Pleasant Grove Review | 1953-06-05 | Page 9 | [First Edition], Scotch? I don't Mind if I Do

The City I;,r,Vrii5,,iI- by Frederick Ellis Scotch? I don't mind if I do POCKET PINCH BRINGS THE BOTTLES OUT 1TTEIX blow ilie an flown ! Here is the humble V citj'zel1 of tu'sc Pa,ds being able to buy n bottle nf Scotch' without passing mystic signs. And at the controlled price "f 3:,s- a holllc'- Not since the carefree days of 1939 has the non-privileged non-privileged citizen been able to buy a bottle of Scotch nrrr the counter. n n0t fill tnat ea.sy now, but the Scotch Whisky - ,' , ? srrudsingly admits that "supplies to the home market are now easier. And I could tell you of wine merchants and off-licences that are freely placing Scotch on the counter proprietary brands at that for all-comers. Not that there is more Scotch heint; freed tor home drinkers. The new freedom comes from a new shortage the cash famine-Ration famine-Ration lor the home market is 2.7a0.000 gallons a year of proprietary Scotch, with perhaps another 1.000.000 gallons from outside the " ring." That compares com-pares with a home thirst for 7,000.000 gallons before the war. So you can see that the Scotch market is not really free there are merely pockots" of freedom appearing. The big stores, like Self ridges, are still cut down to 27 per cent, of 1939 supplies. They can still sell their quota tn-n nr mrvro limAC nvnr tn tliA regulars. Not so easy The off-licence attached to the local is the place to find " free " Scotch. It cannot be sold so easily in the bars as expensive nips, so it is going next door in bottles. It is a fine freedom regained. And a fine example of the price mechanism at w-ork. With it. a warning for Chancellor Butler, who has made whisky so dear that it has become almost a luxury. Worse still, for companies like Distillers, are the signs that the rich American market, has more than slaked its thirst for Scotch. The S.W.A. boys renort " a slight, recession " in U.S. sales. Goody, goody that means there will be more for the home topers ! The oddest thing in Britain's changing drinking habits is the drift towards cheap French wine around 6s. a bottle. Wine even at that price gives a touch of glamour to British meals. Sales are brisk at the expense of the brewers. For the pint of beer at . its overtaxed and under-strength price is not attractive to the customers' cash. . . . Now for port Here comes Sandeman. the port firm, paving 9'. as forecast, from profits of 266.000. a little below the prospectus estimate.