A Modest Proposal Revisted

Driven by John Glaser's "open letter", I thought I'd revisit this "modest proposal" I made a few years ago.

In the body, you'll see that I utilize the word Blend in my descriptions - but over the intervening time, I've come to agree with John - that the average consumer considers a whisky that is a "Blend" to be inferior.

As such I would happily change the proposal from"Blend" to a less distracting word.

In the end, I fear that the SWA's original proposal was driven as a reaction to the Cardhu fiasco - and solely focused on protecting the term "Single Malt" to the extent that the other categories of Scotch whisky were hardly considered.

I am sorry to say that I suspect that, at this point, the parties involved may be sticking with their original proposal driven by an obstinate desire to "save face" - more than doing the ultimately correct thing. This suspicion is driven by the fact that both industry insiders and educated consumers have displayed a visceral dislike of the proposal. There has been vociferous response to the terms from these quarters - yet that outcry has been ignored.

At this point, I'm not really sure WHO, if anyone (outside of the proposing body), thinks this is a good idea.

Here's the bottom line.

Consumers are confused by the whisky category across the board. Why make it worse?

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Originally Posted July 17, 2006

Call a Spade a Spade

Back in August of 2005 (in a story called A Rose By Any Other Name) I talked about the SWA-proposed nomenclature for the whisky industry.

In that story I went over the pros and cons for the existing and proposed nomenclature:

There are several terms in play. Let's look at them objectively:

VATTED MALT

There are those purists who feel that the term “Vatted malt” should be used. 

Pros:

This is the term that has been used for years, and those familiar with Scotch whisky know that “vatted malt” means a blend of single malts.

Cons: 

All whiskies (aside from single cask) are vatted before bottling.

More than that - The term simply sucks. We are trying to minimize confusion among and attract new drinkers – who wants to drink something from a “vat?”

BLENDED MALT

The Scotch Whisky Association wants to use  "Blended Malt":

Pros:

It's accurate. The products in question are comprised of a mixture of single malts. In my book, that's a "Blend." 

Cons:

Companies producing vatted whiskies feel that this term demeans the blended malts in question and may cause confusion among new drinkers through an unwanted association with “Blended Scotch whisky” the term used when describing a whisky which is created by combining single malt whisky(ies) with grain whisky.

MALT SCOTCH WHISKY

An alternate term, pushed by some of the vatters is "malt Scotch whisky.”

John Glaser (Compass Box Whisky) was quoted as saying:

“Blends are perceived by many consumers to be inferior products. The potential damage of using the word blend is far greater than sticking with vatted malt or simply using malt Scotch whisky.”

Back in August of 2005 (in a story called A Rose By Any Other Name) I talked about the SWA-proposed nomenclature for the whisky industry.

In that story I went over the pros and cons for the existing and proposed nomenclature:

There are several terms in play. Let's look at them objectively:

VATTED MALT

There are those purists who feel that the term “Vatted malt” should be used. 

Pros:

This is the term that has been used for years, and those familiar with Scotch whisky know that “vatted malt” means a blend of single malts.

Cons: 

All whiskies (aside from single cask) are vatted before bottling.

More than that - The term simply sucks. We are trying to minimize confusion among and attract new drinkers – who wants to drink something from a “vat?”

BLENDED MALT

The Scotch Whisky Association wants to use  "Blended Malt":

Pros:

It's accurate. The products in question are comprised of a mixture of single malts. In my book, that's a "Blend." 

Cons:

Companies producing vatted whiskies feel that this term demeans the blended malts in question and may cause confusion among new drinkers through an unwanted association with “Blended Scotch whisky” the term used when describing a whisky which is created by combining single malt whisky(ies) with grain whisky.

MALT SCOTCH WHISKY

An alternate term, pushed by some of the vatters is "malt Scotch whisky.”

John Glaser (Compass Box Whisky) was quoted as saying:

“Blends are perceived by many consumers to be inferior products. The potential damage of using the word blend is far greater than sticking with vatted malt or simply using malt Scotch whisky.”

Pros:

None. While I cannot argue with John’s logic, I think this term only benefits producers of vatted whiskies.

Cons:

The term is simply too generic and too easily confused with Single malt scotch whisky and for that reason is just unacceptable.

Small Isle of Skye based distillery Pràban Na Linne is relaunching its vatted Poit Dhubh unchilfiltered malt range as the far hipper PD and had planned to use the designation “malt Scotch whisky.” Douglas Smith, Commercial Director of the distillery, contends that his whisky will seriously be harmed by being forced to label as blended:

“We’re currently selling PD at the same price point as some single malts. If we start sticking ‘blended malt’ on the labels, the danger is that customers who are unfamiliar with the brand and the definitions might assume it’s an inferior product and opt for the ‘safer bet’ of a single malt.”

Are you talking about the same people who pay $60 for the apparently inferior blended Johnnie Walker Green?

And as far as being "unfamiliar with your brand?" Tough titties. That's what a marketing department is for.

I concluded the story with:

If you were waiting for me to come up with some fantastic term that no one has thought of, I hate to disappoint. There’s a better term out there somewhere. But I don’t know what it is.

I think the reason that I couldn't come up with anything was that I, like everyone else, was looking for one word terms (e.g., "blended" or "vatted") that were clear and concise and removed all confusion.

It was only later that I came to the conclusion that this is an impossible task - a single word can never be selected which will be both descriptive and concise enough to meet the needs of the novice, the connoisseur, the SWA and the industry.

So I now propose the most straightforward solution I can think of - calling a spade a spade*.

A Modest Proposal (apologies to Mr. Swift)

Instead of trying to select single word terms which are at best confusing and at worst clarify absolutely nothing, I suggest that the single terms are replaced with descriptor tag-lines.

1. What is referred to as a "Single Malt" should continue to be called Single Malt.

Macallan
A Single Malt

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2. What is referred to as a "Single Grain" should continue to be called Single Grain.

Cameron Brig
A Single Grain Whisky

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3. What is referred to as a "Vatted Malt", a "Pure Malt", or a "Blended Malt" should include on the label A Blend of Single Malts. For example:

Johnnie Walker Green
A Blend of Single Malts

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4. What is referred to as a "Blended Scotch" should include on the label A Blend of Single Malts and Grain Whiskies. For example:

Johnnie Walker Black
A Blend of Single Malts and Grain Whiskies

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5. What is referred to as a "Blended Grain" should include on the label A Blend of Grain Whiskies. For example:

The Fresh Fruity One
  A Blend of Grain Whiskies

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Thoughts?

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*To call a spade a spade, which means, ironically for this discussion, 'to speak plainly and bluntly; to speak without euphemisms', is first found in Ancient Greece. The exact origin is uncertain; the playwright Menander, in a fragment, said "I call a fig a fig, a spade a spade," but Lucian attributes the phrase to Aristophanes. Later, Plutarch notes that "The Macedonians are a rude and clownish people who call a spade a spade." (It is worth noting that the Greek word translated as "spade" seems actually to mean something like "bowl" or "trough"; the "spade" may be based on a Renaissance mistranslation. In this case the original expression was "to call a bowl a bowl," and thus the "spade" expression is "only" 500, rather than 2,500, years old.)

From: The Mavens' Word of the Day

Comments

[Alex Nicol]

Hi Kevin
Been away selling in Holland and Germany.
I believe that we will get lot's of support from the trade and the consumers. As you know in the UK I have sampled many thousands of consumers with "Sheep Dip" over the last two years and they are confused- to a man- about "Blended" they know that its cheaper and not as valued as "single" they have not a clue about grain whisky being blended with malt to produce a "blended" whisky.
"Vatted" descriptor has been accepted for decades and at least has the value of allowing people to understand the process and visualise it, thus it becomes clear.This is the SWA being driven by the major whisky producers who in fact constitute the key members of the SWA.
Before it goes forward as law the consumers need to be canvassed and it will reveal that there is a deep confusion in the use of the term "blended" in malt malt whisky.
Alex

[Doug]

My own view is to just call what is currently known as 'Vatted Malt' simply 'Malt Whisky'. Then when someone sees 'Single Malt Whisky', they will know they are getting something different, and since the price is higher, a premium product.

[Chris Barnes]

I applaud the clarity of your 'descriptor tag-lines'. The only folks saddled with anything remotely cumbersome are the 'blends of single malts and grain whiskies', and as Alex Nicol suggests, a bit of heightened consumer awareness with regard to grain whiskies being blended with single malts might not be so terrible. I imagine Forty Creek's John Hall is quite content to exist outside the bounds of the SWA: "A blend of 3 pot-still whiskies from 3 different grains singly distilled and aged" might require a wrap-around bottle label!
Question: Is anything other than barley (malted or unmalted) used in Scottish column-still grain whiskies?

[Ben Langleben (ben.langleben@rdsiresearch.com)]

These descriptor tags seem sensible to me, though I would question the inclusion of the word "single" as in "a blend of single malts" as this renders meaningless the word "single". I dare say the good folks making Monkey Shoulder (a triple malt - a blend of three single malts) may have something to say about that too.

Having said all that, as the new language is meant to be clarifying rather than confusing for consumers, then Alex's suggestion to canvass them is an excellent one. If anyone in the industry would like to speak to me about this, as a market research professional, please do get in touch at ben.langleben@rdsiresearch.com.

[Andy Hoover]

I don't think any of this matters. When someone first starts drinking scotch, often it will be a readily available blended whisky like Dewars or Red label or Cutty Sark, or something like that. If they get into it they will have some Glen Fiddich, Glen Livet. Then purhaps some Islay malt. Once they've discovered that they like scotch, they may research it some more on the net or just try different products from their local licor store, regardless of the label. All you need to do is have a bottle of JW Black the discover that blend doesn't always mean crap. At least thats how I did it. I've only been drinking scotch for a few years and it is really easy to educate yourself about this on the net.

[James Campbell Andrew]

I can't offhand think of a better term than 'vatted' but I can certainly think of a few worse ones:

Multi Malt.

Fused Malt / Malt Fusion (delete whichever makes your eyes bleed more)

Combination Malt / Malt Combi (as above)

Amalgam Malt

Composite Malt (my own 'favourite')

Concocted Malt (although that one's pretty goo...bad as well)

Union Malt

Integrated Malt

Harmonious Malt (don't show that one to Cardhu, eh?)

Jim

[Kevin Erskine]

I'm not a fan of "Malt Whisky" since (as I've written before) "Single Malt Whisky" becomes an even mopre confusing term confusing term.

MOST people have no idea what "Single Malt" means - they jut know that it is better than "Blended Whisky"

And Does Triple Malt (to the average consumer), become better than Single malt?

Isn't "more" better?

[Solera Man]

Chris

wheat and maize....

hope it helps

As for blends - 90% of all whisky sold is a blend of whisky from different distilleries so are 90% of us wrong? So much fuss over a lttle bit of grain whisky...

Consumers do educate themselves and are much more savvy these days (health, nutrition, price, provenance etc)especially when paying > £20 for a product like malt whisky!