Scotch Whisky Creative Fire: The Story of Scotland’s Greatest Export

0.0

Scotch is a phenomenon: it’s exported to 200 countries around the world and in 2001, over one billion bottles were shipped overseas. Scotch is also unique - no other product, in any category, anywhere in the world, is named after its country of origin. Scotch is a subject that people get obsessed about. It can make fully grown men in suits and ties and sensible haircuts wax lyrical. It can make whisky critics write the most outlandish testing notes (likening flavors to old leather car seats or burnt creosote). It can make collectors out of the unsuspecting and send the staunchly constituted off on unhurried pilgrimages across the Highlands and Islands. Many books have been written about Scotch whisky. But this book is different. It takes a look at Scotch as a brand. Individual brands have their brand essence, positioning statements and values just like any other contemporary brand. But what about Scotch itself? And what about Scotch today, post - devolution, when Scotland itself is fighting off the shackles of hackneyed imagery handed down from the Victorian age and forging a new identity and re-assessing its cultural values?

0.0

Although Stuart Delves has written for top brands like Glenfiddich, The Macallan, Bowmore and The Famous Grouse he does not see himself as a whisky expert. Rather, he is a whisky enthusiast with a particular interest in the promotion and image of whisky. He coined the tag line for Black Bottle, "Finest Scotch Whisky with a Heart of Islay." He has also written "brand bibles" for Highland Park, The Glenrothes and Glenmorangie. His monograph, Hourglass, which accompanied Highland Park 1958 won The Scottish Cream Award for best copy writing in 2002. Having helped the Scotch Malt Whisky Society launch their corporate membership GoodCompany, heapproached the Society on behalf of the writers’ group 26 and initiated the 26 Malts project in 2005. He is the convenor of the Pentlands Writers Group and in 2005 produced and co-wrote a community play Pentlands at War. He also writes poetry and fiction. Table of Contents Preface Kindling Introduction  The skippable: some interesting facts  Intro - about Scotch Whisky Anything Goes  After Macpherson  Flames (Old and New)  2020 A matter of taste  1963-1977 First encounters  2020 John Barleycorn is dead  1494 and not an Edinburgh advertising agency in sight  C.1823 Foundations  The Angels’ share  1745-1823 The creation of a myth  1995-2002 Telling stories  2020 New world  2 De’il’s Advocate  2006 A short finish  Embers