Whisky Advocate Blog

It’s not every day I get a press release promoting a whisky with a “sweet gloopy mouth-feel”, but that’s exactly what happened a few days ago.

The Famous Grouse is showing its plumage. Several years ago there was the introduction of a premium “Grouse Gold”. More recently, the brand owner introduced The Black Grouse–a smoky version of Grouse. Now, there’s The Snow Grouse, a whisky designed to be drunk extremely chilled, from the freezer. 

The image and press release both say that this a blended grain whisky. There’s no mention of malt whisky at all. Having consumed more than my share of grain whiskies over the years, I have a pretty good idea how this will taste, but I am keen to give it a try.

Aged vodka?

The whisky companies have been trying for decades to tap into the twenty to thirty-something crowd and regularly try new and inventive ways to market whisky to achieve this. Grain whisky, in very rudimentary terms, could be viewed as “aged vodka”. (Yes, I know I am oversimplifying to make a point here.)

I’m surprised not one has tried this marketing angle before. (Or maybe they have and I just missed it.) We’ll see how this plays out.

Bruichladdich is re-organizing some of their whiskies to create a more cohesive, easy to understand portfolio spanning three different peating levels. Details, as described to me from the press release I received, follows:

Bruichladdich have released three dramatic new versions of their successful multi-vintage range of single malt whisky.

Each cuvée is masterfully assembled by whisky legend Jim McEwan from several  ages of

Bruichladdich single malt, from different cask types and  diverse whisky characteristics. The concept was originally inspired by Champagne’s Remi Krug: “With a  single vintage, it is God who decides on the quality. But with a multi-vintage, I am  God.”

The three new bottlings are Rocks, Waves and Peat, each designed to show the full repertoire of Bruichladdich style and peat flavour – the whole gamut of Islay whiskies. MD Mark Reynier says: “They had evolved haphazardly. We have brought them together under one umbrella, new bottlings, each with it’s own distinct identity and flavour profile:”

“Rocks is the classic aperitif cuvée – minimal peat, so deliciously fresh and fruity – with a surprisingly sophisticated  flavour profile thanks to the French oak cask influences.”

“Waves is mildly peaty at  around 15ppm, beguilingly elegant with oodles of Bruichladdich finesse and fruit. A real anytime of day dram.”

“Peat  does what it says on the tin. It replaces the 3D range, has been toned down a bit with an average peatiness of around 35ppm. Plenty of peat but with out the medicine.”

UK Retail prices around: Rocks £24, Waves £30 Peat £30. Double that for approximate price in US Dollars. I will provide better details on pricing and availability as I get them.

As a side note, you might find my Wordwide Whiskies column in the new issue of Malt Advocate magazine very timely. The title of the column is: “The New Age of No Age,” with the pull quote saying: “How do whisky companies sell whisky without an age statement? The give the whisky a name! Preferably it’s a name that describes how the whisky was made and how it tastes.”

You’ll be seeing a lot more of this as whisky companies decide what to do with all the spirit they are producing right now once the spirit becomes legal whisky in a few years.