Who would have thought Diageo dirty tricks?
Diageo again caught red-handed fiddling the result of a 'people's choice' awards ceremony, and exposed to the world via social media.
The powerful like to suffocate dissent, promote their agenda and eliminate competition. But like the Arab Spring - Syria, Bahrain etc. - social media has given volume to the small voice.
The French have a problem with Bruichladdich. To be more specific, with the nom de plume "the laddie".
Whether it's a reflection of the French education system, the mesmerising influence of the kilt, or some deep-seated deviance, the French continually mistake laddie for lady, a confusion that could have deeply embarrassing results, particularly in Thailand.
The two words don't even look the same, let alone sound similar:
At the recent World Whisky Conference Diageo's Nick Morgan called for a conversation.
In whisky industry parlance, a 'conversation' is a euphemism for 'this is what we are going to do'.
The subject is, surprise surprise, the contentious new category, blended malt. Morgan's proposition, as it was tweeted by drinks industry news provider Just Drinks, is he wants to sow the seeds of converting existing single malts in to new blended malts. This is the reheated Cardhu Debacle all over again. back then in 2004 Diageo were obliged to concede that, while not exactly illegal, it was not in the spirit of things to hoodwink the consumer. At the time, in full Arnie-mode, a spokesman said: "we'll be back".
And here they are.
But this time the landscape has changed: SWA members have now seen the light; a new category has been specifically created for this purpose.
Nick's conversation is about setting the narrative for allowing certain single malts to become blended malts. The reasoning is simple, and of course it is to do with money: a blended malt would allow the better margins of a single malt to be achieved, but with the unlimited volume of a blended whisky: blended malt equals the best of both worlds. This economic argument has already won over SWA members; there is no longer any industry opposition.
How will whisky retailers be convinced? Continuity of supply, better price points. And the whisky-buying public? Expect platitudes along the lines of 'blending is an art', our master blender, cheaper prices for your favourite malt, the brand looks the same, no one will notice the difference, etc.
And of course they would be right. 90% of whisky is exported overseas, so brand-conscious Johnny Foreigner is unlikely to catch on to the deception, that his whisky no longer comes form the specific place that he thought has been told it came from, but instead some anonymous blending facility. And, and this is the main point, if origin, spirit, appellation and brand are decoupled, where will it all end?
After all, the only difference on his favourite Scotch whisky will be the transposition of two little words, just 3mm high: 'single' for 'blended'.
Our latest delivery for the bottling hall came from a dramatic, newly painted lorry.
Mundells, the Islay to Glasgow haulier, commissioned a new trailer in Bruichladdich’s striking aqua livery.
The Islay carrier transports all of Bruichladdich’s materials - tins, bottles, cartons - to Islay in time for bottling and labelling. Bruichladdich is the only distillery to bottle whisky on the island. Pallets of completed orders are then shipped to Glasgow for onward nationwide distribution, and overseas.
Mundells, established in 1971, is owned and run by husband and wife team Myra and Ben Mundell. the company operates a next day delivery service, warehousing and UK wide haulage. For islanders, and Bruichladdich in particular, they perform an essential link with the remote island and the rest of the world.
However, identifying the valuable contents of the lorry in such a dramatic fashion could lead to security issues such as theft and hi-jacking. Commenting on that Ben Mundell said, “Obviously, now I’ve got to be very careful where I park the lorry.”
What does Scotland get out of Scotch? No one really wants to talk about this delicate subject. Newspapers are bombarded with good news press releases from the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) about £150 per second being earned by whisky with the inference that it is for Scotland's benefit.
We have come to the end of the 2011 distilling season, we are winding down for the Christmas break.
The staff have met in the Bruichladdich shop for end of term speeches, Christmas and birthday cake, Champagne, beer and Bruichladdich.
It's been a good year for us:
BBC1 broadcast a documentary entitled "The True Spirit of Scotland" which featured Bruichladdich.
Whisky awards are as democratically chosen as an Italian or Greek head of state is these days. But sometimes the people do speak.
Winston Churchill's detractors accuse him of having been an alcoholic. The evidence, however, contradicts that.
His daughter, Lady Soames, recalls that the "Papa Cocktail" was a smidgen of whisky covering the bottom of a tumbler, which was then filled with water and sipped throughout the morning. In his autobiography 'My Early Life', Churchill claimed he earned this habit as a young man in India and South Africa. "The water being unfit to drink, one had to add whisky and, by dint of careful application I learned to like it." Churchill remarked to those who took whisky neat, "you are not likely to live a long life if you drink it like that."