In case you haven’t noticed already, there’s a new E‑pistle on the Malt Maniacs website, and I’m responsible for that. I had been playing around with the idea of writing a kind of “primer” for independent bottlers as I noticed that it’s still confusing for a lot of whisky enthusiasts.
Around the end of 2008, when I started this blog, we witnessed the birth of The Whisky Agency and Malts of Scotland, two independent bottlers that have gained a lot of interest ever since. While growing up, they were also an important example and aid for several other, smaller bottlers that are working under their umbrella, so to speak.
This new situation lead to a number of questions that I kept hearing over and over again: who is behind all these labels? Are they related? Do they have the same quality? Why does every bottler suddenly releases a Glengoyne although Glengoyne isn’t normally selling to independent bottlers? How come shops and clubs seem to have no difficulty finding high quality casks? Etc. etc. It turns out there’s a certain hierarchy in the independent whisky market these days, more so than a couple of years back. I may have simplified a few things, or focused on our Benelux/German market, but I’m mostly trying to point out a certain mechanism here.
In case you’re interested, you can find the whole article on the Malt Maniacs website: The hierarchy of independent whisky releases. Feel free to comment here in case you want to add your thoughts and experiences.