Tag: Speyside

Glenmorangie Milsean

Glenmorangie Milsean.  If there’s one thing you can say about the whisky scene right now, it’s never dull or boring. Each week there is a new release, or a new launch, or another event, or another tasting, or yet another whisky being sold for an outrageous price.   So, regardless of where you fit into the whisky audience, there’s always something to keep an eye out for.

In the rapid-fire and seemingly peak randomness of the above happenings, it’s nice to know that we can at least look forward to some annual constants.  Things like an annual whisky show.  (Whisky Show, Whisky Fair, Whisky Live, etc).   Things like a brand’s big annual celebration.  (Ardbeg Day).  And, for our tastebuds, things like an annual release – such as Glenmorangie’s annual release of their latest Private Edition offering.

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The three stages of your attitude to Glenfiddich: Like – Hate – Love

Catchy article title, eh? Not sure my former editor would approve of it – it’s hardly a flowing headline.  But there’s not really a more succinct way to say it.  I’ll elaborate:  It’s my opinion that whisky drinkers all go through three very distinct stages in their appreciation of Glenfiddich.   And, depending on what stage you’re up to, this tremendously impacts your attitude to Glenfiddich.   Curious?  Let’s look into this…

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The highs and lows of Macallan

Malt whisky drinkers around the world tend to fall into one of two camps:  Those that like Macallan and those that remember what it used to be like. So has the whisky changed? And why is Macallan so expensive these days?

Now before you leap to conclusions and dismiss this piece as a Macallan-bashing article, I can give you my golden promise that it’s not.   Stay with us…

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Paul John – Indian whisky gets serious

Paul John whisky ?  Well, I’ll come out and say it up front:  I’d not previously been a fan of Indian whisky, having tried numerous expressions of Amrut over the years.  Early experiences (2009) were very forgettable; several return visits between 2011 and 2013 left me wanting, and even when I tried some of the more recent releases of Amrut at The Whisky Show earlier this year, I struggled to get enthused.  But you cannot dismiss an entire country’s single malt production on the basis of one distillery.

So when the good folks at Paul John got in touch with me from India after their recent Australian visit and offered to send me their core range for critical analysis and review, I was happy to have my Indian whisky experiences challenged and changed.  And if you want to read the Executive Summary, here it is:  This is good whisky!

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Kininvie – The distillery emerges…

Like so many other aspects of the whiskysphere in recent years, there are entities or processes that have been around for a long time, but simply weren’t well known. The internet, combined with a booming market, have resulted in many industry secrets or hidden jewels coming to light.  Distilleries are one such example – if there wasn’t a commercial release available (or widely distributed) on the market, consumers simply didn’t know it existed.  Ailsa Bay, Inchgower, Allt-a-bhaine, etc, are all examples of distilleries that most whisky drinkers simply haven’t heard of, despite the fact they’ve been around for many years.   Kininvie is another example, although that’s now all changing, courtesy of its whiskies suddenly being thrust into the limelight.

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Mortlach distillery – the Beast beckons…

It was a long time ago now, but back in 1988, UDV (now Diageo) made the momentous and ground-breaking decision to launch the Classic Malts range. The launch of those six whiskies drew newfound attention to the world of single malts and helped propel the whisky boom we now find ourselves in.  Mortlach distillery was not one the original Classic Malts…

I often wonder about how the marketing team at the time set about choosing which distilleries would be featured in the Classic Malts range? Looking at the portfolio available to them, Glenkinchie for the Lowlands obviously chose itself, as did Talisker for the Islands.  But what about Speyside?  We know now that Cragganmore got the gig, which subsequently thrust that relatively small distillery into the limelight.  But how different might the whisky world be today, and the fortunes of one or two distilleries if they’d selected, for example, Dailuaine, Knockando, Mannochmore, or Glen Elgin?   Or Mortlach?

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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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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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Glendronach vs Glenfarclas vs Macallan

Glendronach versus Glenfarclas versus Macallan. Immediately, you’ve already chosen your winner. You’ve no doubt got your own favourite, and you’re probably even wondering how this could possibly even be a close race worth discussing!  Is there a rivalry between these three heavyweights?  Let’s dig a little deeper…

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The Ultimate Glenfarclas Tasting

Back in 2007, a very special whisky event was held in Sydney, Australia.  Held at Sydney’s iconic Claude’s restaurant, it was billed as “The Ultimate Ardbeg Dinner” and it featured an unbelievable line up of the rarest Ardbeg bottlings ever assembled, including the 1965.  That particular event had been preceded a year earlier by an incredible Macallan tasting (featuring the full ESC range, as well as rare bottlings from the 1980’s). And, only a short time prior to that, there was the unbelievable Springbank tasting, which featured the entire Millennium range of Springbanks.  These were the glory days of tasting and appreciating the uber rare, special, and expensive releases amongst Scotland’s elite single malt bottlings and distilleries.  In terms of the rarity of the whiskies at the Ultimate Ardbeg Dinner, many thought such an event could never be equalled.  We may finally have found a successor…

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