Young Scotch for a younger market

• From The Scotsman:

Traditionalists may not like it, but it's a case of young whisky galore.

Distilleries are bringing out a new range of youthful malts in a bid to attract a younger generation of drinkers.

Advances in the technology used to make whisky mean that the world-famous water of life can be matured faster and sold earlier.

Although the consensus among experts until recently has been that malts matured for less than 10 years were not of high enough quality, some distilleries are now bringing out products as young as four years.

Ardbeg distillery on Islay has already sold thousands of bottles from its range of Very Young (six years) at £28 ($42 US), Still Young (eight) at £29 ($44 US) and Almost There (nine) at £29.99 ($45 US), with names deliberately targeted at a younger audience. But some distilleries and independent bottlers, such as Glen Garioch, are bringing out versions for less than £20 ($30).

The Scotch Malt Whisky Society, the country's leading authority on malts, has been so impressed by some of the new products that it is considering a special tasting for members.

[Go here for the rest of the story.]

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