Mark McLaughlin’s Post

I was recently engaged in some riveting late night reading about independent bottlers, from small hobbyists to brands the size of Gordon & Macphail and stumbled across an article from last year that highlights the ongoing shift in trends in the whisky industry, especially among independent bottlers. I wanted to highlight a paragraph shared by the MD of G&M. "The way that the market has evolved, we don't really need to be doing eight-year-old whiskies anymore. The availability of single malt at that entry level, at that younger price point, is well catered for by official bottlings and other independent bottlings, so we will just evolve our portfolio to fit the strategy that every cask is finite... we will probably do a lot more things like single casks, small batch bottlings, as opposed to generic 15-year-old or 21-year-old or 30-year-old products. They'll be much more about celebrating the unique nature of single casks and the individual distilleries." A telling pivot from one of the biggest IB brands in the world. Highlighting the one of a kind experience of single cask whisky. A consumer shift toward unique experience, fleeting opportunities to try a one of a kind ephemeral whisky. Is this the next seismic shift in whisky? Tailored Spirits Co.

𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐔𝐊 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐧𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐬 😍 The number of registered distilleries in the UK climbed by 8.7% last year, driven by new English producers. The UK welcomed 54 new distilleries in 2023 to reach a total of 387 (up from 356 distilleries in 2022), according to national accountancy group UHY Hacker Young.The number of distilleries in England soared by a fifth to 48 sites registered in 2023, up from 40 in 2022.Scotland and Northern Ireland each saw an increase of three new distilleries last year, while Wales’ distillery numbers remained the same.Among some of the new UK producers were Edinburgh-based The Port of Leith Distillery , which opened its new £12 million (US$14.5m) distillery last year. Meanwhile, Ad Gefrin launched a £14m (US$17.5m) whisky distillery and museum in Northumberland, England. Titanic Distillers also become the first working whiskey distillery in Belfast in almost 90 years when it opened last summer. According to HMRC data for the year ending 31 July 2023, UK drinks exports rose by 13% to £9.4 billion (US$11.8bn), up from £8.3bn (US$10.4bn) in 2021/22. Citing data from the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA), UHY noted that whisky now accounts for more than a quarter of all UK food and drink exports at a value of £5.6bn (US$7bn) in 2023. James Simmonds, partner at UHY Hacker Young, said: “The premium prices consumers are willing to pay for higher margin, luxury brands is seeing both entrepreneurs and bigger spirits companies continue to rush to capitalise on the market. Spirits, including whisky, have been one of the UK’s success stories. “The expectation is that, longer term, there is much more growth to come in the UK’s heritage spirits brands. “Strong levels of demand are seeing new distillers continue to enter the market, while savvy entrepreneurs in the business are also taking advantage of additional revenue streams such as distillery tours and tastings.” Scotch whisky exports were up by 14% by value last year when compared with 2019 figures, the SWA revealed. However, the figures are a decrease on 2022, which was described as a ‘bumper’ year.

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In 1919, the 18th Amendment was ratified, which banned the production, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages, but did not prohibit their consumption. The Amendment came into effect in 1920, leading to the closure of numerous businesses and a significant impact on government tax revenues due to the loss of brewers and bars. Enforcing prohibition also incurred high costs, and those determined to continue the production and sale of alcohol resorted to creating a widespread black market across the nation, which gained notoriety and became legendary. The year 1929 marked the stock market crash, further adding to the challenges faced during the period of Prohibition. Prohibition's implementation was ultimately deemed a significant failure, and the term 'bootlegger' reached its peak usage as Prohibition approached its end. On February 20, 1933, Congress proposed the 21st Amendment to the Constitution, which aimed to repeal the 18th Amendment. This proposed amendment was ratified on December 5 of the same year, officially bringing an end to the era of Prohibition …. 91 years ago today. Here in Johnston County, there are several flourishing adult beverage “industries.” Those include: Brewery’s - Raleigh Brewing Company, Fainting Goat Vineyards & Winery, JoCo Brewing, Hatchet Brewing Company and DEEP RIVER BREWING COMPANY. Wineries – Gregory Vineyards and Hinnant Family Vineyards. Distillery’s - Broadslab Distillery and InStill Distilling Company.  To learn more about these establishments and get a "taste of Johnston County", check out the Johnston County Visitors Bureau "Beer, Wine and Shine Trail!" - https://lnkd.in/eP38mbWW

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I've been thinking about the plight of the craft spirits industry a lot recently. Quite a bit of copy has been devoted to some doom and gloom scenarios posited by various industry pundits. I'm not here to rebut any of it, though I will say that I think it extends to the spirits industry at large and not just the "craft" guys. I primarily work in the world of whiskey so that's the lens I view the industry though. And let's face it: the fight for shelf space is going to get a lot tougher in the coming years. Everyone seems to be in expansion mode, especially the large players. We're also seeing a lot of contract distillers coming online to support the growing number of independent bottlers attempting to open up shop. All this was bound to happen. Sure, we say we learned our lesson from the industry errors of the 70's and 80's but have we really? In some regards I'm not so sure we have. In the next few years we are going to see a ton of bottles hitting the shelves, a lot of it similarly priced, categorized, and charactered. If we want to avoid the IPA-ization of our industry, I think smaller distilling firms need to think beyond the definitions of whiskey that have been set up by the big boys. Bourbon, Rye, Single Malt and all the rest can be so much more than what traditional SKU's have led us to believe. For too long (not naming names here) I believe many firms have tried to pass off ITERATION as INNOVATION and the whiskey category runs the risk of not moving forward; of eventually becoming...boring. There are definitely distillers out there doing the good work and trying to innovate - trying to offer the consumer new flavors and experiences. This is why I don't get too bogged down in the industry doom pieces we see pop up with increasing frequency these days (no matter how well intentioned and written they may be). I'm personally excited to see where whiskey is headed, both by my own projects and all the forward thinking distillers out there putting their own ideas into liquid action. I say keep your head up. The industry's best days really are ahead of us. https://lnkd.in/gYUwvUge

The Lowlands region. 🥃 An historically overlooked region for Scotch whisky, and once home to the infamous ‘rascally liquor’ condemned by Robert Burns, BUT the region is currently undergoing an exciting flurry of revitalisation. Where is the Lowlands region? The Lowlands region is a protected locality under UK Government legislation and is located in the area south of the theoretical Highland line. It stretches from Glasgow, across to the Kingdom of Fife in the east and down to the Scottish Borders in the south. How many distilleries belong to the Lowlands region? As of March 2024, there are 22. Why are there so few distilleries in the Lowlands? In the late 19th century, there were over 100 producers in the Lowlands, producing whisky on an industrial scale, but often of poor quality.  Many became victims of the harsh effects of WWI and the U.S. Prohibition, and by the year 2000 the number of distilleries had plummeted to just THREE. What’s special about the Lowlands region? The Lowlands are home to the FIRST ever written reference to whisky. On the 1 June 1495 the Royal Exchequer Rolls included an entry detailing that Friar John Cor, was ordered by King James IV to produce ‘VIII bolls of malt’ at Lindores Abbey. 👑 Anything else? Because the vast majority of distilleries have been built from the ground up in the last 10 years or so, they tend to be quite innovative and have an inbuilt dedication to sustainability, arguably more so than any of the other regions. ♻️ Eden Mill St. Andrews, for instance, have built a brand-new distillery on the Eden Campus at the University of St. Andrews. The distillery has been built using bio-based materials and aims to achieve net-zero status when it opens later this year. Who are the best-known Lowlands producers? Well-known distilleries include Auchentoshan, Glenkinchie, Bladnoch Distillery, The Borders Distillery and Kingsbarns Distillery and Visitor Centre. Any new distilleries? Yes, The Port of Leith Distillery opened just last year and the revered Rosebank Distillery (which had been mothballed for 25 years) ran its first distillation in June 2023. Does Lowlands whisky have a particular flavour profile? It is often said that Lowland whiskies have a light, grassy and sometimes floral flavour profile. Should I visit? Yes. Most distilleries in this region have visitor centres and offer tours of the facilities. The region is also home to Johnnie Walker Princes Street and the famous SCOTCH Whisky Bar at the Balmoral Hotel in Edinburgh. Any festivals I should know about? Yes, the Fife Whisky Festival held in late February every year showcases whiskies from the Fife area and some of the other regions. You’ll find a wide variety of drams to try, tasting events and masterclasses. Are you a fan of Lowlands whisky? Let me know in the comments. 💫 FOLLOW for more whisky-related insights. 🔗 CONNECT if you’d like to talk about content for your business. #whisky #scotchwhisky #scotland

What's in a name? If you poke around whisky cask investment sites for even a short amount of time, you will come across casks labelled with names like "Teithmill", "Blue Hill" or "Wardhead". A small amount of digging will lead you to the perplexing discovery that there are no distilleries under these names. So... where are these casks from? These are what are referred to as fillings or trade names. If you buy a cask of whisky which is labelled with a fillings name, there are restrictions on how you can label the liquid when it is bottled. Usually, the distillery cannot be mentioned by name even if you know for sure where it is from. In the case of Wardhead, it can only be bottled as a blended malt, not a single malt. There are other fillings which are similar in this regard. So, why do they exist? These brands essentially exist to protect the brands of the distilleries. Because their distillate is in someone else's care, they have no control over how it is matured, and eventually bottled. So should you consider buying one of these casks? Well the answer is, it depends. On the plus side, they are usually cheaper than a distillery branded cask. On the other hand, the reputation of the distillery is more difficult to leverage when labelling and selling the whisky. Some bottlers have worked out some slightly cheeky ways to get around this, but that is a story for another day! If you know, you know. Slainte!

Welcome to part 4 in a my series of reviews covering recent releases from the Dumbarton-based independent bottler, Dràm Mòr. In this installment, I’ll be getting to grips with a wee sample from Loch Lomond Distillery, arguably one of the most interesting whisky producers in all of Scotland. Loch Lomond is capable of producing a wide range of different spirits. Each new make style is given a unique name in order to differentiate them. Some are named after islands that can be found in the famous loch. Like Inchmurrin, for example. The Loch Lomond Distillery was established in Alexandria in 1964. There was an earlier distillery to hold the name but it was relatively short-lived and the two are unconnected. Over the plant’s relatively short life, it has undergone several upgrades and expansions. Production commenced on a solitary pair of straight-necked stills that look like a combination between pot and column still. In place of the traditional swan neck, there is a cylindrical column, inside of which, there is a series of plates that can be adjusted to alter the character of the spirit being produced. The number of stills doubled in 1990, before a set of traditional swan neck pot stills were added in 1998. Complicating matters further, a set of column stills were added in 1993, to allow for the production of grain whisky. This made the distillery entirely self-sufficient and able to create everything required for making blended Scotch in-house. Despite the distillery’s impressive flexibility and potential for creativity, however, it would be fair to say that its single malt didn’t always enjoy the greatest of reputations. Things have improved in recent years after first one, then a second, management buyout. A new core range, which showcases the spirit at 46% ABV, without chill-filtering or colour enhancement, paints the spirit in a much more positive light and celebrates some of the incredible flexibility that’s been built into the distillery. Inchmurrin is the name given to an unpeated malt, distilled in the straight-neck stills and this Dràm Mòr expression is a single cask, which has been finished in an oloroso sherry hogshead before bottling at 55.7%. https://lnkd.in/eTPrWa-P

New York has a chance to build a booming small-batch craft cannabis industry, just like the craft brewery and winery industry. Let’s do this New York. But how do we coin a name for this emerging craft industry? There’s Brewery for the craft brewery industry. There’s Winery for the craft winery industry. Herbery? This emerging craft industry needs a name. Help me out here.Ten-Ten Cannabis