We couldn’t leave you to your own devices in the lead up to Xmas, so here are a few little choice ideas for you and the whisky-lover/s in your life for the big day…

IDEA NO.1

PERSONALISED DRAM 101
£20 delivered or £30 gift-boxed & delivered
A delicious blended malt (or vatted malt for the old school among us) containing 3 different Speyside single malt whiskies. Fresh, sweet vanilla and citrus. Simply order on it’s own or in combination with one of our swanky gift boxes with two Glencairn tasting glasses and then email us with the name of the lucky recipient. Easy-peasey!

IDEA NO.2

WHISKY SCHOOL
Have a whisky-lover in your life that seems to have everything? Stuck for ideas? Enrol them in a Whisky School near them in 2013! Tasting, learning, blending and everything they need to know about Whisky in a one-day shift at a Malmaison or Hotel du Vin in one of 10 locations around the UK.

IDEA NO.3

SINGLE CASK BOTTLINGS
Want something really special and unrepeatable? Try one of our single cask, single malt whiskies. Bottled in 20cl bottles in order to make them accessible – they range from our famous ‘Salty Sea-Dog’ at £29.99 delivered, up to a 37 year-old, 1974 Glen Grant for only £64.99.

IDEA NO.4

BURNS’ NIGHTS
Fancy giving the gift of a great night out in a location close to the recipient? Our Burns’ Night tastings and dinners are great value and great fun, with slightly different offerings at each venue. These range from a tasting with a little food involvement all the way up to 3-course meals with the full monty of piper and poems!

IDEA NO.5

Our Whisky Festivals are the finest way for the budding whisky-enthusiast or hardened whisky-nut to spend the day in a city near them. For a very modest price, the attendees are gifted a tasting glass, a bottle of water, a festival guide, a food voucher and an ‘under the counter’ drams token as they walk into the venue. These are once a year occasions and are looked forward to by all! We can email you PDF tickets to print and trim in plenty of time for Crimbo, plus we have a stunning, but limited ‘2 for £40’ offer on for Brighton on the 6th April.

IDEA NO.6

For only £50, you can give the gift that keeps on giving for a whole year! New members receive 2 free tasting vouchers (can be used at any tasting event priced at £20), 10% off TWL website purchases (excluding some ludicrous offers), a Glencairn tasting glass, ‘under the counter’ dram tokens at festivals they attend plus, for a limited time only, a personalised 20cl bottle of our very own Dram 101. All of this sent to you in a smart gift box to wrap in time for the big day.

IDEA NO.7

Bewildered by the choice? Why not go for a Whisky Lounge Gift Voucher and let them choose themselves? Valid for a year and available in any denomination you like (within reason!), simply order through the website or email us with your requirements if you don’t see the value you need. We then email you a PDF to print and trim to pop in a card of your choice, or for a little extra we can post out to you in our 2012 Xmas Card.

Our mailing address is:
The Whisky Lounge Ltd
Unit 3
61a Osbaldwick Lane
York, North Yorkshire YO10 3AY
United Kingdom

Loch Fyne Whiskies Stocks ‘Arran Orkney Bere’

Arran Orkney Bere
46% abv

£44.90 inc vat £37.42 ex vat

Loch Fyne Whiskies
david@lfw.co.uk

Glendronach Cask Strength, Batch 1

This new release from the ever popular Glendronach distillery is a first. This cask strength, non chill filtered and at natural colour, has no age statement. This expression was released to bridge the gap between the core range of 12, 15, 18 and 21 and the various single cask bottling’s available hence providing the strength of flavour associated with the single cask bottling’s yet not breaking the bank. This first batch comprises of 12,000 bottles. Deep crimson in colour, glistening with crimson with a palate of intense toffee and cocoa with rich sherry soaked dark fruits, zested orange exploding in the long alcohol infused chocolate fondant.

£52.99 inc VAT CLICK HERE TO BUY NOW

UK exclusive GlenDronach single cask bottling – 1993 cask # 26

This is aged 19 years old, and is from a Pedro Ximenez sherry butt, bottled at cask strength – 57.1

Appearance: Rich ruby – mahogany.
Nose: Chocolate, figs and spices in abundance.
Palate: Layers of dark chocolate and orange in harmony with nutmeg, raisins and delicate spices.

£73.99 inc VAT CLICK HERE TO BUY NOW

We offer two (2) new bottlings under the PROVENANCE label.

Tasting Notes for PROVENANCE:

PRV 0946 Glenrothes 8 Year Old Sherry

The nose carries a richly spiced character and develops to leather, bees wax and old polished oak furniture. The palate is powerful and mouthcoating, still spicy with a salted caramel and chili chocolate quality. The finish is long and dry, with leather returning plus tobacco and a light smoky style. (J)

PRV 0781 Glenburgie 12 Year Old

Opens clean and fresh on the nose carrying a sweetly gristed character plus a macedonia of fruit style. The palate is even sweeter, with a spiced ripe fruit quality which then develops to a citric tang. The finish remains fruity then runs drier to a subtle oak aspect. (J)

And so we close the year. We thank you for your support of our Whiskies through 2012 – and though we have told you before – it merits repeating – they are appreciated and never taken for granted by us.

Best wishes

Fred H Laing

Managing Director

www.douglaslaing.com

Santa’s Little Helper: Gift Ideas
Some Society suggestions for Santa, on the first day of Christmas which bottlings will be under the tree…

Last orders for guaranteed delivery: Wed 19 Dec (midday) 

*Light, fruity dram….tasty, very easy drinking
50.50 Conifers, grasses and  flowers
22yo Lowland, £68.70
Conifers, grasses and flowery perfumes before fruity sweetness emerged –apricot flan, yellow plums, lemon cake, honey, flapjacks, ginger ale and butterscotch. BUY

*Delicate, sweet with bags of character…nurse this one!
85.24 Autumn Kitchen
27yo Speyside Lossie, £87.60
Oranges, sandalwood, tobacco, quinces, and woody spices reminded some of North African cuisine, others more of an Autumnal kitchen with stewed apples, pecan pie, fruit cake, raspberry jam, milk chocolate, crème fraîche on Madeira 
cake and cognac. BUY

*Smoky seductress…mmm, and a sherry cask
29.128 Deep, dark and hugely entertaining
21yo Islay, £79.50
The nose had sweet hickory smoke, pagoda roof timbers and a boat-builder’s workbench; rich, delightful savoury notes (grilled prawns and scallops in balsamic glaze, roast pig with an apple in its mouth); plus molasses, cough syrup, 
five-spice powder and leather. BUY

*Honey-sweet smoke
3.199 Life is a beach
16yo Islay, £66.50
We sniffed – and were once again young and carefree, enjoying beach bonfire/barbeques – hot stones, burnt sticks, charcoal, ash, wood smoke, scallop shells, lemon,  flame-roasted pork, salt-encrusted rocks and sun cream!
BUY

*For the Hippy at Heart?
35.72 Vinyl Revival
23yo Speyside Lossie, £69.90
Richly textured whisky reminded our panel of the warming fragrance of a vinyl record in the middle of play. This was accompanied by the smell of a stir-fry with raisins and Hoisin Sauce.  BUY

Stocking Fillers: Mighty Mini packs 
Sweet & Savoury or a smoky Surf & Turf Seaside BBQ pack
Four-not-of-a-kind bottlings, pack and tasting book. More 

Christmas Parcels  on-sale NOW

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.

The Big Whisky Interview – can it get any bigger?

Angels whisky club INTERVIEW Charlie Maclean –  Hi again Charlie, nice of you to spare me some time for this chat , I thought it well in order and about time we interviewed you, being our Patron. Are you sitting comfortably? Let’s begin…

What first got you interested in whisky? One of my best friends at school was Charlie Grant, whose father owned The Glenlivet Distillery. They were direct descendants of the founder, George Smith. I was first introduced to single malt whisky up at Glenlivet, in the late 1960s. I was brought up on the Isle of Arran, and in the pub of an evening with the locals the custom was to start with beer, then switch to Scotch. Whether you liked it or not! There was no choice. I began writing about whisky in 1981 and then more and more, including booklets for Macallan, Glenmorangie, Allied and United Distillers (as was then).

Next question comes easy (to me); what part of a distillery do you get most satisfaction from? I would say the still house and the warehouse.

Do you have any thoughts about finishing? Port, Sherry etc. More and more finishes are now on offer. In fact, do you have a favourite finish (mine is sherry)? I’m not a great fan of finishing, although it is perfectly justified and produces whiskies which are smooth and easy to drink I admit. I prefer unfinished, or Oloroso finished, if pushed.

Here’s one to test your mind; what would happen if, for example, a distillery used beech or larch in place of oak casks? I believe chestnut has been used, but oak is the best by far. Oak is watertight but not airtight, which allows the whisky to breathe, and chemicals in the oakwood leech into the liquid, adding colour and desirable flavours like vanilla, coconut, dried fruits, etc., depending on whether the oak is American or European.

What do you look for in a new whisky? Maturity, but still traces of the individual distillery character; an intriguing aroma and a taste which develops the aroma. Complexity. Fruitiness. Not too grainy or malty. And, yes peat-smoke – but not all the time!

Apart from our membership (of course) is there anyone in the whisky world you still wish to meet? Past or present. That’s a hard one! There are so many people I’d like to meet. (After a wee while…) Robert Burns!

Weird question time; if Aliens came and took ALL our whisky in the world, what would you then do with your time? Ha, ha! Never been asked that before! Commit suicide? Seriously, I would just have to start writing about something else! Or do nothing!

Weird question part 2; apart from being immersed in distilleries and the trade, what are your outside interests? I like to shoot, fish, cook (and eat), sail; I collect whisky books, and I read a lot – particularly Scottish history (same as Paul then!).

Finally; a winter night in Scotland, it’s snowing and cold enough to scare monkey’s, it’s 9pm and you are sitting in front of the fire, what dram do you have? I pour my first dram of the evening at 6.00 pm, while I’m ‘tidying up my desk’. You may be surprised to hear that what I reach for is a blend. Most of my work is with malt, so when I just want to relax, a blend’s ‘your only man’. If I could afford it, I would reach for Johnnie Walker Black Label.

Many thanks for being honest and putting up with all of this mush, do you have a parting shot? Aye, a happy Christmas and Hogmanay to all of you! Charlie

Charlie was interviewed by Paul McLean, 4pm, 6 December 2012, Edinburgh.

www.angelswhiskyclub.com

http://angelswhiskyclub.com/awc/charliemacleaninterview.asp

Hi folks. We’re rapidly filling up for the 21st auction which will run from December 28 till January 06. Accordingly, we will be unable to accept any more bottles from Wednesday, December 19.

Kind regards from Glasgow

Bill,Tam & Mick

http://www.scotchwhiskyauctions.com/store/

www.ralfy.com has a tussle with a benchmark prestige Scotch with Whisky Review 323 – Royal Salute 21yo Scotch. . . do you know where this Scotch got it’s name? Find out here.

Loch Fyne Whiskies Stocks ‘Arran single Sherry Cask #1968 15yo 1996’ 

Arran Single Sherry Cask # 1968 15yo 1996 53.9% abv 

£62.90 inc vat £52.42 ex vat

Limited to 263 bottles

Loch Fyne Whiskies

david@lfw.co.uk

It’s time to toast the holidays and we have another fantastic line up of single malts perfect for every occasion (including our first appearance from The Society’s newest addition to the distillery list). View the December Outturn here: www.smws.ca and please contact your local retailer for details on availability. Whether it’s to accompany your turkey dinner, a hostess gift or a surprise under the tree for that lucky someone, we’ve got you covered!

Have a glance at these great gifters:

Cask No. 105.19 ‘O come all ye faithful
28 years old; 1st fill sherry hogshead; 55.1%

A rich and complex nose; dried Seville orange peel, nutmeg, cinnamon, and Christmas spices – even traces of mulled wine. Smooth and sweet to taste with burnt toffee and dark chocolate.

Cask No. 129.2 Humbugs in a horse’s nosebag
4 years old; 1st fill barrel; 61.6%

The nose, feisty, carried gorgeous toasted barley warmth, buttered crumpets, black tea, pepper and ciabatta bread. Considering the age, the taste had a distinct “Wow” factor, floods of sweet smoky flavours – barley sugars, smoke and meusli in a horse’s nose bag.

The Scotch Malt Whisky Society Canada
104-1240 Kensington Road NW, Suite 160
Calgary, AB, Canada T2N 3P7
Email the Society in Canada at curious@smws.ca for your chance to join and to take advantage of their great offers. Bottlings are currently available in Alberta (via Kensington Wine Mart Calgary) and British Columbia (via The Strath Ale, Wine & Spirit Merchants and Edgemont Fine Wines, Spirits & Ales).