As for selling Ardbeg, I guess it would depend on the price. With Diageo already in possesion of Caol Ila and Lagavulin, does their portfolio really need another Islay distillery? They could potentially get a very good deal for offloading Arbeg.

Cognac and Champagne is what LVMH has and Diageo covets.

The deal if it came to pass would be concluded under EC laws and rules and most probably would result in Diageo having to sell one or more of their whisky brands because of the market dominating position they already have in the whisky business.

But I thik the EC would be open to negotiations which brand or distillery Diageo would have to sell.
It might not be Ardbeg nor Glenmorangie neccessarily. And among us Euan - would you sell Ardbeg if you had it in your hands already?

But I am with you in the NAS thing. Not long ago the Scotsman - I think it was the Scotsman - featured an article about the whisky industry having itself manouvered into a corner with the age statements in the first place.
The tenor was they should never have done that and the taste of whisky is not dependent on age. So the standards of 10yo 12yo and so on were good at the time but today are a hinderance.

That was the moment when I began to thik the story was sponsored by the industry.

Greetings
kallaskander

My expectations concerning partially Port-matured Dalmores stem from what I could pull out of the myriad wine flavours in the 1263 - so this must be awesome, coffee or no coffee.

I re-tasted the 12yo recently and have been steadily making my way through my bottle of the 15yo and this is my absolute favourite Highland distillery. So oppulent it’s untrue. Want it now.

Peter, I’m brimming with envy: not only does Mr P construct epic whiskies but by all accounts he’s quite a character, as the Edinburgh Whisky guys know only too well.

I hope this shall be at the Scotch Whisky Experience next time I’m up there. I’m very curious about Port finishes after tasting the gorgeous Glenmo Quinta Ruban.

I mentioned that ‘until very recently’ Talisker 57 was only in airports so I’m aware that in some markets it is available as a general release.

Lagavulin 12yo is part of the Diageo ‘Premium’ releases which come out every Autumn - technically it is a vintage bottling which changes on a annual basis so it doesn’t really compare to a bottling which makes up part of a distillery’s core range. Caol Ila is still a distillery which very much has a focus on producing stock for blends. Maybe in a dozen years RoseIsle will produce the stock needed for JW Black Label to take the pressure off but probably not before then. The CS Caol Ila is a great whisky, but to say that it appeals to the current single malt market more than an Ardbeg bottling does not seem correct to me.

Kallaskander, it’s always nice to have a bit of discussion around a post, so please get back to me.

The Mackenzie sounds pretty great, thanks for posting! I’ll be at a tasting with Mr. Paterson a week from today in San Francisco, I wonder if he’ll bring some of that along.

interesting but a bit off, wouldn`t you think?

After all Diageo is in posession of Lagavulin and Caol Ila and the remains of Port Ellen on Islay so there really is no need to mimic Ardbeg.

There is the Caol Ila cask strength NAS and the Lagavulin 12 yos which do a better job than the 57° North.

And why would Diageo want to sell Ardbeg? It is hard to believe they would make an acquisition that would give them Ardbeg only to lose it in the same deal.
No matter how desperate they may be to lay their hands on Moet and Hennessy.

I am not sure that your reasoning is entirely sound.

On the other hand…

And oh, by the way 57° North is available as a Friends of Classic Malts bottling in 0.7 ltr. bottles in Germany an afaik in Austria and Swizerland as well already.

Greetings
kallaskander

http://bit.ly/2010Predictions2

My guess is that in the medium term (5-10 years) the standard bottlings from most distilleries will be NAS.