Wed, 02 Jun 2010 14:10:01
For he has recreated the Tweeddale Blend, an old matured blended Scotch whisky, last produced at the start of World War 2.
The whisky was previously blended by Alasdair's great-grandfather, Richard Day - who worked his way up from office boy to running the business at J & A Davidson, a Borders-based brewers, whisky blenders and licensed grocers. The Tweeddale Blend was just one of the whiskies blended by the company. Growing up, Alasdair was fascinated by tales of his great-grandfather. "It was always a family conversation," he said, "we always talked about producing the whisky again, so I thought we should at least look at it." Alasdair, who works as a senior quality manager for a cheese company, has his great-grandfather's original cellar book, which contains all the details of the Tweeddale Blend, as well as other whiskies blended by the business. So he set out on a steep learning curve in a bid to find out as much as he could about the whisky industry. Alasdair set up a company, Stonedean Limited, (www.stonedean.co.uk) and one of his first stops was Business Gateway West Lothian. "They were very helpful," he added, "and the contacts they gave me helped overcome some hurdles." Alasdair managed to source the original trademarks and had a plentiful source of the tissue paper in which the bottles were wrapped. Unfortunately, he hasn't been able to find an original bottle, although he hasn't given up hope of one turning up. Without a bottle to base it on, the current label for the Tweeddale Blend replicates the colour and font of the tissue paper. Alasdair called on the help of a specialist blending and bottling company and his first batch of 1,252 bottles was released at the end of May. At 46 per cent alcohol by volume, the Tweeddale Blend is a bit stronger than most whiskies. It is being sold by Loch Fyne Whiskies of Inverary. So far, the feedback has been very good, with friends and family very impressed with Alasdair's finished product. And a number of bottles have already been snapped up by the public. "But the real test will be what people who taste it for a living think," added Alasdair. Now that he's got the taste, Alasdair hasn't ruled out recreating more of his great-grandfather's blends. "I think there's possibilities there," he added.
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