Weekly Whiskey Miscellany

Interview with Colum Egan, Bushmills

Beer and whiskey blogger Lew Bryson posts part two of an interview with Colum Egan, master distiller with Bushmills. Good info.

The Czechs and Irish whiskey

According to an article in The Prague Daily Monitor, Tullamore Dew was the top-selling whiskey in the Czech Republic last year. 600,000 litres of the stuff were sold, double the volume of 2006 sales.

The second best-selling whiskey was Old Smuggler, a Scotch, at 200,000 litres.

I have commented before on Tullamore Dew's strong position in Eastern Europe. Given brand owner C&C's widely reported troubles in the cider business they could do with a little good news around now.

Irish whiskey exports

The government agency for promotion of Irish food and drink, Bord Bia, reported that beverage exports for 2007 were up 5%, driven by considerable growth in liqueurs, whiskey and beer exports.

Quoting from the Performance & Prospects Report:

The principal growth in exports during the year was evident in liqueurs and whiskey. Alcohol exports to Asia more than doubled during 2007 fuelled by strong growth for cream liqueurs, whiskey and stout in China and a recovery in the import demand for whiskey in Japan...

The US market also performed strongly for whiskey despite the weakness of the US dollar. Other markets to grow significantly included Russia and South Africa while sales to Europe reached expectations. However, competitive pressure from other European suppliers continues to be an issue for the Irish sector...

The export performance continues to be assisted by the increased emphasis on premiumisation within the category as consumers seek to trade up. Irish beverage exports are well placed to avail of this development.

There are number of issues facing the sector, including the ongoing strength of the Euro, the rise in raw material costs, a drive towards increased levels of recycling and government policies in relation to responsible drinking.

(Not at all) Weekly Whiskey Miscellany

Is 12 the new 10?

Kevin Erskine asks if whiskey is suffering from age inflation. Are 12 year old expressions becoming more common than 10? Is the reason for this quality or marketing? There are some interesting responses from industry insiders.

I don't think we can say much on this topic by looking at the Irish whiskey market. There aren't enough quality bottlings to draw a statistically valid conclusion.

Cooley's age statements probably haven't settled down yet given the hiatus in distillation back in '93-'95.

Irish Distillers' recently-launched premium whiskey went the "vintage" route instead (i.e. only the year of bottling was declared rather than the age of the whiskey).

As for Bushmills, they are busy building up stocks since the purchase by Diageo so we don't yet know how their age profile will play out in the years ahead.

Clear Whiskey

Irish whiskey must be aged at least three years, by law. The same goes for Scotch. The colour of the final product comes from this barrel aging (sometimes helped along with caramel colouring).

An American company is launching a colourless whiskey called Death's Door. According to the article it is unaged. I don't know enough about the law in the US to say whether that is legal or if they have, in fact, aged the whiskey for a month in an enormous barrel to minimise the effect.

A new whiskey site and encyclopaedia

Ian Buxton is a well-known name in the Scotch industry. He has recently launched two sites devoted to whiskey. One is The Whisky Channel which aims to be a social network for whiskey nuts. The other is the Whiskipedia, an online encyclopaedia of all things whiskey.

Both of these endeavours are still under active development and they rely for content on user contributions so they haven't reached critical mass yet. Worth keeping an eye on though.

Bushmills and 400 years of Ulster whiskey

Happy New Year to all Irish whiskey drinkers!

Before we entirely abandon 2007, let's recall the 400th anniversary of the Flight of the Earls in 1607 (there is whiskey in this story so bear with me). This was a pivotal moment in Irish history as the Gaelic nobility of Ulster departed Ireland to seek assistance against the English. They never returned.

This left the English crown, under James I, free to proceed with the Plantation of Ulster, a scheme intended to replace Catholic landowners and tenants with loyal English and Scots Protestants.

This population transplant had a longstanding effect on Irish politics. When Ireland gained independence in 1922, Northern Ireland, still largely Protestant and loyal to the Crown, remained part of the United Kingdom.

One of the King's military adventurers in Ireland, Sir Thomas Phillips, was among those hoping for the grant of a sizeable parcel of land formerly owned by the Irish rulers he had helped to expel.

He got his wish in 1610 when he received the O'Cahan castle and lands at Limavady. Even before this, however, he was operating various enterprises in Northern Ireland under licence from the Crown - a market in Coleraine and river ferries, for example.

Of most interest to us was his licence to distill "aquavitae" (i.e. whiskey) granted "on the 20th of April, 1608, for the next seven years, within the county of Coleraine, otherwise called O'Cahan's country, and within the territory called the Rowte, in Co. Antrim."

This territory may well include today's town of Bushmills, though I haven't been able to confirm that. Regardless, the Bushmills distillery seized upon the date as Year Zero of its Origin Story.

There is documentary evidence of distillation occuring in the area much earlier than 1608 and it's also the case that the Bushmills company itself was not established until 1784. Nevertheless, at some point in the last few decades, Bushmills replaced the date "1784" on their bottles with "1608".

And so it is that in 2008 Bushmills is celebrating the 400th anniversary of the "license to distil".

To mark the occasion, they are producing a new, limited edition whiskey called Bushmills 1608.It's a blend but with an interesting twist: the use of "crystal" (or "caramel") malt. Quoting from the fact sheet and press release:

Bushmills 1608 is a premium blended Irish whiskey. The heart of the blend is made of Bushmills malt whiskey distilled with crystal malt. This special type of malted barley is obtained by gently roasting the germinated barleycorns while still moist, which partly crystallizes the grains and enhances the natural sweetness of the malt. When carefully distilled and matured, crystal malt delivers exceptional smoothness as well as distinct toffee and chocolaty note

This crystal malt whiskey is carefully blended with classic Bushmills malt whiskey matured in a combination of American oak casks and Spanish Oloroso Sherry casks, lending notes of vanilla and honey, dried fruit and nuts to the final blend. There is also a small proportion of aged Irish grain whiskey contributing a sweet, fresh crisp note to Bushmills 1608.

Bushmills 1608 is bottled at the slightly higher than normal strength of 46% ABV for optimum flavour development.

Bushmills 1608 will only be available in the United States from February through December 2008, with a suggested retail price of $100. In subsequent years, due to the limited quantities available, Bushmills 1608 will only be available at the Bushmills Distillery Shop in Bushmills, Ireland and in Travel Retail.