The Cold Blast of Winter before the Spring Revival

While the rest of Europe, including England, was recently freezing in arctic like conditions and plummeting temperatures the Moray Firth coast escaped the snow and sub-zero temperatures of the last two winters. I would like to think that it is due to the heat that is being generated by all the hard work that we are doing at Glenglassaugh, as you will read about below, but alas I don’t think that we are having such a significant effect on the weather.

Octaves – What is Your Favourite Cask Type

I am never sure if we should listen so closely to customers suggestions but we do aim to please so when I was asked if we could find ex-Port Octaves and ex-Fino sherry Octaves then I at least had to try.

The result is that we have now managed to locate a number of additional options for Octave cask maturation. In addition to the original refill casks in 2011 we added ex-Oloroso sherry and ex-PX sherry and subsequently ex-Bourbon. These casks will form the basis of our core range for future sales.

However we have managed to obtain around 50 ex-Port Octaves, which will be the only ones of this type purchased in 2011 and I cannot guarantee that we will manage to get them again next year. The first 30 arrived yesterday and the aroma from these is fabulous.

We will also, in around 2 months time, take delivery of a very small number, around 12 of each, of ex-Fino, ex-Amontillado and ex-Manzanilla Octaves.

We have already changed the order form on the website with details for the ex-Port Octaves and the price for the other new sherry options is the same price as the Oloroso and PX Octaves.

Earlier in the month we filled 5 ex-Bourbon Octaves for a group of animators from a certain animation studio in California, who were just completing work on a forthcoming film, which is based in Scotland. We had great fun with the cask filling as you see in you tube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-ideR9DAhQ&context=C3b6c0fdADOEgsToPDskL8Th2tp4nPWMgkckRiIo65

Visitor Centre

Progress continues to be made with a new disabled access ramp installed and a small piece of decking at the front entrance. The internal work is progressing well but there is still a lot of work to be done to complete the work although we are still hopeful of it being ready to open at the end of March.

Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival

Yes I know that we are not in Speyside but a proud Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky, nether the less we are very close geographically and one could say a fringe neighbour.

Anyway once again we will have several events taking place including “Behind The Scenes” tours, “Fill your own cask” and “Bottle your own Glenglassaugh whisky”.

You can also spend a luxury weekend at our very close neighbours, Durn House, and enjoy a special tour and tasting of some of our very special whiskies with Ronnie Routledge.

Details of all the events can be found at http://www.spiritofspeyside.com/events.php

Out and About

We are just finalising our plans for attending events around the UK during the year but we will once again be visiting a number of locations including, for the first time, The Royal Highland Show in Edinburgh in June.

The RHS coincides with The Traditional Boat Festival in Portsoy so we will be very stretched that weekend and the current plans mean that Ronnie and I will be in Edinburgh while Mhairi will be mustering a team from the distillery to manage the stand in Portsoy.

I will be heading further afield over the next few weeks and months and having already been at the Finest Spirits Festival in Munich, I will shortly be visiting our importers in Netherlands, Belgium and France and then heading to Moscow for a view days.

At the end of March I will be at WhiskyFest in Chicago and the following week at the Whiskies of the World fair in San Francisco, while at the start of May I am planning to go to Banff, not the one in Scotland but the one in Alberta, Canada.

Production

We have also been busy at the distillery with production back on stream while in the warehouse there has been a lot of activity including a large number of Octave cask fillings.

January is normally a quiet month in bottling but not this year for us as we received a very significant order from one customer which has kept us busy.

Later in the year we are planning to extend and alter our small bottling facilities so that we can continue to meet the growing number of orders which we are receiving.

Revival

We have completed the final designs for our forthcoming new product called Revival, and are now eagerly awaiting the delivery of the packaging materials.

Revival will be the first whisky produced at Glenglassaugh since the distillery was refurbished and has already been featured in whisky tastings in Linkoping in Sweden and in Munich and on both occasions was extremely well received. A number of you will also have tasted a “nearly Revival” as a miniature of this was included with The First Cask Bottling.

We expect to have the bottles available for shipping by the end of March but will provide more information before that.

That’s all for now.

Slange

Stuart

Old Pulteney 21yo (46%, OB, -/-2011)

The new bottling of Old Pulteney that fled from store shelves late last year on the news that Jim Murray had picked this as his whisky of the year…on the nose there is some good sweetness and mild malt, all very pleasant so far but a little closed. Some hand warming is in order and brings out some fruit leather which is all very lovely. The taste is warming, big, slightly maritime (salty) and some very, very good subtle malt and the fruit leather again and indeed this is very nice and borders on excellent. There’s some comprehension of what appealed to JM so strongly. The finish is good and is a good shadow of the nose and the taste so it has very good balance and then after a moment or two there s a glorious wave of malt, fruit leather and the maritime followed by some sweet wine notes. And then just for fun some really, really good malt. It’s very long and very good.

$113 if you can find it.

Score 89 points

NEW WHISKIES IN STOCK

Over the last month we’ve had a positive avalanche of new whiskies and several different genevers. Some of the whiskies will be ongoing expressions whilst others, including some from BenRiach, Springbank, Yamazaki and Highland Park, are limited edition and very desirable.

We’ve picked out a few to show you below but to see the whole selection of goodies check out our New Products section and look through the entries for the last few weeks.

Don’t forget – we still have the Singleton of Dufftown on at £19.99 but this offer can’t last forever so get your bottle(s) now!

Sláinte!
Fran and Ken
www.whiskyandwines.com

NEW PRODUCTS

AMRUT INTERMEDIATE SHERRY MATURED

An interesting whisky from Amrut that started life in a bourbon cask, was transferred to a sherry cask and then went back into a bourbon cask.

In the same week we also had the Amrut Cask Strength whisky come in stock, an Appleton Estate 12 year old rum, and some other interesting whiskies – click here to see all the new arrivals from the week ending 11th February.

Buy Online: £ 70.00

BENRIACH 17 YEAR OLD SOLSTICE 2ND EDITION

If I’m honest, I debated long and hard before adding this one to the newsletter as I would love to keep them all for myself! But that would just be selfish so in a spirit of altruism I’ll remind you all of just how good the first edition of this peated BenRiach finished in port pipes was and just how quickly it sold…

In the same week that this arrived we had Thor from Highland Park storm in (minus his hammer), bourbon barrel expressions of Hakushu and Yamazaki, a fabulous limited release from Springbank which was matured in small casks called Rundlets or Kilderkins, and a couple more BenRiachs. Click here to see all the new arrivals from the week ending 18th February.

Buy Online: £ 59.99

Arkwrights Whisky & Wines. Phone No. 01793 765071 Fax No. 01793 764860  The Dormers, Highworth, Wiltshire, SN6 7PE

We have a SCOTCH TASTING this Sunday, March 4th at 4:00 p.m. It is going to be a great tasting with some really amazing scotch! I saw the list yesterday and if you don’t make it, you might be sad you missed out. The tasting is $50 a person, plus tax and gratuity. Hope to see you there!

5007 Underwood Ave / Omaha, Ne / 68132 / 402.553.9501 / www.dundeedell.com

The Winner Of The Dalmore 12 Competition

Dalmore Twitter Competition – The Result!

Thanks to everyone that entered our recent Twitter competition for the chance to win a bottle of the magnificent Dalmore 12 year old complete with a special tasting glass

The winner was selected at random from all eligible entries via our Independent Adjudicator. (wearing white gloves and all, oh and she was very pretty!)

The Winner!
Nat Arnold (@Nuttynel)

Congratulations! A bottle of Dalmore 12 year old, complete with a special Dalmore tasting glass is on its way to you!

Again, thanks to everyone that entered and better luck next time!!

Sláinte!

Abbey Whisky

Scottish Parliament Welcomes World Whisky Day

Today the Scottish Parliament welcomed World Whisky Day and congratulated an Aberdeen University student for pioneering the event.

World Whisky Day will be held on 27 March 2012 and is the first time that whisky will be celebrated internationally on a specific day. Aberdeen University student Blair Bowman initiated the celebration which has attracted worldwide interest and support. Events will be held in the United States, Canada, across Europe, South Africa, Dubai, Kyrgyzstan, India, South Korea, Malaysia, and Australia.

Aberdeen Central MSP Kevin Stewart raised a motion in the Scottish Parliament hailing the international event, recognising how it can boost the reputation of Scottish Whisky and congratulating Blair Bowman for the work he has done to create the event. The motion has received cross party support.

Kevin Stewart MSP said:

“I am pleased to be able to recognise this international event which originated in Aberdeen. World Whisky Day has attracted such wide spread support from around the globe and will help to promote Scotland’s valuable exports. I hope to see it being repeated in the coming years giving a real focus to responsible enjoyment of our national drink.

“Blair has done a fantastic job getting World Whisky Day off the ground and I hope to see it getting further support from around the globe and locally in Scotland. This is a great opportunity for the industry to build on the success and reputation of whisky.”

Blair Bowman said:

“There has been tremendous support for World Whisky Day around the world but it is fantastic to have the Scottish Parliament welcoming World Whisky Day, and calling for its continued success.”

Notes:

SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT MOTION
Date of Lodging: 28 February 2012
Short Title: World Whisky Day
S4M-02141 Kevin Stewart () (Scottish National Party): That the Parliament congratulates Aberdeen resident, Blair Bowman, on creating a dedicated international day of celebration in honour of whisky: welcomes this, the first World Whisky Day, on 27 March 2012; believes that it will help to promote Scotland’s national drink round the world; understands that the day has already attracted interest from India, USA, South Africa and Kyrgyzstan, and would like to see World Whisky Day being successful for many years to come.

Kilchoman – Machir Bay

Kilchoman, Islay’s Farm Distillery, is delighted to announce the release of ‘Machir Bay’ a vatting of 3, 4 and 5 year old, matured in fresh bourbon barrels and finished in oloroso sherry butts for 8 weeks.

Anthony Wills, Manging Director, commented, ‘Machir Bay is one of the most beautiful beaches on Islay, is close to the distillery and will give continuity of supply to our customers around the world. Each year we will add more mature malt to the vatting.’

£37.99 inc VAT – £31.66 exc VAT

CLICK HERE TO BUY NOW

Single Malts Limited, 36 Gordon Street, Huntly, Aberdeenshire AB54 8EQ

Milroy’s of Soho February Newsletter

February has been a great month for new releases, the Highland Park Thor being a particular highlight. We have also had new intern Anisa helping us out, you can follow her path into whisky on our blog.

BRUICHLADDICH
Octomore 4.2 COMUS
The latest Octomore release named Comus after the ‘God of wine’, looks to be a worthy successor to the incredible Orpheus. Like Orpheus, Comus is wine cask matured, although this time in super sweet Sauternes casks from top estate Chateau d’Yquem.
£85 – Pre-Order

GLENFIDDICH
Glenfiddich Age of Discovery – 19 Year Old Madeira Cask Finish
The second release of Glenfiddich Age of Discovery is due for release in March, the whisky is a homage to the Portuguese discovers of the 15thCentury. There will be limited availability pre-order now to save disappointment.
£90 – Pre-Order

GORDON & MACPHAIL
Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, Glen Grant 60 Year Old
Filled almost 60 years to the day before Queen Elizabeth acceded the throne, there are only 85 bottles of this incredible whisky.
£8,000

HIGHLAND PARK
Highland ParkThor 16 Years Old
The first of four bottle collection, Thor is a 16 year old cask strength whisky showing all the power of the Norse God. A whisky of superb balance and complexity, Thor shows wonderful smoky and dried fruit character.
£114.90

SPRINGBANK
Sprinbank 10, Rundlets & Kilderkins
A limited release ten year old whisky aged in small oak casks, also known as ‘Rundlets’ or ‘Kilderkins’. An age defying dram with bags of flavour, bottled at a hearty 49.4% ABV. Only 9,000 bottles.
£57.95

LONG LOST WHISKIES
This month we were fortunate enough to see the return of just a few bottles of two long lost Milroy’s of Soho bottlings. We thought they were long gone but a case of each had apparently been hiding in our warehouse all along. We’ve already tucked but there are a couple of bottles left to share amongst the rest of you…

MILROY’S OF SOHO
Knockdhu 1998
The distillery bottling is known as An Cnoc, and even Knockdhu is a little known distillery, from which, this single cask has produced a gloriously sweet, round and full bodied whisky.
£100

MILROY’S OF SOHO
Amrut 2003
A splendid single malt from southern India. Initially matured in India for over three years in ex Bourbon casks. It was then shipped to Scotland and aged for a further year in an ex grain cask. This is thrilling stuff. Robustly rich and fruity, with a fascinating floral edge this lingers on the palate.
Just one case of this glorious whisky remains.
£100

UPCOMING TASTING EVENTS
For an evening of fun, entertainment and a bit of learning you just can’t beat a whisky tasting.

Whisky and Chocolate 1st March 2012, 6:30pm
Be taken through an extravaganza of chocolate and whisky matching’s with Paul A Young’s famous chocolates. The evening will leave taste buds tantalised and chocolate lovers satisfied.
Tickets £50

Fine and Rare, 6th March 2012, 6.30pm
There is nothing quite like drinking a whisky in the knowledge you may never see it again, let alone taste it. With whiskies from long closed distilleries and those which come and go once a year, this tasting of the finest and rarest of whiskies will be a night to remember.
Tickets £100

Until next month, cheers!

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

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

Check out the fourth of Belgian whisky blogger Mark Dermul’s Whisky Ramblings on video: Whisky Festival Ghent 2012. Please click on the link below to view the video.

http://youtu.be/PpKYTLbKD4c

More Awards… Whisky Advocate

The BAFTAs and Oscars are behind us, the Drinks Retail Awards have come and gone (ahem), and we’ve even given out our own tranche of virtual statuettes – now is the season of the gong. The most recent awards to … Continue reading >>