Bought: Aberdeen Football Club shop, 5th November 2018
Ratings:
None I can find.
It’s been over a year since I bought this single malt from the Aberdeen FC shop and in that time it’s become quite controversial. The club, founded in 1903, and known as ‘The Dons’ since c.1909, decided to register the ‘Dons Dram’ as a trademark. The drinks company Sandeman objected because they produce ‘Don Fino’ sherry and consider ‘DON’ to be a name associated with them. For some strange reason they thought a whisky from a Scottish football club would cause confusion in the marketplace with their products. Really? Are they that insecure? In March 2019 the UK Intellectual Property Office, who rule on trademark disputes, found in favour of Sandeman. Aberdeen FC were forced to pay £1,500 in legal costs. Damn! That money could have bought another defender!
There are a number of newspapers that reported this incident at the end of March 2019 and you’d be forgive for thinking it was an early April Fools joke such is the stupidity of the story. The football club have never to my knowledge advertised the whisky on their online store. You can only purchase it by visiting their shop in Aberdeen. It doesn’t sit on a shelf beside bottles of ‘Don Fino’ sherry resulting in confusion and screams of complaint from customers. Most of the newspaper reports incorrectly show a picture of an old version of the ‘Dons Dram’, which was a blend produced by the Bennachie Scotch Whisky Co., Inverurie. The latest ‘Dons Dram’ is a single malt sourced by Own Label Co., Edinburgh.
Even if there will never be another ‘Dons Dram’ whisky it’s doubtful that this will make my bottle collectable. Generally speaking whisky that’s selected for football clubs are cheap and cheerful, which keeps their prices low at auction. And for the ‘Dons Dram’ it is a true mystery malt where the source distillery isn’t know, so that wont help its value (but I’d like to think it’s a Macallan!).
The reason of course for getting the ‘Dons Dram’ is to celebrate the best football team in Scotland. There are those who would say that being managed by Sir Alex Ferguson is enough to earn Aberdeen this accolade. There are many reports that proclaim Sir Alex as the greatest football manager in the world but it doesn’t end there for the Dons. They’re the only Scottish club to win two European honours, which is proudly indicated by two stars above the club logo. But what about the Glasgow teams I hear you ask? Well, Partick Thistle and Queens Park are reasonable but not a patch on Aberdeen Football Club. The Dons have no equal. I’ll drink to that!
Whisky Den 