January 1, 2024

As you know, he story of the two neighbour distilleries Brora and Clynelish remained complicated until the closure of Brora in the spring of 1983, but the duo was reconstituted exactly thirty-eight years later, in May 2021, after an investment of about thirty-five million pounds sterling in its rehabilitation. Thankfully, the two stills had been preserved in their original state!

(*) That reminds me of the joke we played on April Fools' Day, quite a while back

One could almost paraphrase a famous old Kawasaki slogan: 'Before five minutes, it's whisky. After that, it turns into Brora'

Happy New Year!

Check the index of all Brora we've tasted so far

Cheers, 2024, Santé!

I believe that whisky has never been as good "on average" globally. Honestly, the quality has risen further, and this is seen in the 10-year-old whiskies offered everywhere. We just hope that the latest downward economic trends in the wine and spirits market are not going to break the momentum and will remain temporary. At least they might eradicate the NAS laden with somewhat silly stories, which could be the silver lining from the consumer's point of view, without having to see a new loch dangerously filled.

However, whisky distillers are becoming less and less satisfied with their products. Proof of this is that they increasingly feel compelled to call upon other beverages to flavour them (wines, other spirits...), a trend that has been intensifying for a good fifteen years. Some even seem to be totally desperate as the majority of their malts are now seasoned with table wines. In our opinion, they might as well stop distilling and become wine and spirits merchants. Even as we enter the post-brand era, will we soon see Bordeaux blends 'Macallan', Syrah 'Lagavulin', Zinfandel branded 'Glenlivet', or Tequila 'Casa Springbank'? Much like the great merchants like Berry Bros. have always done.

It is true that the arrogance of certain whisky brands, more concerned with maintaining their status than the quality of their products, is really starting to irritate people. We lament because young people no longer drink whisky, but it's not surprising. Thirty years ago, a good whisky was accessible to everyone, including young people starting out in life, but today a good whisky is reserved either for aging individuals who have decent financial security or, in terms of youth, for the sons and daughters of the well-to-do. I may be exaggerating a bit. The Scots should keep in mind what happened in Bordeaux and what seems to be happening in Champagne this year. In any case, it remains quite illusory to want to play the luxury brand in the long term when everyone knows or can find out that you produce 5, 10, or 15 million litres of 'above average' quality annually. And that it takes less than 1 kilo of barley to produce a bottle of 10-year-old whisky. And the price of a kilo of barley ranges from €0.20 to €0.30 depending on the quality. So, of course, everyone would like to be Dom Pérignon or Rolex (luxury brands for the middle classes), but in Scotland alone, there are more than 20 million barrels in the warehouses, about 4 barrels per inhabitant. That's more the definition of a mass product, isn't it?

On that note, to quote the late Swiss singer Patrick Juvet, "où sont les femmes?" Where are the women? What can explain that among the millions of visits that this miserable little website receives, exactly only 9.6% were women in 2023? And that it's the same on social networks? What can be done when in the business itself, they are at the forefront and, frankly, extremely skilled? Attempts to adapt content, like those ridiculous girly cocktail recipes we saw twenty years ago, have undoubtedly only pushed them further away. Those I know detest being considered differently from men, so to be honest, it seems to me that any attempt to single them out, to attribute to them a particular behaviour, just makes them go in the opposite direction. So, what can be done? Is there even anything to be done? And what if they... completely didn't care? Maybe they wouldn't be wrong, after all...

And then, there are now quasi-DNVBs on the market, little companies that have managed to create a reputation and an excellent brand image in just a few years. Not so much in whisky, a market increasingly saturated with new brands, especially in Ireland, Japan, America, Germany, or France, but in malternatives, cognacs, armagnacs, rums, and soon I hope in fruit brandies... The method is relatively simple, to be honest. First, nice people count, and especially people who do what they say. That's quite new, overall. Then, top products that you notice when you dip your nose into your glass. And above all, no BS, no fake stories, no cheap branding, or half-truths (ah, the distilleries without stills!). And then, the search for unique character, tension, freshness, fruit, 'minerality' (let's not get into a debate about minerality, right), texture, and balance, forgetting a little about those crutches that are the hyperactive barrels that everyone has (there, you're repeating yourself, S.).

Aside from that, in France, we no longer talk only about Dry January; there's also the new trend of "Wet January," which simply consists of drinking a little less than usual. It must be said that the average consumption of wine and spirits has dropped from 200 litres per inhabitant in 1960 to 80 litres today. Until now, alcohol producers have largely compensated for this trend by increasing their prices, but it's starting to cause serious coughing fits, and one wonders if the current decrease in consumption isn't, at least partially, a consequence of these high prices, with a quite marked scissors effect that could be announced. In any case, during the holidays, we saw massive promotions everywhere, even on so-called "premium" brands (a term that concerns only marketing, never the product itself, apart from its packaging). After years of producer power, is the pendulum going to swing back towards the consumer? We'll see, but at Whiskyfun we're going to feel it very quickly. We're already seeing it in the behaviour of some alcohol groups, big or small, who are slowly starting to come down from their pedestals...

To finish, I take the opportunity to respond once again to some remarks and questions that I see cropping up here and there about Whiskyfun. They are the same as ten or twenty years ago, but there are always new whisky enthusiasts expressing themselves on social networks, with opinions and convictions often very strong, while 'convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies' (Nietzsche). So, I prefer to remind you of a few points again, at the risk of boring you. Sorry!

1. Whiskyfun is neither a public service nor a commercial or professional site. There is no business objective. Nothing is for sale. No advertising, no affiliation, no consulting, no fees for tasting spirits, no subscription, no paid content, no paid awards, no influencer work, no stickers or take-ones, everything happens without the intervention of a single cent.
2. The "pro" interventions that I can make elsewhere, such as "masterclasses" or publishing our tasting notes in magazines, at auction houses, on merchant sites or blogs, or even advertisements or point-of-sale are never paid for and generally out of our control. They never bother us, unless they are false, which sometimes happens.
3. Other operations, paid or not, using the name "Whiskyfun" are not our doing. Festivals, TikTok or YouTube channels, blogs in other languages, etc... No, that's not us.
4. The spirits we taste stem from our own purchases, distilleries, bottlers, merchants, festivals, or friends. The whole represents a very significant budget, which I am fortunate to be able to cover with my own funds. About two thousand new spirits arrive at Whiskyfun each year, of which about twelve hundred will be tasted and published. The rest is archived "for the future." Nothing will ever be resold. All bottles are or will be opened.
5. Although we have done it a lot, we do not taste blind for Whiskyfun. When we do it elsewhere, we insist that it be "true" blind, not semi-blind or just pretence. ISO black or blue glasses are preferred! For Whiskyfun, the concept is always to compare several spirits of the same category or even, generally, from the same distillery, so doing it blind would be impossible without the permanent help of an assistant. Not to mention that the order in which we taste is crucial, especially because of the varying alcohol content. Moreover, what is feasible when tasting fifty spirits a year is absolutely not so when tasting well over a thousand.
6. When I write tasting notes, I try to have fun. These are not "pro" tasting notes, with a condensed and standardized vocabulary where one would not cite Robert Plant or Salvador Dali. If you don't know Sicilian apricots, that's your problem, not mine. Go out, go to the market, travel, read books... or tasting notes. I add that if I used a codified tasting vocabulary like that of blenders, it would be so boring for me that Whiskyfun would be finished after two weeks. Imagine such a litany for twelve hundred spirits a year! And I remind you what I have already written billions of times, Whiskyfun is not a buying guide, it is a personal tasting notebook, without any other pretensions. Any other use of Whiskyfun by its readers, private or professional, is solely their own responsibility.
7. That said, and I insist, the use of a vocabulary a bit more creative than that of the professionals seems to me also imposed by the homogeneity of our sessions. It wouldn't make much sense if, for example, the tasting notes for six Ben Nevis from the 1990s, all ex-bourbon, were, in fact, identical. It's important to look for nuances especially since that's precisely what tasting very similar whiskies allows. It would be very different if, for example, we tasted what comes in every week, at random, with a much more "buying guide" mindset, but that's precisely what I want to avoid. Everyone does that. A Lagavulin sherry, a Bladnoch NAS, a Clynelish ex-Port, a Macallan, and why not a new Bourbon sourced from MGP, an Austrian whisky and a new Japanese from Okinawa, rice-based. Then, no need to be very creative, but help! However, it would also be quite fun... I'll think about it... (but no!)
8. Of course, we have relationships with distillers, merchants, bottlers... Fortunately! We personally hold shares in several alcohol companies, as in other economic sectors. This little blog is not important enough to turn me into a hermit completely disconnected from all notions of friendship, pleasure, and economic support for concepts that I like. In Whiskyfun, there's fun. But I don't take my relationships into account in my tastings, that's rather what I'm sometimes reproached for, actually... I believe I have even lost two or three friends because of it. Sniff...
9. Your own tastes are more important than mine. This is stating the obvious. It's so evident, I've never understood why so many friends insist so heavily on this point.
10. Regarding free samples, a subject that has always preoccupied beginning bloggers or vloggers, of course, we receive many. They have no value (unless we were to resell some to miniature collectors). But I can't see myself doing a show like Whiskyfun just to receive 'free' samples and thus drink for free (by definition, a sample is free!) In volume and not in number, we taste about 5% of what we receive. At the time of writing, Whiskyfun's 'working stock' contains more than 4,000 untasted samples. And several hectolitres, I usually say that if there were ever a fire at Whiskyfun HQ, all that would be found the next morning is a 50-metre-wide crater with a lot of crushed glass in the middle. So one more or one less... (unless it's a Brora 1972!)
11. Of course, the design and technology of the site are outdated; they already were back in 2002. Converting it to WordPress or another technology would be a huge undertaking and lead to many errors. This has already been attempted several times. I prefer to keep the site as it is with its countless flaws but the integrity of its data, rather than having a beautiful site riddled with nonsense and, in the end, unusable because it's not reliable. I add that the regular readers of Whiskyfun have never asked me to change it, on the contrary, they ask me not to change anything, it would be a bit like an old restaurant where one has their habits. So be it! In any case, the opinion of people who don't read Whiskyfun occasionally matters little to me; it's the quality of the readership that counts, not the quantity since we sell nothing. As it stands, and as long as I find pleasure in all this odd business, the traffic of Whiskyfun will never be monetized.
12. I remind you of the phrase I added to the top of the Whiskyfun homepage a long time ago: "WARNING What I write about whisky is not 'the gospel' but is based on my personal experiences and feelings, with no pretensions to be 'the truth'. Therefore, it is not recommended that you buy the whiskies I review without first having tried them yourself. Thank you." In any case, if you have the slightest question, do not hesitate to ask me directly by any means at your convenience, I will always respond with pleasure.

I wish you a dazzling year. It seems that it will indeed be a somewhat turbulent year for the entire business, so in my humble opinion, the building and maintenance of sincere relationships with 'the funnel', more closeness, and simply the indispensable goodwill from consumers will be absolutely key elements for all spirits brands. In whisky, it was perhaps the end of the age of innocence until now, it's not completely impossible that we are now entering the end of the age of arrogance. But that, we've already said.

Hugs and peace!

(With heartfelt thanks to my dear compadre Angus)