Required Listening

Preferably as loud as possible.

2008 Sees Launch Of Whisky-Themed Wiki

On the first of this year one Ian Buxton launched Whiskipedia.org, initially utilizing content provided by whisky author Gavin Smith. I, for one, am excited that there will be a free, centralized, and exponentially growing source of information about whisky on the internet.

Scotsman.com Adds New "Alcohol" Tab

Scotsman.com, the web presence of a leading news source in Scotland has added a new topical link to its sidebar. Yep, "Alcohol" will now be displayed as a link next to the other important issues for Scots--perhaps very appropriately situated between "Scottish Independence" and "Terrorism."

Canadian Club Launches Most Bad-Ass Ad Campaign Ever

Canadian Club, a whiskey that was highly favored by American drinkers decades ago, just launched an ad campaign that aspires to make CC a big-name brand again. But that isn't the end of the campaign's ambitions. Developed by advertising agency Energy BBDO of Chicago, this is Canadian Club's first national ad compaign in twenty years. The rather unique ads utilize a series of celebratory snap shots from the 1970's and posit a time of free-spirited--if a bit tame, non-threatening and run-of-the-mill--hedonism that today's younger alcohol consumers never experienced first-hand. Aimed exclusively at men (tagline: "Damn right your dad drank it") the ads are, of course, a welcome change from the metrosexual/neo-heroin chic masculinty monolith we've been stuck with recently. But I think they go even farther than that--inviting the consumer to ponder what kind of man he is becoming and why. I admit it's pretty Warhol-ian to think that advertising is more inspiring than, say, church. But, either way, you have to admit that this is one impressive attempt to reinvigorate an almost forgotten brand.

Leading Blend To Change Image

Teacher's blended Scotch whisky is set to change it's emblem to the one pictured here, which simply makes use of the image of the whisky's namesake and its "Full Flavor" motto. Teacher’s is a premium blended Scotch whisky, although the brand is much more prominent in the UK than it is in the states. The brand is known for its exceptionally high malt content. Guaranteed at 45 per-cent malt, the blend's proportion of malt to neutral spirits is amongst the highest of any blend. Teacher’s was first blended in Glasgow in the 1830s. The blend was recently recognised by the prestigious International Spirits Challenge 2007, picking up a bronze award for blended Scotch whisky.

First Murder On Islay For 30 Years?

On September 20 a 49 year-old man was found severely injured in the street near his home in Port Ellen on the Isle of Islay in Argyle, Scotland. Port Ellen is a quiet, little town on a small island off Scotland's southwest coast. Both Islay and Port Ellen are known primarily for the Scotch distilleries associated with them. A police spokesperson said that initially police believed that the man's wounds had resulted from an accident, but doctors later became suspicious about the man's wounds. Presently rumours are being voiced around the island that the man was attacked. The man died in hospital care on Wednesday, October 3. A post-mortem examination is scheduled for today. If the man indeed was murdered, it will be the first murder on Ilsay for 30 years.

Bottle Of Bowmore Sells For 29,400 Pounds

A bottle of single malt scotch sold for almost thirty thousand pounds sterling at auction in Glasgow recently. The hand-blown bottle contains the Islay malt Bowmore and is thought to have been bottled in 1850. Apparently the Morrison-Bowmore company wanted to buy the bottle and display it at the Bowmore distillery, but a private collector outbid them.

Times Takes Unique Tack On Scotch Tourism

Sunday's travel section of The New York Times carried an article on visiting independent bottlers in Scotland--an interesting alternative to visiting Scotch distilleries. Independent bottlers, or "IB's," or "indies," constitute a cottage industry that has grown up in the spirits business wherein a merchant that is not connected with any particular distilling company buys casks from a distillery and ages and bottles those casks himself, oftentimes providing the market with rare products--for instance, much older whiskey than would otherwise be avaliable from the particular distilleries themselves. Although Scotch distilleries have, on some level, been tourist attractions for decades, I credit the Times for the originality of documenting this trip to the plants of merchant-bottlers.

IN Attorney Arrested After Bringing Bottle Of Whiskey To Court

Attorney Peter Katic was arrested and charged with public intoxication after allegedly arriving at a Tippecanoe County courtroom drunk yesterday. Katic is a former Lake County, IN commissioner and former Hammond, IN city judge. Katic, 53, arrived yesterday at the Tippecanoe County courthouse in LaFayette, IN for an 11 a.m. juvenile court hearing. When officials noticed Katic's bloodshot eyes, flushed face and slowed movements, they gave him a portable breathalyzer test, on which he registered a blood-alcohol content of 0.201 percent, more than twice the 0.08 legal limit for driving in Indiana. Officials apparently also found a bottle of whiskey in Katic's coat pocket.

A Word Of Advice: Don't Fuck With 114

Yesterday my friend Rob and I decided to have our own little barbecue, because everyone else had gone back to Crystal Lake for Labor Day. Before we went to the Mexican grocery store to buy steaks and so on, we took the bus down to Foremost Liquors to get drinks. When we got there, we milled around for a bit, not sure what to get. We both wanted whiskey, and Rob was leaning toward Bourbon, but nothing was jumping off the shelf at us. A handle of Evan Williams? Sounds kind of yucky. A fifth of Jim Beam Rye? Rob wasn't interested. Then it hit me: sitting on the top shelf, next to all of the pricey premium brands was a cognac bottle-shaped fifth of Old Grand Dad 114. It had never before even occured to me to try to fuck with a bottle of 114, but at that moment our boredom with the bourbon selection, and the fact that 114 only cost $22.00 (I had never priced it before) made buying that bottle seem like a really good idea. And it was; the whiskey tasted great, diluted with the requisite amount of tap water. Rob and I were both impressed. Here's the only thing: after like 2 reasonably-sized glasses of the stuff, Rob and I were both so groggy and wasted that we both decided to go to sleep at about 6:00 PM.

R.I.P. (The Other) Michael Jackson

Frank Coleman, Distilled Spirits Council Senior Vice President, filed a press release today announcing that celebrated spirits expert Michael Jackson died yesterday. The press release did not mention the cause of Mr. Jackson's death. Michael Jackson is a noted author and expert on spirits, especially whiskey. Jackson has published many painstakingly researched volumes on the subject for publishing houses like DK and Simon and Schuster, including Michael Jackson's Great Beers of Belgium, Ultimate Beer, The Complete Guide To Single Malt Scotch, and Whiskey: The Definitive World Guide, to name only a few. Jackson's absolutely essential Complete Guide To Single Malt Scotch is presently in its fifth edition, and Jackson's writings have earned him five Glenfiddich Food And Drink Awards. As a spirits expert, Jackson was absolutely peerless and his books betray not only a great expertise, but also a limitless zeal for the object of his work. Neither wikipedia, nor my copy of The Complete Guide offer any biographical information about Jackson.

Brown-Forman's Profits Up, Stock Price Down

Louisville, KY-based liquor conglomerate Brown-Forman, best known for its portfolio of American whiskey brands, recorded a $95.4M profit during the three months ending July 31. That's a $.8M increase from last year's first quarter. The company attributes the success to the world-wide demand for its mainline brands such as Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey and the strong performance of its newer premium brands such as Woodford Reserve, which the company has promoted heavily this year. The value of Brown-Forman stock dipped this morning, however, because the first quarter earnings the company reported were lower than some analysts had expected.

In related news, British liquor conglomerate Diageo, which owns Guinness, as well as 26 Scotch distilleries, including Lagavulin, Oban, Talisker, Clynelish and Linkwood, reported a 22% drop in earnings for the first quarter--down to 1.49 billion pounds sterling--but Diageo stock is up a whole 2.2% this morning.

Glenmorangie Workers Set To Strike

The staff of Glenmorangie Distillery has voted to strike in a dispute over shift assignments. Apparently management recently rearranged the worker's shift patterns and threatened to fire workers who did not comply with the new arrangement. The staff plans to strike as soon as they receive the go-ahead from their union. Glenmorangie, located near Tain, Scotland, is one of the nation's foremost distilleries, producing Scotland's most-consumed single malt whiskey.

Don't Call It That

The Staten Island Advance ran a story today characterizing whiskey as "the new vodka." Apparently whiskey drinking is way up in SI, among women as well as men. I guess I would consider that a nice thing, except they decided to single out one of the least satisfying, most over-priced brands of whiskey as their poster child.

Staple Whiskey Of Prohibition Era Returns To Chicago

Templeton Rye--a brand steeped in history--was (re-)launched in Templeton, Iowa last year by one Scott Bush. The town of Templeton, Iowa was famous during the Prohibition for the whiskey produced illicitly there; apparently Templeton whiskey had a reputation for high quality. The product had a devoted Chicago following and supposedly was purchased in large quanities by Al Capone. So far the new, legit whiskey business has been a success in Templeton: Bush sold every bottle of whiskey that they bottled last year. The new business and its backers--almost exclusively senior citizens from Iowa--will be throwing a big bash in Chicago to celebrate the brand's return to its original primary market.

Wall Street Journal Praises Classic Scotch Brand

The Wall Street Journal ran a story celebrating the classic Sheep Dip brand of blended Scotch on Saturday. Sheep Dip is a brand that garnered a cult following in the 1970's, due mainly to its high quality: it is a blend only of single malts, without any of the Everclear-like grain alcohol which makes up about 65% of most blends. After dissappearing for over a decade, The Sheep Dip brand was resurrected earlier this year, to some fanfare. The Journal's take on all this is that resurrecting old brands is good business because of the "residual value" of the old brand's built-in image and consumer base.

New 200% Tax Devastates Scotch Sales In Bombay

On July 10th the Maharashtra state government slapped a 200% tax on foreign spirits, and the effects on Scotch consumption in Bombay have been devastating. India is the world's largest whiskey market, and typically 30%-40% of Indian whiskey consumption happens in Maharashtra. The Scotsman reported over the weekend that not a single bottle of Scotch had been sold in Bombay since the tax increase. Commentators have opined that the tax will be a boon to Indian bootleggers and smugglers; apparently as it stands 90% of the foreign spirits sold in India are smuggled and sold on the black market, sans taxes.

Indian Brewer To Buy Venerable Scotch Blendinghouse

An Indian beer magnate named Vijay Mallya, is expected to sign a deal to buy the Scotch stalwart Whyte & Mackay this week. The Whyte & Mackay brand dates from 1844, when whisky merchants James Whyte and Charles Mackay began blending their "Special" whiskey from 35 different malts at their place of business in Glasgow. Apparently India is the world's largest market for whisky, and consumption of whiskey is growing rapidly among its public. Due to tariffs, most of the whiskey consumed in India is produced domestically. Commentators note that the Whyte & Mackay deal could greatly improve Indian blends because Whyte & Mackay's vast stock of single malts would be made available to Indian blendinghouses.