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Whisky Seasons

Now that I've really started to pay attention to what I can get and when, I'm curious if whiskies have seasons of availability. It would stand to reason that, since the primary ingredient in whisky is a seasonal item, that the production would be seasonal as well.

I think the biggest example of this would be last fall's Lagavulin shortage. I'm sure the distillery was sitting on casks that hadn't yet hit the 16-year mark and wishing it could put them out. Once the day of casking from 16 years prior came around, they could tap the casks and bottle it appropriately. Now we have Lagavulin again and it's almost as cheap as it was last year (save the Euro conversion).

The reason this is on the tip of my mind right now is that most of the Buffalo Trace brands of Bourbon are nowhere to be found right now. It's as if they ran out last summer and are aching for the distilling season again. The only Buffalo Trace brand I can find reliably right now is Blanton's and they don't use age statements.

I've also noticed that I'm having a harder time finding small distillery Scotches right now. I thought I'd blame this on the Euro rate, but when coupled with the Bourbon shortages and the fact that I still can't find more Japanese Whisky - it's enough to make a man think of excuses.

Can anyone provide some insight into this theory?

Reply to
Brian Macke
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Hi Brian

You could say whisky's a seasonal itam, but the season's are quite long. As with the Lagavulin 16 the season i 16 years long, since that's the time it takes to produce it.

But seriously. It used to be that one got the barley from the farmer, malted it on site, and then distilled it. Thus useing the same people for all stages of the process, much like Springbank today. But when they installed giant barley storage tanks on site, they have enough barley for months upon months, one distillery I've visited had enough for almost one years production months on-site. So that they could get lower prices by buying huge quantities.

It might seem that Lagavulin is over the worst crisis, but no worries - it won't disappear completely. I do belive many of the bottles of Lagavulin 16 out there contains whisky thats a few years older that 16, just so that they could keep up with some of the demand. I don't belive Buffalo Trace simply ran out and is waiting for some season to start, because it would take a few years before thay could bottle the product, it's not like they're distilling whisk(e)y, like some papers like to write. They are distilling spirits, which after cask maturation is turned into whisk(e)y.

When it comes to these small distilleries, they have always had a problem just because they are small. They haven't got the capasity to produce all that much single malt, and if demand suddnly soars it takes them it will disappear from the sheves, since it takes 10-15 years before the new spirit is ready for bottling.

----- Best regards Martin - Oslo, Norway Norwegian Malt Whisky Society Home:

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"Brian Macke" skrev i melding news: snipped-for-privacy@strangelove.net...

Reply to
Martin

Brian,

Just a small side remark, Scotland's currency is the British Pound, not the euro. So if any currency's rate is to blame for steep prices in the US it would be the Pound's, I think.

(I'm not sure if that's high now).

Brian Macke wrote:

Reply to
Bowmore

When your home currency is plunging, everything else seems towering in comparison.

but, yes, it's more the weak dollar than any currency that's stronger than another. Here's a few links that highlight where the currencies have been for the last few months:

EUR to GBP:

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GBP to USD:

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EUR to USD:

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The Euro is falling relative to the two currencies over the past 120 days, though historically the dollar is much lower compared to the other two who have been fairly stable competitors.

Reply to
Brian Macke

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