The Tweeddale Blend 12 year old continues to go from strength to strength, well actually it is still 46% abv but it does have a new home – www.Tweeddalewhisky.com.

The Tweeddale Blend 12 year old was also recently nominated for the Scottish Field Whisky Challenge Awards, a great honour indeed and you will be able to judge it for yourself at the Glasgow Whisky Festival on Saturday 19th November and at the Whisky Experience next to Edinburgh Castle on Saturday 26th November.

So why not check out the new website, for The Story, the details of The Blend or Discover the lost blend buy direct online.

See you there.

Alasdair Day
Re-creator of the Tweeddale Blend.

Discover the lost blend……..
THE TWEEDDALE BLEND.

Holidays Past and Present with
Maker’s Mark and Maker’s 46

This holiday season add a little extra cinnamon and spice with Maker’s 46– the first new bourbon whisky to come out of the Maker’s Mark Distillery in 52 years. To create Maker’s 46, fully matured Maker’s Mark is put back in barrels with seared French oak staves and aged for several more months. The name Maker’s 46 comes from the profile number of the process used to sear the French oak staves. Maker’s 46 is ideal for folks who don’t like bitter whisky but do love bold flavors.

Some people on your list may prefer old faithful friends like Maker’s Mark. Each bottle is hand crafted to taste and is drinkable neat, on the rocks or mixed. Half a century later, it remains a classic and will remind some of sitting by the fire during holidays long ago.

The retail price of Maker’s 46 is $35.00; for Maker’s Mark it is $25.00. Maker’s Mark and Maker’s 46 are available nationwide. www.makersmark.com

Deck the Halls with Festive Cocktails

Celebrate the season and enjoy the company of loved ones while sipping these special holiday drinks. Be festive with your cocktails and enjoy every last sip.

Maker’s Mark Latte

1 part Maker’s 46™
2 tablespoons fresh finely ground espresso
4 parts spring water
3 parts + 1 part organic whole milk
½ cup ice cubes
½ part vanilla vodka*
1 rock candy swizzle stick
Fresh ground nutmeg

Method

Prepare espresso in stove top espresso maker. Bring 3 parts milk in a small saucepan or Turkish coffee pot to a light simmer. Mix espresso and milk in coffee mug. Add Maker’s 46™. Make the vanilla vodka foam: Add vanilla vodka and 1 part milk to small shaker with ice. Shake vigorously until frothy. Pour foam over espresso milk mixture. Add swizzle stick and pinch of nutmeg. Stir and enjoy.

Maker’s Mark Classic Kentucky Eggnog

(Serves 10-12)
1 liter Maker’s Mark®
1 quart milk
1 quart heavy cream
2 dozen eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
Nutmeg for garnish

Method

Separate eggs and beat yolks until creamy. Whip sugar into yolks. Beat whites until they stand in peaks, adding 1/2 cup additional sugar, if desired. Beat yolks and Maker’s Mark® together, add whites. Beat cream. Add cream and milk to mixture. Add nutmeg to taste and garnish each cup with nutmeg. Makes 2 1/2 gallons.

(From the nice people at the English Whisky Company);

Let us introduce you to our new website…

We hope the wait has been worth it. The new website is packed with all the info you need and hopefully you will find it easy and quick to get around. We would love your feedback so send us a message or tweet us or write to us.

Black Bull Scotch Whisky Wins Fourth Gold Medal of the Year: Blend at Scottish Field Whisky Challenge 2011

Black Bull 12 year old, the deluxe blended Scotch from whisky specialists Duncan Taylor Scotch Whisky Ltd has been awarded a gold medal for Best Blended Scotch Whisky at the 2011 Scottish Field Whisky Challenge. This incredible achievement saw Black Bull go up against 40 of the world’s leading whisky brands, both luxury and affordable. Independently rated and tasted blind by a renowned panel of whisky experts, Black Bull was again recognised as the very best in its field. The announcement of the award makes 2011 a quadruple gold medal year for Black Bull whisky, coming on the back of successes at the World Whisky Awards and the International Wines & Spirits Competition in April and August respectively.

Comments from Judge Darren Leitch of Whisky Shop:
“On the nose some mild peat notes, ginger biscuits and leather sandals filled with sand. Flavour wise there is a lot going on, with a good combination of pastel fruit sweetness, heather , vanilla and oak. A malty sweet finish which trails off with a soft oaky tone and a trace of peat.”

The Scottish Field Whisky Challenge is an annual competition celebrating the very best the whisky industry has to offer. Each year, a panel of experts takes part in a series of rigorous blind tastings to recognise the finest products on the shelves today.

The Black Bull brand dates back to 1864. Following a rebranding in 2008, Black Bull’s stature has grown, winning critical acclaim and a plethora of awards from the International Wine and Spirits competition, Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible and the New York International Wine and Spirits contest.

Duncan Taylor Scotch Whisky selects whiskies from distilleries throughout Scotland, bottling a range of luxury single malt and grain Scotch whiskies as well as its award winning range of blended whiskies from its base in Huntly, Aberdeenshire.

www.duncantaylor.com

Tullibardine Ltd, which owns and operates the Tullibardine Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky distillery based in Blackford, Perthshire has been sold to the Picard family based at the Château de Chassagne-Montrachet, Burgundy, France.

In a joint press release today, both sets of shareholders were pleased to announce that a successful sale of the business had just been concluded. The sale of the whisky business to the French Group further strengthens their interest in Scotch Whisky following the purchase of the Highland Queen brand from the Glenmorangie company in 2009.

Michel Picard, Chairman, said today: “The purchase of Tullibardine Distillery provides synergies and a platform for growth for our Scotch whisky business. Tullibardine is a wonderful Single Malt Scotch whisky and we look forward to working with the team at the distillery to increase the profile, awareness and sales of the brand over the coming years.”

Alan Williamson, Chairman of Tullibardine said: “The shareholders of Tullibardine are delighted to conclude a sale of the business to the Picard family. The business will undoubtedly benefit from the skills, expertise and distribution which the Group can create for the Tullibardine brand and we wish them every success over the years to come. We have been custodians of the Tullibardine brand for the last 8 years and the time is now right for us to hand it over and for Picard to take it to the next level. We wish them every success.”

Nosing at home

Good afternoon all,

I always enjoy writing nosing and tasting notes at home more than anywhere else – not just because it’s comfortable but mostly because I believe I am able to identify more aromas in a whisky sample. I have often wondered why that is. Why should I find it easier to nose whisky at…(please click on the link below to read the remainder of the post)…

THE LINK

Kind regards,
Ludo

It’s feeling very quiet here on the island after all the excitement of the Jura Music Festival! It’s a firm favourite in the traditional music calendar and this year brought us top artists like Dougie Maclean, Mary Ann Kennedy as well as some hugely talented local musicians. The islanders also extended a very warm welcome to the winners of our recent competition to experience the festival as our guests. They joined in with the locals and enjoyed the festival as only honorary islanders can. To view all of the highlights click here.

As a Diurach you’re always the first to hear our latest news and we’re delighted to tell you about our newest limited edition release. Feith a’ Chaorainn is a majestic 1976 Vintage of only 500 bottles. Its name means ‘the land of the rowan’ and it celebrates the ancient bond between the island and the rowan tree. Click here to find out more about this latest addition to the Jura family.

If you want to experience this remarkable spirit for yourself, please look out for the bottle at your nearest specialist whisky retailer.

Slainte

Willie Cochrane
Jura Distillery Manager

P.S. If you have friends or family who also share your passion for jura whisky and might like to become Diurachs, send them to www.isleofjura.com where they’ll discover more about our mystical isle.

This month we are pleased to offer you eleven (11) new bottlings under the OLD MALT CASK label, two (2) from the OLD MALT CASK CIGAR MALT range with (1) OLD MALT CASK CIGAR MALT 20 cl. We have three (3) from PREMIER BARREL plus two (2) new CLAN DENNY OLD GRAINS, and three (3) new DIRECTOR’S CUT releases. There is also the first release of our deluxe EPICUREAN BLEND in ceramic.

Meanwhile tasting notes for OLD MALT CASK follow –

OMC 2089 Glengoyne 14 Year Old
Nose: Barley sugar sweet + dark spices and muscovado sugar.
Palate: Still spicy sweet – now, honeyed, vanilla’d and full of barley.
Finish: Runs drier now, still spiced + oak and light gristiness. (F)

OMC 2101 Macallan 14 Year Old
Nose: Clean & malty – carrying a home baked, sweet character
Palate: An initially sweet quality runs to a fruity, orange zest style
Finish: Long, warmly spiced with a lingering orange pith trait (J)

OMC 2102 Jura 16 Year Old
Nose: Sugary sweet – gristy – citric …. tailing with dry leaves.
Palate: Mouthcoatingly/oily – lightly peated + barley, salt & smoke.
Finish: Sweeter now – barley sugared, vanilla’d and spiced. (F)

OMC 2104 Knockando 17 Year Old
Nose: Opens fruity & sweetly spiced running to a bees wax style
Palate: Rich – carrying a dry spicy quality + a distinct oak character
Finish: Long – still spicy + burnt toast & honey that runs and runs (J)

OMC 2103 Laphroaig 18 Year Old
Nose: Opens sweet & vanilla’d running to soft smoke + flamed orange zest
Palate: Still sweet & softly smoked + more vanilla – burnt home baked style
Finish: Long – with an ashes and burnt wood character + lingering creosote (J)

OMC 2092 Glen Keith 18 Year Old
Nose: Fresh & fruitily sweet + fresh homemade shortbread + sweet melon
Palate: Distinctly barley sugared running to a sweet orange/lime zest style
Finish: Still fresh and fruity – replicating nose & palate + more zest(J)

OMC 2090 Mortlach 21 Year Old
Nose: Fresh – clean and feisty – spiced with late soft orange zest.
Palate: Sugary – malty – lightly vanilla’d with a soft runny honey style.
Finish: Big on camphor cough drops – warming! with late liquorice.(F)

OMC 2091 Glenrothes 21 YEAR OLD Sherry
Nose: Richly spiced – running to a caramelised orange trait + barley sugar
Palate: Mouth coating with toffee and ginger + a warming citrus quality
Finish: Long – carrying an attractive oak, leather & sweet tobacco style (J)

OMC 2095 St Magdalene 29 Year Old
Nose: Carries dry barley – citrus – crunched sugar – oak & spices.
Palate: Initially dry & oaky – before malt + honey and more spice.
Finish: Slightly smoked + sugar sprinkled cappuccino + more spice! (F)

OMC 2094 Imperial 35 Year Old
Nose: Dry cedar wood shavings open to sweet dark fruit tones + ash
Palate: Richly spiced – lightly smoked/peated + old wooden candy boxes
Finish: Camphor and cough drops + warming spices + late soft leather (F)

OMC 2096 Tomintoul 40 Year Old
Nose: Fresh – gristy and buttery ….. running to light oak.
Palate: Dry – indeed drying! – with spices/now citrus + oak.
Finish: Big on spices (camphor) – cough drops + light honey. (F)

Tasting Notes for PREMIER BARREL are:

PRB 0109 Auchentoshan 11 Year Old
An arresting, aromatic – even arousing! Articulation of Auchentoshan, Auchentoshan, Auchentoshan – triple distilled and worth repeating. Fundamentally this frisky, flavourful, festival of fruity fermentation is ffrankly, ffragant, ffabulous and ffull of ffinesse. (F)

PBR 0104 Craigellachie 12 Year Old Sherry
The creative craft of this creamy Craigellachie is a creditable criterion to crave. It portrays palpably peachy panache AND pepper! – supporting supplementary sweet spices with stylishly satiating Sherry. (F)

PBR 0110 Blair Athol 12 Year Old Sherry
A balanced buxom and buoyant beacon of a Blair Athol! Saliently and salubriously spiced – sustaining a substantial sugary swirl of syrup ….. plus a forté of fresh fragrant fructiferousness. (F)

Tasting Note for DIRECTOR’S CUT –

DIR 0003 Macallan 18 Year Old Bourbon Cask
Nose: Honey sweet –lightly barleyed – gently oaked – vanilla toffee’d
Palate: Soft/ mellow – spiced/citric + candyfloss and crunched sugar
Finish: More honey, barley, sugary fruit – and peppery spices appear (F)

DIR 0002 Caol Ila 21 Year Old
Nose: Totally Islay! With a tarry, oily, sweet and phenolic style
Palate: Soft initially – builds to sweet peat, barley, rock pools and ash
Finish: As big now as before – with creosote, cinders, and more peat (F)

DIR 0004 Dalmore 21 Year Old MONTILLA CASK FINISH
Nose: Sugary – vanilla’d – distinctly fruity and softly malted
Palate: Still fruity – with more (crunched) sugar + spices/sweet barley
Finish: Warmly – now dryly spiced + a hint of liquorice + honey (F)

Tasting Notes for CLAN DENNY Old Grain follow below:

DEN 0078 Carsebridge 30 Year Old
Heavily spiced and oaky initially on the nose – it warms to a character of vanilla ice cream with warm fudge sauce. More fruited now as it open on the palate, it is still very spicy….. ..and water softens it all to a softer coffee and chocolate style. Still spiced and warming on its longer than normal Grain finish. (F)

DEN 0079 Girvan 46 Year Old
Carries a sweet cereal character that runs to muscovado sugar and soft spices. The palate is sweet & spicy with toffee and vanilla carrying an attractive, yet surprising, sweetly marinaded grilled meat quality. The finish is long for a Grain Whisky and remains spicy throughout – with a late suggestion of salt. (J)

Tasting Notes for OLD MALT CASK CIGAR MALT follow below:

OMC 2106 Laphroaig 10 Year Old
Nose: Distinctly Islay + sweet tar & bbq ashes
Palate: Rich & smoky – ashy/tarry & chocolate-y.
Finish: Peated, smoky, sooty, earthy & sweet . (F)

OMC 2027 Blair Athol 12 Year Old Sherry
Nose: Richly spiced – dried fruit character
Palate: Sweet & warming running to a nutty quality
Finish: Long, still spicy now drier + cedar wood (J)

OLD MALT CASK CIGAR MALT 20 cl.

SMC 0405 – Laphroaig 10 Year Old

Sorry – that is a lot of reading for a lot whiskies, many of which we hope will interest you. There are 2 new items which merit special highlighting. The DIRECTOR’S CUT have been released to back up last month’s first release, all colour co-ordinated by region and last but not least, the EPICUREAN BLEND has been developed with a 90% plus Malt content designed to be an intriguing, well priced, ceramic gift or self indulgence, presented in Gift Bags.

Yours sincerely

Fred H Laing
Managing Director

PS – You may already have seen that Jim Murray awarded our CLAN DENNY Cambus 47 as Best Scottish Grain Whisky, in his 2012 Whisky Bible – now long sold out. However a sister cask will follow shortly, now aged to 48 years.

Whisky Magazine announced its U.S. Icons of Whisky Awards this week in Louisville, and I was on hand for the ceremonies. Four Roses won Distiller of the Year honors for the second year in a row, and Balcones Distillery in Waco, Texas was named Craft Distiller of the Year. We’ll hear from winners Jim Rutledge and Chip Tate. In the news, a French family-owned wine company has bought Tullibardine, ghost hunters search Buffalo Trace for spirits of the ethereal variety, and much more!

Visit WhiskyCast at www.whiskycast.com

1994 Bruichladdich 16 Year Old K&L Exclusive Hart Brothers Single Ardbeg Barrel Cask Strength Single Malt Whisky ($105.99) One of our good-natured business deals from Scotland ended up providing us with the chance to secure a single barrel of something quite special and unbelievably rare – an unpeated Islay whisky aged inside the cask of another peated Islay whisky! This 16 year old Bruichladdich spent its first 13 years in hogshead, lending it the standard vanilla and sweet grains the malt is known for. For the last 3 years however it sat soaking up the flavor from a barrel which had formerly held some super-smoky Ardbeg whisky. The residue left inside the wood was enough to turn a mild-mannered Bruichladdich into something smoky and aggressive. Very light in color, the nose is a combo of fresh malted barley and vegetal peat moss aromas. The palate is lean and mean with spicy pepper and wisps of smoke meandering in between the salty vanilla notes inherent in the malt itself. The finish is all peat smoke, but it’s an unfamiliar smoke – not peated Bruichladdich, but not Ardbeg either. As a fan of both distilleries, I find this marriage of the two styles exciting, delicious, and utterly fascinating. This will be a big hit with Islay fans and collectors everywhere. -David Driscoll, K&L Spirits Buyer.

Other New Arrivals

2011 Midleton Very Rare Irish Whiskey 750ml – 9 available ($134.99)

Springbank 15 Year Old, Hart Brothers Single Malt Scotch 750ml ($104.99)

K&L Wine Merchants
http://www.klwines.com
Phone: 877-KLWines (toll free 877-559-4637)
Email: wine@klwines.com
San Francisco, Redwood City, Hollywood CA