William Grant Pioneers New Scotch Category...

[bifter]

...with Girvan Single Grain

William Grant & Sons is releasing a new brand of single grain Scotch whisky in a bid to pioneer a new spirit category.

The Girvan Patent Still Single Grain Whisky is produced at the Girvan Distillery in the Lowlands, normally used to create grain whisky for Grant's blended Scotch.

The first product in the Girvan Patent Still range will be a 25-year-old released exclusively in the UK in early November. Comprised of whisky aged in first and second-fill Bourbon casks with "some Sherrywood and virgin oak"?, and bottled at 42% abv, Girvan Patent Still 25 Year Old has a honey, candied orange and toffee fudge flavour.

William Grant will follow up the expression with two additional releases, both bottled at 42% abv, in March 2014: Girvan Patent Still 30 Year Old and a no-age-statement Girvan Patent Still #5974 - relating to the patent number filed by Aeneas Coffey in 1830 for the column still.

Both releases will be available in the UK, plus additional core markets in Europe, the US and Asia.

While the #5974 will likely retail for around £75, the Girvan 25 Year Old will carry an RRP of £250, and the Girvan 30 Year Old £375.

Jonny Cornthwaite, brand manager of Girvan whiskies, said it was important for William Grant not to price the new brand at an inferior point to single malt Scotch.

"We have a responsibility as the first major brand producing a single grain Scotch to set the standard,"? he explained. "Single grain should be viewed as an accompaniment to single malt, and 25 and 30-year-old single malts cost this much too.

"This is a brave new step for us, opening up this new category in Scotch whisky."?

The launch marks 50 years since the Girvan Distillery was built in 1963, the same time Glenfiddich was launched in export markets around the world.

"When Glenfiddich first launched William Grant were told it would never work, now we are the world's largest-selling single malt,"? Cornthwait added. "Hopefully the same will happen with Girvan."?

http://www.thespiritsbusiness.com/2013/10/william-grant-pioneers-new-scotch-category-with-girvan-single-grain/
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"Whisky is liquid sunshine."
[George Bernard Shaw]

[bifter]

A bit too much marketing bumpf surrounding this for me. In what sense they are "pioneering" anything I'm unclear, single grains have been widely available from independent bottlers for a good while now. And as for the "importance" of pricing it like malt, just who do they think they're kidding?

You'd have to be a mug to buy these, sorry if that's harsh but that's about the sum of it as far as I'm concerned. £75 for a NAS grain?!! What are we coming to?
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"Whisky is liquid sunshine."
[George Bernard Shaw]

[William]

bifter i was invited to the launch of the new Girvan single grain which was down in London on Friday last week but i was in Ireland for the weekend so i couldnt make it. I received the press release on Monday but havent posted the info as i had a few questions on it and was leaving off posting as i am told that there is a sample heading my way but i wont get it until next week at the earliest and i thought it was a good idea to leave off posting until i can comment on the whisky itself.

I was told that the new 25 year old will be a permanent expression in the new Girvan single grain range but when i looked at the images of the new bottle the label states that the bottle is a special 1 of 500 launch edition. I have enquired whether further bottlings will carry an edition or batch number or will it just simply carry an age statement.

Obviously with this being a launch edition of 500 bottles it will effect the desirability and value of the bottle now and in the future. I havent tasted it yet but it is hard to justify the price when you can pick up many 20 years plus bottles of single grain for under £100. This is going to be hard sell for William Grants, i do think they have got there pricing wrong here.

I will let you know what i think of it if/when my sample arrives.
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There's no bad whisky. Just good whisky and better whisky.

[albo]

Bifter / William,

I am flabergasted by this, utterly speachless.

Trying to price an inferior, easier / cheaper to make product at the same price point is laughable.

Being a first release, I grant you will make this some what desireable in the long term and being only one of 500 bottles at least makes it limited (unlike a certain Bowmore I could mention).

I don't care how this tastes, nothing will justify those price tags. Anyone spending thier hard earned on this is being ripped off. As a relese bottle it 'may' go up in value and as such 'might' not be over priced, but as bifter says £75 for a NAS grain whisky? Please!

The whisky bubble is certainly expanding rapidly at the moment, should it keep expanding, then there is only one outcome. *POP*

When the bobble does pop, people will look back at things like this and wonder how they didn't see it coming, investers will be left if bottles upon bottles of over priced product without the recourse to off load their wears at anywhere near cost. Thus leaving many many people opening bottles of £75 NAS grain whisky and wondering what could have been as they sip the glue flavoured excuse for a whisky.

I will say it once more, NOTHING CAN JUSTIFY THESE PRICES.

The only question this leaves, is have William Grant & Sons set the bar at a new hight for ripping off the whisky drinking public? If they have it's some going to supass Diageo

[bifter]

I wondered if I might have been a bit unkind yesterday but reading over Cornthwaite's comments got me raging again so I stand by what I said. Obviously albo is exercised too!

They are not opening up a 'new category' in Scotch whisky, the IBs have been trading in grain for years and, from what I can see, they recognise that it can't command the same price as malt. The industrial scale of the quantities produced, the fact it's not made exclusively from high quality barley and the quality of the product dictate this.

SMWS regularly release grain whiskies of cask strength (as opposed to 42%) up to 35yo for little more than £100:

http://www.smws.co.uk/societygrains

Or a quick check on Master of Malt:

http://www.masterofmalt.com/search/grain%20whisky/#search=grain whisky&page=1&sort=_score&direction=desc

I don't wish W&M ill but, by the same token, I hope they don't get away with this. This really is a case of The Emperor's Clothes.
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"Whisky is liquid sunshine."
[George Bernard Shaw]

[Brummie]

Even after the what seems like never ending whisky price rises over the last few years this year in particular has seen huge jumps in prices from the big companies such as William Grant which in the past have offered decent pricing for decent whisky but this year has saw all their whisky expressions shoot up in price. I was in Tesco the other day and saw the Glenfiddich 18 for £65, a great whisky but i wont pay £65 for it, there is a big choice of whiskies for that price and i have had plenty Glenfiddich 18 in the past so wont be picking up any more anytime soon.

I am sure these big companies research these things and will know they have enough buyers willing to pay these prices but i am not one of them.

This guy Jonny Cornthwaite said:

[Cuba]

I am very surprised with the pricing on these; sadly we can probably take it as an indication of the way prices are going. Grain whisky is a unique whisky category therefore it is a category that only those already knowledgeable about whisky will show an interest in and these people will be familiar with the price point of grain whisky. These whiskies are over priced for this category and no knowledgeable whisky drinker let along collector would be interested at these prices. £75 for a no age statement grain whisky is simply madness, just have a look over at TWE they currently have a Girvan 21 year old Clan Denny single grain bottled at 59.6% ABV for £63.75

[Alastair]

Cuba no knowledgeable whisky drinker let along collector would probably go near these at these prices but with the right packaging, on shelf display and promotion behind it the unknowledgeable and passing gift buyers will buy these up in no time and the whisky companies know this. Many buyers will see the price as a sign of quality and luxury and will happily pay these prices

[Blackadder]

If anyone is looking to spend this kind of money on a Girvan single grain whisky then TWE have a Girvan 1964 37 Year Old which is the first ever bottling from the first batch of spirit distilled at William Grant's Girvan distillery. Priced at £325

[opelfruit]

I just hope this doesn't force prices up for the IB's. I tagged a bottle of 45 year old (that's right and 1965/45 year old) single cask Caledonian for £130.

....are they mental with their pricing? Who in their right mind is going to pay those prices when you can get much better 45yo IB stuff for a third the price of their 30yo stuff.


The world is going doolally. I better stock up now.
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"Too much of anything is bad, but too much good whisky is barely enough."

[bifter]

William, did you get that sample you were expecting?
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"Whisky is liquid sunshine."
[George Bernard Shaw]

[William]