New Colorado Whisky

New Colorado Whisky

Jess Graber, majority owner and manager of Stranahan’s. Colorado Whisky has just tapped the distillery’s first barrel, produced in April 2004. The 2004 output was 1,000 cases only, so interested customers should hurry if they want a sip of the 2004 batch. Another chance will come next year when the 3,000 casks from 2005 will be made available.

Glenfiddich Moves Parts Of Bottling Operations

The owner of Glenfiddich has shifted some of the bottling operations at the Dufftown distillery to a site at Bellshill, near Glasgow, it emerged yesterday.

A spokesman for William Grant and Sons said the move was because of increased sales of its Glenfiddich single malt, the world’s biggest seller. Industry sources said it was more likely because of the increased costs of having its bottling operation at a site so far away from the marketplace.

The whisky firm’s spokesman said about 25-30% of bottling previously carried out at Dufftown was now done at Bellshill. The move has had no implications on jobs and he said it did not mean any dilution of the marketing claim that Glenfiddich was the only Highland whisky to be distilled, matured and bottled at its own distillery. He said the whisky being bottled at Bellshill was still being “cut” to bottling strength with local water at Dufftown.

Worldwide sales of Glenfiddich are now running at about 840,000 cases a year; too much bottling for the Dufftown site to cope with, said the spokesman, adding: “We are now paying the price for years of success.”

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He said the group would not be bottling any of its Glenfiddich premium range off site, and added that Grants – which also owns the Balvenie distillery at Dufftown- had ambitious plans for its Highland brands.

The Macallan enhances Fine and Rare Collection!

The Macallan has released the latest vintage single malt to join its Fine & Rare collection, the 1975 Macallan.

According to the company, The 30 years old single malt whisky takes its place alongside The Macallan’s unparalleled selection of 39 Fine & Rare vintage single malts ranging from 1937 through to 1975. Expressions from the range are highly sought after and the 1926 and 1972 vintages have now all been sold.

The extraordinary expressions of vintage Macallan from the Fine & Rare collection are each carefully selected for their unsurpassed quality and rarity representing the finest single malt from that year.

Bob Dalgarno, whisky maker at The Macallan, comments: “It is a great privilege to select the latest vintage to join the Fine & Rare collection, which we expect will be warmly received by whisky lovers worldwide. The precious cask chosen, number 8845, is an American oak hogshead previously seasoned with bourbon. Remaining undisturbed for 30 years, it is a truly outstanding example of The Macallan from this year.”
Source: Scottish food and drink

Severe storm damage Buffalo Trace Distillery!

Severe thunderstorms and high winds have moved through central Kentucky, damaging two historical warehouses at Buffalo Trace Distillery. Warehouse C (1881) and B (1879) both suffered significant damage. Fortunately there no injuries. Source: Press Release

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Scots toast landmark victory on Indian whisky!

EDINBURGH: Scotland’s whisky industry is toasting a landmark legal victory after a court blocked an Indian company from claiming that its whisky was Scottish-made.

The Scotch Whisky Association said its members would be protected from unfair competition by the decision of a court in Delhi to stop Golden Bottling, a company based near Jaipur, from using the name “Red Scot” on one of its brands. The ruling could have ramifications for attempts by Scotland’s whisky producers to increase their share of the spirits market in a country with more whisky drinkers than anywhere else in the world.

About 600million litres of whisky are consumed in India each year, and this figure is expected to rise dramatically over the next few years as the country’s wealthy middle class continues to expand and import taxes are reduced.

Whisky exported from Scotland currently accounts for less than 1 per cent of the Indian market, but Scotch whisky producers have little doubt that India has the potential to earn them billions of dollars.

The SWA has estimated that there may be as much counterfeit as real whisky sold in India, largely because import taxes of up to 525 per cent for genuine Scotch make it a product that many Indians, while aspiring to drink it, cannot yet afford. The ruling in Delhi brings to an end a legal battle, begun in April 2004, when the SWA sued Golden Bottling under Indian legislation designed to bring the country into line with global trade standards on product descriptions.

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Judge Madan Lokur of Delhi High Court said the words “Red Scot” suggested that the whisky was produced in Scotland.  Source: The Australian

Distillery For Sale!

Do you want to own a distillery? If you have around £200 million you could get your hands on the largest grain distillery in Europe, the Scottish Invergordon Distillery on the Cromarty Firth. But don’t get too confident – the world’s second biggest distiller, Indian United Breweries, is rumoured to have taken an interest in the grain distillery.

Invergordon Distillery was founded in 1961, employs 180 staff and is one of eight grain distilleries left in Scotland, and the last one in the Highlands. Source: The Daily Record