MARK REYNIER, managing director of Bruichladdich (pronounced brook-laddie), a tiny independent whisky maker on Islay, believes he is fighting a battle for the soul of single malt whisky, writes Andrew Stone.

Reynier and 35 other private investors bought the distillery and its stocks of spirit in 2000. Its whisky stills are the original copper and brass Victorian ones.

The resurrection of the distillery from decades of disuse was not just a commercial venture, according to Reynier — it’s also about preserving tradition. Bruichladdich is one of the few remaining single malts that isn’t chill-filtered or coloured with caramel to standardise flavour and appearance — processes that strip out natural oils and flavour.

Reynier’s belief in unadulterated single malt, skilfully bottled, was being rewarded last year with strong sales, which were growing at between 15% and 20% a year when the Enterprise Network visited.

The problem

With an untested new whisky that will take years to mature before it can be sampled, bottled and sold, Reynier and his shareholders had to make some crucial decisions about expansion without knowing how popular the new drink would be.

Also, the company was making only 35,000 cases of spirit a year, which Reynier feared was too few. “If we want to grow the business, we have to distil immediately. That’s money out of the door now with the return coming in 10 or 15 years later.”

A second dilemma was whether the company should rebuild a second distillery it had acquired and begin distilling some new brands.

What the experts said

James Radford of American Express said: “Increasing the product range makes sense — it will be attractive to suppliers and offer variety to customers.”

Dominic Roskrow of Whisky Magazine said: “Bruichladdich should not open a second distillery. The company must stay within its small but potentially profitable niche and not dilute its unique qualities.”

Action taken

Reynier decided that broadening the company’s portfolio with new niche products was the key to its development. His team of distillers has begun developing new products. This year the company bottled a peated version of Bruichladdich, called 3D.

Conclusion

The future looks bright for Bruichladdich. The company continues to win awards for its whiskies, and sales have jumped 40% this year to £4.2m. New products should help ensure continued sales growth.

One big dilemma remains to be solved, however. “We are still working out on what scale to operate,” said Reynier. “It’s a question of working out how big we think we can get and how much we can sell. We have plenty of spare capacity to produce more spirit but there are costs in increasing production and you could spend years paying them off.”