Glenglassaugh Distillery, Portsoy.  August 2010.

·        New “Spirit Drink” range revealed

·        Unique products offer insight into evolution of whisky

The Glenglassaugh Distillery Company today announces the release of a unique range of “Spirit Drink” products – an opportunity for malt whisky fans to sample the evolution of the spirit that will eventually become whisky.

The range – packaged in 200ml bottles and all at 50% abv – initially comprises four products under the Spirit Drink brand umbrella:

‘Clearac’ – brand new ‘new make’ spirit straight off the still
‘Blushes’ – the Glenglassaugh spirit aged for – 6 months in ex-wine casks, and
‘Fledgling XB’ – new spirit aged for – 12 months in Bourbon casks
‘Peated’ – brand new ‘new make’ spirit produced using peated malted barley

The distillery’s MD, Stuart Nickerson, said:

“The Spirit Drink range follows the successful one-off bottling of The Spirit Drink that Dare Not Speak Its Name, the world’s first release of a single mash and feedback from our consumers.”

“Malt drinkers told us that they wanted to try as many variants of our evolving spirit as possible; that they wanted affordable sampling packs and that different cask types were of great interest.  The Spirit Drink range is the result.”

“We have other variants in the pipeline including spirit aged in quality sherry wood and spirit aged for longer time periods.  The variation is interesting and the overall quality incredibly exciting.  The prospects for Glenglassaugh when fully matured are exceptional.”

The range was launched with a party and sampling at Edinburgh’s Bramble Bar, rated one of the world’s top cocktail spots.  Bramble Bar’s Mike Aikman said:

“At Bramble, we are always excited to use innovative new products in our cocktails, challenge people’s perceptions of what can be done with these spirits and praising the versatility of the different expressions.” 

The Spirit Drink range will be available from 26th August at good independent retailers; from the distillery shop and via Glenglassaugh’s international distributors. UK RRP is £13 per 200 ml bottle.

Plans are currently being made for a triple pack containing Clearac, Blushes and Fledgling XB to be available, within the next few weeks.

NOTES

About Glenglassaugh

The Glenglassaugh Distillery is situated on the Banffshire coast in the North-East of Scotland, close to the small village of Portsoy. The distillery was built in 1875 by local businessmen to satisfy the growing global demand for Scotch Malt Whisky and the site was chosen due to its close proximity to a high quality water supply and easy access to the nearby barley fields.

After a visit in the late 1880s, the highly-regarded Victorian commentator Alfred Barnard described Glenglassaugh as “too well known to need any praise.”

More recently, spirit from Glenglassaugh was used primarily in blends such as Cutty Sark and The Famous Grouse. In 1986 the then owners mothballed Glenglassaugh as part of wider cutbacks in production and the distillery has remained silent thereafter. In 2008 The Scaent Group of Amsterdam purchased the distillery and have invested more than £1m to recommence operations and to reintroduce to discerning customers the distinctive and high quality attributes of The Glenglassaugh Single Malt Scotch Whisky.  For more information, please visit www.glenglassaugh.com

Redevelopment

The refurbishment and reopening of the Glenglassaugh Distillery have been managed by Stuart Nickerson, a renowned whisky expert, who was the sole consultant during the acquisition. Nickerson has worked in the Scotch Whisky industry since 1981 with a significant part of his career being with William Grants, where he was Distilleries Director.  Previously, he managed Highland Park Distillery, Glenrothes and Glenfiddich Distilleries in succession. He was appointed the new Managing Director of the Glenglassaugh Distillery Company in February 2008.

One of Stuart Nickerson’s first actions was the appointment of Graham Eunson as Distillery Manager, effective from 1st April 2008. Graham joined the Distillery from Glenmorangie where he was Manager of the world famous distillery for the last 12 years. Graham has also worked at Glendronach and Scapa distilleries.

Production at Glenglassaugh was restarted on 24th November 2008 by Rt Hon Alex Salmond, Scotland’s First Minister and the distillery’s MP.  Distilling was thus commenced under the guidance of Stuart Nickerson and Graham Eunson, the new management team, who have now released a number of innovative new products.

Please note that all prompts of “click here to view” do not function; the content was supplied in a format that would not upload these functions. Interseting none the less.

The sensible people at the Wigtown Book Festival have included a few whisky related events in the line up;

Ian Buxton:
101 Whiskies to Try Before You Die
Saturday 25 September 2010
18:00 pm
McNeillie Tent
£8.00 

Ian Buxton’s book is a whisky guide with a difference: it’s not an awards list. It does not detail the 101 “best” whiskies in the world. In this talk and tasting, expert Buxton avoids the deliberately obscure, ridiculously limited and absurdly expensive to recommend an eclectic selection of old favourites, stellar newcomers and mystifyingly unknown drams that simply demand to be drunk. To accompany them, we will serve a selection of nibbles from Galloway’s best food producers.

Venue Information
McNeillie Tent
Wigtown
DG8 9JH

Music: The Bladnoch Distillery Session
Wednesday 29 September 2010
19:30 pm
Bladnoch Distillery Main Hall
£3.00 

Bladnoch Distillery has been home to many memorable musical evenings over the years. Come and hear the best talent of 2010 – from folk and jazz to blues and more – a meeting of musical minds in a relaxed and informal atmosphere. Licensed bar (Bladnoch whisky!) available. If you are interested in taking part in the Bladnoch Distillery session, get in touch. Contact the festival office on 01988 402036.

Venue Information
Bladnoch Distillery Main Hall
Bladnoch
DG8 9AB

http://www.wigtownbookfestival.com/index.asp

All whisky tastings take place on Thursday nights from 7:30pm until approximately 10pm at the Tolbooth Tavern, 167 Canongate, Royal Mile, Edinburgh, Scotchland. You’ll find this location on Google Maps at the bottom of the page.

Thursday September 2nd Old/Sherried/Peaty/Rare/Unusual £23/20*

Caperdonich 40yo 02.69-05.09 2nd fill remade hogsheads 46% closed distillery Gordon & MacPhail

Caol Ila Feis Ile 2010 61.9% filled 19/8/99 European oak sherry cask

Aultmore 1991 – 07/08 11yo Bourbon hogshead 287 bottles 57.5% Cadenheads

J. & A. Mitchell’s 2010 Edinburgh International Festival blend 40%

Caledonian 1965 45yo 46.1% single grain closed distillery Clan Denny/Douglas Laing

http://www.jollytopertastings.co.uk/

Hazelburn OB 12yo 46%alc.

2010 release of Springbank’s triple distilled no-peat malt.

Distillery writes:

Colour: Light bronze

Nose: Incredibly rich, the influence of the sherry casks is immediately apparent. Sweet and chocolatey, there are also notes of apricot, orange marmalade, almonds and marzipan.

Palate: Malty, fruity and elegant. A very well balanced and rounded dram with hints of oak, figs and nuts.

Finish: A long, lingering fruity sweetness.

Price excluding VAT: £38.72
£45.50 Including VAT at 17.5%

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

With this small B&W article/post www.whiskyintelligence.com has achieved a milestone of 2,000 articles/posts dedicated to all types of whisk(ey) since the launch in 2009.

Whisky Intelligence would like to take this opportunity to extend a sincere thank you to everybody who has contirbuted, encouraged, read, commented and supported this effort since inception.

Work continues apace on the next 2,000 articles & posts…

Now recommend a whisky-loving (or just curious) friend and, when they join, you get another chance to win. And another and another, one for every friend you send our way.

Your friend will also be entered into the draw and you may well end up visiting Dufftown together, as long as they’ve registered by October 14th, when our prize draw closes. 

Slainte,

David Mair
The Balvenie Ambassador

PS – just click on here to recommend a friend. http://tinyurl.com/37gyl7f  (You must sign into Warehouse 24 first)

Smokehead Takes Gold at San Francisco World Spirits Competition

Hot on the heels of a Gold Medal for its explosive, peaty flavours from the highly respected Beverage Testing Institute (BTI), SMOKEHEAD, has been honoured with another Gold Medal, this time from the prestigious expert judging panel at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition.

Deemed the most influential and respected spirits competition in the world the SFWSC honoured Smokehead, the powerful Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky from Ian Macleod Distillers, for its innovative, edgy packaging. This great design award perfectly compliments the recent BTI International Review of Spirits win, in which Smokehead was awarded an ‘Exceptional’ rating of 91/100 for taste.

Celebrating its 10th year, the 2010 SFWSC was the biggest in its history with 30 judges gathering in downtown San Francisco in March to recognise excellence in spirits. The judging panel, comprising of spirits experts from noted restaurants and hotels, spirits journalists, buyers and consultants, evaluated 1024 different spirits from 58 countries.

Iain Weir, Marketing Director for Ian Macleod Distillers, commented; “We are thrilled that the style and individuality of Smokehead’s packaging has been recognised by such an esteemed judging panel.

“Smokehead has enjoyed a number of successes recently by combining high quality and unique flavours with the product’s standout designer packaging. It has also proved popular with its target market of the young, discerning and adventurous ‘modern drinker’.” 

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 two Gold Medals from BTI in the 2009 International Review of Spirits Packaging Competition, the Scottish Field Whisky Challenge Gold Medal, Wine & Spirits Design Awards for Best Dark Spirit and the overall Trophy for Design of the Year.

Described as being like a cannonball, Smokehead is an explosive combination of peat, smoke and spice with some delicate sweetness. The single malt flavour is described as fresh, fruity and immense, with notes of sherry, iodine, toffee, smoke and sea salt.  The taste hits the palate at once with cocoa, peat and some honey sweetness, before exploding with peppery spice and more earthy peat. Other products in the range include the Smokehead Extra Rare 1 litre bottle (Travel Retail Exclusive) and the premium 18 Years Old Smokehead Extra Black.

Smokehead is available worldwide, details of stockists can be found on the website www.smokehead.co.uk for inquiries in the U.S see www.impexbev.com 

Curious to discover more, visit www.smokehead.co.uk or visit www.sfspiritscomp.com

Smokehead Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky encourages responsible drinking

www.drinkaware.co.uk  www.scotch-whisky.org.uk

The Spirit of Whisky Fringe 2010 was not won by Bruichladdich.

Having won it twice before, the winner of this year’s whisky tasting organised by Royal Mile Whiskies during Edinburgh’s Fringe festival, was another Islay single malt, Bunnahabhain’s excellent 25 year old.

126 whiskies were tasted and voted on by the Edinburgh public.

The Whisky Fringe 2010 top ten was:

1. Bunnahabhain 25 Year Old
2. Old Pulteney 17 Year Old
3. Caledonian 1965 Clan Denny
4. Glenmorangie Signet
5. Bruichladdich 17 Year Old Rum Cask
6. Bruichladdich x4 +3
7. Balvenie 17 Year Old Madeira
8. Port Ellen 1979 Old & Rare
9. Springbank 18 Year Old
10. Glenfarclas 40 Year Old

Note in 6th position, out of 126 entrants, ahead of 18 year old Springbank and 40 year old Glenfarclas, is Bruichladdich X4+3.  Yes, our pioneering, quadruple distilled 3 year old single malt. (Hey! What about #5, Bruichladdich 17 Year Old Rum Cask?).

Indeed, this is the very same whisky that was famously referred to as “not cooking oil. Not diesel oil. Sewing machine oil” by whisky character Charlie McLean in a stitch-up tasting with a bunch of boozy Times hacks earlier this year in Edinburgh in a deliberate myschievous attempt to be controversial on Burns’ Night.

Who’s laughing now.

Visit the mildly irritated Bruichladdich at www.bruichladdich.com

Here’s hoping the summer finds you warm and well. We Diurachs know that ‘Scottish Summer’ is a contradiction in terms, but at least all the rain is great for making whisky!

The start of the summer brought us a whisky festival to remember. A big thanks if you joined us online to watch our Boutique Barrels tasting. Willie Tait thinks the Oscar’s in the bag for him! If you missed it, don’t worry, it’s still available to view here; http://tinyurl.com/jura-video. And a big thank you if you made the trip west to the island, joined us in our festivities and helped select the very special Island Exclusive malt. But more about this later.

We recently enjoyed the island’s annual sports day and the regatta. Both gave everyone an excuse – as if one is ever needed – to raise a glass of Diurach’s Own to the gallant winners! Again you can check out the photos on the Island Life section of our website http://www.isleofjura.com/island-life.aspx.

The next big event to look forward to is the music festival on JURA – centre stage will be a glimpse of our Island Exclusive malt. If you were one of the 180 friends who took part in the selection process you’ll be pleased to know that cask 30 was the winner and we expect to get about 490 bottles from it – all of which will remain on the island. (Of course we’ll be keeping a couple of bottles under the counter for honorary Diurachs and the friends who helped select it at the festival.)

If you haven’t been on our website recently you might not know that Cath and Andy are the new owners of the Jura Hotel, the ONLY hotel and pub on Jura. I popped over the road for wee a dram and we shared a few ideas on how we could create a home away from home for our friends all over the world! We decided the best way to welcome you into our community would be to offer a free dram of our beloved malt, every month at the Jura Pub, for life! Also starting Monday 6th September you will be able to take part in the Jura Pub Quiz online, and test your knowledge of our beloved island and malt! Make sure you log on as there is some great whisky to be won including a very special bottle of JURA 1974!

We realise that Jura is deemed to be an un-get-at-able place and to allow you to experience the wonderful life on Jura as “honorary Diurachs” we’ve worked with our friends on the island to make it easier than ever before for you to experience our island. And don’t worry if you won’t be here often, we have other plans that will make it worth your while!

Slainte

Willie Cochrane
Jura Distillery Manager

P.S. To make the most of your life as a Diurach visit www.isleofjura.com and see how good life on the island can be! If you have friends or family who also share your passion for Jura whisky and might like to become honorary Diurachs send them to www.isleofjura.com where they’ll discover more about our mystical isle.