Irish Whiskey Renaissance 

New Distilleries: Carlow and Horse Island 

Ernie – Ernst J. Scheiner, The Gateway to Distilleries at www.whisky-distilleries.net

Ireland in Kentucky

The most westerly European and Irish Dingle Distillery went into production last year (please see https://www.whiskyintelligence.com/2012/12/new-on-the-irish-whiskey-map-dingle-distillery-irish-whiskey-news). The Dingle Founding Fathers cannot wait to see their whiskey to be bottled in December 2015. More Irish distilleries are to come in the near future: Tullamore, Belfast Titanic, Carlow and Horse Island.

A surprising news came from the U.S.: „The Vendome whiskey stills, used by Alltech’s Lexington Brewing Company and made in Louisville, Kentucky, were shipped over (to Ireland) on 22 August (2012). The whiskey will be distilled in Carlow Brewing Company in Bagenalstown, Co. Carlow.“  The pot stills were used by Alltech Lexington Brewing Company to distil Town Branch Bourbon www.kentuckyale.com/town-branch.

In the Heart of the Bluegrass-Country the Lexington distillers were also making an Irish type of whiskey.  Both whiskeys received gold medals at the 2012 World Spirit Awards www.world-spirits.com.

Alltech’s founder and renowned scientist Dr. T. Pearse Lyons revived whiskey distilling in Lexington, Kentucky, in 2008 which had stopped at the beginning of the Prohibition in in 1920.  Lyons is of Irish background, he worked as a biochemist in the Irish whiskey industry with the Irish Distillers Group and has been a master brewer for Storehouse Guinness, Dublin. The successful entrepreneur set up Town Branch Distillery not to distil Bourbon but Kentucky’s first double distilled single malt whiskey  Pearse Lyons Reserve  www.kentuckyale.com/pearse-lyons-reserve.

Today’s onion shaped pot stills were manufactured by Forsyths of Rothes in Scotland. The first new Kentucky malt was filled in a first-fill Bourbon cask in September 2008 and presented at the World Equestrian Games in 2010 (Alltech is the main sponsor). The annual production capacity is about 450.000 litres of new make spirit.

See: http://www.kentucky.com/2012/09/26/2351606/new-alltech-distllery-to-open.html

Tables turned: back to the roots 

„Global animal health and nutrition company Alltech is moving (parts of ) its whiskey business to Ireland,“ was the news which surprised the people of Co. Carlow.  Back to the „heimatland“ was the notion. The Irish master brewer and distiller who was born in Dundalk, Co. Louth, just cannot deny his whiskey roots, another of his whiskey dreams came true in Carlow. Lyons is now the only independent distiller to produce whiskey in the U.S. and Ireland.

He said: “A truly momentous event has happened as the first stills are shipped from Kentucky to Ireland, completing the cycle with this fantastic craft finally returning to its place of origin. This will set the stage for a new Irish whiskey with a Kentucky flair.”

Carlow Brewing Company, also known as O’Hara’s Brewery, founded in 1996 by the O’Hara family, was chosen as the Irish production site. It is a good address, they are proud of their beer: „The renowned O’Hara’s Irish Stout, won two gold medals at the International Brewing Awards, a high profile industry competition, and this success attracted a lot of international attention.“ See www.carlowbrewing.co.

Managing director Seamus O’Hara was exited about the new joint venture which would bring new jobs to Carlow.  His craft brewery will also act as an importer of the Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale which is brewed by Alltech Lexington Brewing and Distilling Co.  The American ale is specially matured for six months in Kentucky Bourbon casks to add more flavours and aromas of the whiskey to the beer.

The two Kentucky stills were set up in the Carlow Craft Brewing House and distilling began in November 2012. The wash still has a capacity of 1,900 litres and the spirit still 1,000 litres. The American stills are constructed with a boil pot and a column on top which allows to distil different spirits. The spirit is made of  100%  malted barley only. They use their own developed distiller’s yeast with a fermentation period of the wash for  about 65 hours (Dr. Lyons has got a doctor’s degree in yeast fermentation) and run a double distillation to produce a malt whiskey which is non-peated at the moment.  The micro-distillery is fully manual. The spirit will mature in casks from The Lexington Brewing and Distilling Company in warehouses on site. Lyons said: „This way we will keep the Kentucky-Ireland connection alive.” See  www.alltech.com.

A new Irish-American whiskey dynasty is born as Dr. Lyons’ son Mark also received his PhD in brewing and distilling from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland. 

Island Whiskey Horse 

Another whiskey distillery will be built in the South of Ireland. Horse Island, just south of Cork, is privately owned by Adrian Fitzgibbon. His company Roaring Water Farm & Enterprises (growing of crops combined with farming of animals) handed in a planning application at Cork County Council (see for further details the application form, no. 12752 of December 2012).

The application plan comprises a mash and fermentation house, a still house and a visitor centre,  a restaurant-cafè with a whiskey-bar and two warehouses. A sea water pump and waste water treatment plant with water tanks are also planned.

The distillation unit comprises a set of three pot stills to produce a triple distilled new make. They intend to distil Irish pot still whiskey which is traditionally made of unmalted and malted barley.

The grain and malted barley will be delivered by a roll-on-roll-off ferry and silos may store about 32 tonnes of grain. The production water will come from a well in the island and the cooling water will be sourced from the sea. The expected annual production capacity will be around 900.000 litres of new make spirit. The whiskey will mature on the island, the draff will be fed to livestock on the island. There are plans to employ about 20 peopl.  „Production should start in 2014.“

You may spent your holidays in Horse Island, there are three luxurious cottages available: www.4beachnuts.com/property/485

About the Author: Ernie – Ernst J. Scheiner M.A. was a director in an adult education centre and teaches “Germans how to drink whisky.” Ernie offers courses on whisky distilling and writes for newspapers and magazines in Germany.

He is the editor of The Gateway to Distilleries at www.whisky-distilleries.net which gives an excellent insight into the whisky industry of Scotland, Ireland and Continental Europe. Contact: info@whisky-distilleries.net

MCLEANSCOTLAND on tour with Russian guests. 

GlenDronach & BenRiach distilleries asked MCLEANSCOTLAND, one of the top whisky tour operators in Scotland, to manage a 4 day visit for 14 Russian guests in 2012.   The group are distributors for  the 2 distilleries in Russia.  Whilst in Scotland they sampled  many drams, enjoyed the Scottish scenery and excellent food including a whisky dinner at GlenDronach Distillery.

MCLEANSCOTLAND arranged transportation and daily visits including both distillery tours and tastings, a day trip to Inverness with lunch, a visit to Speyside Cooperage to watch casks being made and repaired and a farewell dinner.

““They were a very nice group to work with, I enjoyed myself immensely, drinks of each evening proved lots of fun, even though things were sometimes lost in translation!   I would welcome them again at any time. 

Paul McLean, Senior Partner, MCLEANSCOTLAND, Perth.  www.mcleanscotland.com

Unfortunately the way we ship alcohol to North America will change as of next week.

The Civil Aviation Authority is stopping the transport of high alcohol products in non-freight aeroplanes, as they are now classing these liquids as ‘dangerous goods’.

We are currently evaluating alternative solutions, but this is a complex issue and will take some time. As such Royal Mile Whiskies are to suspend shipping to North America as of the 8th January 2013 until further notice.

Obviously, we have enjoyed and greatly appreciated your custom in the past and we hope to be able to serve you again in the future.  We know this is as disappointing for you as it is for us and we will do what we can to find a legal and cost effective method of shipping as quickly as we can. We should also point out that it is not just Royal Mile Whiskies that will be affected by these new regulations and all companies shipping alcohol over 24% alcohol using non-freight shippers will also be subject to the same regulations.

If you want to stock up before these new regulations take effect, there should be time for one last order at current costs before our courier stops collecting from us on 8th January. We would need to receive the order by 12 noon (GMT) on Monday 7th January.  Please note that we will not be able to order ‘Out of Stock’ products from our suppliers in time to complete web orders before the deadline, so suggest that you order products that show ‘Good Availability’.  If there is an item out of stock we will get in touch very quickly to let you know.

Please also note that due to public holidays our offices will be closed on New Year’s Day and the 2nd January. We realise this is bad timing, however, we wanted to give you as much forewarning as possible. We will be back in the office on Thursday 3rd January to answer any queries you may have.

Once again all of us at Royal Mile Whiskies thank you for your business and wish you well for the New Year.

From the RMW team

Nabil has written a very interesting E-pistle on the “supertaster” phenomenon that manifests itself by a higher concentration of taste buds on the tongue:

http://www.maltmaniacs.net/E-pistles/Malt-Maniacs-2012-09-Supertaster.pdf

Happy reading and Happy New Year,

www.ralfy.com celebrares the ending of another year with Whisky Review 329 – Whisky of the Year 2012

One of the highlights of the whisky year is Diageo’s Special Releases – a range of whiskies from closed and less seen distilleries, as well as some alternative takes on their better known drams. It’s also the only place to find new official bottlings of Brora and Port Ellen, both of which sold out last year, as usual, almost instantaneously across the world.

However, thanks to TWE and Diageo all is not lost! For our first tasting of 2013 we will be joined by the indomitable whisky ambassador Colin Dunn and his magic whisky bag, this time filled with all eight whiskies from the 2012 Special Releases range, including the late-arriving Talisker 35yo, and the sold out Brora, Port Ellen and Lagavulin 21 year old.

The complete line-up will be:

Dalwhinnie 25 Year Old

Auchroisk 30 Year Old

Caol Ila Unpeated 14 Year Old

Lagavulin 12 Year Old

Lagavulin 21 Year Old

Talisker 35 Year Old

Brora 35 Year Old

Port Ellen 32 Year Old

Tickets for this unique chance to try all of the 2012 Special Releases in one place are sure to sell out quickly so make sure you don’t miss out!

The tasting will take place on Monday 21st January 2013, 7:30pm at Vinopolis near London Bridge.

Tickets go on sale on Thursday 3rd January at 3pm and cost £40 each. As ever, they will be sold on a first come, first served basis and are limited to two per customer.

To book your ticket: Call us on 020 7403 8688 or visit the shop – http://www.thewhiskyexchange.com/Vinopolis.aspx

Long lost child of Canadian whisky empire coming home

A long lost child of the Canadian whisky empire is coming home.

From the vestiges of the world’s southern-most whisky producer in New Zealand – which was once a part of Canada’s vast Seagrams realm – the rare and acclaimed Dunedin DoubleWood 10 year old blend has just arrived in Ontario.

Crafted from the pure ingredients for which the Land of the Long White Cloud is famed, the distinctive Dunedin DoubleWood is turning heads. It has picked up a swag of awards in recent competitions and also helped New Zealand score stunning triumphs over Scotland, Wales and England in last month’s Whisky Test Match series across the UK. The New Zealand Whisky Collection’s win in Edinburgh, against three local legends (Glenfiddich, Johnnie Walker and Ardbeg) in a blind tasting by Scottish judges, was a particularly stunning upset.

The DoubleWood “noses and tastes older than its 10 years. A distinctive, pleasant nose which combines scented face cream with light rose wine and later some sandalwood,” according to Whisky authority, Charles Maclean.

Seagrams – the Canadian company that was once the largest distiller of alcoholic beverages in the world – owned the New Zealand distillery in Dunedin, from where the DoubleWood hails, for most of that distillery’s life.

“The distillery flourished under Seagrams,” said New Zealander Cyril Yates, who started at the distillery as a teenager and worked there for 24 years.

“But in the late 1990s, Australian brewer Fosters bought it and shut it down – just as I was due for a 25 year long-service reward trip to Ontario to visit the Seagrams’ museum.”

The closure marked the end of a chequered distilling history in New Zealand that began with Scottish settlers in the 1800s but encountered numerous setbacks along the way, such as prohibition, and even interference from Scottish bankers who would only finance construction of New Zealand’s railways if the local whisky industry was wiped out.

The barrels of whisky that remained at the now defunct distillery were sold to a wine company. They left the single malt quietly maturing and ingeniously decanted all the blended whisky into red wine barrels to add character and colour – a technique that is now being copied, even back in Scotland. The whisky has sat in those 443 barrels, ageing and sweetening, in a South Island seaside bondstore ever since.

“It is the influence of the red wine barrels which gives the whisky a cream soda, almost bubblegum-like soft and sweet explosion across the palate,” said the Collection’s Greg Ramsay.

Two years ago, Mr Ramsay – a young whisky enthusiast and golf entrepreneur from the tiny Australian island of Tasmania – bought those barrels and set about bottling the whisky as part of a plan to revive the New Zealand whisky industry.

The New Zealand Whisky Company hasn’t looked back – its whisky collection is picking up awards wherever it goes and is being exported to Scotland, Australia, the Netherlands – and now Canada, courtesy of the LCBO. Early next year, LCBO will also stock New Zealand’s 21 year old South Island Single Malt.

Plans are now also on the horizon to resume distilling at Dunedin.

“Canada is one of the world’s most discerning whisky markets and we can’t wait for their verdict on these delicious drams,” said Mr Ramsay.

“In fact, the fate of a mothballed New Zealand industry, that was once so well nurtured in Canadian care, could once again sit with the people of Ontario. If our foray into Canada proves as successful as our other international exports, then a return to distilling will happen sooner rather than later.”

The Dunedin DoubleWood is available now at LCBO outlets. It retails for $89.95 More information about the New Zealand Whisky Company is available at www.thenzwhisky.com.

The Scotch Malt Whisky Society January Outturn Tasting

Celebrate the New Year right with a tasting of another fabulous line-up of single cask, cask strength whiskies from The Scotch Malt Whisky Society (SMWS)!!!

The SMWS releases several new bottlings every month and our Outturn tastings are your opportunity to try before you buy!

Open to both Society members and non-members alike; invite your whisky-loving friends & join the fun on Monday, January 7th to explore SMWS’s rare and wonderful single malt whiskies.

Click on the Register Now link below or stop by our shop to register today!

Memberships are now available in-store! For more info on SMWS visit www.smws.ca

Get more information

Register Now!

ENJOY SMWS PRODUCTS RESPONSIBLY, PLEASE ARRANGE SAFE TRANSPORT HOME. DON’T DRINK AND DRIVE

If you have any questions about the event, SMWS generally or how to register, please get in touch.

We look forward to seeing you at the tasting!

Slainte,

Crystal Coverdale
General Manager
Edgemont Fine Wines, Sprits & Ales

3020 Edgemont Blvd, North Vancouver BC
604-984-9463
Open Daily 9am-11pm, Free parking at back

We are sprucing up the place and will be open for business again on January 8th. During this time our retail store on Fillmore street and our Website will be unavailable. Please stop in and see our new digs after January 8th.

Happy Holidays from all the staff at D&M!

The latest (and first) two posts from WorldWhisky.org.

http://www.worldwhisky.org/2012/12/list-of-popular-whisky-apps-for-smartphones-and-tablets/

http://www.worldwhisky.org/2012/12/categorized-index-of-twitter-whisky-accounts/

All the very best for 2013!!!