Felipe Schrieberg Felipe is an award-winning London-based whisky writer, tastings host, drinks competitions judge, and author. He is also a musician and co-founder of The Rhythm and Booze Project, a duo that fuses live music and whisky through gigs, tasting events and multimedia. Follow Felipe on Twitter, Linkedin or his website.

I recently was trying to find a list of the best-selling whiskies in the world by volume, and to my surprise I was having trouble. Sure, there’s lists of the best-selling Scotch whiskies and bourbons, for example. However, I couldn’t find a list that put global sales for all whisky brands together.

So I figured I would solve that problem and do it myself, with help from information that I received from drinks market analysts IWSR, The Spirits Business, and a few other sources where necessary.

Looking at the list, I’m willing to bet that you’ll be surprised to see so many brands you’ve never heard of near the top, or that a small group of companies control so many different bestselling brands.

Some things to bear in mind. These rankings reflect sales by volume, not by value. The sales figures here are also as up to date as possible, reflecting overall sales for 2017. The number I’ve included below is the number of sales by thousands of 9-liter cases, which is the standard industry sales metric. So for example, sales of ‘1,000’ means 1 million cases were sold, totalling 9 million liters.

So here’s the best-sellers:

1. Officer's Choice

Country: India

Owner: Allied Blenders and Distillers

Sales: 31,510.1

2. McDowell's

Country: India

Owner: Diageo

Sales: 26,338.2

3. Imperial Blue

Country: India

Owner: Pernod Ricard

Sales: 18,847.7

4. Royal Stag Whisky

Country: India

Owner: Pernod Ricard

Sales: 18,700

5. Johnnie Walker

Country: Scotand

Owner: Diageo

Sales: 18,300

6. Jack Daniel’s Whiskey

Country: USA

Owner: Brown Forman Corporation

Sales: 12,900

7. Original Choice

Country: India

Owner: John Distilleries Pvt Ltd

Sales: 10,300

8. Hayward's Fine

Country: India

Owner: Diageo

Sales: 8,900

9. Jim Beam

Country: USA

Owner: Beam Suntory

Sales: 8,900 (includes sales of flavored whiskey)

10. Old Tavern

Country: India

Owner: Diageo

Sales: 7,400

11. 8PM Whisky

Country: India

Owner: Radico Khaitan

Sales: 7,000

12. Crown Royal

Country: Canada

Owner: Diageo

Sales: 7,000 (includes sales of flavored whisky)

13. Grand Royal Myanmar Whisky

Country: Myanmar

Owner: Thai Beverage

Sales: 7,000 (estimate based on the Thai Bev annual report)

14. Ballantine’s

Country: Scotland

Owner: Pernod Ricard

Sales: 6,900

15. Jameson's

Country: Ireland

Owner: Pernod Ricard

Sales: 6,900

16. Blender's Pride

Country: India

Owner: Pernod Ricard

Sales: 6,400

17. Bagpiper

Country: India

Owner: Diageo

Sales: 6,000

18. Fireball Cinnamon Shot

Country: Canada

Owner: Sazerac

Sales: 4,900 (U.S. sales alone, I couldn't find global sales)

19. Royal Challenge

Country: India

Owner: Diageo

Sales: 4,500

20. Grant's

Country: Scotland

Owner: William Grant & Sons

Sales: 4,500

21. Director's Special

Country: India

Owner: Diageo

Sales: 4,200

22. Chivas Regal

Country: Scotland

Owner: Pernod Ricard

Sales: 4,200

23. Bangalore Malt Whisky

Country: India

Owner: John Distilleries Pvt Ltd

Sales: 3,500

24. Suntory Whisky

Country: Japan

Owner: Beam Suntory

Sales: 3,400

25. J&B

Country: Scotland

Owner: Diageo

Sales: 3,400

By Felipe Schrieberg

Felipe is a London-based whisky writer, musician, tastings host, drinks competitions judge, and author. He writes for internationally renowned publications such as Forbes, Whisky Magazine and The Whiskey Wash. He has been awarded the Icons of Whisky Communicator of the Year award at Whisky Magazine's 2022 World Whiskies Awards.

He is the co-founder of The Rhythm and Booze Project, a duo fusing live music and whisky through gigs, tasting events, and multimedia. His past projects encompass performances at the Edinburgh Fringe of the band's own show Two Guys, Three Drams which combined live blues with whisky tasting, and building the world's first bass drum made from an entire Scotch whisky cask with a barrel of Lagavulin.

He is also a judge for the World Whiskies Awards and The Independent Bottlers Challenge. Through his online tastings hosted at The Virtual Whisky Masterclass, he has welcomed over 3,000 guests across 250+ tasting events.

His first book, London Cocktails, is now available worldwide. Follow him on Twitter/Instagram @schriebergfr, or at www.felipeschrieberg.com