200 litres of Bottle !

WORLD’S LARGEST BOTTLE OF WHISKY IS A STEP CLOSER

30th July, 2012 by Martin Crummy

A specially created 200 litre glass bottle arrives in Scotland this week, as a distillery bids to break the record for creating the world’s largest bottle of whisky.

The Famous Grouse are planning to enter the Guinness Book of World Records with the largest bottle ever produced when the massive bottle is filled on 12 August – the brand’s birthday.

According to the company the bottle was in Prague over the weekend where Czech glass manufacturers BOMMA, is based.

The bottle, five feet and five inches tall, will hold the equivalent of 8,000 drams of whisky and will be an exact replica of The Famous Grouse iconic bottle.

The Famous Grouse is aiming to take the current record from Jack Daniel’s who entered into the Guinness Book of World Records last year by producing a 184 litre bottle.

Malts & Mobster.

The Golffather’s secret trip to Scottish courses

Public enemy ... Capone's police mugshot

LEGENDARY gangster Al Capone made a secret trip to Scotland where he shot BIRDIES, it has emerged.

The infamous mob Godfather played some of the country’s top golf courses and even bought a set of hand-made clubs with his initials engraved into the heads.

The hoodlum got hooked on the game while plotting ways of smuggling Scotch whisky into the US during Prohibition. She said: “He was in love with the game and with Scotland. I remember seeing his bag of clubs leaning against a wall in the house in Miami where he lived during his last few years.

He sailed to Britain under a false identity, clutching the bag of personalised clubs that had been shipped to him from Fife.A gun-toting bodyguard acted as caddie for America’s Public Enemy No1. But, because he teed off under assumed names, no record exists of his scores.Hand-picked professionals also pocketed huge fees for giving him private lessons in Scotland — but were warned to stay silent.Capone was said to be terrified a rival mob leader might challenge him to a match. And he could not be seen to lose face by backing down or being beaten.

“He told me they’d been made for him in Scotland and said he’d once gone there to play golf. They were wooden shafted and had his initials AGC.”

Capone is then believed to have played courses including St Andrews, Turnberry and Muirfield, where he used the cover of games to meet businessmen and crooks involved in exporting booze across the Atlantic.

WHISKY helped infamous Al Capone become America’s most powerful mobster.

By the time US Prohibition laws banned the manufacture and sale of booze in 1919, Al headed up a $100million Chicago crime syndicate. His operation supplied thousands of speakeasies with booze including Scotch whisky.
Federal agent Eliot Ness and his team, known as The Untouchables, finally nailed Capone on tax charges and he was jailed in 1931 — serving much of his sentence in grim Alcatraz.

One of his favourite sayings was: “You can get much farther with a kind word and a gun than you can with a kind word alone.”

He was paroled in 1939 but syphilis saw his mental health deteriorate. The crook couldn’t remember where he’d stashed his fortune

All Change At Bruichladdich !

July 23, 2012, 2:00 a.m. EDT

Remy Cointreau and Bruichladdich Announce That an Agreement Has Been Reached for Remy Cointreau to Purchase the Entire Share Capital of Bruichladdich Distillery Company Limited

PARIS, Jul 23, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Regulatory News:

Remy Cointreau UK Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Remy Cointreau Group has agreed to acquire Bruichladdich Distillery Company Limited ("Bruichladdich"), the Islay single malt Scotch whisky distiller.

The transaction marks the group's first move into the premium single malt Scotch whisky market, a category experiencing strong growth all over the world, especially in the very high-end segment. This deal sustains Remy Cointreau's long term value strategy, geared to investing into international premium spirits with strong "savoir-faire".

Bruichladdich, the progressive Hebridean distiller, was purchased in December 2000 by Mark Reynier and a group of private investors who resurrected the Victorian distillery developing it in to an exciting brand with worldwide acclaim.

Total transaction value amounts to GBP 58m, comprising of GBP 48m for the acquisition of the entire share capital of Bruichladdich and estimated debt of GBP 10m that Remy Cointreau will assume.

Jean-Marie Laborde, Chief Executive Officer of Remy Cointreau said: "The acquisition of Bruichladdich, a renowned Islay single malt with a rich and exciting heritage, is a great opportunity to enrich our high-end portfolio of brands and to confirm our strategy in the spirits luxury segment. We expect Bruichladdich to sit proudly alongside our other brands and we look forward to working closely with Bruichladdich's experienced and passionate management team".

Sir John Mactaggart, Chairman of Bruichladdich declared: "This is an excellent transaction for Bruichladdich, the Islay community and a wonderful opportunity for the company to reach its full potential, under the stewardship of Remy Cointreau with their strong distribution network and their experienced brand development. I'm confident that Bruichladdich will establish itself as one of the Scotch whisky industry's best known and acclaimed premium brands."

Completion of the transaction is expected to occur within 6 weeks.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Remy Cointreau, and Dundas & Wilson CS LLP acted as legal advisor. Moelis & Company acted as exclusive financial advisor to Bruichladdich, and Burness LLP acted as legal advisor.

About Bruichladdich

Bruichladdich, the progressive Hebridean distiller, has a rich and diverse heritage. Founded in 1881 in the western part of the island of Islay, the distillery was resurrected from closure in 2000, and now produces a single malt Scotch whisky recognized by experts the world over. Terroir, provenance and traceability are key tenets with organic and Islay barley the basis of extensive maturing stocks. Bruichladdich is distilled in exceptionally tall and narrow-necked stills for elegance, and matures in both French and American oak casks for variety. Bruichladdich single malts are distilled, aged and bottled on site, free from colouring and non-chill-filtered. Port Charlotte, a heavily peated expression, and Octomore, the world's most heavily peated whisky, are also distilled there.

www.bruichladdich.com

SOURCE: Remy Cointreau

The Distillery seller Mark Reynier @ Facebook says ...

The Best Laid Plans

The deal has been signed for Rémy to buy Bruichladdich for £58m, the highest price ever paid for a single Scottish malt whisky distillery.

I am conscious that, for legal reasons, there has had to be a dearth of information surrounding this news, and in that vacuum some strange stories have been circulating. Here’s my explanation of the recent turn of events. 

Bruichladdich was the first to be bought out of industry ownership and reopened as a private, operating, single malt distillery. It cost £6.5m in December 2000.

Banks were not accustomed to an individual wanting to buy a distillery. Disitlleries were, after all, the reserve of conglomerates and cartels. This hare-brained idea was turned down, out of hand, by every bank except one. And it took eleven months to get them signed up.

To have a chance to develop Bruichladdich along the lines I had in mind, time was essential. Private equity would be needed - and lots of it.

Finding equity investors was not so difficult, and knowing that the stocks of maturing Bruichladdich could be borrowed against, I knew how much equity investment it would take. At least I thought so.

Venture capital, corporate investors, or other sources of money would not be appropriate for the length of timeI had in mind. And any public subsidy or grants for such a project were, at that time, prohibited.

Consequently, I chose a number of ‘sophisticated investors’, those for whom £100k was not their whole retirement nest egg, and to whom I could go to for more if it was necessary; and it was.

The investors were people I already knew through my wine business, were recommended, or were solicited from Islay. This meant a larger group of shareholders than usual for such a private venture. But it meant the company would not be beholden to any one person or interest; and any single shareholder could sell up without endangering the rest of the project. With specific articles of association, no one could sell their shares to a third party before offering them to existing shareholders, securing the ‘back door’ from unwanted attention.

To provide guidance, I chose as non-executive directors a businessman, an entrepreneur, an accountant, and as chairman, a baronet. This diverse mix of skills provided the advice, the checks and balance, the support - above and beyond the call - that has been essential, and with out which this project would surely have foundered. The one field they weren’t experienced in, was brand building, and this would lead to continual friction.

To run the business, as executive directors, this iconoclast chose a distiller, a manager, and a salesman. As it turned out over the decade, we went through three of the latter. These guys have given their all, slogged away through tough, times and dark days. At times it was frustratingly turgid, at others breathtakingly fluid, at all times it has been intense, but together we have wrestled and dragged this business along to where we are today.

With 60 shareholders we were obliged by the chairman to run Bruichladdich as a mini-public company. This great discipline, while tedious at first, rapidly became an indispensable benefit.

Around three offers to buy the business a year are received - mostly ridiculous, opportunistic cranky ones from overseas. These are easily vetted and discarded. Occasionally a more serious one comes in and then we are duty bound, on behalf of the shareholders, to give it due consideration, and then dismiss it.

In 2008 the board decided that 2014 would be the crossroads for Bruichladdich. Stocks would be plentiful, sales would beat our maximum, the brand architecture established, the brand well developed. We would then have three options: float the company, sell it, or ‘stick’.

As forecast, the company’s healthy profits more or less plateaued between 2009 and 2011 as firstly, the company moved from smaller volumes of limited edition, older stocks to larger volumes of younger, own-distilled whiskies; and secondly, substantial investments were made in administrative systems, new spirit and the brand (as well as a couple of extraordinary items in 2011) as we developed, financed and positioned Bruichladdich for the imminent growth spurt.

With our own mature stocks finally coming on line, Bruichladdich has now entered the long-anticipated period of turbo-growth, from 2012 to 2014, with sales anticipated to double. This rapid growth was predicted in our original business plan, though I must admit, a year or two later than envisaged. Sales growth for the first six months of 2012 was 60% over 2011, profits for the year are expected to show an impressive increase.

However, with any rapidly developing company there comes a time when larger capital sums are needed to finance greater growth, and for us that point would come towards 2014.

Our shareholders have been a content bunch. Even though we had never paid a dividend (all our profits being re-invested in the business) they have been pleased to be associated with such a successful brand and its ethos. Despite subscribing to a five year investment, rather than a twelve year one, none had ever asked to sell up. Instead, there has been only total support and encouragement.

Having only re-affirmed our 2014 denouement strategy at a January 2012 board meeting, along came Rémy. We discussed their initial approach in a board meeting in March. There were exhortations of freedom and rousing expressions of defiance from my fellow non-executive directors.

I guess they were serious. For at a board meeting a month later, convened expressly to consider the indicative offer the chairman had received, the board voted seven to one against me to accept the offer.

There were, I believe, a number of influencing factors such as health, wealth and happiness. Perhaps in a less volatile economic environment my fellow directors may have taken a different view to this albeit generous and opportune bird in the hand...

With the chairman recommending the deal to shareholders who would receive an eye-watering return, acceptance by the necessary 60% - though with genuine expressions of regret - was a foregone conclusion.

Rémy, though a quoted company, is still directed by three members of the Hériard Dubreuil family and their CEO Jean-Marie Laborde. Having met the family and his team several times, it is clear that they are on a mission to create an impressive, uber-premium, spirit-orientated business.

They are a dynamic bunch of guys who clearly understand and value what we have built up here at Bruichladdich. Indeed, it was no chance encounter; they have been following our progress closely since 2007. When it came to it they were prepared to dig deep to get hold of Bruichladdich. They wanted Bruichladdich because it is Bruichladdich, not Glen McSporran. For that we should be very flattered.

Rémy have the resources to double production (creating more jobs) to take Bruichladdich, via their own distribution channels, to a level and an audience that we could only dream of. Rémy are taking the long view. A very long view. And that can only be a good and admirable thing.

I always knew the right suitor for Bruichladdich would come from outside the whisky industry, a company that would truly value what we have laboriously built up: even if I had written the specification myself, Rémy could not be a more suitable candidate. I feel confident that Bruichladdich will very much be in the right hands.

But...

There is a feeling of unfinished business, that 2014 denouement. Could we have provided liquidity to shareholders and raised that extra capital from a flotation on a secondary exchange such as AIM? Or, could we have merely ‘stuck’, stayed put at 100k cases and rewarded shareholders with dividends? Bruichladdich, after all, has evolved into a rather unique type of company.

As with other Rémy businesses, Bruichladdich will continue to be a stand-alone company, operated from Islay, with Islay maturation and Islay bottling; having paid such a hefty price for Bruichladdich, the last thing the new owners are going to do is un-bruichladdich Bruichladdich.

Simon Coughlin will continue to run the show as he has done so effectively, while Jim, though he says he will retire in June 2013, I have no doubt will continue, at the very least, with his black art. In essence, Bruichladdich has merely exchanged 60 small shareholders for one bigger one. Bruichladdich will carry on as before.

And me? For a while, I had planned to be spending more time in Edinburgh as my son starts school there soon. When the deal is completed in three weeks or so (the speed of the transaction being a testament to the systems and that pesky public company level of information) I will leave the company, my role no longer existing, my job at an end. I may chose to continue with Bruichladdich in some form or other - we’ll see when the dust settles.

Who knows? Perhaps there’s a new Adventure out there somewhere, waiting to be discovered. But it could never be quite like this one.

Ralfy says - I wish Bruichladdich well,   how things go with this Distillery I will not speculate about  but to say that the above statements confirm Distilleries are profitable and not enough is done in Scotland to promote new-start Distilleries.    Scotland needs a huge kick up the arse to collectively move away from the negative obsession with 'booze' and into a healthier more positive, and economically beneficial relationship with something this dreary, cold, wet, screwed-up little runty Nation does well,    

. . .  make quality flavoursome spirits of impressive variety and character.

Bruichladdich took a lot of inspiration from Springbank, whilst tub-thumping it's promotion at an impressive (and at times annoying) level,   but the quality of the new-make along with bottlings at 46%, vol: NO E150a and non-chillfiltration made for higher calibre choice for the whisky drinker. 

I hope this will continue.

  

I hope everyone keeps their jobs at this Distillery and I hope that local farmers can still sell their barley to the Distillery.    I hope that Remy Cointreau make better custodians than their predecessor Jim Beam Brands,    time will tell, we will be watching, and discussing, and I hope tasting some good Bruichladdich stuff for the foreseeable future.

A Glenfarclas moment ! (sherry info:)

Sherry and family

TIPSY-TURVY
By MICHAEL CHEANG

Our columnist finds out more about one of the few truly independent whisky distillers left in Scotland – Glenfarclas.

TWO words define Glenfarclas – family and sherry. The Glenfarclas Distillery is one of the last few truly independent family-owned distilleries in Scotland, and is also one of the only distilleries left in the Speyside region that have steadfastly held on to the old whisky-making tradition of maturing their whiskies in sherry casks.

Located in Ballindalloch, Scotland, Glenfarclas (which means “valley of the green grass”) was established in 1836, and came under the ownership of the Grant family in 1865 when farmer John Grant (no relation to the other famous Grants in the Scotch whisky industry such as William Grant of Glenfiddich) bought the distillery for £511.19.

“John Grant wasn’t even a distiller; he was more of a farmer who was looking to build a second farm. While looking for the land to do so, he came across the distillery and decided to take up the tenancy,” said Glenfarclas brand ambassador Ian McWilliam during an interview in Petaling Jaya recently.

Different ages: Glenfarclas boasts an exhaustive range of aged single malt whiskies ranging from 8-Year-Olds to 40-Year-Olds.

Since then, there have been a succession of John or George Grants in charge – the current CEO, John Grant, is the fifth generation of the family to own and manage the distillery (his son, George, is the current director of sales of the company).

“There has been a number of takeover bids over the years, but the family has always turned them down. It’s been passed down from so many generations that it’s unthinkable that they would sell it,” McWilliam said.

Glenfarclas is a very traditional Speyside-styled whisky, distilled in some of the largest stills in the Speyside region.

“The shape and size of the stills are very important to the style of Glenfarclas. We’ve replicated the exact size and shape of the stills that were used back in the very beginning of the distillery,” said McWilliam, adding that the distillery also owns its own private water source in the form of a small stream.

Ian McWilliam says Glenfarclas is ‘all about the tradition, the history, and the product’.

The main characteristic of a Glenfarclas whisky, however, comes from the influence of the sherry casks the whisky is matured in. Historically, Speyside whiskies used to be matured in sherry casks, which give them that recognisable soft, sweet and fruity flavour. However, sherry casks can be very expensive, and the difference in costs between sherry and American bourbon casks is huge, which explains why many distilleries are opting for the latter these days.

“It costs 12 to 15 times more to mature a whisky in a sherry cask compared to a bourbon cask. More and more distillers now are using refilled American bourbon casks, and only finishing the whisky in sherry casks,” said McWilliam.

“But Glenfarclas has never deviated from the tradition, because it’s just so important for the style of the whiskies – we’ve just continued looking for and investing heavily in the best quality sherry casks to mature our whiskies in!”

While he admitted that not 100% of their stock is matured in sherry casks (there are some new-make whiskies that are matured in bourbon casks), it is only because they do not want the sherry to completely dominate the fruitiness of Glenfarclas.

Spitfire Whisky gets airborne !

The launch of the Spitfire Whisky at the Meadowbank Inn on Tuesday. Displaying the boxed bottles are the steering committee, who are, from left - Mike Cosans, Freda Wells, Lindsay Watson, Mike Sowden Arbroath Guildry, Cheryl Stewart, Dale Hatton president Arbroath Rotary and Georgina Ogilvy with at the front president Harry Simpson.

Published on Wednesday 18 July 2012 13:46

ARBROATH raised a glass to the Red Lichtie Spitfire on Tuesday with the launch of a commemorative whisky.

The Spitfire was paid for using cash from funds raised by the people of Arbroath and the aircraft was launched in 1942.

And with the Red Lichtie celebrating its 70th anniversary this year, many events have marked the occasion including a military parade in the High Street and Spitfire flypast.

On Tuesday, the latest way to mark the anniversary was launched at the Meadowbank Inn with the Red Lichtie Spitfire whisky going on sale.

It has been produced by Tullibardine in Blackford, Perthshire and the artist Ray Will’s painting of the aircraft features on the front of the bottle.

Tasmania Whiskies.

It is 20 years since Bill Lark set the course for Australian whisky while out fishing in Tasmania.

Gazing out over Lake Sorrel with a dram in hand, the connoisseur realised the island was fertile ground for whisky production.

Having just hooked a juicy brown trout, Lark wondered whether he could ever capture his other great pleasure from local waters.

"I looked around and thought 'why isn't anyone making whisky in Tasmania?'

"We've got this wonderful climate and terrific brewing barley and peat bogs and all this beautiful clean water.

"It just seemed crazy."

Standing in his way was a 1901 law that prohibited small scale distilling. It had been decreed by the government of the day concerned by illegal moonshine. Rum at the time was a tradeable commodity.

Fortunately, politicians circa 1992 were more than happy to push for a repeal, and Lark's application to establish the first distillery in Australia was rubber stamped within days by Canberra's amber spirit lovers.

"The good thing about the whisky industry is that everyone likes it," laughs Lark.

"There are now about thirty distilleries around Australia doing wonderful things."

Distilleries have popped up all over Australia in an industry estimated to be worth about $20 million.

Mainland producers include Great Southern in WA, Smith's Angaston in SA and Bakery Hill in Victoria.

The biggest are based in Tasmania, where the likes of Lark, Nant, Hellyer's Road and Tasmania Distillery produce thousands of barrels a year, alongside a few small time franchises and independent bottlers.

All the major players pride themselves on a boutique identity, offering small batches that are manually bottled and packed, or even, as in the case of the Lark, single barrel bottlings.

Tasmanian whiskies are generally defined by full flavoured creamy styles with mouth-covering lingering tones, their distinct flavours driven by the island's soils and water.

Matured in the cast off barrels of ports, wines and bourbons, varieties are cut in a similar style to the Scots and often compared favourably to Speyside whiskies.

The quality of the local drop recently prompted the British whisky critic Dominic Roskrow to call for a Tasmanian category to be added to the World Whisky Masters awards.

After he visited Australia's distilling heartlands, Roskrow wrote of our producers: "They are experimenting and dabbling with whisky, but not alarmingly so.

"They are thorough, knowledgeable and passionate."

The reputation of Australian brands overseas has been building steadily with exports to Europe, Asia and North America increasing.

Among them is the Tasmanian Distillery's prize squeeze Sullivan's Cove, which won two world whisky awards, in 2007 and 2011, and was named the fourth best anywhere by the French critic Gregoire Sarafian.

Chief distiller Patrick Maguire says a more refined palate among whisky drinkers around the world has caused the spike in demand.

"It seems to be boom time for us and I know that some of the others are doing the same," Maguire says.

"Getting whisky in the bottle quick enough is our main problem at the moment."

But breaking into the local spirits market hasn't been easy.

In true tall poppy fashion, Australian consumers have often turned their noses up at homegrown whiskies in favour of a Johnnie Walker or Glenmorangie, especially when local drops can be twice the price.

"When we first started going to the various trade shows we had a lot of trouble getting people to even look at us," says Maguire.

"Australia isn't known for producing whisky and the brands aren't recognised, so people didn't really want to know but now it's a different story."

With quality never in question, the recent spike in Australian sales has been attributed to a carefully targeted trickle down effect.

Suppliers have set their sights on drinkers with influence, especially the connoisseur and collectors who advise their friends what to quaff.

Gradually, Australian brands like Overeem and Hellyers Road have crept into premium hotels and top restaurants and bars. Sullivan's Cove recently became the first to be sold in Duty Free.

"We're very fortunate that every one of us is winning awards to help put Tasmania on the world whisky map," says Maguire, who is also chairman of the Australian Distillers Association.

"That's the beauty of what we're doing down here, because everybody is doing it from the heart, not the head really."

With spirits recording double digit growth globally as beers and wines have flatlined, the demand for high quality whisky has increased at a head spinning rate.

Australia's first specialised shop, World Of Whisky, opened last year and its success has encouraged owners Ivan Myers and David Ligoff to launch a spin-off event, The Whisky Show later this month.

Weekly tastings at the Sydney shop have shown a shift in the demographic of the average whisky drinker too, from the stereotypical lonely old man to cool young couples keen to learn the art of appreciation.

While adding ice is a definite no no, Ligoff believes whisky has finally found its cool - and that the social side of enjoying a single malt is here to stay.

"Drinking whisky alone is like the sound of one hand clapping. Sure you can do it but it's not the same enjoyment."

Still fishing, now with his own whisky in hand, Bill Lark would no doubt agree.

The Whisky Show takes place at The Tatersalls Club, Sydney, on July 20-21.

Aussi Whisky getting busy !

The Australian Whisky Trail

Date

July 13, 2012

• Comments 6

Booze Hound

Simon McGoram is an authority on cocktails, spirituous liquor and bar room antics.

View more entries from Booze Hound

I have 24 small vials of whisky sitting in front of me and only a couple of days in which to drink it all. But what would not normally be a completely unusual occurrence for someone in my line of work becomes startling by the fact that these are all Australasian.

I've long known that Australia and New Zealand produces whisky and have even done my fair share of sampling – though I never thought one might be able to gather 24 different bottlings. What astounds me more is in a nation known for its history intertwined with rum is that there are now 18 licensed whisky distilleries (all opened since 1992) the length and breadth of the country. For the record that's about twice the number of rum distilleries currently in operation.

The island state of Tasmania has Australia's largest concentration of whisky distilleries. A current count shows that there are ten operating on this island alone. That's more than Scotland's famed Isle of Islay. Quantity doesn't necessarily mean quality, but it's still one of a number of signs that Australian whisky is closing the gap on the world's best.

So these samples? Well, I've been chosen to judge the inaugural Australasian Whisky Awards – a competition aimed at promoting the great whisky now being produced in New Zealand and Australia. It's being run by Sydney's World of Whisky - Australia's first and only store dedicated to whisky. It's also in conjunction with The Whisky Show 2012. Being held at Sydney's Tattersall's Club next Friday and Saturday, show organiser David Ligoff tags it as "Australia's greatest whisky tasting event, featuring the best whiskies from the world's greatest distilleries including many Australian top brands."