SCOTCH WHISKY REVIEW Is Confident That Their Goods Will Arrive
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H FY C N SCOTCH O E whiskiesL I WHISKY N L V L E Y R G A R R AY A REVIEW EDITION 1 SPRING 1994 ???????ANSWERS??????? LOCH FYNE WHISKIES is TOP OF THE TOTS “How am I supposed to drink a specialist whisky retailer based 1994 price Malt Whisky?” is the most common in the much-visited village of 1 Springbank 15yo* ............ £28.70 question asked in our tasting room at Inveraray on the west coast of the 2Talisker 10yo .................... £23.90 Loch Lomond. My stock reply is to Scottish Highlands. 3 Inchmurrin 10yo* ............ £19.90 explain that you can drink it any way Established in 1993, it is owned and 4 Glen Moray 12yo* ............ £20.60 you like as long as you buy it from me! managed by Richard Joynson and 5 Lagavulin 16yo ................ £24.60 I cite this as an example of what we hope Lyndsay Shearer. It is one of only 6 Port Ellen CC 1977 .......... £26.90 to achieve with this journal. two known retail businesses wholly 7 Cragganmore 12yo ........... £22.60 In the first instance we want you to buy dependant on the sale of whisky 8 Edradour 10yo ................. £25.50 some whisky from us. In this way we and whisky goods. We also operate 9 Bowmore Legend ............. £17.30 will be able to produce more Scotch a seasonal Tasting Room within The 10 Oban 14yo ........................ £23.70 Whisky Reviews rather than going out Lodge on Loch Lomond Hotel at * Features on the original tasting tray. Luss, thirty miles north-west of of business. Secondly, we want this Other Notable sellers: Glasgow. review to amuse, inform and to answer Athol Brose Liqueur ................. £17.90 some of your questions about whisky NOTES FROM Classic 6 Miniature Packs ........ £15.30 thus encouraging you to help us achieve THE TASTING TRAY Collins Gem Whisky Book .......... £3.50 objective number one. Malt Whisky Companion Book £10.99 Within these humble four pages, apart A series of comments from our Tasting Room at Luss. Initially we feature our Small Thistle Glass (2) ............. £27.00 from suggestions on how to drink your Tippling Stick............................ £10.90 malts, we have contributions from some own comments, in future those of of our friends in the industry. participants. Blenders are conductors of the symphony INCHMURRIN 10 years old (10yo) “WHAT’S A TASTING ROOM?” that is blended Scotch. Ian Grieve is the The highland malt with the lowland Not sure, we only know of two. In Master Blender for United Distillers and character. Aviemore you can pay an admission is unique in that he is a composer, the Smooth, delicate, flavoured, slight charge and have Frank Clark pour creator of Bell’s Islander, one of the few smokiness, flowery like an expensive whisky at you. Our operation at The genuinely-new mass-market blends soap. Suggestions of Butterscotch or Lodge on Loch Lomond Hotel at Luss, produced since the war. Ian describes his eucalyptus. on the road from Glasgow to Inveraray role and typical working day with UD, Little known example of a lowland style. is similar but there is no admission (owners of Bell's, Johnnie Walker and charge. The Original Tasting Tray of 40% of Scotland’s distilling capacity). HALF BOTTLE COLLECTORS three tastes costs £2.35. New this year MacDuff International is a new company is a range of over 30 more malts to We are seeing a growing number of licensing and marketing many brands sample with our tasting notes. It’s great buyers and collectors of half bottle including Islay Mist. Founder/director fun and everyone appreciates it. Open size single malt whiskies. With the Ted Thompson considers the importance from Easter to October 31st, noon to increasing availability of malts in 35cl of a name. In future we will hear of Ted’s 6 pm. See you there! Latin-American sales drive. sizes it is relatively gentle on the purse We feature Clynelish, the peatiest of to keep up with new releases. Recently, mainland whiskies, and begin regular new halves of Aberlour and G&M’s Cask OVERSEAS NEWS reviews. In future our reviews will whiskies have come onto the market We have been despatching worldwide consider not just malts but also blends, and Loch Fyne Whiskies stocks a and to our knowledge only a single liqueurs, books and anything else we feel comprehensive selection of half bottles. miniature has gone astray. Overseas you may be interested in. But for this customers can feel increasingly launch issue space is devoted to some SCOTCH WHISKY REVIEW is confident that their goods will arrive. It explaining on our behalf. free to all bona fide mail order seems that Customs within the EC are We hope our inaugural four pages will customers. If you have not bought not intercepting parcels. Outside the EC be worthwhile; your feedback is most by mail order from the last (Autumn) please check with your local Customs/ welcome. It is hoped that the next catalogue and do not buy from the Excise offices if any special require- edition will be eight or twelve pages, but accompanying (Spring) list then we ments are necessary. Our new overseas that depends on you, dear customer. will not be troubling you again. order form gives mailing charges. THE ROLE AND WORKING before the whisky is nosed. The addition of the water releases the full aroma of DAY OF A the whisky and reduces it to the correct MASTER BLENDER strength for sampling. Providing that his nose tells him that everything is alright, Ian Grieve, Master Blender, United Distillers the Blender can accept the sample. Much is written about the whisky In Bell’s, following the blending of the makers art. How the barley is whiskies, they are filled back into cask malted; the skills of the mashman for the marrying period of several months and stillman and how the whisky is commonly known as the “Honeymoon locked away in dark warehouses for Period”. The object of this is to allow the a great many years until its indi- different whiskies each with their 500 YEARS OF SCOTCH vidual character is formed. But individual characteristics to “marry” and In 1494, the Scottish Exchequer Roll travel to any distillery and ask the to become intimately mixed. This is a listed, “Delivery of eight bolls of malt to mashman and stillman, in fact any- very expensive process but experience Friar John Col wherewith to make one who makes Scotch Whisky, has shown that it is essential if a blended aquavitae”. This, the first recorded where they think the hardest task whisky of quality is to be produced. mention of any distillation in Scotland, lies and the answer will in general While the traditional role of the Master is being celebrated by the Scotch whisky be the same; in the blending. Blender remains, I also frequently sup- industry. Today’s water of life gets its The international reputation and port the Company’s Marketing and Sales name from the Gaelic direct translation popularity of Scotch Whisky has been activities giving presentations to key of aquavitae, ‘uisge beatha’, pronounced built on blended whisky. Indeed, if the customers and opinion forming groups to ooshkubeha (ooshku, whence whisky). practice of blending had not started, the reinforce the high qualities and differing Eight bolls is over a tonne, sufficient whisky industry of Scotland as we know styles of Company products. My day can malt to make over 1,400 bottles so we it today would not have developed beyond be varied . It can involve catching the “red can assume the good friar and his pals a cottage industry. eye”, followed by meetings and presen- had been at it for some time before 1494. Prior to the mid 1800’s, grain and malt tations to key accounts, supporting the Personal use only, of course! whiskies were drunk singly with limited sales force, and then travelling to give a There are many ideas as to the origins appeal. It was in the 1860’s that Andrew tutored nosing and tasting elsewhere in of whisky. It’s known that the Egyptians Usher discovered that by blending the UK during the evening. were able to boil beer and collect the various grains and malts together, he In the late 1980’s, I was responsible for steam distillate as early as 800 BC. One created a blend of whiskies which had the creation of Bell’s Islander. It is very likely suggestion regarding the introduc- much greater popular appeal. difficult to create a new blend when you tion of distillation into Scotland is by Skill and experience is required to consider how many different blends are Irish monks as early as the 5th century. produce a good blend of Scotch, often con- marketed. It helps if you are given some The use of malted barley developed taining up to 40 single malt and grain guidance by the Marketeers as to its about 1200 but it was not until the whiskies each with their own character- positioning in the Market Place. My brief 1700’s that the product could be consid- istics. When selecting whiskies for a was to create a blend of the highest ered to be drinkable or indeed safe. blend it is very much like selecting guests quality positioned between Premium It is very possible that the Scots have for a dinner party, you must strike the whiskies such as Bell’s and deluxes (Dim- been distilling for over a thousand years. correct balance of personalities. Some ple) and malts. It was to be targeted at This heritage is reflected in the high malts have very little appeal on their own the discerning whisky drinker who was quality of today’s product which, unlike but blended together with others they looking for something special but not so most others, has not been compromised, balance beautifully.