Which distillery do you respect the most?

[Scotched]

I'm always rooting for the small guy. Hate big corporations. But perhaps I'm wrong? How do you feel? Prefer Diageo to run everything or let the small independents have a go? I vote Bruichladdich.

[robs42]

No disrespect meant to the guys at Bruichladdich, but they do tend to flaunt themselves so much that I yawn every time they release a new bottling - I just wish their standard range didn't taste so bland and uninteresting to me. My vote goes to Inver House for producing a very good range of well priced single malts from five distilleries that may well have been shut down otherwise. They get on with doing their job with little fan-fare and I feel they never get the recognition that they deserve.

On a seperate point, I feel that Diageo aren't nearly the bad guys that everyone makes them out to be. They are good promoters of single malt around the world and are atleast trying to step up with the extended range of classic malts. In my eyes the 'devils' of the whisky industry are Pernod Ricard; they've mismanaged Glenlivet, they've underpromoted Aberlour and Strathisla, not to mention Longmorn, and I really hope they don't ruin Scapa after all the hard work that's gone into getting it back up and running.

[The Fachan]

I have a soft spot for the little guy also including Raymond at Bladnoch, look forward to seeing what Burn Stewart do with Bunnahabahain to.
Campari have made some positive moves at Glen Grant especially making Dennis Malcolm the manager.
Robs, I look at the figures being returned by Pernod Ricard and they dont seem to be doing too bad a job with the malts, what exactly do you mean.

Ian

[Lawrence]

I think you need a combination of big and small. Diageo have been quite good in releasing some older whiskies, a lot of companies that size simply wouldn't listen. For example they are releasing unpeated Caol Ila this year, now that'll be interesting.

Bruichladdich are doing a great job and are using new products to grab media attention and thus saving badly needed cash to sponsor tastings where they can meet their customers face to face. I like that and I like their whiskies, I would'nt call them bland at all but (they are very good and getting better) each to his own.

[Deactivated Member]

I would judge a distillery primarily on its products, not whether or not I like their management team or parent corporation.

I would most respect Bowmore, Glenfiddich/Balvenie, Pulteney and Talisker. Today.

[Mike Ralston]

Well my vote goes to Springbank; they've been under the management of the same family since the distillery opened, they produce three very different malts from the same stills, they do their own bottling on-plant, they bottle at 46%, 100 proof, or even cask strength. And when strength is reduced, the water used is the same water that is mixed with the malted barley after grinding, i.e the same water that made the whisky, and not de-ionised water added in a different part of the country, as is the case with most malts bottled in huge bottling plants.

The Springbank Society (for afficionados of the distillery) has released some lovely limited-issue bottlings.

21yo Springbank is also my personal favourite and I think the best all-rounder on the market!

A pity that the distillery products tend to be expensive, but they are a small business in relative terms, and obviously cannot compete with Diageo on the price front.

But I am naturally prejudiced in their favour as I have a small cask maturing there!


regards to all,
Mike R.

[Deactivated Member]

I agree Mike - Springbank is a great distillery. But I also have a soft spot for Tullibardine. They have IMHO been able to combine a modern approach without losing sight of what they are there for. John Black has a canny nose as well, and some of the bottlings recently are top notch drams.

[Dubois]

By voting for "other" I had in mind Ardbeg and Glenrothes.

[scoobypl]

You should take a closer look at what BENRIACH is doing...
Independently owned, great guy at the helm (Billy Walker) and f*cking great whisky!
Another one that deserves some attention is Edradour!

Ardbeg is gonna shoot itself in the foot under the lead of LVMH... in becoming waaaay to expensive!
Bruichladdich is doing some good stuff...they should, however, get rid of some wine-biased boardmembers...
Arran has the same problem as bruichladdich...great potential, to many finishes!
Bunna....looks very hopefull!
Maybe Glengoyne is going in the right direction...
If Benromach would be a little bolder, they could surprise some of us...

Glenrothes is not a distillery...it's a one man factory...no soul anymore...
Glenfarclas is still going strong and has the heart in the right place...

aso...

[susywong]

I feel that i have to respond to Scoobypl's comment that Glenrothes isn't a distillery but a 1 man factory. I have to disagree!!

Yes, the stillhouse at Glenrothes is monitored by a computer, and only needs one man, but this is the same for many distilleries scross Scotland. Are they all soulless too?
Glenfarclas also has a 1 man operation in the stillhouse, yet you make no comment about it's lack of soul?

If you've ever been to Glenrothes, you'll find that it's a beautifully positioned distillery, in the most peaceful location in Rothes (next to the Graveyard!) and the sight inside the Stillhouse is an amazing one to behold. On any given day at Glenrothes, there are at least 10-15 men working on site, from mashing through to coopering and nosing. My Father being one of them.

Soulless? Hardly!

Susan

[les taylor]

My vote is for Bruichladdich. I Also think that Gordon & Macphail are doing good things with their private collectons and Cask strength collections. I Know they are not a distillery but do deserve respect for the direction they seem to be going.

[Deactivated Member]

Any distillery that produces good whisk(e)y earns my respect
(and I don't limit that to personal prefernces either.)

[bamber]

Buffalo Trace.

[irishwhiskeychaser]

Cooley Distillery in Ireland gets my vote because of the up hill battle it had to fight getting started up. nearly closed but preseverence paid off and now we have an independant that will put Midleton under pressure and make the world realise the Jameson is not the only Irish whiskey around

On a scotch side any of the Islay/Island distilleries for consistently producing some great drams.

[Admiral]

Glenfarclas gets my vote, and I generally agree with some of the disparaging comments above towards some of the other distilleries.

[Frodo]

Buffalo Trace.

Considering how many of the distillery workers (2 + J Van Wrinkle) who post on the Straightbourbon.com forum, I'd have to agree here. Any distilley that spends time listening and responding to whisky lovers gets my respect. Same for S. Thompson who posts on Spirit of Islay according to hpully...

I've even read that someone on Straightbourbon complained of getting a duff bottle from BT and someone from the distillery offered a refund. Wow, colour me impressed...

[Frodo]

On a seperate thought, I've always thought that Springbank makes good spirit, but overcharges for what's in the bottle. After reading Wort, Worms & Washbacks where Mr. McDougall has some not-so-good things to say about how he was treated there, I'm wondering how this influances my opinion. In fairness to the distillery, Mr. McDougall was an employee of the distillery while buying/selling casks as shareholder of an independant bottling Co.. Conflict of interest definatly, but lack of communication also...

[scoobypl]

Especially to Susan, and to all of you

My sincerest apologies for that unfortunate comment 'bout Glen Rothes, Susan!!
I have been Jumping to conclusions, and obviously the wrong one! Call it a Brainf*rt...
I stand corrected, and await your punishement... teaches me always to check up on what I read... and not to jump to premature conclusions.

Hope you can forgive me!

Paul

[bamber]

Buffalo Trace.

Considering how many of the distillery workers (2 + J Van Wrinkle) who post on the Straightbourbon.com forum, I'd have to agree here. Any distilley that spends time listening and responding to whisky lovers gets my respect. Same for S. Thompson who posts on Spirit of Islay according to hpully...

I've even read that someone on Straightbourbon complained of getting a duff bottle from BT and someone from the distillery offered a refund. Wow, colour me impressed...

Thanks for putting into words what I was thinking Frodo. I emailed the distillery asking them about how I could get some George T. Stagg a couple of years back, and received a couple of lengthy emails form Ken Webber there. He's also a regular at sb.com, as you know. He even took the time to discuss his impressions and tasting notes on their whiskies with me.

George T. Stagg costs about $40 a bottle in the US. What amazing value for such great whisky.

[Frodo]

George T. Stagg costs about $40 a bottle in the US. What amazing value for such great whisky.

Actually, about $50 in California, and about $75 at Lenell's in NYC - but even at those prices...

[irishwhiskeychaser]

I'm amazed that they make any money at all on these whiskies... but it is refreshing to see a company who are not out to cash in or totally screw the customer. But I imagine (correct me if I'm wrong) that costs are much lower in the US than in the UK or Ireland.

[wandering pict]

Glenfiddich is still family owned, they created the malt whisky category and retain the largest selling brand. They have developed Balvenie and they have the 4th largest selling blended whisky in the world. They put a lot of money into the communities where they are located (Dufftown, Girvan and Motherwell) and they have retained high employment in these areas. I have to put them No 1

[Aidan]

Cooley Distillery in Ireland gets my vote because of the up hill battle it had to fight getting started up. nearly closed but preseverence paid off and now we have an independant that will put Midleton under pressure and make the world realise the Jameson is not the only Irish whiskey around

On a scotch side any of the Islay/Island distilleries for consistently producing some great drams.

I would rank Cooley up there too. Irish Distillers would have dismantled it if they got their way, but some kind of monopolies commission stopped that.

They also make pretty good whiskey in a distillery that looks like a slurry shed.

[Scotty Mc]

Glenfiddich is still family owned, they created the malt whisky category and retain the largest selling brand. They have developed Balvenie and they have the 4th largest selling blended whisky in the world. They put a lot of money into the communities where they are located (Dufftown, Girvan and Motherwell) and they have retained high employment in these areas. I have to put them No 1

Very good point! It's not just about the whisky a distillery produces, it is also about the community, the tradition etc etc.

Take Glenmorangie PLC for example, who would have bought Ardbeg with all the stock plus spend £1.4m to get it back in to production?

It should really be asking, which company do you respect the most as the majority are owned by large companies

[scotch4ever]

This is an intersting open ended question. I think one would need to define what respect really is. I have notice some people think selling whisky cheap is somehow worthy of respect, however, do any of us really know the day to day expenses put forth by these companies to operate? The costs of an independant distillery would be much higher than a corporate company just based on basic economics. Meaning the bigger you are the more you can buy and the lower the unit cost of production. Maybe the whisky is sold cheaper in order to gain a larger market share at the cost of quality? I know from having employees that the ones who get paid the most work the hardest. Quality comes at a price.


Can an inadement object get respect? Or is it rather a reflection of the people who produce the product and maybe they should be judged as well? I know the big companies do not like to highlight there staff since it is not a personal sell or production unlike the independants. Then again, a big company is not worried about respect just bottles sold.

What about the quality of there bottlings? Should non-chill filtered be given more respect since it is a more natural product? Should cask strength be given more respect since it is not watered down like 40%abv.

My point is that I believe the issue of Respect is just as unique as the brands and styles of whisky we each love to drink.

I give my respect for all the independants. There is a bit more than money that drives them to succed.

[kallaskander]

Hi there,

let me first admit that I have not read all the posts in this thread thoroughly but I find that we are dealing with a double edged sword here.
And sorry to say that I think that the whole question might be pointless. All of us who work within corporate structures in smaller or bigger companies know that there are dedicated people in every huge company as well as there are less dedicated people in little businesses.

That means that the fact that a distillery belongs to Diageo does say nothing about the workforce of this distillery. Many Diageo-owned distilleries produce phantastic whisky.

Your vote for Bruichladdich because it is small proves my other point: small is not better and beautiful all the time.
Jim Mcewan is not too happy with some things the company he is involved with does and if he could he would change things I heard.

Of course there are huge differences between Diageo and smaller companies. But all are driven by profit interests.

Greetings
kallaskander