The Scotch Blog

Columba Cream rises to the top.

Last September I did a short blurb about Columba Cream based on a story by Will Lyons in Scotland on Sunday called Columba Cream Plan Hits The Rocks.

That short blurb was followed up by an email from Jamie Morrison and resulted in a Christmas story called Columba Cream Responds. The story detailed a lively back and forth and resulted in an even more lively string of responses.

This past week Jamie was eager to let me know that there was great news for the Scottish Liqueur Centre; namely that Columba has been faring very well with shoppers at Waitrose (a UK-based grocery chain) and has been picked up at all 186 Waitrose locations.

According to the Waitrose press release:

First launched in Waitrose’s two Scottish stores last year, Columba Cream has proved so popular with customers that the supermarket will sell it nationally.

Last Christmas the single malt cream and honey liqueur quickly became the top selling spirit in Waitrose’s Edinburgh branches.

Now thanks to the exclusive deal with Waitrose, the small independent company that makes the drink - The Scottish Liqueur Centre - it is expecting to double its turnover to £1million by the end of this year.

Jamie also wanted me to know that Columba Cream was the biggest selling spirit (yes - outselling all other spirits, not just liqueurs) at the Waitrose stores during the 2006 Christmas holiday.

What's more remarkable is that this was accomplished without resorting to the standard UK practice of deep discounting.

Independent Bottler, Eh?

I recently had a chance to chat with Barry Bernstein of Premium Bottlers- Canada's first and only Independent bottler.

The company was formed by two enthusiasts who were frustrated with the limited quantity of Single Malt Scotch available on the Canadian market.

The IB and Canadian Liquor Law

You are likely familiar with the concept of an Independent Bottler (or IB) who sources casks of whisky (usually, but not always, fully matured) from brokers or directly from distilleries. They then bottle, label and market the products - usually to specialty shops, you seldom find them in your corner liquor shop.

These casks are often - but not always, hand selected by the IB and usually, but not always, bottled as "Single Cask"

Canada's "interesting" liquor laws create special problems for a company like Premium Bottlers - the interesting law I am talking about dictates that a spirit marketed by Canadians must contain at least 1% of spirit (not necessarily whisky) which has been produced in Canada.

Stranahan's Colorado Whiskey

This past March at Binny's Whiskies of the World expo (Chicago), I had the opportunity to meet Jess Graber, the man behind Stranahan's Colorado Whiskey and sample his wares.

I also had the opportunity to chat briefly with him the next night at the Chicago Whisky Fest. But it wasn't until very recently that I had a chance to sit down with Jess without people jamming a glass in his face.

There's a growing number of non-bourbon, non-rye American whiskies hitting the shelves. Yep. Single malt American is becoming a category - but Jess disdains the term "Single Malt Whisky" (even though that is exactly what his product is) and instead prefers the simple moniker of Colorado Whisky.

Stranahan's exudes an elegant ruggedness (or a rugged elegance, if you prefer), much like the state in which it is produced. If you've spent any time in Colorado, this statement will make sense. The people of Colorado revel in the fact that they are surrounded by some of the most incredible natural beauty in the world. Yet Colorado also provides some of the most genteel and sophisticated amenities you'll find anywhere.

The Package

That elegance starts with the packaging. According to Jess, "The bottle says 'Colorado'", and you can see what he means. The labeling is minimalist, allowing the whiskey to speak for itself; the bottle ia tall and slender while the neck and mouth are crowned by a tall metal cap. That cap is more than mere decoration - it's meant to replicate the look of a frontier closure - but it also serves a more mundane, and useful purpose - it conveniently doubles as a 3 ounce tasting cup. Coloradans spend a lot of time outdoors and by providing the tasting cup, Jess effectively turns the bottle into a flask.

Here's Johnnie

I always look forward to pieces by Will Lyons in Scotland on Sunday.He recently did a piece on Johnnie Walker that goes beyond the usual reporting on facts and figures and gets to the heart of the real story.

Love it or hate it, Johnnie Walker is the face of Scotch whisky to much of the world. And as much derision as I give Diageo for some of their marketing practices, the JW brand follows the "Erskine Prescription" for whisky marketing - desist "castles and kilts" marketing and focus on lifestyle and taste - and Diageo has done a bang-up job of this over the years.

Here are the first few paragraphs of this great story....

Here's Johnnie

Sunday, September 2, 2007
William Lyons

IT WAS a damp, bleak November morning seven years ago when Ivan Menezes, global marketing director for Diageo's spirits division, unveiled a £100m marketing push for the group's flagship brand.

It was to be the group'€™s first ever global advertising campaign and came on the back of a lengthy period of stagnation for Johnnie Walker and a fall in sales. The new adverts marked a significant departure from the traditional Scotch advertising that relied on Highland glens, roaring log fires and cut-glass tumblers full of whisky. In their place were images of Harvey Keitel confronting his stage-fright and Ramon Kelvink, a French tightrope walker, crossing from one New York skyscraper to another.

Fielding questions from the assembled press pack, Menezes denied that the new campaign, which was to focus on South America, was taking Scotland out of Scotch.

€œ"We are losing older drinkers by the bucketful," he fulminated, "but only gaining new ones by the thimbleful. We will all benefit from everyone focusing on building brands and making their brands relevant to younger consumers. We are going to revitalise the category by relevant brand building."

Fast forward to last Thursday morning and it was very much mission accomplished. Delivering full-year results to the City, Paul Walsh, Diageo's chief executive, bullishly announced that Johnnie Walker had enjoyed a record year. Exceeding all expectations he told the market that whisky drinkers had spent £3.5bn on more than 15 million cases in the past year.

This one brand now accounts for half of Diageo's Scotch whisky sales and £1bn of £7bn group turnover. At any one time there are seven million bottles waiting to mature at its 27 distilleries in Scotland, making it the third largest spirit and wine brand in the world. To put it another way, 178 glasses of Johnnie Walker are now consumed every second.

A day later, speaking by telephone from Amsterdam, Johnnie Walker'€™s global brand director, Ben Anderson, echoed his sentiments.

"It now truly is a global brand. It is drunk in more than 200 countries and is the number one selling Scotch by a country mile. With our sponsorship of Lewis Hamilton's Formula One team we are exposed to more than four billion people around the world every year. It is fair to say Johnnie Walker sits firmly alongside the world's iconic brands. You see this in people's reaction to Johnnie Walker from Sao Paulo to Shanghai. It'€™s just phenomenal; there is a real passion for this brand."

Read the rest of the story at Scotland on Sunday....

Cases of Kilchoman

I was recently notified that Kilchoman Distillery has stopped offering casks for sale.

They are instead offering a limited edition release of their Single Malt at five years of age.

There will be 1,540 cases available at a cost of £165.00 per (a case of whisky is 6 - 700 milliliter bottles).

The offering is for a 2006 distillation run, which will be bottled in 2011.

GENERALLY these offers are not extended to the US, as it is a phenomenal pain in the ass getting liquor into the country (due to our ridiculous laws), but the offer doesn't mention any geographic exclusions. I'd check with Kilchoman.

Interested? Here is the order form or you can email Thomasina Glover for more details.

Macallan Amber Revisited

About a year ago I wrote about the introduction of Macallan Amber into the US market. In the intervening time Michael Jackson has called it "madness" but I disagreed and was quoted in the same article in the Scottish newspaper The Scotsman as saying:

"It's not for purists, it's an entry-level drug which gets people acquainted with the taste of whisky."

Macallan Amber is slowly rolling out to more markets. I was invited to DC to have lunch with Dale DeGroff (as nice a guy as I'd always expected) for the roll-out of Amber in the DC market. It was real honor for me to trade stories with a true legend of mixology and try some of the recipes Dale had created using Amber (included at the end of the story . . .)

In addition to Boston, Minneapolis, and San Francisco Amber is now available in Washington DC, Denver, and Seattle.

Originally Posted - June 9, 2006

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Macallan and Boston

In tribute to my upcoming appearance on Boston radio tomorrow night (June 10th) at 11:59 PM (The Jordan Rich Show on WBZ 1030 am), I thought I'd take this chance to talk about Macallan Amber Liqueur.

Huh?

I know, I know, you're asking:

1. "What does Macallan Amber Liqueur have to do with Boston?"
2. "What IS Macallan Amber Liqueur?"
3. "Why are you on radio in Boston?"

Let's take those questions in no particular order...

In tribute to my upcoming appearance on Boston radio tomorrow night (June 10th) at 11:59 PM (The Jordan Rich Show on WBZ 1030 am), I thought I'd take this chance to talk about Macallan Amber Liqueur.

Huh?

I know, I know, you're asking:

1. "What does Macallan Amber Liqueur have to do with Boston?"
2. "What IS Macallan Amber Liqueur?"
3. "Why are you on radio in Boston?"

Let's take those questions in no particular order...

England's patron saint goes to America. Does good work there.

OK, OK. Enough with the Indian "whisky", politics and opinion.
Let's move on to another type of opinion - my opinions of St. George Single Malt Whiskey.

Even before trying this American single malt, I already had a good taste in my mouth about this product, and that good taste was the taste of the fantastic Hangar One Vodka. Both spirits are produced by St. George Spirits, based in Alameda, California.

I'll have to talk about Hangar One for a minute so you understand why my expectations were so high.

Hangar One "Straight Vodka" starts out life pretty much as a brandy - pot-distilled from viognier wine. Then they blend it with a column still produced wheat vodka. With a soft grapey-delicious nose, this is quite unlike any vodka you've likely tried. The addition of the viognier really does diminish the alcoholic edge one associates with neutral grain spirits. (And yes, I nose and taste vodka just like single malt - and try them at room temperature). I'm not sure if those subtle grape notes will hold up in a cocktail, but it made a fantastic wet martini.

St. George also makes Hangar One in several fruit-infused flavor variations - none of which I have had the pleasure of trying.

On to the single malt...

Animal Farm

All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.

- George Orwell, Animal Farm

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Irreverent, quirky, independent, are just three of the terms used to describe the eccentrically named whiskies Sheep Dip and Pig’s Nose. The terms apply equally well to the brands’ owner, drinks marketer Alex Nicol.

A former COO of Whyte and Mackay, Alex took on the two brands when he left the company in mid 2005. Alex says:

These brands are typical orphan brands discarded by large companies for being unworkable into International brands - and too quirky to succeed in their portfolio.

So Alex set up Spencerfield Spirit, a home for parent-less brands.

Sheep Dip – a blend of single malt whiskies - and Pig’s Nose – a blended scotch - are perfect for a small company such as ours, dedicated to providing a quality alternative to mainstream brands. It’s that simple”.

Alex has four rules for raising his orphan brands. “No 1, achieve the best possible product quality. No 2, avoid discounting. No 3, work only with partners who share your business philosophy”. And the fourth? “Have as much fun as you can doing it and try not to go bust”.

We scoop everyone. Again.

On May 7th, here on The Scotch Blog, Sam Simmons announced that Edrington would stop selling JMR whisky in the UK markets.

From May 10th's edition of  "The Herald":

Efforts to rejuvenate whisky are scotched

Meanwhile, JMR Easy Drinking Whisky Company, founded in 2003, has withdrawn its range of three blended malt whiskies - the Big Spicy One, The Smokey Peaty One and The Smooth Sweeter One - from the UK market after disappointing sales.

The company, backed by Edrington, had hoped to "demystify" the world of Scotch and make the sector more palatable to outsiders. Its three founders, brothers Jon and Mark Geary and master blender David "Robbo" Robertson, claimed they had "chucked out the Scotch whisky rule book" through their quirky and irreverent approach to marketing.

However, the company yesterday (TSB ed. - May 9th) confirmed it has thrown in the towel in the UK market. Founder director Mark Geary said it will instead be focusing on the US market.

Yeah, that's right. You heard it here first on May 7th:).

In the Company of Easy Drinkers: The JMR Eulogy

Today's guest writer, Sam Simmons first fell in love with the water of life 5 years ago in Edinburgh, Scotland where he ‘researched’ whisky as the poet laureate of the Edinburgh University Water of Life Society and later pursued further ‘research’ as president. He has hosted whisky tastings in many countries, for fun as well as fund-raising (Amnesty International), and continues to act as an amateur whisky educator and propagandist. He currently lives in London where he has worked for Sukhinder Singh and the Whisky Exchange, is desperately trying to finish a PhD on Ezra Pound, fascism, and modernist literary aesthetics, and records his Malt Missions as Dr. Whisky.

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In the Company of Easy Drinkers: The JMR Eulogy

When I lived in Ottawa working to earn my Masters degree, I spent one wild night downing glass after glass of Gibson’s Finest with a woman, who I can say without trepidation, was one of Ottawa’s finest. But other than that lovely occasion, my Masters had very little to do with whisky. It wasn’t until I pursued a doctorate in Scotland that whisky really grabbed a hold of me. Masters of drink (and brothers) Jon and Mark Geary, along with Master distiller David Robertson had created a product that was to play a large part in my years in Edinburgh as a Master of Arts, in pursuit of a Doctor of Philosophy.

Sadly, while I still write paragraph after paragraph, edit footnote after footnote, and work to spend more time in libraries than in pubs to finish this dissertation project as old as the Easy Drinking Whisky Company itself, Jon, Mark, and Robbo is calling it quits… at least in the UK.

Yes, you read it here first (just like Kevin’s coverage of the innuendo and rumours in the run-up to the announcement of David Robertson’s move to Whyte & Mackay). If there is one place on-line where it is safe to beat the official presses it is the Scotch Blog. Yeah, I could’ve done it on my blog, but, for starters, my format is a little dry for this venue.

But what if the styles were merged… Malt Mission, history and tasting impressions AS WELL AS straight news with blunt comment… What would it look like?