Bladnoch in trouble

bbc.com/news/… bladnoch.co.uk/threads/ubbthreads.php/…

Read about this yesterday dramming.com/2014/03/… My thoughts go out to @nozinan, these must be difficult times for you.

@wtrstrnghlt

Your thoughts are appreciated but misplaced. I have enough to last me for years (decades?) at the rate I drink. And I ordered 6 more bottles and a couple of miniatures from an online retailer (which will take years to get here from my friend in Florida)

My sadness is less at the loss of my supply, more at the "loss" not seeing Raymond Armstrong's distillate mature into older, affordable expressions, and most for the man and his family and other staff who put their lives into this for 20 years.

At least the distillery may be sold and continue to operate (but who knows if the standards will be maintained), and Raymond will end up with something for his troubles.

Sad to hear this. I wonder what the reason can be.

Looks like the whisky is now pretty much sold out online. Good thing I acted quickly when I heard the news.

I wonder what is happening to all the Sherry casks filed with aging distillate? I hope it will be available at a reasonable price and quality of presentation some time in the future, and not relegated to Port Ellen and Rosebank prices and scarcity.

I see Master of Malt is cleaned out. Ditto for the Whisky Exchange. Europeans are scrambling to buy Bladnoch. Must be collectors.

I just bought a bottle of 19 year Bladnoch. Cask strength

Arran brewery recently made a bid to purchase the distillery instead of their original plan to buy Rosebank. So the question must be asked, what are they planning to do with it? Their Rosebank-project was aimed at transforming the distillery into a brewery where a micro-distillery for the production of whisky could be added in the foreseeable future. If they decide to keep the distillery running, all those collectors will have emptied their wallets for nothing and cheap bottles will soon return to the market.

@Pandemonium

I disagree that people emptied their wallets for nothing. If they keep it going, will the quality of the releases remain the same? 55% Natural presentation? Will it be the same?

And even if it is the same, for those of us who stocked up so we could have something to enjoy, we now have bottles for the next few years. The price of Scotch at that range is not going to go down appreciably, so consider it an investment in future enjoyment.

For those of you who didn't get to buy any, if you're in Toronto, I'm happy to share the "dividends" of my invenstment.

@Nozinan In short term, it probably was probably a short investment, they froze the assets, so if they find a new investor, those bottles currently stocked up wil probably be released. Prices have jumped significantly in the last weeks, one has to wonder if it would be wise to buy a bottle at €60 that only months ago was priced 50% lower. Never buy into panick or hype. Long term is a whole other story, like I indeicated in my previous post, it would be an odd-move, as their previous plan aimed at increasing their beer production, not to venture into the whisky market head-on.

@Pandemonium

I bought the bottles when they were still listed at their original prices, that hadn't changed much over 1-2 years. I doubt any new owner will sell similar stock at lower prices.

And even if they do, I bought good whisky ,for drinking, that I know was prepared by Raymond's crew, at a decent price. The whole order probably set me back less than a bottle of JW Blue. So as I said, an investment in my future enjoyment.

@Nozinan sure, Bladnoch is always a sure investment, but I doubt that now would be a good time to buy, if they don't find a suitable buyer prices will go up, but if they do, the market might cool down. I got a Bladnoch 22yo in the cabinet that I haven't been opened yet. If things go north with the Bladnoch distillery, I'll hang on to that one. One has to wonder if there won't be a lot of potential buyers as there are already so many micro-distilleries opening or still in the planing. Buying Bladnoch would give you the name and the installation, which seems like a good deal to me. There are probably still restrictions and contractual limitations on the production level, but I guess you could work something out with Diageo.

@Pandemonium

I think we're talking about completely different things. The 22 year old bottle you have was not produced by the Armstong group. If Bladnoch doesn't reopen it could very well increase in value like a Brora or Port Ellen.

When I heard ( was it from your original post?) that the distillery was closed, I bought 6 bottles online from the Whisky exchange. I bought them at the "regular price". But I didn't buy them so that I could sell them (very hard to do here in Ontario). I bought them to secure a number of bottles so that I could drink them in the future.

If the distillery remains closed, I have 6 extra bottles to remember it by. It it gets reopened but they no longer bottle at 55% and single casks, I have 6 great bottles anyway. If it gets reopened and the production values and quality are the same, that's 6 bottles fewer I need to buy in the future. If the price goes down, unlikely as it may be, the difference won't be enough to make me regret it. If the price goes up, that's good money saved.

I don't know that Bladnoch 12 year old scotch for the Armstrong era will ever have the same legend status as Port Ellen. But I found a Scotch I really like and respect, and I'm glad I have a personal supply.

That's what I was trying to get across.

Well the end may be nigh for Bladnoch: whiskyexperts.net/bladnoch-bald-eine-lost-d…

@NozinanB

Oops my wife's iPad was still logged in to my temp. Account... That was my post

It says that the Arran Brewery is a apparently no longer in the running to buy the distillery. And that the Indian real estate agency Vatika agency is currently in the running to become the new owner. Not sure if the buildings are somehow protected, if not they could probably be torn down, if they are, we could probably see a St. Magdalene or Glenlochy like transformation into apartment. Probably going to order another bottle tomorrow from drankdozijn, they still have bottles available under €50

@Pandemonium

I looked at the site, but it doesn't have a big selection from the 10-12 year old range at 55%, just the slightly peated sherry cask. I ink I have one of those.

It would be nice to know how many casks are slumbering, and what will happen to them. It would have been nice to see what it would have been like as a 25 year old, but I'm sure I won't be able to afford it if it's a lost distillery.

Some good news at last, the realter group VATIKA will buy the distillery, like announced earlier, but it looks like they will buy it as a running concern; whiskyexperts.net/breaking-news-vatika-kauf…

Some of you may have seen on Raymond's forum he posted that the new owners take over next week. Best of luck to them.

Not particularly new news but big changes at Bladnoch

"There will be four stills, new boiler, new mash tuns, new wash backs, it's a very exciting project."

Rumours that the stills will not be the same shape and that everything is being replaced because of the poor condition it was in. Be intresting to see how much the spirit changes.

@Onlyhalfmad

Looking at the website everything is changing. No word on what is happening to present stocks of maturing spirit. If they bottled it in the same way as Armstrong did you'd have mid-teen stuff - ah it would be awesome.

The new stuff looks like it will be watered down and branded, not craft presented. I'm very fortunate I have the bottles I do. They'll just have to last a lifetime...

Everyone I know thats met Raymond thinks he is a great guy, but he has left Bladnoch with what I suspect will be a distinct lack of whisky even though the quality may be good. The new man has had his hand forced, but I agree alot of branded 40% young whisky to come and any craft will be very expensive.

@Onlyhalfmad From what I understand the deal with United Distillers was that Raymond was limited as to how much alcohol he could produce, hence the need to be a craft distillery, but also perhaps that he may not have been able to even produce that much for reasons I am not aware of.

Indeed he was limited. But when the Armstrong's bought it they took six years to refit for production and distilled until 2009 then stopped, although I think they may have did a couple of runs before the sale. So in the time they had it distilled for 9 years silent for 12 (ish) lots of speculation as reasons for it being silent at the end but suspect to be the same reasons as administration.