Port Ellen Mackillop’s Choice 1979 30yo 51.9%alc.

Distilled 30th August 1979

Bottled June 2010

Mr. MacKillop’s notes are somewhat surgical, analytical with interesting observations:

Colour: Golden colour with khaki flecks.

Nose: Smoky, sweet, malt. Some vegetal tones, but also marine seaweed, sea-salt, and some floralness.

Palate: Powerful, but with some citrus and floral tones as well as seaweed and flinty smoke.

Finish: Nice, elegant but full finish.

See ‘label explanations’ above for more information.

Price excluding VAT: £124.25
£145.99 Including VAT at 17.5%

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

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Single Malts Direct Newsletter
BenRiach and GlenDronach Special New Releases
August 2010
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Greetings!

Wow. Have we got some exotic and colourful releases this week.

Fresh from the GlenDronach and BenRiach warehouses are these beauties, very much whiskies for the summer with lots of fruit, vanilla and floral elements.

Read on for more…

New GlenDronach Releases
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14 YO Sauternes A creamy, custard pudding with strawberries, apples and rhubarb Only £41.99inc Vat £35.74 ex Vat.

 14 YO Virgin Oak  Tropical fruit salad with hints of ginger and Cinnamon.   Only £41.99 inc Vat £35.74 ex Vat.

15 YO Moscatel A fruity and nutty combination with hints of summer fruits- melon, pineapple and raisins  Only  £44.99 inc Vat £38.29 ex Vat.

20 YO Tawny Port Wine elements with stewed fruits of  prunes, pears  and apples Only  £64.99  inc Vat £55.31 ex Vat.

New BenRiach Releases
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17 YO Rioja Wood Dry and robust with vanilla,  grapes and floral elements   £44.99 inc Vat £38.29 ex Vat.

17 YO Burgundy Wood Summer red berries and  cocoa with vanilla creme-£44.99 inc Vat £38.29 ex Vat.

16 YO Claret Wood Clean and fruity with spice fruit scones enrobed in a fig and date syrup £39.99 inc Vat £34.03 ex Vat.

Contact Information
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phone: 0845 6066145
email: info@singlemaltsdirect.com
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Glendronach 12yo ‘Original’ (43%, OB, PX & Oloroso cask matured, +/- 2009)

The revamped 12yo released by Billy Walker and team which has won fans with some speed. Matured in Pedro Ximenez and Oloroso casks. The nose is nicely sherried and backed by some slight green notes at first that quickly give way to more honey sweetness (think of tinned fruit cocktail). The more time it spends in the glass the more it opens to reveal its sweet sherried side. There are some back ground notes of heather and roses. The taste is vibrant, sherried and very, very good. Oh well done, this is really nice. The sherry is nicely complimented by the delicate rose and heather along with some nice oak notes. Spicy and sherried. What a cracker this is. The finish is more of the same; very well balanced. Everything as previously described carries on and then an extra dollop of sweetness just to hammer home the point. It is quite long and after a while some cold unsweetened tea makes an appearance. After some further passage of time some malt arrives…

Extremely enjoyable.

C$70

Score 86 points

It's the one on the far left...

GLENDRONACH RELEASES FOUR NEW WOOD FINISHES
 
More good news from GlenDronach. On top of the news that its sales have soared since the launch of its 12, 15 and 18YO core range last year, the Aberdeenshire distillery has announced the forthcoming release of four new wood finishes – the first of their kind ever to be released by the distillery in its one hundred and eighty-year history.
 
This month they’ll launch the much-anticipated Sauternes, Virgin Oak, Moscatel and Tawny Port Wood finishes.
 
Each unique expression was initially matured in European oak and thereafter finished its maturation in a very small batch of the respective wine barrels (or in one case, virgin oak), which have given the whisky its own unique flavours and aromas.
 
All are non-chill filtered and of natural colour and are bottled at 46%abv.
 
GlenDronach 14YO Sauternes Finish
 
Appearance – bright lemon straw   
Nose – juicy and fresh. A blanket of creamed soda and wild strawberries backed up lush late harvest dessert wine. Hints of sherbet and ripe cherries. Very fruity.
Palate – apples and rhubarb drenched in home-made custard. Sweet dessert wine influences emerge with ripe sultanas and a lovely creamy heart.   
Conclusions – sweet fresh and fragrant with balanced acidity. Lots of finesse and elegance, whilst still maintaining the lively youthful elements.
 
GlenDronach 14YO Virgin Oak Finish
 
Appearance – light gold. Freshly harvested straw.           
Nose – toasted oak elements which are so intense that smoky attributes emerge. Sweet and lush tropical fruits rise with prominence. Banana and cacao, with roasted coconut.             
Palate – spiced ginger and cinnamon cake with a beautiful smoky twist. Creamed dessicated coconut and fresh buttered toast with a handful of hazelnuts on the side.       
Conclusion – a glorious nut feast with superb depth.
 
GlenDronach 15YO Moscatel Finish
 
Appearance – light gold.      
Nose – golden syrup and nutmeg. Poached peaches and apricot flavours with fresh figs and dates. Subtle marzipan on the tail intensifies the aromatics.      
Palate – sweet summer fruits of melon and pineapple intertwined with sweet ripe raisins and alcohol infused figs. Subtle marzipan adds a smooth round nutty edge.  
Conclusion – a warming mix of fruit, nuts. Lovely length and balance.
 
GlenDronach 20YO Tawny Port Finish
 
Appearance – bright amber with a subtle tawny edge.    
Nose – lashings of fine fortified wine elements and a generous portion of Mediterranean fruits including figs and dates.     
Palate – stewed fruits of prunes, pears and apples. The stewed fruit is balanced with an injection of liquorice and subtle aniseed flavours. Massive power and definition.       
Conclusion – a complex dram with a fantastic fortified backbone.
 
The release of a series of non-sherry wood finishes is certainly quite a departure from the norm for GlenDronach, where the tradition is to mature the whisky in big, rich sherry casks such as Oloroso and Pedro Ximinez.
 
As MD Billy Walker explained: “We’re not looking to change the style of GlenDronach. Our focus will continue to be on richly sherried malts, but we were interested to see how the whisky would react to different types of wood. It was important that the whiskies we selected for ‘finishing’ were not typical GlenDronach (richly sherried); instead we opted for whisky that had been maturing in lighter casks – this meant we could experience in full the impact of the second cask, be it Sauternes, Virgin Oak, Moscatel or Tawny Port.
 
“Each of these ‘finishes’ has been bottled in relatively small quantities, ranging from 340 cases of the Tawny Port Finish to 860 cases of the Virgin Oak Finish.”
 
The wood finishes will available in over twenty export markets, and in the UK through independent specialist whisky retailers, as well as at the distillery shop.
 
UK RRPs are as follows (70cl / 46%):
 
14YO Sauternes Finish – £41.99
14YO Virgin Oak Finish – £41.99
15YO Moscatel Finish – £44.99
20YO Tawny Port Finish – £64.99

Visit GlenDronach Distillery at www.glendronachdistillery.co.uk

The Balvenie distillery, one of Scotland’s last family-owned distilleries and the only distillery to still practice the Five Rare Crafts of traditional whisky making, is creating a once-in-a-lifetime whisky tasting event for the Whisky on the Hudson that will feature the full Balvenie historical range.

On August 26, 2010, whisky enthusiasts will have the opportunity to taste the full historical range of The Balvenie. Dr. Whisky, The Balvenie Ambassador and curator of the event, couldn’t be more excited: “This is an unprecedented exhibit. To taste the past, present, and future Balvenie expressions, opening rare, unavailable, and new releases with the most passionate whisky lovers in the world, is a dream come true.”

Members of The Balvenie’s Warehouse 24 who attend the Whisky Guild’s Whisky on the Hudson on August 26, 2010 will gain access to a reserved VIP area featuring a near complete archive of The Balvenie Single Malts.

Currently, The Balvenie has six widely available expressions in the USA but for one night only, there will be nearly THIRTY different Balvenies on hand to taste

The Balvenie Classic
12yo Signature, Batch 1
12yo Signature, Batch 2
12yo Signature, Batch 3
14yo Golden Cask (Travel Retail Exclusive)
14yo Caribbean Rum (launching Sept 2010)
15yo Single Barrel (over TEN various single casks)
16yo Balvenie Rose (Distillery Exclusive)
all of the 17yo series, from Islay Cask (rel. 2001) to Peated Cask (launching Sept 2010)
21yo Port Wood Travel Retail (unchillfiltered, 47.6%abv)
25yo Single Barrel
The Balvenie 30
The Balvenie 1978 

… and more!

Join Warehouse 24 at www.thebalvenie.com, purchase your ticket for Whisky on the Hudson, and gain access to the whisky tasting experience of a lifetime August 26, 2010

For more information or to request press passes, please contact
Sam Simmons, The Balvenie Ambassador
ssimmons@wgrantusa.com

The New Octomore 3_152

Maltstock Pre-order special!!!   
  
Octomore 3_152

The world’s peatiest whisky: 152 ppm! This Octomore is not yet available in any shop. But you can already pre-order it through Maltstock. And with a very special Maltstock discount!

Maltstock guests pay just € 87,50 per bottle.  (The estimated price in the shop is around € 110,- ).Your bottle(s) will be waiting for you at Maltstock.

Not able to come to Maltstock, but still would like to pre-order this Octomore? That’s also possible: for just € 95,- euro’s (+ shipping) you can pre-order your bottle(s). Bottles will be send to you early September.

This 5 year old Octomore has been matured in ex-bourbon casks. At 152 ppm it is the world’s peatiest whisky! It will be bottled at cask strength 59% ABV and is distilled from Scottish grown barley.  Matured and bottled on Islay. “The iron fist in a velvet glove”

To order your bottle(s) simply send an e-mail to: info@maltstock.com

Maltstock tickets

If you haven’t bought your Maltstock tickets yet, please do so as soon as possible. Tickets are not available at the Maltstock gates. All tickets need to be bought in advance through our online webshop. You can also still register for the free Malttsock tastings as soon as you have bought your tickets.

Hope to see you all in September, see you at Maltstock!

Arthur, Bob, Eline, Rogier & Teun
www.maltstock.com

Once in a while something very amusing arrives at Whisky Intelligence and this is one of those times. Glenfiddich seems to be keeping this close to their chests for some odd reason which of course never works with bloggers…many thanks to Tim for taking the time to write this up.

Glenfiddich Explorers Competition

AUTHOR: Tim Forbes at the Whisky Exchange

All kinds of cloak-and-dagger skullduggery from Glenfiddich in the last few weeks, clearly designed to engage the whisky blog community:

Part 1 – A cryptic email on 19th July from a PR flunkey, enquiring about our address and promising a ‘rather valuable’ parcel to arrive on 26th July.

Part 2 – An apologetic email on 27th July, explaining that as not all the whisky bloggers to be involved in the ’surprise event’ had supplied their addresses on time (naughty bloggers!), the parcels were being delayed, but would be sent out on Friday 30th for arrival early this week

Part 3 – A notification email on Tuesday 3rd August explaining that the parcel was to be sent on Wednesday on a pre-noon delivery.  What a palaver!

Part 4 – The arrival this morning of a locked wooden box, with instructions to watch my inbox (presumably for the combination to the lock).

That enigmatic Glenfiddich box

Sadly, we’re very busy here and the Glenfiddich PR team had reckoned without the dodgy Lithuanian who shares my desk.  I’m sure he’s an escaped criminal.  Anyway, the lock withstood his attentions for around 6 seconds, to reveal a bottle of distillery-only cask strength Glenfiddich Solera 15 (nice) and a URL which took us to a new warehouse exploration website – and there’s a competition involved, with the prize of a £3000 holiday.  If that’s not worth a whisky blog post, I don’t know what is, so well done Glenfiddich on that one.  You have my attention.

That Glenfiddich box after a few seconds of Lithuanian interference

Here’s what to do to enter the comp:

1) Go to Glenfiddichexplorers.co.uk and register to become a Glenfiddich Explorer.  Then click to Explore the Warehouse.

2) You go through a padlock and are told to turn your sound on. Be warned that some ambient music will follow.  You can turn this off by clicking on the little graphic equalizer in the bottom right hand corner.

3) The idea is that you ‘explore’ the warehouse by clicking on arrows.  Your mission is to find a shovel, a suitcase and an oak leaf.

4) When you find each item you will be shown a video of an earnest Scottish man talking very softly about various Glenfiddich-y stuff.  Don’t forget to turn your sound back on if you want to hear him.  However, viewers prone to nausea may not wish to hear that by drinking Glenfiddich, in a sense, we’re all pioneers.

5) After you’ve found all the items you will be taken to a cask and prompted to select your holiday preferences, followed by a few standard questions on how much Glenfiddich you drink etc.  You are then entered into the competition.

I jumped through all the relevant hoops, but unfortunately the site got stuck the first time I arrived at the oak leaf, so I had to go back and start again.  Not wishing to have to plough through the whole warehouse navigation thing again, I found a few shortcuts, which I hereby pass on for the benefit of readers with a low tolerance for earnest Scottish men talking about symbolic suitcases.  Fortunately, you can speed the whole process up immensely if you so desire:

a) Once you’re in the warehouse, skip the faffing around and go directly to each item by clicking on the Map at the bottom of the screen.

b) After you’ve arrived at each item, skip the earnest young man’s videos by hovering your mouse over him as soon as he appears.

The prizes are allocated at certain pre-set times – you win if you finish the game at any of these pre-set times.  According to the terms & conditions, the prizes include:

26 x pair of whisky glasses
1 x Private Tasting with Jamie Milne
1 x Private Tasting with Brian Kinsman
1 x Trip to The Glenfiddich Distillery
18 x Tasting sets consisting of 1×20cl Glenfiddich 12 year old, 1×20cl 15 y/o, 1×20cl 18 y/o
2 x 70cl Bottle of The Glenfiddich Distillery Malt
13 x 70cl Bottle of The Glenfiddich Rich Oak
36 x The Glenfiddich Golf Umbrellas
11 x The Glenfiddich Ice Buckets

Good Luck!  Many thanks to Glenfiddich’s long-suffering PR team for my box, and hopefully they’ll forgive me for exercising my ‘pioneer spirit’ and ‘exploring’ it a bit early.

Update: Have now received a clue as to how to find out who’s got my combination.  It’s redundant now that I’ve already broken in, but that’s not their fault. I’ve also received someone else’s combination.  If any of my whisky blog colleagues has received a clue that says ‘Look for a mouthy idiot’, that’s probably me and your code is 765.

Smokehead Single Malt Scotch Whisky $54.99

Edinburgh, 02 June 2010: SMOKEHEAD was 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’.

Visit D&M at www.dandm.com

BENRIACH RELEASES 2010 WOOD FINISHES
 
BenRiach has this month released three exciting new Wood Finish expressions from its Speyside Distillery.
 
The brand new bottlings include:
 
The BenRiach 16YO Claret Finish – 46%

The BenRiach 17YO Rioja Finish – 46%
 
The BenRiach 17YO Burgundy Finish – 46%
 
Matured in the traditional style in American bourbon barrels, these whiskies have then been ‘finished’ in either Rioja, Claret or Burgundy wine barrels. During this additional period of maturation, the whisky derives a number of additional flavours and aromas specific to the ‘finishing’ cask.  
 
The tasting notes spell out what makes these single malts so special.

BenRiach 16YO Claret Finish

Nose – clean and fruity. Stewed plums and damsons with sweet oak nuances. Embracing but with real finesse.
 
Colour – bright sparkling orange gold.
 
Taste – Spiced fruit scones, enrobed in a fig and date syrup. Fairly light acidity, yet with lovely mouth-cleansing fruits. A whisky with the flavours standing in perfect equilibrium. 
 
BenRiach 17YO Rioja Finish
 
Nose – dry and robust with wild flower characteristics. Sweet oak follows with elegant vanilla bean extract and ripe fermented grape juice.
 
Colour – Full gold with distinctive amber traces.
 
Palate – subtle floral elements including, violets, rosehip and dandelion. Creamy oak notes, married with vanilla and nutmeg round off the mix partnered with ripe peaches and apricots.
 
BenRiach 17YO Burgundy Finish

Nose – summer red berries, including fermented strawberries and raspberries. This is complemented by bitter cocoa bean nibs and freshly-cut wild flowers.
 
Colour – Full gold with a subtle tawny hue.
 
Taste – Vanilla crème-brulée with a distinct butterscotch component. Redcurrant jelly and quince flavours interact with toasted oak to bring excellent clarity and weight. A fruit and oak marriage of great elegance.
 
Sales director Alistair Walker said: “BenRiach operates an extensive finishing programme, and a five-minute stroll around the distillery’s Warehouse 13 will testify to that! The current BenRiach range already includes expressions finished in Pedro Ximinez Sherry, Tawny Port, Madeira, Dark Rum, Sauternes, Gaja Barolo and Moscatel.
 
“BenRiach has always been an experimental distillery, even under previous owners, and we have continued that tradition. We try and keep the range fresh and interesting by releasing new finishes and single casks each year, but in very limited quantities.”
 
The three new BenRiach finishes will be available in over twenty export markets, and in the UK through specialist, independent whisky retailers.
 
UK RRPs as follows:
 
BenRiach 16YO Claret Finish – £39.99
BenRiach 17YO Rioja Finish – £44.99
BenRiach 17YO Burgundy Finish – £44.99

Visit BenRiach Distillery at www.benriachdistillery.co.uk

… whisky review 145 – Johnnie Walker Red Label from 1960’s and 2010 directly compared,  … one is good, one is not.

All happening at  www.ralfy.com