The U-man speaketh...
And the rest of us listeneth, especially readers in Coconut Grove or Wilton Manors, lol. Believe it or not, Davin published my post - I told you he was a gentleman - and answered thusthly...
Davin:
Thanks for your kind words. Yes, I am hoping that my book will finally put these misconceptions to rest.
With all due respect to Davin (who is more than worthy of same) he may be tipping his hand as to just how many Canadian whiskys are indeed pure. But the fact remains: if the regulations allow 9% of just about anything else but whisky - and if rum has any lesson for us - then you just know that these allowances will be taken advantage of. Here's why:
1. As all government regulations, most are the direct result of industry lobbying. This is as sure as the sun rises. The industry gets what they want -and if they want to be able use additives up to 9% - there is surely a reason.
Because they do alter.
2. Like product "rum", allowable additives rarely, if ever appear on the label. And mind you, 9% is a ton of additives. Even small amounts of sugar, sherry, or artificial flavors have a huge effect on the product.
3. Again like rum, there are but few distillers who make a point to declare their purity. A literal handful. Now from a marketing standpoint if a product is pure and unaltered you have a great selling point. No marketing department worth their shekels would hesitate for a microsecond to trumpet purity.
If they were.
Back to the U-Man and another of his fine and informative posts. The "Glen" conspiracy, lol, is really quite interesting. It goes without saying that the Scottish are exceedingly and rightfully protective of a very hard won and deserved reputation for their relatively pure and noble product.
Interlopers are not well tolerated, and Canookies Come Lately are not welcomed at the bar, especially when the term Glen really does imply production in Scotland. It's as close as you can get without saying "Scottish Whisky".
Let us be entirely honest here. A Canadian businessman by the name of Jardine - who lived near a place called Glenville, near Breton Falls in Nova Scoti - was so enthralled with Scottish whisky that he decided to build a distillery. He went so far as to travel to Scotland, and to seek help from Bowmore, who not only sold him the stills, but cooperated in teaching him how to use them in the Scottish manner.
The problem began when he named his distillery "Glenora", and especially later when the whisky produced was called "Glen Breton" - a completely made up name combiningthe names of Glenville and nearby Breton Falls.
No accident, and a slap in the face to his Scottish benefactors. I can only imagine the shock and dismay of those who worked so hard to help this fellow. Of course a lawsuit ensued and was won by Glenora, who also enjoyed the widespread and free publicity.
More later...
