What Does John Know?

My 90 minutes with Bill Lumsden was very productive. I was also joined by Glenmorangie’s Business Development manager, Francois-Laurent Vitrac, and he was able to answer some of the more distribution-oriented questions.

I printed out your questions and asked him them as soon as we sat down. Here are his answers.

There are no plans on doing floor maltings any time in the near future at Ardbeg. Installing a second set of stills will be more likely, according to Bill. He said they can’t justify floor maltings. Not yet, anyway. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t wish they had them. He told me the main focus recently has been expanding capacity at Glenmorangie.

Regarding an Ardbeg Committee for the U.S., they are looking into it for 2009.  The problem is that they require import licenses for very small amounts of whiskies. The logistics are tough. Big distributors won’t want to be bothered with such small quantities. Plus, how do you distribute it? You make a few retailers happy, and piss off the rest.

Regarding Blasda, the lightly-peated version of Ardbeg which is just coming out now (not in the US–sorry), here’s the reason why they bottled at 40%. Bill said this whisky is all about the delicate, lighter side of Ardbeg. He felt it would be more appropriate if it were bottled at 40%, not 46%. This is not going to be a new trend for them, so no need to worry.

There are no plans to bottle a Madeira or rum-aged whisky anytime in the near future. When I asked about Kildalton, Bill said they are working on various projects. Read between the lines here: it seems like he’s got something up his sleeve for the near future.

Has the new packaging helped increase sales of Glenmorangie? Bill sales are up 20% globally since the new releases. But, as he said to me, “How much of this is due to the packaging and how much should be attributed to the new whiskies that came out at the same time?” It’s hard to tell.

And for those of you who asked, sales of single casks of Glenmorangie are, as Bill told me, always possible. Stay tuned on that.

About potential buyers for Glen Moray, Bill said there is tremendous interest. There’s about ten different possible buyers. Expect an announcement in October. He assured me that the distillery will be well looked after by the new owner. He was sad to see Glen Moray leave the company.

Regarding your questions about Bill’s involvement in cask selection for the Scotch Malt Whisky Society, he told me he has sat on the tasting panel, and he has also selected individual casks for them, along with Rachel Barrie, Glenmorangie’s master blender.

And finally, regarding whether new, older Ardbegs available for the U.S., this will not happen until 2010 at the earliest.

I have the whole story on Glenmorangie’s new Signet and Astar bottlings. I tasted both of them with Bill. I’ll get you the details–and my thoughts on them–sometime in the next day or two. They are completely different whiskies.

This entry was posted on Friday, September 12th, 2008 at 9:17 pm and is filed under New Releases, Scotch whisky. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.