Whisky Business

You would think that Scottish distillers know what’s going on in and around their distilleries. But anything happening beyond the distillery grounds seems to remain a mystery for them.

Just a mixed bag of assorted whisky wierdness I came across.

For a whisky blogger these days there are few things as convenient as joining the Diageo bashing game. But it often gets forgotten that many of their distilleries make a bloody good whisky!

Yesterday saw the announcment of Scottish Spirits Ltd. to offer whisky in cans in some markets in Central and South America. The company was in the news last year because of misleading ads. I think it’s time to look a little closer.

I have to tell you a secret: I am a masochist. Sometimes I just can’t resist the urge to read whisky regulations. In the Standards of Identity for Distilled Spirits of the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau belonging to the US treasury I found an interesting passage

End of September 2010 saw a major public relations effort by Scotch market leader Diageo to convince journalists and bloggers of the qualities of their new Roseisle distillery in Elgin on Speyside.

The Macallan officially launched their new “Ice Ball Serve” machine yesterday, a heavy brass device that can mold chunks of ice into spherical shape. It basically is a branded adaption of a Japanese invention already on the market.

Today, thousands of Ardbeg fans were sitting in front of their computers with itchy fingers and increased saliva flow, eagerly awaiting the launch of the new Committee realease Ardbeg Rollercoaster. In the official announcment mailed out a week before the launch, Ardbeg had recommended them to order from their website as it would be quicker than by mail.