www.ralfy.com presents to the World, … and any civilisations beyond Whisky Review 296 – Laphroaig Cairdeas (55%) a ‘young’ peaty moment for Aliens all across the Universe. One of Earth’s little gifts!
Bruadar Malt Whisky Liqueur 22% alc/vol
Bruadar Malt Whisky Liqueur is the original Scottish Highland liqueur. A unique blend of single malt whisky, honey and sloes.
At 22 % there is a warm aftertaste of single malt whisky, but the sharp edges are smoothed by the addition of honey. The taste is finished off by a welcome of sloes, making Bruadar a well balanced liqueur with exceptionally attractive flavours.
Special Price!
£14.99
£5 off (was £19.99)
Single Malts Limited | 36 Gordon Street | Huntly | Aberdeenshire | AB54 8EQ
HIGHLAND PARK CLINCHES SEVEN NEW ACCOLADES
The award winning single malt whisky Highland Park, distributed by Maxxium UK, has clinched a total of seven new awards for both Thor and Highland Park 50 year old reinforcing the brand’s ability to continue to win the highest accolades for new and limited editions.
Following the recent launch of Thor, the first edition of Highland Park’s stunning Valhalla Collection, (a range of four unique whiskies, released annually, taking inspiration from the legendary Nordic gods of old) it has been awarded the first ever Spirit Design Masters Award at The Spirits Business 2012 Awards. The stunning 16 year old single malt, which is the newest edition to the Highland Park family, also secured Gold, Best in Class at the International Spirits Challenge 2012. This is one of the most respected and influential spirit competitions in the world, receiving more than 1000 entries from across 70 countries.
Highland Park’s oldest ever island single malt whisky – Highland Park 50 year old, which launched exclusively at Harrods, London in 2010 has also collected a total of four awards. As well as winning Best Design at the World Whiskies Award 2012, this unique bottle, encased in an intricate ‘net cage’ of hand-crafted ornate Sterling silver created by Scottish jewellery designer Maeve Gillies, also took home the Best Limited Edition at the World Whiskies Design Awards. With only 275 bottles produced this prestigious edition was also named Best Single Malt Scotch 41 Years and Over (Multiple Casks), at the 2012 Whisky Bible Awards.
Adding to the brands successful run recently both Highland Park 50 year old and Thor have also both clinched a gold medal for design and packaging at the International Spirits Challenge 2012.
Peter Sandstrom, marketing director for Maxxium said: “To receive recognition from these respected industry bodies is a great honour and we are thrilled with the success we have achieved this year. The quality of the competition means that all of these awards are of great significance to us. We’re looking forward to building on this success in the near future, especially in terms of our newer editions, which will allow us to maintain our award winning reputation within the industry.”
To find out more about Highland Park please visit www.highlandpark.co.uk
Notes:
Highland Park:
Five keystones contribute to making the Best Spirit in the World:
· Hand-turned malt adds to the deliciously succulent, balanced layers of aromatic character found in Highland Park single malt Scotch whisky.
· Aromatic peat gives a delectably seductive, luxuriant floral sweetness to Highland Park single malt Scotch whisky.
· Cool maturation enhances the smooth character of Highland Park single malt Scotch whisky.
· Sherry oak casks contribute to the distinctive richness and multi-dimensional complexity of Highland Park single malt Scotch whisky.
· Cask harmonisation ensures consistency and balance in Highland Park single malt Scotch whisky.
Established in 1798 on Orkney, Highland Park is one of the most remote Scotch whisky distilleries in the world. For over 200 years, the distillery has combined time old tradition and the very best craftsmanship to achieve perfection. Its core range of 12, 18, 21, 25, 30 and 40 year old single malt is consistently acclaimed by connoisseurs and experts.
New Arran Ambassador
Here Come The Girls! Women Lead the Way for Arran Whisky
Award winning Scotch whisky producer, Isle of Arran Distillers, has appointed a new female ‘Ambassador of Arran’ from Japan to help drive sales in the territory.
Celebrating her contribution to sales of Arran Malt, Ms Keiko Manni was awarded the prestigious title recently at Arran’s annual open day after she made the trip to the distillery from Japan with her colleague Ms Sueko Yamada.
Over the past five years, both ladies have contributed significantly to driving forward sales of Arran Malt in Japan; Ms Manni is the Spirits Block Leader for Tokyo’s prestigious department store, Isetan, whilst Ms Yamada is in charge of the Sprits bar in the store, which is a key retailer of Arran Malt in Tokyo.
Whilst visiting the distillery Ms Manni and Ms Yamada sampled a number of casks, using their expert palates to select a new cask which would appeal to their home market. With the guidance of Master Distiller James McTaggart, and Arran’s Senior Brand Manager Louisa Young, they selected a Single Bourbon Cask distilled in 2001 to bottle exclusively for sale in Isetan in Tokyo.
Louisa Young, Senior Brand Manager at Isle of Arran Distillers, said: “Our export sales to Asia are significant and Japan is a key market for us. Keiko and Sueko have long been champions of our wonderful range of single malts so we were delighted to host them as our guests on this trip organised by our Japanese distributor Whisk-e. ”
Ms Manni and Ms Yamada’s visit to Arran is highly significant as these women are leading the way in what is traditionally a male dominated business.
Louisa continued: “Letting three females run loose in a distillery warehouse for an afternoon of cask sampling certainly gave our Distillery Manager a run for his money! It is great to see that the role of females within in the whisky industry has increased on a global level and they are more than making their mark in highly regarded, influential positions.”
Visit Isle of Arran Distillery at www.arranwhisky.com
We are delighted with our new website and hope you are too… To improve it further we are looking for your help and input. We would like to know what you want to see on the site so we can make our online home as interesting and useful as possible for our friends around the world.
Everyone who fills in the survey will be entered into our prize draw to win one of six bottles of our magical 12 Years Old or 15 Years Old ‘Darkest’.
Best wishes from Islay,
The Bowmore team
The Whisky Show 2012 was recently held in Sydney and attracted over 1000 attendees making it the biggest whisky event in Australia.
“We wanted to create something big that would have appeal to both exhibitors and attendees and I think we achieved that”,says Larry Aronson, director of World of Whisky the event organiser. “it was tough convincing distributors to part with budget in these difficult times, but we did it and frankly the results were amazing”.”All the major players were there as well as most the smaller distributors. I am particularly pleased with the presence of the Australian Distilleries, they were completely swamped by attendees wanting to know more about home grown whiskies”. There were over 150 whiskies to try over the two days and purchases could be made at discounted prices.
Most exhibitors have confirmed their attendance for next year’s show and the few who did not attend this year have already expressed an interest for 2013.
” We are already looking at ways of making it even bigger and better for next year”, Aronson said.
New Single Malts of Scotland
Just a quickie to announce the arrival of some new Single Malts of Scotland releases from our sister company Speciality Drinks Ltd (SDL). They’ve been quite quiet on the bottling front this year, but with The Whisky Exchange Whisky Show … Continue reading >>
BUFFALO TRACE DISTILLERY RELEASES GIANT FRENCH OAK BARREL EXPERIMENTS
Whiskey aged for 19 years and 23 years!
FRANKFORT, Franklin County, Ky (Aug. 9, 2012) There’s been much discussion and experimentation with aging whiskey in small barrels, but what about experimenting with large barrels? More than two decades ago, Buffalo Trace Distillery set out to do just that. American whiskey typically ages in 53 gallon oak barrels, but this whiskey matured in 135 gallon French oak barrels, one for 19 years and one for 23 years. Both barrels were filled with Buffalo Trace rye bourbon mash recipe #2, aged on the ground floor of Warehouse K, chill filtered and bottled at 90 proof. The giant barrels were given a #3 char, which is different from Buffalo Trace’s typical #4 char.
One important observation from this experiment was the evaporation rate was much lower for the larger barrels than the typical 53 gallon barrel. Other details on each are as follows:
19 Year Old Giant French Oak Barrel – This 135 gallon barrel was filled on January 28, 1993 and was bottled June 28, 2012. It came off the still at 135 proof and was entered into the barrel at 129.8 proof. The evaporation rate on this barrel was 34.8%, which is considerably lower than a typical 53 gallon barrel, which averages 55-60% evaporation for the same time frame. The flavor is clean and well rounded. The taste is sweeter than expected with caramel and butterscotch notes followed by an oaky finish
23 Year Old Giant French Oak Barrel – This giant barrel was also 135 gallons, filled on May 17, 1989 and bottled on June 27, 2012. The whiskey entered into the barrel at 130 proof and the evaporation rate was lower at 46.8% than a typical sized 23 year-old barrel. After 23 years, the flavor of this whiskey is complex and full bodied with notes of sassafras, caramel, birch, and tea berry.
“Both of these barrels yielded pleasant tasting whiskeys, and we were surprised about the evaporation rate being so low. Evidently the large size helped retain more of the whiskey while also imparting a well-rounded and full bodied flavor,” said Master Distiller Harlen Wheatley.
These giant barrels are part of the more than 1,500 experimental barrels of whiskey aging in the warehouses of Buffalo Trace Distillery. Each of these barrels has unique characteristics that differentiate it from all others. Some examples of these experiments include unique mash bills, type of wood and barrel toasts. In order to further increase the scope, flexibility and range of the experimental program, an entire micro distillery, named The Colonel E.H. Taylor, Jr. “OFC” Micro Distillery, complete with cookers, fermenting tanks, and a state-of-the-art micro still has been constructed within Buffalo Trace Distillery.
The Experimental Collection will be packaged in 375ml bottles. Each label will include all the pertinent information unique to that barrel of whiskey. These whiskeys will retail for approximately $46.35 each. These rare experimental bottles should be available in September. For more information on the Experimental Collection or the other products of Buffalo Trace Distillery, please contact Kris Comstock at kcomstock@buffalotrace.com
About Buffalo Trace Distillery
Buffalo Trace Distillery is a family-owned company based in Frankfort, Franklin County, Kentucky. The Distillery’s rich distilling tradition dates back to 1787 and includes such legends as E.H. Taylor, Jr., George T. Stagg, Albert B. Blanton, Orville Schupp, and Elmer T. Lee. Buffalo Trace Distillery is a fully operational Distillery producing bourbon, rye and vodka on site and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Distillery has won seven distillery titles since 2000 from such notable publications as Whisky Magazine, Whisky Advocate Magazine and Wine Enthusiast Magazine. It was named Whisky Magazine 2010 World Icons of Whisky “Whisky Visitor Attraction of the Year.” Buffalo Trace Distillery has also garnered more than 200 awards for its wide range of premium whiskies. To learn more about Buffalo Trace Distillery visit www.buffalotracedistillery.com
Hi folks. We have been told by HMRC (the UK tax collector) that we need to register for VAT from September 1, 2012.
This means commission, insertion fees and reservation fees from the 17th auction onwards will attract VAT at the current rate. None of this money comes to us; it goes straight to the UK government.
Also, unless previously intimated to us, the 17th auction is now closed for bottles.
Ralfy’s newest submission is about Annanalde, one the many distilleries in the making. A great read… (please click on the link below to read the article)…
