::格蘭花格 Glenfarclas::

Speyside Life – Too much ‘White Gold’

羅伯‧藍森，格蘭花格市場行銷總監

Robert Ransom, Director of Sales & Marketing, Glenfarclas

25^th June 2010

就像你也許聽過的，2009-2010冬季是有生以來蘇格蘭最冷冽的一季。超過過去二十五年的溫和冬季，儘管蒸餾廠會下雪，不過幾天之後就融雪了。但這一年可不同，大雪從十二月中開始降下，而且持續地下著，跟往年很快地融雪大不同，像我家的屋頂上就從十二月十五號一直到三月十三號都蓋著白雪。儘管到現在我寫這篇文章的六月時分，在Cairngorm山頂到格蘭花格之南仍有積雪。

As you may have heard, the winter of 2009-2010 has been one of the harshest in living memory in Scotland. Over the last twenty five years we have become used to mild winters. We get snow at the distillery, but after a couple of days it is followed by a thaw. Not this year. The snow started to fall in mid December, and it kept falling, and unlike other years it was not followed by a thaw. There was snow on the roof of my house from the 15th of December to the 13th of March. Even now, as I write in June, there is snow on the tops of the Cairngorm Mountains, to the south of Glenfarclas.

的確蒸餾廠需要雪，水是麥芽威士忌的三種原料之一，而且我們需要很多的水，豐富的落雪量確保我們到了夏天還有良好的水源供應。還記得好幾年前，隨著暖冬以及乾春，讓水源短缺，到了五月不得不減少產量，並不是我們所願。而且如果水夠冷的話蒸餾廠會運作得比較順利，顯而易見，如果水源是從融雪而來溫度會冷得多。雪是這樣的重要，所以管理格蘭花格酒廠的第四代家族傳人喬治‧格蘭會把雪叫做「白色金子」。

Now distilleries need snow. Water is one of only three ingredients in Malt Whisky, and we need a lot of water. A good snowfall ensures we have a good supply of water into the summer. A couple of years ago, following a mild winter and a dry spring, which led to a water shortage, we had to cut back production in May, not something we like to do.  The distillery also runs more smoothly if the water is colder, and it stands to reason, that if the water initially fell as snow, it will be colder. So important is snow that the late George Grant, the fourth generation of the family to manage Glenfarclas, described snow as ‘White Gold’.

這一年當然有許多的「白色金子」，所以大多數酒廠的經理人並沒有這樣的熱情來看待「白色金子」這件事，大多數的酒廠工人在上班或工作時遇到大雪阻礙，因此有些人晚到，另外則有人離開得比較早，但大多數在格蘭花格的工作者沒有錯過任何一天，所以我們能夠保持蒸餾器的運作。

This year however there was rather a lot of white gold, so much most distillery managers were not refereeing to the white gold in such an affectionate manner. Most distillery workers had trouble getting to and from work. Some were late in, other left early, but most at Glenfarclas did not miss a day, so we were able to keep the stills running.

降雪也引起相當多的傷害。在格蘭花格我們的排水溝被淹蓋失去效用，並且窗框漏水，但比起其他人，這只是一些輕微的不方便。厚達60公分到90公分的降雪對一些酒廠倉庫的屋頂來說，幾乎壓垮它們。酒廠必須僱用直升機在整個儲酒倉庫廠區噴灑防凍液在屋頂上，將雪融化，拯救快撐不住大雪重量的儲存倉庫屋頂。

The snow also caused quite a lot of damage. At Glenfarclas we lost gutters, and had leaking window frames, but compared to others this was a minor inconvenience. The weight of 60cm to 90cm of snowfall on some distillery warehouse roofs caused them to collapse. One distillery went to the extent of hiring a helicopter to spray antifreeze on their warehouse roofs, so as to melt the snow, and save their warehouse roofs.

幸好我們格蘭花格倉庫的屋頂沒有任何鬆動，或許可能是因為它們全部是依照傳統的墊料（dunnage）風格建造，一種19世紀 80年代風格的傳統的屋頂，倉庫的樑柱距離比現代倉庫的要短得多。我們以幾乎不可能的維護傳統的方法，不僅擋住了時間的考驗，更得到了回報。

Thankfully we did not loose any warehouse roofs at Glenfarclas, probably because they have all been built in the traditional dunnage style, a style which dates from the 1880s. The roofs of the traditional warehouses have much shorter spans than the more modern racked warehouses. Our approach of preserving traditions that have stood the test of time, has paid off, but in the most unlikely manner.