The Scotch Blog

New Swedish Distiller

This is from Ulf Buxrud - author & whisky guy extraordinaire.

Hven Distillery.

A new, the second in order, Swedish malt whisky distillery came on stream May 7, 2008.  The distillery adapted its name from the Norse spelling of the island where it is situated, ‘Hven’ .

The state-of-the-art distillery, which will thrive on local cultivated barley and water, is built on a small island in the middle of the strait which separate Denmark from Sweden.  The island is the former home of the medieval Scandinavian astronomer Tycho Brahe, but was also a stronghold for Vikings.

Initially the cereal is travelling back and forth from Scotland for process, including malting, peating and crushing. Casks for maturing will predominantly be made by US cooperage from selected stocks of American white oak. The micro climate on this ‘island-in-the-stream’ is expected to contribute with a maritime influence to the whisky during its maturation.

The SWA Responds

I've stated before that I am a big supporter of the work that the SWA does to protect Scotch Whisky in the world market. But that doesn't mean we always have to agree!

As always, we are delighted to give the SWA a chance to respond to the past few posts which deride their proposal...

---

Dear Kevin

We've read with interest your recent postings in relation to the draft Scotch Whisky Regulations.

Whilst we will have to agree to disagree on the merits of the term 'Blended Malt Scotch Whisky', I thought it might be helpful to set out for you and your readers why the term has been proposed by the industry/UK Government, and also to highlight the wider package of proposals that are currently being considered. 

Choice of the term 'Blended Malt Scotch Whisky'

There was lengthy industry discussion around the choice of the term and, in the end, it was chosen because the industry working group/SWA members believe it is the only description that accurately describes what the product is, in a manner which is comprehensible to consumers worldwide, both to the enthusiast but also the millions who enjoy the product but may know little about the category. 

Consumers understand that ‘blending means mixing’ and blending is generally understood as meaning ‘more than one’.  A number of companies have of course already changed their labels to use the description ‘Blended Malt Scotch Whisky’ and, encouragingly, there is no evidence to indicate any consumer confusion or resistance to the description.   We should also remember that any legislation introduced in the UK must also comply with EU law and under European legislation any combination of malt whiskies is defined as a 'blend'.

The SWA has always said that, whatever terms are introduced, the industry will need to take the opportunity to grow awareness and understanding of all the categories.   We will be doing just that internationally in the coming months.  The aim is to ensure that everyone receives clear, consistent, and accurate information about what they are buying.  (There is clearly little confusion about the term amongst whisky enthusiasts because, although some may not like the term, they understand what it means.)

Blend Fury

Will Lyons had an excellent piece in Scotland on Sunday on the issues with the SWA's move to introduce "Blended Malt" into the world's whisky lexicon.

---

Originally printed Sunday, March 30th, 2008
Scotland on Sunday

Blend fury

By William Lyons

A NEW row threatens to split the whisky industry as small distilleries accuse the big boys of confusing consumers and undermining single malts, writes William Lyons.

A SHORT drive from Dufftown, high above the River Spey, lies Cardhu single malt distillery. The jewel in Diageo's crown has been out of the public eye since the infamous "pure malt" controversy threatened to split the industry. But this week, as the six stills rumble away to produce the main spirit for Johnnie Walker, echoes of the dispute are being heard once again in a new row over the future of Scotch.

It's been four years since the £2.5bn industry almost ripped itself apart over the Cardhu affair when the Grant family, owner of Glenfiddich, one of Speyside's most powerful brands, roused the industry into forcing Diageo to withdraw the pure malt blend.

As the last cases were removed from the European market an uneasy calm settled over the whisky industry. As one insider said at the time: "The tanks are on the lawn but for now we have turned the engines off."

Those engines are about to be turned back on, albeit from a different source. This time it is the small distilleries that are leading the fight. With talk of the big distillers throwing their weight around, the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) steam-rolling through unpopular measures, and deals being "conducted among an old boys' network", the atmosphere has once again turned sour. As one prominent distiller remarked to this newspaper: "The Cardhu debacle which everyone thought had gone away, has not. Nothing has changed."

The vortex of this latest row is the new category "blended malt whisky", ironically the definition created to placate those who objected so strongly to Diageo's inflammatory invention.

An open letter from John Glaser

Say NO! to Blended Malt Scotch Whisky: Sign the Petition!

Hello friends,

Pardon the interruption, but I simply want to call your attention to an issue that is very important to our business and to the Scotch whisky industry, and is something you can help us with.

Please help us tell the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) and the UK Government that we think their legislative proposal to force companies such as ours to label our malt whiskies “Blended Malt Scotch Whisky” (instead of simply “Malt Whisky” as we do now) is a bad idea for the industry.  If this proposal becomes law, it would cause further confusion for consumers around the world regarding the labelling of Scotch whisky.  It would make people think less of artisan-made malt whiskies, such as ours, because we would have to put “blended” on our labels, a term people (wrongly, but nonetheless) perceive to refer to inferior quality products.

It would also force us to redesign and reprint all our labels, and resubmit them to label authorities around the world.  Which would be an expensive pain and a waste of time.

This proposal has been widely derided by people across the industry, including whiskymakers, marketers, retailers, distributors and writers, including the late Michael Jackson, all of whom have pointed out that the proposal will do exactly the opposite of what it is intended to do, which is reduce consumer confusion about Scotch whisky. But the SWA have buried their heads in the sand on this issue in order to push through other legislative issues they feel are more important!

I could go on.  But instead I’ll point you to a petition on the web that takes less than a minute to sign and which will help us send a message to the SWA and the lawmakers that the “blended malt Scotch whisky” legislation is a bad idea.  Just click the link:

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/no_to_blended_malt_Scotch_whisky/

Help us help the Scotch whisky industry!

Regards,
John Glaser
Compass Box Delicious Whisky Ltd

Whisky galore! An English malt, please

I read this article in The Independent about the English Whisky Company, which I thought you'd also like to read. Enjoy.

---

Whisky galore! An English malt, please

Originally published March 10, 2008 and reprinted with kind permission of The Independent.

The sweet smell of ground grist wafts over the surrounding peat marshland as a one-tonne copper still boils and distils mash into the unmistakable dark liquid that will eventually become whisky.

The first run of single malt, meanwhile, lies maturing in hundreds of specially imported Bourbon barrels from the United States watched over by Molly, Bert, Oscar and Zeb, the distillery's four Labrador dogs.

At first glance nothing in this particular distillery looks out of the ordinary. But to the factory's founders and whisky connoisseurs worldwide what lies in those casks is not just whisky; it is history in the making.

For this is not just another new distillery to add to Scotland or Ireland's already thriving industries. This is the English Whisky Company, the latest attempt to try and cash in on the unprecedented clamour for fine whisky worldwide and, also, the first company to produce an English malt whisky in more than 100 years.

Read the Rest of the story at The Independent site

Will Lyons talks with Ian Curle

Will Lyons recently had a chance to sit down with Ian Curle, Chief Executive of The Edrington Group.

Edrington produces such well-known favorites as Highland Park, Macallan & The Famous Grouse. They recently acquired a large stake in Brugal - a little known Rum from The Dominican Republic.

I had a chance to visit Brugal in 2003, and it became my favorite Rum on the spot. Unfortunately it's not easy to get here in the US... but it's worth finding. With the backing of Edrington, it could give Bacardi a run for it's money - it's delicious, priced well, and head and shoulders in taste and quality over the ubiquitous Bacardi line.

---

Interview: Ian Curle: It was a rum thing to learn Spanish
by William Lyons
Read Will Lyons online: www.scotsman.com/wine

FOR the past three years Ian Curle has been keeping a secret close to his chest. Once a month, sometimes more often, he would board the British Airways lunchtime flight to Miami. To the outside world the chief executive of Edrington, one of Scotland's largest whisky makers, was doing nothing more than paying a routine visit to a key market.

The reality was somewhat different. After arriving in the Florida sunshine Curle would board a second flight to Santo Domingo, in the Dominican Republic, where he would meet his finance director Richard Hunter and his company secretary Martin Cooke, who flew in via New York. The purpose of these clandestine visits was made clear last Wednesday when Curle announced that he had spent GBP 200m acquiring a majority stake of just over 60 per cent in Brugal, the largest rum brand in the Caribbean. Such was the secrecy surrounding the talks that nobody was aware that Hunter and Cooke had both learned Spanish in order to conduct the negotiations.

"We had to keep it very quiet," says Curle, fresh off a flight from Madrid where he has been in discussions with his distribution company Maxxium to build the brand across Europe.

Road to the Drammies: Serge's Picks

The Third in our series of "Guest Picks" for the Drammies, Serge Valentin, of Whisky Fun & Malt Maniac.

---

Fun with The Drammies
Serge Valentin

Best Marketing Campaign
This has to go to all distillers and bottlers who are NOT making the fakers’ lives easier. Labels that are not easy to take off and re-stick on another bottle, capsules/foils that you can’t just take off and then replace once you’ve refilled a bottle, engraving or serigraphy on the bottle and so on. Lagavulin springs to mind.

Distiller/Blender/Independent Bottler of the Year
Springbank
Because of their recent 1997. Great spirit in its naked truth.

Most Innovative New Product
Compass Box Canto Series
Experimentation that’s not only for the sake of experimentation or easy-easy range widening. Oh, and because of the heavy use of Clynelish.

Best New Product (whisky)
Glenfarclas Family Casks.
Indeed, despite the prices of the younger versions. They could do it and they did it. Ah, the 1960 and the 1965...

Best New Product (Non-whisky)
The Legend of Laphroaig
Fabulous book by Marcel van Gils and Hans Offringa. There should be such books about every distillery in Scotland.

Most under-rated-whisky
Glenugie (but Glenugie was closed in 1983). Otherwise, young Clynelishes.

Worst Marketing Campaign
Anything bling bling aimed at Russian oligarchs or Chinese IT wizards - and while the stock markets plunge.  By the way, ever saw Petrus or Cheval Blanc in fancy bottles? (and mahogany-leather-crystal-pewter-whatever?) Shared between The Macallan 55yo Lalique, Ardbeg’s Double Barrel and The Dalmore’s 60plus bottles.

Road to the Drammies: Sam's Picks

The second in our series of "Guest Picks" for the Drammies, Sam Simmons, aka Dr. Whisky...

---

The Drammies according to Dr. Whisky
Sam Simmons

Always eager to exercise democracy in any way shape or form, the Drammies represent a grass-roots "people's choice" whisky awards that Dr. Whisky is only too happy nominate, be nominated, vote, and be voted for.

BUT, asked Kevin Erskine, if the world was a perfect totalitarian whisky-soaked dream and I was its dictator (or author of works I thought so holy I  called them Bibles), who would I deem to be worthy to win these awards?

Bang for the Buck
Forty Creek Barrel Select
A difficult category this year with 5 excellent whiskies that are affordable AND delicious. But like Mussolini favoured the North and let the south starve or die in senseless war in Ethiopia, I support a Canadian. Resourceful, affordable, and tasty!

Distiller/Blender/Independent Bottler of the Year
Single Malts of Scotland
Another challenging category because the bundling of distiller, blender and indie is a contentious one. They all do different things so really, how can they be evaluated as competitors? Easily. Like Suharto did in Indonesia, with an Iron Fist. What other bottler released a drinkable Tobermory(1995, £30)? a 30 year old Glenlivet that was tasty, sherried, and only £65? one of the best Clynelishes to ever pass the lips of this Clynelish lover (1972, £110)? No one. And if they did, I would imprison, squash, or stone them.

Road to the Drammies: Ian's Picks

The polls are now closed and the votes are being tabulated.

While we wait for the results, I thought I'd get some friends to pick THEIR choices for a Drammy in each category.

First up: Ian Buxton

---

My ‘picks’ for The Drammies
Ian Buxton

Well, the Whisky Writers Union hasn’t declared a strike.  The Oscars may be under threat but the big one carries on.  Yes, The Drammies are with us once again and Kevin asked me for my ‘picks’.  I have no idea which way the voting has gone but, if it were up to me, these babies would come out on top:

Best Packaging
Highland Park 18 "Whisky Amnesty" at Glasgow, Whisky Live
There were some nice things here – I really liked the Port Charlotte tins, for example – but if you had seen the queue of excited whisky fans at the Highland Park stand you’d know this was THE winner.  Tough to think of something genuinely new but the HP boys did it.

Bang for the Buck
Black Bottle
Black Bottle is consistently under-rated.  I would pick Glenfarclas but I’ve got a bigger win in mind for them!

Bushmills celebrates 400 years. Sort of.

Today's story is a guest piece by whisky-guy extraordinaire, Ian Buxton.

---

If you’ll excuse the lazy national stereotype, no-one loves a party more than the Irish - and what better excuse than a 400th anniversary?

I refer, of course, to Bushmills, which celebrates its 400th anniversary in April this year.  Except, of course, there’s a fair bit of the blarney in there (“blarney” is Irish for “marketing” I think).

The claim’s based on the 1608 licence to distil granted to Sir Thomas Phillips by King James’ representative in Ireland, Sir Arthur Chichester, the so-called Lord Deputy.  This allowed Sir Thomas or his servants (perish the thought he’d do any manual labour himself)  “to make, drawe and distill such and soe great quantities of aquavite, usquabagh and aqua composita, as he or his assinges shall think fitt”.

Problem is, Sir Arthur was just a royal servant looking to cash in on this lucrative new territory by replacing the old Catholic gentry with good Protestants, loyal to the crown and willing to pay ready money for such licences – in fact, only the previous month, he had granted patents to distillers in Galway, Munster and Leinster.