Tickets on Sale Monday April 2 at 10am!

Belated Happy New Year… it’s a grey winter day but hopefully this missive finds you healthy, happy and looking forward to this year’s 8th Annual Spirit of Toronto on Saturday, May 12 at Roy Thomson Hall.

We’re pleased to announce that tickets for this year’s show go on sale Monday April 2nd at 10:00am. Tickets may be purchased from Roy Thomson Hall’s box office online, by phone or in person. Tickets are $129 HST included and a reminder will go out on April 1st for those of you subscribed to this list.

Please note that masterclasses may be reserved at the same time as you purchase your tickets, and once again we expect that most classes will be fully reserved the same day that tickets go on sale.

Speaking of masterclasses, we’ve been hard at work programming this year’s schedule. Both this year’s show and Masterclass Series will offer something for everyone, with the opportunity to sample from a very diverse range of whiskies and fine spirits from the four corners of the globe.

In the meantime, please stay tuned for more news about this year’s show. Another update will be going out once the website is revised and we are ready to start announcing our 2012 guest speakers.

In the best of spirits,

Johanna

Executive Producer
Spirit of Toronto 2012
http://www.spiritoftoronto.ca/ 

SPRINGBANK SOCIETY NEWSLETTER

Greetings Society Members

Things are starting to hot up here in Springbank, and I don’t mean theweather. We are getting into Open Day mode and starting to think about tours for this year.

We also have a new bottle out within the next couple of weeks – not for the Society – for general release, but I’ll tell you more about that later in the newsletter.

OPEN DAY – THURSDAY 24TH MAY

We will of course be having Masterclasses at both Springbank and Glengyle, but probably a slightly different format this year, so that you don’t get fed up with the same thing every year. These will be hosted by Gavin & Frank and Ranald.

We are also having a Springbank tasting in the Tasting Room with a little food to match the whisky in the morning, hosted by Jenny. In the afternoon there will be a Cadenhead tasting in the Tasting Room hosted by Grant, who has started to nag me already that I sold far too many tickets last year. BUT I am ignoring him. There will also be tastings in one of the warehouses, buy the tickets for this on the day – no need to book this one.

There will be two single casks, bottled on the day, still to be chosen. Free tours will be at specified times, so that we don’t get in the way of the Master Classes.

Local crafters will be joining us with a selection of their products: Gigha’s Natural Skin care, The Bathtime Cafe, Kintyre Design, Kintye Lampwork, Wee Toon Carver, Kintyre Candles, Eric Norman (wood turner), cheese from the local Creamery, with hopefully a few others.

There will be food from Auntie Mo’s, Ifferdale Lamb and we hope MacMillan Smokehouse. Fyne Ales will also be joining us for the entire day.

Music has still to be confirmed but there will be live music during the day, and in the early evening we will have one of the junior Pipe Bands, followed by another live musician (to be confirmed).

This year we will again have a “spooks” tour, and I have been promised it will be bigger and scarier than last year.

If we can keep Donald calm during the day he will be cooking burgers in the evening. I have probably forgotten some of the things we will have, but I will be updating as we go along. The master classes will have to be booked in advance as will the Tastings in the Tasting Room – Grant keeps reminding me that space is limited here!!!

Society Golf Open

This year’s golf open is being held on Friday 25th May at Machrihanish Golf Course. I am just finalising the details, but can tell you that it will be played as a 4 ball, tee off times between 9.06 am and 10.42 am. We are arranging for bacon rolls and coffee pre golf with a carvery lunch at the end. I will send the details of how to book your tee time very soon.

RUNDLETS & KILDERKINS

This will be available within the next few weeks from the shop – the price will be £57 plus postage and packing, but you will get your discount of 10%.

Here’s a wee photograph and a wee cartoon with the tasting notes: For the most part of the 17th and the 18th centuries Campbeltown was a smuggling centre, an occupation that was supported by the area’s geography, topography…. and the local gentry. One famous story tells of an old woman living in the town who was up before the Sheriff for smuggling. She had been found guilty and before passing sentence the Sheriff told her:

Colour: Russet

Nose: Honey, vanilla, chocolate, nougat and toffee in abundance followed by hints of wholesome freshly
ground nutmeg.

Palate: Creamy and rich as expected from the nose, with notes of chocolate covered honey comb mixed with
pistachio and crushed almonds. Rich and oily from its maturation in small casks, it gives an impression of  being older than its ten years.

Finish: “e ground nutmeg is still evident on the finish but the creaminess outstays the spices to a long smooth and sweet finish. With water this dram develops and even sweeter finish, fruity and sugar candy, it becomes even smoother.

So, as you can see, it is full steam ahead towards May.

We still have some of the latest Society bottling, Longrow 10 year old from a fresh sherry cask at £45 and we also have some of the Springbank 14 year old bottled in 2010 for Society members, also at £45.

We will be looking for something else to bottle for you very soon. I’ll see if we can get something a wee bit older, with some spiders in it!

Springbank spiders are very scary.

Janet
Contact Janet via society@springbankwhisky.com for details on how to join the Springbank Society

J & A Mitchell and Co Ltd, The Tasting Room, 9 Bolgam Street, Campbeltown, Argyll, PA28 6HZ
Tel : + 44(0) 1586 552009 Fax : + 44(0) 1586 553232

Visit Springbank Distillery at http://www.springbankwhisky.com

February 2012 Outturn Offerings

Dichotomy of sweet and savoury

Cask No. 16.31
Highlands, Eastern Highlands

Sweet and savoury aromas greeted the Panel – tinned fruit, cinder toffee, honeycomb, Rumtopf peaches, grapes, tomato vines, Vosene shampoo and roast pork & cranberry; although there was a slight butyric whiff. The palate was more of the same although nutty with cinnamon, slightly burnt caramel and strawberry cider with added pineapple sherbet fizz. Water introduces strawberry strudel, sandalwood church pews, rum-soaked-oranges and grease paint, while to taste it was sickly sweet with liquorice rolling papers, over-ripe plums and incense but a bitter dry finish reminiscent of peanut skins balanced it out. From Scotland’s oldest distillery that is home to the Famous Grouse.

Drinking tip: For reflection of fruity memories

Colour: Strawberry syrup
Cask: Refill gorda
Age: 10 years
Date distilled: March 2001
Alcohol: 55.7%

$95

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Gentle Giant

Cask No. 33.111
Islay, South Shore

Although this was an initial blast of peat smoke, smoked bacon, vegetable oil, brine (from hot dogs) it was sweet and delicate. There was toffee dust (the stuff you find at the bottom of a big jar from the sweet shop), white bonbons, all interlaced with a mineral character. Big, salty, smoky, and earthy to taste but a delicate perfumed herbal note gave the impression of lightness. Water stabilised this gentle impression; now it was nutty, grassy, herbal and more perfumed although the smoky bacon was still there. Liquorice, walnuts, pine resin and salty ash were added to on the palate.

Drinking tip: On your way to Islay or for an education in the art of smoky whiskies

Colour: 9 carat gold
Cask: First-fill barrel
Age: 9 years
Date distilled: October 2001
Alcohol: 57.6%

$90

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Gesundheit!

Cask No. 50.45
Lowlands, Borders

The nose was gentle, sweet and fruity – chocolate raisins, red apples, red cherries and jif lemon, but also sneeze-inducing with dusty hay, woven baskets and quarry dust. We thought the palate unusual – dark chocolate, toffee and Butterkist popcorn and sliced apples sprinkled with salt, paprika and chilli powder. The reduced nose remained invigorating and inviting – fresh fruit salad, 7UP, marzipan, pear and frangipani tart and worn leather. The reduced palate became an attractive balance between sharp and sweet, like bitter lemon; the mouth-feel resembled pandrops on the tongue, leaving a pleasant aftertaste. The distillery lies close to Scotland’s ‘book town’.

Drinking tip: To get your juices flowing

Colour: Tarnished brass
Cask: Refill barrel
Age: 20 years
Date distilled: July 1990
Alcohol: 49.2%

$145

*********************************

Cockle-warming citric crush

Cask No. 73.46
Highlands, Speyside (Isla)

The head-clearing nose offered peach schnapps, fruity white wine, lemon grass, marzipan, barley sugars and summer fruit salad, served with ice-cream and mint Matchmakers. The palate was an easy-drinking, cockle-warming melange of sherbet, gewürztraminer and lime sorbet with a creamy toffee, dulce de leche mouth-feel. The reduced nose was gloriously fresh – a citric crush of orange and lime (fruit, rind, leaves – everything) along with brown sugar, hints of leather and crunchy pea-pods. Swizzle double lollies, mushy strawberries and flying saucers floated on the reduced palate, held in place by a slightly tannic, minty after-taste. The distillery name means ‘big stream’.

Drinking tip: After a session of berry picking, or with dessert

Colour: Spring barley gold
Cask: Refill barrel
Age: 12 years
Date distilled: May 1999
Alcohol: 57.6%

$105

Please click on the LINK to read further and visit the SMWS of America at www.smwsa.com  for information on how to join.

January is finally behind us, and although the evenings are getting lighter it’s still pretty cold – which, means it’s still whisky weather! We’ve got a bunch of great new drams arriving in our warehouse (some of them exclusive to TWE), ready to fill your hipflask or warm your cockles on a winter’s evening.

Karuizawa 1981 Sherry Cask #6256
Bottled exclusively for TWE, this is a long-awaited cask strength first-fill sherrybomb
http://www.thewhiskyexchange.com/P-13006.aspx

Rittenhouse 100-Proof Rye Single Cask
Another exclusive TWE bottling – a sensational single cask high strength rye whiskey from Rittenhouse
http://www.thewhiskyexchange.com/P-16353.aspx

Chichibu ‘The First’
We’re very excited about this – the inaugural release of single malt whisky from Japan’s newest distillery!
http://www.thewhiskyexchange.com/P-15256.aspx

Highland Park Thor 16yo
A beautifully-presented cask strength 16yo from HP – the first in their new Valhalla Collection
http://www.thewhiskyexchange.com/P-16341.aspx

Abhainn Dearg 2008 First Bottling
First legal single malt whisky released from tiny new distillery on Isle of Lewis. Comes with a free miniature of the whisky!
http://www.thewhiskyexchange.com/P-16027.aspx

Glenmorangie Artein 15yo
Finished in Sassicaia red wine casks
http://www.thewhiskyexchange.com/P-16301.aspx

You can see our full newsletter online 

Loch Fyne Whiskies Stocks, ‘Loch Lomond 1966’

Loch Lomond 1966 44yo 40% abv

£83.50 inc vat £69.58 ex vat 

Best regards,
Loch Fyne Whiskies
david@lfw.co.uk

Burns Night with TWE & Vinopolis

For the Scotch whisky lover there’s one event that pops up early in the calendar that gives the perfect excuse for a bit of a special dram or three – Burns Night. On and around the birthday of Robert Burns … Continue reading >>

Hello Fellow Scotch Lovers –

I have some very exciting news to share with you.

By this time next week ForScotchLovers will have a totally new look, a vastly improved user experience…and a new name: ForWhiskeyLovers

Over the past 4 years it has become evident to me that amazing single malt whiskies can come from anywhere in the world. What’s more, I have experienced phenomenal bourbons, ryes and even a few delightful grain whiskies.

So after numerous conversations with Managing Editor Ian Buxton, Director of Fulfillment Randy Caravella and numerous community members and industry thought leaders, the decision was made to “broaden the tent” and change the name to ForWhiskeyLovers.

To help ease the transition, ForWhiskeyLovers will initially be launched on the ForScotchLovers.com URL. Then, after a month or two, we’ll flip the switch and move everything over to the ForWhiskeyLovers.com web address. Quite a huge undertaking…but we are all extremely excited about it.

All this excitement (and yes, stress) around the offices has caused our boy Nicky “The Neck” to become a bit disoriented…which believe me is very scary. So to help The Neck maintain focus, we sent him on a mission: Find a whisky that is exciting, new…and impossible to find anywhere.

As always The Neck scored…HUGE…which brings me to this weeks Whiskey Wednesday special: Bruichladdich Islay Barley 2004 – Kentraw Farm Foreland

For the first time in almost a century Bruichladdich has produced a whisky from barley that comes comes from one farm, and one farm only; This chalice barley was grown by farmer Raymond Stewart on Kentraw Farm one mile from the distillery, and was harvested in September and distilled in December 2004. An Islay whisky made from Islay barley and spring water, and where the entire production process takes place on one island. The whiskey was matured and bottled on a south-east facing, pebbly/sandy slope above Lochindaal, looking out over the Atlantic and to Ireland.

This is the first Islay-grown barley to be distilled in recent times, and is the inaugural bottling of Bruichladdich’s Islay barley series, a unique and fascinating exploration of the influence of terroir on artisanal single malt whisky.

This is also a limited production whisky, with only 6,000 bottles released worldwide. But once again, thanks to Nicky The Neck, we’ve been able to secure more than our fair share…good luck finding this anywhere else in the US…and so I am thrilled to be able to offer you Bruichladdich Islay Barley 2004 – Kentraw Farm Foreland for the amazing price of $98.50/ bottle.

If you want a bottle or three, I urge you to act quickly, because as always…once its gone…its gone.

Until next Wednesday…with a new look…new name…and new ‘tude.

Doug Stone
Founder
www.ForScotchLovers.com

________________________________________________________

BRUICHLADDICH ISLAY BARLEY 2004 – KENTRAW FARM FORELAND

________________________________________________________
DISTILLERY TASTING NOTES: BRUICHLADDICH ISLAY BARLEY 2004

This long lost spirit of Islay has an unbelievable innocence. a purity and refinement that leaps onto the senses like a child at the start of a new day. Totally unafraid, full of warmth and excitement, with not a care in the world other than to please.

COLOUR: Translucent Lemon / Winter Sunshine.

NOSE: The nose is a study in directness and purity. First, lemon juice sprinkled over sweet, crushed barley, golden syrup. Then tropical fruits – grapefruit, pineapple, mango, guava – even sherbet powder. The olfactory senses are in ecstasy! So many fresh, fruity, zesty, sweet notes – a rare experience – as the fabulous combination of vanilla-rich oak and a crispy, sweet malt joins in the excitement. This rainbow of aromas continues with air: honeysuckle drifts by, as do hints of brine, and finally the oak rises to embrace the more delicate scents, adding maturity and calm.

PALATE: The first thing you notice is the amazing creaminess, the silkiness of a much older spirit. It glides over the palate – warm, sweet and fruity – almost like jelly beans. then, this oak-fire heat spreads evenly over the taste buds. It’s a truly lovely experience and ably forms the foundation for the aromatics to evolve as one. Now, you can really taste the light, vanilla notes from the toasted staves. The multi-layering of flavours is absolutely wonderful for such a young malt.

FINISH: Like most youngsters at this age, it doesn’t linger too long…but you will enjoy the innocence, the purity and the sheer zest for life.

February Outturn: What’s YOUR Number?

The month of LOVE has arrived giving us that giddy, butterfly feeling. Let your heart rule your head this February Outturn, find the little number that tickles your fancy.

And if in doubt we have some recommendations that you’ll hopefully love…

PAIR: Buy 26.83 & 123.7 for only £79

TRIO: Buy 127.19, 36.56 & 26.83 for only £139

CASE: Buy 123.7, 127.19, 36.56, 85.23, 125.59 &
26.83 for only £255

* 26.83 Cosmo with perfume samples is exclusive to our February recommendations

February Outturn (12 new bottlings)

2012 Independent Bottler of the Year www.whiskymag.com/awards/ibc/2011/ 

The Scotch Malt Whisky Society,
The Vaults, 87 Giles Street, Leith EH6 6BZ
Contact: sales@smws.com or call 0131 555 2929 (Mon-Fri 9am-4.45pm).

Visit the Society at http://www.smws.co.uk/memberships for your chance to join and to take advantage of their great offers.

A TRUE FIRST IN WHISKY
DIRECT FROM THE GATES OF VALHALLA, HIGHLAND PARK BRINGS YOU THE MIGHTY THOR

Mighty Thor remains one of the most renowned of all the Norse gods. A powerful and brooding figure, it is said that using his hammer, Thor could carve valleys out of mountains and that his enemies would quake in terror at the thunderous sound the weapon created. Son of Odin, the ruler of Asgard, Thor was avidly worshipped by Viking warriors as the defender of mankind and gods alike.

In honour of this great warrior and in celebration of its own unwavering Norse heritage, Highland Park brings you Thor. This stunning 16 year old single malt is believed to be the first whisky ever designed specifically around an individual’s character. With a natural strength like its namesake, drawing influence from the environment unique to Orkney, Thor is a truly elemental spirit. Distilled where sea turns to ocean, it represents a meeting point of nature’s forces, exuding a dynamic and bold character on the surface, but with an unexpected softer side at its heart

Thor represents the first coming for Highland Park’s stunning Valhalla Collection; a range of four unique whiskies, released annually, taking inspiration from the legendary Nordic gods of old. Not for the faint hearted, only those brave enough to accept the challenge of Thor shall be rewarded with the ultimate experience; a whisky of divine power.
 
Bottled at a robust 52.1% abv this limited edition whisky comes housed in a unique wooden frame, which echoes the fearsome contours of a traditional Viking long ship.
 
Gerry Tosh, Global Marketing Manager, said, “Building on the success of The Magnus Series, we wanted to create an exciting new range which offers Highland Park fans something both affordable AND collectable.  This is no ordinary whisky and as we wanted it to truly reflect Thor’s character you will find some of the classic Highland Park aromas in there; it has a sweetness and a subtlety, but it will also surprise you with a little bit more smoke and dryness and there definitely is a lightning strike on your palate also.” 

The Valhalla Collection is about more than great whisky, it gives an insight to the very being of the brand, its inspiration and raison d’etre.

We’ve put Thor first, as he is such a mighty character and deserves his rightful place at the very forefront of this range. Everything about this whisky bellows power; this is quite honestly a true whisky of the gods.”

Thor will be available from specialist independent whisky retailers, at the Highland Park distillery and http://www.highlandpark.co.uk/ at a RRP of £120.

Tasting Notes: Highland Park Thor -16 years old – 52.1%

Appearance: Rich amber, with an iron ore glow

Nose:  Concentrated and forceful, with an explosion of aromatic smoke, pungent fresh ginger, antique copper, stewed plums, and golden syrup. With water, earthy notes emerge, like a garden after a heavy rain shower.

Palate: Thor’s high strength grabs the palate and refuses to let go.  Initially dry, with fiery gingerbread then vanilla, blackberries, fresh mango, peach and hints of cinnamon. As its big flavours swirl around the mouth, some softer, sweeter notes develop, giving Thor and unexpected layer of complexity and depth.

Finish: The finish thunders on, leaving behind lingering notes of sweet vanilla and an intense spiciness.

www.englishwhisky.co.uk

SPECIAL OFFER FOR FEBRUARY

******Spend £35 or more on English Whisky products in the distillery shop during February and we will give you 1 free tour voucher OR you can come for a tour of the distillery and receive a £5 discount at the end to spend on English Whisky products*****

We aim to run a tour every hour on the hour from 10am til 4pm. 7 days per week.

This tour includes coffee or tea and of course a slug of our finest malt.

The tours cost £5 per person or £2 under 18. We do offer group discounts. Call us to book tours or to get more info Tel: 01953 717939

£5 discount is only valid on day of tour and for English Whisky products only. This offer does not include online purchases. More offers coming shortly.