Spinnakersʼ Evening with Peter Currie
Thursday January 21st, 2009
Mixer starts @ 6pm!
308 Catherine St. Victoria, BC

Peter Currie is making the trip all of the way to Victoria this year for Victoriaʼs Whisky Festival, and heʼs been so kind to spend an evening with us. Our event starts at 6pm with an hour to enjoy a Spinnakers Ale of your choice, find your seats, and mingle. At 7pm Peter will start with some Springbank stories as we work our way into 5 whiskies and 5 courses, all paired by Chef Ali Ryan. The main course will include more than just a whisky, it will also include a pint of a cask conditioned Oatmeal Stout that we have infused and aged with Springbank 15!

Our whisky list for the night is as follows…
Longrow CV
Springbank 10
Hazelburn 12
Springbank 15
Longrow Gaja Barolo

After we have finished the five paired courses, and our whiskies are done, youʼll be going home with a Spinnakers Glencairn glass, and a 5% off coupon for these whiskies that will be sold in our store, thatʼs just down the street.
We will also be offering a deal for those of you who are from out of town. For anyone who is attending an Evening with Peter Currie, our rooms will be 15% off! Better hurry for your tickets, there are only 50 available, and weʼve already sold half of them! At $90 each, this is a great value. Tickets are able to purchased at Spinnakers, or if you canʼt make it here, you can call us at 250-386-2739. We will hold your tickets for you at the front desk.

LATE ADDITION – Peter has suggested that he will bring something special thatʼs new. A 5 year old Kilkerran. Itʼs their first bottling! If there are any questions, please donʼt hesitate to contact us.

Dustin Sepkowski
dustin@spinnakers.com
250-885-6373

Blair of the Aberdeen University Whisky Society reports  “in the pipeline we have – Glencadam Tasting (Feb 3rd), Benromach (March 10th), GlenMo and Ardbeg (March 19th). With possible trips to Royal Lochnagar and Highland Park. Plus visits to Spirit of Speyside Fest!”

Contact them via aberdeenwhisky@googlemail.comAre you interested in Malt Whisky? Are you partial to Bourbon or Irish Whisky? Would you like to further your knowledge and appreciation of the ‘Water of Life’? If so, come and join us at the Malt Whisky Society. Every fortnight we meet for tasting sessions hosted by whisky experts from the major Scottish distilleries. Money raised during the year supports the work of the WaterAid charity.  

WI would like to see the Juggling Society merge with the Whisky Society! The Juggling Society wants to give everyone the opportunity to learn juggling in a friendly environment (Anyone with other circus skills are also welcome).  The focus will be on teaching the basic skills with balls, clubs and rings, but also encourage intermediate and advance jugglers to practice, experiment and learn new tricks. Furthermore the society wants to participate in and/or organize shows.  To promote group spirit there will be regularly held social events.

Inverarity 8yo (40%, Islay, +/-2009)

From Loch Fyne Whiskies;

A vatting of four Islay Malts bottled at not less than eight years.

Sales to Islay fans have been fantastic. There is a very emphatic phenolic and medicinal character peat and iodine which is classic Islay; a good oiliness, powerful flavours yet also a breeze of fresh air. This is an excellent variation on Islay malts which will provoke much debate among Islay fans as to where the four components come from. Ace.

The Inverarity range is now completed with the addition of Inverarity Islay, an eight year old all-Islay vatted malt (or blended malt) made up of four components. The price of Inverarity Islay 8 years old is £23.90.

THE INVERARITY RANGE
adopted as our house malts

The Inverarity range is now complete and we have adopted all three as our house malts because of their extremely high quality and good value.
Not to be outdone, the new Scottish Parliament has also adopted the range as the only official whiskies to the parliament, an outstanding achievement both for Inverarity and the government and we can only hope they continue to make such wise decisions! (Hindsight has shown otherwise).

Now it’s W.I. turn to comment:

The nose is light, peated and mildly fragrant (think heather and juniper) along with some hints of grapefruit (slightly bitter) and some smoked honey. The nose is quite nice and distinctly Islay along with some maritime characteristics and after a few minutes in the glass some chocolate notes. After a number of minutes in the glass it changes some what to be slightly more roust and it loses the fragrant aromas. The taste is very peaty and very much of coal smoke, brine, some mild seaweed along with the chocolate and some malt. There is noting here to cause alarm; it’s simply very good and while very peaty it is not all so, the other flavours enhance the over all experience. The finish is very malty at first quickly followed by the peat reek and then the dry oaky bitter chocolate (mildly different from the chocolate as noted prior). Once again there are no off notes, it’s a great finish, some really good dry peated malt emerge after a minute of so.

What a fun dram! Hard to find fault with the price of £23.90 and who ever sees an 8yo whisky these days? “very emphatic phenolic” is quite correct! 

Score 87 Points

Peat week continues 3 of 4 and very well may run to a bonus tasting note (or not).

Visit The Inverarity Vaults at

http://www.inverarity-vaults.com/Home/ 

and Loch Fyne Whiskies at http://www.lfw.co.uk/

1600 words about wine before they come to the really important information………

Coming Thursday Jan 28
Glenmorangie Tasting with Bill Lumsden Master Distiller, Glenmorangie and Ardbeg Featuring their new Sonnalta PX which they call  “the best sherry cask whisky in the world”

Please pass this on to any friends who are whisky enthusiasts!

Len Rothenberg
Federal Wine & Spirits

Email: info@federalwine.com
Phone: (617) 367-8605
Web: http://www.federalwine.com/

The entire Maltstock crew wishes everybody a dram good 2010!

The year 2009 was very special for us because we saw the realization of a dream: Maltstock!

We hope to see you all (again) at the second edition of Maltstock 3 – 5 September 2010

The new website is online: www.maltstock.com

Share and enjoy!

Bob, Teun, Arthur, Rogier, Eline and the entire Maltstock crew

Join Our American Whiskey Club

We seek out unique expressions of American whiskeys that we find to be particularly delectable and buy an allotment. The whiskey you receive in our club is meticulously taste-selected by our devoted staff. It is unique to D&M as well as your personal collection!

By joining our club, you will receive a bottle every 3 months of the best that American Whiskey has to offer – shipped right to your home or office along with background material on the producer and our staff’s tasting notes on the product.

The cost tops out at $100 but usually much lower.

In December of this 2009 our club members  received a bottle of  Four Roses Single Barrel Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey – D&M Exclussive  Barrel # 22-1 A. Warehouse# 13N. 55.1%.  Lots of fruit on the nose: raspberry and bananas, floral with sasparilla and vanilla aromas. The palate is very floral (rose petals) with cinnamon, allspice, bananas, tropical fruit, fresh pepercorn and a touch of honey in the finish. D&M Tasting Notes.

Legend has it, the name is a result of the founder of Four Roses, Paul Jones, proposing to a Southern belle. She replied that were her answer yes, she’ll wear a corsage of roses to the upcoming grand ball. Lo and behold, the night came and the propositioned had adorned herself with a corsage of four red roses. The bourbon received this sobriquet as a result of Paul Jones wishing to draw comparison between his love and passion for that particular Southern belle and his Four Roses Bourbon.

Despite exacting measures of quality, Four Roses found itself out of the United States for over 40 years. This was a result of Seagram purchasing the Frankfort Distilling Co., and in the process acquiring Four Roses Bourbon, in 1943. Much of the Four Roses whiskey went to rounding out and beefing up blended whiskies. At the same time, the brand was moved internationally in order to focus on the growing market in countries throughout Europe and Asia. In 2002, ownership changed again. Four Roses ceased their blended whiskey production in favor of producing 100% Kentucky Straight Bourbon. At the same time, the brand was reintroduced to the U.S. market.

Four Roses is the only Bourbon on the market that produces 10 different recipes under the same label. There are only 2 different mash bills. One being 75% corn, 20% rye and 5% malted barley. The other being 60% corn, 35% rye and 5% malted barley. The other difference in their recipes comes from the 5 yeast strains that they use. All their yeast is cultured on premises by Four Roses (many distilleries buy their yeast strains in bulk and have it shipped in). The yeasts can lend to very different flavor profiles as demonstrated in Four Roses different products, they even tell you which recipe they’re using on the bottle.

Suggested list price for this exclusive bottle is $90.00 but our club members only paid $69.99.

Visit D&M American Whiskey Club at http://www.dandm.com/clubs_american_whiskey.php?cat=clubs&subcat=American+Whiskey+Club

Big Peat No Age Statement (46%, Douglas Laing, 2009)

A Vatted Islay Malt

From the labels, front and back; ‘A small batch bottling traditionally Unchillfiltered’ and ‘Historically we would call this – whisper it- “a vatted malt” but with a big peat kick’. ‘A shovelful of Islay Single Malt Scotch Whiskies including malts distilled at Ardbeg* Caol Ila*Bowmore*Port Ellen*Distilleries’.

The nose is most definitely peated, right off and with a really nice back ground of sweetness (think of toffee & honey) along with the ever slightest hint of Elder flowers and Clementine’s. Oh my, this is very nice, the peat smoke and the sweetness are really quite something. There are also some hints of coal smoke, iodine and brine. On to the taste which is beautifully peated and sweet with a vague touch on cigarette ash which is quickly over taken by the sweetness and the peat followed by the hints of the Elder flowers and Clementine’s. There is also some slight hints of malt and porridge. The taste is very nice and despite the name the peat is not overwhelming, one wants more. The finish is once again peated along with some malt and some slight hints of ash followed by the sweetness ad then some beautiful dry dark bitter chocolate, oh, what a moment. This finish rolls on for what seems forever changing and revealing new tastes before gently easing off…well actually that last bit is a lie, it doesn’t gently do anything, it’s quite robust but very good. Ever slight hint of some soapiness after a few minutes but it really is very slight and does not detract in the slightest. The finish is carrying on…..whatever, off to lunch.

A most unusual departure for Douglas Laing…and who is this bearded Peat fellow depicted on the front label?

C$85

Score 85 Points

Shake hands with Peat himself at http://www.douglaslaingwhisky.com/home.php?WEBYEP_DI=35

Peat week continues 2 of 4………….

2nd Saturday  *  Every month *  6 – 9 p.m. *  No Reservation required

(Saturday, January 9, 2010)

Enjoy light hors d’oeuvres to cleanse your palate between 5 half-ounce samples of single malt Scotch whisky: $20. (Cash bar for non-whisky drinkers)

          ►  We feature 3 malts, including a Malt of the Month *

          ►  You roll a die and pick a malt from one of the six Scotch regions

          ►  You pick a connoisseur’s choice from our whisky list
Miner’s Delight Inn Bed & Breakfast

Atlantic City, WY

Contact Bob at 307.332.0248

Visit Miner’s Inn at http://www.minersdelightinn.com/index.htm

2010 features:

* 10% off bottles of the Malt of the Month

January 9, 2010

The Balvenie 15 yo      Single Barrel *

Bunnahabhain 12 yo

Isle of Jura Superstition

♥ February 13, 2010

Aberlour 12 yo *

Tomatin 12 yo

Springbank 15 yo

♣ March 13, 2010

The Arran Malt 10 yo *

Bruichladdich 12 yo       2nd Edition

Tullibardine 1993

April 10, 2010

Laphroaig 10 yo *

Benromach Organic

Glengoyne 17 yo

May 8, 2010

Cragganmore 12 yo *

BenRiach 10 yo Curiositas

Glenmorangie 10 yo Original

June 12, 2010

Ardbeg 10 yo *

The Glenlivet 15 yo French Oak Reserve

Edradour 10 yo

Four Roses Small Batch  Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey

This week only: $24.99

This Small Batch bottling is one of the select few releases from Four Roses. This edition was given a Five Stars in 2007 by Spirit Journal as well as a Silver Medal at the 2007 International Spirits Challenge.

Tasting Notes:
Rich, nut brown color with a nose composed of wood spice, brown butter and carmelized banana. The palate is alive with orange zest, vanilla and charred oak. The finish is just hot enough so that you remember what you’re drinking.

The Story:
Like many of the American Whiskey brands that have lasted as long as Four Roses, there is a history tied to both the product and the name. Legend has it, the name is a result of the founder of Four Roses, Paul Jones, proposing to a Southern belle. She replied that were her answer yes, she’ll wear a corsage of roses to the upcoming grand ball. Lo and behold, the night came and the propositioned had adorned herself with a corsage of four red roses. The bourbon received this sobriquet as a result of Paul Jones wishing to draw comparison between his love and passion for that particular Southern belle and his Four Roses Bourbon.

The sale price for the Four Roses Bourbon Whiskey is good until
Sunday January 10th, 2010. Happy New Year!!!

Connosr – Whisky Social Network – have launched a new feature for their online whisky community; an embeddable widget which allows users to display their whisky cabinet and reviews on their own website, blog or social network profile.

The widget comes in two formats (220 x 450 or 380 x 450).

More info: http://connosr.com/share/