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.
Is there such a thing as a happy accident? I certainly can’t say that up until now that I’ve ever had one (and I’ve had a one or two). My first car that I bought was written off in a rear end accident in Manchester while on the way to Cornwall. When giving the RAC recovery man the postcode for our destination, I think he was disappointed to hear me say the first letters were TR and not PR. Preston would have been an easy run, but Falmouth in Cornwall guaranteed his Saturday night out on the town would be trashed, pretty much like both ends of my car.
The car that shunted me was in a worse shape.
While that car was written off, the next car that followed was an identical copy, only it had a lot of reliability issues. I decided to trade it in and when all that was required was a 3 week trip offshore before I handed it over to the garage and received a Focus in return, 3 days before my departure my rear end took another direct hit. A bit of frantic phone calling saw me deposit the car at a garage before I left for work, and picked it up again on my return. How I kept a straight face when trading it in when asked if it had any serious accident damage I don’t know. Well, it wasn’t that serious…
Next car, next bash. Only damage visible. A new boot floor crumple zone needed. Just a minor bit of damage.
Thankfully it was several cars later before the next accident. Some doddery businessman decided to pull out to overtake without checking his mirrors and didn’t see me overtaking him. Minimum damage, but another insurance claim and a change of underwear. Nowadays I tend to avoid trouble, though the wife has been using our CR-V as a bumper car.
But it’s not just motoring accidents can cause mayhem and expense, this can also be the case in the whisky industry. I’ve heard tales of leaks in systems meaning fermented wash being held in the washback for over 500hrs, valves being opened that caused a loss of precious liquid, and of course we can’t forget the almost obligatory distillery fires that happened in the past. But the story of this whisky reviewed today has another type of accident that I’m not so sure was an accident at all. There is a rumour which I’ve heard from a couple of whisky retailers that the dram in consideration today isn’t really a blend as such, but is as a result of a new make having been put in a cask that previously contained Famous Grouse. Apparently the whisky is Macallan and was matured for 12 years. The story develops that the Grouse had affected the maturing spirit so much it had to be classed as a blend. Furthermore the rules on age statements meant that it had to be given a statement a lot lower than 12, which now gives us an idea how old Grouse is.
Great whisky. Not so great bottle design. Does the 6 years refer to the artist?
Accident or not, we have to find out whether this is an accident which is covered with fully comprehensive insurance or a hit and run by an uninsured driver.
Thompson Bros TB/BSW
Region – Blend Age – 6 y.o Strength – 46% abv Colour – chestnut oloroso Cask Type – Sherry / Blended Whisky Colouring – No Chill Filtered – No Nose – Figs, raisins, golden syrup, sultanas, hobnobs, milky coffee. Palate – Fruit cake, toffee, maple syrup, chocolate. Quite spicy building after the mid palate, with ginger, nutmeg, making an appearance. Medium body. Finish – Spicy on the finish but not too hot not overpowering. Nutmeg, cinnamon, orange zest, chocolate and a hint of more fruit cake.
The dram
Conclusions
I’ve had this article on draft for over a year, as I had attempted to review a new release at the point it was released, but it hasn’t really worked out that way, so quite a few of you who are reading this will have tried this whisky. Certainly most of the people that I keep contact with on Twitter have, so they will know that this is a banger. A complete bargain of a whisky and only £34. Thompson Brothers have knocked this one out out of the park.
I suspect I can taste the Famous Grouse, as it always makes me think of biscuits, whereas normal Macallan doesn’t. Not that I drink a lot of Macallan as I feel there are better things to be investing my time and money in when it comes to dramming . I’d hasten to add not because I think Macallan is a bad whisky, but rather I feel there are better out there and much better value, plus don’t come with the same marketing or aspirational b/s that artificially hikes the price.
Whether or not this was an accident is anybodies guess. The industry is full of stories that get told to visitors at distilleries during their tours, some of which are little more than a marketing hook, nobody liking a ropey story on a release more than Ardbeg. Or anybody who has visited Ben Nevis distillery can’t fail to snigger at the story of Hector McDram, which is a shame, as otherwise it’s a good tour. In summary, I’ve my doubts that in the case of the TB/BSW story was an accident at all, simply due to the amount released. There seems to be a few different batches, so I wonder if only the first cask was a mistake, but the rest were deliberately made, perhaps There was only supposed to be around 1000 bottles initially, but this seems unlikely judging by the number of people I have seen online enjoying it. It would be nice to have some sort of confirmation whether or not this bottling has exceeded that number or if more of the same will be forthcoming. I also doubt that there is a consistent recipe, as I’m sure Thompson Brothers would consistently ruin bottles of Macallan by putting it in a Grouse cask. Personally, I’d be considering coke.
Regardless, if you see this blend, buy it. You won’t get a lot more value for your money out there. It’s a banger.
I am very proud to say that it is not just me in the Scotty’s Drams household that has a problem. I am not making out that all who live in my house are dysfunctional, indeed we are all fully functional – sort of. But just as I have a problem in not being able to go to a whisky shop or distillery without making a purchase, my long suffering wife has a book addiction.
This is a great affliction to have, as books are things that we take time to read and understand. Being the often grumpy fellow that I can be, part of me eschews the modern fashion for everything being digital, though I don’t need reminding of the irony that I write a digital blog. We recently had a conversation at work about putting maintenance details into a digital diary on the computer, but for me I decided that I didn’t like it. While I can see there are one or two benefits for it, the issue for me is that I feel that I don’t take in as much detail compared to reading a hard copy. It’s annoying in a way, as I can’t see why I have that disconnect in liking a hard copy only, but for me having something in front of me that I can pick up, put down or most importantly – read anywhere I like gives me something more tangible to gather information from.
A recent purchase
At this present time I don’t have a lot of opportunity to be reviewing whisky, but I did think that I can share with you the experience that I get from reading books about the whisky industry. While I am planning on writing more reviews on silent distillery whisky going forward, I just haven’t had the time or energy to do it. I’ve hit a road block on the very first whisky that I tried when I realised that it required a bit more research than I anticipated, and involved me buying three books. I won’t be surprised if some of you wonder with the lack of output recently if I had to learn to read again, which is a fair comment though things took longer than expected.
But how do we really learn about whisky? Not everybody has the opportunity to go to a whisky distillery regularly – and even then, you aren’t going to learn too much as the process is essentially the same wherever you go. In most distilleries it will follow the process of milling, mashing, fermentation, double distillation and often cask filling followed by maturation. All that really changes are the times and volumes. As a veteran of many distillery tours I can say I only now learn perhaps a bit about the history of that distillery, any quirky tales and perhaps have a bit of craic with the tour guide. As I’m usually driving, the excitement of a tasting has to be done at home. You might be surprised to learn that I have only tasted at one distillery in the past 4 years, and that was Tomatin. And the samples from nearly every other tour sit in my study. (Sorry to any tour guides that are reading this!)
So for me, what better than a book to learn more about the whisky industry? I’m not just meaning about the drinking of the spirit, but I need to sate my fascination for the history of the industry – something that you can’t avoid while driving through Speyside on a regular basis. Surrounded by glens and small hamlets, it is easy to imagine all the tales of the illicit stills often told by some of the guides when recanting the history of their distilleries. Cardhu, Glenlivet, Balmenach and Glenfarclas all have a history of unlicensed whisky production. There is plenty of information out there, you just have to look for it.
This is where I bring you my latest whisky book purchase – Illicit Scotch, by S.W Sillett, published in 1965, and republished in 1970. It was mentioned briefly in another long out of print book that I needed to buy in order to research my first lost distillery review. While I didn’t think that it would contain much information about the distillery I was researching, I felt that it might provide a bit of context. For me, it didn’t reference anything I needed to know for my article, but what I can tell you is that I did spend an entire afternoon reading the book almost from cover to cover. I had started by reading a chapter while having lunch the day after it arrived, but the following day the book had me hooked, and it wasn’t put down until the final page had been read.
I’m not a book reviewer, but what I can tell you is that this book gave me a perfect insight into the start of many of the legal distilleries that now operate in the Highlands and Speyside. It was also an eye-opener to read of the ingenuity of the illicit distillers, the smugglers and the hard lives of the Excise man or ‘gauger’. It also details a lot of facts that will be useful when writing further articles that include the history of some of the distilleries, but for me it was the quality of writing that made this book a joy to read. I am going to have to clear out some of the dross on my bookshelves and give this the pride of place.
What irritates me about a lot of whisky books is that they aren’t really designed to be read cover to cover. As much as I value the Malt Whisky Year Book with each release, how many of us can actually say that we read it cover to cover? I read the articles within, then cherry pick the details of the distilleries that I am interested in. I see it as a reference book more than anything else. I’m going to be brave and go a step further and mention the annual Whisky Bible by Jim Murray. Sadly now discredited because of some of the language contained within, how many people really read it? The copies I have were only to see what he thought of some of the whiskies in my collection.
But regardless of this, the one thing I love about books is the ability to fall down a wormhole. From the references of one leading to the purchases of another, it’s so easy to get fully absorbed in a book. It’s a bit like those who completed YouTube when doing isolation as part of the Covid pandemic. I’d start on one thing and end up looking at something totally different. And to this end, it’s no different. I’ve been motivated to buy more vintage whisky books to see what authors were saying at the time when single malt whisky wasn’t as popular as it is now. My fall into this particular wormhole may delay the issue of more blogs, but hopefully will increase the quality of the ones I do write. After all, it’s definitely quality over quantity that matters, eh? No point in battering out insipid thoughts several times a week.
More vintage whisky books.
The vintage book worm hole led me to a guy called Robert Bruce Lockhart, whose family owned Balmenach distillery. As mentioned before, I’ve become interested in the history of illicit distilling and Balmenach has such a history. RBL was quite a character, having been involved in Malaysian rubber plantations, a player for a Moscow football team, was involved in a plot to kill Lenin, and became the head of the Political Warfare Executive during WWII. Apparently he was also quite popular with the ladies, perhaps as a prequel to James Bond or Captain Flasheart. I’m sure we’ll be hearing of this gentleman later, especially as I have a less common Balmenach awaiting opening in the very near future.
This promises to be a great read
Lastly, with the purchase of more whisky books, comes another plus point – no longer can my wife assume that parcels that arrive are whisky bottles!
Some things come out of the blue when you are least expecting it. Like a review from myself when I’ve been silent for so long. It’s mainly because of work and family life, but also there is an aspect of I couldn’t be bothered. For those of you who followed my twitter account, I guess that my disappearance was a bit of a surprise, but it had to happen. I’m ambivalent about Twitter now, whether or not the Scotty’s Drams account re-appears is still in the balance.
I was recently at work in Newcastle during a dry dock period for my ship when I got an e-mail that told me I had a delivery on the way. Confusion triumphed as I thought I had been good, and hadn’t ordered any more whisky. I searched through my inboxes to see if I had any receipt from unknown purchases, yet nothing showed up. I was eventually able to deduce that the delivery was from Whisky Shop Dufftown. Even more curious, as I knew that I hadn’t ordered anything from them, often preferring to call in when passing. Was I to be the recipient of somebody else’s whisky? A quick message exchange revealed I was going to lucky, as I was to receive a sample of a Whisky Shop Dufftown Exclusive bottling.
While this has been provided solely to say thank you for my supporting that shop, and was not intended to be reviewed, (I certainly haven’t been asked to promote this item), I have to be open about its source. Followers of this blog should remember that I don’t like being given samples explicitly to review, and have turned down offers in the past. However, I haven’t ever reviewed a Glen Elgin so have decided to take this one as my first. So in disclosure, this review will count as a promotion under ASA rules.
Whisky Shop Dufftown
Glen Elgin is a whisky that you don’t see a lot of, but there is a good reason for that – it is mostly used for blends, predominately it is used in the White Horse Blend. The distillery is located in the Morayshire hamlet of Fogwatt, just off the A941 on the stretch between Rothes and Elgin. There is a cluster of distilleries in the region, with Benriach, Longmorn, Glenlossie and Mannochmore being close by. Glen Elgin distillery was founded in 1898 by William Simpson and James Carle, producing its first spirit by 1900, but was short lived, closing under 6 months later and had intermittent production until 1906 when purchased by JJ Blanche. I wonder if Glen Elgin was a victim of the Pattison crash? It was next purchased by Scottish Malt Distillers in 1930, and starts producing spirit to be used in the White Horse blended whisky. The distillery continued production, with expansion in 1964 to increase the number of stills. The distillery closed in 1992 for three years so refurbishment could take place. In 2001, Glen Elgin appeared in the Flora and Fauna series to boost the range which had started 10 years previously with 22 original distilleries. Disposal of some of the distileries had depleted the range so 4 other bottlings were added. The others were Glen Spey, Auchroisk and Strathmill, with Glen Elgin leaving the Flora and Fauna with the release of a proprietary bottling, which I believe was released around 2004.
I have a little issue with Diageo Malt whisky. While they do make acceptable whisky, they just don’t seem to go beyond the bare minimum, with many of their bottlings not even making the enthusiast basic minimum of 46%. Sadly 43% is as much as you get in a core range, meaning that it’s probably been chill filtered and takes away some of the tasty goodness. What really galls me is the spirit they have at cask strength is usually pretty good. I’d like to refer this to my visit to Oban distillery, where we were given a sample of a 9 year old straight from the cask – delicious. It was a bit of a let down to be given the bog-standard 14 year old at the end of the tour, along with the obligatory push about the Games Of Thrones whisky on offer.
It wasn’t a one off – last year I made peace with my bank account and paid close to £120 including shipping for an Oban 10 year old Special Release. Yet again, another cracker of a whisky at a cask strength, albeit the price was a bit salty for a 10 year old, even if it was at a higher ABV. Going back further in my blog, I can recall the Allt Dour bought from Robertsons of Pitlochry. Distilled at Blair Athol distillery, its another Diageo release that needs to be bottled by somebody else to make the most of the distillate that is produced.
Independent bottlers are often the source of good whisky, often being a lot cheaper than original bottlings and you are more likely to find the benchmark standards of Non-Chill filtration, no added colour, age or vintage statements and a decent ABV. Having independent bottlers means that you can buy a cask and have it as an exclusive release, without having to rely on the whims of the producer. Such is this that arrived at Scotty’s Drams HQ from the Whisky Shop Dufftown (WSD). Bottled by Berry Brothers and Rudd, a bottler with a good reputation, the latest WSD exclusive is from Glen Elgin, distilled in 2008, making it 14 years old and bottled at a healthy 53.4%, with no added colour or chill filtering This is the sort of whisky that enthusiasts should be demanding.
The note accompanying the delivery read “It may not be to your taste, but it is whisky” was quite amusing, but never a truer word as been said in jest. Let’s see if the independent bottling trumps any original Glen Elgin I’ve had in the past.
Region -Speyside Age -14 y.o Strength -53.5% ABV Colour -Pale Gold (0.3) Cask Type – 1st Fill Bourbon Colouring -No Chill Filtered -NoNose – Honey and citrus. Lemon curd, creamed coconut. Toffee note becomes noticeable after adding water and the floral note also becomes more apparent to me. Palate – Gentle arrival considering strength, as I initially tasted without water. Slightly waxy with citrus dominant. Grapefruit, pineapple and a gentle peppery heat. WIth water, it became more oily, and there was a taste of green grape that was past its best before date. Finish – Medium – long. Slightly astringent – oak spices, honey, pepper heat continues, with the heat being slightly increased with the addition of water.
Thoughts
Quite surprising. I didn’t get many of the notes that the producer gave, but I got quite a few of the notes that were found by the Whisky Shop Dufftown, which for me is unusual. Bourbon maturation isn’t really my jam; I prefer something finished by a fortified wine cask of some description, but as WSD pointed out, it may not be my taste, but it was whisky. While it didn’t grab me immediately, over the course of the evening that I nursed the sample, I warmed to it. The biggest plus point for me was the subtle delivery of a higher abv, which didn’t leave my throat feeling like a towering inferno.
This was a limited bottling of only 227 bottles and is reasonably priced for a Single Cask 14 year old whisky at £83. While I am sure there are some people will moan at the price, lets put it into perspective of a 10 year old Diageo Special Release at £120 including delivery. Diageo charge the earth for their ‘limited’ SR editions, yet here is a rarely seen Glen Elgin that is single cask and gave me equal or more supping pleasure. Of course, you could be one of those who paid €385 for a 10 year old single cask Dingle that had around 271 bottles released, yet never really know the pleasure of drinking it. But thats something for another blog…
Thanks to Mike, Vicky and Kat for the chance to taste this dram.
All good things come to an end – a message to my Twitter followers.
It may have come to your attention that recently I deactivated my drams_s Twitter account. If you haven’t, then sit up and pay attention, for I have an announcement to make.
No, I’m not dying, incapacitated, hacked or being forced off the internet against my will. I’ve just come to the conclusion that I’m feeling disillusioned about social media in general. To continue my titles usual tie in with a musical theme, it could be said that “I still haven’t found what I’m looking for” and that to this end I need to make a hard decision.
Like the Texas song, the Thrill Has Gone.
The content I enjoyed and learnt the most from is no longer published with enough regularity (Bob and Matt, both of you need to write more!) and the time I have would much be better spent with a dram with real people or something like that. The truth is that there are a few reasons why I want to go, and now seems as much a good time to do so.
I was only ever on Twitter to promote my own blog, but got dragged into the social scene, which I have to admit I’ve enjoyed, having met some of you in person. It’s been a blast. Regretfully, I’ve become aware that I can’t spend as much time on social media as I could and it’s to this end I’ve decided to call it a day for now. I’ll still be around on Twitter on a personal account and keeping an eye on things, but will not be engaging in the same way for now.
You can still follow my blog if you found it amusing. Go to http://www.tastywhisky.net and you’ll see the latest blog. At the bottom of the post will be the option to follow me by simply entering your email, and when I write something, this will go straight to your inbox. I promise not to spam you, which given my output rate at the moment is unlikely, nor will I sell your details to the dark web, however tempting and financially lucrative that may be.
Thanks for the memories. Perhaps we’ll catch up some day.
Have you ever had something so precious or important to you that you won’t share it with anybody else? I’m sure that most of us have that little secret that we don’t want to share. There is always in the background that little pleasure that you know of something that nobody else does and for one moment you have got one up on your contemporaries and peers. These small bits of internally held glories can often be as a result of hard work and perseverance and not something you want to give away too readily, lest that wee advantage you have is lost. It is something that I have experienced in two social groups of people I mix in and in both of them this feeling has been building again.
As I live in the Highlands of Scotland, there are plenty of opportunities to get out into the wide outdoors. Camping and hillwalking are great activities and for those who aren’t aware, there exists a type of remote accommodation called bothies. A bothy for the uninitiated is usually an old farm or estate cottage in a remote area that has been abandoned. These are often restored enough to provide a basic shelter for hill walkers. These can be just four walls and a roof, to well maintained buildings with sleeping platforms and a fire place or stove. Almost none have running water and there is no electricity. The best you can expect is that there maybe a couple of seats and a table to get out of the elements.
Ryvoan Bothy, Cairngorms
Bothies are free to use, many being in the care of the Mountain Bothy Association. Until the dawn of the MBA, knowing the location of bothies was very much down to local knowledge, or just looking at a location on a map and walking in to see if the building there exists or is even habitable. Tents were always advisable and still are just in case the bothy is full. If you were lucky, then you might meet a fellow walker and around the fire exchange stories of experiences which may include the locations of other bothies if your fireside companion has deemed you worthy of the knowledge.
Fast forward to the digital age. Now bothy locations that are in the care of the MBA are now published on their website. One member of the MBA went further and published a book detailing the best bothies and how to get to them. No longer did you need to put any effort into finding a doss when out walking. It’s as though bothies for some had lost their magic, as now everybody could find them. Some people wanted to keep “their special bothy” secret and all to themselves without more hordes descending to spoil the wilderness and peace they thought they would have forever. There were also worries about unsavoury characters using bothies as party houses in the wild or vandalising them.
The book of the devil according to some, surrounded by more wholesome literature
It’s a bit of a double edged sword, as more people interested in bothies also means more people exposed to the MBA and in turn more potential people joining and taking part in the maintenance. Anyway, the misuse of bothies has been going on for years and I don’t believe it is appropriate to blame the Bothy Bible for all this as there is no proof this book did cause a quantifiable rise in problems. I have to say that I was against its publication and still am, although my views have softened somewhat and I’ve allowed myself the slight hypocrisy of buying a copy to see what the fuss was about. Being of a grumpy traditionalist nature, I feel you should earn your stripes and get out there and look for bothies yourself, but prepare to use your tent if you are out of luck. Conceivably that same concept could exist in whisky to a certain degree, as I feel that whisky has many parallels to these issues, generating internal quandaries in people who often have what would be described as misplaced ideals in what whisky represents. I’d even include myself in that potential moral misalignment but experience is telling me I may actually be right this time.
The vast majority of us will have a preference for a distillery or bottling. Even if you don’t, then I do. It is my wee holy grail, my top trump, my little bit of experience that I may have that you don’t and keeps me feeling warm and fuzzy inside. I haven’t ever had a bad bottle or nip from this distillery. It isn’t that well known, yet hides in plain sight. I pass it’s location every now and again, giving me a small bit of anticipation for when I taste it’s golden nectar once more. It was my inquisitive nature that discovered this distillery, not by looking at social media or taking others opinions into account, indeed my first taste was when social media was only physically talking to each other in the pub, well before smart phones and tablets. So let’s just call this distillery Glen Blabbermouth, as I did tell somebody my little secret and advised them to keep quiet about it. Before I knew it, my wee hint was all over the internet circles we share. I see it mentioned more and more, and while this gives me a smug feeling of being ahead of the curve on realising how good it is, I feel worried the name of one of my favourite distilleries is now receiving more exposure in social media.
Is the secret dram in this haul from a recent study reorganisation?
And here is where whisky forms a dichotomy. It’s supposed to be a social drink, it’s supposed to be shared. Don’t we (I) take part in whisky social media to pass on our experiences and learn from others? By holding something back then do we start to remove more from the community than we contribute? I feel that in my attempt to keep the secret I have from the wider community that I’m doing something wrong, yet the need to share experiences of a delicious and consistent performer burns more of a hole in the mental pocket than currency in the hands of a child staring at the shelves of a toy shop.
It’s not the oneupmanship that drives this feeling towards a veil of secrecy. Forget the days of FOMO, there is a new fear lurking in the mind of this whisky enthusiast, probably even more of us if we’re to be completely honest. Fear of Missing Out will become old hat. FOBO is its new companion – Fear Of Being Outed. It’s a fear that once the whisky that you hold dear becomes more in the community consciousness, that it will become more difficult to get and / or will become as expensive as a jar of Unicorn urine. Let’s face it – some of the bottles that have rocketed into the spotlight as flippers and other assorted parasites have decided are now part of the current whisky zeitgeist may as well be unicorn wee-wee as neither will be drunk due to the insane prices paid. This happened to Springbank – remember when it was relatively easy to get a bottle at RRP without queuing or ballot?
While supplies of Glen Blabbermouth are sustainable, it isn’t as common as some, with only a few official bottlings over the years, it’s mostly available from low volume independent bottle sales. It is maybe understandable why some people keep some whisky secrets to themselves. While I might be wrong to express this feeling, I am currently hoping the heat dies down eventually and I can live my life secure in the knowledge that my favoured whisky is not rising in price due to a sudden popularity when my secret gets out.
As for my indiscreet friend – is he in trouble? No, not really. When you hear of others enjoying bottles from your favourite secret distillery, there is a sense of satisfaction that you may have saved somebody from drinking sub-par whisky. I have also taken the precautionary steps of making another malt one of my secret go to drams. Only this one is definitely being kept secret.
One distillery that I am starting to pay a little more attention to is Linkwood. In common with a lot of distilleries in the Diageo portfolio, it’s not a brand with a massive presence due to mostly being used to provide spirits for blends. But it is unique on my blog, for I have already reviewed it twice and as it turns out, the last time wasn’t so long ago. While the only official bottle is the Flora And Fauna, there are plenty of independent bottlers releasing some very good editions. Gordon and MacPhail do a nice bottle in their distillery labels range at 15 years old. But another whisky bottler that has really made me sit up and take notice is Murray McDavid (MMcD). Both their Spirit of Speyside editions of Auchroisk and Inchgower that I tasted from last year were great, so when Aberdeen Whisky Shop advertised the MMcD Cask Craft range, I was standing up like a meerkat. These were marketed by flavour profile, and it was just coincidence that fruity and sweet happened to be a Linkwood. No age statement, only a cask type (Madeira Barrique), but at £32 a pop I felt it stupid not to. And here is what I found.
In front of the most famous toaster on WhiskyTwitter. Need to review some rowies!
Linkwood Fruity & Sweet (MMcD Cask Craft)
Region -Speyside Age – NAS Strength – 44.5% abv Colour – Old Gold, (0.6) with a hint of pink Cask Type – Madeira Barrique Colouring – No Chill Filtered –No
Nose – Raspberry ripple ice cream, hint of vanilla and cereal. Could almost be Cranachan. Sweet white wine. Floral note (rose water) which was similar to Turkish Delight appeared when I rubbed some spirit onto the back of my hand.
Palate – Light oily mouth feel. Quite spirit forward to begin with but not aggressively so, though can be a bit bitter. Raspberries, red currants delivers a small measure of astringency that I find in medium dry white wines. Toasted peanuts and honey. Not very complex at all.
Finish – warming medium finish, sweet with a burst of spices and milk chocolate. Vegetal notes appear, like kale.
The Dram.
Not the best Linkwood I have ever tasted. I quite like a Madeira cask whisky, but this one didn’t light my fire as much as I thought it would. It’s undoubtedly a young whisky, with a spirit forwardness, a lack of depth and also noticeably lacking an age statement. But let’s not get too picky. Here we are easily seeing the distillery character of a light, fruity and slightly grainy spirit, which I got more in the nose than the palate. To be disappointed is a valid point but perhaps the cask craft here is the subtlety in which the finish has been applied. It isn’t a bad dram, despite being a little thin. £32 wasn’t a bad price to pay for this but there are better value drams out there.
As I’ve reviewed this distillery now, it’s not my new secret favourite distillery, though it does have a tenuous link to the one that is. There’s one thing sure and certain – I won’t be telling you what is!
“Times, they are a changing” sang Bob Dylan. Whilst it is true that nothing stands still, as human beings most of us thrive on being surrounded by things that are familiar, that we are comfortable using, things that make us feel happy. People like things, it’s no secret. For me, my first love is music. While I’m not a talented musician in any way, shape or form despite owning a handful of musical instruments, I do love listening to music and have a CD / record collection to back that up. I’m sitting here wondering how many readers have actually noticed that most of my articles or reviews start with some sort of connection to music, usually song titles. The hardest one was my Speyburn 18 review but that nicely tied into thoughts about the life of Queen Elizabeth II.
One thing I miss more than the Queen (and believe me, there are plenty of those) is the passing of my favourite record shop in Aberdeen, One-Up records. I seem to remember them on George Street, as well as a shop in Rosemount Viaduct. Both shops closed to amalgamate to a larger, single shop in Diamond Street, just off of Union Street which was formerly the main shopping area of Aberdeen. Eventually they expanded again and moved to Belmont Street, but events beyond the control of the owners were already in play. The beginning of the end was in motion and I’m not sure if either of the two owners realised this at the time. If I have timed my release of this blog correctly, it will coincide with the 10th anniversary of the demise of One-Up. And I’m still mourning.
Gone… definitely not forgotten.
The passing of this record emporium is pretty traumatic, and while this may sound over dramatic, it isn’t. I used to spend hours there looking for new music when I got home from a work trip. Walking out with less than 5 albums was rare. But with an increase of streaming and a decline in the amount of people buying physical music, coupled with crippling rates, the end was nigh. With one of the owners wanting to retire, the fate of the shop was sealed. Never to return.
About 10 months after One Up closed, I moved to the Highlands and found a new independent record store – Imperial Records in the Inverness Victorian Market. A year later it too was gone, with an all too familiar story of falling physical sales.
Music and whisky do have slight parallels if you care to think of it in a similar way to me. If the wider market rejects it, eventually it is lost. Things we treasure will either change or disappear completely. While we are told that for whisky we’ve never had it so good with choice and variety, the thing is that has been the same with the music industry. It is my curmudgeonly feeling that just because we have more, doesn’t necessarily make it better. That’s an unfair statement to make considering both are just a matter of preference and taste. But while it could be argued that there are no such things as bad whisky or music, I’d argue there is but thankfully these are very much in the minority. Loch Dhu or Fujikai 10 are the ones that spring to mind that got universal disapproval from the enthusiast, becoming the Marilyn Mansons of the whisky world.
The whisky I’m tasting for this article is from a lost distillery, Glenugie. Formerly the most eastern whisky distillery in Scotland, it had a chequered history throughout its life until drawing its last breath in 1983, the first of many to fall in the mass industry cull of the next 2-3 years. I’ve already tasted a whisky from this distillery for this blog, and you can read this here. This sample was a very generous swap from @ayewhisky on Twitter, and I’ve had it for two years while waiting for a suitable occasion. It never came, but if remembering glories of the past such as the best record shop in Northern Scotland, I might as well reminisce about a distillery long gone.
Glenugie 32 y.o (1977) – Signatory Vintage
The original bottling. (@ayewhisky)
Region – Highland Age -32 y.o Strength – 46% abv Colour – Russet Muscat (1.3) Cask Type – finished in Oloroso Sherry butt for 7.5 years. Colouring – No Chill Filtered – No
Nose – Very reserved at first. Sweet. As it was coming to a more normal room temperature sitting beside me on the table, I could swear I could smell apples and honey. Rubbing a bit on my skin, the aroma reminded of of Dark Milk Chocolate with fondant, similar to those Fry’s bars you used to get. Back to the glass and I get the sherry notes appearing. Raisins, figs, dark cherries. A hint of dusty leather and beeswax.
Palate – medium to full body, syrupy but not too sweet. Turns astringent and slightly woody. Plums, figs, expresso, nutmeg. Slightly dusty again. Still no real burn yet, Dark chocolate orange. Gets more spicy on repeated sips, ginger and black pepper. Adding water made the mouthfeel turn buttery, and for me accentuated the sulphur note that I initially got in the finish giving a burnt rubber taste. But left to breathe for another 15 mins, this turned into a sweet drop, with the darker fruit gums getting added into the above mix. The astringency gets minimised; I can’t believe how sweet this turned.
Finish – The whisky develops into more spicy and astringent notes, becoming tannic and reveals a hint of sulphur but not in a too unpleasant way. The fruit is still there, but there is a more prominent sharpness to it, like passion fruit. I have a slight off note similar to a corked wine, leading to a slightly mineral / metallic combination right at the end. After adding the water and waiting, the increased sweetness left me with a long, almost candy sweet finish, reminding me of sugared almonds. The metallic and mineral notes almost vanished, with fruity notes replacing them. A surprise finish for a dram initially that I wasn’t enjoying as much as I thought I should be.
My sample
You don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone.
There’s another music tie to my blog which any Joni Mitchell fan should recognise. It occurs to me that this is probably the very last dram from that bottle, and could very well be the last Glenugie I will ever taste. I would imagine that there can’t be a lot of stock left, if any. Even if there is, the chances of me being able to afford it are minimal. Who would have thought that one day Glenugie would close never to reopen? I remember childhood trips to Peterhead seeing the old distillery on the way past then bit by bit they knocked it down so that the land could serve another purpose for the offshore industry. In a paraphrase again from the same Joni Mitchell song, ‘paradise was paved’ and now is lost.
The fall of One-Up could be a tale for people in whisky to take notice of. Both have suffered (or could suffer) in part due to events outwith their control. For One-Up it was the loss of their market thanks to online streaming and downloads, negating the need for people to own a physical product. While the whisky industry doesn’t have that same issue while it’s in boom times, I feel that the industry has some serious underlying health issues that could cause problems.
The UK economy is not in the best of health either, but some of this is down to governmental ideology and incompetence, but also one has to look at the cutbacks at Goldman Sachs (here and here), Morgan Stanley (here), Barclays, Morgan Stanley and Citibank (here) as well as the warnings from the World Bank (here and here) that all is far from well in the global economy. If I was a luxury goods manufacturer then I’d be concerned, and let’s face it, whisky is such a thing. And there are signs that alcohol consumption hasn’t returned to pre-pandemic levels, indicating that globally the consumer markets aren’t going the way the producers may wish – see this link – Alcohol sales lower than pre-pandemic level in Europe
The dram. Going to meet its destiny.
I’ve been speaking of the possibility of recession for a while now, more so since the global economy has been distorted by the COVID pandemic, and Europe has been affected by the Ukraine war, These sort of events aren’t predictable, but this is also a good reason for why unrestricted growth of an industry isn’t always a good idea, yet this is what is happening within the collective whisky industry now. Many distilleries are going flat out to make up stocks, with the past decade of expansion to existing sites such as Macallan, Glenfiddich and Glenlivet just to name three. There are a wealth of new distilleries over the past 10 years with many more yet to start selling a product. If there is to be a recession, have the distilleries yet to start missed the boat? Could be a disaster for those depending on selling 3 year old spirit, especially if nobody has the money to pay some of the adventurous prices some think is an appropriate charge for bare minimum aged spirit.
While I maybe wrong, over the past couple of years I have been mentioning that recession has been inevitable, though I have no idea of the size.
And this is the trouble with unrestricted and untempered growth; nobody is looking to the downsides. So far there is no sign that consumers are slowing down, but these things can happen suddenly, just like the effects of natural disaster. Producers have to be able to predict trends of what will be popular in 10-20 years time when the spirit matures, and that my friends is near on impossible to do. It’s like driving down a dark country lane at full speed, and suddenly switching off your headlights. You have an idea of the way ahead, but realistically you have no true idea of what is coming, and there could be a crash. In the event of that situation, one should have thoughts and prayers for those investing in casks. Should there be a change in customer demand resulting in a downturn in demand for matured whisky, then what about those privately owned casks? Who is going to pay a premium for a cask that there isn’t a demand for? Especially if everybody is trying to sell their “Glen Investment” casks at the same time, when many may mature at the same time? Could be sad times for those who let brokers overcharge them in the first place.
The health of the industry in my opinion is developing another sickness, and that of premiumisation. We’ve seen prices go up with the cost of inflation, but not all increases are so driven in my opinion. Talisker 18 doubled in price, Lagavulin 16 took a price lurch in the wrong direction. Premium whisky is going to place the whisky enthusiast drinker into narrowing price points they don’t want to be in, with more aged whiskies being less affordable. So while we have a booming production rate now, we could still effectively end up with less choice, and falling demand in one sector as many more become reluctant to push past the £100 barrier for a bottle.
Twitter user @whiskyresource has ran a poll for 24 hrs to get an idea of how enthusiasts see the future of whisky and it doesn’t paint that rosy a picture. Judge for yourself. NAS whisky is a backwards step that many enthusiasts reject. We’ve been pushing for years to gain more transparency, as an age statement gives us some sort of quantifiable quality. While it means we aren’t guaranteed of quality, we’ll get an idea that we aren’t paying through the nose for the youngest possible spirit that NAS bottlings can hide.
In the second poll, the next question is whether or not people are reconsidering their comfort zones for buying whisky. And it seems many are. I’ve heard stories that some drinkers are rejecting the primary market and using auctions for purchasing core bottles rather than retailers. Not only can this be a lot cheaper when buying bottles still easily available, producers and retailers should remember that this doesn’t put the money in their pockets.
Make of this what you will. But I agree with the result. Bottles like Glendronach 18 are now off the cards and I’m grateful for the bottles in storage. Both polls aren’t conclusive but show what some of the online community think.
I don’t think things will be as bad as in the 1980’s yet worryingly, many pubs are really struggling at the moment and it’s getting more regular to hear of breweries in the craft beer industry that have fallen victim to economic pressures. I’m hearing rumours that the gin boom is over too. And it’s due to get worse with the Bank Of England telling the BBC that “the UK is still likely to fall into a long, shallow depression.” This, coupled with staffing issues in many industries giving workers a good basis in pushing for higher wages will keep prices high and not necessarily helping inflation fall. But what if a predicted UK and global recession is deeper than predicted? It is not outside the realms of possibility we’ll see distilleries close, even if only temporarily. What if the war in the Ukraine affects the global economy negatively again? This is a risk that may be very real, and out of control of the whisky producers.
While I don’t mean to preach that the end of the world is coming for the whisky industry, which has been cyclic for most of its existence, the truth of what goes up must eventually come down still exists. Will it be the higher the climb the greater the fall? Make the most of what we have. Value the good whiskies. People finding how good the likes of Imperial, Glenugie, Convalmore and others can be are now faced with limited stock or non-existent stock, with what is available already being in bottles. Enjoying quality whisky now could be key to our experiences as affordable aged whisky becomes out of reach for us. Indeed, this Glenugie is already out of my drinking comfort zone, but something more relevant is that Glendronach 18 was under £80 and now, easily £105. Once a staple, now a luxury to many more people.
It’s little wonder I would find concerning when I read this latest article from the Herald Scotland where a Borders Farmer is looking to find funding to the tune of £53 million pounds to fund a brand new grain distillery. The article mentions the fact fianancial recession, the aim of premiumisation, and supplying grain neutral spirit for gin. I read it in disbelief as I somewhat believe he’s missed the boat totally. I hope it works out for him, but the timing doesn’t seem to be on his side in my opinion. The other side of the story though is that speaking to someone with more insight into the industry than I have is that this plant could well be needed if Diageo pull the plug on supplying grain whisky to other blenders. Still, a brave decision to have to make when hedging your bets.
A fitting thought to attach as the conclusions from the tasting could be thus – now that the whisky is gone, the long sweet taste is reminding me of a time gone by as a child. Indeed, I still was one when Glenugie closed. My younger brother was born in the year this dram was distilled. Nobody had an inkling what was to be round the corner for the distillery or the industry. Perhaps this is where we find ourselves again now?
I’d be a fool in failing to acknowledge any potential upsides – the main one being that my opinion maybe completely wrong, and that we’ve really never had it so good and will continue to do so. Should interest rates not continue to climb to control inflation, and energy prices drop significantly, disaster will be averted. In the rhythmic ups and downs of the industry, probability means I’ll be right to some degree eventually, but I suspect it’s closer than many may want to think. If it comes to pass that the whisky enthusiasts have to endure limited choice due to price increases or lack of availability, then perhaps now was a good time to have my Glenugie, while listening to some music bought from One-Up and thinking about how good things used to be.
Scotty’s Drams 