Bladnoch

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Bladnoch
Ouvrier distillateur
Ouvrier distillateur
Messages : 69
Inscription : 13 févr. 2006, 13:13

Bladnoch

Message non lu par Bladnoch »

On the third of February last year I complained on this forum about the price of malt increasing from £215 a tonne to £365 a tonne.
This year the price is £450 Oil had risen from around 37 pence to 50 pence a litre. Over the course of last year we made about 220,000 litres of alchohol and on average it took about 0.8 litres of oil to produce a litre of alcholhol. Bourbon barrels purchased in Kentucky have risen from about US$50 to US$75
I know of one distillery that contracted to produce and sell a large volumn of new-make spirit at £1.65 per litre. How can it be done? Economies of scale perhaps but it's quite hard to get a discount on something that is scarce especially when you want a lot and this is certainly the case with malt. In small distilleries like Bladnoch and one or two others the production costs are considerably higher.
The good news, with all the increased distilling of new-make, we've had a bit of interest in our empty warehouses and a well known Speyside distiller has been transporting two loads every week down to Bladnoch, 44 butts and 88 hoggies. This is to double up this year and in addition another distillery will soon commence sending us down 2500 casks.
The going weekly rate for storing butts, for small numbers, is around 44 pence, for larger numbers can be around 30 pence. Are you interested in figures? Perhaps not, but in a small distillery, boring figures unfortunately are the only thing that matters.
On a more interesting topic we have agreed to host a young French lady studying tourism at a college, Lycee du Val de Loire, Tours I think, for a two month placement in May/June. I look forward to the opportunity of trying to speak some French to her. Talking of which we are hoping to attend a whisky festival in Gent, I think it's on Sat 16th to Sun 17th of this month. If any of you are attending please say hello, bonjour etc and forgive the lack of language skills ... just put it down to the generation gap and remember that 45/50 years ago not everyone had equal opportunities.
corbuso
Maître distillateur
Maître distillateur
Messages : 2519
Inscription : 07 févr. 2006, 11:12

Re: Bladnoch

Message non lu par corbuso »

Bladnoch a écrit :On the third of February last year I complained on this forum about the price of malt increasing from £215 a tonne to £365 a tonne.
This year the price is £450 Oil had risen from around 37 pence to 50 pence a litre. Over the course of last year we made about 220,000 litres of alchohol and on average it took about 0.8 litres of oil to produce a litre of alcholhol. Bourbon barrels purchased in Kentucky have risen from about US$50 to US$75
I know of one distillery that contracted to produce and sell a large volumn of new-make spirit at £1.65 per litre. How can it be done? Economies of scale perhaps but it's quite hard to get a discount on something that is scarce especially when you want a lot and this is certainly the case with malt. In small distilleries like Bladnoch and one or two others the production costs are considerably higher.
The good news, with all the increased distilling of new-make, we've had a bit of interest in our empty warehouses and a well known Speyside distiller has been transporting two loads every week down to Bladnoch, 44 butts and 88 hoggies. This is to double up this year and in addition another distillery will soon commence sending us down 2500 casks.
The going weekly rate for storing butts, for small numbers, is around 44 pence, for larger numbers can be around 30 pence. Are you interested in figures? Perhaps not, but in a small distillery, boring figures unfortunately are the only thing that matters.
On a more interesting topic we have agreed to host a young French lady studying tourism at a college, Lycee du Val de Loire, Tours I think, for a two month placement in May/June. I look forward to the opportunity of trying to speak some French to her. Talking of which we are hoping to attend a whisky festival in Gent, I think it's on Sat 16th to Sun 17th of this month. If any of you are attending please say hello, bonjour etc and forgive the lack of language skills ... just put it down to the generation gap and remember that 45/50 years ago not everyone had equal opportunities.
Hi Raymond,
Thank you for the figures. I have been trying to estimate the cost of production of 1 litre of alcool and the missing information was the amount of energy (oil) needed to produce one litre of new-make. When you sum the different costs (manpower excepted), it comes at £1.65/L. Meaning that one can sell the new make at this price only if had negociated the price of malted barley at £400/T or below and/or being more energy efficient. Am I wrong?

Regards

Corbuso
Bladnoch
Ouvrier distillateur
Ouvrier distillateur
Messages : 69
Inscription : 13 févr. 2006, 13:13

Re: Bladnoch

Message non lu par Bladnoch »

It depends a great deal on what the level of production is because overheads which I don't think you have considered do not always rise pro-rata.
The local authority rates for Bladnoch distillery (excluding warehouses) are about £15000 per annum so if I produce 100,000 litres that is 15pence per litre of alcholhol. Public liability and employees insurance costs about £15000.
In addition there is depreciation and renewal of plant, pumps valves heat exchangers, boilers etc together with repairs and maintainance of old buildings, gardens etc
Salaries (excluding directors) exceed £100,000 or £1 per litre
Obviously the figures for overheads as a percentage of production cost will change if I was producing 1million litres per annum which is what Bladnoch used to produce, rather than 100,000.
But a different figure than the £1.65 I mentioned for a better known quality malt selling in bulk to the industry this year is £2.65.
And bear in mind that within the whisky industry new-make spirit is generally not sold, towards the end of the year the distillers tend to meet and arrange the next years exchanges of new-make. The fact that it's not sold for hard cash but exchanged means that distilleries just starting up or mothballed companies have greater difficulty as they can't offer a continuous annual supply of the same aged whisky say, 3 or 5 or 8 year old for blending.
corbuso
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Maître distillateur
Messages : 2519
Inscription : 07 févr. 2006, 11:12

Re: Bladnoch

Message non lu par corbuso »

Bladnoch a écrit :It depends a great deal on what the level of production is because overheads which I don't think you have considered do not always rise pro-rata.
The local authority rates for Bladnoch distillery (excluding warehouses) are about £15000 per annum so if I produce 100,000 litres that is 15pence per litre of alcholhol. Public liability and employees insurance costs about £15000.
In addition there is depreciation and renewal of plant, pumps valves heat exchangers, boilers etc together with repairs and maintainance of old buildings, gardens etc
Salaries (excluding directors) exceed £100,000 or £1 per litre
Obviously the figures for overheads as a percentage of production cost will change if I was producing 1million litres per annum which is what Bladnoch used to produce, rather than 100,000.
But a different figure than the £1.65 I mentioned for a better known quality malt selling in bulk to the industry this year is £2.65.
And bear in mind that within the whisky industry new-make spirit is generally not sold, towards the end of the year the distillers tend to meet and arrange the next years exchanges of new-make. The fact that it's not sold for hard cash but exchanged means that distilleries just starting up or mothballed companies have greater difficulty as they can't offer a continuous annual supply of the same aged whisky say, 3 or 5 or 8 year old for blending.
Thank you for all these informations Raymond. I have already considered that overheads should not be considered at a pro-rata basis, since some distilleries such as Miltonduff are working with one man per shift and the distillery produces about 5 mio LPA. However, I am surprised by the maintenance costs. Quite impressive! I haven't been yet in Bladnoch, but from the photographs I have seen, your gardens looked beautiful. I hope that I can make a tour in the Lowlands in 2008.
With the Oil now at $100/b., is it still economically, e.g., to tanker the new make from Talisker to Speyiside and to send it a proportion back to Skye? Also, it terms of energy recycling, is the difference huge between a traditional distillery and a modern such as Glenburgie?

Thank you in advance for your answers.
I wish you a pleasant evening.
Corbuso
Bladnoch
Ouvrier distillateur
Ouvrier distillateur
Messages : 69
Inscription : 13 févr. 2006, 13:13

Re: Bladnoch

Message non lu par Bladnoch »

Hi Corbuso,

Re the feasibility of transporting new-make around the country. At the moment casks are being brought down from Tamdhu and Glenrothes to be stored in Bladnoch's warehouses. This is partly due to a shortage of warehousing due to the increased level of filling. It's partly because some distillers favour the use of old traditional damp dunnage warehouses such as we have at Bladnoch and also because storage in rural areas can generally be obtained at cheaper rates than in the more expensive Central Belt. Another distillery is looking at bulk tankering new-make spirit down to Bladnoch and transporting casks in another load for us to fill and warehouse at Bladnoch. Our rates for doing this work makes it feasible. This is only possible if all the figures add up and the price of transportation can be offset by cheaper warehousing and also I have to say by the lower wage levels in rural areas where job opportunities are fewer. Most distilleries charge for off-loading casks from the lorry and putting them into the warehouses, we don't. A lorry bringing say 94 barrels down to Bladnoch from say the Central Belt will cost about £425 say £4.50 per cask equivilent to 22 weeks rent of 20 pence per week. If whisky is going to be stored for a long time, say 3 to 5 years the lower rent means that the transportation cost is paid back in a couple of years and in some cases where the numbers are big I'm offering a rent free period to help cover the cost of transportation. We have 11 warehouses and each one represents about £35000 per annum when full. In addition smaller companies are usually significantly cheaper with paperwork/documentation, gauging/sampling etc. So although the process of transportation may not be green in terms of the environmental footprint, it keeps people in rural areas in work and enables smaller distilleries to survive.
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pat gva
Maître distillateur
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Messages : 8072
Inscription : 14 févr. 2006, 22:54

Re: Bladnoch

Message non lu par pat gva »

Raymond.
Thanks a lot for you enlighting comments, on your daily work, and how you can improve you living conditions. I was stunt by the difficulties you encounters in your daily distilleries running.
That make your works and efforts the more laudable.
Master Experimental Blender
Genève
Bladnoch
Ouvrier distillateur
Ouvrier distillateur
Messages : 69
Inscription : 13 févr. 2006, 13:13

Re: Bladnoch

Message non lu par Bladnoch »

Thanks Pat
The difference between my job and some other jobs is that it requires a great deal of energy and there are a huge variety of tasks. It's difficult to plan for an organised day and there are many times in the course of a day that problems occur that I don't have an immediate solution to. When I get a few spare minutes I do the things I really want to do ... like a little bit of gardening.
If any of the forum members recognise this description as being similiar to their working day then I would suggest you must either be self employed in your own business or are working too hard for your boss.
But I wouldn't swop it.
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