The New Rebranded/Revamped Speyburn Distillery Core-Range 2024/5

The New Revamped Speyburn Distillery Core-Range

I started writing a review of the Speyburn “Bradan Orach” some weeks ago and mentioned in previous articles that I really wanted to review this, as it was the only core-range expression from Speyburn which was suitable for the strictly kosher consumer. The others being the 15 and 18-Year-Olds which contain a substantial percentage of Ex-Sherry Cask maturation.

However, now it seems like the article is already out of date, as I have just learnt that the “Bradan Orach” has been discontinued and been replaced by another NAS 40% abv product called the “Speyburn Bourbon Cask”.

Branding Disaster

In this Speyburn Bradan Orach review (which I will probably upload after this), I heavily criticized the dreadful looking artwork and packaging and that I would welcome a rebranding.

The problem is that over the past few years, it seems as if they have been continuously tweaking and messing about with the look of the packaging to such an extent that it’s not unusual to see multiple versions of Speyburn on the shelves all at once. Punters would be forgiven for not even realising that the different bottles are from  the same distillery.

Moreover, the marketing guys should surely realise that the distillery is starting at a massive disadvantage, suffering from what’s probably the worst generically sounding distillery name in Scotland, closely resembling a rip-off supermarket brand name for sourced Speyside whisky, rather than an actual distillery in Speyside.

It’s “Spey something“ or “Something Spey”, perhaps it’s Speyside, Glen Spey, Glenburn, Speyburn…?

The new branding of this Speyside whisky looks like it's a cross between "The Singleton” (with the Salmon fish logo), the Glen Grant and the Glenlivet packaging combined.

Unfortunately, in my opinion, this latest new branding only continues the same marketing mistakes.

ChatGPT: Please describe the product you wish to create

Description:

“Please create a box and bottle label of a Speyside whisky that’s a cross between “The Singleton” (with the Salmon fish logo), the Glen Grant packaging and the Glenlivet packaging, without breaking any copyright laws”.

ChatGPT: Working…..

Result:

As I wrote in my review on the “Bradan Orach”, it is as if the BBC Props department had been asked to produce a generic looking Speyside Scotch Whisky to sit on the table during a scene from a detective series.  They really couldn’t have come up with anything better.

All these things translate into a situation where Speyburn has an almost zero brand recognition. Honestly, if I was into conspiracy theories I’d think that someone up in corporate was trying to do a “Jaguar”, that is, to sabotage the brand.

The good news for us is that although they have retained the 15 and 18-Year-Old (which are not suitable for the strictly kosher consumer), they have added another six expressions to their core-range and amazingly most of them seem to be, Baruch Hashem, don't seem to have any kosher issues.

Unfortunately though, only the “Hopkins Reserve”, 15 and 18-Year-Old are bottled at 46%, with the rest being bottled at minimum legal 40% abv, Chill-Filtered and Coloured, with the Hopkins Reserve the only Kosher LeMahedrin Integrity Craft presented bottle.

[Information taken directly from the official website]

https://www.speyburn.com/our-whisky

Kosher Speyburn Expressions		Bottle	(Abv)	Price
Bourbon Cask	Ex-Bourbon Barrels	70cl	40%	£26
10-Year-Old	Ex-Bourbon Barrels	70cl	40%	£32
Speyburn Rum Cask Finish	Bourbon then Rum Cask	70cl	40%	£32
Travel Retail Market*
Kentucky Bourbon Cask	Ex-Bourbon Barrels	1 Litre	40%	£35
Hopkins Reserve	Ex-Peated American Oak	1 Litre	46%	£39
16-Year-Old	Ex-Bourbon Barrels	1 Litre	43%	£55
US Market
Arranta Casks	Ex-Bourbon Barrels	75cl	46%	$40

* These so called “Travel Retail Exclusives” are actually available in the UK market through “Master of Malt” and other outlets.

I must admit to being quite impressed and very grateful to Inver House for the clear Cask Type maturation information on their website. Having said that, one of the new expressions, namely the “Hopkins Reserve”, another Travel Retail Exclusive expression, has unfortunately, no cask type information included. It only says that its smoky but interestingly, does not say that it’s peaty!

However, on the “Master of Malt” site which I consider to be a reliable source, it states

“American oak bourbon casks which had also previously held peated whisky, imparting a subtle smokiness”

So, this seems that we can add this one to our list of suitable core-range expressions. I just wonder, with such an interesting cask story to it, why the official website choice not to tell it?

https://www.masterofmalt.com/whiskies/speyburn/speyburn-hopkins-reserve-whisky/

This is indeed good news but reminds me that I have neglected to update my “Kosher Scotch Single Malt Whisky List” for some months now and now have around 20 bottles to add. Bli neder, I’ll get round to this soon.

Kashrus Certification

Being an Inver House product, the above expressions seem to be candidates for KF Certification. It remains to be seen which bottles the company chooses to have certified.

Coming To Israel?

Apart from the Kosher Certification, the biggest question that I have is, when or if we will be seeing this bright new shiny Speyburn core-range here in Israel? I do hope, Be’ezrat Hashem we’ll see it on the shelves here very soon.

Why Upload The Bradan Orach Review Article?

It seems as if I have been writing a review for the past few weeks about an expression which will shortly be discontinued. (This explains why it has all but disappeared from the shelves here in Israel).

So why upload it at all? Whatever opinion I have of this, whether good or bad, would surely be irrelevant with regards to its replacement, the new Speyburn “Bourbon Cask” and “Kentucky Bourbon Cask”. This is true. However, there is more to a review than simply giving tasting notes and saying if you like it or not. I believe that’s it’s still worth uploading the article, if nothing else, to teach us a lesson in bad Marketing decisions (in my opinion).