Burning Man

The brands recently made a guest appearance at Burning Man, an annual art festival and temporary community, based on radical self expression and self-reliance, in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada.

Well, it looked a lot of fun and many people enjoyed the whiskies after the sun had gone down, (the Black Rock Desert is 4000ft above sea level so it can get fairly chilly at night.)

This year the bonfire started early-by Accident- I hope nothing to do with the whiskies!!

The SWA set new proposals for labelling

The Scotch Whisky Association are proposing new regulations for the labeling of Scotch Whisky which they hope to push through as European legislation by next spring.

Under the proposed regulations, whisky will be strictly defined under one of five categories, single malt, single grain, blended, blended malt and blended grain.

Distillers will also be allowed to attach one of five regional names - Highland, Lowland, Speyside, Campbeltown, Islay - but will be barred from labelling whisky with the name of a distillery or a similar name if it is not a product of that distillery.

The Scotch Whisky Association will be able to use the existence of the new UK legislation in legal action against overseas counterfeiters.

Here is my problem- for the last year we have been attending various food and drink fairs in the UK and Europe plus at least four major whisky festivals in the USA. The level of confusion at the difference between a “blend” and a “malt” is stunning. A “blended malt” or a “blended grain” whisky will compound this confusion. There is so little “blended grain” on the market that it cannot be an issue at the moment. However “blended malt” is a rapidly growing category in all major markets. Why not a “vatted malt”? its easy to explain about putting various malt whiskies in a “vat” and bottling them from this “vat” everyone can visualise this as a process and the “blended” issue goes away. This is a simple solution and it is the historic name for this type of malt whisky.

The whole issue came about through the Cardu farce and in the end what prevails will be decided by four or five large producers over lunch at the SWA, they will not be asking a few thousand punters if it makes sense to them or if it adds to the confusion. The SWA is there for the industry not the general public, fair enough, but just this once ask the public before pushing through this legislation.

Spencerfield Christmas Cake. (Eat your heart out Delia.)

We have been “on the road” so much this muddy summer that I quite forgot to make our Christmas cake. (Flickr set here.)

Walking with Doug and watching the tractor ploughing up the barley stubble jolted me from seasonal confusion and behold!, two Christmas cakes are in the larder maturing and steeping in the luxurious aroma of Sheep Dip. (Two because if I’d only made one, someone will “need” to eat it before Christmas).

Since I mentioned this on Facebook I’ve had a few requests from Sheep Dip Fold members for the not-so-secret or jealously guarded recipe.

So, bearing in mind that my culinary skills tend to be a little artistic, in that I rarely weigh anything and substitute ingredients without reservation if I think the result could be improved, here goes.

Spencerfield Christmas Cake

12oz raisins (the soggy moist sort)

12 oz sultanas (as above)

6oz glace cherries - the more expensive (? why) - the un-dyed sort are a nicer colour (rinsed dried and halved)

4 oz whole almonds

4 oz hazelnuts

12 tablespoons of Sheep Dip Malt whisky

10 oz butter

10 oz soft brown sugar

6 free range eggs

8 oz SR flour

8 oz ground almonds

Grated rind of two oranges

Grated rind of two lemons

Juice of one lemon

6 oz whole blanched almonds

Mini bottle of Sheep Dip

I may seem a little old-fashioned, in that I don’t use a mixer, but make my cake in a big mixing bowl - (most modern mixers aren’t big enough to accommodate the ingredients of a big Christmas Cake anyway, and its such a pain washing them, as well as the kitchen walls and ceilings.!)

Our children have always liked to be included in any cake making process -its just the thrill of taking lots of different things and creating something else; art and science combined, and indeed how else will they learn to cook?

Method

The night before: Combine fruit and nuts in a bowl, spoon over six large tablespoons of sheep Dip, breathe in deeply, …aaaahhhhh! cover with a tea towel (the mix, not the cook), and allow to steep and swell overnight.

Next Day: Take a bowl big enough to hold all the ingredients and beat sugar and butter together with a wooden spoon until the mixture becomes paler and fluffy. Whisk the eggs together separately and add to mixture bit by bit with a sprinkling of flour each time. Using a big metal spoon fold in flour and ground almonds, add all fruit and nuts, citrus peel and juice of a lemon and mix until evenly distributed. Pour into a double grease-proof lined and buttered tin 9″ cake tin, even out the surface and arrange blanched almonds lightly on top in a pretty pattern.

Now, I do all our cooking on an AGA so I just pop the cake in the bottom oven and leave it to cook for two and a half or three hours. Then if it looks cooked I take it out and test it. This highly sophisticated testing technique involves sticking a knitting needle into the centre of the cake . When pulled out if the needle is clean with no bits sticking to it the cake has stuck itself together internally and is therefore cooked; it should also feel firm and springy at the centre of the surface. If not pop it back in the oven for another half hour or so and retest - repeat until cooked.

For those who have a proper cooker try around Gas mark 3 or 325F (170C).

When cooked leave the cake to cool for half an hour .

Feed by pouring over the rest of the Sheep Dip….aaaahhh!!!! Double wrap in greaseproof and leave to mature in an air-tight cake tin.

Feed again at the end of October. (Or a month later, depending on baking date.)

The result is a moist, sumptuous cake with a fantastic aroma, lighter and crumblier than traditional Christmas Cake, brilliant after along walk of for a picnic or to share with friends anytime highly recommended with tasty Lancashire Cheese and an obligatory glass of Sheep Dip.

Any probs, I can’t promise but will try and help…drop me an e-mail.

Meanwhile I’m waiting for the first frost - shouldn’t be long now. I’m going to make some sloe whisky - establishment frowns on flavoured whisky but what could be more natural than whisky, honey, sloes and a drop of Pigs Nose…..surely I’m not the first to take local ingredients and combine them into something new?

Swedish Malt Whisky

Here’s an interesting concept.

A new malt whisky distillery, in, er, Sweden.

(Or Destilleri as the Swedes would say.)

Beautiful building, a turn-of-the-century powerstation.

Hope the whisky does it justice.

Found via the ever watchful WhiskyGrotto.

Ouch!

We’ve been monitoring Facebook recently here at Spencerfield, and are delighted to see a couple of Sheep Dip enthusiast groups have been set up.

Indeed, encouraged by this, we’ve also started our own group on FaceBook, called the Sheep Dip Fold, early days of course, and we do enter this world with some trepidation.

Particularly when we saw that social media can throw up, (if you’ll pardon the expression) some negative publicity for brands.

But of course, Malt Whisky, is a broad church and we like to think there’s room for everyone.

We also think that people’s sense of fair play will ensure that the criticised often have substantially more support than detractors.

In terms of UK sales, Glenfiddich have something like a 20% lead on their nearest malt whisky rival, so they are well more than a nose ahead, and a successful brand position, it would be unwise to sniff at.

But if a certain brand ain’t your cup of tea, it ain’t your cup of tea and consumers aren’t shy in coming forward.

Coverage in Whisky Pages.

The venerable and very well informed online magazine Whisky Pages wrote a nice piece about us this week.

Providing it’s readers with an outline of Spencerfield, a mini-bio of Alex and a decent tasting review of Sheep Dip and Pig’s Nose.

You can read the article yourself, on the www.Whisky-Pages.com website here:

An orphan brand and proud of it.

Recently, the Wall Street Journal no less, wrote about us.

(Only registered subscribers can access the wsj, but you can see the full story here.)

Glenmorangie Revamp.

Much debate has gone on in the Scottish press over the last week, with particular emphasis on the ownership of whisky companies, and the consequences of this ownership.

Within this debate the changes to the iconic Glenmorangie label have, not unsurprisingly, generated a fairly emotional response.

This was a particularly interesting topic for me as I was the Marketing Director responsible for the “old ” label, which was an evolution from the previous label, and for the introduction of the “finishes” range.

(A labour of love and education in equal ‘measures’ born out of years of work on wood management with Dr Jim Swan, the unsung industry expert on wood and its effect on whisky flavours.)

But I digress, for what it’s worth I would like to add my views on the look of the new labels.

Quite simply, I think they are great, and just what the brand needed.

They have the effect of moving the brands forward, creating a more unified look, but which still manages to retain the historic feel of the old label plus the Sixteen Men of Tain reference.

And I have to say, they do appear to take up an appropriately comfortable place in the luxury positioning LVMH are so very good at.

I would love to see them in the flesh, of course, but from what I have seen in the photographs the ‘new look’ does contribute enormously to the long-term ‘feel’ of the brand. Keeping true to both Glenmorangie’s traditional ethos with the subtlety judged modernisation.

So a good job all round!!!

Of course, as we say in Scotland, my coat is; on a ‘Shogally Peg’ regarding the analysis of buying a brand and changing its packaging- having done exactly that here at Spencerfield Spirit, with Sheep Dip and Pig’s Nose.

It’s a tie!

Sheep Dip ties from the 1970’s, clubs sprang up around the world where people would get together and drink “Sheep Dip” they could have a certificate and a tie !. We have one and only one, retro fashion strikes back!.

Trip down memory lane.

We found these fantastic old ledgers covered in dust in the Spencerfield vaults.

We have some great old artifacts in our office particularly a range of old price lists from John E McPherson & Sons from 1908 to 1948,have a look! there’s some real gems in here.B

If you’d like to see more just point you mouse here.