A big hello to all our friends, old and new, and welcome to issue No. 3 of Dràm Mòr’s Whisky Update.
Well, we have weathered the storm (so far) over the past 4 months and for most of us a new normality is kicking in with most shops and services up and running again.
As I write, Scotland has moved into phase three and that has seen our bars and restaurants open up tentatively once again for the first time since early March, so this now brings our local hostelries onto the Dràm Mòr radar, and also means lots more hard work for us, but we wouldn’t change that for anything.
Since last time, we spoke we have had a few exciting developments to share with you. Firstly, as our number of cask investment clients grows and grows, we have had to take on an extra pair of hands, so it is my great pleasure to introduce you to our new cask sales manager, Mr. Ruaraidh Macdonald. Ruaraidh has recently left Strathclyde University after securing a first in History and Politics before going on the complete his Masters degree in History. Ruaraidh has a great wealth of experience for a young man, as not only has he served his time behind one of Glasgow’s West End busiest whisky bars, Òran Mòr, as well as having worked on many events for us, while he was studying, from The World Golf Hall of Fame whisky tasting to and bespoke tasting event for the Global Sales Directors of Rolls Royce. He also holds the proud boast of being the youngest BIIAB qualified recipient of The Whisky Ambassador course at the ripe old age of 18 years and 1 day. Ruaraidh has told us that he can’t wait to get started, so for those of you, who are cask owners or perhaps are thinking of putting your money to incredibly good use, I’m sure that Ruaraidh will be more than happy to help in any way he can. Welcome on board Big Man!
Meanwhile, on the retail front, we are moving along nicely. We were put head to head a few weeks ago in the fantastic Tensu Speakeasy and Finest Spirits Boutique in Helchteren, Limburg in Belgium with the Liquid Treasures brand, an established single bottler based in Germany. Of the eight whiskies sampled, I’m delighted to report that Dràm Mòr came 1st and 2nd with our young Caol Ila 6 year old taking first place, closely followed by our beloved Glenrothes 10 year old beating a 14 year old Inchfad from Liquid Treasures into third place.
In other news, on the retail front, it is with great pleasure to introduce our newest retailer Sieberts Whiskywelt München to our growing band of retail outlets. Many thanks to all at Sieberts for the support and opportunity to let us show them what we do. Danke Vielmals!
On the home front, we are ecstatic to now be part of the prestigious Good Spirits Co portfolio in Glasgow. So for all you home birds, once the 2nd release is out, you will be able to stroll in off the street and top up on your favourite dram.
A few nice wee reviews have come in since the last time I wrote, and these have come from the great and good of our industry, I am delighted to say. I always find it interesting and by no small means educational to read these kind of reviews, not only to enjoy such learned opinions, but to see, if they match up with my own impressions of the drams in question. When you have a second you can find the reviews here… The Whisky Exchange’s Billy Abbott, Whisky Fun’s Serge Valentin (scroll down a lot! but pay attention that our Caol Ila 6yo @59% is “good enough to go with caviar”!) and Partick Thistles celebrity supporter the enigmatic Dave Broom of The Whisky Manual.
I cannot thank these gents enough for taking the time to review some of our first release drams. Don’t forget though, we would love to hear what you think too!
For those of you, who have supported us by buying a bottle or two over the last few months and are now starting to notice some gaps on the shelves as our first release come closer and closer to being sold out, don’t panic! I am thrilled to be able to report that release number two is only now a couple of weeks away with bottling due in the second half of August, so we are very hopeful that no matter where you are we will be able to have bottles back on shelves by the end of August. This run will see five new releases with more planned for around October this year.
There will be some old friends in run, two albeit with very different characters, as well as a couple of new drams to us, but as always the rule applies. If it’s not good enough for me to buy, then it doesn’t reach the bottle, so I can promise you some very enjoyable drams are on their way.
To rap things up for this edition, I would like to introduce three other members of the ever growing Dràm Mòr Clan. Firstly, Mr. Manoj Mathew, who I am very happy to say has been a personal friend of mine for many years now. Over these years Manoj, who is based in the searing heat of Dubai, has supported us in everything that we have ever worked towards and he cannot be thanked enough for that. We will have many more drams to enjoy together and a cask or two to turn as Manoj is also one of our cask investors. The second, is another man, who I am delighted to be able to call friend. Thomas Talarczyk, who I was lucky enough to meet a few years ago in The Village Whisky Festival in the beautiful city of Nuremberg, helped to deplete our stock levels in Germany by snatching up not just the odd bottle, but who also joins my pal Robert O’Neil in Ghent in having the full first run in his collection now. Thank you so much for the support, lads!
Last, but not least, a big hello and welcome to the clan to Miss Fiona Milne, who is actually a former student of mine as she made the very long trip from the North East of Scotland (Oldmeldrum to be exact) to Glasgow to sit through a Whisky Ambassador course with me, which she cruised, I have to say. Fiona picked up a bottle of our Glen Garioch the other week, which we were delighted to see as Fiona actually worked for Glen Garioch Distillery for 5 years, so I would be extremely interested to hear, what her thoughts were, when comparing our bottle to the distillery style that she knows so well.
As always, Ladies and Gentlemen, every one of you is so so important to us, because without you guys there would be no Dràm Mòr.
I can’t wait to get our new releases out to all of you and hear your thoughts, so till the next time we talk, take care and keep on draming!
Slàinte
Kenny Macdonald
Director
