May 2007
The Tenth Edition of "A Whiff of Peat Smoke...." , Why ? because i can !
It's Feis Ile Month ! Never mind "Other" Festivals this is the one , good Scottish Music and Great Scottish Malt Whisky .
Auvoir The Spiritofislay Yahoo Group .....And the Malts -L list ?
So that's it the Yahoo Group is no more ! But it looks like the Malts-L list might be heading the same way , from whats been posted they have to leave the server they are on , they're looking for a new home and one suggestion has been a move to the Malt manics site. I know a few of the people who post on Malts-L fairly well but Will the list be missed ? i don't know , they have had some fairly outspoken views but the posting that said "All I am asking is whether our move to the MM site, or elsewhere could lead to "the great unwashed" becoming involved. I like it as it is." won't have made them many new friends !!!! I know for sure that won't have been the view of the members i know......
Bruichladdich Growth Continues
Progressive Hebridean distiller Bruichladdich has announced an increase in profits of 29% for the year to 31st December 2006 on a turnover of £5.3m Sir John Mactaggart, Chairman, commented: “This performance continues the improvement in both profitability and turnover achieved over the last 3 years.” “Earnings before interest, depreciation, tax and goodwill provisions rose to £1,123,000 from £932,000, with overheads remaining static.” The maverick distiller fights well above its weight as Industry analysis by Plimsoll of 86 whisky companies puts the company at number 15 in pre-tax profit ranking. And 4th in Gross Profit as a percentage of sales. The company is in 3rd place within the industry for companies returning the best added value as a percentage of sales. Along with the mighty Diageo, the minnow Hebridean distiller is alone amongst its competitors in the industry in averaging 15% sales growth over the last three years. Unusually, the company is run entirely from the Atlantic island since 2000 when it was purchased from Jim Beam Brands prior to the management buyout of what is currently Whyte & Mackay. “This year has seen some major investments in the infrastructure of the distillery with the installation of a new boiler and bottling line, increasing the capacity to handle larger volumes as we grow.” Energy saving concepts produced a 33% reduction in electricity since 2004 while production doubled to 650,000 litres of alcohol in the same period and a 21% reduction in oil per litre of alcohol produced. “From barley to bottle we distil, mature and bottle our whisky on Islay – a sort of Gaelic “mis en bouteilles au chateau” says Mark Reynier, managing director. “Like wine, we believe in provenance so are increasingly distilling organically grown barley from individual ‘terroirs’ around Islay and Scotland; even our bank manager could tell the difference.” In March 2007 the company announced plans for the construction of a new uber-green single malt distillery in neighbouring village of Port Charlotte on the Island of Islay. The Scottish Executive have awarded the company a £400,000 grant towards a boiler that is non-reliant on oil. “With the current hysteria on global warming we want to see if it is realistically practical to build and run an entirely carbon neutral, sustainable and self-contained distillery. “We like challenges. Using organic barley, water turbines, windmills, ram pumps and bottling our whisky naturally. There’s Nothing new about it. We are only reinventing the Victorian wheel”
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