The Scotch Blog

My bottle is bigger than yours

At the Park Grill dinner I attended during the New York Whisky Fest, Michael Urquhart of Gordon and MacPhail was discussing the range of G&M available in the US:

The challenge we have is that 700 ml is not a permitted size, so we have to bottle at 750. Here we have about 155 different expressions so it's quite a wide range - whiskies from all different areas of Scotland. But if you were able to have the laws changed to have a 700 ml bottle permitted, your choices would increase by three-fold overnight.

He was referring to was the fact that the "standard" bottle in the US is a 750 milliliter (ml) bottle while in Europe the standard is 700 ml.

I wondered..."Why do we use 750 ml bottles here in the US and why don't we simply import the 700 ml bottles." After all, 50 ml, isn't a large amount of liquid - in fact, it is equivalent to the contents of a standard "airplane" or mini bottle and equates to just a single (good-sized) dram or 1.69070113 ounces. So what's the issue?

A Wise Investment?

I've long been fascinated with the idea of buying a cask. In concept it's a solid deal - buy a cask full of new-make spirit at today's prices and when it is ready you'll have more whisky than you can shake a stick at.

Bruichladdich, Kilchoman, Isle of Arran, and Tullibardine are distilleries that currently offer casks to the public. BenRiach is not a pro-active seller of casks, but do sell a limited number of casks to private individuals.

(This story is about buying casks directly from a distillery. There are independent bottlers and brokers who may offer to sell you a cask, but I do not address them here).

It's easy to see why the smaller distilleries make such offers: It's a way for a new distillery to get a quick infusion of cash. Imagine waiting 10 years before you saw a penny of income from your product - 10 years is a long time to wait to see cash flow from a distillation - but that's exactly what many distilleries face, unless they are producing for one of the blends. And many of the independents have effectively been shut out of that market.

Babies

Nick and Lizzie Chase, who took the Bruichladdich Distillery Academy with me back in September announced the birth of twin daughters Olivia and Catherine, born January 10th.

Yes, Lizzie was pregnant while taking the course.

Happy Birthday Emily!

It's my daughter Emily's birthday today.
Happy Birthday!

Columba Cream Responds

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Unless something REALLY big pops up, this will be the only story this week.

---

A few months (September 6th) ago, I did one of my news wrap-up stories (Whisky Season = News Stories) which included a short clip on how Columba Cream was having issues with its plans to take on Diageo's

That story was a summary of a story from The Scotsman called Columba Cream Plan Hits The Rocks.

I just received a response from Jamie Morrison of the Scottish Liqueur Centre, who took some issues with my story and attempted to clarify some statements. It's great to get more information and I thank Jamie for writing me.

Below is his email, my response to some of his comments as well as the text of the original story.

Scottish Miscellany

A story in The Herald today touts the importance of whisky to the Scottish economy.

Food and drink is Scotland's most successful export sector, accounting for £3.6 billion - with £3 billion of that figure being spirits! This means that of the £18.6bn of total exports during 2005, (excluding oil and gas), fully 16% was alcohol related!
     
The US remains the most lucrative single country for Scottish products, accounting for £2.1 billion of the market compared with £9.1 billion for all of the European Union countries. Must be all those little stuffed highland cattle dolls we buy.

---

On a note that hits even closer to home for Edinburgh residents, it was announced that there would be would be outdoor bars at this year’s Hogmanay street party for the first time in the event’s 14-year history. Hooray!

Eight outdoor bars will be set up along Princes Street to sell drink to the 100,000 revellers expected to celebrate New Year in the city center. The bars will be slinging drinks from 8.30pm on Hogmanay (We call it New Year's Eve - I like Hogmanay better) until 12.30am on New Year's Day.

Further proof that I need to permanently move to Scotland: Party-goers will also still be allowed to bring their own alcohol in plastic bottles to the event.

Jack Law, chief executive of Alcohol Focus Scotland, said:

"Having bars at Edinburgh's Hogmanay party may not make a great deal of difference to how much people drink because they are already allowed to take in whatever alcohol they want. But at any such event where alcohol is sold it must be done in a legal, safe and responsible way to minimise harm for those attending."

---

And tomorrow - we announce the winners of the 2006 Drammies!!!!

Gift Pack Season

I love the Christmas season. Not for the reasons you are thinking (8 years in catholic school squeezed any faith out of me). No, I love going to the liquor store and seeing what gift packs have been cooked up by the liquor companies.

On a recent trip to my local VA-ABC (that's the horribly named Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control) to pick up bottles for an upcoming tasting (if you are curious: Famous Grouse, Scapa, Highland Park, Ardbeg and Old Pulteney).

Wandering around the shop I got to see what's in this season:

Many companies stick with the easy way out and offer glasses: Herradura Tequila, Bacardi Rum, Glenlivet, Glenfiddich, Glenmorangie, JW Black Label, Chivas Regal, and Crown Royal all offer gift packs with one of two rocks style glasses. Vodkas are big with martini glasses - Citadelle, Belvedere and Chopin; while Stolichnaya takes a more Russian approach and offers 4 shot glasses. Corazon tequila decided to offer a choice of shot glasses OR rocks glasses.

Scotch = Golf = Racism. WTF?

If the title of the story doesn't make sense to you, that's very likely because you are not an idiot. But apparently Billy Connelly IS an idiot because he very clearly sees the connection.

He thinks that Scotch is snobbish, Scotch Drinkers play golf, and golfers are Racist, Sexist and Anti-semitic.

I'm not making this up. Here is what he said in an interview with an arts magazine/site in Canada called Canoe.ca:

"There's a snobbishness involved in it," says of scotch connoisseurs..."And they all tend to be golfers, and that pisses me off. It's so racist, sexist, it's anti-Semitic; it's everything I dislike."

Listen, I don't particularly like golf - but it's more about the clothing and my lack of patience than anything else.

So, besides being incredibly unfunny, Billy Connelly hates two of the hallmarks of his native land. (I wonder if he says these things in Scotland to the Scottish press?)

Read on for more stupid statements about Scotch drinkers and a link to the full interview.

New Logo

Some time ago I asked the designers out there to consider helping me create a new logo for The Scotch Blog.

While a number of designers offered up some ideas, I decided to go with Jonathan Seeds. We've worked together over the past few months to come up with a logo which reflects The Scotch Blog.
Jonathan has been very patient with me, and you see the results of his work in the new header.

The new quote comes from Euan Mitchell of Isle of Arran - I like this quote - and think it sums up The Scotch Blog quite nicely. While we still believe in "Straight News, Blunt Comment, No B.S." it was simply time for a change.

Join me in thanking Jonathan. I still owe him payment (in whisky, of course) for his great work.

Words of Great Wisdom

Taken at The Pot Still in Glasgow.