This week Joe Ellis reviews the Glendronach Cask Strength Batch 2. 

http://youtu.be/Y0Y5mkTQZXg 

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Spencerfield Spirit Shine at the Scotland Food & Drink Excellence Awards 2014 

Fife drinks company Spencerfield Spirit is celebrating after being crowned a double winner at the national Scotland Food & Drink Excellence Awards. 

Spencerfield scooped the coveted Drinks (alcoholic) category with its whisky, The Feathery and also the overall Small Business of the Year award. 

The winners were announced last night (Thursday 22 May) at a glittering awards ceremony, hosted by Scottish television presenter Kaye Adams, at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre. With 22 award categories celebrating excellence across Scottish food and drink, the Scotland Food & Drink Excellence Awards showcased a broad spectrum of food and drink companies from across the country. 

Commenting on the awards, Alex Nicol, Managing Director of the Spencerfield Spirit Company said:  “We are delighted to be recognised at the prestigious Scotland Food & Drink Excellence Awards and it’s particularly exciting that The Feathery has secured its first award since launching earlier this year.

“We are also thrilled to be recognised as overall small business of the year – 2014 is going to be a very exciting year for the business and we are pleased to have got off to such a great start.”

The award judges tasted 115 food and drink entries and examined submissions for 154 entries from 102 businesses across all the categories. 

The Feathery is a blended malt which has been entirely matured in first class sherry wood which makes it slightly sweeter, fuller and more rounded than standard malts. It is the first expression of a range being developed by Spencerfield to celebrate the original Scottish craftsmanship.

For more information, please visit http://www.spencerfieldspirit.com/.

The Whiskey Ice Co. Partners with Sharper Image to sell its Spherical Ice Ball Makers 

Dallas, TX, USA – May, 21 2014 – The Whiskey Ice Co has teamed up with Sharper Image, one of the most well known retailers of gadgets and specialty gifts, to sell their 2.6 inch (66mm) Spherical Ice Ball Maker for only $399.99 (approximately £248). The partnership strengthens The Whiskey Ice Co.’s position as a leader in the manufacture and sales of the world’s best and most affordable ice ball maker set. 

The Whiskey Ice Co. Spherical Ice Ball Maker is the only complete package on the market at this price point and includes everything required to create 2.6 inch (66mm) spherical ice balls: 

• 2.6 inch (66mm) Spherical Ice Ball Maker Set • Ice Tongs • Flexible Ice Plug Molds • Water Catch Drip Pan 

According to The Whiskey Ice Co., the 2.6 inch (66mm) Ice Ball Maker size is an optimized size that fits in more glassware sizes and allows for a normal volume of your favorite beverage to be served (approximately 1.5 -2.5 oz. for a double old fashioned glass) and can be used in a variety of glass sizes and shapes. 

“We have always been big fans of Sharper Image and we wanted to offer our product to the thousands of loyal Sharper Image customers that trust the Sharper Image name” says Mr. Clinton Compton, Marketing Director for The Whiskey Ice Co., “the strategic move to allow our product to be sold by one of the preeminent specialty gift retailers really sets our product apart because Sharper Image is a brand people trust. We are proud to be working with such a strong brand, like Sharper Image.” 

Sharper Image offers The Whiskey Ice Co. Spherical Ice Ball Maker in Silver as part of their Kitchen and Entertaining category of products. 

The Whiskey Ice Co. offers a variety of products with new products on the way, including apparel and vintage bar & liquor memorabilia. The Whiskey Ice Co. operates from 9am to 5pm US/Central time, Monday through Friday. Wholesale and custom-branded reseller opportunities are available for retailers and distilleries who would like to offer The Whiskey Ice Co. Spherical Ice Ball Maker to their customers, including with their own brand and other color options are available, including copper, black and more. 

View the video of The Whiskey Ice Co. Spherical Ice Ball Maker in action:

http://whiskey-ice.com/images-video/videos.html

Bowmore Darkest and Montezuma’s Chocolate

With the Islay Festival of Malt and Music rapidly approaching, the island’s whiskies have been much on my mind. A little while back, we took delivery a big box of chocolate from the folks at Bowmore, along with instructions to give them away free with their whisky. While we obviously thoroughly endorse such actions, we also made sure we did some quality control, and did some tasting of the chocolate. We are professionals.

In short: it is very nice and we’re giving away a bar with every bottle of Bowmore Darkest 15 year old.

It’s really rather tasty

The people behind the chocolates themselves are Montezuma’s, a chocolatier of whom I have long been fond – I used to work a short walk from their Spitalfields market shop and spent many a lunchtime stocking up on chocolate bars to keep me going through the afternoon. And the next day.

Sticking whisky in chocolate is not a recent invention, but the recent rise in quality of boutique chocolate in the UK has meant that these days, it’s a lot easier to find something that’s quite a bit better than the archetypal 1970s’ cooking chocolate filled with eye-wateringly alcoholic cherry brandy. Montezuma’s are at the front of that wave, and they’ve worked with Bowmore to create something a bit special, combining flavours that bring out the best in the whisky.

First up, the whisky itself. Bowmore Darkest is matured for 12 years in bourbon casks before being finished for three in oloroso sherry casks. With the recent love heaped on Bowmore fully matured in sherry casks (Devil’s Casks, we’re looking at you – dear Bowmore, please do a batch 2…), it’s unsurprising that this has picked up in popularity as more people have realised how well peat and sherry go together.

Bowmore 15yo Darkest. 43%. £48.95 (Special Price – usually £51.25)

Nose: Leathery sherry notes, burnt sugar, medicinal edges, tar, some coal smoke and charred fruit (the puffed-up burnt raisins on the edges of a fruit cake), all backed up by a touch of lighter fruit and some cream. More sweetness develops as it sits in the glass, as well as some dark rubber notes.

Palate: Pungent fruit and sour butter up front, with woody tannins coming in fast, and touches of menthol and black liquorice developing. Behind that is woody spice, cinnamon sugar and blackcurrants, with fruity chew flavours appearing as it sits in the glass. A touch of water sweetens things up and brings out some lebkuchen spiciness.

Finish: Dark wood, sour red grapes, tannic hints and a touch of green apple.

Comment: A solid sherried whisky, with Bowmore’s more gentle smokiness not dominating, as happens with some other sherried Islays. Well-balanced and a good intro into the world of smoky, sherried drams. While I think I know whisky pretty well, I’m not quite so hot on chocolate. As such, I enlisted the help of two of the office chocolate fiends: Stu, our website front-end developer, and Matt, the designer behind the look of most of our newsletters. We sat down with a bar of chocolate, did some munching and wrote some notes:

Bowmore Darkest Decadent Dark Chocolate

Nose: Rich, dark cocoa with touches of tobacco leaf, milky coffee, sweet treacle and a touch of sour berry fruit.

Palate: Good, slightly bitter, snappy textured chocolate on the outside, followed by a sweeter, creamier truffle filling, with dried fruit, gentle peat smoke and hint of oak.

Finish: A touch of salted caramel quickly fades to leave a long and lingering bittersweet cocoa note.

Comment: Tasty chocolate, complementing the darker flavours of the Bowmore Darkest with some fruity dark chocolate and a touch of creaminess from the truffle. Tasty on its own or as either an accompaniment to or an excuse to have a dram.

We’re running our free chocolate offer as long as we have the chocolate – just grab a bottle of Bowmore Darkest 15 and we’ll send one to you.

Originally published on The Whisky Exchange Blog – Bowmore Darkest and Montezuma’s Chocolate

Loch Fyne Whiskies ‘Dalmore 15 Year Old – Tasting Review’

We sat down to present you with our exclusive tasting review of the fantastic

A couple weeks ago we featured the wonderful Dalmore Cigar Malt Reserve. This week we have decided to choose another bottle from the master distillers, this time the Dalmore 15 Year Old single malt. Distilled in the Highlands of Scotland, the Dalmore 15 is a sophisticated and classy whisky which can be found frequenting the bars of stylish hotels around the world.

So what is it that makes the Dalmore 15 the dram of choice for the high flying, suave and stylish whisky drinker? Well to start this whisky has had time to mature, 15 years in fact, during which it spent twelve years maturing in an American white oak ex-bourbon cask before being finished in a three different sherry casks – Amoroso, Apostoles and Matusalem Oloroso. As you can imagine, this ageing process has a profound effect on the character of this whisky.

Firstly its appearance is of a dark amber colour which in itself suggests sophistication. On the nose, you can immediately detect sherry which is joined by caramel and dark chocolate orange. On the palate, you are hit with an extremely smooth and silky texture. Wonderful tones of chocolate, zesty orange and wintry spices dance around your mouth. On the finish the deeper flavours have time to linger, smoky espresso and warmth.

Once you taste this smooth character you will understand why so many people enjoy its sophisticated company, it truly is a marvelous dram.

You can buy a bottle of Dalmore 15 Year Old at Loch Fyne Whiskies today! 

Best regards,

Loch Fyne Whiskies

david@lfw.co.uk

First Release Early-Bird tickets now on sale – 2 for £40 – Click here or on the banner to book. Only 100 pairs available. 2nd Release will be 2 for £50.

Don’t tell anyone…except those you want to come!

See you there.

Eddie
The Whisky Lounge

BUFFALO TRACE DISTILLERY EXPERIMENTS

WITH AGING BARRELS ON DIFFERENT WAREHOUSE FLOORS  

Bourbon Aged on Three Different Warehouse Floors

Are the Latest Experiment in this 12-Year-Old Bourbon Release 

FRANKFORT, Franklin County, Ky (May 22, 2014) What happens when you age the exact same bourbon, for the same length of time, but on different warehouse floors?  Does the altitude make a difference? Buffalo Trace Distillery attempts to find out in its latest experiment. 

The Warehouse Floors Experiment was started in 2001, when Buffalo Trace’s Rye Mash recipe #1 was put into barrels and then aged on floors one, five, and nine of Warehouse K. This brick warehouse has nine wooden floors in total and was chosen for this experiment due to the variety of tastes it provides during the aging process. Here’s how the experiment panned out:

The barrels aged on the first floor of Warehouse K resulted in a bourbon with a delicate flavor, subtly sweet, with a very mild oak taste.

Barrels aged on the fifth floor of Warehouse K yielded a bourbon that tasted of sweet vanilla and a light caramel, coupled with light wood flavors.

The ninth floor of Warehouse K resulted in a bourbon with a deep aroma. The flavor was of a roasted nut sweetness paired with green pears and figs.    

“Through this experiment, we learned that something as simple as varying which floor a bourbon ages on does bring out different flavors in the bourbon, said Harlen Wheatley, master distiller. “The higher floors had slightly deeper, woody notes as well as more varying fruity flavors.”  

These barrels are part of the more than 2,000 experimental barrels of whiskey aging in the warehouses of Buffalo Trace Distillery. Each of these barrels has unique characteristics that differentiate it from all others. Some examples of these experiments include unique mash bills, type of wood and barrel toasts. In order to further increase the scope, flexibility and range of the experimental program, an entire micro distillery, named The Colonel E.H. Taylor, Jr. “OFC” Micro Distillery, complete with cookers, fermenting tanks, and a state-of-the-art micro still has been constructed within Buffalo Trace Distillery.

The Experimental Collection is packaged in 375ml bottles and packed 12 to a case, with three bottles from each warehouse floor in a case. Each label includes all the pertinent information unique to that barrel of whiskey. These whiskeys retail for approximately $46.35 each. These particular rare experimental bottles should be available in June.  For more information on the Experimental Collection or the other products of Buffalo Trace Distillery, please contact Elizabeth Hurst at ehurst@buffalotrace.com. 

About Buffalo Trace Distillery

Buffalo Trace Distillery is an American family-owned company based in Frankfort, Franklin County, Kentucky. The Distillery’s rich tradition dates back to 1786 and includes such legends as E.H. Taylor, Jr., George T. Stagg, Albert B. Blanton, Orville Schupp, and Elmer T. Lee.  Buffalo Trace Distillery is a fully operational Distillery producing bourbon, rye and vodka on site and is a National Historic Landmark as well as is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Distillery has won seven distillery titles since 2000 from such notable publications as Whisky Magazine, Whisky Advocate Magazine and Wine Enthusiast Magazine. It was named Whisky Magazine 2010 World Icons of Whisky “Whisky Visitor Attraction of the Year.” Buffalo Trace Distillery has also garnered more than 200 awards for its wide range of premium whiskies. To learn more about Buffalo Trace Distillery visit www.buffalotracedistillery.com. 

First release Early-Bird tickets now on sale – 2 for £40 – Click here or on the banner to book. Only 100 pairs available. Second release will be 2 for £50…

Don’t tell anyone…except those you want to come!

See you there.

Eddie
The Whisky Lounge

MAY & JUNE EVENTS

Seafood & Whisky Tasting, The Vaults, Leith – Thu 29 May
Dunfermline Clans & Drams Tasting, Garvock House Hotel, Dunfermline – Thu 29 May
New Members Tasting, 19 Greville St, London – Thu 29 May
Glasgow Clans & Drams Tasting, Radisson Blu Hotel, Glasgow – Fri 30 May
10 Year Anniversary Jazz Improvisation Tasting, 28 Queen St, Edinburgh – Wed 4 June
Alchemy Beer, Bangers & Whisky Tasting, The Vaults, Leith – Fri 6 June
10 Years of Queen Street Tasting, 28 Queen St, Edinburgh – Fri 6 June

Browse all events

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 here for membership information This is your chance to join and to take advantage of their great offers!

Spot the SMWS bottles in this amusing You Tube video

Private Barrel Program Special Alert:

The 1792 Ridgemont Reserve and W.L. Weller 107 Antique T.P.S. Private Barrels have arrived. Woodford Reserve Double Oaked private barrel should be arriving this week as well. We selected three barrels from Ridgemont Reserve, so we should be in stock for at least a month. We have two Weller 107 barrels that should alleviate the shortage for a short time; however we expect to sell out within 2-3 weeks. We will not limit purchases of these private barrels.

There are a still a few more barrels we are waiting on: Four Roses, Buffalo Trace and Masterson Rye.