Another sobering piece of whisky news has just hit my RSS feed. In his blog Words of Whisky Thijs Klaverstijn reports that Pernod Ricard has confirmed that Glenlivet 12 will be discontinued in a number of markets. It will be replaced by the recently introduced Founder’s Reserve

This news comes only six weeks after Pernod Ricard had announced plans for an expansion of the Glenlivet distillery that would allow production to be tripled from the current level.

It is not entirely clear yet what countries will be affected by the withdrawal of the Glenlivet 12, but the UK and Germany seem to be confirmed. Here is a quote from the statement Pernod Ricard made:

“Founder’s Reserve will roll out in countries where whisky knowledge is strong, consumers are becoming more familiar with new concepts, are by far the most developed in their tastes and have the greater thirst for new products. Whilst not all countries will stock both and some countries may stock one or the other, this is about us having an opportunity to explore The Glenlivet with a new expression that focuses on a key element of the brand and its heritage. We feel that the time is right to bring something brand new to our consumers.”

Looking at how the whisky market has presented itself in recent years, it is doubtful that shortages in aged stock have not contributed to this step.

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, so they say. But maybe it is. So far Pernod Ricard has been rather reluctant to jump onto the No Age Statement bandwagon that has already become pretty crowded with their competitors. But Glenlivet 12, along with Glenfiddich 12, is one of the largest selling single malt whiskies worldwide, so the decision to remove it from a number of markets is indeed a small earthquake.

The above statement cites strong whisky knowledge as a key factor for the introduction of a whisky without an age statement. But for several years now, Pernod Ricard has been running the Age Matters campaign to educate whisky drinkers about the importance of age statements which the company has been relying heavily upon so far. Now they have themselves cornered. This will be a tricky one to get out of.

Pernod Ricard’s rivals from Diageo in contrary have been actively embracing NAS whisky for quite a while. They have done a lot of PR work designed to increase NAS acceptance like for example their “Blind Truth About Whisky Aging” event at Tales of the Cocktail 2014. With Talisker they have pulled the plug completely now. After “Storm”, “Dark Storm” and “Port Ruighe” they have now released “Skye” as the fourth NAS expression in only two years. And not too long before the “57° North” had been introduced as well.

More than anything else, this move from Pernod Ricard shows us what whisky PR is all about. It is not about education. Not a single bit. It is about making you want to buy their products with whatever means possible, even – to quote the Alcohol Professor report about the “Blind Truth” event – if it requires them to say “We have always been at war with Eastasia.”