Malt Names

 

 

It’s all in the name, or is it?

That’s what I’m writing about,


how did this start; well it started with the recent purchase of a bottle of +Tomatin Distillery Cu Bocan,


why?


Well I was curious, so let’s see Cu Bocan translated means ghost dog, traditional Gaelic, this is a dog that stalks the peat moorland close to the Tomatin Distillery, so does this do anything to the Dram? Well not really unless this ghost dog has been shittin on the moor for the past few hundred years. I will review it again late in another blog and see if it’s really any good. Sadly for Tomatins marketing they missed out and failed on the hype part of this exercise.

 

 

Generally the name is a pure marketing ploy to pry more dollars from the consumers maybe even upping the price a little or a lot, for a young Whisky in a lot of cases, there is some hit and miss cases that are really good Drams and some not so good, generally the name and story is based around an event or myth from the area, a couple that I was impressed by were:

 

ONE

Glenfiddich Snow Phoenix, the story goes that months of heavy snow during Christmas 2009 four distillery rooves collapsed. The whisky is a tribute to those who rescued many oak casks from winter’s bitter cold. Snow Phoenix was created by marrying together natural strength and non-chill filtered casks of different ages and finishes, including American oak and Oloroso Sherry. Now as I say this is a good story and the Dram is good, very good, did this roof have any influence on the end result? Not really, it only made the distillery move the casks to the bottling room so they could empty the dunage and fix the roof. Great story, great Hype and a good drop.

 

TWO

Arran Machrie Moor Peated, this malt now going into its 4th Edition, the story is on the west coast of the Isle of Arran lies a windswept and mystical peat bog called Machrie Moor. Bronze Age stone circles and standing stones are strewn across its barren, undulating terrain. One of the stone circles is known as Fingal’s Cauldron Seat, where sits a stone with a carved hole. The legendary warrior giant Fingal is said to have tethered his favourite dog Bran to this stone. This peated expression of the Arran Single Malt perfectly captures the rugged beauty and lore of the landscape. Unleash the legend that is Machrie Moor. Again great story, great Hype and a good drop.

THREE
Ok now one I was not impressed with but did get the hype right and that is the recent Bowmore called the Devils cask, the legend on Islay is that the devil once visited the Round Church in the village of Bowmore. The Round Church, as its name implies, is in fact circular and it was built that way so there would be no corner in which the devil could hide. The local congregation spotted the devil in the church and chased him down through the village and into Bowmore Distillery’s famed No. 1 Vaults. As the warehousemen were filling casks and loading them aboard a paddle steamer, the devil was lost. It is believed that he escaped into a cask of Bowmore bound for the mainland.

So does this have anything to do with the Dram inside the bottle? No none at all only that thy hype was created the small batch sold, sadly most sold fast and are now going for up to 3 times the price.

 

One blog recently wrote:

If you run a distillery and have an 'innovation' department​, can we please encourage you to do at least a basic review of other brand’s products in the marketplace​e before you craft your marketing for a new release. Le​t’s say that maybe one island-bas​ed Scotch producer had twice used the devil in their releases. And maybe even a major American whiskey distiller had too... well, then maybe don’t use it for your newest release. Especially when the liquid inside is really quite good.

 

The liquid inside the bottle frankly I did not find to exciting. So to wrap up my crap, when the story behind the bottling is being created make sure your marketing department stay away from drinking to many Drams, concentrate on the product inside the bottle.

 

Drop me an email and let me know what Drams names you thought were bull and your opinion.