Amrut Single Malt Whisky.
Now At Park Avenue Liquor Shop.

The wait is over.

The most anticipated whiskies in some time have finally arrived. The single malts of India’s Amrut Distillery have been ‘outsourced’ to the Park Avenue Liquor Shop.

There has been a lot of buzz about these bottles as they have already won multiple awards and high ratings from whisky world. Originating in Bangalore, the brand was first introduced to the UK in 2004.

“According to Indian Mythology, when Gods and Rakshasas – the demons – churned the oceans using the mountain Meru as churner, a golden pot sprang out containing the Elixir of Life. That was called the Amrut”.

Cheers!

Jonathan & Eric
Park Avenue Liquor Shop
292 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10017
212-685-2442
info@parkaveliquor.com

Amrut Fusion

Fusion is possibly the most talked about of the Amrut line. It might be because Jim Murray’s 2010 Whisky Bible rated it a 97 and called it, “The third finest whisky in the world.” East meets West in this bottling as Indian barley grown at the foothills of the Himalayas and peated barley from Scotland are mashed, distilled and then aged separately before being married in a bourbon cask. The result is a rich fruity flavor with subtle yet sublime peat. Our Price: $65

Amrut: Single Malt Whisky

The nose has distinctly confidant licorice-bourbon notes with a nice bitter-sweet balance. There are also hints of both burnt honeycomb and toffee.

The taste has a bold richness and reveals enormous barley-oak sweetness; again, there is a big bourbon-esque presence with the licorice and molasses sugar. The barley adds that extra dimension.

There is a long, wonderfully layered oak finish offering variations of a sweet-dry theme. A touch silk with some cream toffee appear at the end.
2008 Bronze Winner – Malt Maniacs Our Price: $52

Amrut: Single Malt Whisky ~Cask Strength~

NOTE: Our verison comes in a metal tube not a box.

This golden yellow whisky has a nose with glorious bourbon notes fused with the richest of the barley statements; not entirely unlike caramelized biscuit dunked  incoffee. There’s a bit of a spicy attitude too.

That unique bitter – sweet taste where the oaks and barley appear joined at the hip is back along with lovely soft oils and then a sharp jolt of blood orange citrus.

You may also detect something more buttery and delicate. The finish is long and elegant with the oaks showing various bourbon then buttery characteristics. There is a trace of dark sugar and cocoa to help it along its way.

“Certainly the best non-peated Indian single malt to hit the international market.” – Jim Murray, Rated 92. Our Price: $73

Amrut: Peated Single Malt Whisky

Fresh oak with hints of vanilla jump in the nose. The peat is mellowed and is pleasant. Additional aromas of spiciness combined with fresh fruits are also at play here.

The taste contains layers of peat and smoke with youthful yet muscular oak constantly making their presence felt. The theme of fresh fruit and spices continue on the palate with an added hint of maltiness.

The finish is a pleasurable experience with the peat maintaining its supremacy while balancing the oak, fruit and spice. Our Price: $66

Amrut: Peated Single Malt Whisky ~Cask Strength~

Note: Our version comes in metal tube, not a box.

This one is honeyed yellow in color with a distinct smoked barley nose, as well as hints of a salt and pepperedbutter bite.

The taste delivers youthful barley until an intensely malty storm arrives followed by a healthy dose of dry oak.

A sublime finish of sheer delicacy and elegance; the peat no more than oozes, there are cups galore of sugarless medium roast mysore (a sweet Indian dessert). Finally, you travel down a bourbon flavor trail and discover, soft licorice and molasses sugar along the way. This is easily the highlight of the experience; one of the best finishes of year.

It is not chill filtered and comes straight from the barrel in its natural colour.

Bronze Award Winner Malt Maniacs 2008
Silver Best in Class IWSC 2008
Our Price: $84

Wednesday, April 21, 2010
7:00 pm to 9:00 pm

The Carnegie Club
156 West 56th Street, NYC

$50. Per person in advance
$65. At the door

Tasting event begins promptly at 7 PM
Limited number of tickets available.

For more information, email: Info@TheFiftyBest.com

WHISKEY ROADSHOW

Saturday, April 17, 1:00-4:00pm

If you have a passion for scotch, bourbon and other specialty spirits, Binny’s “Whiskey Hotline” should be on your speed dial. It’s headed up by Brett Pontoni — our resident expert and Duke of Distilled Spirits. Brett’s job is to talk whiskey, sample whiskey, buy whiskey, write about whiskey, and hand select exclusive barrels of whiskey. Winner of countless industry awards, Brett and his world famous Whiskey Hotline are hitting the road. Meet Brett Pontoni during one of his upcoming store appearances. He’ll be pouring his personal favorites during a special series of open house tastings.

Call 630-545-2550 or email glenellyn@binnys.com for reservations.

Glen Ellyn  670 W Roosevelt Rd. | Glen Ellyn | 630-545-2550

Rafly posts episdoe #126 and takes a look at a peated single cask Connemara Irish Whiskey which brings to a conclusion the run of Irish whiskies in April.

Visit Ralfy and the Connemara at www.ralfy.com

Hi all,

Hope you are all well and enjoying the onslaught of spring!
Quite a bit to tell you about, so here goes…

London Whisky Lounge Festival 2010
Saturday & Sunday 15th & 16th May 2010
The Royal Horticultural Halls, Vincent Sq., London SW1
11am-3pm, 4pm-8pm Saturday, 12pm-4pm Sunday
£20 per ticket, per session

After years of York hogging our festivals and then the huge successes of Manchester and Newcastle last year, we decided that London is now ready for our coming! The usual benefits of our festivals are present, such as…

– Free Whisky Tasting Glass to use and keep
– Free Festival Guide
– No voucher system. You pays your money and that’s it (aside from masterclasses)
– No further booking fee

In addition to this, we are offering a special 10% discount off general entry tickets until the end of April. That brings the ticket price down to £18 for four hours of superb sampling and schmoozing! If you have never been to one of these events then you really are missing out!

The venue is fantastic and may be familiar to those of you who have been on the festival ‘circuit’ for a while! It is 10 minutes walk from Victoria Tube/Railway Station and is very close to Buckingham Palace.

Details of exhibitors and masterclasses are now on the website – click here to go straight there.

Tastings

Our Global Peat events continue through April with Leeds, London and York still to come – dates below. The response so far has been amazing and they are some of the most interesting tastings yet! As a reminder, we are tasting six variously peated whiskies from all over the world, blind!

Our next series of tastings are again focussing on a single distillery and this time that distillery is one of our youngest but also most exciting. Arran, from the island of the same name, is now 13 years old – a mere babe – and we are helping them celebrate with a series of amazing and exclusive tastings all over the UK, which will also see us hosting their UK ambassador…

‘Peat – A Global Event’ – Tuesday 20th April, The Red Lion, London, SW1
‘Peat – A Global Event’ – Friday 23rd April, The City Inn, Granary Wharf, Leeds
‘Peat – A Global Event’ – Sunday 25th April, Meltons Too, Walmgate, York

‘Speyside Vs Islay’ – Friday 30th April, Blackfriars, Friar St., Newcastle

‘Arran – An Island Story’ – Friday 21st May, Britons Protection, Manchester
‘Arran – An Island Story’ – Friday 28th May, Blackfriars, Newcastle
‘Arran – An Island Story’ – Tuesday 22nd June, Red Lion, London, SW1
‘Arran – An Island Story’ – Friday 25th June, The City Inn, Leeds
‘Arran – An Island Story’ – Sunday 27th June, Meltons Too, York

That’s it for now, but remember all details are on the website and you are now able to book through the website too!

Please also keep an eye out for the 2nd Newcastle Whisky Festival on June 12th – booking now and more news soon!

Keep well and hope to see you soon.
Cheers,
Eddie

Eddie Ludlow
Whisky Evangelist

thewhiskylounge
www.thewhiskylounge.com
eddie@thewhiskylounge.com
Twitter me up
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07515 854210
01904 466227
IWSC Spirit Panel Judge 2009-present

GLENDRONACH 1996 CASK 197 RELEASED …BUT ONLY AVAILABLE AT ABERDEENSHIRE DISTILLERY!
 
GlenDronach is delighted to announce details today (April 13) of an exclusive single cask bottling…and it’s available only in a secluded corner of the Scottish countryside!
 
“1996 Cask 197 has been specially selected for devotees of our renowned richly-sherried malt and is only available at our Aberdeenshire distillery,” explained Regional Sales Director Alistair Walker.
 
“You won’t find it anywhere else in the world so if you want to savour this unique expression, you’ll have to come here to get one of our 576 bottles…but I assure you the journey will be well worth it!”
 
Alistair added: “Distilled and filled to cask on 16 February 1996 and bottled in March 2009, Cask 197 has been allowed to mature for over fourteen years. From an Oloroso Sherry Butt, it’s bottled at cask strength 59.7% vol. and is a great example of the big, rich, heavily-sherried style of whisky that malt drinkers the world over associate with GlenDronach.”
 
Cask 197’s tasting notes confirm it’s a classic GlenDronach – smooth, sweet, complex and full-bodied with an incredible concentration of aromas.
 
Nose: Chocolate toffee sauce and intense raisin notes. Fortified wine elements marry well with roasted hazelnuts and almonds.
 
Appearance: Rich rosewood with a warm autumnal glow.
 
Palate: Sweet and full-bodied. Bold mocha flavours with more toasted nuts. An injection of stewed fruit helps to lift this dram to new levels. Chocolate-covered dates and fig jam release towards the finish.
 
Cask 197 bottles retail at just £47.99 each.
 
Alistair added: “If you want to get hold of a bottle this spring, I’d advise you to get along to our Forgue distillery as quickly as possible, because once the 576 bottles are gone, they’re gone!”
 
For more information, go to www.glendronachdistillery.com, or email info@glendronachdistillery.co.uk or visit us any day of the week at The GlenDronach Distillery, Forgue by Huntly, Aberdeenshire AB54 6DB, Scotland, UK, tel : +44 (0)1466 730 202

Macallan 32 Year Old / 1977

1977 Old & Rare single cask from Douglas Laing.

Bottled for Japan, thankfully a small allocation has remained in Scotland.

Finnished in a Bourgogne organic  Pinot Noir “La Cadette” wine cask.

£264.99 (£225.52 ex VAT)

Description

A very rare and unusual Macallan which has spent a period of additional maturation in a Bourgogne ‘Organic’ Pinot Noir “La Cadette” wine cask.

These bottles were destined for the Japanese market with just a few for Scotland. 306 bottles, bottled February 2010.

A magnificent setting in the valley of the mighty River Spey, in sun light or in moon light or covered in snow. The distillery was established on Easter Elchies Estate in 1824. A busy place now, with 15 stills. An enduring rich, complex and magical whisky.

Product Details

Age: 32 Years Old
Vintage: 1977
Volume: 70cl
ABV: 49.4% (Cask Strength)
Bottler: Douglas Laing

http://www.thewhiskybarrel.com/

Elijah Craig Single Barrel 18 Years Old Bourbon

Gift Boxed

Duty Stamped if Required

3 Bottles in Case

75 Cl Bottle Size

45% Alcohol

 Only 60 CASES AVAILABLE

CASE PRICE £140.00

Elijah Craig Small Batch 12 Years Old Bourbon

Gift Boxed

Duty Stamped if Required

12 Bottles in Case

70 Cl Bottle Size

47% Alcohol (94 Proof)

 Only 50 CASES AVAILABLE

CASE PRICE £176.00

Trentino Distribution

email winesales@runbox.com

More information from www.heaven-hill.com

Enough for a really big party!

Bunnahabhain NAS ‘Mòine’ (58.4%, OB, Brown Label,  642 Bts., Feis Ile 2009)

This limited Mòine edition by Master Distiller Ian MacMillan, has endeavored to replicate that peated essence, using single malt spirit that’s not left the island for a second between distillation in 2003 and bottling in 2009.

This limited edition is finished in Oloroso Sherry butts for three short months in sea-facing warehouse no.7, bringing this intriguing voyage of discovery to an end. The result is a side of Bunnahabhain not often revealed, but one that does justice to a past worthy of exploration.

Mòine meaning ‘peat’ in Scots Gaelic is a dram for reflection – a gentle, eminent taste from another age. (From the blurb)

The nose reveals green notes (think cut grass and pea pods) and jam, not strawberry but something thicker and sweeter. After a few seconds of innocently nosing in quiet contemplation the peat smoke comes lancing out of the glass. It’s deep and thick, like coal smoke along with some iodine, hints of seaweed and some honey. This is nice. There are also very slight hints of either cocoa or mocha however it’s more likely mocha. There’s malt in there also. After some time in the glass it simply improves. The taste is peated and sherried with a really good back bone of clean malt and then the freight train of the peat come roaring through; obviously an express. After a moment or two it becomes slightly creamy. With water the peat increases in stature and depth and become much more coal like. The diluted taste is very, very good, don’t add too much. Mars Bars, cocoa, fruit, sherry, malt, it’s all in there and it’s quite excellent. The finish is peated, sweet and long. After a short while some oak spice arrives and the finish is very active and the long long is confirmed.

A very different Bunnahabhain and a very good one. Well done! It’s better with a little water and stretches the bottle too…vibrant, loads of character and a cracking dram.

£78 here and there but not much left but find one in any case. Comes with a wee ships wheel key chain though which is fun; not critical but fun.

Score 88 points

On Friday (April 9th), all eyes were on four brave, adrenalin-fuelled adventurers at the official launch of the Talisker Bounty Boat expedition in Sydney, Australia.  The four-man international crew, bound for remote Tonga, where the voyage begins, bad farewell to family and friends as they prepared to set sail on the first ever authentic recreation of one of the greatest open boat voyages ever undertaken.

The Captain of the Talisker Bounty Boat is veteran adventurer and Australian Don McIntyre who has carefully selected his crew from countries around the world to embark on one of the most extraordinary stories of survival and sheer determination: Captain William Bligh’s 4,000 mile open boat ‘Mutiny on the Bounty’ voyage.

The courageous crew includes young Brit Chris Wilde who won a global competition to search for a successor following the unexpected withdrawal of Mike Perham. With less than a week’s notice, Chris has left his friends, family and creature comforts to undertake an almighty yet exciting challenge on the open seas.

The re-enactment of one of the most iconic expeditions in nautical history, following the journey across the Pacific from Tonga to Timor, will start on the same day (April 28th), at the same time and in the same location 221 years after the original mutiny journey. The crew left Sydney on Friday to travel to the starting point to begin the Expedition.

The seven week Expedition aboard the Talisker Bounty Boat – a 25ft long, 7ft wide, open wooden vessel – will see the crew facing the same deprivations as the original crew that were cast adrift in the middle of the Pacific, including: no navigation charts; only two weeks of water; hardly any food; and a lack of everyday luxuries such as a torch or even toilet paper.

Alongside Don McIntyre and Chris Wilde the international crew also includes Australian Dave Pryce and experienced English sailor, David Wilkinson. 

Not content with just taking on this huge challenge, McIntyre and the crew are also attempting to raise over $250,000 for The Sheffield Institute Foundation for Motor Neurone Disease (SIF), which is building the world’s first research Institute into Motor Neurone Disease (MND), Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. 

McIntyre does not underestimate the challenge ahead: “We’re incredibly excited to launch the Expedition today, leaving the city and our loved ones bound for the starting point. We will be getting close to the experience of Captain Bligh and his crew; however everyone aboard the Talisker Bounty Boat will be pushed to the limit of endurance and survival, forever hungry and unsure of everything, except their own desire to fight through this.”

The voyage is sponsored by Talisker Single Malt Scotch Whisky, the only single malt whisky from the Isle of Skye which is also the origin of Don McIntyre’s ancestry. His grandparents emigrated to Australia from Skye shortly after their marriage in 1901. 

To follow the expedition and donate to this cause, visit http://www.taliskerbountyboat.com/.