www.ralfy.com explores an eccentric but very rewarding little peat-monster with Whisky Review 509 – Longrow 11yo Port casks @ 51,8%vol

BALLANTINE’S BRINGS HISTORY TO LIFE WITH NEW LIMITED EDITION PACKS FOR CHRISTMAS 2014

Ballantine’s, the No.2 Scotch whisky in the world, has unveiled a unique selection of limited edition gift packs for its Finest and 12 Year Old expressions, each of which brings to life a story which delves into the history, heritage and craftsmanship of the Ballantine’s brand.

Having recently commissioned a historian to trace the history of Ballantine’s from the early times of its founder, George Ballantine, the design of the two new Ballantine’s Finest gift packs is inspired by one particularly engaging story, which captures the theory behind the square-shaped design of the bottle itself.

‘The Briefcase Story Edition’ explores the unusual shape of the iconic Finest bottle, which some say was created so that American socialites could hide the whisky easily in their briefcases during the years of prohibition, should the cops come calling. Others suggest that it’s the perfect shape for a salesman to hold two bottles in his briefcase, one to show to a client and another for…perhaps celebrating the achievement of a personal sales target?

These interesting packs are available in two styles; the 2014 Briefcase Tin is shaped in the style of a classic briefcase and includes eye-catching effects such as authentic metallic corner protections, to draw attention amongst more mature whisky enthusiasts.

For those who prefer a more contemporary style, the 2014 Briefcase Zip is equally striking, boldly featuring materials such as satin lycra, and modern zip grips that imitate a padlock and key.

The third seasonal gift pack began with the specialness of the Ballantine’s 12 Year Old – its preciousness and the need for it to be kept in a safe place, where one would keep his valuables. The Safe Limited Edition represents a vintage safe which features a combination dial and embossed silver elements; a visual manifestation of the rich, smooth and complex 12 Year Old blend, formed of many flavours that seduce the senses and invite the customer to unlock the unique flavour combination.

One can also imagine George Ballantine having a large, solid safe in his office, guarding his valuable recipes and notes, relating to a lifetime’s commitment to his passion around whisky and what has become the highly cherished Ballantine’s.
Peter Moore, Global Brand Director for Ballantine’s, comments: “We are excited to launch these intriguing limited editions, which will appeal to both Ballantine’s fans and whisky collectors. We wanted to share the richness of the Ballantine’s story on these innovative packs, and hope that this unique approach helps retailers to capture sales during the competitive festive season.”

To encourage customer engagement, there is a series of marketing initiatives available for markets, including print advertising and in-store displays. The gift packs are available now in markets including Greece, India and Chile (The Briefcase) and Portugal, South Africa and Peru (The Safe), priced in parity to Ballantine’s Finest (RRP $14) and Ballantine’s 12 Year Old (RRP $24.50).

About Ballantine’s
Ballantine’s is the No.1 Scotch whisky in Europe and the No.2 Scotch whisky in the world with the range selling over 70 million bottles a year worldwide. Ballantine’s has won more than 130 trophies and medals at international competitions in the past 10 years for its outstanding quality, as a result of its unique richness of character and perfect balance. The range, from Ballantine’s Finest to the exclusive 40 Year Old, is the most extensive in the world of Scotch and is maintained by Master Blender Sandy Hyslop, continuing the brand’s tradition of Master Blenders that dates back to 1827. In 2013, Ballantine’s continued its innovative approach by launching Ballantine’s Brasil, a spirit drink made from selectively cask steeping Scotch whisky with Brazilian lime peel.  www.ballantines.com

@Ballantines

About Chivas Brothers
Chivas Brothers is the Scotch whisky and premium gin business of Pernod Ricard – the world’s co-leader in wine and spirits. Chivas Brothers is the global leader in luxury Scotch whisky and premium gin. Its portfolio includes Chivas Regal, Ballantine’s, Beefeater Gin, The Glenlivet, Royal Salute, Aberlour, Plymouth gin, Longmorn, Scapa, 100 Pipers, Clan Campbell, Something Special and Passport.  www.chivasbrothers.com

Sherry casks part three: what goes into a sherry cask?

[You can find the first two parts of this series at: What was a sherry cask? and What is a sherry cask? ]

In the last post, I talked about how the type of wood that makes up a cask has a large effect on the spirit that goes into it. However, if the cask has already had a liquid stored in it, then that too will obviously have some influence as well. In the case of a sherry cask, that liquid will either be sherry or another similar fortified wine.

Palomino grapes, fresh from the vines, ready for pressing

It starts, as you might expect, with grapes. The most common grape used to make sherry is Palomino, which produces a low-sugar, low-acid, generally uninteresting wine. While that’s not a good combination for table wine, it’s perfect for sherry – the complexity of flavour will come from the maturation process. The grapes are pressed, with the results each pressing being set aside for a different grade of sherry, and the juice is left to ferment. Once it’s reached around 12-13% abv, it’s racked into casks and choices are made as to the type of sherry it will become.

With a thick layer of flor on the surface of the sherry, it looks a little murky

Firstly, fino. This is a dry style that’s very light in colour, with a zingy, nutty and yeasty character. To make it, you fortify the wine up to about 15% using a high-strength grape spirit, which strengthens the wine but is still low enough in alcohol to keep alice the yeasts suspended in the liquid. They clump on the surface to form a protective layer known as flor, which helps digest any sugars remaining in the wine as well as keeping the colour light, by preventing contact with the oxygen in the air. American oak casks are almost always used to mature fino and it’s not often seen in the whisky world, with recent exceptions like the Glenfarclas 1966 Fino Cask, Kavalan Fino and the legendary Bowmore 1964 vintage fino bottlings.

Secondly, oloroso. This is the style that’s most commonly associated with whisky casks, and is a rich wine with some residual sweetness. The style varies quite a lot, as you’ll often find that olorosos sold in the UK are sweetened to better match the sugar-loving British palate. By contrast, Spanish olorosos will often be quite dry, with a nutty character. Either way, the process starts by fortifying the wine to about 17%, which kills the yeasts, and allows the wine to mature while exposed to the air. It will darken in colour and change in flavour over time, increasing in complexity and losing any rough edges.

When it comes to whisky making, a third wine is becoming increasingly important – Pedro Ximénez, aka PX. It starts out as a regular white grape, but is dried to an almost raisin-like level before being pressed, concentrating the sugars. The juice that you do get from the shrivelled grapes is very sugary, and when it’s made into sherry it remains sweet. While you can find it on its own, and is great poured over vanilla ice cream, it’s also used to sweeten other wines, such as UK-bound olorosos.

In one of the Martin warehouses – lots of sherry

 At this point the wine is ready to be drunk, and traditionally it would have been filled into a cask to be transported to where it was to be sold. As export regulations no longer allow that, the bodegas creating whisky casks try and replicate the process on site.

At Bodegas José y Miguel Martin, they first fill their new casks with sacrificial young oloroso, to draw out some of the oak’s intensely woody flavour. The wine is left in the cask for a few months before being decanted and filled into another cask. After seasoning four casks, the wine is too oaky to drink and will be turned into sherry vinegar.

The casks are not done yet, and are filled with more oloroso and left for between months and years to further season. Once the cask is deemed ready, the sherry is decanted and used to fill the first cask of a solera. The solera casks are old and perfect for maturing the oaky wine, allowing the woodiness to fade over time, becoming part of the character of an old oloroso.

The cask, now empty, is shipped to Scotland, where it will start a new life: maturing Scotch whisky.

A Sneak Peak to Whiskies of the World

Our focus this year is on bringing you the highest quality in a whisky show…from more whiskies and booming craft spirits to the unique to WoW entertainment features. The Dram Club and VIP hour for the most ardent whisky lover, an outdoor Cigar and Whisky pairing, an expansion of artisanal delicacies to pair with your spirits, Celtic artisans in booths filled with their unique wares, the new programs of Whisky Seminars and so much more…all this guarantees a truly memorable time at the 2015 show. Watch our website closely as the exhibitor and masterclass list unveils; but for now let us assure you we’re doing great with the upcoming show, and will be bringing many whisky personas for your ‘meet and greet” including the crowds-favorite David Perkins with his ubiquitous High West whiskeys (including OMG pure rye); Josh Gelfand, a bartender by heart and The Glenlivet brand ambassador by job, with his journey from Aberlour to The Glenlivet, 5 miles away yet worlds apart; the Keeper of Quaich, a lady-guru of all things spirits Monique Houston spreading the word of MacGavin’s and Drumguish single malts, James Oliver Rye, Uisce Beatha Real Irish Whiskey, Lark Tasmanian single malt, and many other delightful products. For this Christmas’s pastime, start your planning of attending your Wow program favorites, and anticipate spending the evening—with your spouse, your special friends–enjoying the water of life!

WoW 2015 San Francisco tickets

WoW 2015 San Pedro Square Market, San Jose tickets

The official deadline for receiving your final UK orders (all overseas deadlines have now past) for delivery before Christmas is MIDDAY, Friday 19th December. We will of course continue to send out after this deadline, but this is the official courier cut off point for guaranteed delivery. Call us with any queries 0131 524 9380.

ROYAL MILE WHISKIES

A small, traditional malt whisky distillery in the heart of Virginia…..

Chippin’ away.

We’re pouring concrete and finalizing drawings. Everything we do is another step towards firing our stills, and we thank you for your continued support and patience along the way. We’ve got some big plans in the works, and we can’t wait to show them off!

Virginia Distillery Company
299 Eades Lane
Lovingston, VA 22949

Triple success for Gordon & MacPhail in major whisky awards

Gordon & MacPhail are toasting triple success in the prestigious Icons of Whisky Awards.

The Elgin-based whisky specialists won the Visitor Attraction Manager of the Year and Whisky Retailer of the Year – Single Outlet awards, while recently retired managing director Michael Urquhart was inducted into the Hall of Fame.

The Visitor Attraction Manager of the Year award went to Susan Colville, Brand Home Manager at Gordon & MacPhail owned Benromach Distillery.

“I’m thrilled to have won this award, but more importantly I’m delighted for the team that works so hard to make a visit to Benromach a pleasure,” said Mrs Colville, who won the Young Ambassador of the Year at the 2012 Icons of Whisky Awards.

The judges said: “As Brand Home Manager, Susan is the welcoming face of the distillery, offering tales from her travels and stories of her life growing up in Speyside. The distillery centre team, with Susan at the helm, offers a rare experience. You can enjoy a unique and personalised tour, followed by a dram and chat.”

The Whisky Retailer of the Year – Single Outlet award went to the company’s spiritual home, its shop in South Street, Elgin, which was opened almost 120 years ago.

The judges said: “It is still going strong to this day and is known for the aroma of home cooked local gammon and cheese which greets customers on arrival.

“The store boasts a Whisky Room which stocks around 1,000 different single malts attracting people from all around the world. This ‘Aladdin’s Cave of Whisky’ is a must see, especially if you are after the very old or rare.”

Inclusion in the Hall of Fame is a permanent tribute to individuals who have made a lasting contribution to whisky, and Mr Urquhart joins his brother David, also a former Managing Director of Gordon & MacPhail, who was inducted last year.

“It’s a tremendous honour for me to sit alongside some very illustrious names from the whisky industry,” Mr Urquhart said.

“I feel it is a reflection of the success of Gordon & MacPhail as a whole and I thank our employees, suppliers and worldwide customer base for their ongoing support.”

Mr Urquhart retired as Managing Director of Gordon & MacPhail in September this year and is a non-executive director of the company.

Notes 

Gordon & MacPhail is one of the UK’s leading independent specialist wholesalers and distributors, stocking over 4,500 products, including an extensive portfolio of wines, spirits and UK specialist beers and ciders.

Four generations of the Urquhart family have continued the tradition of seeking out the best and rarest Scotch whiskies. Since its foundation, Gordon & MacPhail’s policy has been to send casks to distilleries throughout Scotland, fill them with “new make” spirit and mature them either at the distillery of origin or in the firm’s own bonded warehouses in Elgin.

The world’s leading malt whisky specialist, Gordon & MacPhail exports to more than 50 countries. It offers more than 300 presentations of own-bottled single malts and has a stock-holding of more than 700 whiskies.

In March 2010 Gordon & MacPhail made history as it launched the world’s oldest single malt whisky – Gordon & MacPhail Generations Mortlach 70 Years Old – at an exclusive event at Edinburgh Castle.

Benromach distillery, which employs just three experienced distillers, went through many changes of ownership and closures before being “rescued” and restored by Gordon & MacPhail in 1993 and was officially opened by the Prince of Wales in 1998. In 2009, Benromach 10 Years Old – the first aged Benromach malt to be made at the distillery under Gordon & MacPhail – was launched.

For guaranteed Christmas delivery to:

BELGIUM, DENMARK, FRANCE, GERMANY, IRELAND, LUXEMBOURG, MONACO and NETHERLANDS.

Please order by 12 noon tomorrow, Wednesday 17^th December. Will are still accepting order after this but will not be guaranteeing a Christmas delivery.

BENRIACH IS “WHISKY DISTILLER OF THE YEAR”

THE BenRiach Distillery Company is the 2015 “Whisky Distiller of the Year”.

The Edinburgh-headquartered company, owners of the award-winning BenRiach, GlenDronach and Glenglassaugh single maIts, received the prestigious accolade at the “Icons of Whisky Scotland 2015” Awards presented by Whisky Magazine.

The “Icons” reward the people and places behind Scotland’s great whiskies, celebrating companies and individuals for their significant contribution to the Scotch whisky industry.

In 2004, whisky veteran Billy Walker and his two South African partners Geoff Bell and Wayne Kieswetter purchased BenRiach, turning it into one of Scotland’s most admired distilleries. GlenDronach distillery, Glenglassaugh distillery and a large bottling plant at Newbridge followed.

All three distilleries produce unique whiskies with extraordinary depth, balance and character.

Billy Walker said: “It is a fantastic achievement for a privately-owned, independent company to win the award for “Whisky Distiller of the Year”. I’m delighted that it both recognises the creative and innovative things we have been doing at our three distilleries over the last ten years and salutes the high-quality team we have built.”

Mr Walker added: “We will continue to introduce our wonderful portfolio to new markets. Currently we are trading in some 40 countries worldwide with other emerging markets entering the negotiation stage, so the future for all our brands is tremendously exciting.”

The “Icons of Whisky Scotland 2015” cap a very successful year for the BenRiach Distillery Company. In August the company posted record pre-tax profits of £8.9m for 2013 boosted by unprecedented demand for its high-end whiskies in Asia, North America, Russia and Europe.

THE PLOUGH HARBORNE LAUNCHES 60 STRONG WHISKY LIST

The Plough in Harborne is launching a new whisky menu showcasing a selection of rare, exclusive, award-winning and artisan whiskies from all over the world including Japan, Australia, India and America.

The new menu which launches on Monday 15^th December will be home to three single malts that are no longer available to buy in the UK; the Edradour 11 year old Burgundy Cask Finish,  the Miltonduff Batch 1 single malt (of which only 122 bottles were produced) and the Milford 15 year old malt from New Zealand.

Past winners of the World Whiskies Awards will also feature alongside hand-crafted whiskies produced in micro-distilleries such as Copper Fox in Virginia, Corsiar in Nashville TN and Few Distillery in Illinois.

Further to the Yamazaki Single Malt Sherry Cask 2013 being named as ‘best in the world’ by the 2015 World Whisky Bible Japanese whisky has been recognised as ‘coming of age’ and 10 varieties will be available at The Plough.

The list also boasts a selection of new world whiskies from Sweden and France alongside the only whisky to be made in New York; Hudson Baby Bourbon.

James Thewlis, responsible for Product Development at The Plough, said:

“Our aim is to introduce people to new flavours and a unique experience whilst introducing some of the finest and lesser known whiskies. We’re passionate about working with artisan producers and we’re hugely inspired by what some of these distilleries are doing; they are producing a truly world class product and we’re proud to showcase that at The Plough.”

The new whisky menu complements The Plough’s existing spirits list which takes in a broad range of hand-crafted spirits including vodka made from grapes distilled in a disused aircraft hangar and rum aged for seven years and made using sugar cane from the oldest plantation in Japan.

Whisky shots on the list start from £3.30 and go up to £15.

About The Plough 

The Plough, Harborne has been serving fresh home-cooked food and the best coffee and Sunday lunch in the neighbourhood for 11 years.  Established in 2003 The Plough has undergone extensive renovation since its launch boasting a quirky and eclectic interior and an ‘outdoor lounge’ that is airy, light and unrestricted by season.  With a focus on quality and provenance, ingredients are carefully sourced locally to minimise the environmental ‘tread’ of the business where possible. No stranger to accolades The Plough has been recognised for its coffee, Sunday lunch and interior – named by the Independent as ‘best coffee shop’, celebrated by The Times for the best Sunday Lunch in the region and awarded the ‘Best Restaurant / Bar Design’ at the Northern Design Awards.  

Follow The Plough story here: 

Instagram : @ploughstagram

Twitter : @PloughHarborne

Facebook : The Plough Harborne

21 High Street, Harborne B17 9NT