Virtual Calling Notice

Global thirst for learning about Scotch whisky quenched

Virtual Invite:                    Whisky distillers, Gordon & MacPhail, and Moray College UHI join international students to raise a toast to the launch of their online whisky course.   It has been designed to give an understanding of Scotch whisky in a bid to satisfy increasing global demand from students[1].  Staff will join Campbell Evans, Director of Government & Consumer Affairs at Scotch Whisky Association, to link up live online with students piloting the course, from the USA and South Africa, to hear their feedback and raise a toast its success. 

Virtual invitation:            The launch can be viewed online from 10.15am through the URL http://194.35.216.148/streaming.html  – conference ID 40897.  Questions can be submitted in advance by emailing the contacts below.

Date:                                     Wednesday 8 June 2011

Venue:                                 Moray College UHI, Lecture Theatre, Moray Street, Elgin

Time:                                    10.15am to 11.15am

Technical details:            When connecting to the virtual launch the following is recommended:

·         Recommended Browser: Internet Explorer 8 or above

·         Recommended Media Player: Quick time

If you are having any technical issues connecting on the day or wish to ask a question about the launch please email Lorna.Castle@moray.uhi.ac.uk.

Running order:                 Mike Devenney, Principal of Moray College UHI

Campbell Evans, Director of Government & Consumer Affairs at Scotch Whisky Association

Michael Urquhart, Joint Managing Director, Gordon & MacPhail

                                                Jim Cryle, Course Tutor and Master Distiller

                                                Student feedback via virtual conference

                                                Question time

[1] Over the last ten years enrolment for the CD Rom version of the Whisky Course has included people from 21 countries including the UK, USA, Canada, Hong Kong, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, The Philippines, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and The Netherlands.

MACALLAN SCOTCH SEMINAR

Tuesday, June 14, 6:30-8:30pm

Macallan is one of the truly great Scotch Houses. Meet Brand Ambassador Stephanie Ridgeway who will lead a tasting of the 12 and 18 year old, as well as the Fine Oak bottling’s that include the 10, 15,17 and 21 year. Space is extremely limited and pre-paid reservations are required. $15 W/Binny’s Card / $20 non-members.

Call 847-831-5400 or email highlandpark@binnys.com for reservations.

Highland Park Location

153 Skokie Valley Highway | Highland Park | 847-831-5400

Visit Binny’s at www.binnys.com

June 2011

Dear Customer

Being released in March we have one (1) OLD & RARE.

Tasting Notes for OLD & RARE

OAR 0132 GLEN GRANT 36 Year Old Brandy Cask Finished
Fabulously fructiferous, withn sweet cedar tones and barley plus light oak on the nose – the palate is equally sweet, rather fruit cake in style – now being spiced with chewy vanilla toffee and a rich creamy maltiness. The long finish is still spicy (camphor) warming, and runs sweetly to crunched sugar doused in honey. (F)

And after all that – maybe you will need one of these fine Malts! Meantime – as always –we send you our

Best wishes

Fred H Laing

Visit Douglas Laing & Co. Ltd. at www.douglaslaing.com

www.ralfy.com receives and shares a special delivery!

Whisky Review #205 – Special Delivery

Pour a dram and watch maltsters!

After eight generations of passing the tradition of bourbon distilling from father to son, the Samuels family understands that one of the best ways to show a father you care is a bottle of Maker’s Mark. It’s one of those things that fathers and their adult sons are likely to agree upon: the best things in life don’t need to change much. Like playing a game of catch in the evening or getting up early to go fishing, Maker’s Mark is a tradition that’s always easy to enjoy.

Maker’s 46 is sure to surprise and delight on Father’s Day. It is the first new expression offered by Maker’s Mark in over fifty years and they certainly took their time getting things just right. Maker’s 46 is created by aging mature Maker’s Mark with seared French Oak staves. This bold new offering holds a rich flavor profile with hints of vanilla and caramel.  It is still soft enough to hold on the palate but delivers complexity and depth.  Available at retailers nationwide. Price: $35 (varies state to state).

Forget the Hallmark card. The words, “World’s Best Dad,” will make a much bigger impression on a personalized Maker’s Mark barrel head from the Maker’s Mark online shop.

Personalized barrel head: $99.95 http://www.makersmarkshop.com.

A Bourbon Chocolate Cheesecake made with Maker’s Mark just may be the best cake ever. This delectable combination was created by Eileen’s Special Cheesecake, to celebrate Father’s Day. Her New York City bakery will ship cheesecakes anywhere in the country within 24 hours. Price:  $39 at the store; $68 via mail order.

Available at:

Eileen’s Special Cheesecake
17 Cleveland Place
New York, NY
Tel: 1-800-521-CAKE
http://www.eileenscheesecake.com.

For additional gift ideas, visit the Maker’s Mark online gift shop – www.makersmarkshop.com – which sells everything from playing cards and clothing to bourbon flavored cherries and bar ware.

June 2011 Outturn Offerings

Old man of Hoy smoking a pipe

Cask No. 4.146   
Highlands, Orkney

At least we agreed the nose was complex! Some got gentle heathery smoke; others finding brine thought of smoked crab. Some detected dark chocolate and vanilla – others liquorice and blackcurrant, while one panellist got honey-glazed gammon. The palate was surprisingly smoky with coastal elements – muscled and masculine – like a pipe-smoking beachcomber scouring a rocky shore. We also found hints of marmalade. Smoke strengthened on the reduced nose, along with salt-and-vinegar crisps and celery. The palate still had big smoke and some mineral aspects but now with lime (lime peel, chocolate limes). The distillery gathers its heathery peat from Hobbister Moor.

Drinking tip: On the seashore – or – in the bath, especially if needing to relieve stress

Colour: Wedding band gold   
Cask: Refill hogshead    
Age: 19 years    
Date distilled: May 1991
Alcohol: 54.7%

$135

‘What a Magnificent and Handsome Nose’

Cask No. 29.88   
Islay, South Shore

First impressions were smoky barbecued pork, hot shellfish, beach-dried seaweed, expensive balsamic vinegar and rock pools on a hot summer’s day. To taste we found salty char, caramelised sweet-cured bacon and lots more smoke; one Panellist was licking hot stones and charcoal. With the addition of water we found empty lobster pots, lemon wedges and boiled ham, lobster thermidor hot and bubbling from the grill, Jammy Dodgers, old-fashioned cloth bandages and caramel. Creamy Cullen Skink, clam chowder and salty fudge greeted us on the taste as barbecued cod & king prawns mingled with more smoke. You can become a Friend of this distillery.

Drinking tip: Enjoy while preparing for a barbecue in the early evening on a warm summer’s day at the beach

Colour: Copper gold    
Cask: Refill sherry butt    
Age: 9 years    
Date distilled: February 2001
Alcohol: 60.9%

$90

Harmonious and Christmassy

Cask No. 55.20   
Highlands, Speyside (Findhorn Valley)

An interesting nose – toffee, butterscotch, vanilla, liquorice, Bounty bars; honey and marmalade on burnt toast; but also sweet tobacco, nutmeg, cinnamon, woody aftershave and flower petal perfume. The unreduced palate was wonderfully sweet and warming with liquorice toffee, aniseed balls, cinnamon, nutmeg and other Christmassy spices – straightforward but nice. The reduced nose, still sweet and spicy, became creamier and more perfumed – lemon cheesecake, lemon-balm, pepper cream sauce. The reduced palate was an impressively harmonious blend of sweetness and spice – sweet up front, warm in the middle and a definite pick-me-up zing in the after-taste. The distillery enjoys a royal prefix.

Drinking tip: Maybe with espresso – but really any time at all

Colour: Pale honey    
Cask: Second-fill hogshead   
Age: 12 years    
Date distilled: September 1998
Alcohol: 58.8%

$105

Floral perfumes and fruity pleasures

Cask No. 77.23   
Highlands, Northern Highlands

The nose was predominantly a swirling together of toffee and perfume, but we also identified pear, orange, coconut, beeswax, syrupy biscuits, Lady Grey tea and new wood. The palate was lip-nippy and long-lasting – fiery but not aggressive, with lots of fruit flavours (pomegranate, orange zest, blueberries, star-fruit, orange jelly babies) with faint incense smoke in the finish. Water turned the nose to lemon, boiled sweets, cologne and orange blossom. The reduced palate combined floral perfumes (jasmine, bougainvillea) with fruity pleasures, all underpinned by an attractive woody structure – complex, juicy and very tasty. The distillery has a large maltings next door.

Drinking tip: Perfect for a Mediterranean garden at dusk – take it with you on holiday

Colour: Copper gold    
Cask: Second-fill hogshead   
Age: 23 years    
Date distilled: August 1987
Alcohol: 56.8%

$145

You may join the Scotch Malt Whisky Society of America at www.smwsa.com

June 2011

Dear Customer

This month we have four (4) new bottlings under the PROVENANCE label.

Their Tasting Notes are:

PRV 0696 BUNNAHABHAIN 9 Year Old Sherry
Opens sweet & spicy on the nose and runs to a macerated dried fruit quality – liqueur style. The palate carries a dark chocolate and black cherries (also macerated) character – spicy and warming. The finish remains sweet & spicy with more dark chocolate that lingers. (J)

PRV 0704 LAPHROAIG 10 Year Old
Early tar prevails on the nose – very big on peat, soot with a clean beachy ozone character. The palate largely replicates the nose – plus ash, cinders, and all sorts of damp bonfire twig flavours – with a finish full of phenols with more tar, ash and now creosote enduring (F)

PRV 0708 GLENDULLAN 11 Year Old
Initially sugared on the nose – it opens further to a drier, gristy and subtly spiced style. The viscous palate shows the same early sugar – now with sweet malt – plus a general citric “bite” and a specific tang of lemon
piff. Its finish shows softer tones of both the lemon and the sugar – a room temperature Toddy! (F)

PRV 0707 GLEN SPEY 12 Year Old
Opens with a sweet, vanilla’d quality on the nose and runs to a honeyed, butterscotch style. The palate is light and carries a sweetly spiced, fruity character plus crushed sugar. The finish is drier, still spicy tailing to a white chocolate quality. (J)

We hope you will appreciate these latest releases!

With all best wishes, I remain

Yours faithfully

Fred Laing

Visit Douglas Laing & Co. Ltd. at www.douglaslaing.com

Whisky Intelligence has added a new category called ‘Vignettes – Moments in Whisky’ which will feature whisky moments as experienced by the readership. If you have a whisky moment please feel free to submit your moment and we’ll do our best to publish it. The very first Vignettes – Moments in Whisky was published on Monday May 30th and was submitted by Joe Barry of South Africa.

In the last episode, I mentioned the Balcones Brimstone blue corn whiskey from Balcones Distillery in Waco, Texas…and how the corn was smoked over Texas scrub oak. Turns out I was wrong, and there’s an even more interesting story behind this whiskey and the distillery. In the news, Jack Daniel’s neighbors want to tax the distillery’s whiskey barrels, Ireland could have a fourth distillery two years from now, new whiskies from Glen Garioch and The Macallan, and tasting notes for craft whiskies from Arkansas and Washington.

Visit WhiskyCast at www.whiskycast.com

Yamazaki

The Pioneer of Japanese Whisky

From Yamazaki was born the surprising, delicate yet profound experience of a Japanese single malt. Spiritual and deep, its signature multi-layered taste is highly praised by whisky connoisseurs all over the world.

Today, Yamazaki is not only the “number-one” single malt whisky in Japan, but is enjoyed in more than twenty-five countries. From www.suntory.com

Yamazaki 12yo (43%, OB, +/-2010)

The nose presents some smoke like aromas along with wet cotton, a good heaviness and nice oak spice. The taste is spicy with some tea leaves, marmalade, lashings of black pepper and it’s surprisingly strong. The oak spice comes through quite quickly but it does not take over the short, it is all complimentary. This is a very nice whisky. Some fruit of disguised origin lurks in the back ground. The finish is very much of chocolate (unsweetened dark), more of the oak spice and black pepper and finally towards the end some really good chewy malt.

Yet another excellent whisky from Japan.

$35 in some US markets

Score 87

Hibiki

The legendary Hibiki represents true harmony. The enigma of perfection, the paragon of the art of whisky and the art of Japan’s artisans.

Hibiki, meaning resonance in Japanese, speaks to the soul and emotions of the most discerning whisky lover. Hibiki resonates from nature, and all the subtleties found from the twenty four seasons of the old Japanese lunar calendar. Numerous types of pure single malt whiskies ageing in various types of casks, including Mizunara, a very rare Japanese oak, all combine to create a full orchestra of flavors and aromas.

Seductive, blossoming and enigmatic, Hibiki celebrates the unrivaled art of blending, fine craftsmanship, and sense of luxury of the House.

Bearing the seal of the House of Suntory, this majestic blend is its rightful paragon. From http://www.suntory.com/

Hibiki 12yo Japanese Blended Whisky (43%, OB, +/-2010)

On the nose there is some good sweetness backed by lots of oak note however the oak does not dominate. There is also some tinned fruit cocktail and lychee fruit, it’s all rather lovely and verges on sensational. This is a blended whisky? No matter, it’s very good. The sweetness is simply rather lovely. The taste is a tussle between the sweetness, the oak spice notes and some really good leather & tobacco moments tinged with some really excellent cocoa. Brown sugar and furniture polish, cold unsweetened black tea (but in a good way); good influence from the casks and very tasty. The finish shows some malt and all the other characteristics as previously described. It’s quite long and does not veer off on a tangent. 

……… all combine to create a full orchestra of flavors and aromas….quite right!

$40

Score 88 points