The Shackleton Affair (A Raymond Armstrong Novel Book 2)

by Michael Gill

  “And you a Scottish lass with all the highlands and space.”

  “Always had that on Bute. When I am away I want to feel pampered.”

  “Okay, let’s get you both checked in and I will drive Raymond up there,” she said, pointing to the hills.

  ***

  They ascended a hill for about a mile, with the chalets coming into view. Olivia stopped outside the chalet they had reserved for Raymond.

  “There it is, down there in the valley.” She pointed to the distillery, nestled at the foot of the mountain.

  “What a perfect spot.”

  “Okay, so what do you think?”

  “I think thirty minutes in the hot tub with a glass of your fourteen year old,” he said picking up the bottle.

  “Would you like me to come and get you at 7.00?”

  “No, I can walk down.”

  “Mind the bears.”

  “What?”

  “Just kidding. See you in the restaurant.”

  Chapter 18

  Raymond met Louisa in the dining room. They had a table for two in a quiet corner.

  “I expected more guests in here. The symposium is supposed to be full tomorrow.”

  “Olivia just popped by while I was waiting for you. A bus load of guests just arrived. I bet this will fill up once they have showered and changed for dinner.”

  “What are you going to order?”

  “Lobster of course.”

  “I could do with some of that. What else is local?”

  “Cedar Plank Salmon with maple glaze. It states on the menu that the chef has used the Glen Breton ten-year-old for the sauce.”

  “Sounds delicious. Have you looked at the wine list?”

  “Not yet.”

  Raymond studied the small wine menu. “All the whites are from Nova Scotia. Are they any good?”

  “Yes, quite amazing. I don’t recommend most of the reds, but the whites are very good.”

  Raymond ordered the salmon, while Louisa chose the lobster. He asked for a bottle of Muscat, smiling at Louisa. “It’s isn’t the same Muscat that Dad found for casks.”

  “What is it then?”

  “A hybrid grape from New York State. It was developed at Cornell University.”

  The waitress brought their wine and did a wonderful presentation on the wines of Nova Scotia. They raised their glasses, “to Glenora.”

  “This is quite delicious,” said Raymond. “I always thought England would become a white wine country.”

  “Sparkling does okay but the weather is too unpredictable,” Louisa said.

  “I thought it was cold here?”

  “It is normally. They have a micro-climate type of valley going on here. Almost all of the vineyards are in one area known as the valley.”

  They ate their meal while fiddle music started up in the pub close by. “I think we will stay in here for a while,” said Raymond.

  “Why - forgot to bring your kilt and dancing shoes?”

  “Funny. Actually I want to ask you about a series of whisky thefts.”

  “I’ve heard. Are you working on them?”

  “Yes, for Jeffrey, a good friend of mine.”

  “Jeffrey Daniels out of New York?”

  “Yes, do you know him?”

  “Well, not well. But I have been in his company many times. He has a huge collection. Don’t tell me he was the latest.”

  ‘Yes.”

  “So what is your take on people stealing rare whisky? For that matter, what do you think of all the enthusiasts collecting them?”

  “A lot of the collectors I meet are quite eccentric. Lots of money of course. The new collectors are looking at this from an investment standpoint. With the old whiskies you probably only have half a dozen serious collectors in the world. The largest was a South American chap who sold the lot to Diageo.”

  “Why don’t I know this story?”

  “Still a rookie, Uncle Raymond.”

  “Hey, three year president of the best whisky club in Great Britain.”

  “Really? Anyway, he had over three thousand rare single malts and blends.”

  “Where are they now?”

  “In Scotland on view to the public. You need to visit our country more often,” she teased. There are also two large collections with over two thousand bottles in both Dallas, Texas and Italy.”

  “What about this new trend. Is it like investing in Bordeaux growth?”

  “Yes, quite similar in principle. You are making a final decision on whether in the future, the whisky in question will increase in value. You can actually nose new spirit at a distillery or one in cask of course. There aren’t many people who have the nose to make that kind of decision and rely more on their knowledge. They would look at an expression from a closed distillery that would be a wise investment or small batches from good quality producers. We often have visitors at the distillery asking about the highly allocated whiskies. How many bottles were produced from one particular cask?”

  “Is this information helping you?”

  “Yes. Let me talk this through with you. We have a series of whisky thefts. Each time the target is a collector of rare single malt whisky. They take just one. The most valuable. Never two. They also take jewellery and never diamonds. Precious stones are easier to pass on and can’t be traced.”

  “How weird,” piped up Louisa.

  “I know. Imagine if we were dealing with an assassin. They would have a target right. Take them out getting paid a handsome fee for doing it. They wouldn’t walk into a house or apartment, shoot the target in the head, and look around the room thinking lets have some jewellery while we’re at it. It’s a code among thieves, right? What do you think?”

  “It’s two people,” offered Louisa.

  “Or one person doing the robberies, for one specific whisky, for a friend. They take some jewellery to change into cash for themselves.”

  “That would be odd.”

  “I know.”

  “Are you ready for some music before I have to retire?” Louisa asked.

  “Yes. A wee dram, with some Scottish fiddle wouldn’t go a miss.”

  Chapter 19

  Next morning, Raymond and Louisa entered the large conference room. “Right, I have to sit at the top table,” said Louisa. “Yes, I will sit here at the back.” He found a table, sat at the chair, pulling out his writing pad from his small briefcase.

  “Ladies and gentlemen thank you all for coming. We are happy to host this quite urgent whisky symposium,” announced the Managing Director of Glenora Distillery. “Our guest speaker is Louisa Reid from the Bute distillery along with many independent distilleries who will be offering their thoughts to this situation.

  “As you are all aware, the new ruling on bourbon casks has gone through congress and passed. Therefore we are in a crisis situation with the lack of casks that will be available moving forward. Many of you have been looking at alternatives and are here today to help other small producers.

  “Just a recap on the big guys and then I will hand it over to Louisa to get the ball rolling. The big three have taken care of their problem by purchasing the largest bourbon producers in the USA. I don’t think any of us have sixteen billion dollars hanging around to buy a bourbon producer. Am I right?” The audience agreed with a groan circulating around the room. “I do seem to remember thinking when one of the companies in question first entered the Scottish whisky industry, it was so much like Victor Kiam with his I liked the shaver so much I bought the Remington Company. Same goes when Bowmore failed to send them their allocation back in 1994. Okay, we can’t let that happen again and so we will buy the distillery. Now if we can’t buy casks from the big bourbon producers we will buy the companies. Marvellous!

  “Others are in bidding wars for forests. However, the next ruling to come down from congress will be no more forest to be sold to foreign companies. I imagine they will find a way around that ruling.

  So for us it basically means no ex-
bourbon casks, and what are our alternatives and what will the Scottish whisky association do to help any of us. If you are outside of Scotland I guess the answer will be to use alternative wood and you can still call your whisky a single malt. Over to you Louisa.” The room erupted with a loud roar of applause.

  “Thank you all. It’s nice to be here and I wish my dad was around to see you all. He had a vision to never depend on American oak casks that had been initially matured in bourbon. However, he actually thought there would be a huge shortage of sherry casks with the European oak alternative. We used ex-moscato casks from Europe to finish our maturation. However we needed ex-bourbon for the first few years of each distillation. I know Glenora invited me here this week to tell you where I am with an experience that is working with one major setback. Willie and I have been maturing whisky for quite some time in chestnut casks.”

  The room went quiet and still. All eyes on Louisa. “We are ready to re-brand with a new set of tasting notes. We have sent samples to all the major whisky bloggers around the world and the reviews are spectacular. The only problem is the Scottish Whisky Association won’t change the ruling on the type of oak to use to be able to call our whisky a single malt scotch. My stance on this will be to take the word scotch off our labels. It’s a ridiculous situation. The Scottish Whisky Association only changed the rules on oak casks in nineteen-ninety. Prior to that we could use any type of wood. Now we are in a crisis I think the rule should be changed and revert back to pre-nineteen-ninety,” said Louisa passionately.

  Raymond listened to Louisa intently. He had watched her grow from a small child always calling him uncle, the daughter of his best friend and grown into a dynamic young lady. She had kept this close to her chest without a word on the journey over. If she really stayed tough on her stance, it would be more controversial than the big three companies buying up the large American bourbon producers. Imagine a famous scotch whisky disassociating itself with the country known worldwide for being home to whisky. Would she really go through with it?

  Louisa went into the grain charcteristics of a chestnut tree, the whisky science behind it and what compounds and tannins ratios there were in comparison to white or European oak. She had her a game on and he was proud of her and learnt one hell of a lot about wood grain.

  “I do hope the rules are changed. I am proud to be a Scot and my country is known as the leader in whisky. However, many of you here today aren’t from Scotland and yet make amazing single malts. You don’t have to be from Scotland to do so and I will continue to make the best we can. Single malts are the Rolls-Royce of whiskies regardless of where they are made. Thankyou.”

  Everybody stood on their feet, clapping enthusiastically.

  Next up was Glenora who described how they use a swishing technique with their ice wine cask finish and how they have been experimenting with maple wood casks. Raymond had been particularly impressed with the swishing technique and realized Ice Wine was a rich and complex wine product. He couldn’t remember having tried the stuff, preferring good single malt with dessert. Ice wine from Nova Scotia should be interesting, he thought. Apparently the first day in winter when the temperature reached minus ten centigrade, a list of volunteers would be contacted and all grapes had to be picked immediately. Glenora had been clever in picking up that you only need to mature whisky in an Ice Wine cask for a short period of time, or take a used cask and adopt the swishing technique. They could therefore use almost any type of wood for maturation and just finished in Ice Wine. It would be a tad sweet for some drinkers but they had the niche product in the industry and sales were doing well around the globe.

  All the Irish distilleries voiced they had started out with ex-sherry casks and could smile at all this along with The McAllan and Glenfarclas.

  The final speaker was a new owner of a distillery and an ex-marketing guru with a large company for many years. “You will all have to re-brand like Louisa pointed out. You are considered boutique, much like all the new breweries that hung on the word Craft. Consumers will adapt to your new expressions if you do it right and keep them informed. Use the David v Goliath syndrome. Us against the big guys that make millions of gallons every year.

  “You do know all the big guys have had a change in taste profiles over the years. Remember back in the early two thousands when a very famous whisky writer first started out with his ratings. Talisker 10 was one of his favourite malts. The next year he couldn’t’t stand it and the year after he was back quoting one of his favourites. No one ever did figure that out but I suspect it was a tweaking with the formula. Many of the global brands have changed over the last 20 years one tiny taste at a time. This is going to be immediate and we must let the consumer be aware of why and what to expect.”

  Raymond recalled last week at their tasting one of the members had spoken about Talisker as a similar example. They had found one in his father’s collection with a receipt in the box from 1989. They went out and bought one last year and compared. Huge difference. This was all making sense to him and he was so glad he attended.

  Chapter 20

  Raymond had left Louisa after a full day of whisky debates. He had walked through the property and finished up having a look inside the distillery, before a long shower and an early dinner.

  He found Louisa sat in the bar area.

  “That was a shocker,” said Raymond.

  I know it’s the biggest challenge yet,” agreed Louisa. “I’m so glad you recommended Ben Shannon for the distillery. His time and investment finding a new source of our casks is amazing.”

  Ben was his top client and friend. In fact, after losing Gordon Reid six months ago, Ben was probably his closest friend. A fellow Yorkshireman, Ben had become one of the most successful entrepreneurs in the finance industry. Most of his success had come in acquisitions and mergers. Once Raymond had retired from his government job, Ben had asked him to be his Corporate Genie. It was a new term Ben had picked up. Basically it meant a lot of data analysis on each of Ben’s competitors or companies that could be bought. They had developed an excellent working relationship which allowed Raymond to ask for the occasional favour. He had asked if Ben would look at buying the Bute distillery after Gordon died and leave Louisa to run it. He did without question.

  “Any luck finding more oak casks?”

  “Yes, I think we are going to do a deal very soon with Hungary.”

  “Now there’s a country!”

  “I know, but they are offering us a much better price for purchasing an oak tree forest than the USA.”

  The white oak from Missouri or Arkansas is the best and now that the US have changed the rules for bourbon makers to re-use their cask barrels the big distilleries only have one option open to them: buy their own forests.

  “Right, I’m on my way to the Masterclass. Sure you don’t want to join me?”

  “Good evening,” came a voice. “My name is Ian and this is Trace.”

  “Hello.”

  “May we join you for a moment?”

  “Of course. Actually on my way to the Masterclass.”

  “Me too,” said Louisa.

  “Wonderful speech today,” said Ian. Louisa smiled. Trace sat at the table opposite Raymond. Louisa and Ian said goodbye, heading down the corridor towards the convention centre.

  “What you do for living?” Trace asked confidently.

  “Bit of everything really. Mainly analysis - a bit of computer nerd back in the early days.

  “With a big company?”

  “Yes, quite big.”

  “What they do?”

  “Defence contract work.”

  “Interesting - there is always someone at war these days.”

  “Very true and so what about you?”

  “Yoga instructor.”

  “You look in good shape. I hear many athletes are using Yoga far more these days.” Trace nodded.

  “What about Ian. Is he your dad?”

  “Sort of. He took me in when I was a teenage
r. Been a mentor to me.”

  “So are you interested in whisky?”

  “No not at all. I actually came with Ian to look at the settings. I am going to film a yoga class up here.”

  “Perfect location.”

  “Yes, I do most of my classes on the beach near where we live in Chester. I thought the mountains of Cape Breton would be a nice change. The distillery has so many tourists stay in the summer, especially now that we have Cabot Links.”

  “Where?”

  “It’s a fantastic golf course I played today. Do you play?”

  “Yes, I’m a member of Stamford Golf Club back in England.”

  “It’s just up the road if you have time tomorrow.”

  “Let me think on it.”

  “And I guess you are in the whisky industry?”

  “No, not really. I’m the president of a whisky club back in the UK.”

  “Interesting, hang on I need a waiter and you can tell me more.” She ordered a bottle of red wine and two glasses. “So what has been on the agenda today? I never got the chance to ask Ian.”

  “The new rules on bourbon casks.”

  “How is that interesting?”

  “Well I could tell you but unless you are into whisky it would be boring.”

  “Let me think about this for a second. A handsome man with a British accent, you could talk to me about it. I would be mesmerized.”

  “Flattery will get you everywhere Tracey,” he smiled. “I’m old enough to be your dad.” He was trying to be firm but the look in her eyes told him she was flirting with him.

  “I love older men,” she said while touching his leg under the table with her foot.

  “This older man is happily married. In fact, I have only been married six months.” She moved her foot and pouted. “How old are you - if you don’t mind me asking?”

  “Twenty-nine. Tell me a whisky story and I will be good,” she finally smiled.

  “Okay, I’ll tell you why the news was important today and how I educate our new members about bourbon casks.” He couldn’t recall the last time a much younger woman had flirted with him. Paris a long time ago, he decided.