Friday, July 27, 2012

Welcome to Diageo's Recent Eats


Dear Readers,

Over the past five years, Sku's Recent Eats has prided itself on its fierce independence. We have never held back on a whiskey we didn't like, and we have never tried to please the industry or its promoters. However, while we like independence, we like money more.

When Diageo made an initial offer to purchase this blog for $15, I told them that no amount of money was worth our independence. However, when Diageo raised their price to the low three figures, the most ever paid for a whiskey blog, I decided that some amounts of money were worth our independence.

I want to assure all of our readers, that regardless of the change in ownership, I am still at the helm here, and we will retain our fierce, independent spirit. After all, Diageo would not have made a substantial investment in this blog if they didn't admire our fierce, independent spirit.

Please join us next week for the following stories:

Monday: Is Bulleit the new Pappy Van Winkle?

Tuesday: Roseisle - Why it's the best thing that every happened to whiskey.

Wednesday: Which is the best distillery on Islay, Lagavulin or Caol Ila?

Thursday: Blind Tasting - Bailey's Caramel vs. Bailey's Mint

We welcome you to join us into this exciting era. Now if you'll excuse me, I have $150 I need to go spend.

Sincerely,

Sku


10 comments:

James said...

Way to sell out to Remy...I mean Diageo. At least you got 10x the initial offer. :)

By the way, should I run out and buy cases of Bulleit? I understand that there's a whiskey "shortage" and we should just stockpile everything we can. I sure hope investing in my 100 cases of Red Stag will pay off soon.

Josh Feldman said...

I just tweeted: "@mattwunderle @SkusRecentEats I actually support the purchase. Maybe Diageo's money can get RecentEats some images and a decent template?"

Matt Wunderle replies: "@cooperedtot @SkusRecentEats I like the old school myspace feel of his site."

My reply: "@mattwunderle @SkusRecentEats Well, me too, but McEwan has already announced his retirement and the effusive creativity of the line is pared down"

Lazer said...

You're point is a good one. They sold Laddie for 58m lbs. I checked the exchange rate and that comes out to almsot $90m in the U.S.. However, it was really 48m lbs. and 10m was debt, but we can ignore this detail for now. My point is, that there were about 60 investors, if split evenly, it comes out to about $1.5m per investor. That was worth it??? Yes, $1.5m is a lot, but not if I'm a private shareholder of the fastest growing distillery in Scotland. Your $150 analogy is a good one in my opinion.

WTK said...

Amusing post Sku. Here at corporate we really appreciate your ironic sense of humor. That said, we want to be serious for a moment here and assure the devoted readers of Sku's Recent Eats that there will be absolutely no changes in the staffing or editorial content of this blog going forward. Of course the readers understand that The Street wil expect this acquisition to be accretive to earnings, but I am confident we can harmonize these objectives as shown with previous Diageo acquisitions. Best regards, P.S. Walsh, CEO and Executive Director.

Eric said...

Say Sku, what are your thoughts on BrewDog? Think they deserve the Best Bar Operator award?

David D said...

Well done, I literally laughed out loud reading this, which I guess would be LLOL

sam k said...

You are a real piece of work, my friend! Another fabulous attempt at sarcasm. I predict you will disappear into a cypress fermenter within ten days.

Anonymous said...

Shares of Diageo were up slightly at the end of trading today as a result of this acquisition.

Chuck Cowdery said...

U suk. where my money at?

Anonymous said...

Very funny! But, as part of the deal, you are made redundant, right? The passionate, independent, creative leader and figurehead must go and be replaced by, well, someone. But, $150 is a lot of money and if that means your leaving is part of the deal, then so be it. You can use all that free time to count your money.