Whisky Posts & Articles

What whisky bloggers are doing wrong…

(or why Whisky Bloggers are annoying a lot of people right now)

So who was the first whisky blogger?  Was it before or after WordPress made this caper so easy?  Well, it was before.  A long time before.  Back in 1887, in fact.  For that is when an ambitious chap by the name of Alfred Barnard first approached a distillery and cheekily asked for a free sample so he could write about it.  One hundred and thirty years later, and it turns out several thousand wannabes are following suit.

Yes, I’m aware of the irony.  But bear with me…

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An evening with Laphroaig & John Campbell

It’s the bicentenary year for Laphroaig – no mean feat for a little distillery on the coast of Islay to churn out the world’s most “richly flavoured” whisky for 200 years! And that means some special events and ambassadorial work for the distillery team as they mark the occasion.

It was a treat for all Australians then, when the good folks at Beam Suntory elected to send John Campbell, Laphroaig’s Manager, to our shores for a promotional tour. On a two week trip that saw him involved with endless tastings, appearances, interviews and events – including the epic “The Great Whisky Rumble” (read all about that one here), John spent his last night of the trip in Sydney to conduct an intimate Laphroaig tasting at Grain, one of the city’s newest whisky bars. It was a ticketed event, and yours truly wasted no time in shelling out $85.79 to book a seat.

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The Great Whisky Rumble

Back in 2003, I hosted and presented my first “Whiskies of the World” tasting.  It was an educational affair; an introduction into the different whiskies being made around the world; and an opportunity to taste the different styles and flavours on offer.  More importantly, it was an opportunity for punters to learn how and why, for example, bourbon tasted different to Irish whiskey, and why Scotch and Japanese whiskies were reasonably similar.  And I threw in a Canadian whisky and a Tennessee whiskey for good measure.  (Don’t ask “What about an Australian whisky?” Lark’s whiskies were scarce, and Bakery Hill had only just launched its first ever release that same year).

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Wild Turkey and Russell’s Reserve

One of the problems with being heavily involved and associated with the Scotch whisky industry is that people assume you’re less inclined to entertain a glass of bourbon in your hand.  Far from it, I’ve long enjoyed a good bourbon.  And, whilst it doesn’t feature prominently on my CV, I have in fact worked as a brand ambassador for Jim Beam and hosted my fair share of bourbon or American whiskey appreciation nights and tasting events.

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The Glenlivet Founder’s Reserve

Before discussing what The Glenlivet Founder’s Reserve is all about, it’s important to understand some background:

In the good old days of looking at a whisky brand’s portfolio, it used to be an easy affair to identify and speak about the brand’s “flagship” expression. This was the main expression; its biggest seller; the one that was a constant in all markets and carried the brand. Each of the other expressions in the portfolio were usually older, rarer, and less-often seen.   If you can think back 15 years ago, it was an era where most brands had their ubiquitous 10yo or 12yo flagship expression, and then some brands had an 18yo or a 25yo to offer the connoisseurs some choice.

As the single malt market started to truly boom (and bloom) during 2000-2007, many brands’ portfolios started to widely diversify. Finishes or Extra Matured expressions became more prevalent; a wider and more populated range of age statements appeared; and in the last few years, many brands added one or more NAS expressions to the range. More recently, for some brands, the flagship expression you see may depend on what market you’re in.

Most of this activity is due to marketing and sales opportunities; and some of it is simply cask and stock management: Either dealing with what stocks are currently available, or taking steps to ensure that supply will meet demand in future years.

If you read enough whisky literature, opinions and noise, you’ll be aware that some brands are already having to make hard decisions to ensure supply keeps up with demand. Cutting various product lines or removing an expression from a particular market. Many whisky folks assume this is a new phenomenon, but no, it’s been happening for a while. For example, it was back in 2004/05 that Macallan discontinued its 15yo in order to keep stock back for its more lucrative (and popular) 18yo. More recently, we’re seeing an increasing number of NAS expressions being put forward and marketed, in an attempt to take pressure off the 10yo or 12yo aged statements.   Enter Glenlivet.

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Whisky Live, Sydney – 2015

As outlined in previous posts (e.g. here) the emerald city of Sydney is blessed  to have three major whisky expo shows pass through each year.  June 26/27 was time for Whisky Live to take centre stage and yours truly went along as a paying customer to the opening Friday night session.

Whisky Live has been running in Sydney since 2009 and it’s the same, original organisers still at the helm.  For reasons none other than inconvenient timing or simply being out of town when the show rolled around, it had been a number of years (four?) since I last attended Whisky Live, so I was keen to see how the current incarnation played out.

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Glenfiddich “The Original”

One of the ironies of having the world’s biggest selling single malt in your portfolio is that your flagship product is everywhere, and people sometimes don’t see the innovative things you do on the side.  Such is the burden of William Grant & Sons and their favourite child, Glenfiddich.  Whilst the ubiquitous 12yo sits proudly in nearly every bottle shop around the world, you sometimes overlook the numerous variations and other expressions of Glenfiddich that have been flying out of the warehouse at increasingly close intervals over the last few years.  For, if there is one word that you can associate with William Grant & Sons, the word is “pioneering”.  And, in a delicious twist of irony, they’ve turned that on its head with the release of a new expression that is, in fact, very much a look back to the past: Glenfiddich The Original.

The Glenfiddich portfolio

Glenfiddich did not invent single malt bottlings.  No, there were bottles of single malt being bought, sold, and traded on this planet long before 1963.  However, it was in 1963 that William Grant & Sons decided to do something radically different and market their single malt as a single malt.  They were the first distillery to stand up and say, “We think our whisky is pretty good and doesn’t need to be blended with other whiskies.  We think you’ll like it straight up, as is.”  Okay, we’re projecting and paraphrasing there, but the message is the same, because that’s more-or-less what happened in 1963 when WG&S launched their Glenfiddich Straight Malt.  The term straight was used because, in the context of a time when virtually all commercially-available whisky was blended, straight was an appropriate and understood term.  Later bottlings of Glenfiddich would use the term Pure Malt, pretty much right up until the term fell foul of the Scotch Whisky Association in 2009.

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The 1980’s heavy metal music guide to whisky

Whisky and heavy metal?  The late whisky writer, Michael Jackson, once compared a particular single malt to a car (e.g. “the Rolls-Royce of whisky”).  Others have since compared certain single malts to particular Grand Cru wines.   More recently, people have started writing tasting notes for whiskies and suggested various songs or bands to match and pair with the whisky.  So, whisky and music is now a thing, right?  Okay then, let’s take it one step further…

No one likes to admit it, but there was once a time when heavy metal music was actually commercially successful, and major record labels were falling over themselves trying to sign up hard rock acts.  The genre is lampooned today, and often labelled dismissively as hair metal or glam metal.  But, like me, you might be from that era when heavy metal artists were actually on top of all the charts and hair metal bands ruled the airwaves.  But has anyone ever compared whisky and heavy metal artists? Or matched the two together?  Perhaps now is the time.  Get out the hair gel, put on your spandex, and take yourself back to the 1980’s…  Continue reading “The 1980’s heavy metal music guide to whisky”

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Ardbeg Day, 2015

Ardbeg Day continues to grow and build momentum each year, and on a truly global scale.  It is now one of the highlights of the whisky calendar, and the main events that get held around the planet are spectacular occasions…

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The Whisky Show, Sydney, 2015

Sydney is spoiled for choice with a number of whisky expo-style shows running through town each year and May 15-16 saw The Whisky Show return to the Stamford Plaza hotel at Mascot to strut its stuff.

The Whisky Show offered three sessions; one on the Friday evening, and then 12noon-4.00pm and 5.00pm-9.00pm on the Saturday.  Of course, the Saturday sessions coincided with World Whisky Day, so it was a fine opportunity to celebrate the occasion.

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