
What Was the Scotch Whisky Boom? Part 1: Value vs. Volume - omnibrain
http://thekrav.blogspot.com/2015/01/what-was-scotch-whisky-boom-part-1.html
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zedpm
Very nice analysis of the "boom." Anyone who regularly buys single malt Scotch
has observed the strong upward movement of bottle prices in the last few
years. With the growing visibility of world whisk(e)y, I'll be interested to
see if the Japanese and other producers help moderate the price of Scotch or
if they join in the upward trend.

On a somewhat related note, it's interesting to see how small and simple some
of these world-famous distilleries are. I visited Islay last summer and toured
Ardbeg, Laphroaig, Lagavulin, Kilchoman, Bowmore, Bruichladdich, and a few
others. Bowmore is definitely the Walmart of the bunch, while Kilchoman was
more like a mom-and-pop operation.

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tptacek
We were in the Highlands and Speyside this summer and did some tours as well.

It's worth knowing that most of the famous distilleries roll up to one of a
couple mega-corps --- Diageo, Ricard, Suntory. Lots of those distilleries are
small operations. It's the same in the US: the best known, best regarded
bourbons are almost uniformly owned by giant companies.

There's an interesting comparison between the tours at, say, Aberlour (a mega-
corp-owned large-scale distillery) and Benromach (an independent small-scale
distillery). I'd rather tour the small operations. But honestly, I'd (mostly)
rather drink the products of the larger ones.

 _(A warning: I 'm more inclined to nerd out and even less qualified to hold
forth on this topic than I am on criminal law or cryptography. Sorry!)_

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drsim
Busloads of tourists rolled into Talisker (Diageo) on the August day we
visited. We sat in the Talisker 'experience' while waiting for our time slot.

After an hour we were ready and got taken around by a suited guide with gilded
lapel badge. She took us through the usual history, distillation process and
then to the tasting: a nice range of their ages and brands.

A slick, well-packaged distillery.

A few days later we arrived on Mull and toured the Tobermory Distillery. Small
and cute just like the town. The tweeded master distiller had so many stories,
transporting us back through its varied history.

That history sure made the dram taste great.

Looking forward to making it onto Islay next time.

Slàinte!

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zedpm
Islay is amazing. If you make it there, consider staying at The Bowmore
House[0]. Andrew and Alison are wonderful hosts, the breakfasts are marvelous,
and the rooms are great too.

[0] [http://www.thebowmorehouse.co.uk/](http://www.thebowmorehouse.co.uk/)

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arethuza
If you go to Islay, it might be worth going to Jura that has it's own
distillery, interesting scenery (if you like fantastically rough coastlines
and raised beaches), the house where Orwell wrote 1984 and at the north end
between Jura and Scarba the infamous Gulf of Corryvreckan with its whirlpool:

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_Corryvreckan](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_Corryvreckan)

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peterwwillis
Several distilleries have hit points where supply exceeded demand, so they
closed for years to let the market stabilize, only to start producing just shy
of too late to have enough product to continue selling. The end result was you
couldn't find label X or Y for a few years because they ran out and couldn't
churn out the old label in time, so they would issue a _new_ label using
younger whiskey as an intermediate gimmick.

Aside from consumer demand, other production issues come up, like the fact
that white oak casks/barrels are actually in such high demand that America is
having a hard time keeping up the supply (basically everyone gets their high
quality barrels from us).

And in general, the global market continues to increase due to new markets
[developing countries], which is going to at least marginally drive the price
up (because there aren't a flurry of new distilleries popping up).

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Exuma
I recently read an interesting article about 'whisky' vs 'whiskey'
[http://www.thekitchn.com/whiskey-vs-whisky-whats-the-
di-1004...](http://www.thekitchn.com/whiskey-vs-whisky-whats-the-di-100476)

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frobozz
Penderyn distillery in WalEs produces whisky thereby breaking the mnemonic.

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JasonCEC
For anyone interested in a startup working in the craft beverage industry, my
company builds quality control and flavor profiling tools using machines
learning. We focus on the craft beer, artisan coffee, and premium spirit
industries.

www.gastrograph.com JasonCEC [at] the above url

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s_dev
Irish whiskey is going through it's own boom - it would be interesting to
compare the two. They have different histories and tastes.

