So, what's the rationale behind this new effort? Well, the answer lies in the past.
Ah, I remember it well... November 11, 2001 seemed like such an historic date at first. It was the first day I could proudly say I had 'seriously' sampled a bottle from each active distillery in Scotland (and quite a few silent distilleries as well). It wasn't long afterwards that I learned that there was little reason for pride and joy. Trying to say anything meaningful about a distillery based on just one bottle is pure and utter madness.

Although 'madness' is what MM is all about, I'm quite serious when it comes to research. Maybe trying to say anything 'serious' about a distillery in Scotland after having sampled three different bottlings is almost just as mad as trying to say anything after tasting just one expression, but sampling a statistically significant number (let's say a dozen) is simply beyond the stretch of my wallet. So, I decided on my goal during phase III of my mission; trying to sampling six (or more) bottlings from every active distillery in Scotland.

Each profile contains some basicinformation about a distillery, its history and tasting notes on some of the bottlings I've tried so far. I'll try to add a few new profiles with every major update of MM. It has taken me five years to finish phase I of the mission, so this new undertaking should take quite some time as well.

Until all the profiles are finished, you can use the Distillery Data Overview as a 'preliminary distillery guide'.
I'll try to keep the page as up-to-date as possible, but it's hard to keep track of the status of some distilleries.
I use the world wide web for much of my 'research', but sometimes I'm confronted with conflicting information.
Just before I started this page (autumn of 2002) I learned that Allt-A-Bhainne, Benriach, Braes of Glenlivet
and Caperdonich were mothballed. But when I went on-line to check the validity of the data I found out
that lots of other whisky websites still listed these distilleries as 'active'. Well, that's just aggravating...

Meanwhile, it seems that after the mass murder of the early 1980's we had another bad year in 2002.
When malt maniac Serge Valentin asked Pernod Ricard about these recent mothballings they replied;
"We are committed to the long term growth of the Scotch Whisky business and the development
of our brands. Following the completion of a review of our distilling operations, Chivas Brothers will
concentrate the production of its premium blended and malt whiskies at six distilleries: Aberlour,
Glenallachie, The Glenlivet, Glen Grant, Strathisla and Longmorn. In order to balance customer
requirements, inventory levels and sales forecasts, this will involve the temporary closure of
the distilling facilities at Allt a Bhainne, Braeval, Benriach and Caperdonich. Whilst there are no
immediate plans for the reopening of these four facilities, they are not being permanently closed
and remain in our plans as we look to grow our business and to maintain the high quality..." <Snip>

Well, I guess we'll have to see about that, won't we?
Anyway - I have to admit I have mixed feelings about the game of mothball that's been going on.
But as sad as I feel about the disappearance of active distilleries from the Scottish landscape, it
does make my 'job' a lot easier. I won't have to sample any bottlings from these silent distilleries
during phase II & III of my 'Scotland by Dram' project - well, at least not until they're revived again.

Actually, I'm not exactly devastated by these developments.
With almost 80 other active distilleries left to investigate, I don't mind crossing four of them from my 'to do' list just now - especially because my preliminary research has shown that most of these mothballed distilleries (with the exception of Braes of Glenlivet) didn't manage to produce anything really memorable anyway.

Fortunately, it's not all about death and destruction in Scotland.
Take Bladnoch, for example. This Lowland distillery was mothballed by UDV in 1993, but revived again by Raymond Armstrong in 1999. Or take Balmenach - it was mothballed in 1993 but Inver House bought it in 1997 and production resumed again in March 1998. They now produce almost 2 million litres of alcohol each year. When Inver House purchased the distillery from Diageo, they did not get the maturing stocks so their own official bottling is still quite a few years off, I guess. Let's just wait and see.

And it's not all about reviving lost distilleries either.
There are currently a few exciting new projects like Blackwood and Ladybank underway. I will keep you updated on the progress. Of course, it will probably take many years before we can try any. But enough about that for now - I've really droned on long enough. Now it's time to stop whining and get back to work on these profiles.