Scotch whisky makers Compass Box are filling optimism in bottles. In times of recession, the new and limited vatted malt Optimism is meant to restimulate feelings of hope, as John Glaser, founder of Compass Box says: "The more that people are optimistic about the future, the faster we will pull ourselves out of this depressed economic state. This is our small effort to try to help the world economy."

American ex-pat John Glaser started the Compass Box Whisky Company from the kitchen of his west London home in 2000, after leaving his job as marketing director for Johnnie Walker in London. His new and innovative approach on blended Scotch whisky won him high aclaim in the industry.

Optimism will be launched exclusively at the Whisky Live Show in London, "arguably the city hit hardest by the global financial meltdown", as the press release states. It will be limited to 170 bottles and actually bottled on location "in the spirit of recessionary cost cutting measures". Compass Box describes the vatted malt Scotch whisky to be of rich, sweet and peaty character. It'll be bottled at 44 percent and available for £40 per bottle.

Link: www.compassboxwhisky.com

[Edit: We've been asked by the German distributor to remove the spot, as "the campaign has run out". In a German whisky forum it had been criticized as "sexist" and "misleading". Putting up your video on Youtube usually means, you're aiming for viral spread. Not in this case...]

The first German Whisky Conference (Whisky Konferenz) took place in Hannover yesterday. It was organized by Clemens Dillmann, owner of software house HBB and whisky.de, the biggest German online community for all things whisky related.

In its inaugural year about 40 visitors attended the conference. Around 70% of these were whisky retailers. The other attendants were members of the spirits industry and a small fraction represented the bar business.

Sponsors of the event were Dewar, Highland Park and Kilbeggan. Naturally the speakers of some of the slots were John Cashman (Cooley Distillery) and Hendrik Schatz (Borco), Michael Unkel (Maxxium Germany) and Adam Dittrich (Bacardi Germany). Headliner was renowned Ian Baxton of World Whisky Conference. Here's an overview of the seminars (German only):

www.whiskykonferenz.de/programm.htm

Clemens had asked me to talk about whisky in bars. In my speech I did a raw sketch of how whisky categories (Irish, Blended Scotch, Single Malt, Bourbon, Rye), are used in German bars. As the scribbling of a lot of people in the audience showed, this was new to many.

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The Islay based distillery Laphroaig invites to join a global online whisky tasting on Wednesday, the 18th of June at 9 pm. The 45-minute long tasting of five selected Laphroaig qualities will be streamed live via web cam. Tasting language will be English.

Distillery manager John Campbell, master blender Robert Hicks and whisky author Martine Nouet will share their impressions and ratings of Laphroaig 10 Years Old, Laphroaig Quarter Cask, Laphroaig Quarter Cask Triple Wood, Laphroaig Cairdeas and Laphroaig Cairdeas 30 Years with the world.

Everyone everywhere is invited to take part in the tasting. The internet audience will have the chance to email questions and discuss the topics they´re interested in with the whisky experts.

 

 

Date: Wednesday, June 18th, 9 pm
Link: www.laphroaig.com

 

Illustration: Borco-Marken-Import