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The following are purely our personal thoughts and opinions (rants?). We make no claims as to their accuracy and we include
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December 2008
Packaging
Been a while, I was hoping to do this on a more regular basis but there you go. My thoughts (rant) this time is about the packaging of whisky. Lots of time and money are spent on packaging to attract the customers eye saying "buy me buy me" but what we have to remember is that although this works once it still needs the whisky inside to be good to back up the packaging. Balblair produced a fantastic new style of box, come display case for their whiskies when they relauched a year or so ago and it looked amazing, luckily for them the 1989 I tried was really good for a light highlander with floral and honey notes. Unfortunately this isn't always the case and if you've got someone to buy it once through the box, once they've tasted it they will never buy it again (if they have any sense). However often it is the converse that is true and the best whiskies can be found in the most dire of packaging - Gordon and MacPhail don't do exciting packaging, the Secret Stills 1.2 1986 came in a brown tube, no one would have bought this on looking at it but once tasted you want more. Blackadder have been the same - a black Blackadder box the same for all their whiskies but don't fret the whiskies are superb (especially the Raw Cask series). I'll add Signatory, Duncan Taylor and Dewar Rattray to the list as well, all these independents don't do posh boxes but these mentioned here do good whisky.
So what am I saying? Easy don't be fooled by posh boxes or put off by bad ones - look for content not the package, pay for what is in the bottle not around it. As me old dad said "you can't sup box".
Slainte
Andy
August 2007
Innovation
The whisky magazine (www.whiskymag.com) recently ran an article on
innovation and this got me thinking about what innovations I've seen that I like and which ones I am not too keen on.
The classic innovation has to be the use of different barrels and this has been going on since barrels were first used to mature
whisky in. This isn't the finishing of whisky in a cask but the full life of the whisky in a single cask type something other than
sherry or bourbon.
Bowmore has one of the best one for me in the original Bowmore Claret Cask, seen as a bit of a gimmick at the time, priced very
reasonably for drinking and now very collectable. It was a beautiful drink with the smoke and peat you'd expect but with fruity
hints. They did it again with the 1964 Fino cask (ok it is sherry but not the usual type), a veritable fruit salad in a glass but
blooming expensive due to the age and rarity. If you get a chance to try a glass don't turn it down and be very grateful to the person
that shares such a wonder with you.
I mentioned finishes earlier and although they can be fun (Glenmorangie Port Wood finish fits the bill) I sometimes think that
they have been used by some bottlers to try to hide some very average whiskies (or even some that the blenders wouldn't touch?).
We have to remember that whisky is about the whisky not the fact that someone has turned it orange with yellow spots and a hint of
Chateau Kwiksave by bunging it in a daft cask for 6 months. If it is a good whisky let it stand up on its own merits not try to make
it an alcopop.
This brings me nicely on to what I think has been the best innovation of recent years and it is from Glenmorangie - The Artisan
Cask. They've concentrated on the wood, the first fill of bourbon that has gone into the American oak and then the quality of the
whisky they've made and then the storage of that whisky. The result is what I remember Glenmorangie tasted like before it became
mass appeal and mass marketed - beautiful. The only problem is that the 0.5l bottle seems to last no time at all but that might
just be me.
So for me the best innovation has been concentrating on producing good whisky based on skill and craftsmanship not gimmicks
from the marketing department (my least favourite people after the accountants that closed Rosebank) who will no doubt come in
for more stick as the articles progress.
Slainte.
Andy
About the authors: Andy & Christine Rouse run Executive Tastings a whisky and wine tasting company located in Lytham St
Annes and they also have a range of whiskies available to buy. For more articles and reviews,
please visit their website at www.executive-tastings.co.uk.
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