The World Is Running out of Single Malt Scotch

Oh man, as if Monday could get any worse.

According to a new report from CNN Money, the world is running out of rare, single malt scotch — a shortage so severe it could last up to 15 years.

Brace yourselves, Scotch lovers. Dry times ahead.

Distillers are facing increased demand for the world’s greatest drink as new money in Asia gets on board with the brown. The continent alone is buying up a quarter billion bottles a year, or about 20% of global reserves, CNN writes.

For nearly any other commodity, increased demand would be fine. But when your product is by nature rare and exclusive, well, here we are, aren’t we? The problem is that most of the rare Scotch sold today was distilled in the ’80s and ’90s, a period when Scotch wasn’t nearly as cool as it is now. Distillers were struggling and had no way to predict the rampant demand of the last ten years.

How bad are things, really? Well, it’s illustrative that entire investment funds have sprung up to the capitalize on the growing demand. According to CNN, The Investment Grade Scotch Whisky Index, which tracks auction prices for fine whiskies, rose 14% last year. Compare that to gold, which fell 10%, or the S&P 500, which basically remained the same. This is more or less insane, people.

So cheers, whisky drinkers. Drink up while you can.