Association. By volume, however, it doesn’t even appear in the top 10. This is in part due to the fact that the Taiwanese buy more high-value Scotch than any other market in the world. “A 12-year-old bottle of Scotch is considered standard here, [and] 18-year-old is entry level,” jokes Mike.
Taiwan’s drinking culture
