Ballantine’s Extends its Lead as Europe’s Favourite Whisky and becomes a Major Hit on YouTube

According to the latest data published by IWSR* Ballantine’s has reinforced its position as No 1 selling Scotch whisky in Europe and No 1 whisky overall for the region. Ballantine’s grew volume in Europe in 2010, selling 4m cases, extending the lead to over 600,000 9L cases versus the No 2 competitor.

Over 70 million bottles of the world No 2 Scotch whisky were purchased in the last year, ranging from the ever popular Ballantine’s Finest and Ballantine’s 12 Year Old to the brand’s comprehensive aged blended Scotch whisky range, which makes Ballantine’s the No1 ultra premium whisky in Asia Pacific.

According to Peter Moore, Global Brand Director for Ballantine’s, “The brand’s continued popularity across Europe and worldwide is down to a mix of proud heritage and consistent, multi-award winning quality together with dynamic and engaging marketing initiatives that resonate with Ballantine’s drinkers.”

The recent success of Ballantine’s has been driven by the hugely acclaimed and distinctive global marketing campaign ‘Leave an Impression’, which was initially launched in more than 100 countries. Phase 2 was rolled out in 2010 with the ‘Plan Ballantine’s’ communication platform, which focuses on Ballantine’s Finest.

This year Ballantine’s Finest launched a major digital campaign ‘The Human API’ on Facebook. The campaign video received a viral response with over 1 million views on YouTube when it showed an artist tattooing a client live on Facebook. During the four hour session, fans took part in some of the creative decisions and the resulting tattoo featured a QR code that linked to an animation – a first in tattooing.

Ballantine’s also launched a creative TV advertising campaign across Latin America and pan-Europe, entitled Transformation, which inspires people to ‘change their plan and leave an impression’.

Ballantine’s has also continued high profile golf sponsorships like the Ballantine’s Championship in Korea and the Barclay’s Scottish Open, which are particularly popular with drinkers of the brand’s aged Scotch whisky range.

Notes:

* International Wine & Spirit Research’s Database 2011

Ballantine’s
Ballantine’s is the No 1 Scotch whisky in Europe and the No 1 ultra-premium whisky in Asia Pacific, selling more than 70 million bottles a year worldwide. Ballantine’s has won more than 80 trophies and medals at international competitions in the past 10 years for quality as a result of its unique richness of character and perfect balance. The range, from Ballantine’s Finest to the iconic 30 Year Old, is the most extensive in the world of Scotch and is maintained by the latest in a tradition of Master Blenders that dates back to 1827.

Chivas Brothers
Chivas Brothers is the Scotch whisky and premium gin business of Pernod Ricard – the world’s co-leader in wine and spirits. Chivas Brothers is the global leader in luxury Scotch whisky with a portfolio that includes Chivas Regal, Ballantine’s, Beefeater Gin, The Glenlivet, Royal Salute, Aberlour, Plymouth Gin, Longmorn, Scapa, 100 Pipers, Clan Campbell, Something Special and Passport.

Whisky Tasting Company Launches Premium Whisky Gift Sets for Independents

Whisky Gift Set specialists The Whisky Tasting Company are targeting independent merchants with their new range of premium tasting sets.

With over 100 whiskies, including many old and rare single malts, each merchant can create their own range of bespoke gift sets. And with a choice of either three or five whiskies per set plus tasting cards and a tasting mat, they can be based on specific budgets.

In particular, the newly released smaller sets enable super-premium malts to be accessible at an affordable price.

The company is focusing on small and medium sized merchants who share an interest in promoting quality independent brands.

Owner and managing director Colin Sinclair said “There is huge consumer interest in premium and rare whisky, and our unique concept makes these available in an educational way that appeals to whisky enthusiasts as well as the gift market.”

“We offer something special which the merchant can design themselves that is found no-where else. It also allows retailers to supply their customers full-sized bottles should they enjoy the tastings.”

About the Whisky Tasting Company

Launched in July 2010, with special permissions from independent distillers, bottlers and blenders, the company creates luxury gift sets from a wide range of single malts and blends.

Since winning ‘Star Idea’, an innovation award at one of 2010’s biggest business events, the company’s products have received superb feedback.

The company already supply a small number of quality independent wine merchants including Corks Out, Tanners Wines as well as Fortnum & Mason. They also supply independent whisky shops on Orkney, Islay and in Dufftown.

The company have access to single malts from almost all of Scotland’s distilleries, as well as Penderyn single malts from Wales. They work with:

Douglas Laing & Co, Murray McDavid, Isle of Arran, Compass Box, Bruichladdich & Penderyn.

Colin Sinclair
The Whisky Tasting Company Limited
Hazelmere 179 Wenlock Road
Shrewsbury
Shropshire
SY2 6LB
Website: www.whiskytastingcompany.com

Award Winning Whisky
 
 Dear Friends

We are e-mailing you with some exciting news…

In July 2011 The Spirits Business staged ‘The World Whiskys Masters’ in a drive to find and reward the finest brands on the world stage. Dominic Roskow, editor of The Spirits Business, along with a panel of leading spirits and on-trade specialists were the judges in this competition to discover World Whisky Masters 2011.

After entering this, our first ever whisky competition, we won 4 top whisky awards (a Master award being the highest!) in the following categories:

European Single Malt Standard

Chapter 9, 46% – Master Award

Chapter 6, 46% – Gold Award

European Single Malt Premium

Chapter 11, 46% – Master Award

Chapter 11, 59.7% – Master Award

These were all blind tasted by a panel of highly rated whisky critics.

 www.englishwhisky.co.uk 

A wee drop o’ the Irish for yer!

Paul McLean of MCLEANSCOTLAND recently made a wee trip across the water to the land of his mum, Ireland. Why? To arrange as many events as possible for the week long series of events in Dublin at next years whisky live. www.mcleanscotland.co.uk/DUBWHISKYLIVE.asp

As part of the trip, Paul “just had to visit distilleries”!!! It’s a hard life eh! Arriving in Dublin, staying a couple of days here, he had previously made appointments all over the city and beyond. First call was to Clontarf Castle Hotel, where he set up an extra special masterclass for next May; Clontarf whiskey at Clontarf Castle, is there any better way to sample these Irish drams? The session will include nibbles and at least 4 drams at the castle. Thanks to Gillian at Clontarf whiskey and Bronagh at the castle.

Next on the list; meeting up with the lovely Linda from Cooley’s distillery. Sharing a few drinks in the Palace Bar downtown Dublin, with owner Willie and pal Dave, a good evening had by all and some really good notes on another special tasting here at the Palace. This will include a very sspecial tasting direct from a cask specially made for the occassion, watch this space!

Day two saw Paul travel to Kilbeggan, where he had a superb tour of the distillery, setting up another tour trip and visit for next year. Leaving a happy man (with gifts) he headed back to Dublin. A few more drams to settle back into Dublin followed.

Day three – travel north by train to Dundalk and then taxi to Cooley’s distillery. A grand tour here with Raymond, he has been there over 20 years! Both malt, blend and grain whiskey produced here, a fascinating tour, not what you would call a normal distilelry tour, no visitor centre and not spik and span (re; Glenfiddich or Diageo) and not a tourist visit, so much the better for our group trip next year! Upon leaving we were given a bottle of Tyconnel each, not only that, at the distillery pub (just doon the road) we were given more drams and a set of miniatures each, good man at Martins pub!!! Continued north to Belfast for two days of pipe bands!

A return to Dublin, met up with Mike at O’Neills pub, another event arranged here. Also in the bag for next year, a whisky special, a tasting session, followed by a 3 course meal and Irish dancing and entertainment, what a end to the day! With a couple of other whisky events still in the chat stage, it was a huge success in Ireland, we are all looking forward to whisky live next May in Dublin.

More info on Whisky Live Dublin soon.

Paul McLean is the owner of WWW.MCLEANSCOTLAND.COM  

The World Whisky Map

Good evening,

There’s a Mandarin proverb which says that the Chinese will eat anything with legs, except for tables, and anything with wings, except for planes. The world is a diverse place indeed and when your job involves weekly international trips for a global whisky such as Grant’s, it’s important to understand how whisky drinkers around…(please click on the link below to read the remainder of the article)…

THE LINK

Kind regards,
Ludo

LAGAVULIN™ ISLAY JAZZ FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES 2011 PROGRAMME

The programme has been announced for this year’s Lagavulin™ Islay Jazz Festival, and tickets have gone on sale via the website and direct from promoters Jazz Scotland.

The 13th Lagavulin™ Islay Jazz Festival, which this year will take place from 16-18 September, is again expected to attract hundreds of jazz lovers to the world-famous whisky island on Scotland’s west coast.

And the BBC have announced that they will be recording some sessions at Lagavulin Distillery for BBC Radio 3‘s Jazz Line Up and BBC Radio Scotland’s Jazz House programmes for broadcast at a later date.

A special limited-edition bottling of Lagavulin Single Malt Scotch Whisky will be on sale to Festival ticket holders during the Festival. The bottling is from a single bodega sherry wood cask of Lagavulin, filled in February 1993 and matured at the historical warehouse at Caol Ila distillery, also on Islay.

Viktoria Tolstory will open the Lagavulin Islay Jazz Festival

This year, one of Europe’s major vocal stars, Viktoria Tolstoy, visits Islay for the first time. Highly musical, and exuding charisma, she’ll sing her own special arrangements of many great standards along with interpretations of pop tunes. Her first concert, at Lagavulin Distillery, inaugurates the Festival on Friday 16 September.

The Festival also features the world premiere of Tom Bancroft ‘s Red Trio with English piano star, Tom Cawley, and Norwegian bass sensation Mats Eilertsen, while Brian Kellock and Jacob Karlzon front two piano trios at different edges of the jazz spectrum.

The sensational brass quartet, Brass Jaw, play two concerts, mixing magnificent musicality with humour and an unbridled imagination.

Otis Grand

Subie Coleman fronts the late night jazz/soul dance at Bowmore Hall with Philadephia and New York tipped raw soul grooves, while Otis Grand and Sandy Tweeddale deliver exceptional vintage driving-blues. Mario Caribe fronts two bands new to the Festival – one focusing on the music of his homeland: Brazil, the other an all-star homage to the Jazz Crusaders.

Nick Morgan, for the Lagavulin Scotch Whisky brand, says “The Jazz Festival is a great advertisement for Islay and a great advertisement for Lagavulin Scotch Whisky. The brand is now really at the heart of the Festival, with its strong personality, big heritage and plenty of intensity. Not a bad analogy for jazz.”

The Festival is co-promoted by jazz specialists Jazz Scotland, and the island’s premier arts promoters, The Islay Arts Association.

Jazz Scotland Director Fiona Alexander pointed out that “ The magic of the Jazz Festival in Islay is partly created by Lagavulin. Without their funding, we would not be able to present so much high quality jazz.”

Diageo announced in February that it was renewing the sponsorship of the Festival by the quintessential Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky Lagavulin, following the highly successful and widely welcomed sponsorship of the event last year.

The events of the Festival are spread over three days. Concerts are presented across the island, in a mix of unique settings: village halls, distilleries, bird sanctuaries, and small bars and inns. Several sessions are held at Lagavulin Distillery, in the acoustically excellent Malt Mill.

Notes

Programme details
Islay Jazz Festival website: www.islayjazzfestival.co.uk/

The Islay Jazz Festival
The Festival has been running since 1999; this year’s is the 13th.. Since then the Festival has promoted musicians from over 25 countries and presented fifteen world premieres and is today regarded as a significant jazz event in the UK calendar.

Diageo’s famous Islay single malt whisky Lagavulin™ first sponsored the Festival in 2010.

Special Festival bottling of Lagavulin™ This will be priced at £79.95 UK RRP per bottle.

2000 Bowmore 11 Year Old K&L Exclusive Sovereign Single Sherry Barrel Cask Strength Single Malt Whisky 750ml (Pre-Arrival) ($72.99) This one took quite a while to secure, but we finally landed another slam dunk cask: a sherry-aged barrel of delicious Bowmore single malt! I’ll never forget looking at David OG’s face as we sat in the tasting room of the Sovereign offices tasting this whisky – “Tennis ball can?” we both said, nosing the complex whirlwind of aromas emanating from the glass. Vanilla, rich raisined fruit, creamy sherry, and yes a bit of tennis ball can! The palate is where the Bowmore campfire smoke and peat moss creep in and lead one’s mouth to a succulent, savory finish. However, the nose is the real jewel of this whisky and David OG sat for more than twenty minutes just smelling it and smiling. Who doesn’t love sherry-aged Islay whisky, especially when it’s from Bowmore? -David Driscoll, K&L Spirits Buyer

1965 Caledonian 45 Year Old K&L Exclusive Sovereign Single Barrel Cask Strength Grain Whisky (Pre-Arrival) ($149.99) Closed forever in 1988, Caledonian was a Lowland grain distillery that was once famed for having Europe’s biggest patent still. The nose is salted caramel and sticky Sauternes with rich and enticing aromas of sweet goodness. The palate however is grain all the way – lean and herbal, odd and exciting, crazy cool and super fun – truly a difficult malt to truly explain. Knowing this was going to be for the true whisky nerds out there, we originally decided to pass on this cask even though we loved it. However, when the owners let us deal via our own importer, we were able to work out a ridiculous price for such an ancient collectable (the closest comparison we could find was a 45 year Caledonian selling in the UK for more than $200). Similar grains of this age have sold at K&L in the past for over $300. While this bottle isn’t for everyone, it is meant for the curious collector looking to branch out and understand the various styles of Scotch. Grain whisky has always been an important element of blended whisky and continues to provide the backbone to legends like Johnnie Walker Blue and Chivas Regal. While it has recently fallen out of “style,” there is a strong grain whisky revival festering once again and we’re glad to be, as usual, at the forefront of all whisky movements. -David Driscoll, K&L Spirits Buyer

1980 Caol Ila 30 Year Old K&L Exclusive Sovereign Single Barrel Cask Strength Single Malt Whisky 750ml (Pre-Arrival) ($174.99) If you can’t believe your eyes at the price of this Caol Ila 30 year old single barrel, cask strength bottle, we can’t blame you. Is it a close out? No. Is it just not good? Sorry, we don’t buy bad whisky. How is it that K&L is able to get an entire barrel of elegant, smoky, mature Islay whisky and sell it for $175? We’ll let you in on a secret – we worked very hard to get these casks imported directly and we’ve enlisted the help of a few friends to get these incredible prices. Do a Google search and you’ll find that the official Caol Ila comes in at about $350 while other expressions bottom out at around $280. This new relationship we’ve started with Sovereign from our recent trip to Scotland is the beginning of something very big – top level whiskies, all at cask strength, all at wholesale prices for our retail customers! -David Driscoll, Spirits Buyer

Oban 18 Year Limited Edition Single Malt Whisky 750ml (Elsewhere $149.99) ($99.99) We only got a few bottles! BUY, BUY, BUY, ASAP! This is a limited edition bottling for the US only. As the cannister states, “only so much can be made, it is never enough.” John Hansell writes, “I really like this whisky. Drier, less toffee and fruit, more dried spice and oak when compared to the standard Oban 14 year old. A beautiful combination of rich, nutty toffee balanced by polished oak, salt, pepper, seaweed, distant smoke and dried fruit. Somewhat oily in texture. Wonderful depth too! An improvement on what is already the biggest selling Diageo single malt scotch in the U.S. Very exciting and dynamic.” -Malt Advocate

Johnnie Walker Blue Blended Scotch Whisky 750ml ($179.99)

W. L. Weller 12 year old Bourbon 750ml – 11 available ($24.99)

K&L Wine Merchants
http://www.klwines.com
Phone: 877-KLWines (toll free 877-559-4637)
Email: wine@klwines.com
San Francisco, Redwood City, Hollywood CA

2011 Fall Extravaganza Schedule

Ladies and Gentlemen are cordially invited to enjoy a connoisseur’s evening featuring over 110 rare & exceptional single malt and Scotch whiskies. The evening includes a delicious dinner buffet as well as a selection of premium imported cigars for our guests’ later enjoyment. The Single Malt & Scotch Whisky Extravaganza brings the discerning enthusiast the opportunity to sample the participating whiskies in a sophisticated and elegant environment with genuine camaraderie and knowledgeable representatives from each participating distillery. 

All events from 7:00pm-9:00pm. Registration begins at 7:00pm. Business casual, Jackets preferred. Jackets are required at the Chicago & Philadelphia venues. No denim or athletic attire may be worn to the events. Members tickets to the Extravaganza are $120 each (for the first two) and Non-member guest tickets are $135.00 each. Whisky Intelligence readers will receive the first two tickets at $120.00 each and thereafter each ticket is $135.00.

The Whisky Intelligence promotional code (ie a discount!) is WI2011 available at Ticket Purchase

Chicago Wednesday
October 5, 2011 The Union League Club of Chicago
65 West Jackson Boulevard
Chicago, IL 60604
Jackets Required (No Denim or Athletic Attire)

Boston Thursday
October 13, 2011 The Taj Boston
15 Arlington Street
Boston, MA 02116

Washington, DC Wednesday
October 26, 2011 JW Marriott Hotel
1331 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20004

Philadelphia Friday
October 28, 2011 The Union League Club of Philadelphia
140 South Broad Street
Philadelphia, PA 19102
Jackets Required (No Denim or Athletic Attire)

San Francisco Wednesday
November 9, 2011 The Intercontinental San Francisco
888 Howard Street
San Francisco, CA 94103

Los Angeles Friday
November 11, 2011 Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel
1700 Ocean Avenue
Santa Monica, CA 90401

Fort Lauderdale Thursday
December 1, 2011 The Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
1 Seminole Way
Hollywood, FL 33314

GHOSTLY SPIRITS OF BARDSTOWN

The Kentucky Bourbon Festival Inc. invites you to Ghostly Spirits of Bardstown. The walks are Thursday -Saturday, September 15-17, 2011 from 8 p.m. until 10 pm, with a final walk on Saturday, September 17th from 10 p.m. until midnight.

Join certified Ghost Hunter Patti Starr for a historic walking tour and ghost hunt on the shadowy streets of Bardstown. You’ll hear true stories of ghostly activity at the locations on the trek. Bring your cameras, audio recorders and camcorder, if you wish.

The tour starts at the Bardstown Welcome Center. Tickets are $20 per person and available by calling 800-638-4877 # 4 or 502-348-3623 # 4. Reservations are recommended.

The Kentucky Bourbon Festival Inc. is a non-profit organization

One of the world’s most unusual whisky festivals is coming up in a few weeks. MaltStock doesn’t take place in a hotel or convention center, but at a former Scout camp in the Belgian woods. MaltStock co-founder Bob Wenting joins us on this week’s episode to discuss what makes MaltStock unique. In the news, Abhainn Dearg releases its first official single malt, Catto’s celebrates 150 years, and Buffalo Trace releases the second edition of Col. E.H. Taylor Bourbon.

www.whiskycast.com