(There are two versions of this article: One intended for Australian readers, and one intended for readers in other countries. This is the Australian version. If you’re reading this from another country, click here).
Picture the following three scenarios:
- You walk into your favourite bottleshop or off-licence looking to see if there are any new and exciting releases, or simply just to pick up new single malt expression that you’d recently heard about. You head to the whisky section of the store, where there’s normally a selection of 30 to 40 different malts and brands to choose from. You get there, only to find that the shelves have been stripped almost totally bare. The only whiskies left on the shelf for you to choose from are Glenfiddich 12yo, Glenlivet 12yo, Johnnie Walker Red and Black Labels, and VAT 69.
- Exiting the store in despair, you rush to your favourite whisky bar, in need of a good Scotch to calm your racing pulse. You scan the shelf behind the barman, desperately looking for a juicy, non-filtered, cask-strength dram. Instead, you see only a bottle of Chivas Regal 12yo.
- Convinced the world is coming to an end, you head around to your friend’s house. “All the great new Scotches have been removed from the shelves!” you exclaim, “But it’s okay, we’ll just drink some great, award-winning Australian whisky instead.” Your friend calms you down, nods sagely and goes over to his drinks cabinet, returning with a tumbler filled with precious, golden nectar. Relieved, you grab it and hold it up to your nose for a sniff and a taste. Hang on, something’s not right here – it smells metallic, spirity, and like oxidised acetone. Suspicious, you have a sip, only to spit it out immediately, spluttering “what the hell is this?” Your friend looks at you strangely and says “It’s Corio, of course. What did you think it would be?”
Is this your worst whisky nightmare? No. It’s reality.
It’s what life was like in 1989.
I am genuinely thrilled and delighted in the boom that the whisky industry is currently experiencing. Whisky is fashionable, it has an audience, it has a market, the distilleries are in full production, and people of all ages and demographics are flocking to its door. There are thousands of web pages, internet groups, and discussion pages devoted to whisky; there are whisky clubs that meet throughout cities and suburbia each night of the week; and there are books and magazines galore. Drinkers who are new to the category have never had it so good. But it wasn’t always this way……
Continue reading “Your worst whisky nightmare”
