Another month and a few new casks. These include 5 hogsheads of Aberlour 4/2011, another 5 barrels of 1998 Bowmore, 5 hogsheads of 1996 Dalmore (a mature and very drinkable whisky), 2 more hogsheads of March 1991 Cragganmore. These Cragganmore casks are excellent and previous examples have sold well. Possibly the pick of the bunch, 2 hogsheads of 1974 Inchgower.  Anyone bottling these should be able to make a decent profit.

The paperwork and uplifting of casks usually takes a few weeks and to reduce transportation costs, which can be significant, I try to ensure that most deliveries involve at least twenty casks. If there are just a few casks and they are located in the Glasgow/Edinburg area, then I find it cheaper just to pick them up in a sealed Ford Transit. You can learn quite a lot through visiting Bonded Warehouses and it offers a chance to see what’s available. Whilst it’s nice to visit the Central Belt, I think when it comes to choosing a place to live, it will probably be the more remote but beautiful Dumfries and Galloway for me.  

As most readers will be aware the Scotch Whisky Regulations 2009 prohibits the export of whisky in casks so quite a lot of whisky now leaves Scotland in a plastic drum with the empty oak barrel usually strapped to the pallet. From 2012 it will only be possible to export Malt whisky in bottles.

For any of you reading these brief monthly newsletters and buying casks from me, you should know that your purchases are contributing to the start-up of a small whisky business. Six months after commencing I’m reasonably confident that over the next few years the business will grow. It is also encouraging that I’ve received a lot of help from whisky enthusiasts and clubs in almost every country in Europe….. So watch this space and it may give a little insight into the delights and the difficulties of building a small business in the wonderful export driven world of Scotch whisky.

With less than 2 weeks to go until my wedding on the 21st May, if any of you want to buy a cask or indeed have your cask bottled, please get in touch with me as soon as possible. I’ll be back from my honeymoon on the 7th June. It’s doubtful if my new boss will allow me to check or reply to emails while away!

Casks Currently Available:

Bottles Currently Available:

Distilled at  Price (not including postage)
 
Caol Ila 27 year old, 70cl, 53.1% £49
 
Cragganmore 20 year old, 70cl, 54.2%  £37
 
Glen Grant 17 year old, 70cl, 55%  £40
 
“Mystery Whisky”, 20 year old, 70cl, 55.8% (label gives clues to distillery name)  £36
 
Bottles available at www.whiskybroker.co.uk/acatalog/shophome.html

Trade prices for bottles are available upon request.

If there is anything you would like to see available, please let me know and I’ll keep an eye open for it. Please write a comment on the guestbook of my website, especially if you have purchased a cask. Finally, if you have any website related suggestions, don’t hesitate to send me an email.

Regards,

Martin Armstrong
www.whiskybroker.co.uk
info@whiskybroker.co.uk

Loch Fyne Whiskies stocks a new item, ‘an Cnoc 1996’

anCnoc 1996 46%
Bottled 2011
£35.30 inc vat
£29.42 ex vat

An Cnoc OB 1996 46%alc.

Official Tasting Notes:

Nose: Soft, very aromatic with a hint of honey and lemon in the foreground.

Colour: Amber with a slight yellow hue.

Taste: Sweet to start with an appetising fruitiness and a long smooth finish.

Best regards,
Loch Fyne Whiskies
david@lfw.co.uk

Visit Loch Fyne Whiskies at www.lfw.co.uk

“On the 14th we will be having a celebration of the three closed Inverness Distilleries with ex-distillery employees. You can come along and find out about these lost distilleries, look at saved artefacts from them and taste the whiskies they produced. The tasting will culminate with a tasting of the Shackleton Whisky which contains a certain proportion of Glen Mhor Malt”.

http://www.fiddledrum.co.uk/whisky-fest-2011.htm

WHISKY SECTOR DOMINATES THE POWER 100, 2011 SURVEY OF WORLD’S MOST POWERFUL DRINKS BRANDS

• Scottish brands dominate global whisky sector

• Johnnie Walker remains world’s most dominant whisky brand

• America contributes five whisky brands to The Power 100

• Jameson is the only Irish whisky brand to feature

Whisky brands continue to dominate the annual The Power 100 table of the world’s leading alcoholic drinks brands, published this week by brand valuation and strategy consultancy Intangible Business, contributing more than a quarter of the brands in the survey.

Whisky has retained its sector dominance in the global alcoholic drinks industry, ahead of vodka, rum/cane, flavoured spirits, and still light wine. There are 26 whisky brands included in the table, with six brands – Johnnie Walker at 3, Jack Daniel’s at 6, Chivas Regal at 8, Ballantine’s at 10, Dewar’s at 14 and Jim Beam at 19 – in the overall Top 20. 

Johnnie Walker posted an impressive performance this year with volumes growing by a striking 11%, due in large part to its penetration of Far East markets, Korea and China in particular, whose economies were less affected by the recession. This is a complete reversal of its performance the previous year where volumes fell by 11%. Because of this change in direction and improvement in the brand score by 4%, Johnnie Walker managed to grow its total score.

The Power 100 includes 16 Scotch whisky brands, five American brands and four Canadian brands. Jameson is the only Irish whiskey brand in The Power 100, at number eight in the sector and at number 22 overall, on the back of a 2% rise in its overall year on year score. The most improved whisky brand in this year’s The Power 100 is Clan MacGregor at number 82 overall and number 25 in the sector, having posted a 12% improvement in its brand score.

Intangible Business, which works extensively in the drinks industry, researched nearly 10,000 spirit and wine brands across the globe to produce The Power 100, now in its fifth year.

The league table, which assesses both the financial contribution of each brand alongside its strength in the eyes of the consumer, has been compiled by combining scores from a panel of some of the world’s leading drinks industry experts with hard data. The brands are rated according to share of market, future growth, premium price position, awareness, relevance, heritage and brand perception.

Rank Brand Overall Rank Total score 2011 Change Brand score 2011 Change
1 JOHNNIE WALKER 3 75% 1% 83% 4%
2 JACK DANIEL’S 6 39% 1% 81% 2%
3 CHIVAS REGAL 8 31% 2% 73% 5%
4 BALLANTINES 10 25% -2% 65% 0%
5 DEWARS 14 18% 2% 53% 2%
6 JIM BEAM 19 16% -3% 60% -4%
7 CROWN ROYAL 21 14% 1% 60% 4%
8 JAMESON 22 13% 2% 70% 5%
9 GRANT’S 23 13% 3% 50% -1%
10 J&B 27 12% -3% 55% -2%
11 FAMOUS GROUSE 40 8% 0% 58% 0%
12 SEAGRAM’S 7 CROWN 54 6% 1% 40% -3%
13 BELL’S 55 6% 0% 47% 0%
14 CANADIAN CLUB 59 5% 0% 55% 1%
15 MAKER’S MARK 62 5% 0% 63% 2%
16 TEACHER’S 63 5% 0% 51% 0%
17 GLENFIDDICH 65 5% 0% 64% 2%
18 BLACK VELVET 66 4% 0% 42% 0%
19 WILLIAM LAWSON’S 71 4% 0% 43% 0%
20 CLAN CAMPBELL 72 4% 0% 40% -2%
21 CANADIAN MIST 73 3% 0% 38% -3%
22 100 PIPERS 75 3% -1% 38% -1%
23 CUTTY SARK 79 3% 0% 50% 4%
24 THE GLENLIVET 80 3% 0% 63% 3%
25 CLAN MACGREGOR 82 3% 0% 51% 12%
26 WILD TURKEY 100 2% 0% 53% -2%

Overall, Smirnoff tops The Power 100 table again having achieved an overall score of 88.9%, giving it a significant margin over the other brands that make up the top ten.

Bacardi, the number one rum brand and number two in the overall The Power 100, edged Johnnie Walker into 3rd place, but was comfortably ahead of Martini Vermouth in 4th place and Absolut in 5th place.

The USA is the country with the most brands in The Power 100 with 17 brands, led by Jack Daniel’s, Gallo and Jim Beam; Scotland has 16 brands in The Power 100, led by Johnnie Walker, Chivas Regal and Ballantine’s, and France with 14 brands, led by Hennessy, Moet et Chandon and Ricard. 

Stuart Whitwell, Joint Managing Director of Intangible Business, comments: “The whisky industry has posted another strong performance this year with more than double the number brands in the top 100 than any other category and continues to connect to new and existing audiences, particularly in emerging markets, with innovative and relevant marketing.

Whitwell continues: “Although not in the top ten in the sector, it’s great to see brands like The Glenlivet among our overall star performers this year.”

About The Power 100

Methodology

Nearly 10,000 brands in the spirits and wine sectors were researched to derive a list of the 100 most powerful spirits and wine brands in the world.  Power is defined by a brand’s ability to generate value for its owner.  Value is classified by a series of measures as identified below.  The population for the research is all current and potential users of alcoholic drinks.

Scoring

Hard Measures
Share of market:  volume-based measure of market share Brand growth:  projected growth based on 10 years’ historical data and future trends Price Positioning:a measure of a brand’s ability to command a premium Market Scope: number of markets in which the brand has a significant presence

Soft Measures
Brand Awareness: a combination of prompted and spontaneous awareness Brand Relevancy: capacity to relate to the brand and a propensity to purchase Brand Heritage: a brand’s longevity and a measure of how it is embedded in local culture Brand Perception: loyalty and how close a strong brand image is to a desire for ownership

A panel of 10 leading experts in the drinks industry independently ranked each selected brand out of 10 on the above measures (10 = high, 0 = low).  The scores given by the individual panel members were aggregated and averaged to reach a total score for each brand.  A total score was achieved by multiplying a brand’s weighted volume by its brand score, within a defined range.  The weighting is designed to adjust the volumes to a comparable level.  Brand score is a derivate of the 8 measures of brand strength.  This results in a ranking of the world’s most powerful alcoholic drinks brands.

About Intangible Business

Intangible Business was established in 2001 to provide an independent approach to brand valuation, brand strategy and brand development. As well as experts in brand valuation, Intangible Business is now an internationally recognised leader in all IP valuation, including copyright valuation, trademark valuation, valuing websites, valuing databases and software.

Brand value, along with other intangible assets such as patents, copyrights, licenses and intellectual property, is often a company’s most valuable asset. Given this importance, a brand valuation is critical to fully understand and monitor brand equity and to identify opportunities to realize growth potential. In legal issues, such as trademark disputes, or brand transactions such as M&A and licensing, a sound brand valuation can also help you make more informed decisions or negotiate better deals.

What qualifies Intangible Business in brand valuation is its global network of people who all focus on brand valuation from various complementary angles – brands and marketing, finance and accounting, brand management and brand strategy. This focus draws on many years’ experience, both in business and as brand consultants and has been of measurable benefit to some of the world’s biggest brands.

Dates: Friday 5th, Saturday 6th and Sunday 7th August, 2011.
Times: Friday 3 – 7pm, Saturday & Sunday 2 – 6pm
Venue: Mansfield Traquair church, 15 Mansfield Place, Edinburgh, EH3 6BB

http://www.royalmilewhiskies.com/viewindex.asp?article_id=WF_11

This year is the 10th Anniversary of Royal Mile Whiskies, Whisky Fringe.

From humble beginnings in Edinburgh City Council Chambers Rooms, just down the road from our shop on the Royal Mile, Whisky Fringe has grown into a successful, highly regarded and relaxed celebration of whisky.

Apart from the venue, little has changed over the years in terms of the set up. As with most things in life, a policy of keeping everything as simple as possible, letting the whiskies do the talking, has seen the event attain a respected word of mouth reputation. Tickets always sell out fast and as with any popular show, some people will unfortunately miss out. However having been based in such a tremendous venue as the Mansfield Traquair for the past 6 years, it is difficult to think of moving to an alternative nondescript larger venue. We would be extremely hard pressed to top the stunning setting of this beautifully restored former church.

With this partly in mind, we have extended the event this year to include the Friday afternoon for the first time. This will be a combined on-trade and general public day, allowing exhibitors to promote their brands to an even wider audience of both trade customers, in addition to actual consumers. The product focus will also be broader, with more than just whisky being available to sample. Other high quality spirits such as gin, rum, mezcal, tequila, and vodka, as well as some wines and beers, will all be on show for the Friday only. Saturday and Sunday will revert to the tried and tested format and the focus will return primarily to whisky.

Each year approximately 26 stands are taken by a huge variety of whisky producers and independent bottlers. These range from the big drink companies such as Diageo, Pernod Ricard and Moet Hennessey, to the more compact distillery companies such as Benriach/GlenDronach, Auchentoshan/Bowmore/Glen Garioch and An Cnoc/Balblair/Old Pulteney, right down to the most recent and newly established small scale operations such as Kilchoman. In addition Independent bottlers such as Adelphi, Compass Box, Douglas Laing, Duncan Taylor, Gordon & MacPhail create a lot of interest amongst the attending whisky enthusiasts. On average well over 200 whiskies are available to sample each day, including an exclusive one off ‘Half Time Orange’ dram! (exhibitors bring a bottle of something extra special and attendees can choose one of these exclusive drams to sample at the designated ‘half time’midway point of the day).

All attendees are also encouraged to vote for ‘The Spirit of Whisky Fringe’. This is an annual award given to the most popular spirit over the three days as voted for by all visitors. The winning spirit is then crowned ‘The Spirit of Whisky Fringe’ and is placed on display in the trophy silver coaster on display in Edinburgh shop until the following year.

A Few Quotes:-

Exhibitor quote: “We really enjoyed being involved and would love to be back again next year. It really is brilliant to see so many whisky enthusiasts in the one place, all of them on their best behaviour as well.”
 Martin Grant 2009 (Moet Hennessey – Ardbeg & Glenmorangie Whiskies)

Blogger quote: “…still setting the standard by which all UK Shows are judged”.  Ralfy Mitchell 2010 (Whisky Blogger extraordinaire! www.ralfy.com)

Punter quote: “I still wouldn’t miss it for the world!! (Shame it’s my wedding anniversary on the 16th…still, she’ll understand!!!)”  Mark Appleton 2009 (frequent Whisky Fringe goer and still happily married!)

www.royalmilewhiskies.com

ENGLISH WHISKY COMPANY

Websites Matter
  
News and Views May 2011
 
SORRY SORRY SORRY…

Over the past month we have been experiencing huge problems with our website and server.  We are sorry to anyone who has been trying to access the website and shop and hope that you found us on facebook for any basic info.

We hope that we have for the time being resolved the problems with a new server and we are working to build a new website and shop which should provide a much smoother internet experience with us.

As customers and visitors you have all been fantastic in supporting us and we hope that these changes will be better all round.

WHISKY SHOP

In the meantime we want you to visit us again and come and do some shopping so for the first 100 orders placed with us in excess of £35 will recieve a free English Whisky Co. cotton bag!

Limited Stock of FOUNDERS RESERVE is available online.

Look forward to seeing you soon.

Visit the English Whisky Company at www.englishwhisky.co.uk

Tickets for Manager’s Dram Sherry Heaven Masterclass are on sale now!

Colin Dunn of Diageo will be taking us through five remarkable heavily-sherried whiskies bottled at cask strength in the 1990s as part of UDV/Diageo’s staff-only Manager’s Dram series.  Includes Caol Ila, Clynelish, Oban & more.

Please note that only ticketholders for the Saturday session of the Show will be able to attend this Masterclass.

For more info & tickets, please visit www.whisky-show.com/masterclasses/sherry-heaven

TWE Whisky Show Team

Seafood and Whisky (£45 / ticket)
Blackfriars, Newcastle Upon Tyne 
Friday June 10th 2011, 7.00pm 
www.blackfriarsrestaurant.co.uk 

£45.00 / ticket  
 
As big supporters of Newcastle/Gateshead’s EAT Festival, we were asked to come up with an event to really get the juices flowing. Something a bit different and something that everyone that enjoys good food and drink can enjoy…

We, along with the award-winning chefs at Blackfriars Restaurant came up with this fantastic 6-course sample menu with whiskies to boot! It was a hard time sampling and putting this together (!) but we hope you enjoy it – I am certain you will!

– Butternut squash soup, with smoked haddock, soft boiled quails egg and whisky oil
–       Mackerel ceviche with orange, tomato, capers, lemon juice and parsley
–       North Sea scallops, celeriac puree, pancetta
–       Home smoked Scottish salmon, pickled cucumber, celery foam, honey and truffle vinaigrette
–      Pan fried halibut, potato and corned beef hash, oyster mushroom jus, mushroom ketchup
–      Treacle tart, whisky soaked raisins, vanilla crème fraiche

We hope you agree this is a sparkling menu and a great use of local ingredient.

The whiskies will be mainly from the celebrated Distiller’s Edition’s range from Diageo, but will also include one or two other tid-bits.
This is going to be good…

You will not be sent a ticket through the post. Your details will be added to the event register and all you need to do is print the payment confirmation page and bring it with you to the event.

Visit The Whisky Lounge at www.thewhiskylounge.com  

Please find the latest headlines from The Whisky Shop website.

Whiskeria – Summer 2011 edition – 9 May 2011. This Summer edition of Whiskeria is packed full of… (Link to full article via): http://www.whiskyshop.com/News/?id=10041

Kind Regards

The Whisky Shop
www.whiskyshop.com

Cask filled with the spirit of the Royal Wedding

A royal wedding gift honouring Prince William and his new wife TRH, The Earl and Countess of Strathearn is on display at Tullibardine distillery.

To mark the royal celebration, the cask was filled with spirit at the distillery at 11am, during the exchange of wedding vows. The wedding date is prominently printed on the cask.

The 250-litre sherry hogshead cask will be displayed in a bonded warehouse at the visitor centre.  The commemoration will be a fantastic Scottish attraction for the distillery and members of the public.

The cask not only symbolises the royal wedding but it also represents the couple’s link with Strathearn and Scotland where they first met and fell in love.  The Tullibardine distillery, is one of the most prominent landmarks in the heart of Strathearn.

It is hoped that the royal pair will sign the cask on a future visit to Scotland.  The cask will be donated to the couple as a wedding gift, and after it matures for three years, they could then choose to keep it or offer it to a charity.

Distillery Director, Douglas Ross said, “The cask is a wonderful wedding present and evokes Scottish sentiment for the royal couple. It would be an honour to have the cask signed by the couple and we hope to welcome them here on a future visit”.

The cask is now on display and visitors will enjoy the new addition to the distillery, giving their experience at Tullibardine a royal twist.

The cask is available for picture desks to take photographs by arrangement.

Notes:

Tullibardine is one of the few remaining independently owned distilleries in Scotland. Nestled at the foot of the Ochil Hills in the Highlands the Distillery draws pure spring water from source and produces one of Scotland’s finest malt whiskies. Standing on the site of Scotland’s oldest brewery dating back to the 12th century, and from where King James IV purchased beer to celebrate his coronation in 1488, Tullibardine is undoubtedly one of the most majestic malt whiskies available. 

CONTACT DETAILS
Tullibardine Distillery,
Blackford,
Perthshire,
PH4 1QG,
Scotland
Telephone: +44 (0)1764 682252

Visit Tullibardine distillery at www.tullibardine.com