When is a single malt NOT a single malt?

Aldi have been making the headlines lately with the release of their 40 year old whisky, Glen Bridge, which has sparked more outrage/intrigue (delete as applicable) than any whisky we can remember this year. A fair dram it is too especially at £49.99- you can read our assessment of it here:

However, it was paired with the not-so-good 24 year-old Glen Marnoch.

Sadly for those in search of a good bargain, the 40 year old predictably (and swiftly) disappeared from the shelves and those left scratching their heads at the back of the queues were faced with the dilemma: go home from Aldi empty handed (is this possible?) or pick up a bottle of Glen Marnoch for £29.99.

Now... we didn't like the Glen Marnoch. At all. In this price bracket, there are a number of far more flavoursome options to consider as solid stocking fillers.

However we were drawn to a small but noticeably glaring error on the box, which begs the question: Who puts these things together??

As you'll see from the image above, apparently 'Glen Marnoch Speyside Single Malt Whisky has been distilled in continuous stills before being aged for an incredible 24 years in hand made oak casks....'

Right. Something doesn't scan properly here. Continuous stills??

Egg sucking grannies aside, based on this description, Glen Marnoch can't be a single malt.

The S.W.A rules surrounding the definition of a single malt Scotch whisky state that it must be produced from only water and malted barley at a single distillery by batch distillation in Pot Stills.

We don't want to beat anyone up here unduly, but this is a sloppy error. Come on guys!!

To be fair, after we asked Aldi to clarify the situation, they contacted us and their spokesperson issued the following:

"We can confirm that the whisky was distilled in 'pot stills' and not 'continuous stills'. This was simply a packaging error, and we apologise if this caused any confusion."

Whoops.

Fortunately, we couldn't help but notice that Makro has a super deal on multi-packs of Tipp-Ex at the moment ;-)

Even if this had been made in a continuous still, like grain whiskies that go into Scotch blends, it isn't good an example of whisky making on any level.

However, a good example of a whisky made in continuous stills is the grain variety. Up and coming as a category it its own right, there are some cracking single grains out there at very reasonable prices. Take, for example, this North British 1997...

North British - 1997 - Single Grain - Signatory Bottling - 43% abv (£23.25)

Nose: Exactly what you want from a grain; some unripe banana, whipped cream (sweetened), a hint of eggnog sans spices. Not rich, not thick but works well as an aroma.

Palate: Again, not thick and rich, but this is not to the detriment of the the liquid. Some lemon notes (limoncello), classic grain notes of pva glue (sounds awful, but it works) and the unripe banana again.

Finish: Not too long, but sweet and delicious.

Overall: A good example of single grain whisky at a price that makes it worth taking a risk.

Our bet is that single grain will grow, all be it slowly, as a category in the UK as stocks of malt are diverted abroad to markets where profit margins are higher and taxes lower. A good time to start thinking about expanding you palate towards these grain products.

Now, pass me that Tipp-Ex...

Aldi Want For Christmas Is You

Sometimes there are places which you never go to. You don’t even know anyone who does. But then all of a sudden, you meet a series of folk who have been there, or are going there.

Kazakhstan is an example of this. One week, nothing: never heard of anyone who has been there. The next, there are like five people in a row who have been out on holiday or business. What’s that all about?

I believe this is what Malcolm Gladwell calls ‘The Tipping Point’, described in his book of the same name as “the moment of critical mass, the threshold, the boiling point. Ideas and products and messages and behaviors [sic] spread like viruses do." so what better way to push your business towards a tipping point, than with a good old PR stunt...

The idea of a ‘lost leader’ in Supermarkets, a cheap product to draw people in, in the hope that while you’ve got the shopper there, they might also buy a loaf of bread, a can of beans and some pork cylinders for supper, is nothing new. It’s just another form of advertising spend for the Supermarket, as it is making such great profit on the other items, that they can afford a small loss on the product originally on offer.

And so to Aldi. A shop that needs to reach its tipping point. A bunch of, actually quite good, TV adverts has seen this once unknown German Discount Supermarket battling against Lidl to become the go-to discount store in times of recession and economic uncertainty. With 450 stores in the UK (Lidl trumps it with 580) it needs to drive footfall towards its doors in the run up to the biggest shopping time of the year, Christmas.

What better way to whip the whisky world in to a frenzy than to knock out some old liquid at, what can only be described as, an unbelievable price. Try these on for size: a 24 year old single malt for £29.99. But, more amazing than that, a 40 Year Old Single Malt Scotch for... £49.99

£49.99. Yeah, that’s right. £49.99.

Now, I know what most of you are thinking “Honestly, you’d have to pay me to go in to an Aldi. It’s the Mos Eisley of supermarkets, drenched in the stench of humanity.” and you’d be right. I popped in to one last week just to prepare myself for the inevitable trip in for a bottle of 40 Year Old and it wasn’t a fun experience. It was like being in a Wes Anderson movie, if Wes Anderson had a crystal meth problem. Less Every Little Helps and more Care In The Community. Less Jamie Oliver, more Ronald McDonald. Less Waitrose, more Waiting For Godot...

But we should really put the medium of the sale to one side for a moment. It’s a shop, it’s going to be selling whisky at a knock-down price and making it available to the masses. What can be wrong with that? Nothing, so long as the whisky is good. So let’s find out if it is:

Glen Marnoch – 24 Year old Single Malt – 70cl – 40% abv (£29.99 from Aldi)

Nose: wet cardboard, steamed veg, Bovril, toasted brown bread.

Palate: Some green banana, a hint of tinned pineapple, sweet tea. But really sweet tea. This is one of the sweetest drams I’ve ever tasted. Once the sweetness hits, and it is not a good, brown sugar sweetness, it’s an artificial sweetener saccharine-style flavour, you don’t get much more out of it.

Finish: Copper and liquorice with a touch of salted caramel give way to damp wood and wet leaves, post-autumn.

Overall: Pretty one dimensional and to be honest, pretty poor. I just can’t get the saccharine flavour out of my mouth and I’m not a fan of very sweet whisky. Not a bottling for me, even at £29.99

Glenbridge – 40 Year Old Speyside Single Malt Whisky – 70cl - 40% abv (£49.99 from Aldi)

Nose: A hint of smoke, some orange peel, marmalade / dry jaffa cake notes. New leather and wax jacket, but the overriding tone is dried orange peel.

Palate: Warming, oily palate of cough sweets, orange again (the middle of a jaffa cake), some wood tones, fresh figs, melon wrapped in param ham and a wee bit of coffee.

Finish: The orange lingers, developing in to cherry sweets and cracked black pepper. This whisky has been matured in European Oak Sherry casks and this really hits through on the finish, adding spices to the stewed fruits of the palate.

Overall: In a word, this stuff is very tasty. Take the age statement off this and it would still be a cracking drink for £49.99. Stick it on, and you have an absolute steal of a whisky. Warning, it does fall apart a little with water.

In summary, the 40 is great, esp at the price they’re knocking it out at. But sadly the 24 Years Old really isn’t that great. The biggest question is why? Why are Aldi doing this? Are they hoping to lure in people who wouldn’t normally shop there, pre-Xmas or are they wanting to reward their loyal customer base with a steal of a whisky?

Either way, with only 3000 bottles across 450 stores, we'll all be pretty lucky if we get hold of one. And so it is that I wish you good luck, yet at the same time apologise in advance for my elbows in your face, as the shutter on my local Aldi rises for the sale.