In creating the first distillery for over 100 years that incorporates and uses all the traditional production processes on site he says he has been guided by one over-riding concern: the desire to give the more discerning consumer what he or she wants. His international research has identifi ed a small but extremely keen and knowledgeable group at what he calls "the intimate end of the market," and these are the people for whom the concept of The Ladybank Company of Distillers is expected to have the strongest appeal. Ladybank is a private club whose constitution caps its membership at just 1,250 worldwide. When membership was fi rst released early this year the initial UK allocation quickly sold out. Two hundred and fi fty people from all over Britain each paid £1,850. Now, with less than 50 places remaining in the UK, the price of membership has shot up to £2,500. As membership fi lls and vacancies become scarcer, the cost will rise accordingly and may eventually go as high as £10,000. Forty of the 500 overseas membership places were also quickly snapped up in the fi rst offering. "We are very keen to attract overseas members," James Thomson says, "and for that reason the price of overseas membership will, for the time being, remain at £1,850. We don’t need 1,250 members to create the distillery. We only need 750.

Once we have that core membership in place and the building renovation gets under way, it will obviously be much easier to attract the remaining members because people will be able to come and see what’s going on." The Ladybank distillery is being built in beautiful rolling green country just outside the old Fife market town of Cupar, half way between Edinburgh and the ancient university city of St. Andrews. The fi ve acre site, including a small redundant farm steading, with stone mill buildings around a cobbled courtyard, dates from the late 18th century. According to James Thomson, Ladybank will be a very small distillery with some very fi ne and comfortable club rooms and dining areas in it. "We know there are people throughout the world who are looking for a close personal relationship with a small scotch whisky distillery," he says, "in much the same way that people who really appreciate fi ne wine often travel to Burgundy and the great wine producing areas of France in the hope of establishing special relationships with the families who have been behind particular vineyards for many generations. This is why we’ve decided that a club with a limited membership and clearly established rules is by far the best way to go forward. What we don’t want to do is create a major middle-volume brand which might become very valuable and be taken over and amalgamated. We are trying to do something, which is genuinely exclusive and privately controlled.

To establish a malt whisky requires an eight to 10-year investment and the safest way to do it is to bring funds in via a private club in which the members are committed and prepared to wait patiently for the results. The membership not only creates the funding but also creates the market at the same time." "The essential ingredient," he says, "will be "plenty of patience. Everybody who becomes involved realises that while they can become very involved with their club and its development they will be unable to appreciate a dram of Ladybank single malt whisky for at least eight to 10 years. "In the meantime they will have the undoubted satisfaction of watching their club grow, complete its membership, convert its buildings, and seeing professional staff come on board. Involvement through all of those stages will help build a stronger relationship among the membership. It’s all to do with having a relationship with something based in Scotland." Ladybank is aiming to produce 35,000 litres of spirit a year, about a week’s production at most of Scotland’s other 90 odd operational distilleries, but suffi cient, according to James Thomson, to provide for the club’s members and ensure that some is laid down for greater age. Ladybank’s allimportant water will come from a natural spring. The spirit will be aged in casks made of both American and European oak, some of which will have been used under Ladybank’s instructions to fi rst mature other fi ne wines and spirit.

They will then be laid down to mature within Ladybank’s small bonded warehouse at the distillery. James Thomson explains that it is in the wood that the enormously complex and subtle chemical changes take place in the spirit. "We will be spending a lot of time studying the styles we want to create," he says, "and we will be consulting at every stage with the membership." He chuckles as he adds that "the ultimate committee in the club will be the Cask Tasting Committee." "Once members have been helpful on other committees they can be voted onto the Cask Committee and they will be sent up-dated samples from time to time to see how the different styles are progressing. If you fi ll a number of casks, you don’t have to wait eight to 10 years to know which casks are showing promise. "Very often you can see that development early on. We are extremely fortunate in that Scotland has a lot of incredible expertise in this area and we are already working closely with Dr. Harry Riffkin of Tatlock and Thomson a highly respected fi rm of analytical chemists. They have developed an acute understanding as to what ingredients are important in the recipe and exactly what is required in the production process to ensure that the highest standards are adhered to. Although Tatlock and Thomson was founded in Glasgow in the 19th century they are now based in Fife so we can literally nip down the road to where one of the world’s leading experts will be doing our analysis. We will be distilling purely to create single malt to be drunk as single malt, not to be used for blending." Ladybank’s aim is to create "three whiskies without peer." The fi rst will be a distinctly peated, island-style, the second will be a natural, more delicate, un-peated style while the third will use a novel aromatic wood-smoked recipe to kiln the barley.

The three recipes are currently being tested in the laboratory. Later, there may be additional options through the use of different woods, but as James Thomson points out, "we don’t want to add too many variants otherwise we will never remember what we did in creating the whisky that was everybody’s favourite. We really believe that, given an open book and a fresh sheet, we can actually produce a whisky which will be as good as, if not better than, any yet produced. "Of the three core styles the natural is likely to be our bench-mark because we want to see just how much fl avour we can get from the barley, especially by trying the older, lower yielding but now discontinued barley varieties without masking it with too much peat or sherry." Each member will receive an initial allocation equivalent to a case of 12 bottles of whisky a year for each of the fi rst 10 years of production. And although production is expected to start in the spring of 2004, members obviously will not be able to taste their whisky until it is at least eight to 10 years old. Their annual allocations will continue for as long as the club endures. Membership will be transferable and can be handed down as a legacy from generation to generation. "Membership can also be traded," James Thomson says, "but only back through the club’s waiting list so that we don’t get speculators buying up half the memberships and running their own market. If the club felt that somebody was being speculative with their investment, they may fi nd their membership was in jeopardy because that would be contrary to the ethos of the operation. Although Ladybank whisky will not generally be available through retail outlets, we believe that at a conservative estimate, 120 bottles of very carefully crafted whisky from Scotland’s smallest distiller will at the very least command a price of £45 a bottle to whisky collectors or at special auctions. So you’re looking at £4,000 to £5,000 worth of whisky. But the real benefi t is something beyond price. It lies in having a unique, collectible whisky which you can have for yourself or give as a gift."