LAGAVULIN™ TO SPONSOR ISLAY JAZZ FESTIVAL AGAIN

by Pat Roberts

Lagavulin™, the iconic Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky, will again be the headline sponsor of the Islay Jazz Festival in 2012, the brand’s owner Diageo has announced, following its highly successful and widely welcomed sponsorship of the event in the last two years.

The Islay Jazz Festival, which this year will take place from 14-16 September 2012, attracts hundreds of jazz lovers, from Scotland and further afield, to the world-famous whisky island on Scotland’s west coast.

Artists already booked include the Neil Cowley Trio, the Colin Steele Quintet, Konrad Wiszniewski with Pascal Schumacher, and Scottish guitarist Graeme Stephen.

Commenting on behalf of Lagavulin, Nick Morgan, Diageo’s Head of Whisky Outreach, said: “We are delighted to be able to sponsor this world-class festival again, which brings so many discerning jazz lovers to venues throughout this unique and special island.

“We have been pleased with the public and community reaction to our sponsorship over the last two years, and with the Festival’s growing success in attracting visitors to Islay, including many from abroad. It’s clear that live jazz and fine Malt Whisky are the best of partners, and that Islay, with its many distinctive and intimate venues and excellent whiskies, is ideally placed to host such a fine event”.

Fiona Alexander of promoters Jazz Scotland welcomed the confirmation of a further year’s sponsorship by Lagavulin.

She said: “Visitors to the Festival arrive with a sense of enchantment and discovery. The timeless beauty of the constantly changing landscape and the warmth of welcome provide a great backdrop to the heritage of Lagavulin production and the handcrafted creation of live jazz”.

Jazz Scotland will shortly release a film of the 2011 Festival highlights, which will be seen on the Islay Jazz Festival website , where details of this year’s programme will also be posted once available.

The Festival is promoted by Jazz Scotland and The Islay Arts Association, and also supported by Argyll and Bute Council and Creative Scotland.

The events of the Festival are spread over three days and many venues on Islay.

Notes

Programme details (and ticket sales when booking starts) on the Islay Jazz Festival website.

Compass Box Whisky Co. and The Whisky Shop join forces for whisky tasting ‘World Record’

2 Great Men, 3 Great Whiskies, 8 Great Whisky Shops, 24 Hours, 683 miles!

To mark the arrival of their trio of award-winning whiskies – Great King Street, The Spice Tree and The Peat Monster – across the 19-strong empire of Whisky Shops, boutique whiskymaker Compass Box is embarking on a journey from Inverness to Brighton, via 8 cities, 8 Whisky Shops and 8 different tastings, in an attempt to set a whisky tasting world record and raise money for charity along the way. The twist? The whole tour will happen in just ONE day.

Whisky Shop Managing Director, Andrew Torrance, explained: ‘We are delighted to list the Compass Box range in our stores from Spring this year. When we were discussing a launch plan we thought the best way to bring the magic of these whiskies to our consumers was of course to let them taste the product. What better way to do that than in one day! Inverness to Brighton in one day. I’m really looking forward to it and I know our customers will get right behind the challenge. Like all the best ideas, it was hatched over a good dinner and a glass of whisky.”

As four-time winners of ‘Whisky Innovator of the Year’, Compass Box is no stranger to uniquely ambitious ideas. But is this the most extreme thing Compass Box Founder and Whiskymaker, John Glaser, has ever agreed to do in pursuit of his art? “I have to admit to staying up pretty late a few times in support of our whiskies, but usually this take places in a very civilised bar rather than a van. Regardless, I can’t wait for this night. If it gets more people to understand our craft approach, enjoy what we do, and learn more about the wonders that whisky has to offer, then it is worth every one of the 1440 minutes on the road”.

John Glaser will join Whisky Shop’s Whiskeria Magazine Editor and acclaimed whisky expert Dominic Roskrow on this joint tour, starting with a one-minute-past-midnight tasting at The Whisky Shop in Inverness on Friday June 15th and finishing in Brighton with a grand finale at 11.30pm the same day. In-between, the whisky industry’s ‘odd couple’ will visit Edinburgh, Newcastle, York, Birmingham, Oxford and London.

At each venue, Dominic and John will illustrate Compass Box’s unique approach to whiskymaking with a tasting of the Great King Street – Artist’s Blend, Spice Tree and Peat Monster, while focusing on a different side of the world of whisky. They will serve variations on the whisky Highball and talk about the history of blended whisky as dawn breaks over Edinburgh; breakfast on Spice Tree with haggis in Newcastle; investigate the best whisky and food matches over a whisky dinner in Oxford; and discover the magic of the finest whisky cocktails in London. The grand finale will entail a glass of something very special under the stars on Brighton’s seafront.

John and Dominic will be encouraging whisky fans and Whisky Shop’s W-Club members to come along and join in the fun at each venue, while everyone – wherever they are in the world – can follow the journey on Twitter @CompassBox and @TheWhiskyShop and their Facebook page www.facebook.com/CompassBox

As Dominic Roskrow put it, “If truth be told, none of us know whether it’ll work out or not. Heaven knows who’ll turn up in Edinburgh at 4.30am and I have this vision of being stuck in a traffic jam in Crawley as midnight approaches. I was asked the other day if anyone has done anything like this before. I said don’t be stupid!”

Venue Time Theme
Inverness 12.01am Classic tasting and grand départ
Edinburgh 4.30am The history of Blended whisky and the rise of the Highball
Newcastle 8.30am Breakfast pairings (haggis and Spice Tree, kippers with Peat Monster)
York 11.30am The Art of Blending
Birmingham 3.30pm Oak – the magical ingredient
Oxford 6.00pm Food & whisky matching – cheese, seafood, spice
London 9.00pm Whisky Cocktails
Brighton 11.30pm Something special to finish!

To sign up to any one of these events customers just need to contact The Whisky Shop in the city where it is taking place. All attendees will receive a commemorative T-shirt and all ticket proceeds will go to charity.

ABOUT COMPASS BOX (www.compassboxwhisky.com)
The Compass Box Whisky Company is a boutique Scotch whiskymaker and craft blender, started in 2000 by John Glaser. Compass Box produces and bottles a range of Scotch whiskies, available in over 25 countries around the world. A four-time winner of the Whisky Magazine Innovator of the Year award, Compass Box is known throughout the whisky world for quality, innovation and passion for great whisky. The Compass Box signature range of whiskies includes Asyla, Oak Cross, The Peat Monster, The Spice Tree and Hedonism. They also produce limited release whiskies annually, and Orangerie, a Scotch whisky infusion.

ABOUT JOHN GLASER
American ex-pat John Glaser started Compass Box Whisky Company from the kitchen of his west London home in 2000. Having started his career on a path to become a winemaker, then re-routing himself through the corporate world and ending up as marketing director for Johnnie Walker in London, Glaser has a unique perspective on both the creation and the marketing of Scotch whisky. Glaser established Compass Box based on his commitment to evolving practices in the industry to make great Scotch whisky more approachable and relevant to more people. From the beginning, his vision has been to create one of Scotland’s finest and most exciting whisky companies, re-establishing the standards for quality and style in the industry.

ABOUT THE WHISKY SHOP
The Whisky Shop is the UK’s largest Independent Whisky retailer with 20 stores stretching from Inverness to Brighton. Their aim is to de-mystify the whisky category and be the friendly face of whisky on the High Street. They carry over 300 whisky products and welcome over 2 million customers every year to their website and shops.

ABOUT DOMINIC ROSKROW
Dominic is currently the Editor of Whiskeria and responsible for editorial content at The W Club. He has been a freelance whisky writer for six years, and has specialised in whisky for more than 10. He is a former Editor of Whisky Magazine, and currently covers world whiskey for The Whisky Advocate, making him the only journalist to work for all ‘big three’ whisky titles. He has just published his fifth book, 1001 Whiskies To Try Before You Die, and his sixth, The Whisky Opus, is out in August. His latest project is founding a new trade association for craft distillers across the world. Which just goes to show that from this whisky tasting tour to the new association it really is possible to travel from the ridiculous to the sublime!

Caperdonich 17yo (58%, SMWS of Canada, 38.21, 2^nd fill hogshead, 234 Bts., +/-2011) 

The undiluted nose is rich and sweet with some characteristics of Longmorn maltiness (which is always very pleasant), there are also hints of some leather and tobacco (unlit of course) and some what of pipe tobacco, heavily rich with some earthiness backing it up. With some time in the glass the sample opens up considerably and proves to be a sensational collection of aromas; it’s very seductive. Some late arriving citrus only adds to the mix. The taste, without water, is warming, strong and quite different from the nose, it’s very solid, much more of the leather and tobacco is present with hints of dried lemon peel and cocoa powder. With water it looses some of its appeal but is still very good. The finish is a near picture of the taste, some late malt adds to the picture and this only grows with time. The finish is very, very long and very malty. 

A sensational Caperdonich, a pleasure to examine and enjoy. Best without water and if you must then only a little. 

$140 

Score 88 points

Milroy’s of Soho Single Cask Royal Lochnagar 2002, Aged 10 Years, Jubilee Bottling

To coincide with the Jubilee we bottled a deliciously delicate Royal Lochnagar. It is a fresh, slightly oily, rounded summer dram, with attractive apple and light vanilla hints.

We’re told that Queen Victoria regularly nipped round to the Royal Lochnagar distillery from Balmoral Castle and our in depth research ie Google Maps: http://g.co/maps/u7wny  shows that it would cost our Jubilant Queen Elizabeth II just 34p in fuel to visit the distillery (turn right, then right and right again Ma’am, you can’t miss it).

£35.00

Delivery will be charged at £9.95 to addresses in U.K. Mainland,
and charged at cost elsewhere.

To place an order please visit www.milroys.co.uk,
call Lee on 020 7437 2385
or email Lee.Tomlinson@jeroboams.co.uk

Our mailing address is:

Milroy’s of Soho
3 Greek Street
London, England W1D 4NX
United Kingdom

Please find below a link to the results of the Scottish Field Whisky Challenge which you may find of interest.

Scottish Field Results of Summer Whisky Challenge 2012

You can also visit them on Facebook and Twitter as they move through the stages to the Grand Final at the end of the year where the Scottish Field Whisky of the Year will be published.

Please find the latest from The Whisky Shop

Part Own A Cask Of Glenmorangie – June 2012 This year, the Men of Tain will distil their wisdo…(please click on the link below to read the remainder of the article)…

THE LINK

Kind Regards

The Whisky Shop
www.whiskyshop.com

Rare whisky launched to mark Queen’s Diamond Jubilee

A 60 year old Single Malt Whisky is being launched today (6th February 2012) in honour of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee by one of the world’s leading malt whisky specialists.  Gordon & MacPhail – the Elgin based and family-run Single Malt Whisky specialist – has released only 85 bottles of Glen Grant 60 Years Old.

Distilled on 2nd February 1952, four days before the Queen acceded the throne, the whisky was bottled on 2nd February 2012 at cask strength, making it exactly 60 years old. Gordon & MacPhail’s Joint Managing Director Michael Urquhart said: “Glen Grant 60 Years Old is a rare single malt whisky and we are delighted to be releasing it to mark the celebration of Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee. “With whisky of this quality and rarity – each bottle comes with a certificate of authenticity – we expect considerable interest,  not just in the UK, but from the international marketplace where recent export figures have shown we have an avid consumer following.  “In producing the packaging for this remarkable Single Malt we worked with Scottish craftsmen, allowing us to showcase some of  the finest talent in the country.”

Gordon & MacPhail Glen Grant 60 Years Old is described as having poise and great complexity, displaying aromas of Cox’s Pippins and Granny Smith apples, laced with cinnamon and root ginger.  The palate reveals the age and depth of character as rich, burnt fruit notes mingle with a drying, spicy edge and a dusting of white pepper.

The Single Malt is presented in a pyramid shaped crystal decanter adorned with a diamond shaped stopper. Each decanter is expertly engraved – the script in-filled with silver – and uniquely numbered. The decanter carries an engraved crown with a sparking Swarovski crystal, set at the meeting point of the crowns two arches. A silver collar, placed around the neck of the decanter completes the presentation. The decanter is packaged in a hand-crafted box made of Scottish Elm, felled a short distance from Holyrood House, the Queen’s official Scottish residence. The decanter nestles in the box lined with luxurious, purple Harris Tweed and a dust jacket made from the same material protects the box and the precious contents.

The limited edition bottles are now being put on the market for a recommended retail price in the UK of £8,000 per bottle. Prices in export markets will differ depending on duty and import taxes.

 The launch of Glen Grant 60 year old is supported by an online social media campaign and dedicated microsite www.gordonandmacphail.com/diamond and Facebook page. Both display images of the hand crafting bottling process and packaging of the final product.

Glen Grant 60yo 1952/2012 (42.3%, G&M C#465, 85 Decanters) 

On the nose… quite frankly it’s a delight. Loads of delicate fruit with some slight heather notes in the back ground. Sweetness, sherry and perhaps the tiniest hint of the cask. One would expect that after 60 years the cask would have great influence however this is not the case; the fruit and sweetness are there front and center. The taste is still of the sweet goodness of the sherry along with dried organic apricots, some light pepper notes, hints of slightly over cooked cake (think crispy caramelization rather than burnt) and some good mocha. All in all a sensational taste and very ‘antique’ in a very good way and taste much younger, as in a  30 year old rather than a 60 year old. The finish is a mirror image of the nose and the taste with the sherry notes up front with some good wood notes arriving at the last, perhaps with a little malt for good measure? Very long and not powerful but just right. 

Wonderful. 

£8,000

 Score 92 points 

Many and sincere thanks to Michael Urquhart of Gordon & MacPhail for providing the sample.

THE MACALLAN LAUNCHES LIMITED EDITION DIAMOND JUBILEE BOTTLING

The Macallan is celebrating Queen Elizabeth’s 60th year on the throne with the release of a stunning limited edition commemorative Diamond Jubilee bottling. The specially designed bottle bears a unique image of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II created by the sculptor Arnold Machin. With only 2012 bottles available, and like The Macallan’s previous commemorative royal bottlings, this edition is expected to be highly sought after by collectors from the worlds of whisky and art.

The pack was designed by acclaimed Art Director David Holmes, who was responsible for the 2011 Macallan Royal Marriage edition. Arnold Machin’s magnificent image of the Queen is displayed on an intricately designed ceramic brooch which sits proudly on the bottle’s label. The distinctive image, depicted here on a product for the first and only time, was one of a series of effigies created by Arnold Machin OBE RA. A development of this design was later used on all definitive issue British postal stamps.

Commenting on the special commemorative Diamond Jubilee edition David Holmes said; “A Royal Diamond Jubilee is extremely rare and should be celebrated with flair and unique exuberance. With this in mind and taking inspiration from a brooch gifted to Queen Victoria on her Diamond Jubilee, it was imperative to keep the design sophisticated. The motivation behind the colours stemmed from the tones so often favoured by the Queen, pale blue, pale yellow and pale green. These colours complement the product’s subtle tones perfectly when presented in the display case which, with its cushioned regal purple lid has the feel of a jewellery box. In a year of celebrating Britain, all elements of production were British based. The antiqued pewter surround was made in Scotland, the cameo in Staffordshire and the flags and ribbons are all made in Britain.”

The golden amber liquid has been specially chosen for the months it was drawn from the casks, 6th February, the Queen’s accession and the first week in June, traditionally when the Jubilees are celebrated. Bottled at 52%, in line with the year of the Queen’s accession, the exceptional sherry cask matured single malt gives hints of citrus fruits, ginger and clove.

Ken Grier, Director of Malts at Edrington commented; “The Macallan is honoured to showcase and play host to such an iconic British emblem. This unique combination between art and whisky results in an exquisitely designed creation which continues our exceptional attention to detail in all The Macallan products. Our Whisky Maker, Bob Dalgarno has put together a superb single malt which carries the character and nobility of the occasion it commemorates, whilst David Holmes has given us a truly inspiring way to use this iconic image”

The 2012 bottles are available from The Macallan Distillery Visitor Centre for UK collection only and online for UK customers at www.themacallan.com at a price of £350. Limited quantities will also be available via selected luxury retailers. Bottles will be available for sale from 31st May 2012.

http://www.themacallan.com/shop/detail.asp?pid=MACDJ01

© The Machin Arts Foundation and used with their kind permission.

Tasting Notes:

• Nose: Vanilla is the first to show, sweet to a point, yet shows maturity. Citrus fruits hang on to the coattails, (orange, apple, hints of lemon), almost appear when they are required. The cask influences then appear, resinous, never overbearing, changing to show polished oak, aged, reminiscent of a once exquisite dining room.

• Palate: Rich dried fruits open up to show their hand. Raisin drives the character in a non-nonsense manner. It is evident it is not alone, figs and dates, are the lesser players of the group. As they converse, treacle toffee takes a bow followed by the courtiers, ginger and clove. Like a finale the grand lady enters, Oak – refined, polished, elegant, overlooking all.

• Finish: Long, meanders, in no hurry to leave.

SOUTHERN COMFORT LAUNCHES BOLD BLACK CHERRY

New line extension expands Southern Comfort family of brands beginning in June

May 2012, LOUISVILLE, KY – Southern Comfort announces the launch of Southern Comfort Bold Black Cherry, a mixture of Southern Comfort with whiskey and cherry flavors. The new product is set to hit shelves nationally in June 2012.

Southern Comfort was created by New Orleans bartender, Martin Wilkes (M.W.) Heron in 1874. After experimenting with a variety of fruits, spices and other spirits, Heron struck on the perfect combination creating a one-of-a-kind blend of whiskey, fruit, and spice flavors. The new Bold Black Cherry product carries on Southern Comfort’s heritage as the leader in the flavored spirit category. The combination of dark fruits with Southern Comfort is perfectly served with cola to enhance the rich, complex flavor.

“The launch of Southern Comfort Bold Black Cherry continues the brand’s innovation with new flavors which began with Southern Comfort Lime in 2010 and continued with Southern Comfort Fiery Pepper last fall,” said Mark Bacon, VP, Managing Director, Southern Comfort. “We feel Bold Black Cherry will recruit new consumers into the Southern Comfort franchise who enjoy a distinctive flavor profile in their cocktails.”

Infused with natural cherry to deliver an authentic taste that’s smooth and invigorating, Southern Comfort Bold Black Cherry has been designed to appeal to a broad age range and meet consumer demand for great tasting flavors that are unique. The brand is confident the new expression will continue to increase relevancy amongst younger drinkers, offering a bolder drink that’s ideal for high energy occasions.

Southern Comfort will launch an advertising campaign this summer consisting of a six-week national television buy which will support the new product release and include commercials on ESPN, TBS, FX and Comedy Central among others.

Southern Comfort Bold Black Cherry will be available across the United States as well as the United Kingdom and Ireland. Each bottle will be presented at 70 proof with a suggested retail price of $16.99 for a 750ml bottle.

SoCo Bold Black Cherry & Cola

2 oz. Southern Comfort Bold Black Cherry

4 oz. Cola

Lemon Wedge

Fill a glass with cubed ice. Pour in Southern Comfort Bold Black Cherry. Add Cola and garnish with lemon wedge.

About Southern Comfort

Southern Comfort®, a fruit, spice, and whiskey flavored liqueur, was created in New Orleans by bartender M.W. Heron in 1874. Today, it is enjoyed by friends in over 100 countries around the world and continues to grow as an icon brand. Please visit us at SouthernComfort.com and facebook.com/southerncomfort.