From Jeff Topping, of the Wild Scotsman brand of single malts comes this;
Master Distiller and Master Blender John McDougall has his first web site up and running. http://www.johncmcdougall.com
More Jeff at http://wildscotsman.com/whisky/
Canadain Club has introduced a 30 year old version of their famed Canadian Whisky.
Visit http://www.canadianclubwhisky.com/ for more details.
http://www.sbpost.ie
Slane Castle is set to become a destination for whiskey lovers as well as concertgoers, under plans by the Mountcharles family to ‘‘secure the future’’ of the Co Meath estate.
The family is about to launch a premium brand Slane Castle whiskey in the US, and has plans to create an information and tasting centre at the castle.
Alex Mountcharles, who has assumed the title of Lord Mountcharles from his father, Henry, said the intention was to ‘‘build additional business’’ at the 1,500-acre estate, which is best known for its annual rock concerts.
Mountcharles said that the idea for the whiskey originated about two years ago, and the first consignment of 1,000 cases had just been made by the nearby Cooley distillery.
Most of that batch is bound for the east coast of the US, although some will be sold locally.
‘‘We wanted a product that we were interested in, a quality product that we could believe in and stand over,” said Mountcharles.
The first Slane product is a blended whiskey, but there are plans for an aged single malt and other products in the future. ‘‘The idea is to secure the future of the estate, which is hugely expensive to run,” said Mountcharles. ‘‘It is a bit of a money-pit, but it does at least wash its face financially. We choose our events very carefully, and our costs are carefully managed.”
Slane plays host to Mancunian rockers Oasis on Saturday, and Mountcharles said that preparations were well advanced to receive the 80,000 concert-goers. ‘‘There are a substantial number of people on the site, and we are investing in extra infrastructure, including a new roadway,” he said.
However, Mountcharles would not be drawn on the finances of the concert. ‘‘The deal is always complicated, because different artists and different companies have different agendas. The nature of the business is that there are a smaller number of operators on the world stage, so we are dealing with global entities,” he said.
A limited number of general tickets and ‘garden party’ packages is still available for the Oasis concert, from the castle or from Ticketmaster.
These packages include reserved parking, grandstand seating and access to restaurants, a bar and cloakroom.
‘‘Once we have Oasis out of the way, we’ll have a big party, a sigh of relief and then it’s straight into building for the launch of the whiskey in the US,” said Mountcharles.
He described Slane as a ‘‘true family business’’, which has been built up over the past 30 years by his father, Henry, whose title now is the 8th Marquess Conyngham.
http://thechronicleherald.ca/Business/
By CLARE MELLOR Business Reporter
David Copp doesn’t have a big law office, or even a secretary for that matter, but the Halifax lawyer didn’t think twice about taking on the forces of the Scotch Whisky Association in what has become one of the most notorious trademark cases in the country.
“I am a Cape Bretoner and I am very sensitive to anything that threatens or is damaging to the people and economy of the place that is my home,” he said Friday.
On Thursday, Mr. Copp’s client, Glenora Distillers International Ltd., won a major victory when the Supreme Court of Canada refused to hear the whisky’s association’s appeal of a Federal Court of Appeal decision. The ruling allows Glenora to register the name Glen Breton, Canada’s only single malt whisky, under the Trademarks Act of Canada.
Mr. Copp, who practices law by himself in Halifax, was hired by the Cape Breton distillery about nine years ago after the Edinburgh-based association tried to stop the distillery’s use of the word Glen in the Glen Breton name. It claimed the name Glen makes consumers believe the whisky is produced in Scotland
But what started out as a seemingly straightforward administrative hearing went all the way to the Federal Court of Appeal.
“It is a little distillery and resort area . . . (and) it has been the subject of a really determined and relentless attack by the Scotch Whisky Association on its primary brand,” Mr. Copp said.
The Scotch Whisky Association represents some multinational corporations like Diageo Plc, which produces and distributes brands including Smirnoff vodka, Johnnie Walker Scotch whiskies, Guinness, Bailey’s; J&B Scotch whisky, Captain Morgan rum and Tanqueray gin, according to its website.
Mr. Copp said he did not believe the association’s attack on Glenora had any merit.
“It is an example of how difficult it can be when large commercial forces align themselves to oppose what is a really important element of success in business — mainly having a good trademark,” he said.
Mr. Copp, who worked as lawyer for the former crown corporation International Centre for Ocean Development in Halifax, has practiced law by himself since 1992, and taken on many trademark cases.
But he concedes they have never been as complicated and time consuming as this case.
He was forced to bring in some paralegal reinforcement to help him keep on top of the massive amounts of documents that the case generated.
“The filing for the Court of Appeal was almost 4,000 pages. Each level produced several bankers boxes (of documents.) . . . We are dealing with tens of thousands of pages of printing.”
The Scotch Whisky Association was represented by national law firm Gowlings in the case.
And while it might be the end of the trademark battle in this county, the Scotch Whisky Association said Friday it could take action outside Canada depending on how Glenora markets its products internationally.
“Our job now, on behalf of the Scotch whisky industry, is to monitor very carefully how the product is marketed and to ensure there is no risk of confusion in any other market,” said the association’s David Williamson.
Summer is finally here, though the weather may be saying differently depending on where you live!
As always, Preiss Imports is keeping the whisky portfolio interesting, with some new Springbank limited releases as well as new offerings from Duncan Taylor. We don’t yet have ratings on these new whiskies yet, but we should have them by next month.
Details are being finalized, but I wanted to mention we are organizing a new event called The Whisky Road Show to be held in a large tasting style in some key metropolitan markets. This Road Show will feature our Scotch Whisky Companies with a representative from each of them, and a night-long seminar with tastings presented by these experts. It will certainly be educational and quite fun. I will keep you updated as to the details as they emerge. I know there are tentative plans around the WhiskyFest events – so Las Vegas (though WF is in SF) Road Show in October and Cincinnati in November.
Cheers,
Ken Young
Preiss Imports
ken@preissimports.com
Springbank Sherry Cask Expressions Now Available
Amontilado – Fino – Cream Sherry
Earlier in the year, we ordered 3 sherry finished whiskies from Springbank Distillers. As always, these highly-demanded limited expressions won’t last long. For the U.S., there are 150 six-packs available, of which about half have been presold.
These fine expressions will be available at the country’s leading retailers
Got Single Grain?
Duncan Taylor continues their mission of providing quality whiskies with award winning single grains. We are proud to announce 5 new single grain whiskies.
DT 1978 Cameronbridge Grain 30 year old Cask #12
DT 1979 Cameronbridge Grain 30 year old cask #3584
DT 1979 Carsebridge Grain 30 year old cask #33041
DT 1978 North British Grain 30 year old cask # 38473
DT 1980 Strathclyde Grain 29 yr old Cask #1497
These whiskies offer an great value, retailing between $130 to $170. These are all single cask, cask strength bottlings.
If you haven’t had a chance to explore single grain whiskies, now is the time!
More Single Malt Arrivals from Duncan Taylor
DT 1990 Royal Lochnagar 18 yr old Cask #355
DT 1980 Strathclyde 29 yr old Cask #1497
DT 1990 Dalmore 18 yr old cask #D311
DT NC2 1996 Ben Nevis 12 yr old
SPOTLIGHT
BenRiach Single Cask Limited Release 1991 16 year old Claret Finish Cask# 6903
This limited release was handpicked by the staff at Preiss Imports. We sampled a total of 12 single casks and ordered the two best, one of which was the Claret finish.
F Paul Pacult’s Spirit Journal Rated this 4 Stars, Highly Recommended; here is the full review –
“Gorgeous medium amber/saffron/autumnal gold color; flawless clarity. Notes of bacon fat, pork rind, peanut oil, and fried banana abound in the exceedingly pleasant opening aroma; following an additional nine-minute aeration period, the bacon fat/cooking oil aspect surges ahead, giving the impression of early rancio and extreme nuttiness. Entry features gently sweet flavor profile notes of nutmeg, light toffee, light fudge, and almond paste; midpalate focuses on both the candied and wood aspects as the flavors run semisweet, sap-like, bark-like, and mildly peppery, even custard-and-creme-brulee-like into the first stage of the spirity finish. This one is a sinewy, savory mouthful that keeps unfolding and wandering into increasingly decadent and oily/buttery territory.”
We’ve sold through most of this one, but there are still 58 bottles left in our warehouse, and certainly some still in retail. You may still find some on the shelves at the fine retailers in Massachusetts or The Wine Specialist in DC.
A Reminder Of Online Newsletter Archive
You can now access all of our single malt newsletters in an online archive. Please make note of the link –
http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs052/1102498794592/archive/1102544704796.html
This Vintage edition of Benromach has “been aged for many years in the finest oak casks” which is an accurate statement considering the whisky is at least 39 years old and is an extraordinary dark color; the gleam of polished very old mahogany. The nose is a delight with rich Christmas cake, dark rum gorged plums, apricots, mild orange, toffee and honey intermingled with sherry and dry oak. The taste is quite strong at first and quite extraordinary with some surprising light smoke, over steeped black tea, mild tobacco with an oily mouth feel. Old sherry springs to mind and there is a slight fizziness in the very back ground along with a slight hint of smoke struggling to be noticed in the sea of mild malt, a hint of liquorice and sweet oak. The finish is very long and quickly changes from the characteristics noted above to a slightly different astringent version that is very dry and oaky with fragrant cedar (like the big wooden box your Grandma kept her blankets in) and powdered mustard; but just a flash. After a few minutes there is green grass and bitter tea.
This is a big whisky is all respects and it’s wonderful to see these old drams. The decades in the cask have taken a little off the points and it’s perhaps a touch woody but no matter.
Score 88 Points
£143 at the Whisky Exchange http://www.thewhiskyexchange.com/ and for further details on Benromach Distillery http://www.benromach.com/
The late Michael Jackson was a huge fan of Highland Park. In his seminal Malt Whisky Companion, he referred to it as “this great Orcadian distillery” and went on to write;
“Highland Park is the greatest all-rounder in the world of malt whisky. It is definitely in an island style, but combining all the elements of a classic single malt: smokiness (with its own heather-honey accent), maltiness, smoothness, roundness, fullness of flavour, and length of finish.”
Little wonder, then, that he scored Highland Park 25 year old a whopping 95 out of 100.
Michael, for many the most influential whisky writer in the world, died from a heart attack in August 2007 having suffered from Parkinson’s Disease for over ten years. He is sorely missed in the whisky industry for his knowledge and generosity of spirit.
We are, therefore, only too happy to let you know about the launch of Beer Hunter, Whisky Chaser, a project celebrating Michael’s enduring legacy. International writers on beer and whisky have each donated an original essay with all proceeds from the publication going to the Parkinson’s Society of the UK.
Contributors include whisky luminaries such as Dave Broom of Whisky Magazine Japan, John Hansell of Malt Advocate, Scotland’s foremost whisky writer Charles MacLean and F Paul Pacult of Spirit Journal.
Beer Hunter, Whisky Chaser is a 176-page volume; hard cover bound in laminated covers with an illustration of Michael Jackson by artist Gill Allan and with place ribbon. Published by Classic Expressions Beer Hunter, Whisky Chaser is available at £12.99.
For more information about Beer Hunter, Whisky Chaser visit http://www.classicexpressions.co.uk/
For more information about the Best Spirit in the World visit http://www.highlandpark.co.uk/splash.asp
Gerry
Head of Brand Education, Highland Park
Highland Park is owned by The Edrington Group, a private limited company registered in Scotland (Registered Number SC 36374) with its Registered Office at The Edrington Group, 2500 Great Western Road, Glasgow, G15 6RW.
Malt Messenger Bulletin – Father’s Day Gift Sets
Dear Malt Messenger Subscirbers,
Some of you may have missed this in the Malt Messenger earlier this week, so I have rehashed it in a little bulletin. Father’s Day is this Sunday, and if you haven’t already figured out what to give your father or husband, we have just the thing…
For Father’s Day 2009 we have come up with a couple of unique gift sets for dad. Why just give dad a bottle, when you can surprise him with a kit including a book, whisky glass, magazine and a fine bottle of single malt whisky, all beautifully packaged in an appropriate gift basket! The kits come with your choice of whisky, either Kensington Wine Market’s private cask bottling of Springbank 1996 Mazanilla Cask, or the Aberlour 10Yr. The kits are as follows:
“Give your father the kind of gift that says “I know you’re hard to shop for, but this is cool!”
We have already had some interest in these sets and are only able to offer them in limited quantities. Please call the store ASAP to order if you are interested.
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If you have any whisky questions or comments concerning The Malt Messenger please contact me by e-mail, phone, or drop by the store. Feel free to forward me any whisky news you feel should be included in a future issue of The Malt Messenger; it might just get included.
All of the products mentioned in THE MALT MESSENGER can be purchased in store, over the phone or from our website at www.kensingtonwinemarket.com.. All prices quoted in the Malt Messenger are subject to change!
Thanks for reading the Malt Messenger!
Slainte!
Andrew Ferguson
KWM Scotchguy
403-283-8000
888-283-9004
1257 Kensington Rd. NW
Calgary, AB, Canada
T2N 3P8
scotchguy@kensingtonwinemarket.com
It has been confirmed today that as of Tuesday June 23rd, 2009 that David Michels, currently ‘the whisky man’ at CSN Wine & Spirits, will be returning to his former employer Willow Park Wine & Spirits to be their ‘whisky man’.
Evidently kissing and making up………….
To buy single malt scotch whisky at both visit http://www.csnwine.com/ or http://www.willowpark.net/
The Companions of The Quaich is a non-profit society dedicated to promoting and sharing knowledge and enjoyment of Single Malt Whisky. The Society has chapters in many Canadian cities that hold monthly dinners and tastings.
