My 2 Cents on Bruichladdich, July 2012

Bruichladdich. Selling out to the industry, so the industry can expand their portfolio with great whisky and gin labels. Not good. Me sad.

That was my first thought when Mark Reynier twittered that there were advanced talks going on with Rémi Cointreau on the 9th of July 2012. The next day I was (unlike my "normal" actions during my work day) checking my Facebook and my Twitter feeds for updates on this horrific development in the whisky industry.

Later, when the news had settled, I came to the following conclusion, mainly while stuck in traffic driving home:

What was so bad about the Louis Vuiton - Moët Hennessy overtake of the Glenmorangie / Ardbeg brands, other than both distilleries got a bigger budget to market their wonderful products? Ardbeg still has the same 2 stills producing awesomeness as they have always had, and did the Glenmorangie liquid change from a soft, gentle, sweet liquid into producing poison?

Was is that bad, that the Balblair distillery was taken over by the "big bad" Interbev in 1996, completely changing their approach on the ageing and selling of their whisky? And really how "bad" are the whiskies created by Laphroaigh (Beam Inc.), or Lagavullin (Diageo), or Auchantoshan (Suntory), or...

Of course, in the whisky industry, Mark Reynier is a (the?) spokesman against the Big-Bad-International-Drinks companies, owning Scottish distilleries from overseas, or sometimes even outside Europe, and at the same time he is also the best example at how a distillery also could be run, with the whisky creating art craft at first place, closely followed by the love and care for the people ('s jobs) on the Island of Islay.

Sure, a shy fifteen years ago, he rescued the Bruichladdich distillery and turned it into one of the most lovely and "progressive" distilleries on earth, having a great vision about the way whiskies should be made, having the best people possible on the best places, with their hearts on the right spot.

But hey, give the guy a break. What would you do, if a big multinational offered you a chance and the finances to expand your dreams and your one-and-a-half decade-life's-work, into a possible second distillery on Islay (insert my desperate vision of a separate Port Charlotte distillery here) and you having the say about what you are going to do with their money?

Well, maybe, maybe not, time will tell.

I am not one who's big on hypotheses, I don't have a crystal ball, but I think that we, the consumers, should give Rémi Cointreau and Bruichladdich a chance to grow into a possibly even better brand, with one side giving the other side the money and possibilities to have even more people enjoy the three great whisky brands and wonderful gin.

One can hope, right?