We’ve all done things (or not done things) that we may have regretted. I’ve done plenty of stupid things, but who hasn’t? Thankfully the fact you are reading this now means we are both here to tell the tale. Though by the end of the sample I’m leaving to sit, I’m not 100% sure whether this will be my final regret.
I’m not going to give up, as this was one of the more expensive of the Silent Season miniatures, and had a good seal coupled with a decent fill level. The other mini I have wasn’t so good with the fill level so there was no point taking the chance of it being flat and unreviewable. How I came to regret this choice.
I’d love to fill you with a story about this distillery, but there is really not a lot to tell you about it, but this will come with a story after a wee bit of tasting.
Region – Lowland Age – 5 y.oStrength – 40%Colour – Old Gold (0.6) Cask Type – not statedColouring – not statedChill Filtered – not statedNose – needs to sit. Sewage, possibly camomile and liquorice. But mostly sewage. Or maybe tripe. Palate –Petrol. Finish – Down the sink
The only green container this should have been in would have been a fuel jerry can. Maybe it had been.
I’m gutted. I have drunk some awful whiskies in my time, but this one is up there. It was worth quite a bit as a collectible bottle as well and I should have kept it sealed. I don’t think it was actually petrol, as it didn’t smell like it, but it was revolting. Abort! Abort! Abort! It was oily in my mouth and it took a few toffees afterwards to get rid of the highly unpleasant taste in my mouth.
As this was an Italian import bottle, and with a taste very unlike whisky, the possibility of this being a fake entered my head. The seal looked good but a very good fill level which you don’t tend to see on these miniatures. And after only one sip, and after eating sweeties, I can still taste it, something strikes me as odd. Even at bed time when I was cleaning my teeth and despite having a cleansing nip, I still had a taste of the liquid in my mouth, despite only taking a sip. If that doesn’t set off alarm bells, what would?
I would have never really thought of this being a fake, but I’d let my guard down, and for those of you who may be drinking old samples, let this be a warning to you that if you have a perfect mini of an old and rare sample, then proceed with caution. All that glitters isn’t gold. It’s very easy to become complacent after many years purchasing at auction and only having successes. Provided that they haven’t evaporated too much, even the minis with low fill levels have provided an interesting drink, if not the way the bottlers intended it to be.
The seal was good on this bottle, and the cap didn’t look out of place – if it looks new or the seal looks suspicious, walk away. But I never even thought about those things until my experience of the liquid. Doing it retrospectively could have given me very different results, but there were other warning signs that should have stopped me even sipping it. The smell alone should have been the red stop light.
Seal intact.
I often look at tasting notes after I buy a dram to see what I can expect and these are not common for Glen Flagler due to the rarity and the cost of the whisky nowadays. I had expected grassy notes, and while this did definitely smell vegetal in the extreme, the only grassy notes I got would have been similar to those from a lawnmower collection bin after accidentally running over a fresh dog turd. They say you can’t recognise a smell or taste you haven’t had before and this was one experience I wasn’t planning on ever smelling again. Word to the wise – strim long grass before mowing it. If nothing else, strimmers are easier to clean, definitely when you find a dog egg.
Before labelling this as 100% fake, I looked for any other signs and how the bottle had been treated in my ownership. It had always been tightly sealed. It had always been upright. Even in packing my bag to take to Poland, I had orientated the samples so the only time they would in theory have been horizontal is when my bag was being carried on and off the train. So, limited contact with the waxed seal. Of course, before I bought it, the last owner could have kept it on its side, but in my experience this usually gives a cardboard sort of taste to the spirit, sometimes taking away the taste of the whisky, but never making it foul. Even the waxed seal and cap looked in good condition, but maybe too good for its age; it’s something that just can’t be verified, but in whisky I feel that things like this if you suspect, then you are perhaps right.
What’s worrying me was the mouthfeel. Very very oily or syrupy. Almost like oil itself. Or glycerine. because it was in my mouth for so little time I never fully analysed it. When you have a taste like that in your mouth for so little a moment, there has to be something not quite right about it. As one of my social media followers on BlueSky commented “it could have been worse. It could have been a full sized bottle.”
A lesson learnt that not all whisky is good and not all old bottles can be trusted. And you can all know that while I may have done some stupid things in the past, at least I still have a sense of self preservation.
People seem to chase after this dram due to its rarity but to be honest, if this isn’t a fake and that was the real taste, then I don’t give it much more than I did the Passport blended whisky. And that was awful. By clicking on this link you’ll see what I thought of that. Glen Flagler was never meant to be a market leader, it was simply a distillery at the Inver House complex in Airdrie to supply malts for its blends. It had a relatively short existence of 20 years, starting in 1965 and ending in 1985. It was used in Hankey Bannister, a blend that I’ve never seen in the shops. The complex was also home to a second single malt, Killyloch, which is even rarer to find. Garnheath grain distillery completed the trio within the same site.
As for Glen Flagler? Don’t look for it on a map as like Glentauchers it doesn’t exist, although there is a Tauchers Wood. The name Flagler comes from a street in West Palm Beach where the American founder of Inver House had a residence.
The brand has been rejuvenated as a blended whisky and there is a single malt still available but whether this is left over stock or a sourced malt, I don’t know. What I do know is I’d rather drink Bells than try anything with that moniker again.
Taste Review #158 – Inchgower MMD Fruity and Sweet
I’ve had a sedentary fortnight before I wrote this blog. You’ve probably noticed a recent upturn in my output and it’s all tied to the fact that I’ve been on a wee holiday to Poland, where my day-to-day life can be put on hold and time was spent drinking whisky and trying to write about it. I’ve been spoilt rotten by my mother-in-law and this has resulted in me needing to forego any treats when I got back home. Hopefully my wife doesn’t read this and keeps giving me the good stuff, due to me having a resolve with the breaking strain of a blade of grass when it comes to dietary matters.
But it hasn’t all been pierogi, biscuits, bigos and traditional bimber. I’ve been up to something else that I enjoy doing but don’t get a lot of time to do, and that is reading a book. That’s the one thing this age of electronic wonder has stolen from me, as it is so much easier to pick up a phone or tablet for entertainment rather than read a hard copy of some literature. I tend to read non-fiction, and often nowadays there’s a personal preference leaning towards audio books, something I can listen to in the car, which makes wasted time getting to places that little bit more enjoyable and often educational. But nowadays my time in the car for edifying entertainment is further curtailed by my daughter who requests to listen to “angry music”, a carefully curated playlist of rock which includes Slipknot, Rammstein, Tool, System of a Down and the Deftones. Perhaps the Rockabye baby downloads worked more subliminally than I ever imagined.
Coffee and Cake. Polish style. Consumed when writing this. Need to keep my energy up!
Imagination is something crucial to reading a book. Your brain is processing words to construct an image as described on the page, forming a satisfying mental picture that can put you almost inside the story. The better the writing is, the fuller and more immersive that cranium based scene will be. This was the case with my latest book, which was unsurprisingly about a whisky topic. I’m not really into book reviews, given my recent poor track record in whisky reviewing but I feel this one should make a mention.
There are a few books that mention people’s experiences while part of the whisky industry but the book ‘Wort, Worms and Washbacks’ by John Macdougall came onto my radar and the fact it relates to some distilleries I have either visited or pass regularly was enough to hook my attention. Starting in the early 1960’s, it tells the story of John’s introduction into distillery management through a DCL training scheme, rather than rising through the ranks. Starting at Aultmore, John moved around over 30 years being sent to Dailuaine next, with short stints at Imperial, Balmenach, Banff and Knockdhu, then taking the chance at the managers position at Laphroaig. From there he moves to Tormore, down to Glasgow to work in the office for Long John, before finally ending up at Springbank, where the book (but not his career) comes to a conclusion.
I don’t want to say too much about the book, as I don’t want to spoil it for you, but there are plenty of tales such as being surprised at photo shoot at Dailuaine as it turned out to be a shoot for a French girly mag, sacking of thieving warehouse staff at Imperial, the hi-jinks on Islay to the drudge of office life away from the hands on work then back to rejuvenating Springbank. What makes this book for me is the unassuming writing style; for it quickly fills your minds eye that you could be there in another world, one which we are maybe partially familiar with through our own experiences or knowledge of that era and industry. A kaleidoscope of imagination results in going back to the 1960’s even though I wasn’t born yet. Then my own experiences kick in, and that I do remember playing on the old railway trackbed that used to feed Aultmore in the early to mid 80’s, as well as playing around the yard whilst my dad visited colleagues in a house adjacent to the distillery. I’ve visited Dailuaine, I’ve driven through Carron to pass the Imperial distillery. I regularly pass Tormore and know the area well, so the picture John is trying to paint with his words becomes so much more vivid. Also, I grew up in the North East of Scotland, so am very familiar with the nature of people who are incidental to his story. It gels well for this blogger who yearns a bit too much for a bygone era that often belies his actual age.
The old Dailuaine Locomotive Shed, where the Puggie engine used to be kept. The same engine mentioned in the book used as part of a French girlie magazine photoshoot now sits outside Aberfeldy Distillery.
The book was really hard to put down, and I managed to read it over the course of three days. I was totally immersed in an age of whisky days gone by and it was magnificent. The book will be a brilliant source of anecdotes for the future, so it has been a worthwhile read. I’m sure there will be a flurry of activity on Amazon or eBay trying to source this book after they’ve read my piece. It is still available, both new and second hand on both sites.
If there is one final point to make about this book that I feel is relevant to make here, is that in the era John writes about, whisky was an industry but different to how we know it now. Back then it was so much more, when distilleries were actual communities. There would have been a lot more staff employed. Malt men, Brewers, Still men, Coopers, Warehouse men, Customs and Excise officers, as well as management. Many communities grew up around distilleries as before their arrival, there is likely not much was there before. A distillery closure thus would have had catastrophic consequences for these communities. Nowadays, due to automation, a distillery can be ran by one or two people a shift; the only hand crafted part of it will be the blender, usually based in the central belt of Scotland where incidently where much of Scotch whisky is stored. So much for your carefully crafted Speyside which was tankered straight from the distillery, casked, matured and blended near to Alloa. The veneration of a distillery then becomes misplaced as its provenance isn’t what you believe it to be from the label, and we end up falsely romanticising an industrial mass production process.
Mind you, I’ve long said that Speyside is simply a well spaced out and scenic industrial estate. It’s now a highly developed process that now largely has long dispensed of the era similar to that described in John’s book. If you want an entertaining that looks back to days long gone, I thoroughly recommend this book.
Keeping it simple
As much as I like telling a story about a distillery, I’m going to give an in depth overview a miss this time, as there isn’t a lot to tell about Inchgower, having being founded in 1871. By 1936, its then owners fell bankrupt, and fearful of a loss of employment in the area, the Buckie Town council bought it to keep it operating, this keeping all those people listed a couple of paragraphs above in work. This was to become the only distillery in Scotland to be owned by a local authority By 1938, Arthur Bell bought the distillery, then through the various purchases and acquisitions became part of Diageo.
The propriety bottling from this distillery is the 14 year old Flora and Fauna, and to date this is usually easily available at specialist retailers and online. Inchgower appears occasionally in the Diageo special releases line up but that’s as far as official bottlings go. The Flora and Fauna release is not the greatest whisky, and was only released as a way of allowing people to sample from each one of United Distillers distilleries not covered by the Classic Malts. However it is not a bad distillery, but for best results you need to try independent bottlings.
Inchgower 14 Flora & Fauna
I’ve got great respect for Murray McDavid (MMD) as an independent bottler. I don’t think I’ve ever had a bad dram from them. They are based at Coleburn Distillery between Elgin and Rothes, and we’ll be hearing more about them in the future as part of my Silent Season whiskies. I managed to get a sample of Inchgower 5 which MMD bottled as their Spirit Of Speyside bottling in 2022. Despite its young age, it was banging. See my review here. Murray McDavid Inchgower 5These bottles aren’t expensive, around £55-£65 a pop, but decent high strength whisky for the price.
What’s even better value is the NAS Cask Craft range. This totally ignores age statements and is typically bottled around 44%. This only lists the finishing cask type and the general flavour profile. They are on sale in the UK at around £35 and to my mind represents great value for money for the quality given. For this Inchgower, it has been labelled Fruity and Sweet. Let’s have a look and see what it’s all about.
Inchgower Cask Craft, Fruity and Sweet
Region – Speyside Age – NAS Strength – 44.5%Colour – Old Gold (0.6) Cask Type – Madeira Barrique Colouring – NoChill Filtered – Not stated Nose – Cream, malt, grapes, strawberries lemon, green apples, blueberries, raisins, oak. Palate – malt, grapes, apple, heather honey, pecan nut, tannic, pastry notes. Finish – long, sweet, lingering, strawberries, peppery tannins mingle with a creamy afterglow.
Another success in my opinion from the MMD warehouse. Not the most complex but interesting enough and full of enough flavour to make you want more. It shows that whisky doesn’t always need to be at cask strength and annihilating the lining of your throat. It speaks of a time when whisky was bottled at lower a.b.v, typically 40% but every bit as tasty. I suspect that many malts back in the day weren’t chill filtered as that didn’t really take off until the 1970’s, although DCL did start chill filtration in 1930’s. Just as well I enjoy seeking out those older drams of a bygone era!
At the time of writing, the Inchgower Fruity and Sweet was still available at retail, costing around £33. I’d certainly recommend giving it a go if you see it.
Thanks to Mick (Drammstein on BlueSky) for the great dram swap.
Obviously I’m a bit late with this but given how long it’s been since I last wrote a blog, you can see some things won’t have changed, certainly not for the better.
I don’t subscribe to all this rubbish about celebrating the changes you hope will happen on the earth’s next journey around the sun. Yes, the year may well have changed, but I’m still mulling over the potentially pointless whisky questions so that you don’t have to. When many amongst us have made our end of year lists of great things that happened to them, best albums listened to, best whiskies drunk etc. I find myself still thinking over a discussion that I had with Bob around the time of last year’s National Whisky Festival in Aberdeen.
“Does whisky have a class?”
There are some class whiskies, but I’m thinking something more in line with social class. It’s something that is still reveberating around my head over seven months later. It’s a somewhat awkward question to ask, because it all depends on your point of view and other matters. This has been brought to the fore through an uncomfortable experience last year on social media, of which I didn’t come out of it smelling entirely of roses but neither did the other party. I’ll cut the long story short, but basically I was getting a bit cheesed off by constantly seeing someone boasting about high purchase prices and big age statements. While I wasn’t the only one feeling this way, at least the others ignored it. But I often have a misguided socialist streak.
The straw that broke the camels back.
So, in what became perhaps not one of my finest moments, I delivered what I considered a truth bomb. While in my opinion it may have been true, it doesn’t always make it a good idea to share. Never mind, I’ll worry about that later… It’s a pity as I once had a reasonable online chat with the guy who said we all have different budgets. It’s a very well made point and there is no denying it. However, it’s a different matter when you’re showing off bottles of several hundred pounds almost daily, when the majority are only buying whisky sub-£100.
Subtle like bombs.
Yeah, well. You get the picture. I could have unfollowed earlier but subtle hints were getting me nowhere and after all said and done, it’s none of my business what people spend their money on. But it says a lot about the person who is informing others how much a whisky was that they missed out on. Plus, I’m uncomfortably ignoring what my outburst says about me.
I really don’t know why they did it. I don’t care any more and it was probably never that important. But some people want to look like Big Jock at the clubhouse.
This seems vaguely familiar.
While I don’t regret making that point, it awakened an offline discussion about whisky and how we perceive it, amongst fellow social media users and other friends. I have already explored this concept on two other blogs, one of which was a whisky eulogy to my best friend, and the other explored how we feel about brands and relative value. These links are worth reading again to put things into context if you don’t mind me saying so. These issues continually circle around my head as people venerate a drink perhaps a bit more than they should. Therefore it’s natural to ask my friend Bob what he thought.
“Does whisky have a (social) class?”
Bob, for those of you who don’t know him or haven’t heard of him, has a strong socialist streak. This could have been a red(!) rag to a bull if you can pardon the pun, but Bob has come out with some very reasonable responses. Ultimately he said yes, whisky does have a class and I’m of the opinion that I agree with him. I also believe that this situation is wrong and ultimately false. What follows are my thoughts and it would be interesting to find out if any of this strikes a chord with you, or if you can change my mind.
Bob photographed in a thoughtful mood. Actually, it’s not Bob, but full points go to those who know who it is.
How we see whisky and how we would like to see ourselves
Class is all about perception. It just isn’t only about how you see yourself, but how you want other people to see you. This is borne out of the fact that while we believe it is only the rich that may be class-aware, there are many people of means who are completely down to earth and you’d have no idea of their background or the size of their bank account. It would be nice to imagine that the social class system most demonstrably shown by the British empire has to all intents and purposes died, but human nature isn’t like that. There’s always an aspect that somebody wants to be appearing to do a little better than others. Sadly, human nature is never going to change, but that’s a good thing for marketeers, as they want to play on the aspirational aspects of their target market.
Whisky in the media has been and continues to be marketed on aspirations of the target audience. Different cultures may play it slightly differently but Bob reminded me of this clip from the film “Lost In Translation” starring Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson. Bill plays the role of Bob Harris, a fading American movie star who is having a mid life crisis during a trip to Tokyo to film an advert for Suntory whisky. Bob gave me a link to the actual scene. It’s better if you switch on the subtitles for this as you will get the Japanese translation, and will thus make what I will say next have more sense.
You can see how that the producer is trying to set the scene; famous American movie star, dressed in a fine suit, country house background. The scene is designed to radiate success and opulence. The director is trying to get Bob to say something similar to in style to the classic film Casablanca, to encourage potential drinkers that this is a suave drink and you will look cool and successful if you drink it slowly with an air of sophistication similar to Humphrey Bogart who played the bar tender Rick Blaine in the film.
Suave and sophisticated? Or synthetic and suffocating? What does our choices really say? *Macallan optional
Unfortunately when we drink whisky we won’t be teleported to a country house and be the sudden instruments of desire, unless we own one and are. (Chance would be a fine thing!).But many feel they identify with a different class when they are seen to be buying this or that brand, age statement or high cost whisky. I’ve been under no illusion that this is nothing other than a marketing construct to play on our insecurities and aspirations. Why do we need to prove what we have, how old it is or how expensive it was? And while I have discussed prices on my Facebook page or blog, this is solely to pass on information that I’ve been asked from followers and passing information between enthusiasts. And this is important, as the secondary bottle market is constantly moving.
It goes without saying that the whisky market has changed with the end of Covid, and the endless buying of what is marketed as “special whisky” doesn’t resonate the same with many whisky enthusiasts any longer. In my estimation, sometimes showing extravagant bottles or those with extravagant prices shows that perhaps you aren’t in touch with the market or are paying for over priced whisky at retail. Gone are the days when you’d have to compete with flippers for an inaugural release. These are almost ten a penny nowadays. Many special releases are currently selling for well under their release price, or hovering just above it, even Macallan. It’s my opinion that the market has been oversaturated, and the market is full of special whiskies that in my opinion really aren’t that special. Let me explain, it isn’t that hard and is very simple.
Since we’ve mentioned Macallan, let me use them as an example, although this can be levelled at more than one distillery. Macallan has in my opinion become less of a whisky but more a brand. Like it or lump it, the whisky is now more of a lifestyle aspirational brand. I remember the days even before they built their new distillery that you could drive in, visit the shop, make some purchases, look at the display. No more. You need an appointment to get in – everything has been made to be exclusive, to make you feel that you are that little bit better than everybody else. It makes you feel if you buy one of their products, that you have got something better than anybody else can get.
Designed for the über-wealthy? Made by the common person.
And now here comes my point – see that bottle of Macallan that costs several thousand pounds? It was made with exactly the same equipment as the bottles that sit on the shelves of the supermarket. When that new make was produced and put into casks, nobody knew whether or not it was going to be sold for less than £100 some 12 years later, or put into a sherry seasoned cask for 6 years longer and sold for more than three times the price. Does that extra 6 years and a sherry cask really make that much difference to the cost? No, it doesn’t. Whisky can justifiably cost more in my opinion when it is truly rare, not just because a brand tells you it is rare. The Emperor’s new clothes indeed.
And just to put the icing on the cake, if you think that Macallan have the highest standards, then think again. It is all computer controlled. There is absolutely no more mastery in the new make production than there is when your car was built by robot. Indeed an industry insider was telling me that while the operators know how to control the system, if there is a fault, I’d be surprised if they can do any more than point to where a malfunctioning component is on their SCADA screen. They’ve no hope of actually finding it in the maze of pipework that the distillery contains, as that’s left to the maintenance personnel. If you want a genuine hand crafted whisky where people know exactly how things are done, and everything is manual, look to your smaller and newer distilleries.
The other thing that I think is relevant in why whisky shouldn’t have a class is that it is a product where it is solely made by ordinary, down to earth, human beings. To the majority of whisky workers I have spoken to, while they will have pride in their product, to them it’s just whisky. While I have met many who don’t even like the spirit, for the rest it is just a drink. They can appreciate that some whiskies will be more special than others, but as they have created it, I think its right that it is them that take the most kudos from it. Not some twonk who is going to pay over the odds for something that isn’t really that special.
The best quotes for me come from the industry themselves, and all of these people will be well known. When thinking on if older whisky or expensive whisky is better,
Its quite a controversial subject, this whole idea that the older a whisky is, the better it is, and I’m a passionate believer that almost the opposite is the case. From a very personal perspective, whether I’m drinking Ardbeg or Glenmorangie or Balvenie or Mortlach or Springbank or Highland Park or any of these whiskies which I enjoy, I tend to prefer them between the ages of 10 and 18. Because I think most distilleries hit their sweet spot in that range. Now the older a whisky gets, the rarer it is going to be… Firstly most of it will have been bottled at 10, 12 or 18 years old, so there’s simply less of a pool to choose from, and you’ve lost more by evaporative loss… so by its very nature it’s going to be much rarer, and really thats what you’re paying for in a very old whisky, is the scarcity value, the rarity value. But you need to bear in mind a 50 year old whisky is going to have taken up so much flavour from the wood. It might be woody, it might be dry, it might be bitter. So I would say think very, very carefully before you decided to shell out £5000 or £10,000 for a bottle.
Dr Bill Lumsden – Director of Distilling & Whisky Creation, Glenmorangie Company.
Age isn’t everything, I think there is too much emphasis on the age of whisky. Yes, it will tell you how long it has been in the cask, and that will give you an indication of what it’s complexity may be, but it could have been in tired, old casks for 30 years and become over-aged. And you could have an 8 year old which is every bit as good, if not better because its been in better quality casks
Graham Eunson – Distillery Operations Director (Executive) at Tomatin Distillery.
Er, is it worth it? If I had £100,000, would I buy a bottle of whisky? I would not buy a bottle of whisky for £100,000. No, I would by many hundreds of cases of bottles of whiskies for the same amount of money.
Robbie Hughes – Glengoyne Distillery Manager
We’re a nation that can laugh at ourselves. Hey, it’s just a drink, but its a very, very special drink that’s unique to us.
Jim McEwan
I normally drink those with the people I love. I want to hear what they’ve got to say. You know, a celebration, an anniversary… you bring in a whisky. So quite often I will in fact serve a very aged whisky over a special occasion.
Richard Paterson – Whyte & Mackay
These quotes were taken from the film Scotch – The Golden Dram.
This sums up exactly how I feel. Whisky should be classless. It is just a drink. There is nothing wrong with drinking old or expensive whisky, given the caveats listed in the quotes above. Indeed, a Strathmill 33 I had recently was so tannic it was effectively to my mind undrinkable, so there is a verifiable truth in the words of Graham Eunson. We seem to have built a scene which celebrates itself, which distillers aren’t going to argue with as long as we keep buying. On the other hand I suspect they think we are all nuts.
I’ve started to move away from the communities that seem to place this drink up on a pedestal, as I’ve come to believe we’re often over-elevating its importance. And yes, while it is a hobby to many, including myself, we have to keep grounded and see it for what it is. It’s great when fellow enthusiasts get together and swap notes and experiences. It’s even better when we can share in person. I know from my time on Twitter before Elon took over and turned it into an online Der Stürmer, that I have met many very genuine, interesting and caring people. I am interested in what they have to say, to hear their experiences. Similarly on Twitter / X before I quit, I also knew and communicated with people who had experience of
Losing their jobs
Suffered relationship breakdown
Suffered seious and long term illness
Have had financial problems
Have had to become carers to a spouse or very ill child.
So, it’s important to know which way the wind is blowing in your online community. Even the majority of people that I was involved with would think twice about spending more than £100 on a whisky. And why should you? There are plenty of alternatives that are tasty and don’t cost more than £50. Whisky is over priced as it is, but by overpaying for it continuously gives the manufacturers the green light to keep raising the prices.
Of course there’s nothing wrong with buying expensive whisky, if you can afford it. Sometimes the price tag is justified.
Or you just want it.
You deserve it.
Add to cart.
But perhaps being so public about it on social media, when you rarely show open bottles says more about you than it does the whisky. It certainly may form a different perception in others who may well think that it does indeed make you a prick.
Jack Daniels Single Malt
Now that I have got my angst out, I’d be interested to hear what you think. Am I right or am I wrong? Either way, its just a drink, so get drinking. And this moves me nicely on to a drink that isn’t mass marketed as such just yet, but comes from a mass production facility where there are absolutely no class issues. Indeed, this actually may put you at the Jarvis Cocker end of the scale when thinking about the song Common People. This sample was supplied by a former work colleague, Doug Hyem. Doug does like a Jack Daniels on occasion, and generously supplied me with 2 x 50ml samples.
It can’t be a secret that I’m not the most prolific drinker of American whiskey. There’s not that I find anything wrong with it, but I’m surrounded with so many indigenous options I tend to rarely look outside Scotland. But when offered to try something different, it makes sense to try at least once.
Region – American Age – NAS Strength – 45% Colour – Russet (1.4) Cask Type – Highly Charred Virgin American Oak, finished in Oloroso. Colouring – Not Stated Chill Filtered – Not Stated.
Nose – A sweet, corn aroma to begin with, quite Bourbon-esque. Stewed bananas, maple syrup, polished wood, milk chocolate.
Palate – Gentle, sweet, cherry cola, heavy and oily. Pleasant mouthfeel. Malted biscuits, chocolate. Red fruit and a hint of raisin.
Finish – Short and drying. Oily. A burst of black cherries, double cream and strawberries. Banana loaf.
I know there are a lot of whisky snobs out there that would turn their noses up at this, but I found this dram very easy to drink – indeed easier than a normal Jack Daniels. There are some strong notes of the Jack Daniels DNA in there, predominately the cherries. Perhaps they are using heavily charred oak casks as well for their malt whisky.
Regardless, when we assess the whisky that we are drinking , we may try to see how it makes us feel. This didn’t make me feel like trailer trash, or like I wanted to place a few more sofas out on my front lawn, nor shoot a 12 guage at critturs or roadsigns. I didn’t feel elevated to a place of superiority, where my malt whiskey was better than others. It gave me a nice, easy sipper while watching TV without having to think too much about it. While this is not normally my cup of tea, and I certainly won’t be rushing out to buy it, as I believe it is only travel retail at the moment. Of course, MoM probably stock it. But I will probably pick one up if I see it on my regular trips through the airports.
Take care of yourselves and remember. It’s only a drink and meant to be drunk.
You couldn’t get a more apt quote to start this blog as plans definitely went out the window. But this world class procrastinator was glad that events took a turn to instruct him in what Silent Season should properly start off with. I’m often fond of quoting a John Lennon lyric from the 1980 song Beautiful Boy (Darling Child) which says “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.” And that is also very apt in this situation, for thanks to a road accident, my plans went agley, but serendipitously gave me inspiration for the start of this blog.
It was Boxing Day in 2023 that my day went south in more ways in one. My wife needed a lift to Glasgow airport, but the aforementioned accident had closed the A9 at Bruar, the home of retail which requires another mortgage to purchase anything there; the Harrods of the Highlands. It’s also where people heading towards pensionable age or beyond seem to choose to have their road accidents despite that A9 junction being wide open for visibility. Perhaps they are still in a daze after having to sell a kidney for some tea and scones. Living in upper Speyside means there are limited options for going south; one of them requires passing two ski centres, which given we had snow in Speyside was not an attractive idea. I had to bite the bullet and drive south on the A82, a road that I had not driven much on once past Fort William. It was a tense drive with the roads still slippery but I can tell you Glencoe looks magnificent and eerie in the bright moonlight.
After a successful journey, it came to mind that I’d passed or would pass a few whisky sites. Fort William had the Ben Nevis Distillery and the remains of Glenlochy distillery, both visible from the A82. Tyndrum has the Green Welly Stop. The return journey via the A9 would yield Tullibardine and Dalwhinnie distilleries and the site of the former Dewars site in Perth at the Inveralmond roundabout. Scotland is just littered with whisky sites. But it wasn’t until I retraced my route on Google Maps the next day that I discovered that on the A82 (Great Western Road section) that I had been close to Auchentoshan, and within a literal stones throw of the site of the former Littlemill distillery. Life indeed had plans different to my own indecision; therefore the first proper tasting of Silent Season* would be Littlemill. After all, it was the first in more than one way.
The history
You will often see some nonsense written about Glenturret being the oldest distillery, but that’s not strictly true, as the present distillery isn’t on the site of the original one, nor was the original one licensed. It’s a tenuous step to swallow that one. Or you could believe what one of the co-editors of the now rudderless Malt Blog once told me that Glenlivet was the first licensed distillery. Perhaps it was after the 1823 Excise Act, but I’m sure Glenturret would have a legitimate claim against that claim being the first licensed distillery as would Bowmore and Strathisla. It was neither of those three, the winner being Littlemill.
Aerial picture of Bowling, showing the shipyard, distillery, railway station and Great Western Road (A82)
In 1750, Archibald Buchanan bought the Auchentorlie estate, which was on the banks of the River Clyde. Along with the purchase came a brewery known as Littlemill. By 1772, the Littlemill distillery had been established. According to the Littlemill website, accommodation for the excise officers was built next door, so the relevant duties could be calculated, as was the law. The distillery went through a handful of owners, and in 1823, Mrs Jane MacGregor became the first female licensee after the new Excise Act that year. It wasn’t until the Hay family arrived in 1857 that a period of stability started for the distillery. In 1875, the distillery was rebuilt, remaining in Hay family hands until 1913 when it was sold to Yoker Distillery company, based to the east up the River Clyde. They ran the distillery until 1929, when it temporarily closed.
The start of the modern era came for Littlemill and also American ownership in 1931 when Douglas Thomas buys and reopens the distillery. Thomas was an innovator often forgotten in Scots whisky history. He stopped the practice of triple distillation at Littlemill, something that continues at nearby Auchentoshan, and in the 1950’s started using hybrid stills with pot still bodies and rectifying heads. These weren’t Lomond stills, as they weren’t invented until the 1950’s, but by being able to control reflux, different spirit characters could be created. Also installed by Thomas was a new malting facility on the north side of the distillery, with the introduction of Saladin malting equipment, which enabled a rise in production capacity.
In 1959, Chicago based Barton Brands bought a share in Littlemill Distillery Co. and it was this injection of capital that allowed the Loch Lomond Distillery to be built in 1965. Innovation here continues, with pot stills, column stills and the hybrid straight necked still design first used at Littlemill.
Still knowledge
It is worth pointing out that while we are discussing the straight necked still, that these are technically similar to a Lomond still, but in practice are very different. A Lomond still has only 2 or 3 plates in the neck, and are moveable, whereas in a straight necked still they are fixed. In the straight necked still, the wash still only has one plate and the spirit still has 17. The Lomond still has a short and wide neck whereas the straight necked still is tall and thin. Lastly, the straight neck still has a head cooler, which sprays water onto the neck to change the rate of reflux. A similar cooling system is in use at Fettercairn and Dalmore distilleries on their pot stills.
Straight necked still at Loch Lomond Distillery (via Michael Henry)
The Lomond Still was invented in 1955 by Alistair Cunningham of Hiram Walker. It was first used at Inverleven distillery and also at Scapa, Glenburgie, and Miltonduff. Glenburgie Lomond Whisky was known as Glencraig, Miltonduff as Mosstowie. Scapa’s Lomond still is currently the only one left in use for whisky production, being used as a wash still. Bruichladdich have a modified one from Inverleven used to distill The Botonist gin. The name Lomond came from the fact Inverleven distillery was close to Loch Lomond, and not because of the Loch Lomond distillery which wasn’t to exist for another 9 years.
Back to Littlemill
Littlemill despite its age and innovation was relegated to a third class malt in the 1950’s by DCL which may have also reduced demand. It didn’t stop Barton Brands taking over Littlemill entirely in 1971. It kept producing up until 1984 when Littlemill too became a victim to the whisky loch and fell silent until 1989. In 1987 the distillery transferred ownership to Gibson International, which reopened the distillery between 1989 and 1994, and later that year Gibson International was liquidated. The distillery was sold to Glen Caterine Bonded Warehouse, owned by the Bulloch family, and by now also the owners of Loch Lomond distillery. However it was never to distill again, and the distillery was partially demolished, starting in 1996.
For those of you with strong stomachs, there’s a video on YouTube that shows the demolition of Littlemill, starting in Sept 96. Link below
The portion that was demolished was to the north of the A814 (Dumbarton Road) that bisected the site. Looking at Google Maps and Street view, this shows the area as not being built on up until June 2023. The site between the road and the Clyde had intact buildings until the 4th September 2004 when arsonists started a fire that destroyed the remaining buildings. The site was cleared and the site sold for a housing development.
The house that was standing beside the distillery is often referred to as the managers house or the excise man’s house. Whatever it was, it was still standing in a ruinous state up to 2022, with the roof collapsed in, and any hope of restoration all gone. By 22nd Dec 2022, the Buildings At Risk register state that an application to have the building demolished, thus removing the last trace of Littlemill distillery.
Littlemill distillery south site, some time after 2004 fire, looking SW (Barrie Williams)Remains of what is likely to be a kiln (Barrie Williams)Remains of what is likely to have been the managers house, or the excise mans house. (Barrie Williams)North Site, all cleared (Barrie Williams)South site showing western malt kiln prior to 2004 fire (whiskycyclist / Martyn Jenkins)South site July 2004 (whiskycyclist / Martyn Jenkins)South site after 2004 fire (whiskycyclist / Martyn Jenkins)
Well, you can’t just so easily erase a distillery with a fire. When the owners of Loch Lomond took over Littlemill, they also acquired the remaining stock. And in common with nearly all the distilleries I will cover in the Silent Stills series, that stock is slowly reducing, never to be added to. I’m not sure how much is left in casks, but there can’t be that many left in glass either, as releases haven’t been that common. What is now being released is now going to be no less than 33 years old, and will be commanding premium prices. However it is time to start tasting some for myself in what may be my first and last time of tasting Littlemill.
Littlemill 10 y.o 1990 cask 2958 (Signatory)
The second sample was a lot better but to be honest wasn’t really that complex at all. All signs point to a bourbon refill cask, which hasn’t really had a strong influence on the spirit, but definitely more of an influence than the Signatory sample, despite having 2 years less in wood.
Region -Lowland Age -10 y.o Strength – 43% Colour – White wine (0.1) Cask Type – not stated Colouring – No Chill Filtered – not stated. Nose – sharp green apples, hint of blackcurrant, vanilla, caramel fudge, grassy / herbal. Palate – slightly creamy mouth feel along with a hint of old bottle effect but still quite sharp and fruity, with green cooking apples, lemon citrus blackcurrant, Parma violets, kale leaf, vanilla. Sweet with the slightest hint of nutmeg spice with a trace of ginger. Finish – quite a short fruity finish. Slightly drying.
Thoughts
I didn’t know what to expect but to fair I didn’t expect this. To be honest, this hasn’t been as good as I would have expected from Signatory. I am not sure what cask this had been in, but it seems to have been fairly inactive given the colour. The dram seems to be more spirit-forward due to the lack of wood spices and a quite strong apple note. I was apprehensive when I had first had a sniff of the aromas in the glass it had reminded me of the Glen Keith Distillers edition, whereupon it took 4 years of in-bottle oxidation to become drinkable on its own. As this is a silent distillery, I don’t really have the means to buy a full size bottle to try out and leave for such a length of time. Silent Season has been expensive enough in curating the drams needed, so it’s minis for the majority of the drams. Perhaps I need to try another one.
Littlemill 8 year old OB
Littlemill Original bottling 5ml.
Region – Lowland Age – 8 y.o Strength – not shown but likely 40% Colour – Pale Straw (0.2) Cask Type – not known Colouring – not known Chill Filtered – not known Nose – Malty, fudge, green apple, lemon, tropical fruit. Palate – oily on the palate. Pear, vanilla, lemon, pineapple, malty, hint of oak. Finish – short, peppery, oak spice with a slight astringency.
More thoughts
Not a complex dram at all. But at 8 years old I wasn’t expecting miracles. However, despite being two less years in the cask, it still tasted better than the Signatory sample. But while it was an acceptable drink, you can perhaps see why it maybe fell out of favour with the blenders. I enjoyed it but for me had not enough to grab my attention fully. Mind you, it was likely distilled over 40 years ago an had spent at least 35 years in glass.
So why did Littlemill close?
I’ve no definitive answer to that, but one can only surmise that the distillery won’t have had much investment during the 80’s due to the downturn. I’ve seen it written that Gibson International did do some refurbishment, but was it is likely to be minimal given the cost of buying the distillery? When you watch the YouTube video of the distillery being dismantled, it doesn’t look in a good state; it had only been silent for 4 years by this point.
In my opinion the economics are the most likely explanation. The maltings used to supply Loch Lomond and Littlemill, but it was becoming more efficient to buy malt in. By the 1980’s the Saladin boxes must have been costly to run and maintain. Many of the buildings were close to 125 years old and would have required more regular maintenance than newer estate. Single Malt was still in its infancy as an emerging market again, and we were just off the back of a massive downturn in the industry, so no wonder investment may not have been an easy choice in many distilleries. The final straw would be that the site was hemmed in by the railway on one side, the A82 on the other, there was just no room for expansion. Remember, Loch Lomond distillery was created to boost spirit production that couldn’t be done at Littlemill.
While the owners contemplated making the remainder of the site on the south side into a museum, it was sold for redevelopment into housing. Newstead Properties were going to demolish some of the kiln and malting buildings to create 61 2 and three bed flats and houses. It would have been the saviour of some of the site, as St Magdalene had been converted into flats also, but arsonists destroyed any hope of that happening.
The end story
As with every tale, there are sometimes happy endings and sad endings. This one has both.
As time goes on, the spirit left in casks will slowly decrease until there is none left. Now that the buildings have gone, all that is left to give a sign that the distillery was ever there will be a street name. Remaining stocks are in the hands of Loch Lomond distillery, with occasional aged releases, but to be honest they will be too expensive and rare for me to own one with the idea of drinking it. I’ll never know. These are curated by the master blender for Loch Lomond, Michael Henry. While my two samples have been underwhelming, one sample was from an independent bottler and one is from the 80’s, so who would know what an up to date Littlemill would taste like? Most of us are unlikely to find out.
I still have some Littlemill minis left, but they will now be collectors items, the last vestiges of a distillery that can produce no more. However, as the Smiths once sang “There is a light that will never go out” Littlemill can fall under that category. Ever wonder why Loch Lomond has 1814 on its labels? Well, I’ve been told that this refers to the original Loch Lomond Distillery, which was founded that year in the village of Tarbert. I’ve done some research, and unfortunately no sign of the distillery can be found on old OS maps going back as far as 1843. One site did suggest the distillery was actually in nearby Arrochar and closed in 1817. So while the new Loch Lomond has no direct connection to the old one other than name, they actually have a place on a distilling family tree that goes back as far as 1772 due to joint ownership between Thomas and Barton Brands, and with the fact they have the last Littlemill casks.
Just a thought, perhaps they should put that date on their bottles when the last cask of Littlemill is emptied. It would be a great nod to an under appreciated yet groundbreaking distillery.
Yours In Spirits
Scotty
Thanks to Barrie Williams and Michael Henry for supplying photos for this piece.
* Jericho whisky was only an approximation of what had been produced and not a product of the distillery
There’s a sign on the wall, but she wants to be sure ‘Cause you know sometimes words have two meanings
Led Zeppelin – Stairway to Heaven
You know how it is awful to see Christmas stuff in the shops around August / September time? Well, I know that December is the time for Christmas, but this review is a bit late. A year late. Those of you who read my last blog will have realised that often I can take a bit of time to do things, notably DIY and blog writing. I’m an expert procrastinator at times, but like whisky they often say that it’s best to wait, for the best stuff doesn’t arrive as quickly as it is possible.
As much as my 2023 was sparse of new whiskies to taste, it was also sparse for music. I have finally succumbed to online services, with few CDs being bought but most importantly there were only two gigs attended. Both were at opposite ends of the spectrum, with one being the Pet Shop Boys, the other being the masters of goth – The Sisters of Mercy. Some of you may know of them, some may even still like them, but I’m not going to hold my breath. Needless to say while the Pet Shop Boys was a treat for the wife, The Sisters was a solo run to Newcastle.
What most people won’t know about the Sisters Of Mercy was they had a side project called The Sisterhood. It was in response to the breakup of the band after the first album, and Wayne Hussey with Craig Adams wanted to use the name for their band. Andrew Eldritch rushed an album through under the Sisterhood name called “Gift”, thus preventing Hussey and Adams using the Sisterhood name. They went onto form The Mission and became mildly successful.
The Prince of Darkness, Andrew Eldritch (as he was)
Eldritch went on to give the ultimate two fingers to his former band mates. The first track on the album “Jihad” was an electronic track with a vocalist repeating the words “Two, Five, Zero, Zero, Zero”. Seems a bit odd, but it turns out it was the royalties due to the band members that were in respect of the second Sisters Of Mercy album that was never made. Rather than split the £25000, Eldritch planned to take it all. He failed, the contract was cancelled, nobody got the money, and both groups went on to form their own careers.
The Lord Of Darkness II – Andrew Eldritch – still enigmatic but a lot more bald nowadays
If you think this was bitter and twisted, by this point, Eldritch was based in Germany. The word Gift there actually means “Poison”. Trust me, this was no mistake, and probably went over the heads of the Mission, just like the repeated numerals on Jihad reportedly did until a lot later.
And then we move onto the whisky, in which the distillery name also has two meanings. Many people reading this will be familiar with the Bimber distillery, but I don’t know how many people will know that Bimber is the Polish word for moonshine. Fortunately, this is a legitimate distillery located in London and was founded in 2015 by Dariusz Plazewski, with the first casks being laid down in 2016. Since then the distillery has gone from strength to strength, so much so that a second distillery has been opened in Dunphail, within Speyside, just to the south of Forres.
I have enjoyed every Bimber I have tried thus far, but it’s a distillery that I never connected with too deeply, solely because living where I live and having a cornucopia of whisky available locally, I’ve not paid much attention to the brand. That is until a bottle of whisky turned up unexpectedly just before Christmas. While I have been discussing double meanings, at least I know that this gift wasn’t poisonous. The bottle in question is the 2023 Santa Edition, and it is this bottle I’ll be reviewing later on. But how can I review such a whisky without knowing a lot about the distillery? Fortunately I was able to get time to visit while obtaining a US Visa at the London Embassy.
Bimber distillery is very easy to walk past and it can’t be more unlike a distillery if it tried. The area is occupied by many a garage workshop, and I even was able to walk past Sunbeam Road without seeing it. Retracing my steps soon brought me to the Eagles head sign above the front door. And once you are inside, the smells let you know you are indeed inside a distillery. Entering the front door, there is a reception / tasting area with displays of Bimber bottlings past and present. With a warm greeting from Arnold Harrison, the account and Customer Relationship manager, it was only a matter of time before Matt Mckay, the Bimber Marketing and Communications director arrived and a tour was given of the distillery, with access all areas and unrestricted photo taking. Other distilleries should take note.
Having been to one or two distilleries in the past, it’s helpful to forget how it’s done elsewhere, while although Bimber follow the same principles, they don’t necessarily follow the same process, something that will help create their own unique spirit. You really have to get into the mind of the European bootlegger. Firstly, the barley used comes from a single farm in Hampshire, with Concerto and Laureate being the variant used. The grain is taken to Warminster Maltings, where it is malted in the traditional way using a floor malting. But we now move into the realm of the illicit distiller, where the malted grain isn’t milled, it is merely cracked. This is then mashed in the one ton stainless mash tun .
The mash tun
From mashing, the wort is transferred into one of seven American Oak washbacks for fermentation. Fermentation time is around the 168hr mark, and using lightly charred oak, this allows natural bacteria to form that wouldn’t be present in a stainless vessel. This enhances the fermentation once the yeast has died off by generating a malolactic fermentation which will create even more fruity esters which is ever present in Bimber new make.
The washbacks
Just as in every other distillery, the next process is distillation, where the wash is emptied into the wash still. Matt explained that they had recently upgraded the wash still. Previously, the distillery used two alembic stills, with a capacity of 1000 litres. The wash still has been changed for a more traditional pot still, with double the capacity at 2000 litres. Both stills are direct fired, which creates a Maillaird effect. Now, geeky as I am, I had to look that one up, and its similar to the browning of food, which is almost caramelised. This gives more flavour compounds and an oily mouthfeel to the spirit. Condensing of the spirit vapours is carried out via a shell and tube condenser.
The stills
The stills, with a view through to the tasting area. Have you noticed a traditional piece of distilling equipment missing yet?
It was envisaged at the start to make Bimber in a way that wasn’t too far removed from the traditional methods of making moonshine, so you may notice that there is no spirit safe. Cuts are done not by measuring but by sampling. Spirit runs off into milk churn-like vessels, not some massive spirit receiver. From here, the new make is casked. Matt explained how cask quality is a big thing for the company, using Ex Bourbon, sherry or Virgin casks, or other smaller batch casks such as the one I will review below, which was a Cognac cask.
Bimber was never planned to be a large production facility, and this is what has traditionally limited the amount of spirit available. Demand for Bimber has always outpaced supply, although not in the same way as a whisky like Springbank has. It used to be that to get a Bimber release, you’d have to be quick off the mark as they often sold out instantly, and from an enthusiast point of view it seems to have calmed down a bit, but it still seems like the only way to get some of London Single Malt Whisky is to either be lucky in a ballot or purchase it at auction. Certainly, in the past this is how I’ve managed to obtain Bimber, though it was great to be able to purchase directly from the source during my visit.
The tour ended with 6 generous samples of Bimber bottlings past and present, which since I hadn’t eaten very much due to catching a red-eye flight from Inverness first thing in the morning left me a little bit squiffy. Looking at my notes, there’s nothing there that makes much sense, and much less can I read my own scrawl, but let’s just say each one hit my palate in a different but very pleasant way. I sprung for a bottle of the rum cask, which for me is a bit of a departure of form, as while I enjoy rum, I’m not usually a fan of rum casked whiskies. The pursuit of excellence has certainly helped convert me to a finish I’m not normally prone to drinking.
Selfie. That’s Matt on the right.
This brings me nicely to the tasting of the Santa edition. I received this unexpectedly in Dec 2023, along with a 5cl miniature and a Bimber branded Copita glass. I don’t normally review whiskies that have been supplied to me gratis, as I feel uneasy about it. However, given the fact that this has been released and sold out for some time, I feel that I’m not acting as an influencer, but simply reflecting my thoughts on what was supplied with no real commerical obligation. The fact it was free does not have any bearing on my opinions.
A lovely Bimber care package.
Bimber Santa Edition 2023
Region – England Age – NAS Strength – 52.1% Colour – Burnished (1.1) Cask Type – Ex-Cognac Colouring -No Chill Filtered -No
Nose – Quite fruity and slightly sweet. Red apple, grape juice, plums, vanilla and a hint of milk chocolate.
Palate – Despite its higher abv, this didn’t have an agressive arrival at all. Stone fruit is the order of the day, with plums leading the charge, with a hint of liquorice, treacle, apple sauce. Bit of wood spice there too, but not particularly drying.
Finish – to me this was shorter than expected but on reflection had a nice fruit taste lingering afterwards. Water increased the intensity of the flavours, but further shortened the finish.
First taste. This wasn’t the dram that I reviewed, but I forgot to take photos of the actual dram. D’oh!
Thoughts
A very pleasant whisky, and one certainly suited to evenings by the fire. I was braced for something more aggressive given the ABV and the relatively young age. There is an underlying fruity note with a warming hint of wood spice and the influence of the Cognac, but is well within balance. If you got this as a present, then you would be delighted.
Postscript
I have to thank Matt for taking time out of his very busy schedule to show me around the Bimber distillery. It was great to meet him after a few years of online correspondence. Matt is also responsible for an excellent whisky blog – The Dramble. If you haven’t seen this before, then I recommend that you do – it is certainly insightful and for me inspirational. Like me, he hasn’t been too active on his blog, but if I thought he was busy then the week after my visit, all hell broke loose with the relevations about founder, Dariusz, leading a double life and facing historical charges back home in Poland.
I’ve chosen not to speculate on these, and is somewhat a moot point now, as Dariusz has no legal responsiblity for Bimber distillery, with it passing onto Matt and co-founder Ewelina Chruszczyk for now. Matt has since moved onto the revitalisation of the London Distillery Company. However what is sad is the amount of speculation that some whisky enthusiasts made about the fate of Bimber. However, nearly a year on, the distillery seems to continue to thrive, and so it should. It has started to bottle an age stated whisky (8 years old) and the special editions keep coming – the latest being The Shoulders of Giants. I’ve got some of these and we’ll be looking at these later. And if you know me well, that could be much later!
Thanks to Arthur and Matt for a great visit to Bimber, and I look forward to a return visit at some point.
Lastly, congratulations to Matt – I see your latest blog has a somewhat humble confession that it’s been a while since the last post!!
Nothing ever stays the same. That is, unless you are dead. You’ll be dead forever, and that’s a fairly long time, but until you are dead, very little will fail to change over the passage of time. Perhaps the things that seem not to change are actually changing so slowly that we fail to notice; continental drift and the speed that my wife thinks that I plan and carry out DIY are great examples. One recent task that I’ve just completed took close to 8 years of gentle spousal reminding. Mind you I think the prompting me to start the task every six months was a tad excessive.
A graveyard. People have been in it for less time than some of my DIY projects. Or since I last wrote a blog.
The passage of time is a tricky one to gauge. It didn’t seem so long ago in the 1980’s that as a young air cadet that I was humming the U2 song “With or Without You” to myself, whilst admiring the view in a glider close to sunset above Findhorn Bay. The Joshua Tree album that the song came from was to become one of my favourite albums, but it’s hard to imagine that it was released about 37 years ago. If only things were so pleasant for the whisky industry in the 80’s, for the industry had entered a decennium horriblis that would make the late Queen Elizabeth II not worry so much about the awful year she once had. Nonetheless, despite many mothballings, closures, demolitions and reopenings, the industry did indeed recover and has come back to rude health. Things aren’t the same now though, but this is just my opinion, as is what follows.
Whoever is reading this will have some sort of relationship with whisky – whether it be as a drinker, investor, collector or directly involved in the industry. One thing that ties all these together is the price of whisky, although two of these groups will be paying attention to potential resale values. But in the current ongoing cost of living crisis that seems to be dragging on longer than my DIY projects, all of these groups of people are continuing to feel the pinch. But with less disposable income and the inflation of the whisky bubble slowly losing puff, for those who have collated a collection of bottles now may be a good time to work out what the plans are going to be for the future. For the destiny of these bottles may not be as rosy as it looked when you first started.
It is never easy to calculate what’s lies ahead, especially if the market is starting to become unpredictable, certainly for the collector or investor. Everybody has expected growth, but I think it’s been presumptuous that it would continue for nothing grows forever. You can’t look into the future using rose tinted glasses and very few collectors have the privileged information an auctioneer has when it comes to selling and buying bottles. One thing that will be sure and certain, there has to be a demand for the bottle that you have bought, otherwise your potential buyers are going to be few and far between.
It was the chance purchase of a Chivas Blend that led to an interesting conversation with an auctioneer that not only confirmed my previous advice given in this blog, but also led me to re-evaluate my spending plans. I had been telling him why I had purchased the Chivas Century of Malts blend, which was little more than a curio. I had enjoyed the sample I had reviewed in the past, though it wasn’t earth shattering. What I liked about it was the bottle and the fact that it may at least hold its value going forward, and wouldn’t be a bad drinker if need be. However, the conversation came down to this:- who is going to buy it?
Nice bottle but what market does it now fit into?
Even though an auction purchase may not be a current bottling, it needs to be considered what fuels somebody to make such a purchase of whisky? There are many things such as an admiration of the brand, maybe it’s the style of whisky you like or just because you think it will generate income, but the auctioneer told me it’s his opinion that it’s marketing for a brand and the chatter it generates that drives demand, often carrying over for the brand’s discontinued bottles, despite them no longer being actively marketed. Ever wondered why Macallan is so popular, despite much of their whisky being no better (and often worse) than others? It’s down to the marketing.
Ever since the Macallan watercolour and line drawing adverts of the 1980’s appeared beside the Times Crossword, this had targeted a specific market – Quite educated, not stand-offish, who enjoyed a little joke,’ as the copywriter that was co-responsible for these adverts, Nick Salaman, described them. Or namely people that were highly aspirational and had (to be a bit more succinct -) money to burn. But at that time, Macallan was still universally seen as a decent whisky, with the standard off the shelf bottles being held in high regard. This to my mind was probably the most distinct way of making a Scotch whisky brand aspirational and exclusive through a targeted advertising plan in recent times. That same advertising has been reprised as the cover art for the Archival series Folios, however this seems to be more a plan to separate people from their money as an investment. Perhaps Macallan are quite happy that they have a no longer need to advertise to people who are quite educated, as that standard has slipped and the disposable income has risen. Like it or not, there is a strong demand for that brand based on its reputation for making good auction prices and perhaps some aspiring to be the sort of people who do the Times crossword.
A hark back to the advertising of the 80’s and also my accidental flipping. Crossword skill not required. Pity the whisky isn’t so goodas it was back in the day.
Advertising and premiumisation of brands has been a topic amongst the chattering classes of social media for a while now. Generating a buzz will create demand – Bowmore linking with Aston Martin, Macallan with whoever chooses to prostitute themselves that month, Ardbeg with incessant releases, some brand owners whacking the prices up with no discernible increase in value and Glenmorangie with what seems yet another tale from their whisky storybook. Whatever we enthusiasts think of this constant bombast, the plain and simple fact is that it works. Despite the challenges the industry faces, let’s not be too ignorant of the fact that producers are still shifting shedloads of whisky and making a fortune (for now at least), regardless of a slowdown in sales and signs of a bigger slowdown ahead.
What has this to do with the auction market and where the industry lies now? Getting down to brass tacks, just as investors need to have an exit strategy having been brave enough to invest in a cask, the same considerationsshouldbe in place for those who collected or invested in bottles. Now’s the time to think beyond what is worth collecting and look towards who is going to buy them, for even the “safe” premium brands have taken hits in the recent downturn. There’s many bottles failing to make even the original retail price, and in some cases much less once extra fees are considered in getting your bottle to market.
The final character in this piece; those totally ignorant of the current market values. They can be spotted by setting unrealistic reserves on their bottles or overpaying for bottles that really have no business being charged so much for. In the former case, nobody can fail to be surprised when the bottle is left sitting on the shelf without a single bid. Bit like that bottle of Bells at the back of the cabinet nobody wants to drink.
Who will buy it?
With this in mind I’ve started to re-evaluate the situation with my collection. I’m a lot more reticent in describing myself even as a small level whisky collector. More realistically I’m a collector / hobbyist / accidental hoarder. The latter is easy to do when I buy bottles I plan to drink, only for it to take a place in the store. Despite having many bottles that could easily be described as desirable, my attention is moving to the bottles that were borderline collectible in the first place. It’s now more than likely that they’ll be getting drunk now, or given as presents. Thank goodness they were never being relied on in going up in value.
And thus we come to the crunch. I’ll repeat again – who will buy it? With a personal example; I can say that I never succumbed to the hype over Game of Thrones, but I did go down the Flora and Fauna route. Eminently more desirable than GoT bottlings in many cases, with the Blair Athol, Benrinnes and Dailuaine being the standouts from those still in production. The Clynelish 14 was surprisingly decent too, even without the later proprietary bottling at 3% stronger. But what about the other bottles? Some of them are rarer (or should I say less common) in their own right, but will anybody want a complete set? Perhaps for the set with all 17 white caps. But even if a buyer is there, will they pay the price I expect? That may be a longer wait. These were never marketed, and were never premium whisky, but given a few of the bottles now are rare and in higher demand than the others, they should realise a profit, but that’s not a guarantee at all.
The price of whisky has made the days of buying one for drinking, one for keeping and one for selling almost impossible for many. Collecting sets also gets harder.
The concerning fact is that nobody is alone in this situation. I bet even in my social media circles there’s more than a few of you that own more whisky than you can safely drink in your lifetime; unless you it’s required for a week long wake after your funeral to consume it all should that be your ultimate wish. I think everybody with a hoard, be it an intentional collection or an accidental accumulation of bottles, needs to start thinking of what the endgame will be. And this could be a problem for not individuals, but the whole industry. A recent report by the Scotch Whisky Association suggests that exports of whisky from Scotland have dropped 18% in value with a 10% drop in volume. While only India showed a significant increase in value, markets like the US, France and China have dropped. A 18% drop in value may not seem a lot but remove just under a fifth of a birthday cake and you’ll see it is a sizeable amount. But why should that bother us?
Where would I start? Because it should concern us.
Regular followers of the blog, or the Facebook page will know that I’ve been predicting doom and gloom for some time. Of course, anybody can predict something often enough and it is likely to eventually happen to some degree, which doesn’t make them a genius, only good at predicting inevitability. In the past ten to fifteen years, the industry has massively ramped up production. Diageo built Roseisle, Glenfiddich and Glenlivet expanded, other sites reopened, and others ramped up production; Macallan built Tellytubby land, and have since made it as impossible to get to by charging an extortionate amount to get in, see a distillery and then have the chance to buy its overpriced products, lifestyle items or have a bite to eat. At the time of writing, the cheapest entry price on the website was £80. That’s a very expensive tea and scone, which you’ll have to pay extra for. It’s this sort of cavalier pricing schemes that have encouraged other brands to be bolder in price raises, and those who aspire to the brand to pay them. Idiots.
The whisky industry has long cried out about the lack of aged stock as a reason for their going to NAS, using more refill casks, or prices going up. They soon will not be able to use that as an excuse for poor products or rising prices. With a background of falling sales volumes as the global cost of living crisis continues much longer than was anticipated, some have been caught on the hop. Producers clamouring for premiumisation and market position have raised prices. A recent example is The Glendronach raising an old favourite, the 18 year old Allardice to £195, has just made it unaffordable for many. Lets remember it was £75 in 2017, plus was using over aged whisky, along with no chill filtering. Has the cost of the whisky per bottle really gone up 160% in 7 years? No, it hasn’t. This in my opinion is marketing to the gullible by the greedy.
The good old days. When it had Billy Walker’s signature on itand the non-chill filtered statement. Oh and a price tag of £75. It’s all gone horribly wrong after the purchase by Brown-Forman
My opinion is that this tactic will come back to haunt producers using this and similar practices when people refuse to pay the engorged prices. Besides, now that consumers have been spoonfed by the industry that young whisky isn’t bad whisky, many more people see 5-8 year old being perfectly drinkable, and some producers with provenance are releasing this at good prices and good quality. Step forward Loch Lomond distillery and take a bow. This may at least give more volume sales and in theory will enable producers empty their warehouses quicker, but are the profit margins as good? The caveat here could be that some producers might think we’ll accept less and pay more. They’d do well to ignore that feeling as it would be foolish to try and convince the knowledgeable that a young whisky costs as much to produce as an older one. I’d say it’s much easier to make an older whisky seem premium to generate more profits.
The glass loch of bottles in the groaning shelves and cupboards of enthusiasts and collectors is something that will also play its part. Why buy whisky when many of us have some cracking drams in the stash? While I may not be cracking open the 1979 St Magdalene Rare Malts soon, I’ve got plenty more to be getting on with. Yet again, there’s another reason for many more people not to buy new bottles if they are in a similar position. This should worry the industry a bit as people will not need to consume at the same rate they once did.
Nice packaging. £150 on release on 2017, but easily auctions under that, and still available at retail if you know where to look. Might as well drink it.
To focus our thinking a bit more, I’ve an interesting tale to tell. At a table of friends enjoying a post-Aberdeen Whisky Festival curry, an acquaintance told me of an interesting anecdote that should focus the minds of all collectors who view their prized possessions as a potential pay day in the future. He told me of a relative who used to collect old tin train sets, and used to tell his family that it would be theirs and make a pretty penny in the future. He would later stop saying anything, as he had hit a problem – the people who were likely to buy his collection were dying off, and their collections were getting sold. So it has a double whammy; a saturated market with few buyers. Prices then start to sink faster than the Titanic. In whisky terms, lower secondary prices compared to RRP mean there’s a good chance fewer people will be relying on the retail market for their drinking whisky and simply buying from auction, supplied by those who bought high and are forced to sell low.
Always a good bet. This one will be drunk. Plenty will jump on it at auction if I sold it.
So what whisky bottles will sell? Impossible to say though we come back to marketing and hype being an indicator. Macallan, Ardbeg, Glenmorangie, Glenfiddich and Glenlivet spend millions annually for marketing. This keeps those brands in public consciousness. Springbank as well, although not as well known globally, will continue to do well due to the producers inability and refusal to increase production. These items are always going to sell, providing you’ve got a realistic knowledge of what to pay for them and expect to get in the future. Again though, just because they will sell, doesn’t mean to say you’ll make money – you need to have the right bottles, but what may be popular now may not be so sought after in 15 years. Factors will depend on the amount released, cask type etc. for instance I have a collection of the first three bottles that were released from Glenallachie distillery after Billy Walker took over. That could be argued as a selling point, but you need your buyer to know what he is looking at, and at auction you need two of them in competition. It’s more than likely not going to happen.
Another cracking distillery. Another cracking release. Only worth stashing to drink in the future. Do we forget at times it’s meant to be drunk and not all collectors do it to make money?
I’ve reached a point in actively advising people not to invest in whisky, be it bottles or casks unless you know what you are doing and can afford to take a loss. With news of exports being down, a cask investment could be a bad idea, unless you will bottle it yourself. Many overpriced casks will not now reach the values imagined. With availability of casks being increased, perhaps Indy bottlers can afford to pick and choose, but even some independent bottlers are struggling. Could a fall in prices come too little too late?
Independent bottlers give drinkers respite from clumsy distillery pricing and releases, but not always one to build value in the future. All the right words on the bottles and both cost me £55. (Left one inc. postage, right one bought in store)
Similarly, the secondary bottle market may be following a similar trajectory. Picking up a 1980’s bottle of ten year old Glenmorangie for example, won’t make you rich, as there were so many of them produced. Neither will that 1980’s bottle of Bladnoch or Ardmore. That bargain at auction of sub £50 is that for a few reasons – nobody wants it. If it hadn’t made any increase in value over 40 years, it’s not going to, again due to the volume made and the fact that both distilleries are still in production, for now at least. Remembering my anecdote above, the people these releases were probably more relevant to people who are now dying off. Who will pay lots for standard, 40% chill filtered and coloured whisky that’ll be probably be suffering from old bottle effect? (I’ve yet to find an 80’s bottling that doesn’t), especially with a market full to the gunwales of fresh, vibrant whisky?Unless you are buying a niche bottle from the past with healthy demand, you’d have to find somebody who wants to buy it. Not only that, you need someone to pay you lots of money for your bottle. It would be easier to find a drop of unicorn pee in the Atlantic Ocean. That item will need to be something that is genuinely collectible, such as old silent distillery bottlings that were well regarded, especially rare ones, or something in genuine demand, I think we’d almost be better to start drinking what we hold.
I’m probably in the minority, but it is now getting tedious to hear of new distilleries opening or being planned. I have no skin in the game and very little insider knowledge, but I’m sure that if something of the opinions that I have voiced in this piece resonate with you, then you probably feel the same. New releases for me don’t offer anything new to the wider church of whisky. You’ll definitely taste something very similar somewhere else, possibly a lot cheaper as well. Marketing, premiumisation and greed have seen me want to just ignore the multitude of releases. It’s not that I want to become an iconoclast, perhaps I’m, along with many others are just getting fed up of being taken for granted by the wider industry. I’ll keep my interest in the distilleries that I value, but it’s my opinion that the industry is very much on the wane for a period. Hopefully we’ll see some more much needed correction, and I don’t think it will be a short period that it occurs over. While it’s unlikely there will be a similar bust of the 80’s, I’m sure some new distilleries, or those who heavily lean on one market are now worried.
New distillery, inaugural bottle, 50% abv. Only 5 years old though and mass produced. Perhaps not going to make a fortune for the collector. Will this new distillery struggle in a shrinking market? Hopefully not.
Indeed, it would be a very foolish strategy for brands to rely on price hikes to maintain profits on decreasing volume sales during a period when there’s a lot more whisky waiting and people don’t have as much cash to spend, and a collection to drink. It’s also tedious to hear of overpriced whisky releases with no idea as to how many have been put into the market, with companies hoping the diehard fans will bail them out. As Mark Wahlbergs’ character Mike Williams said to the BP company man in the film Deepwater Horizon “Hope ain’t a tactic”. And we all know how that ended. The industry should perhaps not rely on or abuse the goodwill and loyalty of its customers so much.
We all know how this started through foolish decisions. And we all know how it ended, with effects still being felt in the environment. Is the industry adding to the disaster by pumping more spirit into a smouldering market?
While this is just my personal view, and I’d be happy to be proved wrong, I think the spirits industry isn’t in a healthy shape, and I don’t know how far it will bounce back. I can only comment on how I see impacts of various economic and geopolitical situations that are now adding increased pressure on the bubble created in the whisky industry. Young people are starting to reject alcohol in growing numbers, often due to price and health concerns. You can’t easily hook a young person on an expensive brand if there are cheaper options. That’s where the marketing execs who cultivate a lifestyle image to lure people to perceived status that comes with their product. Increasingly, overseas domestic markets such as China are emerging, with their cheaper and lesser quality stealing volume sales from long developed markets. There’s a myriad of reasons that would make the primary and secondary pricing increases unsustainable for many brands in my opinion, and I’m far from the only one that thinks that way. A recent well written article written by industry insider going by the pseudonym Fletcher Findlay on Dramface (click here to read) explains a bit more in detail about the potential state of the industry. And when you feel you haven’t had enough doom and gloom, well known and not anonymous whisky writer Dave Broom also has some words of wisdom (link to article)
So, have fun while the party is still going. Spend wisely. Don’t assume you can collect and make money. Enjoy what you have – it may send a message that current prices are unsustainable to those who need to hear it.
There has been a bottle kill in the Scotty’s Drams household. But not the kind of bottle kill you would expect when reading a blog mostly concerned with whisky. This one is probably more important than any spirit as you can take it any time, any place and is vital for a decent fish finger sandwich. Of course, I’m speaking of Tomato ketchup.
Mrs Drams has repeatedly said that she doesn’t like the Heinz Ketchup as it’s tasteless, but she’s used to the more piquant Polish variety from the Eastern European shelves of the supermarket. A discussion ensued in which she said that Heinz was expensive, tasteless and that I should just buy the Tescos own brand sauce which is every bit as good. Being the good husband that I am, I acquiesced to her instructions in ordering a massive bottle of the Tesco brand in our next delivery. Shouldn’t be a problem, I mean how different can they be?
You see that’s where I made my first error. You should never listen to your wife on important decisions such as baked beans and tomato ketchup choices. The Tesco ketchup was ok, but it wasn’t Heinz. It was thinner, it was more vinegary and there wasn’t much more tomato taste if I were to be honest. I’ve counted down the days until the sauce bottle runs out as I’m too tight to bin it and purchase Heinz. Children are starving in Africa therefore I am not going to be responsible for wasting food. That’s the principle that I held onto with my supermarket Glen Keith and tried to with my Jura Journey. Both were very unloved but the GK showed signs of promise after 4 years of oxidation. Unfortunately the Jura became pleasant smelling but ineffective and expensive drain cleaner.
While the Tesco ketchup didn’t really float my boat, it is considerably cheaper than the brand with 57 varieties, but was cheaper better? In this case it wasn’t for me but Mrs Drams probably thought so. Similar happens with other shopping when looking for value and deciding whether to go for supermarket copies or the premium brands. So how do we start deciding what is a good value when we think about whisky? It perhaps could be similar to picking your groceries as there are so many subjectives, which doesn’t make it easy at all. Price is often the foremost and easiest thing thing we as whisky enthusiasts use to help us decide on a purchase. Some of us will have a budget and will need to stick with it, so bargains cannot be ignored. Pricing is a tricky thing to get right, as there is a problematic human trait that often assumes that the quality of something is directly connected to the price. Would Macallan be seen as a premium brand if you could buy a bottle of 18 year old for under £100? After all you can buy a few 18 year old whiskies (Glen Moray, Speyburn, Ledaig, AnCnoc and occasionally even Glenmorangie if on offer) for this or less at the time of writing. Some are a bit pricier, for example Glendronach 18 which can be bought online for £180. Is it much less of an enjoyable prospect than the similarly aged Macallan? The Double Cask 18 retails at around £300 and the Sherry Cask 18 is currently retailing around the £360 mark. I just don’t think our taste buds can actually taste the difference in price? What actual difference in experience are we getting?
I’m going to argue that the difference in value can be down to your perception of the brand. Is picking up a Macallan 18 at auction some 25% below retail cost a bargain, or is it good value? The crux of my thinking is that value is very much different to a bargain, for if you can buy that expensive whisky cheaper, then that would be a bargain, but it’s pointless in achieving such savings if you don’t like the whisky – the value is not there for you. And here is the difference. Value to me is getting something that gives you the satisfaction or performance of something you’d pay a lot more for normally – such as a whisky that cost £35 but tastes every bit as good as a £200 whisky you’ve recently tried. In reality that could be argued you got a bargain as well as good value.
Human nature towards value and bargains can be fickle and this can be shown in a disastrous period in the history of US retailer J.C Penney. The firm wasn’t performing as expected, so they called in Ron Johnson to pick things up and turn the business around. He had an impressive portfolio, having managed Target and being responsible for the design and running of Apple Stores. He had invited to be on the board of JC Penney and became CEO in 2011. One of the first things Ron Johnson did was spark a rebrand, trying to attract a younger crowd, something that he was used to at Apple, which a core of people see as attractive, modern and trendy – something that they wanted to and could easily identify with.
People like to identify with brands that reflect their image and status(or at least how they perceive themselves). But more about these bottles later.
Johnson went a few steps further, such as discontinuing JC Penney’s store brands, replacing them with boutiques with branded merchandise, and ending the constant discounting and reliance of coupons, replacing it with fair and square pricing. Gone were the likes of 3 for 2 offers on clothing, replaced by better quality individual items for slightly higher prices than the bargain prices, but the more expensive items would last as long as the three bargain items combined as an example. What Johnson did was alienate his most loyal customers – lower middle class women, basically mothers, who wanted to snag a deal on homewares and clothing. Nor did he manage to snare the new customers the business needed, with the younger generation still seeing JC Penny’s as the uncool place your granny goes for cheapness. The man who was brought in to build up a business created one of the biggest American retail disasters.
What has this got to do with whisky? You see people resonate with experiences that reflect how they see themselves; it’s known as the self-reference effect. And it means if you don’t think a shop or experience offers an image that is reflective of how you identify yourself as, then you are more likely to avoid it. Human behaviour being what it is shows that people want to radiate success; to associate with being the best, eating the best foods, drinking the best beverages and supporting the most successful sports team (And in Scotland, that is Kingussie Camanachd shinty squad before anybody comes out with 55 titles or whatever it is). People want to feel good and when they make a a purchase of something that is perceived to be good, there is a rush of chemicals in the brain giving them a warm and fuzzy feeling for a while. So it is little wonder we’ve seen Bowmore tie up with Aston Martin and Macallan tie up with whoever wanted to prostitute themselves that week.
Bargains can be had. Value questionable.
And these sorts of things are in my opinion the very acts that are driving the relentless march towards premiumisation. Essentially building a brand and marking a price point which may or may not reflect the production costs, such as Talisker 18 and it’s rise to stratospheric pricing levels. But it’s not fair to level the gunsights solely at Diageo, regardless of how you feel about them. Take a look at Brown Foreman and how much Glendronach has rocketed in price for its core range. Not so long ago, I could pick the 18 year old off the shelf for under £80. That was a bargain and great value when you consider the blending practices in place by Billy Walker that saw you getting a much older average age than the age statement would suggest. That’s superlative value. Similarly, the 21 is now in the region of £240 from a former price of around £120. I’m glad I bought mine back in the day. Mind you, it’s getting harder to source – a contact in the whisky retail industry suggested it’s mostly getting sent to the US, as that’s the market they want to target. And my insider also suggested that the removal of the NCF statement is because it is most likely getting aggressively filtered to prevent Scotch mist when ice is added. Doesn’t matter to me; at that price, I’m out.
Noticing that I had handfilled on a specialday got me a little more value on one Glendronach. But only just.
Without continuing to beat producers with a stick over pricing, there are some bottles that can justify a higher price. Is it value? No. Is it a bargain? No. Is it worth it? Subjective. I’m thinking of the likes of Convalmore. Last seen in Diageo’s special releases in 2017 at £1200 RRP, many decried that for a 32 year old whisky. You’ll probably never see it again as a special release as it has now been elevated to the Primo and Ultima range of super premium branding with an even larger price tag. Let us cool our jets before we erupt in self-righteous anger over another whisky taken out of the hands of the common drinker – the distillery closed in 1985, and was used as blending whisky. There was very little Convalmore available otherwise. Now by 2023, nearly 40 years later, there can’t be a lot left. As it’s genuinely a rarity, this will be what drives prices. And for good measure, the 36 year old 1977 Special release in 2013 was £600, so regular drinkers haven’t been imbibing Convalmore for some time, unless they had an independently bottled spirit; even then, try finding one – Convalmore has been blend fodder for years. Pity, as it’s actually a decent dram.
Where brands can cost more – with a twist in the tale!
People get hung up on name and image, and that often clouds judgement as to what is good value. Let me wind this piece down with a couple of examples, including some useful advice. Firstly, we’ll look at the world of bottled water. For when I fancy a drop of water in my whisky, I take bottled. Mainly because it’s not full of chlorine, hasn’t already been through somebody a la London water and it’s easier to store it at room temperature without risking health issues. When thinking of a good brand of water in Scotland, many will fail to see past Highland Spring. And why not? it’s a good spring water, and I’ve never felt any ill effects by consuming it. But go to Tesco in Scotland especially and look at their own brand Perthshire water, especially the label that shows where the source and bottling was. Then compare it to the Highland Spring bottle label. Let me be the one to tell you that there is only one water producer in the village. Armed with that knowledge, would you then prefer to buy the Tesco own brand water, or do you stick with the image affirming Highland Spring? Let’s not forget it’s the same water in a different bottle, and 43% cheaper. It’s clear to see where the value lies in this case, without a doubt.
Bottled in Blackford, Perthshire.
Major hint:- there’s only one spring water company in Blackford, Perthshire. Is it worth an extra 43% for the branding and different packaging?
Moving to whisky and developing the analogy of the spring water, let’s compare two bottles from the same distillery. While the Signatory Macallan is a year younger, it’s birth was facilitated by the same barley, mash tun, washbacks and stills as the 18 year old. It’s even in a 1st Fill sherry butt, similar to the 18 year old. But this is a single cask, not chill filtered like much of the low strength Macallan are, and I’m assuming cask strength. The 18 year old is a batch produced whisky which may have older stock in it, yet is only 43% abv. However there is a minimum £220 difference in price. For very similar DNA whisky, you are getting charged a premium for the name. Is it value? I’d suggest not. At least this has an age statement unlike some of the NAS guff they put out with people thinking it’s worth a fortune.
Similar age, albeit a year between them. One is cask strength
For true value, we need to look beyond the labels. Find your own inner Aberdonian (grumpiness and butteries optional), and not part with your money for fancy packaging and marketing if all you plan to do is drink it. The independently bottled Macallan is by far the better option, as it’s not been chill filtered, it’s a superior alcoholic strength, and when you drink it, although Macallan isn’t on the label, YOU KNOW that you are drinking a whisky that many other feels* think it’s appropriate to spend well over the odds for. I pity all the markets in the Americas and in particular Asia who think whisky like this is premium and get fleeced as they don’t get the same access to often superior independent bottlings.
Many own brand products in supermarkets are made in the same factories as the premium labels – the Highland Spring water being an excellent example. As prices rise and more brands look towards premiumisation, it’s important to look at what that brand offers you before making a purchase. All we really need is delicious whisky at fair prices. I can’t afford to buy an Aston Martin, and I don’t give a toss about the artwork of Peter Blake. It’s just fluff created by brand marketeers to strike a chord and separate you from your hard earned cash. I never wanted to be like Beckham when I bought a bottle of Haig Clubman, I don’t want to knock somebody’s lights out when I buy a George Foreman grill. All I want at the end of the day is good value whisky.
It’s not too hard to ask for is it?
Yours In Spirits
Scotty
*feel(s) – it’s a Doric word. If you are reading this then you’re on the internet. Look it up if you are interested. All you need to do is change the vowels.
Scotty’s Drams encourages responsible drinking. To find out the facts about drink, and where to find help if you need it visit Drinkaware.co.uk by clicking on the link.
Few scotch whisky geeks should need an introduction to Lindores Abbey. It’s the first recorded place of whisky production in Scotland, thanks to Friar John Cor asking for 8 bolls of malt to make Aquavitae. Things have come a long way since 1494, yet time hasn’t been kind to Friars, Abbeys and Catholicism in Scotland ever since, thanks to King Henry VIII, Elizabeth the 1st and the odd knuckle draggers who celebrate a 1690 battle every July. For whisky followers it’s puzzling to think why somebody commemorates the Battle of Cromdale, which took place on the lands around and above where Balmenach Distillery now stands. It took place in April. Wrong battle maybe.
A surprise present.
Thankfully the Mackenzie Smiths have saved what remains of the Abbey, as it lies on their farm. They’ve owned that farm since 1913, and by 2017, spirit was running in stills on Lindores land again. It’s a distillery that I’m not going to write much about here, as I’ve not personally been and it’s one of those distilleries that I really want to visit. Why? Well, firstly the Lindores team did something that I thoroughly approve of – their inaugural release was in large numbers and therefore flooded the market. In turn, this has denied the flippers their pound of flesh. Secondly, because so far I have not tasted a bad Lindores sample yet. We’ll revisit this point later, but I’ll apologise for the spoiler now.
It’s always good to have friends in the industry and while I cannot claim to have legions of them, I have one or two – some who have been known to share some very decent drams with me, often the stuff that others can’t get easily. One such sample came my way from a friend in a Speyside distillery who knew somebody who had a private cask. I don’t know the exact details but I’m led to believe it came from a firkin, but I’ve been unaware that Lindores ever offered a firkin size. There was 67 bottles available and this was from bottle 58.
Lindores Private Cask
Region – Lowland Age – not stated but estimated 4 years old. Strength – 54.7% abv Colour – Mahogany (1.6) Cask Type – Sherry Firkin Colouring – No Chill Filtered -No. Nose – Sweet. marshmallows, candy floss, raisins, strawberry, Chocolate caramel Palate – Stewed plums, prunes, muscovado sugar, dark chocolate topped ginger snaps, walnuts, slightly waxy mouthfeel with medium to full body. Spirit fizz on the tongue. Finish – long finish. Accelerating spiciness, ginger and pepper dominate with prunes and dates providing the sweetness. Slightly tannic with a touch of astringency towards the end.
Lindores Private Cask
Summary
It just goes to show you that it is a nonsense to write off a whisky on account of age alone. This was absolutely stunning and punching well above its estimated 4 years of age. I’d have said 10 years at least and I felt it gave me almost as much enjoyment as a Glenallachie 15, which is my current affordable Speyside go-to. It was such a balanced dram, and one could only guess it was the choice of a sherry firkin that has made this whisky. I felt very lucky to try this and even luckier that I got two samples. While the remaining sample was intended for archive, I think that will not survive into the second half of the decade. Or even next year.
I’ve more than one friend…
Another Lindores sample came my way as the result of a friendship with a whisky retailer. This is a shop that I enjoy going to, as the service and selection I’ve always seen to be excellent, and while I can shop online with the big boys and get stuff cheaper, you don’t get the same service, inside knowledge and craic for the lack of a better word. Many will know the Whisky Shop Dufftown, who have been trading for many years just opposite the town clock tower, and have also ran the Whisky Colours Festival in October, though I believe it’s taking a break this year. I sometimes receive a wee take away sample as I cannot make use of the barrel top tastings due to always driving. This time it was a Sherry Cask Lindores. Well, I’ve shopped and chatted long enough there, so Kat knows my weakness for sherry casks. It’s been some time since I received that sample, and a short time has passed since I tasted it, but like the private cask before, it was kind of yummy.
Lindores Sherry Cask
Region – Lowland Age – not stated but estimated 4 years old. Strength – 49.4% abv Colour – Tawny (1.4) Cask Type – Oloroso Sherry Butt Colouring – No Chill Filtered -No. Nose – Sweet. Plum Duff, milk chocolate, Orange rind, dried fruit. Palate – Prunes, muscovado sugar, Milk chocolate, white pepper, raisins, walnuts, slightly waxy mouthfeel with medium body. A lighter Spirit fizz on the tongue. Finish – medium finish. Less tannic, ginger in the finish continuing alongside fruit and nut chocolate bars.
Lindores sherry cask
Conclusions
Kind of nice. That’s my understatement for the week. I would buy a bottle if I had room – or not an already sizeable backlog. I’ll be putting Lindores higher on the shortlist. Yet again the cask has taken the spirit and worked its magic to my taste, dispelling the myth that whisky has to be aged 10-12 years before it is ready. The Lindores Spirit is light enough yet strong enough to take a good bit of active cask influence without overpowering the distillery character.
I have to say I was one of these. young whisky naysayers, although I’ll confess to enjoying young super-peated whisky all along. But these drams have taught me to judge on flavour and experience alone. Despite what others may say, the only person that can travel on your whisky journey is YOU. All you have to do is be open to other experiences.
Based on these two drams, I’m very likely to be dipping back into the Lindores selections again.
“We’ve never had it so good” is an oft repeated phrase when people talk about the amount of choices that are available to aficionados of whisky. While this may be true as the range of techniques and availability of different barrels have evolved, it’s worth thinking about the fact that there were more whisky distilleries in Scotland at the turn of the 20th century than there is currently. There was a whopping 159 in 1900 alone, with an all time low of 8 in 1918, though we must take into account the effects of World War 1 and conscription. Post WWI in 1921, the peak reached a maximum of 134, but was in decline until distillery numbers started to rise quite a while after the end of World War 2.
People who know a bit about whisky lament the closures of the 1980’s where many distilleries disappeared, even though production had been cut back and short time working was prevalent in many distilleries. While some have been revived, or are in the process of being brought back to life, many such as Convalmore, St Magdalene, Glenugie, Glen Albyn, Glen Mhor or Glenury Royal will never distill again. Despite many rumours and much wishful thinking of Dallas Dhu potentially being reactivated, I think the cost of rejuvenation will be prohibitive, even though all the equipment is still there, potentially ready to go. It may be good to look back on tradition, but things have moved on since the Victorian era. And looking towards modern times, few seem to realise that whisky always has had a precarious side to its business, with a raft of closures in the early 20th century, which was reinforced by economies being distorted by conflict and financial turmoil.
So, I’ll do what I tend to do best and look back into the past and tell the tale of a distillery that has been extinct for 110 years. This distillery never survived long enough to see the events of the First World War, closing in 1913, yet the story didn’t end there. Unless you know a little bit about local history of the area, many people wouldn’t even realise that there was ever a distillery in that area. I’ve been passing the site for years and never guessed, had it not been for a release that started the mystery unravelling.
A beginning
The Discovery Collection of Lost Distilleries
I’ve been a regular traveller on the road between Aberdeen and Inverness for years. One of my many geeky hobbies is to trace the routes that I travel on online Ordinance Survey maps. I love looking at the place names, or picturing them in my minds eye when I am away from home. One place I often saw was a farm named Jericho. I found it amusing, as it sat beside the Jordan burn. Obviously whoever named these may have had a religious lifestyle. It was only when the Lost Distillery Company released their range of whiskies which supposedly had been blended to be a close reproduction of the distilleries they represented did the penny drop. Originally, the range had 7 distilleries in the collection; Auchnagie (Highland), Dalaruan (Campbeltown), Gerston (Highland), Jericho (Highland), Lossit (Islay), Strathearn (Lowland) and Towiemore (Speyside). Unfortunately there has been a bit of a rebrand and the Auchnagie and Gerston bottlings have been dropped. What became rapidly apparent was that I’d not realised was how large Jericho had been and how it’s presence still resonates today, albeit slowly diminishing.
First issue was to get hold of a sample, and thankfully there was a miniature set of 6, in which I’d receive 6 of the 7 distilleries. All the pictures had Jericho in them, so duly ordered. When it turned up, the only missing one was Jericho. So I tried again and got another set without Jericho. I wasn’t wanting to go for third time lucky so bit the bullet and bought a full size bottle. Fortunately, a chance visit to a convenience store in my home village with a very good whisky selection had miniatures of Jericho in stock, negating my need to open the full size bottle. Interestingly enough, two of the other distilleries which are in the collection I also happen to pass nearby to on occasion, so will be looking to review them at a later date.
Oh life, why do you mock me??
A distillery is born
There’s precious little left nowadays of Jericho distillery, just some ruins which would give you no idea what they once were. It was a more religious than normal farmer called William Smith who started distilling at Nether Jericho farm around 1822. We assume this was the date, as whisky from the distillery which was later sold in 2 Gallon ceramic ‘pigs’ (akin to a 10 litre barrel), had the date 1822 embellished on them, although is for Benachie whisky, the name the Jericho distillery took on later. In 1983, two of these pigs were known to survive, but sadly without the original contents. As mentioned previously, the water source was the Jordan Burn, in which its flow and quality of water was instrumental in making a successful distillery, being used for all the needs of the distillery. Old maps show that the burn also fed a small reservoir which was added later on, perhaps to give a head of water pressure to drive machinery at the distillery, as well as supplying the liquid to make whisky.
The Jordan Burn emerges after being culverted under one of the former barns.
It wasn’t the only farm distillery in the area to open in that era, there was also one on the other side of the Glens of Foudland, just to the north of Huntly on the banks of the River Bogie called Pirriesmill, which opened in 1824, but sadly didn’t last as long as Jericho, presumably being mothballed prior to being reopened in 1832. It ran for at least another 35 years but by maps of 1870 was listed as disused. The archive version of scotchwhisky.com lists the distillery as Speyside, which is totally incorrect as Speyside as a region did not exist at that point in time, and Huntly is firmly in Aberdeenshire, and not part of Moray or Strathspey & Badenoch regions which constitute modern day Speyside. There is one building that still exists and can be seen when passing on the train between Huntly and Keith. Judging by old maps, this distillery seems to have been a fair size too. The ordinance survey map made in 1871 had noted the “Old Distillery” at Pirriesmill, but still shows the buildings. I can’t display the map here due to copyright but here’s a link to it Pirriesmill Distillery
Pirriesmill Distillery
So, back to Jericho. A licence was obtained for the distillery in 1824 after the 1823 Excise act had passed, though it is not clear whether or not distilling had already started. Had William Smith been an illicit distiller is anybodies guess, but it is safe to say that he would have been in good company with his fellow countrymen. In 1822 the Illicit Distillation Act had been passed which not only continued making the unlicensed distillation illegal, but also the purchase and consumption of unlicensed spirit was also criminalised. Not that this deterred many people as the area around Jericho is very rural, and while not remote by modern standards, would have been bleak back in 1822. A good account of the battle between gauger and distiller is told in the book “Illicit Scotch” by S.W Sillett, in which he tells stories of secret whisky making in the north and northeast of Scotland. Remember, the railway wouldn’t make it to this part of Scotland until 1854 when the railway between Aberdeen and Keith was completed, with the nearest railway station being in Insch, some 5 miles distant. One can imagine the distillery either selling its produce locally or using horse and cart to take casks to Aberdeen for onward sale. Once the eventual opening of the railway occurred, there was a steady flow of traffic to the goods yard at Insch station. According to an article by Michael G Kidd in the book ‘Bennachie Again”, carts used to be nose to tail in the Glens Of Foudland, which is the route of the modern Aberdeen to Inverness road. I’ll be referring to this book often in this piece.
A year after the release of the Illicit Distillation Act, the more widely known Excise Act was passed on the 18th July 1823, which lowered the Tax burden to the distillers, making legal distilling a lot more desirable. It is amusing that one of the main proponents of this act was the 4th Duke of Gordon, a man who owned a lot of the land that was being used for illicit distillation! Perhaps being the God-fearing man that Wiliam Smith reportedly was meant that he decided to licence his distillery, but it is somewhat ironic that it was taxes that helped seal the fate of the Jericho distillery some 89 years later.
From what I’ve been able to find out, Jericho distillery under Smith was pretty primitive, with a small wooden mash tun that was raked manually, which led to a lumpy mash and poor sugar extraction. The distillery most often used Bere barley, which while this was a popular grain for whisky making, the grains aren’t all the same size, which makes it more difficult to malt and mash. It was also more prone to rot, which would have been problematic given the quality of storage compared to a modern distillery nowadays. The kiln was powered by peat, which was a readily available fuel source. The distillery had 6 washbacks of 880 gallons capacity each, the wash still was capable of holding 244 gallons and the spirit still only 67.5 gallons capacity, which indicates that the output would be very low.
A portion of a former bonded warehouse.
The yeast used initially for fermentation is likely to be home grown cultures and wild yeast. Home grown yeast tended to be made from potatoes and sugar, which was prone to making off-notes and frequently full of contaminants. Wild Yeast is airborne, unpredictable and not tolerant of low ambient temperatures. Yeast activity is also temperature driven, meaning that the times of each fermentation would be inconsistent, and therefore so would the strength and quality of the wash be variable. Given these facts, it’s unlikely that Jericho managed to consistently mash and get a good yield of sugars, and also possible that not every fermentation was of good quality either.
By 1864, William Smith had decided to retire, with the tenancy of Nether Jericho Farm being taken over by his stepson and assistant, John Maitland at the age of 25. Maitland set about modernising the distillery slowly but surely. By the late 1860’s the mash tun had been replaced by an iron tun, some 12 feet in diameter and 4 feet deep, and was fitted with rakes which improved the quality of the mash.
Referring back to the book ‘Bennachie Again’, it is revealed that a man called William Milne came to work at Nether Jericho farm and distillery as a ‘greive’ which is a Scottish name for a farm supervisor. There were 6 horses to do the work of the farm and the distillery but at this stage we do not have any firm idea how many people worked at the distillery. Workers at the distillery may also have had to undertake farm work also – just like Daftmill! It is also not known how long William Milne was at Nether Jericho, but before he moved to Rothes around 1900, he had been borne a son called Thomas around 1892, and we’ll meet Thomas Milne later in this story.
During the 1870’s the use of sherry casks became popular. Sherry used to be shipped to the UK in European Oak transit casks, a practice that was stopped by the Spanish Government in 1980, who insisted sherry had to exported in bottles. Jericho did use sherry casks in its maturation, and this is reflected in the recreation made by the Lost Distillery Company. Sadly, John Maitland died at the age of 40, leaving behind a wife and five children. Jericho then fell silent for a few years.
A New Beginning and a New Name
In 1883 Messers. William Callander and John Graham purchased the farm and distillery lease, and set about making more improvements. The distillery was now going to be known as the Benachie Distillery. The name comes from the locally well-known hill called Bennachie, which is just to the south of Nether Jericho farm. It is a series of tops with the most easterly one being the most recognisable and is known as the Mither Tap. The hill can be seen from quite a large swathe of Aberdeenshire, and is quite prominent as it looks over the Garioch, where a lot of the barley for local whisky production would have been grown. It is interesting to note that they did not use the correct spelling of the hill which is locally pronounced Benn-a-hee. For those of you who don’t already know, Garioch is pronounced gear-ee, with the G being a hard G, similar to that used in ‘Ground’ and the word would rhyme with dreary.
Bennachie as seen from Colpy. Mither Tap is the leftmost summit
Why this name change was seen as necessary I do not know, but what is known that by 1884 the distillery underwent a transformation and seems have partially rebuilt. The distillery was built in the style that is common to agricultural buildings and many distilleries of the region at that time using squared granite rubble stone. I am guessing that the name change was to perhaps identify that the distillery had been upgraded and therefore may not be the same. The new stills were still small and squat, but had taller necks, so would have produced a lighter spirit than Jericho, although the whisky was still sold as Jericho for a few years afterwards. Also, by this time, things had moved on, with the railway now available at Insch, therefore whisky from Jericho would now be able to be distributed to a larger area, though the distillery still relied on horse and cart to get their produce to Insch railway station. It was intended that the improvements to Jericho were to be finished by October 1884.
Jericho Distillery architect plans 1884. Courtesy of late Frank Duncan / Ballies Of Bennachie
Where we do get a good overview about the Benachie distillery is from the well known book written by Alfred Barnard in his book The Whisky Distilleries of The United Kingdom, published in 1887. If you read the book, you can see that Barnard seems to have gone around Scotland in a clockwise direction, having visited Glendronach distillery near Huntly before travelling to Nether Jericho. The opening lines make me chuckle – “It would puzzle you to find a more desolate drive than that from Glendronach to Benachie distillery. The mountain road is one of the bleakest and most lonely that we have traversed. ” I have to laugh as I wonder what Barnard would make of the modern A96 road through the Glens of Foudland – a road even in the 21st century still can get closed by drifting snow. I guess all that seems to have changed is that we now have tarmacadam carriageway with crawler lanes. Perhaps Barnard suffered the lack of a direct rail link as much as Jericho did.
Window of former barn, possibly a grain store or a peat store. With the burn going underneath, perhaps water powered machinery was once in here.
Barnard tells us that the distillery had 2 malt barns that had two floors of 140ft length and a width of 25 feet, with the top floor using the top for grain storage and the bottom for malting. Next was the malting kiln, which was approximately 24 ft square, and we can see from the architect plans it was fitted with a traditional Doig ventilator. Local peat was used as fuel for the kilning process, but would be a lot more subtle than that of the Western Highlands, and more inline with the peat usage of the era in Speyside. Further down the hill is the milling room which is next to the mash tun. This is recorded as being 4 ft deep and 12 ft wide with revolving stirring gear, powered by water power, (as previously fitted by John Maitland). The wort is then cooled and transferred into the adjacent tun room that held 4 washbacks of 3,000 gallons capacity each, or around 13,600 litres. The still house is at the foot of the hill, containing the 2 stills and their receivers, wash, low wines and the feints chargers. The wash still had a capacity of 1400 gallons and the spirit still had a capacity of 706 gallons. No mention is made of the condensers, but I am assuming that worm tubs were used, as a black and white photo of the site in 1910 shows what looks like a black cylinder close to the rear of the building. The spirit vat had a capacity of 1100 gallons, which if this is the capacity of undiluted spirit that it could hold, and if average spirit strength before dilution was 70% abv and cask fill strength was 63.5% would be enough for 22 Hogshead casks. I think this is generous as similar sized distilleries with one spirit still run a day only manage about 14 Hogsheads a week with a clearic strength of 72% and cask fill at 63.5%. It’s my guess that perhaps spirit would be casked every 2 weeks at Jericho. Assuming a 40 week distilling season, in theory if the vat was emptied every fortnight, then the distillery would then be able to produce 440 casks a year. I’m assuming things based on modern distillery practices, and without knowing what Jericho filling strengths were, how regularly they had mashings, how long the fermentation was or if the distillery was only ran when farm work didn’t intervene. However, I think my calculations tie in with the reputed storage facilities as I’ve seen it written that the distillery only had room for around 400 casks.
This leads to the issue of immature spirit. None of the casks under the previous example could have been held for more than a year, and at the start of production at Nether Jericho there is a good chance the spirit wasn’t cask matured at all. The Immature Spirit act wasn’t to follow until 1915, so the produce of the Benachie distillery may have been to coin a word – rough. From what has been stated by The Lost Distillery Co on their Jericho release was that Sherry Casks were used for the maturation of whisky at the Benachie Distillery. Perhaps a 1st fill European Oak cask made the spirit palatable after a year of maturation? Maybe the smoothness of Jericho was relative, and it just wasn’t as rough as other products!
Jericho Distillery circa 1910 (via Neil Wilson Publishing)
The improvements that had been made to the distillery at Nether Jericho farm were a success, and advances in distilling practices, most notably the development of dry yeast by Dr Andrew Squires and Distillers Company Ltd in 1881, which would then give a consistent wash. With an ambition of producing up to 50,000 gallons, which in todays terms would put it in a rank similar to Lindores distillery at 2023 levels, and below that of Edradour, Holyrood and the RAER spirits distillery at Jackton in Glasgow. (Source – Malt Whisky Yearbook). From the anecdotes that I have read in various sources, the whisky was relatively popular, with the advertising slogan “There’s Nae Sair Heids in Benachie” on the label, which may imply that the whisky was a mild malt.
Ceramic ‘pigs’ used as bed warmers. Once very common in rural Scotland, you don’t see too many of them now. These hold about 3 pints.
Benachie could be bought as a bottled whisky, and could also be bought in the ceramic ‘pigs’ as mentioned earlier, similar to a small cask of 2 gallons volume. Callander and Graham had a shop on the High Street of Insch where the whisky could be bought, and a receipt illustration in the book ‘Bennachie Again’ shows a 2 gallon pig sold for £1.15s.0d, which is £1.75 in metric. In today’s money, this would be worth £253.22, which to me is an absolute bargain for just over 9 litres of whisky, when nowadays many bottles cost more than that and aren’t even a full litre.
The area to the right of the IBC would have been where the kiln was. The tun room would have been behind the IBC I think.
Clouds on the Horizon
Unfortunately, the good times weren’t going to last. The remoteness that had once made Nether Jericho an attractive place to illicitly distill was going to become a noose around its neck. The whisky wasn’t really distributed much outside the North East of Scotland. It wasn’t used in blends as far as we know as mentioned before. The disruption caused by the Pattison crash caused a lot of uncertainty in the industry, especially financially. Larger distilleries than Jericho had been built in the last few years of the 19th century only to close and disappear completely after less than 20 years production – the Speyside Distillery in Kingussie being a notable case. Plus, the overall quality of Scotch whisky as a whole was improving and more and more was being produced for blending by the newer distilleries that hadn’t started as an add-on to a farm. The Pattison crash also created a sudden oversupply in the industry, caused by whisky produced for blending that was no longer needed, rapidly having a knock on effect in sales of Benachie, as prices of other whiskies were likely to be dropping due to the mass production and a sudden loss of blending demand. With spirits being a lot cheaper, and the social problems it created, it was only a matter of time before Government waded in.
By 1909, The Chancellor of the Exchequer, David Lloyd George changed the taxes applicable to the whisky industry yet again, increasing by a third. Lloyd George’s ‘People’s Budget’ of April 1909 was to try and lift more of the population out of the poverty and squalor that many people lived in. However, it wasn’t just whisky that was affected – there was many areas of the economy had their tax regime change to start paying people a pension. An increase of price would also help reduce drunkenness. Profitability was falling too, and in the Pattison crash aftermath there was also an increase of consolidation under companies like Distillers Company Limited and Scottish Malt Distillers Ltd, both of whom would eventually fall under the Diageo umbrella many decades later. With more whisky that could be made cheaper by mass production, the profit margins of the small operators had to fall in an effort to be competitive. Small farm based distilleries had less access to the wider market and less money than the big companies to market their products effectively, life was hard for these small independent distilleries. And the enterprise at Nether Jericho didn’t have its challenges to seek.
Close up to where the kiln would have been.
Benachie distillery, being remote from the railway unlike its competitors at Glen Garioch and Ardmore, couldn’t easily take advantage of using coal as a fuel source, leaving the distillery shackled to using peat only. By 1913 William Callander retired, but with increasing economic pressures, lack of modern transport and being reliant on the local market would have led his son and heir William Callander Junior to feel that it was no longer viable to continue to produce Benachie whisky even despite having a relatively modern plant. The decision was made to continue farming only and the Benachie distillery finally fell silent. The first world war started little over a year later and that is likely to have put paid to any chance of the distillery reopening in the immediate future.
The previously mentioned Thomas Milne of Rothes became friendly with the publican of the Victoria Bar in the village, a Andrew McKenzie Grant, and he persuaded the bar to stock Benachie whisky, which the barkeep presumably enjoyed up to his death in 1913, the same year the distillery closed. Thomas must have thought there was a big stock of Benachie in the warehouse at Jericho, as it was still on sale in the Victoria bar when he went to war in 1915. There was doubtless none left when he came back.
Victoria Bar, Rothes. Like Jericho, has now fallen silent, closing on 24th Dec 2020, just over 105 years since Thomas Milne last had a Benachie Whisky there.
The Chancellor, Lloyd George, was a teetotaller and would have no problem in targeting the spirits industry once again to raise finance. One of his other acts to apply more pressure to distillers was the formation of the Immature Spirits act of 1915, which was initially meant to try to stop workers drinking as much and make industry more productive. At one moment time the British Army was firing enough shells in one day that took 17 days to manufacture, which was clearly unsustainable.
Drink is doing more damage in this war than all the German Submarines put together.
David Lloyd George, Bangor, 27th February 1915
So, the Immature Spirits act came into being, and far from being the downfall of the whisky industry, it actually saved it. For the first time, whisky had to be matured in oak casks and matured for a minimum of 3 years. It is worth pointing out that many reputable whisky producers were already doing this, and the act initially would have got rid of the less reputable brands. From 163 prewar British distilleries to 20 post war, the bill may have had its desired effect initially, but this was back up to a total of 164 by 1920.
The bill that saved the whisky industry came too late for Jericho, but one must wonder how it would have been affected – after all with it now being prevented from selling immature spirit for consumption and only having storage for around a years production without additional warehousing being built at the very least, mean that combined with the issues of limited market and logistical issues, the distillery was always likely to be a casualty.
But there was somebody else that wanted to resurrect the distillery. Perhaps the increase of motorised transport available in the aftermath of the World War made operations more practical and economical. In 1920, there was a Memorandum of Agreement by the Benachie Distillery Syndicate, represented by Lawrence Chalmers, to purchase from William Callander, Farmer, Jericho, County of Aberdeenshire, by missives dated March and April 1919, the rights, interests and claims acquired by him. Under a Memorandum of the Association, the Syndicate was to acquire and hold, manage and develop, improve or otherwise turn to account the buildings with the farm of Jericho, including the buildings adjacent, formerly occupied as a distillery. But there was a major sticking point – William Callander Jr. did not sell the licence for the distillery with it. There was a legal battle for this in the Court of Session, but the court found in favour of William Callander. Without this licence, distillation could not restart, and it would be impossible to distill illicitly. This company continued until it was formally dissolved on the 1st of July 1960, with sadly no progress being made to restart the distillery.
Every account of Jericho / Benachie whisky ends with a story about how the locals used to enjoy dances and parties in the old barns at Nether Jericho. The author of Illicit Scotch, Steve Sillett told of the ancedote by his late father-in-law how at a wedding in Insch just prior to the outbreak of the Second World War, a long hoarded cask of Benachie was emptied and enjoyed. This was likely to be the last cask, and was reported to be extremely mellow if not a bit woody.
And that was the end, or was it?
By the late 70’s, there were still some remains of the distillery, where Michael Kidd had visited Nether Jericho. The Kiln had become dilapidated and roofless, but the rest of the line of buildings were still intact and gave an indication of what had been their purpose in the past. I myself visited in January 2023 with the permission of the landowner who showed me around the remains, of which there is not a lot left. Only one building hints to its former purpose as a distillery bonded store with barred windows. I am most grateful to the landowner for this opportunity, as I know famers do not like strangers wondering around their land taking photographs. Crime is something they don’t want to have in remote rural areas.
Distillery Lost – former bonded store.
The present owner said that he had been at the farm for 30 years and knew a little bit about the distillery, but in his time there wasn’t a lot of the original buildings left. The line of buildings from the Kiln down to the slope are now all in ruins, with little to tell what was what building. Only a portion of the building that was used as a bonded warehouse remains, as do the walls of what might have been a malt barn. This used to have a semi circular tin roof that finally succumbed to a weight of snow in around 2010-2012. Turns out Glenfiddich weren’t alone with their storage collapsing! This barn (unusually) has the Jordan burn flow under it, and I am wondering if there was some sort of mechanism in this barn for turning machinery like the mash tun and mill, but I guess we’ll never find out. That is now lost, like the whisky to history.
Former Malt Barn. Snow caused the corrugated roof to collapse. But unlike Glenfiddich, no whisky was at risk.
Gone, but not forgotten
As I said at the start of this article, I never once realised there was a distillery at Jericho. I assumed the road sign on the A96 just referred to a farm owned by a religious person. It’s not that uncommon to do, as there is an suburb of Edinburgh known as Joppa, named after the port of the same name in the 18th century that is known now as Jaffa in Israel. I’ve seen the Bennachie whisky miniatures turn up at auction which I had a couple of, as they have come in a batch of miniatures that I have purchased for one specific miniature. The vatted malt as far as I am able to deduce was produced by a businessman called Euan Shand, who started the Bennachie Scotch Whisky Co in 1990 with an interest in blended malts. Euan comes from a background of whisky (his dad was the manager of Glendronach) and he’s now the chairman of Duncan Taylor Scotch Whisky Ltd, which I am sure many know. To date, I’ve seen the Bennachie vatted malt as a 10, 17 and 21 year old, and I think I’ve also seen bottles at 8 and 12 years old with different branding. Usually at 40 or 43% abv. I don’t think these are ever supposed to be an approximation of the original Jericho / Benachie Distillery whisky.
Two of my Bennachie Miniatures
It wasn’t until I saw the Lost Distillery Company range of blended malts that were supposed to represent the type of whiskies made by 7 long gone distilleries that I managed to connect the sign for Jericho farm and the whisky together. The Lost Distillery Company have researched the distilleries that are long gone, and have made a vatted malt that will replicate the style of the distillery, although they never say that it will replicate the whisky exactly. So what better to do now than perhaps try some. And for good measure, lets try one of the Bennachie Vatted Malts.
Jericho – Lost Distillery Company
Region – Blend Age – NAS Strength – 43% Colour – Mahogany (1.6) Cask Type – Not known Colouring – Not Stated, but most likely Chill Filtered – Not Stated, but most likely Nose – Figs, raisins, muscovado sugar, orange peel, ginger, walnuts, cherry. Palate – Thin mouthfeel, ginger, dried fruits, nutty, peaches, redcurrant Finish – quite spicy when swallowed but the that soon dissipates. Chocolate gingers, pepper, slight creaminess. Short finish.
Jericho Blended Malt
Bennachie Vatted Malt
Region – Blend Age -NAS Strength – 43% Colour – Jonquiripe Corn (0.4) Cask Type – Not known Colouring – Not Stated Chill Filtered – Not Stated Nose – while letting it sit beside me for 20 mins, I could smell green apples, malt, tinned peaches wafting over. Sticking my nose into the glass, the unfortunate smell of old bottle effect (musty cardboard) was present but not too bad. Biscuity, custard creams, fruit cake. Palate – oily and sweet. Alcohol is a bit harsh initially. Honey and digestive biscuits, citrus peel, hint of clove. Oak spices, malt. Adding water I found to introduce a bitter, acidic taste to the citrus notesFinish – medium short finish. Oak spices, citrus, honey. Water increases the oak notes and dampened the old bottle effect.
The Bennachie 10 y.o vatted malt
Tasting Conclusions
Both whiskies were pleasant enough. Jericho tasted a lot sharper and had a thinner mouthfeel than I was expecting, but this may differ in the other strengths of the Archivist or Vintage variants, which are at 46% and I am assuming use older whiskies. However, it wasn’t nearly as rough as I thought it would be, and I am glad that I have a full size bottle of this whisky, as it may need time to breathe in the bottle. The Bennachie vatted malt was the more pleasant of the two, and I’d go as far to say that I’m happy that I obtained a full size drinking bottle; albeit an earlier release.
Have We Never Had It So Good?
I started this piece by asking if we ever had it so good? I believe it is all relative, but I’d say yes and no. However the tale of Jericho and other lost distilleries repeat a tale that I believe still has a message for us today. I fell down many wormholes doing research. I wanted to find out how unique the tale of Jericho may have been. In 1900, there were 159 operating distilleries in Scotland, but by 1913, this had dropped to 127. This picked up again in the couple of years after World War One, but by 1933 it had fallen to 15. When we look at history, we can see that in this period there has been Prohibition in the US, War in Europe and the Great Depression which affected economies world wide all played their part. Perhaps by this time, the small farm style distilleries had become uneconomical and closed. Up to the late 1970’s the number of Scottish distilleries didn’t exceed 123.
A full size bottling of Bennachie Pure Malt 10 yr old.
We need a bit of context, in that people didn’t have the same ratio of disposable income that many of us enjoy. Businesses didn’t have so many prospective customers, and tax rises on luxury goods were more likely to affect what consumers would buy. And I think with the coming 10% tax hike announced in the UK spring 2023 budget, this will perhaps start influencing consumer spending as the UK struggles with inflation. Certainly the secondary bottle market has already started to see a correction. Spirits duty has been held at £28.74 since 2017. When we look back at the last big industry crash, in 1983 the increase of duty was only around 5%. I dread to think what difference a duty increase of double that amount will have on the industry and consumers.
The other thing that I noticed was the rate of taxation has increased and decreased over the years. According to a research website from Edinburgh University (See here), the tax on a single litre of pure alcohol was 21.2p in 1900. I am assuming that this takes in to consideration of imperial currency conversion and the fact that imperial measurements were used then. If we allow for inflation and use a historical inflation caluculator and assume I have done my sums right, that’s equivalent to £31.21 in today’s money. Quite a bit higher than the £28.74 per lpa shown by the gov.uk site at the time of typing, although this rises to £31.64 in August 2023.
Inside the former bonded store. Peace and quiet reigns but whisky willslumber here no more.
And we look upon a background of 70 extra malt distilleries that have been built or are planned to be built between 2000 and 2030, we have to wonder who is going to be buying this whisky – as was the theme of the Aquavitae vPub on 20th April 2023 – link here to YouTube. With increasing taxation and the threat of war in Europe and China rattling it’s sabre at Taiwan, as well as global financial instability, one has to wonder how many distilleries may go the way of Jericho, when or if it becomes uneconomic to do so?
The counterbalance to the doom and gloom is that China has the equivalent of the population of the UK that reaches the legal age for drinking every year. That is a market waiting to be tapped. And similar would probably be India which has just overtaken China as the most populous nation and already has an indigenous whisky industry, albeit Scotch is still popular there. While population boosts are not new, Scottish whisky hasn’t been exported to the levels we are seeing now, however are we leaving our selves wide open should there be a change in drinking fashions and habits? There’s a lot of distilleries going flat out to produce, yet most don’t have a crystal ball to predict what will happen in 10 years time. If they do know, can they give me 6 numbers between 1 and 59 each Saturday night?
Given how basic the whisky distillation was at the start of Jericho Distillery, which supposedly started in 1822, I hope this whisky will be a lot better than that of 1820. At least it’s been matured for more than a year!
The whisky industry is cyclic, so in my opinion it’s foolish to assume there will be constant growth. Perhaps more realistically there will be ebbs and flows, but a steady overall upwards trajectory. But all it takes are external factors outside the industry control or a change in drinking fashion and we could easily be facing a whisky loch again. As I continue my theme this year and into next of silent distilleries, we can learn a lot from the whisky history that has gone before us.
Before I go, I would like to thank the people who have made this article possible. Firstly I would like to thank the owner of Nether Jericho who allowed me to take photographs of the surviving buildings. My second thanks it to Neil Wilson of NWP who allowed me to use the black and white photo of Jericho Distillery from the book Scotch Missed by Brian Townsend. Lastly, I would like to thank Ann Baillie, the Vice Chair of the Baillies Of Bennachie, who allowed me to use the layout from their book ‘Bennachie Again’, published in 1983. The Baillies of Bennachie are a charity that look after the pathways around Bennachie, and are heavily involved in the research and preservation of the historical communities that have existed on the hill. If you know about Bennachie and are interested, why not join the Baillies for only £10 a year (www.bailiesofbennachie.co.uk)
The past year has taught me something. Don’t hold something back for special moments; it’s pointless. What you may fail to realise is that special moments are all around us, happening all the time and we just don’t realise it. They slip into the mundane drudgery of the day to day and unless you truly live in the moment and are focused on something else, it’s easy to fail to acknowledge the little bits of joy that flood our lives. We don’t need to celebrate like a Premier League footballer in every little situation where we feel a ray of happiness creep in, yet we need to make sure that we feel a little bit of pleasure in the midst of the ordinary. Recognise that life is a gift and we need to appreciate the special things that define our life. Most importantly we should not hold back too much for the special moments that might not arrive.
A while ago I wrote about how that I had saved a Speyburn 18 sample for a special occasion, which was eventually drunk on the day that Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral took place, although the two weren’t connected, although it provided a perfect moment for reflection. The dram I am having today was also saved for a special occasion that should have been filled with joy, but sadly events took an unexpected turn and had now become more of a memorial. I wanted to share it with somebody who can no longer appreciate it, and while they were not a whisky fan, even if I couldn’t drink a dram with them, it would have been great just to share the experience of having a spirit that was distilled in the year that we were both born.
This dram isn’t what I’d class as unique but it is definitely not a common sight. A proper, bona fide original bottling of Balmenach. Not independently bottled, but a God’s honest release from the distillery owner. I had saved this for a special occasion, and I’m hoping it’s going to be worth it, although the geek in me knows that despite a larger age statement, the length of time it’s been sleeping in glass may mean time has not been kind to the spirit. Disappointment may be lurking around the corner, but you just never know. A spare cork is on standby just in case it suffers from a fatigued cork; after all, one must prepare for special occasions properly. As it happened, it turned out that the spare was required, so yet again remembering the 6 P’s I was taught as an avionics apprentice has come in handy. (Perfect Preparation Prevents P*ss Poor Performance).
Hiding in the midst of a special celebration.
This is not the only Highland Selection whisky released. Inver House Distillers released a few bottlings, but not from all their distilleries. Balmenach also had a 1972 28 year old released, albeit with no bottle numbers revealed. Balblair, An Cnoc and Speyburn also had a Highland Selection release. In common with Balmenach, Speyburn also had a 27y.o from 1973, alongside a 16y.o from 1986. I’ve never seen a Balblair Highland selection yet, but they had a 1974 vintage at 27 year old and a 1969 bottling at 31 years old. An Cnoc’s contributions to the tally were a 26 year old from 1975 and a 18y.o from 1983. The last Inver House distillery, Old Pulteneny doesn’t seem to have had a release in this range, which is strange, but perhaps it was felt Old Pulteney was a brand already well known.
The only other official bottle that Balmenach has released in recent times is relatively easy enough to obtain is the Diageo bottled Flora and Fauna 12 year old, although nowadays you’ll have to have deep pockets and longish arms if you want to be able to afford it, as at auctions these regularly see prices above £150, with a white cap one seeing a peak of around £400. Madness. I’m fortunate that two white cap bottles I have were bought long before the auction fever started and I paid considerably less for them. I remember when the pinnacle of the F&F range was supposed to be the Mortlach 16, but certainly I’ve noticed the Pittyvaich and Balmenach are now often trouncing the Mortlach in prices paid. I guess it may be due to the fact supplies of both will run out quicker with one distillery being demolished and the other never releasing other bottlings, therefore having perhaps more demand or collector appeal.
The decanting bottle on standby.
But why is Balmenach so hard to come by? It’s a long standing distillery, one of Speyside’s oldest having been established in 1824 by James MacGregor, though there is a history of illicit distilling on the site and surrounds. Yet it’s distillate is hard to come by, certainly that in original bottlings and it’s the only to be as such. Apparently it’s style of new make is prized by blenders, both in house and other companies. It’s a heavy, meaty spirit, being produced using small stills, worm tubs and long fermentations varying from 56 to 100 hrs. All the other Balmenach whisky I’ve tried has been very satisfactory, so let’s see if an original bottling is any different.
1973 Balmenach 27 y.o Highland Selection
Region – Speyside Age – 27 y.o Strength – 46% Colour – Amber (0.7) Cask Type – not stated Colouring – not stated Chill Filtered –not stated, but not likely at 46%.
Nose – Honey and raisin dominate to start with. Apricot, orange zest, grapes, hint of strawberry, like a breakfast fruit salad. Waxy apple. Also has a slightly vegetal note of dry grass. Milk chocolate, caramel, vanilla more present after water added. Raisin note deepened after being left in the glass.
Palate – whoa! The palate offers a different experience to that offered by the nose. The fruits become a lot more tropical, with banana, pineapple and apricot. Caramel, raisins, sultanas, spicy oak, but not too spicy. The spirit is there but slightly in the background. Slightly waxy mouthfeel.
Finish – the finish is medium and slightly astringent. Oak spices, ginger and Szechuan peppercorns. Black tea tannic finish, but not overly so.
The dram
I’ve waited years to try this. I’ve a few 1973 whiskies, some from silent distilleries, but I couldn’t justify their opening. I had a second bottle of this Balmenach, and felt that due to a slightly damaged label, this could be the one deserving of opening. Was it worth it? To be honest, I’m not so sure as events of the past month have somewhat coloured my view, and I am reading things into my experience of this dram that aren’t perhaps there. The experienced whisky drinker knows that it isn’t always your palate that affects your judgement of a whisky experience, but so does your location, what’s going on at the time and your mental state. The reason for opening it undoubtedly will cloud my judgement and while I’ve deliberately tried to focus on the liquid, I can’t guarantee that I’m not being biased.
The smell as I was decanted during the recovery from the failed cork was heavenly, and this nose I felt was going to mean I was going to get an immense whisky. It’s funny, as a lot of the aromas didn’t dominate in the palate, having a much more tropical taste with banana and pineapple there. While Balmenach does well in a sherry cask, I really think that this one is made up predominantly of ex Bourbon, with either sherry cask in the blending or finish. The result was that I can honestly say it wasn’t the best ever whisky I have tasted in my life, but it was definitely the best whisky for the moment, hitting the spot. I was delighted not to be disappointed at all in my choice, but was constantly wondering if this deserved the sobriquet of special?
For the other thing that was running through my mind was the use of the word special. Why had I labelled in my mind this bottle as special? It’s so subjective a term and just because something is special to you, doesn’t mean it becomes the same to everyone. And yet our community of producers, marketers, consumers and geeks revel in terms often misused to death when they describe things that often aren’t as described. Rare, Limited and Special are the three words that seem to have become tired tropes due to overuse. I’ll not start on the paradigm of how a whisky has to break the rules, rather I’ll be saving that rant for another day.
It’s in my time away from some corners of social media that I’ve had time to reflect a bit. I’ve dipped in and out and every time I return it’s the same old thing, or worse. Whiskies are championed, yet there doesn’t seem to be any baseline on why this is good or special. They aren’t rare, limited and special is open to opinion. Criticism seems to be non-existent, especially when it’s after a freebie mail drop. A recent one on Bourbon Day saw only positive comments. So, from a bystanders view that may not have a lot of experience, you’d think that this spirit is the best thing since sliced bread, but it won’t be. It’ll be a decent whiskey, but if there is no such thing as a bad whiskey, then it’s swimming in the pool of other “not badwhiskeys”, with nothing truly outstanding about it making it AVERAGE. With the amount of whisky on the market, that’s easily lost in the sea of average, therefore you can understand why there will be marketing campaigns, but all they seem to produce are nodding heads. Do yourself a favour; drop out of the scene for a while then poke a head back in. You’ll get what I mean.
Yeah. Grumpy is back. But given the situation, it’s justifiable.
And this brings me back to my initial comments that special moments are all around us, but in whisky we need to be discerning as to what is special. I hate to say it, but the uncomfortable truth is while many of the whiskies I try are perfectly enjoyable, hardly any are what I’d call special. The problem is that special is hard to quantify, whereas rare is slightly easier but still open to interpretation. After all, isn’t every single cask technically rare, as there won’t be much more than 1000 bottles made depending on final dilution? My Balmenach is only quantifiable as special to me as I pass the distillery regularly, original bottlings are as uncommon as flying pigs, had a decent age statement and was distilled on the year of my birth. At 46% it could have been better with less dilution at bottling, but this single malt is still a solid performer. Was it any better than an independent bottling? So far I have to say yes, but the closest age statement of IB I’ve had is 15 year old, so hard to really compare accurately, but this was my best Balmenach so far.
The last independent bottling of Balmenach I have tried. Not too bad either.
Plus, this is a vintage Balmenach that is only going to get rarer as time goes by. I think I was right to save it for a special occasion and that I chose the right occasion. In the end it turned out to be two never to be repeated special occasions. We’ll all do well to remember that often we have more whisky that is saved for special occasions than there will be special occasions left in our lives. Don’t let time a run out on you before you embrace the special occasions all around us and taste that special whisky.
In memory of my best friend, who died 3 days short of her 50th birthday and was three days older than me. Our mothers were in adjacent beds in the maternity ward where we were born. Rest easy J, and thanks for everything you did for me.
Scotty’s Drams 