Shetland whisky - update

[vitara7]

not just with cao ila and lagga being matured on mainland. i have it that some bowmore is matured in linlithgow at the morrision bowmore warehouses there. which just happen to be about 150 yards from the old st mag distillery

[dram_time]

All this blether on our part, with none of us really knowing anything, is exactly why they are doing themselves a disservice by not being more forthcoming. One is left with the impression that they have nothing to report. I'm trying really hard to be charitable here.

I do get a share holders update every month or so, although i hold no shares in Blackwoods, next time i get one i will post up any news here, but mostly they talk about the vodka business, 'Diva' i think it is.

Dt

[vitara7]

yeh, their diva vodka thats so good, the selling point about it isnt how smooth it is or anything, but the fact that it has wee blue or pink crystals running down a tube in the middle of the bottle... o and as vodka goes, its pretty crap....

[dram_time]

As promised, here is a shareholders update form Blackwoods, Five pages, and only one dealt with whisky, or as you will read below, over-wintering a blend on Shetland.


“Blackwoods wrote……
Hidden treasure on Unst
Blackwood’s project to revive the old tradition
of ‘over-wintering’ whisky will come a step
closer this week. The first commercial barrels
of Muckle Flugga are being shipped to Unst
and hidden in various locations for their
unique wintering period. The exceptional
blend of three carefully chosen mainland
malts will spend time maturing on Unst,
exposed to its harsh winter conditions. The
result will be an outstanding, distinctive,
lightly sherried whisky with notes of warm
spice, worthy of the Blackwood name.
Initial demand has been spectacular from
the trade and Blackwood expects to rapidly
sell out of the first production run. In the UK,
Gordon and Macphail have been given the
exclusive rights to sell Muckle Flugga and
will be marketing it from April 2007.
The demand for premium Scotch whisky in
unusual expressions, is growing enormously,
particularly in Asia. Blackwood is perfectly
positioned to capitalise on this with existing
distribution relationships in Japan, Hong
Kong, China, SE Asia, India and Australasia.
Muckle Flugga is not intended to replace
the eventual Single Malt from our Shetland
Distillery, but is rather a response to market
demand for unusual premium whiskies and
will be marketed alongside the Shetland
Single Malt when available.”

Dt.

[Onefortheditch]

Muckle Flugga is the most northerly Shetland Isle and is a wee place inhabited by puffins. So the whisky is distilled on the mainland, stored in Unst (one of the "big" 3 Shetland islands), and called Muckle Flugga. Aye.....

[vitara7]

not very "shetlandy" if you ask me....


( i know, there prob is even a word shetlandy, i prob just made it up,before certian folk pick me up on it, no names mentioned....)

[TheLaddie]

Muckle Flugga is the most northerly Shetland Isle and is a wee place inhabited by puffins. So the whisky is distilled on the mainland, stored in Unst (one of the "big" 3 Shetland islands), and called Muckle Flugga. Aye.....

Hints of small fish and Puffin faeces on the nose... Yum...

This would be a whisky I'd buy just for the name. It could sit on the shelf next to the Snackitty Bockitty.

Had smoked Puffin in Iceland. Gorgeous!

[vitara7]

smoked Puffin finish... now theres one bruichladdich didnt think about.

[Lawrence]

smoked Puffin finish... now theres one bruichladdich didnt think about.

ROTFLMAO!

[wandering pict]

Easy to be sceptical but I would prefer to wait and see what the "overwintering will achieve". I think that the casks which they will use will add something different and unique.
I also believe that the distillery will be built, but I think it will be closer to 12 months until it is producing - its called cash flow.

[vitara7]

its not a case of being sceptical, theyve doing pretty much bothing after all this time, apart from now they take casks up there to mature. theyve got all that advertising for there other brands for free out of all this, id say im just cynical...

[The Fachan]

Wandering Pict,


Its hard not to be sceptical as Vitara said, unless these are exceptional casks overwintering will make no discernaible difference. Perhaps its a unique type of cask.
We have a gimmick here, its the same situation as Bruichladdich and Arran from several years ago, they need to create cash flow for the business.

[dram_time]

I can’t see the point of it myself, its not every Eco friendly either, all those food miles.

Unless its left on a hillside or on a beach, in the open, I wouldn’t have thought that such a short period of time would make any difference to the stuff inside.

Does seem a bit gimmicky.

Dt.

[Mustardhead]

If we see some news of a stillhouse being built or some stills orsome warehouses and some casks....then there may be cause for excitement.

But overwintering some casks for a blend... Who cares?

[Lawrence]

But overwintering some casks for a blend... Who cares?

Quite so. Well said.

[vitara7]

so if i bought a couple of stinking cheap casks of whisky, took them and stored them in my garden shed that two of the windows have blown out, would i get the same amount of free publicity that blackwoods have had...
because thats all they have basicly done, i dobut whether there even actualy bothering to move the casks up for that short peroid of time.
when i see somthing getting done, then illshut up, but until then, there all talk.

[Deactivated Member]

Yeesh...cut 'em some slack! They are hardly the first people to issue a mystery malt/blend/vatting to try to create interest and cashflow. Of course a winter in Shetland won't matter much; of course it's all PR and romanticizing. They aren't the first people in the business guilty of that, either. So it doesn't interest you. Fine, it doesn't interest me, either. So just ignore it, instead of dumping all over them. I expect the target market will be tourists in Shetland, and maybe collectors.

I agree it's hard not to be skeptical when a) apparent progress on a distillery is minimal or nonexistent, and b) the people involved don't do enough to keep interested parties informed. When I was in Shetland a year ago, they were still talking about the Catfirth site. (The website still shows that--thanks for the update, guys.) Apparently there were problems with that. A site change is a big setback. So nothing's happening, apparently; so there's nothing to talk about. Doesn't mean they are of ill faith. Maybe it never will happen--it wouldn't be the first such project to fall through. Stop acting like they poisoned the well water. When I see something getting done, then I'll talk about it. Until then there's nothing to say.

[dram_time]

Things seem to be moving ahead, won’t post details here as I forgot to ask permission!! but things are happening at the Unst site according to someone at Blackwoods. Maybe they could post here themselves ??

Looks like I will be eating my hat again !!!!

Good luck to them.

Dt.

[vitara7]

anyone seen the latest on this long running saga?

http://www.scotchwhisky.net/news/index.php

looks like its back to catfirth.

looks more like a pig in a poke everytime you hear somthing new about the whole project.

the thing that gets me about it is the cuthburt family managed just fine to make daftmill, yet this big company cant manage one themselfs? its all advertising im telling you.

[les taylor]

sorry v7 for my ignorance advertising what?

Is it the RAF site and the holiday resort or the product or both.

[vitara7]

the whole "shetland distillery" project for blackwood distillers is what im refering to when i say its all advertising. advertising for the blackwood distillers company.
look at all the colum inchs they have recived over what amounts to nothing. how much would it have cost to create an advertising campain that would give them the same visability that this whole, "were going to open a distillery on shetland" thing. quite a lot.

lets face it, there never going to open a distillery up there, someone else might in the future, but blackwoods aint going to. there what we refer to as "patter merchants" and nothing else.

[wandering pict]

I am an eternal optimist and having met Caroline on a number of occasions I believe that the project will still go ahead. I certainly hope so because a new distillery with new products being promoted by the islanders will be good for all of us.
The option of building at Catfirth although more expensive for the company I think is the better option and will allow Blackwoods to remian in control.
Personally I think Frank Strang has stretched himself a bit far with all of the purchases which he is involved in, including the Machranish Airport purchase at Campbeltown.

[les taylor]

V7 Thanks for explaining that I get it now.

[Iain]

oops. This post repeated content of a message above, so I've deleted it.

[Iain]

Here's some news and discussion re recent events

http://www.theherald.co.uk/business/new ... _rises.php

[Bruichladdict]

I have some great ideas that is more likely to make money....or at least lose LESS money that the Shetland Mystillery project:

1. Invest in a gold mine
2. Invest in an airline
3. Put your money in a GIC, go buy whisky at your local liquorist
4. Hide your money underneath your matress.
5. Give me your money.

The Blackwood scheme has all the trappings of a classic investor scam...If you put money into this, I would be retaining a lawyer before I ever expect to see a dram of spirit or profit issuing from this venture.

[Iain]

According to Scottish licensed Trade News, Shetland Spirit Co (a subsidiary of Blackwood Distillers) went into receivership on 2 May. Blavod Extreme Spirits will now sell and distribute Blackwood's Gin etc.

[Deactivated Member]

Why am I not surprised? Saddened, as a distillery in Shetland would have been great, but there we are.

[The Dazzler]

This was a couple of quotes taking from the Rumourmill, http://www.whiskychallenge.com/rumourmill/index.htm

This ine in June-

And finally, reports are coming in from Shetland that all stocks of the legendary Muckle Flugga whisky have been stolen in a daring warehouse heist. It's another setback for the ill-favoured Shetland Distillers (sic) though this particular spirit was produced by Airdrie's Inver House anyway. The whisky - all 2,160 bottles of it - was in bonded store in Hampshire ("Why?" Ed) and appears to have been taken by some pesky cracksman looking for toiletries. Aftershave. Muckle Flugga. An easy mistake to make. Look out for bottles on eBay. After all, Father's Day is just round the corner.

and this from May-

One person not seen out and about was Caroline Whitfield, founder of Blackwood Distillers (sic) and promoter of the long promised Shetland distillery. The Shetland Times reports that Whitfield has licensed the rights to Blackwood's gin and vodka brands to London-based Blavod Extreme Spirits, with an option for them to purchase outright in several years time. This is clearly a critical step forward in the company's inevitable advance to global dominance, perhaps only to be compared with King Canute the Great's mastery of the tides.

Various increasingly hysterical rumours surround the company, including the surely outrageous suggestion that the Shetland distillery will never be built and that their Muckle Flugga whisky, several barrels of which were sent up to Unst to "overwinter" in the island's atmosphere to try to gain some special Shetland qualities, has been whisked away by faeries and is no longer available for sale. We are happy to disassociate The Rumour Mill from this scurrilous and ill-conceived tittle-tattle and reassure readers that there is a perfectly simple explanation.

We haven't actually heard it yet but, as on the company's increasingly dated website Whitfield herself describes her pet hates as "Cheating, arrogance, shoddiness, excuses" then surely we can expect this any day now?

And, while she's at it, perhaps she'd like to remove the seven fresh-faced children, none of them a day over 7 years old, from the company's web pages and fall in line with the SWA's "Code of Practice for the Responsible Marketing & Promotion of Scotch Whisky" which unequivocally states (page 5) "Marketing materials and promotions should not depict a child..." and "Brands should not be advertised or promoted by any person who is below the legal purchase age." In case that's not clear, it means "no kids".

However, it's an easy mistake to make. After all, this is a company that describes one key supplier as "Forsythe's of Duff Town", easily confused with the better-known Forsyths of Rothes, so perhaps it's a simple slip up that will be corrected shortly. We'll keep you posted.

Slainte!

[Deactivated Member]

Doesn't sound terminal but..........................


http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/bu ... 4095143.jp

[Iain]

The list of executive directors given on the website contains just one name - Ms Whitfield. If you click on the link, "Click on name for more details", you get no info. Doesn't look good.

And if the credit crunch was posing her problems in May, I bet it isn't getting any easier now!

[JARV]

Hmmn... i seem to remember reading about Caroline Whitfield when she started the whole thing (all those years ago) - the article made a big thing about her MBA and marketing credentials and ambition, vaguely alluded to the fact that she had no whisky experience.

I'm sorry, but to carry on this (can i call it a "scam"? probably not)... marketing smoke and mirrors for six years and then blame your inability to produce a single drop of spirit on the "global credit-crunch" and your divorce seems little short of... bah, fill in your own definition.

All these people have done is create a marketing brand (in white spirits and "vodka cream liqueur" - excuse me, i think I have to go and gargle with some Dettol) and ship in neutral industrial spirit, keep it for 24 hours and then re-export it as "Shetland" Gin and Vodka. I suggest that the "wintering" hokum was the final insult to the whisky world, the whisky drinker and the people of Shetland themselves.

Contrast that with Kilchoman who have been quietly and modestly getting on with the business, despite suffering a debilitating fire in the first year or so and are now sitting on a growing pile of their own stock, maturing gently on the western shore (almost) of Islay in bourbon and sherry casks.

The whole sorry Blackwoods affair leaves a bad taste in the mouth... probably not unlike vodka cream liqueur.

[Deactivated Member]

I think you've got it in a nutshell JARV.
Kilhoman is a great example of how to just get on with it.

I think Blackwoods and Whitfield have lost a great deal of credibility over this fiasco. Who's going to invest now???????

[kallaskander]

Hi there,

closing sale going on?

In brief
Published: 8th August 2008
Written by:
l Blavod Extreme Spirits has signed an agreement to licence the trademark rights for Jago's Vodka Cream. The deal means Blavod will pay Shetland Spirit Company 35% of the cream liqueur brand's "net contribution", minus promotional spend, for four years. After this period, Blavod may fully acquire the trademark for £1.

http://www.offlicencenews.co.uk/article ... goryid=247

Another part of the company goes.

Greetings
kallaskander

[Onefortheditch]

She is at it again!!


http://www.shetland-news.co.uk/news_12_ ... 20name.htm