Tony Greener, chairman of the market leader, Guinness - which makes Johnnie Walker, Dewars, Bells and others - refers to the "lost generation" of scotch drinkers: the youth market. He says scotch has "lost its relevance to young people."

Others insist that it never had any such relevance to that age group and that the industry was simply too prosperous to notice until recently.

"If the younger generation is lost, it has been lost forever," said Charles Shaw, marketing director for Whyte & Mackay Group. "This is not some new heinous crime, since we never darn well had the young consumer to begin with."

That must change. Rather than wait for the youth of its biggest markets to grow up and acquire a taste for scotch, the industry is struggling to adapt its tastes and style to theirs.

In Europe, Ballantine's is now the official sponsor of the snow-boarding championships, for example. "It is exactly the right target group for us," said Mr. Beckerleg.

With their sights now fixed on what one disdainful industry marketing executive calls "disco-going teenyboppers," the distillers have invaded trendy bars from Barcelona to Boston. With them they have brought cases of free scotch and a message that the stuff goes great with Coca-Cola, 7- Up or whatever else appeals to younger taste buds.

Such compromises are the stuff of necessity. The simple fact is that scotch has seen better days. Decades in which sales grew at 10 percent a year screeched to a halt in the late 1970s. Since then, consumption has proceeded along a generally downward course.