WHISKY, and Scotland itself, have held on to their respective No 1 spots in an annual survey of the world's top spirit brands. The country's national drink is still the best-recognised collective brand, and the country is the most powerful in terms of where the products originate, according to the latest Power 100 survey.

Scotland takes the top position, despite having just 13 brands in the top 100, against the USA (second) which has 19 and France (fourth) which has 17. Russia is third, as a result of its three massive vodka brands - Smirnoff, Stolichnaya and Moscowskaya - although Diageo owns Smirnoff, which itself comes out as the world's most recognised individual brand.

The survey is produced by Intangible Business, the respected independent brand valuation consultancy, which has researched nearly 10,000 spirit and wine brands across the globe to produce the Power 100.

The league table, which assesses the financial contribution of the brand alongside its strength in the eyes of the consumer, has been compiled by combining scores from a panel of some of the world's leading drinks industry experts with hard data. This year's top ten are: Smirnoff; Bacardi; Johnnie Walker (with 7.8 per cent market share of the world's whisky market); Martini; Stolichnaya; Hennessy; Absolut; Jack Daniel's; Chivas Regal (5.1 per cent share), and Bailey's.

Whisky is the world's most successful and powerful spirits brand, ahead of vodka, rum, flavoured spirits and still light wine. Johnnie Walker, also owned by Diageo, had the highest score increase of all whisky brands in the last 12 months of 14 per cent. Apart from Jack Daniels, Scotch brands take up the top six places in the category, and 11 of the top 20, with Chivas, Ballentine's, Dewars, and J&B following the market leader.

Stuart Whitwell, managing director of Intangible Business, said: "The Power 100 is eye-opening for the industry which has seen significant change, consolidation and integration in the last year. "This trend, which is set to continue, has its positives and negatives. On the positive side, consolidation clearly provides a quick foot up the ladder. However, it can also stifle flair and innovation which can have a detrimental impact on the industry.

"But integration may also be disruptive in the early stages, although it is likely that increased learning will inevitably lead to growth. It will be interesting to see how these brands continue to fare."

As it was last year, Diageo - which has its production headquarters in Edinburgh Park - tops the league table for the world's most powerful brand owner, with William Grant & Sons at 14, and its Glasgow rival Edrington Group in at number 17. Scotch whisky accounted for 13 of the top 100 brands: Johnnie Walker (3), Chivas Regal (9), Ballantine's (11), Dewars (14), and J&B (16). Grants appeared at 27, 100 Pipers at 37, Famous Grouse at 38. Bells was at 54, Glenfiddich 69, Cutty Sark 68, The Macallan 92 and The Glenlivet 94.