Glenmorangie Tùsail Savours The Renaissance of a Rare Barley

A LITTLE SOMETHING TO LOOK FORWARD TO

Dark, cold January. For many it’s a time to fight back against the indulgence of the holiday period. But we’re nearly there. The trousers are a little looser, the bank balance recovering. You may even have seen a glimmer of daylight outside office hours! Keeping your eyes on the prize can be excellent motivation so what will it be? Holiday, cake, or perhaps a fabulous little preview bottle from the February Outturn…

Young & spritely
48.50

Mirror, mirror on the wall…
Imagine Snow White feasting on shiny red apples, juicy peaches whilst perched on a newly varnished pine stool. Lemon meringue pie and pink wafer…

13 years old
Refill ex-bourbon hogshead
BUY >

£44.70

Spicy & sweet
77.36

Easy peasy lemon squeezy
Salted lemons and wild flowers. Earthy and leathery. Lemon cake and lime sorbet flecked with chilli, topped with nutty granola…

13 years old
First fill ex-bourbon barrel
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£47.10

Oily & coastal
3.237

‘Candle taking its last breath’
A fairly robust nose; oily smoked mackerels, sherry soaked sultanas, sticky barbecue ribs and salty pork scratching. Big on the palate – a real butcher’s barbecue!

17 years old
Refill ex-sherry butt
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£62.40

Browse New Outturn >
Browse All Bottlings >

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

Upcoming Scotch Whisky Classes & Events

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Feb. 11th – Blends vs Single Malts ($19) 

Feb. 20th – Gordon & MacPhail Seminar (Free) 

Feb 25th – Understanding Casks ($19) 

Feb 27th – Nikka Japanese Whisky Seminar (free) 

March 11th – Scotch & Food Pairing ($35) 

March 25th – Scotch Regional Series – Highlands ($19) 

April 8th – Scotch Regional Series – Speyside ($19) 

April 17th – Laphroaig Seminar (Free) 

April 22nd – Scotch Regional Series – Islay ($19) 

To Register & For More Information On Classes & Events;

Please Visit www.GordonsWine.com Follow us on InstaGram @TheWhiskyGuys

Gordon’s Fine Wines & Liquors – 894 Main St., Waltham MA 02454

Black Bull Kyloe

 £24.17 ex VAT £29.00 inc VAT

50% ABV | 70cl

Arran 14 Year Old Non Chill Filtered

£35.83 ex VAT £43.00 inc VAT

46% ABV | 70cl

Single Malts Direct

36 Gordon Street | Huntly | Aberdeenshire | AB54 8EQ | Scotland UK

+44 (0) 845 606 6145 | info@singlemaltsdirect.com

www.ralfy.com talks about specialist whisky shops in Whisky Review 518 – Bunnahabhain Cask 5525 @ 46.1%vol (BB&R)

GLENDRONACH RELEASES BATCH 11 OF ITS SINGLE CASK BOTTLINGS

GLENDRONACH has today, 29 January, released the latest batch, its eleventh, of single cask bottlings.

It comprises nine outstanding casks from the award-winning Aberdeenshire distillery that were bottled in November and all are available as of today.

Ranging from 43 to 18 years old, there is huge and intriguing variety across the nine, six of which were matured in Pedro Ximenez Sherry Puncheons, two in Oloroso Sherry Butts and one in an Oloroso Sherry Puncheon.

Typically for GlenDronach, each cask demonstrates the classic robust and richly sherried style infused with mouth-watering, zingy fruits.

All nine single casks have been hand-selected by BenRiach’s Managing Director and Master Distiller Billy Walker who described them as “sensational” and added:

“I believe Batch 11 makes a very simple point – the wood has a huge influence on the spirit. You immediately sense – and taste – the influence of the casks on these nine sublime single malts. The subtle interaction of the ex-sherry wood with the Highland spirit over long dark years in the warehouse creates a luxurious and amazingly complex raft of flavours. In these nine expressions you feel the pulse of our inventory at GlenDronach and the idiosyncratic personality of the casks coming through. That, plus the passion and craftsmanship of our people, is what produces these incredible whiskies time and time again.”

Batch Eleven has a number of superb highlights.

The oldest, 1971 cask number 2920, at 48.6% vol, is a monster 43 years old malt matured in a Pedro Ximenez Sherry Puncheon. Intense treacle toffee floods over sour plums and roasted coffee. Harmonising waves of leather and tobacco give great depth and are balanced perfectly by a subtle toasted walnut and date back note.

As a contrast the 18 years old from cask number 244, at 56.9% vol, is the youngest, distilled in February 1996. Matured in a fine Oloroso Sherry Butt, there is a tremendous balance of mixed candied peel and stewed dark fruits sprinkled with dark Demerara. Delicious waves of toffee, cracked barley and warm oak spices combine to give a long and elegant finish.

 The cask details are as follows: 1971 cask # 2920 /  43 years old / Pedro Ximenez Sherry Puncheon / 48.6% vol.  1990 cask # 1020 /  24 years old / Pedro Ximenez Sherry Puncheon / 53.8% vol. 1990 cask # 1162 / 24 years old / Pedro Ximenez Sherry Puncheon / 52.9%vol.  1994 cask # 54 / 20 years old / Oloroso Sherry Butt / 56.6% vol. 1994 cask # 3201 / 20 years old / Pedro Ximenez Sherry Puncheon / 56.2% vol.

1994 cask # 3386 / 20 years old / Pedro Ximenez Sherry Puncheon / 53.6% vol.

1995 cask # 538 / 19 years old / Pedro Ximenez Sherry Puncheon / 55.0% vol.

1995 cask # 4941 / 19 years old / Oloroso Sherry Puncheon / 57.0% vol.

1996 cask # 244 / 18 years old / Oloroso Sherry Butt / 56.9% vol.

Early February 2015 Outturn Offerings 

Cask No. 35.106                             $145

Fantastically floral

Speyside, Lossie

The nose was fantastically floral – grand gardens, creamy carnations, frivolous freesias, rampant roses and even courgette flower fritters. We also got Crunchie bars, donuts, peach cobbler, apple turnover, vanilla candles, and oak sawdust – very attractive. The palate was Bourbon-sweet and nutty (popcorn, marzipan, sugared almonds, coconut) – with peach, putty and pot-pourri and mildly bitter notes of perfume, grapefruit, oak and walnut. The reduced nose offered peach melba, honey on rye, fresh figs, custard creams, lady-finger biscuits and cedar sap. On the palate, ice-cream sundae sweetness was barely restrained by dry and mildly bitter flavours. The distillery is near Elgin’s ‘gallows-hill’.

Drinking tip: A sweet celebration of 4th July – especially if enjoyed in pleasant garden surroundings

Colour: Deep honey gold

Cask: First-fill designer barrel

Age: 16 years

Date distilled: December 1996

Alcohol: 54.4%

USA allocation: 120 bottles

Cask No. 1.179                               $210

The Artists Studio

Speyside, Spey

The panel had a collective memory of an artists studio with aromas of wooden easels, paintbrushes, linseed and canvas. Our painter had arranged white lilies in a pewter jug. While he contemplated his subject he enjoyed a slice of toffee sponge cake and a cup of sweetened espresso. To taste they found figs, dates and fresh almonds, then chocolate brownie and coffee cake. Water released runny caramel, golden syrup and advent calendar chocolate. The texture was deliciously coating and salivating and one panel member was reminded of licking the bowl after baking. A hint of mint completed the masterpiece.

Drinking tip: For inspiration

Colour: A ships bell

Cask: Refill hogshead

Age: 27 years

Date distilled: December 1986

Alcohol: 47.2%

USA allocation: 60 bottles 

Cask No. 29.154                     $185 

Camping with M*A*S*H

Islay

Wow – the nose had so much – hessian, canvas, leather, bandages, first aid boxes, surgical soap, seashells, sea-weed, tar, bonfire smoke – it was like M*A*S*H set up camp on an Islay beach. The palate spoke confidently of harbours and hospitals – lobster pots, fish boxes, fishing boats, salted macadamias, heather and mussels lined up against Big Red gum, elastoplasts and sweet peat-smoke. After reduction, the nose twitched at a breeze carrying heather, peat and crab claws over the machair. The palate became easy-drinking; medicated sweetness, both cooling (menthol throat sweets) and with pleasant heat on the finish. The distillery looks out to Texa.

Drinking tip: An end of the pier sundowner.

Colour: Sinister gold

Cask: Refill hogshead

Age: 23 years

Date distilled: October 1990

Alcohol: 49.8%

USA allocation: 90 bottles

Cask No. 84.16                       $130

‘A beaker full of the warm south’

Speyside, Spey

The nose was ‘a beaker full of the warm south’ – heady flowers on a midsummer Canary Island breeze; various sweet wines (Madeira, Sauternes, muscat, sweet pale sherry), Müller fruit corner and honey dribbled over ice-cream. The neat palate (completely un-aggressive) was deliciously warm and tasty – hibiscus flowers in syrup, spun sugar, candy floss and flooding honey intensity – but all complexified by the glow of a dying charcoal fire and some muted orange zest and lemon rock. The reduced nose – lemon bonbons and honey was ‘sweet delight on a summer’s night’. The palate – wood sap, lemon drizzle cake and honey – Ab Fab.

Drinking tip: On a summer night, in the garden, counting shooting stars.

Colour: Frascati in the moonlight

Cask: Refill barrel

Age: 13 years

Date distilled: October 2001

Alcohol: 56.6%

USA allocation: 90 bottles

Cask No. 123.9                       $145

The big fat tipsy wedding

Highland, Southern

Imagine a feasting table set with sweet mashed potato with butter, rye bread with beef dripping, figs and balsamic and hoppy IPA to wash it down. Deserts of chocolate and ginger, spiced treacle tart and sticky toffee pudding served with lashings of Turkish espresso. To taste, a knuckle of lamb with a wine jus, pork crackling and beef soppet (cooked juices), then curiously Bonjela and cola cubes. Water reminded the panel of Bovril broth and roasted pumpkin. A bathroom cupboard with talcum powder, violet fresh towels and shaving foam on the nose and walnuts and Jaffa cakes on the final taste.

Drinking tip: Better neat. Just get on with it!

Colour: Buffed mahogany

Cask: First-fill butt

Age: 16 years

Date distilled: July 1998

Alcohol: 56.6%

USA allocation: 120 bottles

www.smwsa.com

SPRINGBANK UPDATE

We are still awaiting a final release date for the new Springbank 17, 21 & 12 year old cask strength, as soon as they arrive we will feature them on the web shop front page.  I am sure you will love the new 21 and 17, and the new 12 cask strength is a bit of a gem, one I am sure will be a fast mover.

TASTING ROOM UPDATE

The Tasting Room has become so busy we are booked out until May for most of the evening sessions, this includes extra dates we have been adding. We are reviewing the schedule with the view to increasing them from every Thursday to every Tuesday & Thursday from Mid May until further notice. We hope this helps the many 100s who have tried to book over the last month or so only to be told it’s a 3-4 month wait.

Distillery Profile No 2 – Springbank

When people research the history of whisky one distillery is always mentioned or acknowledged in some way, J&A Mitchell Springbank Distillery.

The distillery we see today was established in 1828 on the site of a distillery run by the Mitchell family as far back as the early to mid 1700s because like so many distilleries at that time it was operating illicitly few records survive just the family records and internal history thats passed down from one generation to another.

Springbank is the most complete and original of Scotland’s original distilleries, they still produce 100% on-site from Malting the Barley then distilling and maturing on site to the final process of bottling the matured spirit.

If you have ever visited the distillery then you will understand how unlike other distilleries Springbank is be it the number of staff working on site to the original equipment still in use from the 1800s. No gloss and shine at this small iconic distillery just honest old fashioned values allowed.

Springbank has the only 2.5 times distilled whisky made via reduction and a back and forth distilling process (Too complicated to explain here) After distilling the whisky is stored in Bourbon or Sherry casks that will be used a maximum of 3 times, the cask are stored in the No’3 Bond for part of the time the oldest earthen floor bonded warehouse in Scotland, cask are stacked 2 high to allow the resting spirit to breath and mature equally.

The bottling hall is built into the old Longrow Distillery that operated like 32 others in Campbeltown from the 1800s until prohibition in the USA took its toll on the once whisky capital of the world Springbank was the only distillery to survive the downturn because unlike the others it did not rush to what was then the worlds fastest growing economy the USA that like all others had a period of political instability or an act of a leader who wishes to leave their mark usually to the detriment of the economy or society.

After the second world war Springbank like many other distilleries was growing its market once again which continued on the whole undisrupted until like many others it suffered the economic instability following the oil crisis of the 1970s then the biggest threat came during the 1980s as the then UK government decided to shift vast swathes of the economy to move away from manufacturing to a service based economy and the loss of millions of jobs, luckily thanks to some forward planning the distillery survived and grew in the new whisky markets, its reputation has grown not only with whisky drinkers but also within the industry.

It’s iconic 21 year old was named malt of the century much to the dismay of some back in 1999 thanks to the votes of whisky drinkers around the world this was a great moment for the distillery.

Between 2000 & 2005 Springbank 21 had sold out then a surprise release hit the market in 2005 which sold out quickly leaving us with another few years with-out the vintage, over the last few years every January early February another bottling hits the market. In the last 2 years some rather special editions have been released with a cask strength limited edition Sherry cask 17 year old due out in February 2015. And for those who love the truly rare then another 25 year old is due out late October to Mid November 2015, the 2014 edition sold out in London less than 25 mins from being released.

Not bad for a distillery that was called ODD back in 2008! Now there is a real Gem Springbank ODD a whisky bottled exclusively for our shop in London and to celebrate and bask in the glory of being ODD! Long may it continue.

And finally, don’t tell anyone this but…

The 2015 London Exclusive is going to come from a small Island off the West coast of Scotland, the only other clue is it’s not from Jura, Skye or Mull, and its old.

Cadenhead’s Whisky Shop & Tasting Room

26 Chiltern Street London W1U 7QF

Tel: 020 7935 6999

EARLY FEBRUARY EVENTS

New List Steak & Chips Tasting >  The Vaults, Leith – Tue 3 Feb

Steak & Whisky Tasting >  19 Greville St, London – Mon 9 Feb

Valentines Day Tasting >  19 Greville St, London – Fri 13 Feb

The Vaults’ Valentine Dinner >  The Vaults, Leith – Sat 14 Feb

Scotland v Wales Tasting Lunch > 28 Queen St, Edinburgh – Sat 15 Feb

Whisky and Sausage Tasting > The Vaults, Leith – Tue 17 Feb

Pancake Day >  19 Greville St, London – Tue 17 Feb

New Members Tasting > 19 Greville St, London – Wed 18 Feb

Browse All Tastings >

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

January 2015 Auction Ends tonight Monday 2^rd Febuary!

View January Auction

Whisky Auctioneer’s current auction will finish from 19:00 tonight Monday 2^nd February. It’s absolutely FREE to register and start bidding. Head over to www.whiskyauctioneer.com to take a look at the current lots.

From 19:00 (GMT), activity on any item will prolong the entire auction by a further two minutes; the auction will end when there has been no activity on any item for two minutes.

There are some stunning rare whiskies available this month including this amazing selection of Port Ellen Annual Releases, numbers 1 to 13!

Future Auctions

Entries for future auctions are always invited. Whisky Auctioneer makes selling whisky online easy!

With a low sellers’ commission rate of 5% and competitive listing and reserve fees, there is no better place to sell your bottle(s) or collection.

We are currently accepting entries for our next auction, which starts August 20th February and finishes on March 2^nd.

Please remember!

There is no registration fee, our commission structure is very competitive and we offer worldwide shipping. For our terms and conditions please click here.

With over 15 years of experience in the whisky industry, Whisky Auctioneer specialises in auctioning whisky whether it be fine, old, rare, collectable or affordable. Formed in 2013 and based in Perth, central Scotland, we aim to be the most comprehensive website for the buying and selling of whisky online.

http://www.whiskyauctioneer.com/

Happy Bidding!