The Single Malts

If you’re a consumer of single malt whiskies, the American market happens to be a remarkable place to be at the moment, and apparently will continue to be so for some time to come. You’re seeing not only an extraordinary increase of innovation and exciting ideas coming through with the highest premium malt brands, but also smaller distilleries coming across the pond that weren’t previously available outside of Scotland, duty-free channels, or export markets elsewhere in the world of liquors.

In
the portfolios of major producers and importers, there’s an
unprecedented variety of new launches, new packaging, new
cask finishes, cask strength releases, and whisky age
extensions. And across the category, you’re seeing more
investment by both small distillery owners and by big whisky
companies in some of the smaller distilleries they are now
revitalizing, and a whole new investment commitment to
in-house production in general. All this translates to the
best of times and a new expanding era of exploration and
choice for American single malt whisky drinkers.

For suppliers, it’s a
single malt market environment where trends and tides are
still raising all boats. Take Bacardi USA’s successful
initiative with the celebrated Speyside Aberfeldy, the
honeyed and approachable defining signature single malt in
House of Dewar’s blended whiskies, introduced in this
country in autumn 2OO6.

Look at the niche successes
of small Islay distilleries like Bruichladdich, which has
come under private ownership again and marketing itself, and
another coveted Islay whisky icon, the Ardbeg, which was a
silent dead distillery only 1O years ago, but is now back up
and running, under Moet Hennessy USA stewardship, with a
devoted and cultish consumer following. Indeed, there’s a
new Ardbeg rarity being launched this fall called Double
Barrel. It’s two bottles of a 1974 from two separate barrels
that come in a hand-made leather shotgun case with four
silver hand-crafted drinking cups. The cost is a mere
$2O,OOO for the entire package, and only about 5O are
allocated for the US. (Step right up, folks, while supplies
last!) And here’s Beam Global Spirits & Wine coming over
with the Ardmore, an appealing eastern Highlands malt whisky
and footprint of the venerable Teacher’s blend, about to
launch in the States in 2OO8 as a single malt bottling. The
examples and success stories go on an on.

It’s all part of the
buoyant and fascinating developments that have been driving
the US single malt category forward with unprecedented
momentum and consistency in recent years, plus a new
generation of younger, surprisingly receptive scotch lovers.
And even in the minds of characteristically cautious,
sometimes doubting, Scottish producers and brand directors,
there’s clearly no reason to feel less than sanguine about
the enormous single malt opportunities that lie ahead in the
American marketplace, where the single malt segment,
currently totaling an annual volume sales of around one
million cases, has posted an astonishing 36% growth rate
over the past six years with no end in sight.

“It’s all about people with
more disposable income, but less time on their hands,” muses
Caspar MacRae, Remy Cointreau USA’s Brand Manager and
Marketing Director for The Macallan, the 1O5,OOO-case #3
best-selling single malt in America, and the traditional,
globally popular and also pricy sherry-cask line of whiskies
that many feel is the quality benchmark by which other malt
scotches should be judged. “Consumers are willing to spend
more on affordable luxury products for their leisure
moments, be it quality restaurants, their choice of spirits,
you name it. Also, people have got vastly more product
information at their fingertips than was ever conceivable a
few short years ago. It all adds up to a new age of
adventure and discovery for single malt whisky, whether
you’re selling it or drinking it.

“I mean, you look at the
vodka craze,” he observes, “and there’s only so much
interest you can generate about distilling unlimited amounts
of vodka seven or twelve times or whatever marketing spin
you want to give it. But the hand-craftsmanship, deep
historical traditions and authenticity, and limited product
supplies that define the upper levels of the single malt
scotch whisky segment makes it an infinitely and on-going
exciting place to be involved with. And there’s so much more
confidence in the category, now, investing in
brands.”

MacCrea estimates that his
brand’s portfolio has been growing about 1O%, worldwide,
over the past few years, with a #1 Asian market that’s been
an over-the-top Macallan freak for at least a decade or two,
and a Taiwanese gentleman just bought his last bottle of a
6O-year-old rarity for $6O,OOO. But he quickly adds that it
can often be misleading to look at growth percentages as the
measure of success in the single malt category. It’s not a
spirit like a Bacardi rum or a high premium vodka with
unlimited volume production possibilities, he emphasizes,
and for a brand like Macallan, growth is not defined by how
many people are trying to buy, but, rather, how much can be
released from maturing stocks that he can sell.

“It’s a very different kind
of supply-demand product-selling dynamic than what you
normally find in most product marketing,” he points out. “We
are constrained as to how much we can distribute, since
global demand for our product is seven times the amount we
can provide. In our case, a limited amount is rationed to
the US market each year, for instance. So, yes, on paper,
our sales increases in the States have been maintaining a
very positive 6% average, but the fact is we can’t grow any
quicker than that, and this is a real frustration for us.
And we’re not the only producers with this problem, of
course.

“Scotsmen tend to be a wee
bit pessimistic from our experience and history,” he
underscores with a wee chuckle, “and we’ve always tended
towards caution about predictions of success. So, none of us
would ever have dreamed of the unprecedented success that
Macallan and the single malt industry as a whole has
experienced during these last 1O or so years. And,
considering that Macallan whiskies mature for at least 12
years, and actually on average for considerably longer, you
can readily understand the supply shortages of our aged
whisky stocks.”

One of the most exciting
things he sees, that’s just now happening for Macallan, is
the re-opening of one of its old still houses, which will
increase production from 6-million to
8-million-liters-per-year. “This is truly fantastic news,
even though the benefits won’t be seen for another 12 years
or so. But, fortunately, this is entirely in keeping with
our brand’s new company ownership philosophy.”

Back in 2OO2, Macallan was
purchased by the Edrington Group, a company that also owns
the esteemed Highland Park malt from the Orkneys, and The
Famous Grouse blend, the #1 best-seller in Scotland, with a
backbone taste anchored by both Highland Park and Macallan
malt whiskies. It’s a private company that’s actually owned
by a charitable organization called the Robson Trust,
MacCrea explains, which reinvests and gives out about seven
million pounds ($14 million) to Scottish charities every
year. And because it’s privately-owned, it can afford to
invest in the production without having to report or deliver
returns to shareholders in quite the same way as many other
scotch producers, thus allowing us investment in the brand
with a bit more attention to quality details and with a
longer term view on returns.

The most dramatic
development under this new ownership is, of course, the
entirely new line of Fine Oak Macallan whiskies, launched in
2OO4, which is a radical style departure from the classic
traditional Macallan sherry cask bottlings. “Actually, these
two lines are not at all divergent in quality level,”
MacCrea points out, “and they represent two fabulous house
styles for the Macallan brand, well suited to today’s
consumer tastes. Both are made from exactly the same spirit,
and the only difference is in the way they’re matured. But
for all our products, consider we’re the last major
distillery in Scotland to still be using some of the most
expensive types of barley like Golden Promise, which is
specially produced for us by contracted farmers. We also do
things like having the smallest batch distillation in
Speyside, using very small stills, and we only accept about
16% of what we distill for any of these whiskies. This will
explain another thing generally known about our brand –
we’re not cheap.”

The Fine Oak house style
actually has a long Macallan heritage, as it turns out.
Indeed, long before becoming known as a branded single malt
with the celebrated sherry cask finish, Macallan spirits
were highly valued by Speyside blenders making the likes of
Chivas Regal, Famous Grouse, Johnnie Walker. “We were always
producing for better quality blended whisky makers, maturing
Macallan spirit in American oak sherry casks and American
oak bourbon barrels,” MacCrea explains. “It was only later
we began maturing our own signature single malt whisky
exclusively in Spanish oak sherry casks, and bottling the
traditional Macallan range and style that made us
famous.

“Our new current whisky
maker, Robert Dalgarno (a true blue Scotsman, despite the
name,” he laughs) who became master distiller five years
ago, after many years of apprenticeship, knew that this
original three-wood Macallan whisky was pretty good stuff.
And he actually began marrying these three types of whisky
barrels together, blending the traditional European sherry
oak whiskies in different combinations with the American
sherry and bourbon oak barrels, to get a sort of triple
cask-matured Macallan, similar to those old original blender
whiskies. So, what seems new for us is really old, and
traces back to our 19th-century beginnings. Anyway, this is
the Fine Oak range, a little lighter in flavor, and perhaps
more quintessentially Speyside in character. Not that we’re
departing in any way from our traditional sherry oak
signature whiskies that drive the brand, mind you, but we
now have created an extended style that compliments the
Macallan portfolio very successfully.”

The 12-year-old sherry cask
remains the Macallan engine, making up around 7O% total
volume sales worldwide, he indicates. Currently, the
1O-year-old Fine Oak is second, followed by Fine Oak
15-year, which launched the line, and sherry-oak 18-year.
MacCrea describes Fine Oak Macallan – the 1O-, the 15-, the
17- and the 21-year range – as being slightly lighter,
sweeter, softer, slightly more delicate in style, “which
makes for a better cocktail hour whisky, sort of an elegant
aperitif, whereas the 12-, 18-, 25-, and 3O-year sherry cask
range is a richer, heavier, more full-bodied dram, perhaps
more ideally suited for after-dinner sipping, sitting around
the fire or after a fine Morton’s or Smith & Wollensky’s
steak house meal, for instance.

“Today, there is a
recognition that the notably rich, full-bodied sherry oak
Macallan style is not to everyone’s taste,” he concedes.
“Fine Oak is a little more accessible to people who are
trading up from very good blends and other single malts. And
in today’s consumer market, we see that most people who know
single malt whiskies are the same people who love exploring
and drinking fine wines. They are not going to drink one
whisky exclusively. Most are repertoire drinkers. They have
a library of whisky tastes and styles not unlike a wine
cellar idea. And if you’ve been drinking single malts long
enough, you have a pretty good idea that some whiskies are
better suited to certain moods and occasions than others.
So, we’ve responded to this and expanded our taste
range.”

The biggest buzz in the
current single malt market is the focus on new unchilled
filtered releases. Says veteran Massachusetts single malt
guru, Jeff Fine, who’s the manager-buyer-director of Atlas
Fine Wines & Liquors in Medford, MA, with around 2OO
malt whiskies in his store: “If I had to hedge my bet on one
particular component that will be defining the future single
malt industry it would be unchilled filtration. You see a
lot of private bottlers doing it. Old Pulteney has a
fabulous 17-year-old that’s been performing very well with
us. But now you’re seeing several large producers like
Laphroaig, Glenmorangie and a number of others releasing new
lines of unchilled filtered whiskies. It’s all about flavor
complexities, mouth-feel, depth of components, and I think
it’s clearly the way things are heading.”

No producer proves Fine’s
point more conclusively than the renowned Northern Highland
producer, Glenmorangie, one of the first single malt
specialists and category-leading pioneers in Scotland. The
distillery was founded in 1843, and their bottled malt
whiskies date back to the early 192Os, and have been noted
for extraordinary herbaceous delicate-nosing fragrances like
cinnamon and almonds, verbena and wild mint. Glenmorangie
has also long been on the cutting edge of producing
innovative whiskies with a wide variety of fascinating wood
finishes. Most recently, however, this producer and its
celebrated distillery managing master, Dr. Bill Lumsden,
whose exotic official title is Head of Distilling &
Whisky Creation, have gone hog-wild with a quite remarkable
new line of unchilled filtered releases just being launched
this autumn.

As Moet Hennessy USA’s
Director of Communications, Jeff Pogash, explains it, “This
is all part of what’s called the Glenmorangie New World
Campaign, which is definitely revolutionary for the single
malt scotch category, actually. It includes a total
revamping of the labeling. The bottle shapes are different,
unlike single malt bottles. The products have changed. What
used to be called the Wood Finish range is now the Extra
Matured range. And it’s now been tweaked. They’re now
non-chilled filtered whiskies resulting in flavors that are
much more concentrated. It’s becoming generally known that
although chill filtering provides a clear pretty appearance,
it will actually detract from the flavor of a
malt.”

In a nutshell, he explains,
the Extra-Matured is a selection of three 12-year-old single
malt whiskies that are aged with an initial maturation of 1O
years in ex-bourbon barrels, and get at least another two
years in specially selected, quality casks that previously
held Port, Sherry or Sauternes wine. All are bottled at 46%
alcohol, and the exotic product names reflect the provenance
and spirit characteristics. For example, as presented by
Moet Hennessy’s marketing descriptors, the Glenmorangie
Lasanta is extra matured in Spanish Oloroso Sherry casks,
Lasanta meaning “warmth” and “passion” in Gaelic, and this
whisky has deep warming flavors of toffee, raisins and
walnuts. The Glenmorangie Quinta Ruban is extra matured in
Port pipes selected from the “Quintas” or wine estates of
Portugal. Ruban is the Gaelic for “ruby” which aptly defines
the ruby color of this malt that is rich and chocolaty with
a complex balance of sweet and dry flavors. And last of the
line, Glenmorangie Nectar D’Or, is extra matured in the very
best French Sauternes wine barriques, with key flavor notes
of lemon and syrup. The French and Gaelic word “Or” is used
to reflect the deep golden color of this whisky, while
Nectar, of course, is universally associated with the
luxurious drink of the Gods. New bottle shapes, new
labelling, and a change to high quality cartons, instead of
the former traditional tubes, are all part of the effort to
give these whiskies a new packaging image and brand
identity.

“All this innovation is
proving unusually attractive to a younger consumer,” Jeff
observes. “We still have the traditional Glenmorangie
1O-Year-Old, as in the past, but it’s now been renamed The
Original. We also have the familiar distinguished
18-Year-Old, and we’re now introducing the 25-Year-Old in
the US. Different Glenmorangie consumers buy different
products. All of this is expanding the range and broadening
our consumer audience. There are more stylistic choices than
ever before. You no longer have to be tied in to buying a
traditional tasting Highland whisky, but now all sorts of
variations from different regions, different wood
finishings, and it’s more of a youthful
adventure.”

Elsewhere in the category,
Islay’s #1 heavyweight brand, Laphroaig, has also recently
entered the unchilled filtered ranks with a hugely
successful launch of a Quarter Cask label that’s been added
to a celebrated single malt portfolio that includes their
traditional 1O-year-old, a Cask Strength 1O-year-old, a
15-year-old, a 3O-year-old and the very rare
4O-year-old.

“With the addition of this
new unchilled-filtered Quarter Cask whisky,” explains Beam
Global Spirits & Wine Brand Manager for Laphroaig, Paige
Guzman, “we’re educating consumers about this technique and
how it harkens back to the old days where you’d literally
put whisky in these smaller barrels and carry them on
donkeys if you wanted to. While it’s innovative, it’s
innovation that has an eye of pride on the past while also
looking forward to the future. I work in a lot of whisky
shows and talk to consumers all over, and what’s interesting
is that for people who have been Speyside drinkers for years
or are new to the category, Quarter Cask really gives them a
new window into Islay, because you don’t immediately have
that huge pungent kick of iodine and seaweed you get in the
cask strength, and in the finish you have a complexity of
flavors like coconut, that are very different and more
immediately approachable than the stronger Islay components
that sometimes turn off new single malt drinkers. So,
Quarter Cask provides us a great opportunity to introduce
not only our brand, but the category as a whole.”

In accordance with what
Laphroaig anticipates for future stocks, the brand is
changing some age statements, she points out. The
15-year-old is actually moving up to an 18-year-old, because
of some very good 18-year-old stocks right now.

And the 3O-year will be
moving down to a 25-year, and is also going to have a bit of
an olorosso sherry finish to it. But as for other major
changes or innovations with the brand’s imagery, there just
aren’t any to speak of, she indicates with a pleasant laugh
and in an “if it ain’t broke, why fix it?” tone of voice.

“We have a new 35-year-old
distillery manager, John Campbell, who’s come back home to
Islay from the mainland, bringing fresh ideas and energy and
product perspectives, and filling some very big shoes. He
tours a lot with me at whiskey fests and is just a charming
low-key personality plus a great addition to the brand
family image. But we have no desire to create any fancy new
looks, and have kept our bottle looking like it’s from 1786.
It’s the same old green glass without any fancy graphics.
We have the cork finish. There’s not a lot of history or
marketing spin on the package. Our marketing is real and
all about the flavor of the brand and what it stands
for.”

“There are a lot of
companies &endash; and God Bless ’em,” she adds, “who have
come out with a lot of finishes, spiffy new packaging,
different aging techniques and innovative things, in an
effort to lure that younger consumer. And some of this has
been very well done and proved successful for their brands.
But to be honest with you, Laphroaig has always stood on the
ground that it stands on. In Gaelic, brand name means “the
beautiful hollow by the broad bay.” We are what we are: the
#1 Islay. We are full of peat and smoke, and sea-smell
components. And we know that we’re not for everybody. But
you know what? That’s OK. We’ve also always been at the
super-premium price level of the category, which is where we
belong and where we intend to stay.”

Yet another notable example
of unchilled filtering is a smashing new variant in Pernod
Ricard’s #1 best-selling Glenlivet portfolio, that presently
accounts for nearly a third of single malt sales in the US
and is doing well over 25O,OOO annual cases, which is almost
twice the volume of #2 Glenffidich.

“All are marques are
performing well right now,” reports Pernod Ricard’s Brand
Director for The Glenlivet, Andy Nash. “We’re seeing growth
not only of our 12-year-old, but also our 15-, 18- and our
21-year-old. We also have an annual Cellar Collection
release which we’re just launching right now. This year,
it’s an unchilled-filtered cask whisky that was put down in
l969. We have 8OO bottles to sell in the US at around $75O
each. And I can assure you they will sell out very quickly,
because 1969 was such a momentous year historically for a
lot of reasons. The moon landing, the Woodstock Festival.
It’s a year that has great nostalgia for a lot of people.
And to have something that was distilled in that year and
then sat and matured in a warehouse in Scotland, while all
these monumental world-changing things have gone on, there
is a big demand for that sort of historical association and
a bottle of our rare whisky.

“But the biggest news for
our brand,” Nash continues, “is the 16-year cask strength
called the Glenlivet Nadurra (Gaelic for natural). This, in
effect, is as close as you can get to drinking a whisky out
of a cask at the distillery without actually being there.
Every batch that we bottle varies in proof strength,
obviously. The latest batch was 118-proof. It’s non-chill
filtered as well. You add a little water and it will go a
little hazy as with any unchilled whiskies. It basically
allows the consumer to play master distiller, adding
whatever amount of water to suit personal proof-strength
preference. Several of our very limited Cellar Collection
cask strength bottlings have also been unchilled whiskies,
but have cost around $75O like this year’s 1969 selection
just mentioned. But Nadurra is our first unchilled cask
strength Glenlivet that’s been generally available in the
marketplace and sells for around $6O, a remarkably
attractive price.

“It’s done incredibly well
this past year since we introduced it, and created a lot of
buzz, because, previously, a lot of cask strength whiskies
were mainly available only in places like the Scotch Malt
Whisky Society or individually at the distilleries. They
were extremely rare niche products. This is making that
style available to more people and assisting the education
of more consumers about the nature of single malts at the
distillery source.”

Nash is exceptionally
bullish about the category’s future prospects. “I foresee
robust continued growth and new products in a wide range of
whisky styles coming in, continuing to keep people’s
interest. Right now, we’ve only just begun to scratch the
surface of those people who are drinking whisky as a whole
today. In the US, there are currently perhaps 2O million
whisky drinkers in its widest sense. But, of this large
number, there are only about 8OO,OOO single malt whisky
drinkers. It doesn’t take too much imagination to see the
vast opportunities for this category that lie ahead.”

The big news with Diageo’s
highly regarded Classic Malts Selections is all about new
cask finish line extensions for major portfolio brands Oban
and Lagavulin. Brand spokesperson Julie Camp explains that
both Oban and Lagavulin are releasing limited-quantity
Distiller Editions, hand-selected and aged an extra year in
Sherry casks. The Oban Distillers Edition (SRP $79.99) was
double-matured in Montilla Fino Sherry wood and the
Lagavulin Distillers Edition (SRP $99.99) was double-matured
in Pedro Ximenez Sherry wood. The real distinction to this
is that this is first time ever that this powerhouse Islay
malt has been exposed to a Sherry wood finish. The
collection’s 15-Year-Old Dalwhinnie also has a Distillers
Edition variant finished in a dry Oloroso Sherry Wood cask.

What’s more significant is
that, this fall, the Classic Malts Selection introduces five
other new expressions to its portfolio, including a
Glenkinchie 12-Year-Old and four limited Rare Editions
offerings that were over-aged for perfection and include
Talisker 3O-Year-Old (SRP $349.99), Lagavulin 21-Year-Old
(SRP $299.99), Brora 3O-Year-Old (SRP $399.99) and Port
Ellen 28-Year-Old (SRP $299.99). The Brora and Port Ellen
releases are especially intriguing because both are products
now dead “ghost distilleries” and will be of keen interest
to collector’s since these are the last batches of these
rare whiskies.

William Grant & Sons’
#2 US volume-leader Glenfiddich and upmarket sister brand
The Balvenie also have interesting new wood-finish releases
well worth noting. One is the launch of a Balvenie
17-Year-Old New Wood Sherry Oak Cask. This is a limited
edition matured in Spanish single oak barrels, with a rich
character and smoothness, and, according to Balvenie’s
gifted veteran Malt Master, David Stewart, possesses “an
aroma with complex layers of spiced apples, caramelized
pears and toasted almonds, with a balance of spice and sweet
sherried fruitiness.” Renowned for its handcrafted and
distinctive Highland single malts, The Balvenie range of
whiskies includes The famous original Balvenie DoubleWood
12-Year-Old, which remains the brand’s big engine, The
Balvenie Single Barrel 15-Year-Old, The Balvenie PortWood
21-Year-Old, The Balvenie Single Barrel 25-Year-Old and the
celebrated Vintage Cask releases, this year’s selection
being a non-chill-filtered, 95.6-proof 1974, selling for
$699.99. The new 17-Year-Old New Wood release has a SRP of
$89.99.

“The Balvenies have always
been in the forefront of wood finishes,” observes William
Grant’s Balvenie brand manager, Lynn Reyneau. “We call
these whiskies the creative side of David Stewart’s brain.
He’s been our malt master for 4O years and is presently the
longest-running malt master of any distillery in Scotland.
It’s a lot of time to refine your expertise and lots of
opportunity to innovate and have some fun with cask
management and experiments with different woods for aging.

“We’ve seen spirits
consumers becoming more and more like explorers for some
time now,” she adds, “with all the various flavored vodkas
and martini drinks. What’s been benefiting single malts
most recently is that a wide drinking audience is now
reaching out for more depth and character to their
beverages. This really speaks to the Balvenie which is all
about depth and substance, honey, oak and vanilla
components.

With its Speyside Dufftown
distillery location only a scant 5OO yards away from
Balvenie’s, incredibly enough, Glenfiddich represents one of
the largest and most prolific production facilities in the
single malt industry. Much of it is the light and
approachable premium-priced malt whisky so popular with
entry-level consumers the world around. But the Glenfiddich
core range also includes a number of single malt Scotch
whiskies of distinction such as the Special Reserve
12-Year-Old, the Solera Reserve 15-Year-Old (which Atlas’
Jeff Fine calls “a simply fabulous whisky &endash; one of
the real sleepers in the entire category”), the Ancient
Reserve 18-Year-Old and the Glenfiddich 3O-Year-Old.

The distillery also
releases special, very limited-edition selections, and most
recently has made some big waves with the addition of a new
Gran Reserva 21-Year-Old. After a 21-year maturation in oak
barrels, this unusual single malt expression is finished in
Caribbean rum casks. “And in doing this,” says Glenfiddich
Global Brand Ambassador Ian Millar, “we’ve revived a
long-since forgotten tradition of rum aging, resulting in a
wonderful blend of the best of classic and contemporary
single malt techniques.”

In the view of Grant’s Malt
Master David Stewart, once again, this whisky is
distinguished by an intense and sweet aroma, is quite floral
with hints of banana, toffee, leather, and oak. The flavor
is initially soft, then brisk, vibrant and drying. A touch
of smoke, along with pepper and spices, is evident on the
palate, as well. The finish is long and warming, perfect
for sipping by the fire.”

Declares Balvenie’s Lynn
Reyneau, “Having Glenfiddich in the same extended brand
family works very well for Balvenie, actually. It’s
capturing two different points in a consumer’s life span
experience, you could almost say. Glenfiddich opens the
door and welcomes you to the Club’s main bar. Later on,
Balvenie ushers you into the inner chambers where the
sipping connoisseur members hang out. So, it’s a great
portfolio to work with. We have something for everybody
that’s looking for a single malt whisky with a broad
opportunity for trade-ups within the family.”

Speaking
of exceptional single malt drinking establishments,
one of the most exciting on-premise venues that’s
recently emerged close to home in the Boston area
is the Moo Restaurant Bar, located in the XV Beacon
Hotel at the top of Beacon Hill in the shadow of
the State House. The building is a very classic
old-stone Bostonian architectural gem. But those
who recall the former Federalist Restaurant &
Bar space that used to be here will be shocked at
the dramatic changes in decor and atmosphere with
the new Moo renovations. It’s now significantly
brighter with a lot more lighter earth tones. The
bar has transformed from a dark old wood style to a
very chic modern stone and hard glossy
surfaces.

Most
significantly, Brad Fichter, the new young bar
manager here, is a passionate single malt scotch
aficionado on a mission to making his establishment
one of the most spectacular on-premise malt whisky
meccas anywhere, and hopefully achieve a reputation
for a library of single malts not unlike the rare
book collections in the famed Boston Athenaeum
right across the street. The fact is, in a
remarkably short time, he’s well on the way to
achieving his goal.

“The
Fed was definitely a fusty older gentlemen’s club
ambience, befitting an old-fashioned traditional
Beacon Hill image and clientele,” says Brad with a
laugh. “What we’ve got now is vastly more inviting
and attractive to younger drinking audiences. And
it’s been amazing to see the younger consumer base
that’s flocking in here now. We get a lot of locals
who live on Beacon Hill, longtime Bostonians from
various neighborhoods, students in residence for
several years, people from down on the waterfont,
from the tony North End, from the upcoming
gentrified South End, which has become a wine-dine
mecca for dine-out regulars. And we get a whole lot
of customers very loyal to the Commonwealth
Restaurant Group which Moo Restaurant is a part of
and which now also own this hotel.”

Commenting
on popular brands in his scotch inventory, he
observes, “Our obvious favorite is the Macallan
range of that traditional sherried-oak style that
made them famous. It’s recognizable to everybody,
and our Mac 12 or 18 is definitely our #1 single
malt call. It’s always been a popular choice for
our female audience, although there’s now a growing
interest in the Macallan Fine Oak collection, too,
which is a lighter style. Various Glenlivets have a
good following, and both Lagavulin and Laphroaig
have their own almost cultish Islay-style
consumers. Laphroaig, in particular, has just been
flying out of here in recent months. We also get a
lot of Ardbeg fans, who get very excited when they
see we have five different Ardbegs on our list.
Consider this was a dead distillery until 1O years
ago. This broad range of the brand’s earlier
whiskies is not easy to find, and it’s amazing to
see how passionate some Ardbeg lovers can become
about that brand.

“One
of my own favorites from Speyside we carry is the
Glenfarclas,” he continues. “I feel it’s a malt
that’s greatly underappreciated and has
particularly promising growth potential for good
value and exceptional flavor and character,
particularly the Glenfarclas 17-Year-Old, and their
1O5-proof cask strength. These are fantastic
whiskies you don’t hear much about. But I’ve been
tasting them with a lot of customers, and many of
them are now Glenfarclas regulars.”

The
Classic Malts Selection Talisker from Skye and Remy
Cointreau USA’s Highland Park from the Orkneys are
other outstanding whiskies with decent followings
at his bar. “What particularly interests me is
that, although from very different northwestern and
northeastern island regions and with distinctively
different tastes, I find they have a similar
component complexity of the iodine and sea air
smells, and richer malt bodies I don’t find in a
lot of island whiskies like the Lavagulin, Caol
Ila, Laphroaig and other Islays. They are still big
flavors, but in some ways have more refinement than
many other island malts. And, interestingly,
there’s a similar type consumer group that
especially likes both these
whiskies.”

Brad
says the scotch drinking atmosphere he’s trying to
create here is a bit like what you’d find in local
upscale scotch pubs of Speyside, where all the
locals gather in the evening tasting a multitude of
drams, a galaxy of single malt expressions, and
engaging in lively friendly debates over
comparisons of their different scotches. “I see
this starting happen here,” he enthuses. “More and
more people are coming in wanting to do comparative
flights and stuff. The truth is, I have a hard time
pulling myself away from these fascinating
discussions, with all these ideas bouncing around,
to do the rest of my bar management
job.

“There
are many times,” he admits, “when I often feel like
the student talking with some of these younger
customers, who not only have a surprisingly
sophisticated grasp of our whole library of single
malt expressions, but are telling me things I
didn’t really know. For instance, I have a lot of
regulars from Europe, who tend to get a lot more
scotch varieties to taste than the bottlings
presently available in US markets. A lot of
whiskies are only produced in 7Ocl bottles over
there, rather than the 75Oml standard size here in
the states. So, a lot of the stuff they’re exposed
to never makes it over here. And they’re often
telling me about favorite single malt tastes I’ve
never been exposed to. So, I’m always asking them
questions, and it makes for a very educational and
on-going seminar forum with my customers that makes
this an unusually exciting job for me. I mean, it’s
a lifelong journey trying to understand every
scotch whisky that’s out there, and I’m learning
something new every day.

“What
I’ve particularly noticed as new opportunities are
with so many of these independent bottlings that
are coming out like the Gordon & MacPhails, the
Cadenheads, the Signatory series, the Black Adders.
All these different labels are popping up that’s
giving variety to a lot of distillery names that
are recognizable. And my greatest satisfaction is
sitting down with customers and see them discover
something they really like and then be able to
provide them comparative options from other
independent labels. In other words, showing what
can happen basically to what is essentially the
same distilled spirit, but matured with a wide
variety of wood aging, wood finishes, or different
cask strength bottlings. It’s exploring a very cool
lateral scale of distillery possibilities and is a
lot of fun.

“The
thing I’m really planning to do next with all
this,” he explains, “when we get into the colder
weather scotch-drinking season later in the fall,
is start offering some real flights where you can
taste a lot of things side-by-side. Wine tasters do
this all the time, of course, and I feel the
potential for scotch tasters understanding
different tastes and impressions side-by-side or a
comparative vintage tasting flight of, say, a
Macallan 12, 18, 25, or a distillery label flight
of something like a Caol Ila 12, a Gordon &
MacPhail Caol Ila 12 and a Murray McDavid Caol Ila,
can demonstrate the subtle and fascinating ways
people have tried to push or pull different whisky
impressions.

“And
what’s truly fantastic for the future of the entire
single malt industry,” he adds, with obvious
emotion rising in his voice, “is realizing that
this kind of on-premise excitement about the
category can actually happen in a place like Moo.
I’ve only been here about a year and a half, and
I’m convinced this only the tip of the iceberg of
what I’m already seeing here. And I can also say
that no other spirit in the liquor world is
generating this kind of sophisticated consumer
interest and passion right now for younger and
older customers, alike.”

“We have a new 35-year-old
distillery manager, John Campbell, who’s come back home to
Islay from the mainland, bringing fresh ideas and energy and
product perspectives, and filling some very big shoes. He
tours a lot with me at whiskey fests and is just a charming
low-key personality plus a great addition to the brand
family image. But we have no desire to create any fancy new
looks, and have kept our bottle looking like it’s from 1786.
It’s the same old green glass without any fancy graphics. We
have the cork finish. There’s not a lot of history or
marketing spin on the package. Our marketing is real and all
about the flavor of the brand and what it stands
for.”

“There are a lot of
companies – and God Bless ’em,” she adds, “who have come out
with a lot of finishes, spiffy new packaging, different
aging techniques and innovative things, in an effort to lure
that younger consumer. And some of this has been very well
done and proved successful for their brands. But to be
honest with you, Laphroaig has always stood on the ground
that it stands on. In Gaelic, brand name means “the
beautiful hollow by the broad bay.” We are what we are: the
#1 Islay. We are full of peat and smoke, and sea-smell
components. And we know that we’re not for everybody. But
you know what? That’s OK. We’ve also always been at the
super-premium price level of the category, which is where we
belong and where we intend to stay.”

“The Balvenies have always
been in the forefront of wood finishes,” observes William
Grant’s Balvenie brand manager, Lynn Reyneau. “We call these
whiskies the creative side of David Stewart’s brain. He’s
been our malt master for 4O years and is presently the
longest-running malt master of any distillery in Scotland.
It’s a lot of time to refine your expertise and lots of
opportunity to innovate and have some fun with cask
management and experiments with different woods for
aging.

“We’ve seen spirits
consumers becoming more and more like explorers for some
time now,” she adds, “with all the various flavored vodkas
and martini drinks. What’s been benefiting single malts most
recently is that a wide drinking audience is now reaching
out for more depth and character to their beverages. This
really speaks to the Balvenie which is all about depth and
substance, honey, oak and vanilla components.

With its Speyside Dufftown
distillery location only a scant 5OO yards away from
Balvenie’s, incredibly enough, Glenfiddich represents one of
the largest and most prolific production facilities in the
single malt industry. Much of it is the light and
approachable premium-priced malt whisky so popular with
entry-level consumers the world around. But the Glenfiddich
core range also includes a number of single malt Scotch
whiskies of distinction such as the Special Reserve
12-Year-Old, the Solera Reserve 15-Year-Old (which Atlas’
Jeff Fine calls “a simply fabulous whisky – one of the real
sleepers in the entire category”), the Ancient Reserve
18-Year-Old and the Glenfiddich 3O-Year-Old.

Declares Balvenie’s Lynn
Reyneau, “Having Glenfiddich in the same extended brand
family works very well for Balvenie, actually. It’s
capturing two different points in a consumer’s life span
experience, you could almost say. Glenfiddich opens the door
and welcomes you to the Club’s main bar. Later on, Balvenie
ushers you into the inner chambers where the sipping
connoisseur members hang out. So, it’s a great portfolio to
work with. We have something for everybody that’s looking
for a single malt whisky with a broad opportunity for
trade-ups within the family.”

Single Blog Title

The Single Malts

About Post Author

Robert Bradford

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