As part of the Chivas Brothers Charity Policy, employees across all 30 sites were invited to nominate and vote for four Charities of the Year, with the Paisley and District branch of the MS Society receiving the most votes in the Greater Glasgow region. The MS Society Scotland was also selected to receive £7000 by employees in Northern Scotland, making it a double celebration for the charity.

The Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Society Scotland is the country’s largest charity for people affected by Multiple Sclerosis. Around 10,500 people in Scotland have MS. The Society has local branches right across the country.

Vanessa Wright, Chivas Brothers Communications Director, said: “We are delighted to be making this donation to the local branch of the MS Society, and hope that this funding will result in even more people affected by Multiple Sclerosis benefiting from the charity’s excellent support and advice.

“As a leading employer in the Greater Glasgow area, we understand the importance of giving back to the local communities in which we operate. This donation is all the more special because it was nominated and voted for by our employees.”

Angela Stirling, Chair of the Paisley and District Branch, said: “This is wonderful news and everyone at our branch is so grateful to Chivas Brothers for their generosity. People affected by MS in this area will benefit hugely from this donation. The MS Society is like a second family for me and funds such as this allow us to support even more people. Thank you.”

Chivas Brothers’ other Charities of the Year 2011 are MS Society Scotland (Northern Scotland region), Alzheimer Scotland (Dumbarton region) and Macmillan Cancer Support (London region).

Photo caption:
Paisley-based Chivas Brothers employees present a giant cheque to Gillian Whiteley, Corporate Sponsorship and Events Manager for MS Society Scotland. Pictured (l-r) Sadie Morgan, Cat Renwick, Jackie Thomson, Gillian Whiteley, Hugh Howden, Donna Martin and Roma Gilmour.

Chivas Brothers is the Scotch whisky and premium gin business of Pernod Ricard – the world’s co-leader in wine and spirits. Chivas Brothers is the global leader in luxury Scotch whisky and premium gin. Its portfolio includes Chivas Regal, Ballantine’s, Beefeater Gin, The Glenlivet, Royal Salute, Aberlour, Plymouth Gin, Longmorn, Scapa, 100 Pipers, Clan Campbell, Something Special and Passport.

In July 2010 Chivas Brothers launched The Age Matters campaign to help consumers understand the importance of Scotch whisky age statements.

Win an Irish Whiskey Getaway for Two

Master of Malt have teamed up with Cooley distillery to offer the ultimate whiskey prize this St Patrick’s Day. The prize includes flights out to Dublin, stay at the Bridge House Hotel and Spa, a personal distillery tour & tasting and more. To win, entrants simply have to buy any bottle of Connemara, Greenore, Locke’s or Tyrconnell Irish whiskey from Master of Malt (http://www.masterofmalt.com/) before the 18th March (the day after St Patrick’s day). The bottles have all been discounted by £5 and there are 250 chances to enter.

The prize:

One lucky winner and a friend will be flown out to Ireland. Upon arrival they will be chauffeured to Tullamore for a 2 night stay at the Bridge House Hotel and Spa. They will be treated to a personal tour and tasting at the whiskey distillery in Kilbeggan, where they will enjoy a meal at the distillery’s own award-winning restaurant. The prize also includes a signed bottle of very special whiskey to take away, as well as an evening at the Tullamore races. The prize includes flights to and from a UK airport.

How to enter:

Entry is simple. All you have to do is buy any 70cl bottle of Connemara, Greenore, Locke’s or Tyrconnell from Master of Malt (http://www.masterofmalt.com/) before the 18th March 2011. The bottles have each been discounted by £5, and there are 250 chances to enter. Entry will close either on the 18th March, or when the 250 chances have run out (whichever is sooner).

–          View the competition details and eligible whiskeys here: http://www.masterofmalt.com/st-patricks-day-special-offer/

–          Terms and Conditions: http://www.masterofmalt.com/st-patricks-day-competition-terms-and-conditions/

About Master of Malt

–          Established in 1985         

–          Master of Malt – http://www.masterofmalt.com/

–          One of the UK’s leading Online Spirits Merchants

–          A highly rated independent bottler, all of whose single cask whiskies scored over 90 points in the Jim Murray Whisky Bible 2009

Follow Master of Malt

–          On their blog  – http://www.masterofmalt.com/blog

–          On Twitter – http://www.twitter.com/masterofmalt

–          On Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/masterofmalt

We would like to wish you the very best for 2011 from all of us at the Balblair distillery. We’re looking forward to the year ahead and to producing more special, exclusively vintage malt whisky in 2011.
 
As we’re sure you already know, for those of us who love great malt whisky, Balblair is a discovery, a wonderful find, bringing experiences to be savoured, and moments to be treasured.
 
To help us find more whisky lovers who might appreciate the unique qualities of Balblair, we are offering something special for subscribers to “The Gathering Place”, our valued group of Balblair devotees, in 2011. We have a limited edition signed and framed copy of this beautiful photograph to give away as part of a monthly prize draw.

 
Balblair Distillery workers 2011, from left to right: Martin Macdonald, Norman Laing, Graeme Bowie, Allan Ross, Mike Ross, John G. Ross, John MacDonald, Alan More, John Ross.
 
The image is a recreation of a picture from our archives from 1949 taken shortly after Robert ‘Bertie’ Cummings took ownership of the distillery, showing the distillery workers of the time.
 
Fin Macrae is a photographer and artist who is local to the distillery. He has created a truly stunning picture of the workers at the distillery today in the same style as the original, and signed by everyone in the team.
 
Every month one person will win this unique item – a true original and talking point for any gathering of whisky lovers.
 
To enter the draw, just introduce a friend to Balblair Whisky by filling in their name and email address on our website. http://tinyurl.com/4bunp5z We’ll only contact your friend once to ask if they’d like to join The Gathering Place.
 
We will be in touch again later this year when the time is right, so until then we wish you well for the year ahead.
 
Best wishes from all of us at Balblair.

Malt Maniac Oliver Klimek has authored an epistle on “Beefing Up or Dumbing Down” which can be viewed at

http://www.maltmaniacs.org/whisky-articles/Malt-Maniacs-2011-01-Beefing-up-or-dumbing-down-malt-whisky.pdf

Miner’s Delight Inn Second Saturday Scotch Sipping at Six – Scotch Whisky News

Single Malt Scotch Whisky:

appreciation, elucidation, information

Second Saturday Scotch Sipping at Six

2nd Saturday    every month    6 – 9 p.m.    no reservation required

Enjoy 5 half-ounce samples of single malt Scotch whisky, $20:

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

    ♦  You roll a die then pick your choice from one of the six Scotch regions

    ♦  You pick your Connoisseur’s choice from our menu of 72 single malts

Peruse our whisky library. Learn about each of our single malts in Bob’s menu book: distillery info, tasting notes, prices, and more.  Light hors d’oeuvres included, and the saloon’s open to non-whisky drinkers.

March 12, 2011

Singleton of Glendullan    12 yo *

Glenlivet Nadurra 16 yo

Ledaig 10 yo

April 9, 2011

Tullibardine 1993 *

Isle of Jura 10 yo

Bunnahabhain 12 yo

May 14, 2011

Tamdhu 10 yo *

BenRiach 12 yo

Benromach Organic

June 11 , 2011

Aberlour 12 yo *

Caol Ila 12 yo

Edradour 10 yo

http://www.minersdelightinn.com/

A Trip to the Other Side of the World
 
The Devastation of Christchurch
I was due to go to Christchurch last weekend to be part of Dramfest, which was planned to be the final stage of a short trip to Asia and Australasia but due to the earthquake the event was cancelled. I know that Michael and his team at Whisky Galore had been working hard to organise the event and it must be a great disappointment that it had to be cancelled at the last minute. However the good news is that although the event was cancelled and their shop was wrecked all of the staff and their families are well and survived the disaster.

Hopefully Michael can get the business up and running again soon and I know that I speak for everyone in passing on my best wishes for the future.

Whisky Live Japan
This was my first visit to Japan and I was very impressed by the politeness of the local population as well as the knowledge of whisky that all the consumers had. The show was extremely well planned and  managed and the attendance was high which made the events pass very quickly.  Each day started with a parade of kilted Scotsmen, led by the “punk piper”, going from ground level in a shopping plaza area down to the exhibition area and was a great way to generate interest in the event and was a fitting daily start.

As usual there was a lot of interest in Glenglassaugh as many people had not heard of us but those attending proved to be extremely knowledgeable about Scotch Whisky and enthusiastic to learn more about Glenglassaugh. The whiskies again received acclaim from everyone who tried them and the Spirit Drinks also proved to be extremely popular with “Peated” and “Fledging XB” the most requested.

The show ended on Sunday evening with a communal rendition of “Auld Lang Syne” led by the same kilted Scots on the main stage and I am just pleased that my voice was drowned out by those that can actually sing.

"A rose by any other name"

A New Point of View
Had a few flights with Quantas while I was abroad last week and discovered their new innovation of mounting a camera in the tail wing which allows you to view what is happening outside including taxi, take-off, flight and landing. It leads to fascinating viewing, especially watching a night landing at Sydney but I am now sure how I would have felt if something had gone wrong on landing and I was sitting watching it.

Question. What Does John Know ? Answer. A Good Whisky.
Another accolade for Glenglassaugh with our 40 year old being chosen as one of “The Top Ten New Whiskies in 2010” http://www.whatdoesjohnknow.com/

Munich
While I was in Japan, Graham was in Munich for the Whisky Fair and led a whisky tasting, which due to the lights making the power-point presentation difficult to read, was carried out in the dark. Is this yet another innovation from Glenglassaugh?

The Changing Faces at Glenglassaugh
Neil McGarvey who has been part of the team here at Glenglassaugh since 2008, and was living on the site while it was still owned by Highland Distillers, has decided to move on and leaves us on Friday to take up a position with a local engineering company.

He is being replaced by Mhairi Macdonald, who many of you will remember was previously working with us on a temporary basis in the sales and marketing role. Mhairi is now joining us on a permanent basis and her knowledge and experience in all areas of the business will prove extremely useful and I am really pleased that she was available and agreed to rejoin the team.

Coming Soon
We are about to release the 4th and final bottling from the Manager’s Legacy series, the oldest one yet, and more information will be forthcoming later this week in a subsequent blog.

At the same time I hope to be able to provide information on the opportunity to purchase a special release of Octave casks.

Slange

Stuart

Glenfarclas Dinner with George Grant

Monday March 14

Ruth’s Cris Steak House School St., Boston

Contact Joe at 6187 367 8605 or joe@federalwine.com

Joe writes,

George Grant, director of sales for the Glenfarclas distillery will host this truly memorable evening. We’ll join George in celebrating the 175th anniversary of his venerable distillery by tasting 235 years worth of whisky.

We’ll sample the 1953 vintage 54 year old, the 1968 vintage, on release the winner of Malt Advocate’s import whisky of the year, and the 1974 vintage. All are extremely rare and long-since sold out.  Furthermore we’ll have their standard line-up, all the way up to and including this year’s Malt Advocate’s Single-Malt Scotch Whisky of the year, the Glenfarclas 40 Year Old.  Each attendee will be treated to a three-course dinner and end up with a bottle of the Glenfarclas 17 Year Old signed by Mr. Grant.

Further details will follow shortly, but seating is very limited. Those interested should contact us ASAP to reserve a spot. This opportunity is not to be missed, if you’ve any interest in attending don’t hesitate to reserve your place with us that evening as you’ll surely regret it otherwise.

Fancy some free tickets to Whisky Live London?

Just a quick note as I’m packing my bags for London, but our talented Global PR Manager Jill Inglis has managed to secure some free passes for the Whisky Live London Friday evening show from 5-10pm. Now I know for sure I have four but some more may turn up.

What do you need to do to win? Well, that’s quite simple…

Just put your name below (via the link) and some contact details – an email address or a Twitter ID – and we’ll be in touch. Also, let us know if you want one or two tickets. Now remember, we may get more than four pases, so leave your details even if you aren’t amongst the first few.

http://www.whyteandmackay.co.uk/blog/2011-03-02-fancy-some-free-tickets-to-whisky-live-london.aspx

Chicago – Lincoln Park Store

WORLD OF WHISKIES

Thursday, April 14, 5:00-8:00pm

Sample over 150 whiskies in every conceivable style from all over the world! In many cases meet and speak with the people who actually make them. $50 Binny’s Card members, $60 non-members. 
Call (312)664-4394 for more information.

Visit Binny’s at www.binnys.com

Are you in London this weekend?

Hello,

This Friday, I will be attending Whisky Live in London and I’ve managed to get hold of an extra pair of tickets for the event.

I realise this is short notice but I thought I could offer them to you, my readers, as a first point of call.

Whisky Live is a fantastic show, which features hundreds (click on the link below to read the rest of the post).…

http://blog.grantswhisky.com/2011/03/are-you-in-london-this-weekend/

Kind regards,

Ludo