ROSEISLE DISTILLERY - A DISASTER IN THE MAKING?

[Luke Gough]

Echoes of the Irish distilling industry in 1966 methinks: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/oct/03/diageo-roseisle-distillery-opens

After the Kildalton closure in Glasgow, amongst others, I'd be fearful for Lagavulin's future. Take my advice, hold onto any Diageo bottlings you have stronger than 43% because it looks like they're going to become rare.

Closer to home, can James' Gate be far behind?

I'm reminded of a dear departed regular in Grogan's Castle Lounge who once shouted: "Have you heard about that b*****d Diego? Laying off three hundred fellas in James' Gate?!"

Am I being overly pessimistic? Your thoughts please...

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

Not 100% sure what you mean by a disaster in the making?

Roseisle is a super distillery in the line of what IDL did nearly 40 years ago so they are basically making their blend division as stream-lined as possible which makes business sence ... this is a distillery to fuel their blends which is the bread and butter of any whisk(e)y business, it may even surprise some to know that Ballentines is one of the biggest whiskey brands in the world, I think second only after Johnny Walker. Yes, This may be bad in the short term for jobs probably but not bad for the brand/s. Further, I don't think this will have any bearing on the Single Malts market though such as Lagavulin.

There are close to 100 distilleries in scotland still and possibly a few will not survive but that unfortunagely is a fact of life but the positive of this is the good and strong ones will survive.

The problem with Lagavulin is that it is suffering from it's own success as are some others. The distillery is at full capacity and basically cannot not keep up with demand. I thinkr the ecnomic down turn has stayed the march of the Single malt for the time being and I don't think these issues will get any worse.

However the blend is where it is at currently and always has been for most big corporates and that is what they concentrate on. This is something we have seen all too well with Jameson but we are now begining to see the benifit of having a strong brand.

[IainB]

If I were to guess at possible negative consequences for the whisky fan I'd say you could well see some colsures of Diageo distilleries. I'd say though it's highly unlikely that any of the expanded classic malt series would be affected. They've spent a lot of money promoting these malts. If anything nt haveing to contribute to blends may actually increase availability of some of the malts, particularly Caol Ila.

I think IWC's comparisson to Midleton is very relevant - it's a conplex distillery designed to produce a range of styles. The difference between the Diageo and IDL situations is that Irish whiskey was very much in decline in the 60's / 70's and there was noe real sense of brand location in the market. Nowday's there is a clear and growing market for single malt whisky. We all know it's still a small percentage of overall sales but it's there nonetheless. Part of the problem for these brands is that a good chunk of output has to be send for blending.

I think your Lagavulin is safe. It's more likely that you may see some closures in the Flora and Fauna range, particulay the lessen known and followed malts. While the likes of Linkwood and Mortlach would have a strong following, how many people here have bought a Dufftown, a Blair Atholl, a Glen Spey or a Strathmill?

[Willie JJ]

how many people here have bought a Dufftown, a Blair Atholl, a Glen Spey or a Strathmill?

I couldn't possibly say

I agree that Lagavulin is safe. It really is focused on the production of whisky for the single malt market. I would be less sure about the expanded Classic Malt range more generally. They already withdrew Glen Ord from the range so that it could be sold in South East Asia under the Singleton brand. I do think that the main targets for closure will be the more obscure stills mentioned by Iain, but I wouldn't include Blair Athol and would include Glendullan and Mannochmore as possibilites. Time will tell.

[IainB]

I think Blair Atholl is a big part of Bells? And it has a visitor centre so you're probably right. To be honest I don't know enough about the F&F range to say what might be under threat. I picked 2 I know that have a substantial following in Linkwood and Mortlach to exclude but in fairness my ignorance means anything I speculate on the others should probably be ignored.

There may not be a lot of closures - a big part of Roseisle from what i understand would be to ramp up production for the Chinese market. Another issue is that some of the malts that traditionally have been mainly geared towards blending are becoming more and more popular in certain markets, as Cardhu did in Spain, and the various Singleton bottlings as Willie noted above.

I would think that any malt with decent enough following somewhere may well be safe. It may be that by keeping the distilleries alive they have a wider portfolio of malts to target at emerging markets.

The Singleton brand I find confusing - the brand itself seems to feature more on the label than the distillery name - could this be a precursor to a single malt from Roseisle under this same??

Anyway, assuming there are no mass closures a super distillery is not necessarily a bad thing - my favourite whiskey of all comes from one - Redbreast 15!

Still a complete set of the F&F range may not be the worst invstment one could make but tracking down bottlings of Clynelish, Caol Ila and Aberfeldy under the range could prove expensive!

[Willie JJ]

I think Blair Atholl is a big part of Bells? And it has a visitor centre

Yes on both counts. Its also on the tourist route and gets a huge number of visitors, so pretty safe I think.

There may not be a lot of closures - a big part of Roseisle from what i understand would be to ramp up production for the Chinese market.

True enough, but there is now talk of a second super-distillery. As long as the market is bouyant these plants will have limited impact on older stills, but as we know the industry is cyclical and sooner or later it will turn down. Roseisle has for a long time been nicknamed The Deathstar, partly because of its looks and partly because of the effect it is expected to have on other stills. If Deathstar II is built then the long term impact could be very significant. It is, after all, only Diageo's marketing department that cares about heritage.

The Singleton brand I find confusing

Understandable. They seem to be using it as a global umbrella brand, but with different malts in different markets. In North America it is Glendullan, in the UK and Europe it is Dufftown and in Asia it is Glen Ord. Its too early to tell if they will ever release a single malt from Roseisle, but I think that the Singleton brand is intended to allow for different malts to be used, possibly in order to overcome supply issues (I speculate).

Still a complete set of the F&F range may not be the worst invstment one could make but tracking down bottlings of Clynelish, Caol Ila and Aberfeldy under the range could prove expensive!

Perhaps. The range is regularly shrinking, but as you say many of them are now very expensive already, so who knows.

[Willie JJ]

Roseisle has for a long time been nicknamed The Deathstar, partly because of its looks ...

In case anyone was wondering:

[IainB]

Not your traditional Scottish distillery alright but quite impressive in another way. We might feel different is the malt turns out to be good!

Are there column stills also? If it's mainly for blending will Cameronbridge have enough capacity?

Any pictures of Ailsa Bay by chance - I believe it's also a "super distillery".

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

Thanks for sharing Iain and Willie ... very interesting stuff and it is always good to keep up with the Scotch side but unfortunately I don't get much time to join in the other forums I used to be part of

[DavidH]

The photos have convinced me. That's one good-looking distillery! But I've always liked hangars, fertiliser plants and the like. Industral architecture is under-appreciated.

[JohnM]

The old Irish distilleries were industrial, compared to their Scottish counterparts. I love them both, but there was something about the likes of the Bow St distillery and the Allman's and all those that I love.