Tweeddale Blend OB 10yo 46%alc.

50% single grain and 50% malt

(LFW reports) Here’s an interesting blend with a decent story to it. A recreation of a 1899 recipe from a Borders’ Merchant’s cellar book.

A cool caramel nose of whisky and sweet Gallia melon – with a little gunpowder smoke. The taste is easy with nothing dominant reflecting it’s eastern and lowland origins. As a blend should be – there is nothing wrong with it!

Price excluding VAT: £22.55
£26.50 Including VAT at 17.5

Buy at Loch Fyne Whiskies www.lfw.co.uk

Father’s Day Whisky Masterclass Gift

Buy a 70cl bottle of TALISKER®, THE SINGLETON OF DUFFTOWN® or DALWHINNE® Single Malt Whisky in any Oddbins store and receive 2 free tickets to a whisky masterclass event – the perfect gift for Father’s Day. 

The complimentary whisky master class, hosted by a single malt whisky ambassador, will guide you through the world of single malt whisky using THE SINGLE MALT WHISKY FLAVOUR MAP™. With so many ages, regions and distilleries out there, there’s a diverse and exciting world of flavour for your father to explore. With the aid of the Single Malt Whisky Flavour Map, which has been created by experts, you/he can pin-point each flavour and identify what type of whisky suits your taste.

Your whisky ambassador will provide a selection of four Single Malt Scotch Whiskies for you to experience and savour, after the tasting they will leave you with your very own flavour map and some serving suggestions to inspire your newly acquired whisky knowledge.

Oddbins Father’s Day Malt Deals

Old Pulteney – was £26.99, now £19.99 – deal ends Sunday 18 July

Balvenie Doublewood was £29.99 now £24.99 – deal ends Monday night (21 June)

Oddbins Malt deals for the period Monday 21 June to Sunday 18 July

Aberlour was £25.99 now £19.99

Talisker was £33.99 now £27.99

Laphroaig 10yo was £32.99 now £24.99

Singleton Dufftown was £32.99 now £26.99

Aberlour a’Bunadh was £36.99 now £31.99

Visit Oddbins at www.oddbins.com

Arran – An Island Story
The Red Lion, Crown Passage, London SW1 
Tuesday June 22nd 2010, 7.30pm 

When the opening of the Arran distillery at Lochranza was announced in 1996 there was much excitement among whisky-lovers at the prospect of a new whisky on the market. The only frustrating thing was that there was a long wait to endure before being able to taste mature stock. Thankfully the guys (and gals) at Arran are not without vision and decided to release whisky at a younger age in order to keep everyone happy. They are also not averse to experimenting with different casks…

We are delighted to announce this series of tastings in order that we can taste a whole sluice of their whiskies at different ages and cask types. We will also be exclusively sampling a new bottling that is being released around the same time as this series. At most of the tastings we will be welcoming the very passionate and knowledgeable UK Brand Ambassador, Celine Tetu – definitely an added bonus!

As always each tasting is designed to be fun and enjoyable for all levels of whisky drinker, and is not a lecture. You will almost certainly learn something new every time, but if you don’t walk out with a smile on your face then there we have done something wrong!

You will not be sent a ticket through the post. Your details will be added to the event register and all you need to do is print the payment confirmation page and bring it with you to the event.

Visit the Whisky Lounge to buy tickets http://www.thewhiskylounge.com/Events.aspx

The Red Lion, Crown Passage, London SW1

WHISKY BEATS £25,000 MARK AT BONHAMS

RARE GLENFIDDICH ONE OF WORLD’S MOST EXPENSIVE BOTTLES OF SCOTCH

A bottle of Glenfiddich was today sold for £25,200, at Bonhams Whisky sale in Edinburgh making it one of the most expensive bottles of whisky ever sold at auction. (The world record of £29,400 was paid in 2007 for a 19th century bottle of Bowmore). 

The whisky is described as having a bouquet of “newly dug peat, burnt leather, old books, leather and oak” and the taste of treacle toffee, crème brûlée and toasted almonds.”

A 70cl single malt distilled in 1937, it is one of only 61 bottles produced and was part of a batch of 10 bottles released in 2001.  It was estimated at £15,000 – 20,000.

Bonhams Whisky specialist, Martin Green, said, “The moment I saw it I knew we had something special and I’m delighted that it reached such a high price.  Even in these difficult economic times very high quality items will still excite a lot of interest and this was a truly exceptional opportunity to acquire an exceptional bottle.”

The sale made over £160,000 with 95% sold by value.

NOTES

Bonhams

Bonhams, founded in 1793, is one of the world’s oldest and largest auctioneers of fine art and antiques. The present company was formed by the merger in November 2001 of Bonhams & Brooks and Phillips Son and Neale UK. In August 2002, the company acquired Butterfields, the principal firm of auctioneers on the West Coast of America. Today, Bonhams offers more sales than any of its rivals, through two major salerooms in London: New Bond Street, and Knightsbridge, and a further five throughout the UK. Sales are also held in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Carmel, New York and Boston in the USA; Toronto, Canada; and France, Monaco, Hong Kong, Sydney and Dubai. Bonhams has a worldwide network of offices and regional representatives in 25 countries offering sales advice and valuation services in 57 specialist areas. By the end of 2009, Bonhams had become UK market leaders in ten key specialist collecting areas. For a full listing of upcoming sales, plus details of Bonhams specialist departments, go to www.bonhams.com (February 2010).

Ladies and Gentleman,

We still have a small number of tickets left for the Old Pulteney tasting, this Monday the 21 st .

Please call us on +44 (0)207 403 8688 with payment details if you wish to book a place at this event.

Best Regards,

The Team

Father’s Day – Sunday 20th June 2010
Don’t Forget!!

Whisky of the Week – Glenburgie 10YO 40% 

Colour: Golden Brown
Nose: Fruity with hints of citrus and mulled fruit, with sweet,
creamy elements. Touch of toasted malt.
Palate: Rich fruit with sweet, oaky notes, some pepperiness
with floral hints.
Finish: Short.

Our Price: £17.99 RRP £22.99 Save £5.00!!

Taste of Gold for Smokehead

Smokehead has been awarded an International Review of Spirits’ Gold Medal by the highly respected Beverage Testing Institute (BTI).

Judged by an expert panel from BTI in the institution’s Chicago Tasting Room, Smokehead was awarded an ‘Exceptional’ rating of 91/100 for its explosive, peaty flavours. With the appearance of ‘bright old gold’, the panel commented on the Single Malt’s ‘aromas of honeyed raisin scone, dried peaches and medical tinctures with a hint of cedar and mesquite-like smokiness’. The BTI also commented on Smokehead’s ‘good depth and lingering body’ with ‘subtly complex and earthy smoked wood, leather and a prairie grass driven finish’.

The International Review of Spirits’ Gold Medal for Smokehead’s rich and complex flavours, follows two Gold Medals from BTI in the 2009 International Review of Spirits Packaging Competition. These recognised the brand’s innovative, bold and modern packaging in the Creativity and Graphic Design categories.

Since launching in 2006, Smokehead Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky has won a number of awards for both its eye-catching packaging and balanced, seaweedy flavours, including the Scottish Field Whisky Challenge Gold Medal and Wine & Spirits Design Awards for Best Dark Spirit and the overall Trophy for Design of the Year.

Visit www.smokehead.co.uk

Hello Fellow Scotch Lovers –

Still searching for a great Fathers Day gift for your dad?

ForScotchLovers’ Whisky Explorers Club is a phenomenal way to send your dad 24 amazing whisky samples in a year for less than $3.00 per whisky.

And if your dad isn’t the adventurous type, then give him exactly what he wants with a ForScotchLovers gift certificate.

Either way, you’ll make your dad very very happy!
Doug Stone
Founder
ForScotchLovers.com

The mission of the Whisky Explorers Club is to introduce  members to a variety of great whiskies they may never have experienced before, and to share those experiences with others.

Six (6) times a year members receive four (4) 50mL tasting sample bottles of tremendous whiskies from around the world. These whiskies arrive in generically-packaged gift bags, with no brand or age identity, along with instructions on how to unmask each whisky’s true identity on our website by contributing your own tasting notes.

There are three levels to the club, starting at $120 for a year. But no matter which of the Whisky Explorers member levels you choose, you’ll taste some of the worlds great whiskies, gain early access to limited production whiskies, and get 10% discounts on purchases in our store.

CLICK HERE http://www.forscotchlovers.com/to learn more about the Whisky Explorers Club.

… new at ralfy.com, “whisky reviews” No: 137a + b finds your host giving a wee tour of some of my Whisky Collection with commentary on the different bottles.

Lovely stuff !

Drool for yourslef at www.ralfy.com

Malt Advocate, Inc. joins M. Shanken Communications Inc.

John Hansell stays on as Publisher & Editor; Amy Westlake remains WhiskyFest Director
 
New York, June 15, 2010:  Malt Advocate, Inc. today announced that it is now a part of M. Shanken Communications, Inc.   Malt Advocate, Inc. includes Malt Advocate magazine, WhiskyFest New York, WhiskyFest Chicago, and WhiskyFest San Francisco.

M. Shanken Communications, Inc.  publishes a variety of consumer and trade publications.  They include Wine Spectator, Cigar Aficionado, Food Arts, Market Watch, and Impact.  In addition, the company hosts a number of events across the United States including the New York and New World Wine Experiences, Wine Spectator’s Grand Tours and Cigar Aficionado’s Big Smokes. 

John Hansell will remain Malt Advocate magazine’s Publisher & Editor, and Amy Westlake will continue as Director of WhiskyFest events.  Malt Advocate, Inc. operations will remain at their current office in Emmaus, PA.

“Amy and I are very proud of our efforts promoting the whisky industry, both with Malt Advocate, which will be celebrating its 20th Anniversary in 2011, and the 25 WhiskyFest events we have hosted over the past 12 years,” notes John Hansell.

“Our activities dovetail perfectly with those of M. Shanken Communications, Inc. from a publication and events standpoint.  There are definite synergies that will be achieved between the two companies.  The M. Shanken Group will take Malt Advocate magazine and our WhiskyFest events to levels that we could not have achieved on our own.  We are very excited about our future together.”

“John and Amy are pioneers in this industry and highly regarded,” commented Marvin R. Shanken, CEO of M. Shanken Communications, Inc.   “We are proud to have them on board with us.  Their creations─Malt Advocate and WhiskyFest─are benchmarks.”

For additional information, contact Amy Westlake (610. 967.1083 or Amy@maltadvocate.com).