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Bushmill’s Black Bush Irish Whisky
40% alc/vol
Bushmill’s Black Bush Irish Whiskey is a rich, dark, blend from the world’s oldest licensed distillery.
Black Bush is aged up to eleven years in selection sherry-seasoned oak casks before being blended with a small portion of a special single grain whiskey to enhance the independant, non-conformist character of the malt.
Special Price!
£19.00
£3 off for one week only!
Single Malts Limited | 36 Gordon Street | Huntly | Aberdeenshire | AB54 8EQ |
The Best Laid Plans by Makr Reynier
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.
GOLD FOR GLENDRONACH AND BENRIACH IN LONDON!
ON the opening day of the Olympics, the BenRiach Distillery Company is delighted to have won two golds, five silvers and a bronze medal!
The Edinburgh-headquartered company is celebrating eight awards, not at London 2012 of course, but at this year’s International Wine & Spirits Competition, the world’s most prestigious wine and spirit contest.
The results were announced today (27 July) in London.
The company’s full list of awards is:
Gold Medal
BenRiach 25YO
GlenDronach 12YO
Silver Medal / Outstanding
BenRiach 12YO
BenRiach 17YO Peated – Septendecim
GlenDronach 8YO – Octarine
GlenDronach 15YO
GlenDronach 15YO Tawny Port Finish
Bronze Medal
GlenDronach 21 YO
IWSC medals and trophies are the most highly regarded in the trade, representing the best of the best in the world of wines and spirits. The IWSC is judged by a panel selected from 300 fully-qualified and experienced industry judges. Noted for its intense and unrivalled judging process, the IWSC is proud to be the only competition of its kind that conducts a full blind tasting with extensive technical analysis.
BenRiach’s Sales Director Alistair Walker said: “We are really pleased by the results of this year’s competition and I suppose it’s quite fortuitous that the medals were awarded on the opening day of the Olympic Games!
“A number of these products are relatively new releases, such as the GlenDronach Octarine, 21YO and Port Finish, and the BenRiach Septendecim, so it’s nice to see them getting some industry recognition. We’re particularly delighted with the Gold Medal for the GlenDronach 12YO – this is our flagship GlenDronach expression, and we’ve invested heavily in the wood management programme at the distillery, so it’s satisfying to see that effort come to fruition.”
The tasting notes for the two gold winners are:
BenRiach 25 yo
NOSE
Rich honey, spices, apples and peat, in combination with superb oak-wood notes.
TASTE
A rich cocktail of honey, Oloroso sherry, cocoa and apples, supported by a fascinating presence of citrus, sweet peat and wonderful wood notes.
GlenDronach 12 yo
NOSE
Sweet, creamy vanilla, with hints of ginger. Autumn fruits.
TASTE
Rich, creamy, silky-smooth. Warm, rich oak and sherry sweetness, full mouth feel, raisins and soft fruits. Spicy with medium length and a dry finish.
A Taste from the Past – Grant’s 21 Years Old ‘Castle Grant’
Hello all,
I am on paternity leave this week following the birth of Finlay, our second child. Both mum and baby are doing very well and so, as is customary, I’ve been looking for a special dram to wet our baby’s head.
I eventually chose this 21-year-old Grant’s, bottled in the 1980s. Called ‘Castle Grant’, the name…(please click on the link below to read the remainder of the article)…
Kind regards,
Ludo
A new post is available at http://www.glenglassaugh.com/News/Blog/ Please feel free to add your comments or email us directly at the distillery at info@glenglassaugh.com
Slange
Stuart
Glenglassaugh Distillery
Portsoy, Scotland AB45 2SQ
A message from our friends at An cnoc…
As a fan of anCnoc you will already know that we teamed up with renowned Scottish illustrator Peter Arkle to produce a series of Limited Edition releases. Each release celebrates a unique aspect of our distillery. If you look carefully, you will see that Peter has captured the ingredients used to make anCnoc in his design for this pack, as well as that invisible element which makes anCnoc so special… MAGIC!
It’s not just the packaging that is special and unique, the liquid inside is too. Hand selected by Distillery Manager, Gordon Bruce, this Limited Edition is matured in Spanish oak sherry butts. This gives the whisky a darker colour and notes of spices and dried fruits.
However, what you might not be aware of is that this release was limited to only 1000 cases worldwide and is almost gone so get your hands on a bottle quickly.
P.S. The 2nd Peter Arkle Limited Edition will be launching soon… watch this space!
Greetings My Fellow WhiskeyLovers –
Our crowdfunding campaign is finally over (this is the last time I will mention it), and so a big thanks to all of you who supported us. The money we raised will go toward a brand-shiny-new iPhone/Android app we have been thinking about…stay tuned for more news on this later this summer.
This week I was visited by a rep from Kentucky Bourbon Distillers (KBD), a family owned and operated company created in 1935 as the Willett Distilling Company, which still operates on a site that began as the family farm just outside of Bardstown Kentucky.
The company rarely produces whisky under the KBD name, choosing instead to market their brands using Willet Distilling Company or various fictitious company names. These other business names often correspond to the bottling brand names, such as the Old Bardstown Distilling Company for the Old Bardstown bourbon brand and the Noah’s Mill Distilling Company for the Noah’s Mill bourbon brand.
Which brings me to this weeks Whiskey Wednesday feature: Willet Kentucky Straight Pot Still Reserve Whiskey.
Willett Pot Still Reserve Bourbon is a Single Barrel Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey introduced in 2008 and bottled at 47% abv, with 8-10 year aging.
Each bottle is sealed with a label identifying the individual aging barrel, the number of the bottle within the series of bottles from that barrel, and the total number of bottles from the barrel (example: “Bottle No. 116 of 242 from Single Barrel 149”).
Willett Pot Still Reserve is bottled in a decorative decanter that received a double gold award for packaging design at the 2008 San Francisco World Spirits Competition. In addition to the double gold medal for packaging, the whiskey was also awarded a gold medal for taste at the event.
Malt Advocate Magazine rated Willett Pot Still Reserve at 90 “outstanding”.
The price for a bottle of Willet Pot Still Reserve is $39.95 , and I urge you to try this bourbon. It truly is a phenomenal whiskey.
Until next week….have fun!
Doug Stone
Founder
ForScotchLovers.com
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WILLET KENTUCKY STRAIGHT POT STILL RESERVE WHISKEY
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WILLET KENTUCKY STRAIGHT WHISKEY – TASTING NOTES
“Soft and elegant on the nose and palate, and very well balanced. An incredibly drinkable whiskey, it was bottled at just the right time based on its great balance of flavors. Notes of vanilla, coconut, and creme brulee provide a base for emerging notes of cedar wood shavings, cinnamon, soft mint and a hint of fennel. A very graceful bourbon” – Malt Advocate Magazine Q2 2008 issue (Vol. 17, #2)
Whisky Ramblings Via Video #17
Mark Dermul, Belgian Whiskyblogger, feels very fortunate to try the BenRiach 1983 single cask bottling from Asta Morris (Belgian IB Bert Bruyneel), for it is the perfect summer dram!
We present “THE WORLD’S LARGEST BOTTLE OF WHISKY”
The Famous Grouse is attempting to set a new Guinness World Record by creating the world’s largest bottle of whisky, to be unveiled on our brand birthday on Sunday 12th August.
Scotland’s favourite whisky is aiming to take the current world record from Jack Daniel’s who entered into the Guinness World Record Book last year by producing a 184 litre bottle. The giant bottle currently being created will hold 200 litres of whisky, equivalent to 8,200 drams, and will be an exact replica of The Famous Grouse iconic bottle.
We would be delighted if you could come along to our free birthday celebrations which will be hosted at The Famous Grouse Experience, Perthshire, Scotland’s oldest and most visited distillery. The giant bottle will be filled in front of a Guinness World Record adjudicator and on display for all to see between 11am-3.30pm. There will be plenty to entertain the whole family including a live jazz band, RSPB activities, face painting, and a Highland games demonstration from Scotland’s strongest man and world record holder himself, Gregor Edmunds.
An exciting new tour will also be launched and distillery tours will be running throughout the day.
We look forward to welcoming you and your family on August 12!
FOR A ONCE IN A LIFE TIME CHANCE TO BE A PART OF HISTORY: Please bid on our auction, for two lucky people to help fill the world’s largest bottle of whisky on 12th August and enjoy a 2-night luxury trip to Scotland, with all proceeds going directly to ABF The Soldiers’ Charity.
Yours Famously,
The Famous Grouse Team
