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First of all may I say what a great read Whisky Magazine is. I look forward to it landing on the doorstep every month. Having visited Scotland a few times along with going on the usual distillery tours over the last couple of years I have built up a small collection of single malts some worth more than others but each one means something to me.

However I am becoming disillusioned with the way some distillerys and their parent companies seem to be releasing whisky take Glenmorangie Company (LVMH) for example. Owners of that great malt Ardbeg which released earlier this year Corryvrecken, a committee bottling only allowing one bottle per member. Fair enough, yet within days they were for sale on internet auction sites at a vastly increased prices (I did not buy any over the net), yet now it has become available as a general release also another committee release Supernova again only one per member, sold out in a couple of hours, great, yet this was soon made available to whisky retailers to sell on to the general public.

Bruichladdich, who I am a great fan of by the way, it does not seem a week goes by without another new bottling been released or some new finish. A couple of years ago they released a series titled PC5 in nice black tin. You had to phone the distillery, enter into a draw, it was great and I got a bottle not a lot of money around£65-75. Then the following year’s bottle PC6 came in a white tin with photographs on it of different distillery workers. But if you wanted to keep up a full collection then there were six different tins to collect at £75 a bottle. It all adds up.

Yet the best I’ve heard is William Grant & Sons who own Glenfiddich. What ever you may think they are the one single malt you can nearly always guarantee to find in any hotel bar in the world. Now they release a 50 year old. In this day and age when the majority of distillery’s are owned by big multi national organisations where everything as to be accounted for and monthly stock takes, we get told a fantastic new release has been made available that as been laying undiscovered for the past however many years I don’t think so.

Yes, it’s great that distillery’s and their parent company’s are trying to bring new and sometimes exciting bottlings on to the market, but please remember to treat the buying public with respect because if we lose confidence in what were buying then it may well return to the days when a lot of distillery’s were forced to close or to slow down production this would be no good for anyone.

Don’t kill the goose that laid the golden egg.

Paul Edmonds
Via email