Springbank rumour distillery to be mothballed?

[Deactivated Member]

Let's not blow Reynier's off-hand comment out of proportion, either--he was simply saying that Springbank marches to the beat of its own drummer. I don't see anything offensive or provocative about it.

[Deactivated Member]

First off - I wouldn't disagree with Mark Reynier's statement - closing production is an odd decision. It was unexpected, and bucks the trend in the industry which is currently to produce at ever increasing rates. I don't know whether the owners are odd people or not, but odd decisions are often made by odd people.

But the statement is certainly not neutral. It might indicate surprise, but also conveys some frustration, despair and a fair amount of sneering disdain. Now I hadn't realized that Mark Reynier was chairman of a marketing venture that included Springbank. But given that he is, and he has been publicly disparaging of Springbank's owners, I can well understand why they pulled out. Mark Reynier was the wrong person to say those things, even if they were what everyone was thinking.

[corbuso]

First off - I wouldn't disagree with Mark Reynier's statement - closing production is an odd decision. It was unexpected, and bucks the trend in the industry which is currently to produce at ever increasing rates. I don't know whether the owners are odd people or not, but odd decisions are often made by odd people.

But the statement is certainly not neutral. It might indicate surprise, but also conveys some frustration, despair and a fair amount of sneering disdain. Now I hadn't realized that Mark Reynier was chairman of a marketing venture that included Springbank. But given that he is, and he has been publicly disparaging of Springbank's owners, I can well understand why they pulled out. Mark Reynier was the wrong person to say those things, even if they were what everyone was thinking.

It the decision really that odd? Trend in the industry is to produce more and more and most of the companies now have moved to a short term view. Maybe Springbank is looking at long term perspective and they might have some doubts on how the whisky market will move in the next few years to come.
And as mentioned in other posts, they are not inactive and might be simply preparing the future their way. Springbank is in the business for a long term and just let's wait and see.

J&A Mitchell has a different philosophy than the Bruichladdich team and the story of the Whisky Coast might be a difference of culture.

Corbuso

.......
http://www.whisky-news.com

[Jimmy321]

This was sent to me and will be appearing in the mag as well:



As a consequence of the continuing instability of basic raw material prices, which have doubled within the last year, the management of J & A Mitchell and Company Ltd. have decided to cut back the production of new spirit at their Springbank and Glengyle Distilleries until prices settle. The state of the materials market will be kept under continuous review.
The opportunity will be taken to carry out necessary maintenance work and create the increased warehousing accommodation required for future development. In the short term there will however, regrettably, be a few staff redundancies. There will be no impact on the availability of bottled Springbank whisky or the Kilkerran whisky from its Glengyle Distillery as the Company has ample stocks of young maturing whisky which will enable it to continue supplying its home and export
markets as normal.
Chairman
J & A Mitchell and Company Ltd.

Perfectly reasonable explanation and no reason to question it!

[Rob Allanson]

Further to what I posted yesterday, Dave has been having discussions with Springbank and it appears they will be back on song in January.

ta.

[sievm]

Which makes their statement even more confusing - they cannot expect food and energy prices to stabilise by January. Energy prices are expected to rise 35-45% over the winter.

Curiouser and curiouser.

[irishwhiskeychaser]

Pot calling Kettle Black I think here with Mr Reynier because of course Bruichladdich are not odd at all are they.....


If you ask me they are the most off beat of the wall oddball distillery going .... does not mean it's a bad thing though......

[Deactivated Member]

The "cutback" is from three shifts to two, commencing in January (resulting in some operational redundancies), following a period of idleness during which some necessary maintenance will be done. I realize that they aren't doing a very good job of making all this clear, but apparently they are very odd people.

Reynier has a habit of saying things he oughtn't in ways he oughtn't. All the more reason not to get too wrapped up in his comments. If he has made thoughtless statements after jumping to conclusions based on incomplete and faulty information, he might perhaps consider becoming a member of this forum.

[fishboy]

If he has made thoughtless statements after jumping to conclusions based on incomplete and faulty information, he might perhaps consider becoming a member of this forum.

you missed out thoughtless statements made after jumping to conclusions based on no information at all.



FB

[Deactivated Member]

I think a major issue has been missed. People are losing their jobs because of this decision. Now either they were pretty duff are what they were doing and this is a nice easy way to give them the chop, or there are more significant financial issues at work -and the general increase in raw materials fuel etc simply does not wash. If that alone is enough to sack folk then all our coats are on shoogly nails.

Someone can help out here - what's the cost implication to a distillery for membership of the "Whisky Coast"?

No, I am not at all convinced by their rather weak statement. I very much doubt they will come out with the real reason. Its business speak - just as Mr Rose insists everything's rosy in M&S!! Ma Boz!

[gazongwa]

Taken from The Springbank Society forum

Hi There



It is now nearly six months since we took the difficult decision to temporarily suspend the production of spirit from both Springbank and Glengyle Distilleries . There were a few contributing factors which led to our decision and these included the high price of electricity , oil , empty casks and barley . The Still House roof also required replacing and this has now been completed . Our warehouses were pretty full of maturing stock but with bottling continuing to fulfil demand world wide for our products more warehouse space is now available . Six months ago we said that " the material market will be kept under continuous review " and we can now clarify that we will commence production from both of our distilleries during early 2009 .

The price of utilities has dropped dramatically recently and we will take advantage of this to get the distilleries producing again . J & A Mitchell have recently been reported by one whisky writer to be like " the canary in the coal mine " . If you remember coal miners used to use a canary as an early warning system to detect gas at the coal face . We reckon that we have recognised the warning signals early enough and acted sensibly to protect our brands , and of course the canary . After 180 + years in distilling we think that we know how to react to trends within our industry .

This year we commissioned local farmer Robert Miller to grow 25 acres of Optic barley. The crop has produced 50 tonnes of barley which now lies in our barley loft and we await the barley to come out of dormancy . Distillery Manager Stuart Robertson is carrying out weekly " mini steeps " of the barley in small plastic food containers , they actually look suspiciously like his sandwich box . Once the barley " wakes up " and can germinate we will start malting . The local barley supplemented with malted barley already stored in our malt storage bins will ensure production of spirit at both our distilleries for up to six months next year, great news .


Frank. McHardy.

[Iain]

[quote="gazongwa"]Taken from The Springbank Society forum...
[quote]

If only Frank McHardy had been Chief Exec of Royal Bank of Scotland...