Whyte & Mackay gets 13% share of Indian whisky market in only five months
In only 5 months the Whyte & Mackay group have 13 per cent share in India’s single malt whisky sector!
I suppose it was inevitable after Whyte & Mackay (W&M) was acquisition for £595 million in 2007 by Indian entrepreneur Vijay Mallya and his United Spirits group.
John Beard, chief executive of Whyte & Mackay says
“The UK has some quite significant issues related to taxation and everyone seems determined to tax the category continuously and therefore we need to look internationally. To date we have been quite dependent on the UK but that dependency is reducing year by year.
India is a hugely attractive whisky market for the future and we have a route to market through United Spirits which really is quite remarkable. It has 60 per cent of the market, so six out of ten bottles of spirits sold in India come out of our parent company.
Already we have gained a 13% share of the malt whisky category which in time will be a very, very significant profit opportunity.
If you compare India to China the interesting comparison is that China is not only about whisky but cognac whereas in India whisky is what consumers drink.”
He should look at Uruguay where there is a huge number of whisky drinkers just waiting for some exceptional whiskies to make their market entrance!
The Dalmore and Jura malts (owned by Whyte & Mackay) have a lot to do with this i suspect…. both are VERY nice single malts.
The Dalmore Cigar Malt & Jura Superstition being two of our personal favourites.
In Whisky related news they have also re-branded Glayva liqueur in a move that will see it go head to head with rival Drambuie in America.
I am hoping that includes South America as at the moment Drambuie has no competition here.
Published in categories: Whisky News
English Whiskey
Its been a century since the English last had a single malt for sale, but recently St. George’s Distillery in Norfolk has started to produce Whiskey in England once more!
David Fitt, distiller at St. George’s Distillery in Norfolk, said the brew is already attracting attention north of the border, the Daily Mail reported. This includes angry e-mails — one read “You’ve betrayed Scotland” — but the firm says it is already shipping about 500 bottles a month north.
The English Whisky Co., which operates the distillery, produced its first barrels in 2006. But the drink could not be called whiskey until it had been in the cask for three years, so the production so far has been called single-malt spirits. The first whiskey is set to hit stores Dec. 16, in time for both Christmas and Hogmanay, the Scottish New Year.
Interesting stuff! Good on the English for giving the Aqua vitae a go, considering the first whiskeys do not come out for another 16 days i can only hope its nicer than the Californian Whisky St George.
That stuff is a crime against whisky in my opinion!
Although Cask Strength thought it was ok.
St George Single Malt Whiskey-Alameda California, 43% alc, no age statement, but its less than 8 (they’ve only been doing for 8 years) and tastes like 5 or 6. A reddish tan malt in color. Smells of bartlet pears, young cereal, prominent oak and lightly of pine. The finish has a light nutmeg flavor and a sweet soft cereal flavor. A gentle introduction to single malts that isn’t overly sweet and has a lot to offer.
Published in categories: CaskStrength, Whisky News
A quick note on Connemara whiskey.
A quick note on Connemara whiskey.
Irish whiskies hadn’t been peated for several hundred years before the fine folks at Cooleys distillery in Dundalk restarted the process back in the 80s. Until then the Irish whiskey had been more about the barley than the peat, preferring smoothness to smokiness and sweetness to the cured meat overtones of the Scottish counterpart.
Connemara peated Irish whiskey manages to combine the easy drinking and generally awesome experience of a fine Irish malt with the smokiness that would be signatory of an Islay malt. The results are phenomenal in each one of the expressions that they have released. The first peated Irish whiskies in 300 years come out swinging.
See the over enthusiastic and slightly drunken notes that follow.
Connemara Peated Irish Malt 1 ABV 40%
This is a lovely wee whiskey that starts off with a kind of hot buttered toast smell then goes into honey and hazelnuts and a kind of chocolaty overtone. You leave it for 40 seconds and go back for another sniff. The same aromas are still there but after that there is a massive surge of peat, unexpected at first but after the initial surprise you can see how well it fits in with the other more irish style characteristics. An initial taste yields orange peel and apricots and a smidgen of beach campfire. The finish hangs around for a long time with a light citrus ending followed by a cigar style contraction on the back of your tongue.
8/10 Gutsy but gentle whiskey. Amazing introduction to Irelands peaty side.
Connemara 12 year old ABV 40%
The 12 year old is a different beast to the regular Connemara. It starts out with a more genteel floral smell with a really pleasant pine resin whiff. It gets a bit like chewing mint leaves covered with nutella (in an incredibly nice way). The peat smoke is quite subtle. It tends towards pipe smoke rather than the campfire style of the regular Connemara.
The first thing you notice on the taste is the pipe smoke again. It comes in first shortly followed by bursts of honey, then smoke, then kippers, then melted butter. This stuff is liquid gold. The finish is more ashen than you would normally expect from an irish malt. Pleasantly nutty.
8.5/10 A peated malt that is smoother than oiled silk. Awesome.
Connemara Cask Strength ABV 60%
Jesus Fucking Christ. This is one for the record books. The incredible strength of this big hairy aggressive bastard of a malt is something to behold. The first sniff is an assault on the senses. Don’t sniff too deeply or you can anesthetise your nostrils with the alcohol (no, seriously). The brilliant crystal clear explosion of malt and smoke blend together like peaches and cream, in bursts and bursts of amazing sensory overload. The inital taste is understated and smooth. The first impressions are of brown sugar caramelised over freshly made porridge. Then the peat shows up. Smoke just keeps creeping in over and over again revealing another layer every time to this fantastically complex malt. The Irish signature smoothness keeps the peat in check (just about). This is something you should toast the arrival of your first child with. Or to celebrate someone’s wedding, Or world peace Or it being a Tuesday.
9.5/10 Smoother than Selma Hayeks inner thighs but stronger than Mr T and Chuck Norris on steroids. Buy it. Buy it now.
Published in categories: Connemara, Information, Whiskey
Drilling for Scotch whiskey In Antarctica
A beverage company has asked a team to drill through Antarctica’s ice for a lost cache of some vintage Scotch whiskey that has been on the rocks since a century ago.
The drillers will be trying to reach two crates of McKinlay and Co. whiskey that were shipped to the Antarctic by British polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton as part of his abandoned 1909 expedition.
Whyte & Mackay, the drinks group that now owns McKinlay and Co., has asked for a sample of the 100-year-old scotch for a series of tests that could decide whether to relaunch the now-defunct Scotch.
Workers from New Zealand’s Antarctic Heritage Trust will use special drills to reach the crates, frozen in Antarctic ice under the Nimrod Expedition hut near Cape Royds.
Al Fastier, who will lead the expedition in January, said restoration workers found the crates of whiskey under the hut’s floorboards in 2006. At the time, the crates and bottles were too deeply embedded in ice to be dislodged.
The New Zealanders have agreed to try to retrieve some bottles, although the rest must stay under conservation guidelines agreed to by 12 Antarctic Treaty nations.
Fastier said he did not want to sample the contents.
“It’s better to imagine it than to taste it,” he said. “That way it keeps its mystery.”
Richard Paterson, Whyte & Mackay’s master blender, said the Shackleton expedition’s whiskey could still be drinkable and taste exactly as it did 100 years ago.
If he can get a sample, he intends to replicate the old Scotch and put McKinlay whiskey back on sale.
“I really hope we can get some back here,” he was quoted as telling London’s Telegraph newspaper. “It’s been laying there lonely and neglected. It should come back to Scotland where it was born.”
They’re lucky that its not me that is going to drill for the whisky! I’d be stashing a bottle of that for myself!
There must have been some reason that the whisky is no longer made though, could it possibly be that the Whisky wasn’t great? Then again you have to wonder if it wasn’t that great, why Shackleton would take the two crates there in the first place?”
Published in categories: Whisky News
Scotch Whisky Association industry attacks the Scottish National Party over “crazy” campaign for minimum prices
The Scotsman reports that
The Scotch whisky industry also argues that France could become an issue if the SNP presses ahead with its policy on alcohol. France is the second-biggest market for Scotch whisky. Hewitt warns it has its own strong protectionist reasons for instituting a potential copycat ban on minimum pricing for Scotch.
Hewitt said: “I was across in France very recently and sources told me that there is strong anecdotal evidence Bordeaux wines and champagne are currently in a parlous state. Their sales are down by value by about 40 per cent and 25 per cent respectively.
“The French (who do not tax wine) might well try to favour their wine trade further in these circumstances at the expense of spirits, where Scotch is the biggest seller in France, and dress it up as a health measure.”
The SWA has estimated that French minimum pricing would reduce whisky exports by £86m a year.
Taking the point of view of a Whisky Fan living abroad in a poorer country than France, any increase in Tax would have a horrible affect on the cost of Whisky here. At current exchange rates the pound is worth about 6 Arg Pesos. So just a couple of extra pounds on the Whisky cost would be a HUGE increase in price here.
Hopefully the SNP will reconsider their view point as we don’t want to end up having only Fernet available here!
Published in categories: Whisky News
Whisky in Islay
Just off the west coast of Scotland is the spiritual home of Scottish Whisky, the Island of Islay. Islay is known for its incredibly smoky peated malts. The Island has 8 distilleries with one more on the way at Port Charlotte near Bruichladdich. The island even has its own kind of subsections.
The Kildalton Distilleries
Ardbeg, Laphroaig and Lagavulin are all based on the south western part of the Island of Islay, these distilleries produce some of the most amazing Scottish whiskies that have ever been bottled with Ardbeg being particularly complex and amazing and wonderful and great and the greatest argument for taking up alcoholism there has ever been.
Laphroaig boasts the proud claim that it is the Prince of Wales’ favourite whisky and Prince Charles does visit there at least once a year to visit his casks and generally be a jug eared patronising wanker to everyone he meets. Laphroiag is alone in the Islay distilleries in that its produce is bloody awful stuff that tastes like someone has poured cheap vodka into a tobacco chewer’s spittoon (but that’s just my opinion).
Lagavuilin on the other hand produces some quite heavily peated malts that are finished in sherry casks and are awesome. Lagavuilin is the kind of stuff you have after a big dinner with roast beef and gravy. The independent bottlings are quite high in alcohol too.
All the Kildalton distilleries are well worth a visit, with Ardbeg being a particular favourite.
The Loch Indaal Distilleries
Bruichladdich and Bowmore are on opposite sides of the shores of Loch Indaal. Of these have quite different house styles, well Bowmore has a house style and it’s an interesting one. Bowmore does peaty whiskies, and they do them very well and there are a lot of interesting finishes coming from the Bowmore distillery. There’s a lot of sherry and port wood finished and generally quite quite delicious. Nom.
Moving swiftly onwards to the eclectic madness of Bruichladdich, there needs to be a little bit of explanation. Bruichladdich just do whatever the hell they damned well feel like. Most distilleries have standard, 10 or 12 year old malt for general luxurious consumption, then a slightly older one for the occasional treat and then a 20+ for the birth of your first child or something.
Bruichladdich bottlings at time of writing, (there’ll probably be more by next week). 7 Year Old ‘Waves’, Peat, 2001 Resurrection, LINKS ‘K CLUB’, 15 Year Old Links 8 ‘Torrey Pines’, 15 Year Old Links 9 ‘Royal Birkdale’, LINKS 15 Year old Valhalla, X4 Quadruple Distilled (as featured in Oz and Clarke!), 1998 Manzanilla, 1998 Oloroso, Infinity #2, 16 Year Old Bourbon, 18 Year Old 2nd Edition, PC7 Port Charlotte Unity 61%, 20 Year Old ‘Islands’, 21 Year Old Oloroso, 1984 Golder Still, 1972 Legacy V, 1972 Legacy VI, 40YO, Valinch.
See?
Mental.
The Sound of Islay Distilleries
The Distilleries up on the north east coast are Caol Ila and Bunnahabhain. Bunnahabhain is kind of the forgotten distillery of Islay. It’s quite a large establishment really by comparison with some of the others but it’s not quite so high profile. This is a bit unfair really as Bunnahabhain has some gems of whiskies amongst their bottlings. The standard 10 year old is medicinal and lightly peated and sweet and nice and precisely everything an Islay should be.
Caol ila has about 90-95% of its bottling being taken away and put into blended whiskies for other distilleries. I have been fortunate enough to try some of the wood finishes that Caol Ila are going to be bottling for the Scotch Malt Whisky Society and they are amazing. Well worth a look if you’re ever on the Island.
Kilchoman
Kilchoman is in the area of Kilchoman church (not near anything really). It’s a fairly new distillery that has been distilling for the last 3 years or so and rather interestingly they released some of their new make spirit in miniature bottles. Scottish whisky cannot officially be called Whisky until it has been in the cask for at the very minimum three years. Kilchomans new make spirit is probably the best in Scotland with the possible exception of Ardbeg. Keep watching for the first release casks.
The other distillery that was mentioned at the start is the new one opening up in Port Charlotte under the stewardship of the guys from Bruichladdich. Might try to buy a cask!
The Island that is the home of Scottish Whisky is a beautiful and amazing place to visit, I would urge everyone to go there and try the amazing whiskies on offer.
Published in categories: Information
We’re Back!
We have a new site design Thanks to www.gingerswan.com!
There is a lot of spam to clean up!
but here goes 
Published in categories: Site News
Nuke bomb tests can help to identify fake whisky (New Kerala)
Bottles of vintage whisky can sell for thousands of pounds each, but industry experts claim the market has been flooded with fakes that purport to be several hundred years old but instead contain worthless spirit that was made just a few years ago.
Scientists have found, however, that minute levels of radioactive carbon absorbed by the barley as it grew before it was harvested to make the whisky can betray how old it is.
Researchers at the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, which is funded by the National Environmental Research Council, discovered that they could pinpoint the date a whisky was made by detecting traces of radioactive particles created by nuclear bomb tests in the 1950s.
They can also use natural background levels of radioactivity to identify whiskies that were made in earlier centuries.
Dr Tom Higham, deputy director of the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, said: “It is easy to tell if whisky is fake as if it has been produced since the middle of the twentieth century, it has a very distinctive signature.
“With whiskies that are older, we can get a range of dates but we can usually tell which century it came from. The earliest whisky we have dated came from the 1700s and most have been from 19th century.
“So far there have probably been more fakes among the samples we’ve tested than real examples of old whisky.”
A prime example of them discovering a fake was an ‘1856, John McWilliam’ bottling of Macallan
Which was since shown to be fake.
Published in categories: Whisky News
A whisky a day kept Doris OK – for 98 years (Lancashire Evening Post)
From the Lancashire Evening Post
She attributed her long life to a nightly ‘tot’ of whisky – and a passion for singing.
Great-gran and former mill-worker Doris Whittle, once of Derby Square, Preston, died at the age of 98 on March 2.
They don’t say which Whisky she drank though…..
Published in categories: Whisky News
Black cherry Jim Beam in production…
Not Red Cherry Jim Bean
A Fortune Brands Inc. spokeswoman says the U.S. company behind Jim Beam is set to release a black cherry version of the popular bourbon.
The unidentified spokeswoman said the new Red Stag product will be worthy of the Jim Beam name, Crain’s Chicago Business said Monday.
Sounds interesting../.
Published in categories: Whisky News
