H. R. H. A LOCH FYNE WHISKY MAN HRH The Prince of Wales joined our appreciative audience when he was presented with a special bottle of The Loch Fyne by Jimmy Wilson MM and Major Jake Hogg, members of the Lothian Parachute Regimental Association who are great advocates of our award-winning blend. MICKEY GROUSE REACHES THE PRIZE THAT MALT DISNAE! The Famous Grouse Experience at Glenturret Distillery has won a BAFTA. The new multimillion pound Perthshire attraction won the British Academy Film and Television Award in the Interactive Entertainment Category. Pictured here are Derek Brown, Director of The Famous Grouse Experience and ‘The Big Grouse’ (right) discussing relative credit sizes. FARMERS THREATEN THE END OF ‘GENUINE SCOTCH’ A mass protest of Scottish farmers took place outside industry leader Diageo’s (UD) Edinburgh headquarters recently. The farmers’ union is staging protests against a variety of industries to highlight their plight. They threatened that unless barley prices improved they would be forced to grow other crops or to set aside land. This, they argued, undermined the validity of Scotch being truly Scottish. “This is very bizarre,” a Diageo spokesman told SWR (well, Peter Smith actually). “We buy almost all our barley and wheat from Scotland, with contracts, but the price is determined by the world market and the harvest. Besides, we’re union members too as we own nine farms!” The police attending put the numbers protesting at 110, the farmers claimed 250; presumably some confusion about the number of legs involved. A NEW DISTILLERY Martin Will, Tactician — Spirit of Loch Fyne What do you get if you cross The Sound of Jura with a whisky retailer? Enormously entertained is the answer. A great friend of mine had planned to go on this adventure; sail across to Islay for the closing piss-up of the Classic Malts Cruise at Lagavulin. But he couldn’t make it, so upon learning that crew was required and with the spectacle of those fine thoroughbred yachts of the big spending industrial tycoons seated firmly in my imagination, I offered my services. ‘The cold light of day’ is a good expression as is ‘size isn’t everything’. Combine the two, add a disbelieving look from a passing ferry and our epic voyage in The Spirit of Loch Fyne had begun. Visibility was poor but the skipper assured me there was no more boat to see, it did stop 18 feet from the stern! Conditions were not great, the light was deteriorating with a big Atlantic swell—at least the tide and a bottle of Tanqueray was in our favour. Heading west, we soon lost sight of the mainland behind us and were alone for a couple of hours before we picked out the hills above Kildalton. As the navigator on watch I appreciated the sophistication of Spirit’s compass and photocopy of a chart of the West of Scotland. I peered into the mist to find an identifiable mark from which to check our progress. At last! There to the north-west was the low, unmistakable whitewashed outli ne of Ardbeg Distillery, perched on a dark shore. Our course was corrected to 290° magnetic and we celebrated having found Islay rather than rediscovering North America. Keeping our heading for Ardbeg the skipper noticed a eerie change in the light and our heading to North; “That’s the ferry—not Ardbeg—you silly navigator! It’s Macbrayne’s Distillery returning to the mainland.” We corrected our course and made the party in good time. Later, with a few Lagavulins behind us, we got to musing; maybe all the Kildalton distilleries are really beached Macbrayne’s steamers, and one day will put to sea again... NEW(s) FROM ISLAY Steve Webb of Bowmore pointed out that almost all the recent increase in sales of malt whisky is a result of the five—now six—marketed malts from Islay. During this year’s Islay Festival, Diageo launched three new expressions of Caol Ila, the opening brand for a new series called ‘the Hidden Malts’, now complete with new expressions or packaging for Clynelish, Glen Ord and Glen Elgin. This, it is hoped, will take some of the pressure off their flagship range the ‘Classic Malts’. Caol Ila in particular will relieve the great demand against supply of Lagavulin. The three Caol Ilas (buy here) are worthy of support and are as good as Lagavulin. The 12yo (£ 25.90) is indistinguishable from the old ‘Fauna & Flora’ expression. It is the most pungent with a taste including rubber, briny fishing nets and smoky bonfires. The cask strength (“about 10 years”) and 55%vol (£ 31.50) is a little smoother with a typical iodine plus kipperiness, and less of the rubbery notes of the 12yo. Long goes the debate as to which is better. The fabulous 18yo (£ 35.20) is much softer with more wood influence and less smoke. Apples & pears, floral, Parma violets, oak (lots), card, must, grass and a wee reek of old fish, complex, tight and round. A bit Talisker-like. (‘Reek’ as in the Scots definition of a waft or hint of something, not a stench. Think of the Bisto kids—aaaah!). A limited edition Lagavulin 12yo (buy) at cask strength (£ 40.90) will be in the shop when you read this (quick or it may be sold out!) No picture because some useless twerp at Diageo couldn’t be bothered to e-mail me one. Also due is the second of three limited annual releases of Port Ellen (£102 - buy). Stocks of this super whisky (closed 1983) seem to be inexhaustible but one day soon we’ll find the warehouse is bare. Bowmore are confident they can retail 900 bottles at £1,000 each for their trio of 1964 distillations drawn from Fino, Oloroso and Bourbon casks, referred to as ‘the sisters of Black Bowmore’. Investors may be wishing for a similar tenfold increase but this cynic suspects that Bowmore have accounted for that in the price. Our tiny allocation sold out immediately. The new owners of Bruichladdich have just finished their first year of marketing their new expressions and tell me they sold more last month that they did in that first year! Stocks of our Bottling of the Year 20yo are depleted and a 17yo—‘XVII’ has replaced it, however it is no taste substitute for the 20. We have a little stock of the 20yo left. (All Bruichladdichs - buy here). Our list also shows four new limited releases from ‘The Laddie’. “Enlightenment” is a distillery bottling organised and marketed by publisher Malcolm Greenwood. Five hundred bottles accompanied by a leather bound facsimile reprint of ‘The Practical Diftiller’ from 1718; numbered book and bottle, beautifully boxed—very defirable. A few left at a worthwhile £185. Then there are three vintage bottlings in Bruichladdich armour. The oldest, ‘Legacy’ (£169), sports a fetching tin with an Islay seascape. Limited to 1,500 bottles, this 36yo is the first of such drinkable/collectables. Two special McEwan selected Vintages are definitely for drinking, 1984 and 1970, (£61.90 & £115), in particular the 1970 which is chust sublime. All three exhibit an orange note with in the 1984 a smokey reek and the ’70 more fruit. See lfw.co.uk for more about numbers and nosings. The bottling hall at Bruichladdich is finished and from now all will be chateau bottled. (All Bruichladdichs - buy here) Saving the best till last. Anyone willing to spend £100 for the festive season should buy Bunnahabhain’s 1968 ‘Auld Acquaintance’ a distillation so called because it was filled into cask on New Year’s eve! Imagine the perfect whisky for your Christmas pud: a gloriously sweet, wood-influenced, warm, island dram. A hint of pipe tobacco and white chocolate orange—the whole tongue is engaged. It’s spicy, salty and bitter. Fantastic! And only 2002 bottles. My tip for the overall winner of the Scottish Field Merchants’ Challenge (Buy here). Gossip from around the mashtun is that Bunny (or sister Glengoyne) is available for sale. She needs a determined new owner; why not you?