I thought anyone who builds web site now does not completely build them all in flash - poor site looks old fashioned disappointing!! Obviously no strategy or online marketing being taken into account with the way this has been built!

Thanks Anon 16:44 for stringing a random selection of words together with no attempt at logic or punctuation. If you're going to rip apart someone's work, please try to be constructive. Or at least coherent.

agreed 17:00 - incoherent ramblings of someone who knows 'not a lot'...

So might not be the best construction of prose but anon 16:44 is talking some sense - why build it in flash ?

Got to agree with 16.44. Looks lovely but basically its a lot of pointless stuff put together in a download hungry format. Waited 12 seconds for my "interactive bottle`" to load (yes, I have got broadband!) so I could see the back of a bottle. Why?

Site is alright - not stunning - not duff.

But, I also have broadband and found the site quite slow and clunky.

Ah, the old tiny dark grey text on a black background - when will it pass?

When entering birth date why does the cursor not jump to the next entry box automatically - was that too difficult to achive?

"was that too difficult to a chive."?

That's it, pick on the smallest member of the Allium family. They may be small but can add a marvellous piquancy to soups and cheese dishes.

Not sure how good they are at web stuff though.

Chives unite; I'm fed up with this discrimination, stand up and be counted.

I'm not a designer, I'll a developer, but to my eye the assets have been handled well. The site does load unbelievably slowly, but I would hazard a guess that's down to the server rather than the size of the files. Either way it needs sorting. Loose the big background image on the D.O.B. page, it takes an age.

There's a time and place for Flash, and some might argue that the best place for is when you want to portray a rich elegant experience, which (I'm guessing) is the aim of the site, so I can understand the choice to include some flash. It's no way to build an entire site though (and never has been), unless it's a big game or otherwise heavily interactive. If you have to build the whole thing in flash you should always have a html underneath for those poor souls without Flash support (and anyone with a iphone/ipad). That could also be sorted.

The execution of the rollover scrolly-ness (and that is the technical term) at the top is a little clunky. Perhaps showing the menu onclick rather than rollover would be a little smoother (and less distracting when you move past it with your mouse). This could (and should) be done in javascript if it isn't already.

The apple coverflow style gallery thing (the main bit in the middle) is again a little clunky, and it could be done just as well in javascript. Also, this sort of UI element should really be used when the user needs to make a choice from a large number of interactive things, i.e. a photo to inspect closer, an album to listen to, a film to watch. This merely brings one of the three elements into focus, each of which only holds a few hard-to-notice links. Perhaps a jquery slider would do the job better (something like this http://nivo.dev7studios.com/ for example)? That would leave more room on the home page for content, which at the minute seems to be hidden under several layers of hard to use navigation.

I didn't get far enough in to get a handle on what the whole Custodians thing was about, it sounds reasonably interesting, but it also seems very hard to get to. Since you have a apple coverflow thing for picking interactive elements (which currently aren't interactive), why not add these things (the death of the stag and such like) to this? Put a greyed out locked thing on it if you must. Oh, and do it in javascript.

Where's the social media elements? where can I like Dalmore and tell my friends? Not here anyway.

The Union clearly have a talented flash developer on staff capable of some pretty snazzy animation. Unfortunately that's all this site ends up being - a big animation with bits of copy here and there fading in and out.

Feel free to correct my spelling or whatever it is you do round here.

'Feel free to correct my spelling or whatever it is you do round here.'

Best quote on this site for a long time. Well done!

Best quote or not, that was a deliberate attempt to divert attention from the victimisation of chives.