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Global film competition helps to ‘raise a glass’ to dads this Father’s Day

Some of the world’s most famous whisky makers, including Johnnie Walker, Bushmills Irish Whiskey, J&B and Talisker, have harnessed the creative talents of up-and-coming independent film makers around the globe to help inspire people to ‘raise a glass’ to their dads this Father’s Day.

As part of their ‘Raise a glass to your dad’ campaign, the whisky makers partnered with MOFILM, a global network of some 45,000 film makers, to seek short films that pay tribute to fathers.

Shopper statistics1 show that, traditionally, consumers spend more on Mother’s Day than Father’s Day and the ‘Raise a glass to your dad’ campaign aims to redress the balance, urging sons and daughters to pay tribute to the ‘man behind their dad’.

Andrew Fell, Global Customer Marketing Director, Diageo Global Whiskies Category said: “Working with MOFILM we were able to showcase new talent and truly creative ideas. The winning entries were all touching, amusing, provocative and innovative and perfectly illustrated the love and respect due to fathers.”

MOFILM, which is the world’s leading video and film contest community, challenged 20 previous contest winners to create a short piece that told the story of their relationship with their father and how whisky plays a part in that.

The winner, New Yorker Jody Lauren Miller, was flown to Palm Springs to celebrate her win in style at the Coachella Music Festival. Her film, entitled ‘Victor’ – which featured her father and his fondness for Johnnie Walker – was described by the judging panel as “quite simply superb”.

Jody was presented with a $5,000 cash prize and a separate gift of a personally engraved bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue Label.

In a close second place was the Swedish team of Daniel, Fredrik & Henrik Lundh. Their entry – ‘The Man with the Nose’ – told the story of their dad’s character and his amazing sense of smell that leads him to Talisker whisky.

In third place was Will Shipley of the US with ‘Like Father Like Daughter’ which celebrated Bushmills Irish Whiskey. In fourth was ‘You Know Him’ by Canadian film maker Lloyd Choi, linked to J&B Whiskey, and in fifth place was ‘Sleepless Nights’ by John Waters from the UK, which also linked to Bushmills.

The winning entries can be viewed and downloaded here:

http://multivu.prnewswire.com/mnr/prne/diageo/53835/

Andrew Fell added: “We believe film is an incredibly powerful medium to capture the feelings that people have for their fathers, a feeling that is often hard for them to express. Watching these films it’s hard not to raise a smile – and a glass – to dads!”

1 In the US consumers were expected to spend $16.3 billion on Mother’s Day compared to $11.1 billion on Father’s Day in 2011. Source: BIGresearch survey in partnership with the National Retail Federation (NRF) 2011. Total spending is extrapolation of spending of U.S. adults 18+.

Notes:

About DIAGEO

DIAGEO is the world’s leading premium drinks business with an outstanding collection of beverage alcohol brands across spirits, wines, and beer categories. These brands include JOHNNIE WALKER, GUINNESS, SMIRNOFF, J&B, BAILEYS, CUERVO, TANQUERAY, CAPTAIN MORGAN, CROWN ROYAL, BEAULIEU VINEYARD and STERLING VINEYARDS wines.

DIAGEO is a global company, trading in more than 180 countries around the world. The company is listed on both the New York Stock Exchange (DEO) and the London Stock Exchange (DGE). For more information about Diageo, its people, brands, and performance, visit us at Diageo.com. For our global resource that promotes responsible drinking through the sharing of best practice tools, information and initiatives, visit DRINKiQ.com.

Celebrating life, every day, everywhere.

About MOFILM

MOFILM is the leading video and film contest community for aspiring filmmakers, with members around the world. MOFILM works with global brands, like Diageo, to showcase talent and create innovative new ideas. MOFILM provides help with production costs and also mentors its community from the initial idea to the completed piece, ensuring that the film makers have the best opportunity for their work to be used by that brand.

Tolbooth Tavern - The Venue

All of the Jolly Toper’s whisky tastings normally take place on Thursday nights from 7:30pm until approximately 10pm at either The Tolbooth Tavern or The Kelderkin, both in the , F Canongate, Royal Mile, Edinburgh, meals available up to the time of the tastings. For more details on the tastings themselves, please click here

P/O/U/R/S = Peaty, Old, Unusual, Rare and Sherry cask matured. Recently many people have requested the exact nature of the line up at the ‘pours’ tastings remain secret so a proper ‘blind’ tasting can be held. However I understand some people would be more comfortable knowing which drams were to be tasted before commiting to attending. If this is the case get in touch and I can let you know- providing they have been already arranged of course
* = £3 discount for first timers and members. Membership costs £10 for 13 months.

Future dates:

Thursday 14.06.12 P/O/U/R/S 7.30pm at The Kilderkin, 65/67 Canongate, Royal Mile, Edinburgh £20/17*

Loch Fyne blend 40%

Bushmills 10yo 40%

Sheep Dip amorosso finish

Glen Esk 1984 43% Gordon And MacPhail

Kilchoman sherry cask 46%

Thursday 21.06.12 P/O/U/R/S 7.30pm at The Kilderkin, 65/67 Canongate, Royal Mile, Edinburgh £20/17*

Longrow 18yo 46% 2012 release

Springbank 18yo 46% 2012 release

Longrow 9yo springbank open day 2012 single cask bottling

Macallan 22yo 46% Duthies

+ something from a sherry cask

Thursday 05.07.12 Suntory tasting with Tatsuya Mingawa at The Kilderkin 7.30pm £15

£5 off any one bottle tasted on the night

Yamazaki 12yo

Yamazaki 18yo

Hibiki 12yo

Hibiki 17yo

Hakushu 12yo

+ cask samples

Thursday 26.07.12 P/O/U/R/S at The Kilderkin £20/17

Father’s Day – Sunday 17th June 2012

This Father’s Day, make it fun for him to remember

Single Malt Whisky with a personalised label.

Select your bottle of Single Malt whisky and then personalise it by adding a photograph of your own choice and using a selection of different backgrounds and a message to the label. Our online label design is fun, quick and produces amazing results at the click of a button.

Click here to go to begin…………….

Some interesting information from the people at Cutty Sark;

The original Cutty Sark clipper ship, the embodiment of the spirit of adventure, has been officially re-opened by her majesty The Queen. Our Scotch whisky was named after this beautiful ship way back in 1923 and therefore we were delighted to donate some of our oldest archive bottles for display as well as £1 million to help support this massive and lengthy restoration project.

Incredibly, thanks to some bright engineers, you can now actually walk underneath the ship for a dolphin’s eye view of the innovative design which enabled her to reach record-breaking speeds. She really was the Concorde of her day. Except on water, rather than in the air…

What are you waiting for? Get down to Greenwich: www.cuttysark.org.uk

Finally, if you know a friend who would also love to hear about exclusive Cutty Sark news, then please let us know who they are.

Return of the longtime favourite – the classic Highball – Japanese style

London: Bartenders everywhere know how to make their own special Highball, a cocktail that has long been popular the world over. It has come back into fashion partly because it is such a refreshing drink, partly because it is so simple to mix. What is more, retro cocktails are now fashionable thanks to TV shows like Mad Men.

Suntory Brand Ambassador Zoran Peric has created a range of Highballs all of which are simple and draw out the intricate flavours of Japanese whiskies.

Fresh as a Summer’s Day

Zoran’s Taisho Highball is an example of pure cocktail delight. Taisho means Japanese season of big heat.

Coat large chunks of ice with elderflower cordial in a tall glass

Pour in 50ml of Hakushu 12 year old single malt and stir 5 times. Add soda water and stir 5 times. Finish off with lemon zest and serve in a chilled Highball glass. Garnish with elderflowers and berries and lemon slice.

A twist of lime adds another dimension to the summer Highball, and there are many others including the use of tonic water, ginger ale or a half and half mix of the two.

Comments Brand Ambassador Zoran Peric: “With their unique flavours Suntory whiskies make very appetising cocktails and we have created a range of cocktails which are appropriate to the time of year. The Highball is ideally suited to the summer months and to individual tastes. Anyone can make one”.

Suntory have created many cocktails based on their single malt and blended whiskies to celebrate Japan’s 24 seasons. For the summer seasons they have always followed the need for simplicity. Cocktails that are easy to make, not time consuming and with ready to hand ingredients. The Highball is a classic of simplicity, refreshing and the perfect quench on a hot day.

This year Yamazaki 25 year old single malt whisky was named The World’s Best Single Malt Whisky at the World Whisky Awards while Yamazaki 18 year old was awarded a world best Trophy at the Ultimate Spirits Challenge in the USA. Since 2003 Suntory Japanese whiskies have won more than 60 international awards for quality, flavour and excellence.

Notes: Pronouncing Suntory Names

Yamazaki – (Ya-ma-zarkee)

Hakushu – (Ha-koo-shoe)

Hibiki – (Hi-bi-kee)

Hakushu single malt whisky is available from: Selfridges, Harvey Nichols, The Whisky Exchange, independent specialist retailers and drinkon.com priced from about £52.

The Suntory range of Japanese whiskies is distributed in the UK by Cellar Trends. For all sales enquiries contact: sales@cellartrends.co.uk

Revival

At long last we have managed to release our first whisky , Revival, made entirely since we re-started in 2008 and which is widely available. For us at the distillery it seems to have been a long time in coming and we have taken great care in the preparation of the product and the packaging so that we delivered a quality product of which we were proud.

For those of you who have yet to try it, the whisky is a marriage of first fill and refill casks which have been finished for 6 months in first fill Oloroso sherry casks. The result is a robust whisky, sweet and fruity while rounded and creamy with perfect balancing sherry notes and a slight whiff of sea-air.

While we were pleased with the finished product the real test is how it would be received by customers and we have been extremely pleased by the very positive feedback which included some great tasting reviews from writers and bloggers and a fantastic bronze award in the under £35.00 category at the Scottish Field Awards.

Ronnie adding the marine influence

One reaction we have had is a request for an another contrasting whisky and we will shortly release another whisky which has also been produced since the refurbishment but this one will be limited release so once it has all been sold then that will be it.

More information on this one soon. 

Chosen Few

After the success of the last Chosen Few, we are just about to release the next one. This time it is a 1978 refill sherry cask which has spent the last 12 months of its life in a first fill Oloroso. It is another complex whisky where there is evidence of sherry but this does not overpower the whisky and instead it balances well with the classic Glenglassaugh fruit flavours and the spices that come from the wood. It will again be bottled at cask strength and without the use of colouring and with no use of chill filtration.

Marie extracting a bung from a Port Octave

The whisky has been chosen by Mhairi McDonald who is the production manager at the distillery and who many of you will have met if you have visited here, as she often takes people round the distillery.

I can also give you advance warning of another, much younger Chosen Few, which will appear later this year. This one has been chosen by the oldest member of the team, Ronnie Lawrence, who is currently finishing the transformation of the old office block into a new visitor centre 

USA Exclusive

Lots of excitement in USA and Canada (well not all Provinces unfortunately ) as our North American exclusive is finally making its way into stores. This whisky is a 37 year old, again from a sherry cask and was recently reviewed by John Hansell in his Whisky Advocate blog.

New Team Members

Like all small businesses we have been very prudent in terms of employing people and that is why we all end up doing a number of jobs, including helping out in warehousing or bottling or taking tours.

Jayne filling 26 Year Old

However with the increase in bottling activity, mainly due to Revival, we recruited someone dedicated to bottling and packing and Jayne Smith joined us at the start of the year although she had been here on a temporary basis for some months previously. Jayne hails from Portsoy and is a very welcome addition to the team 

In warehousing we have been looking for a permanent team member for over a year now and have finally recruited Robbie Mackay, who previously worked for a local soft drink manufacturer. He has been a great addition to the team and is mastering the skills required at an astonishingly quick rate. 

Robbie stencilling a cask

Over the last two years, we have concentrated on growing our business in new markets around the world and this has inevitably led to some areas not receiving the support that they deserve. We therefore decided to recruit another member of the team to help grow our business in Europe and were very lucky to find that the “Young Brand Ambassador in 2012 – Icons of Whisky Awards” was available and keen to join us. 

Susan enjoying a cask sample

I am therefore delighted to announce that Susan Colville, previously with Weymss Malts, AD Rattray and Douglas Laing has joined the team as European Brand Development Manager and many of you will meet here over the next few months as she visits festivals and carries out tastings in Europe.

It is also pleasing to note that she has already spent time in distilling, warehousing and bottling so we have ensured that we have extra cover if someone is off (not sure that she was aware that this was part of the contract ) 

Glenglassaugh Whisky School

We will shortly announce the creation of the first Glenglassaugh whisky school. Our aim is to eventually offer this four times per year with limited numbers attending on each occasion. Participants will experience all aspects of what we do at Glenglassaugh, including mashing and distilling, filling, warehousing, cask selection and bottling.

The school will be run by the very experienced team here at Glenglassaugh including Mhairi, Susan, Graeme, Ronnie and myself who between us will have around 80 years worth of experience in the industry.

Visitor Centre

Our long awaited visitor centre is almost complete and before opening we only have a few finishing touches to complete while we wait for the granting of our licence from the local authority so that we can sell alcohol from the premises.

We are anticipating that we will receive this around mid July and are gearing up for the momentous day. 

Web Site

Our web site is undergoing a re-vamp and will very soon be up and running. We believe that it is easier to navigate and specifically find out what you looking for from the front page. 

There are also enlarged sections providing more information on the history of the distillery and of the team members . It will be easier to go to the on-line shop or find out more information on purchasing an Octave or finding information on the tours which are available.

We have also built it so that it is mobile compatible so that it can easily be read from smart phones and tablets.

 Octaves

Octave ownership is an incredibly fast growing part of our the activities which we carry out at the distillery. It seems strange to think that it is almost three years since we filled the first one and already we have filled more than 500. In the first two years we only filled re-fill Octaves but we now fill ex-Oloroso sherry and ex-PX sherry, ex-Bourbon and currently have limited stocks of ex-Port.

A big thank-you to all of the cask owners for not only helping our business but for being part of something that is very enjoyable for all of us.

I believe that there is a story behind each of the Octaves and it would be fascinating to hear from cask owners about their own stories and why they bought them or what they intend to do with the bottles or with the empty cask.

There may not be any prizes but if you are willing to share your story then please drop us an email at casks@glenglassaugh.com

“ ‘Glassa Geeks”

A project currently under wraps but look-out for more information.

As always please leave comments below or email me.

Slange

Stuart 

Please visit Glenglassaugh Distillery at http://www.glenglassaugh.com  

www.ralfy.com says “hello again” with Whisky Review 279 – Auchentoshan Valinch . . . yummy!

Loch Fyne Whiskies stock a new item, ‘The return of a legend; anCnoc 35yo..’

anCnoc 35 year old and it’s an Ace…

…(The Joynson speaks)…

In 1999, our Bottling of the Year was “Knockdhu 21yo”, and here it is again, wiser and more eloquent, as a 35yo. Knockdhu Distillery’s product is now sold as An Cnoc (to avoid confusion with Knockando) and once again, I love this distillation.

There is a rich oiliness and the signature Knockdhu ginger-punch (okay an An Cnoc ginger-punch). There is, in no particular order; oranges, leather, fruitcake, sherbet, cocoa, earthy vanilla and then back to citric, and that’s the undiluted aroma. Adding a spot of water reveals lemon, fudge and berries – blackberries and currants. This is easy describing stuff, there is so much going on, no wonder the 21yo of long ago was so approved of by our customers.

This 35yo is softer than the 21yo on the palette, initially vary well balanced it shuffles onto the bitter (top-back) part of the tongue and shimmies to the sour (back & side) and back and forth. It’s citric and aged; it thickens on the tongue to an orangey-oiliness. It’s soft luxurious and even.

Beautiful ace, a fine venerable whisky, pale gold and on the Flavour Map its in square F4, Complex and Delicate

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