Thanks to those lovely people at Speciality Brands we are going to be able to run a second night of the Nikka Japanese whisky tasting and this will be on Thursday 25th June.  The line up for the evening will be the same six whiskies from the Nikka range as on the previous night but there will be a change of presenter as it will be Stefanie Holt who will be coming along.  As a guide to what you can expect on the night here is a quick reminder.

Set up by Masataka Taketsuru , the founding father of Japanese whisky, Nikka own both the Miyagikyo and Yoichi distilleries and these provide two different styles of whisky that are bottled not only as single malts but also in combination as vatted malts and in blends.  Miyagikyo distillery was designed to produce light, elegant, fruity and floral whiskies whereas Yoichi (which continues to operates traditional coal fired stills) produces a distinct rich, smoky, spicy and oily whisky.  We will taste both of these on the night along with two pure malts (i.e. vatted) which, because they contain different proportions of the two single malts, have very different characteristics.  There will also be the fruity, zesty Coffey Grain to sample and the rich and robust Nikka from the Barrel blend.

There is only a vey limited number of tickets left for this second evening of whisky tasting so you will need to be quick if you want to book!

See below for all the details and if you have any queries just contact us.

Sláinte!

Fran and Ken

Arkwrights Whisky and Wines

www.whiskyandwines.com

UPCOMING EVENT

Name Nikka Whisky Tasting

Date Thursday 25th June 2015

Time 7.00 for 7.30pm

Venue Stanton House Hotel, Stanton Fitzwarren SN6 7SD

Details Admission to the tasting is by ticket only.  Tickets are £15 per person, and this also entitles you to a discount of £3 against a bottle of one of the featured whiskies if bought or ordered on the night of the tasting.  The whiskies tasted will be available to purchase on the night so come prepared! Tickets are very strictly limited, and allocated on a ‘first come, first served’ basis.  They usually sell out very quickly so it is best to book as soon as possible. To buy tickets just log on to www.whiskyandwines.com and place an order for the number you require (up to a maximum of 6 per booking). Please note that tickets cannot be reserved without payment and are non-refundable.

N.B. We have negotiated special rates at Stanton House Hotel for anyone who wants to stay overnight after the tasting – just quote ‘Arkwrights- whisky tasting’ when booking by ‘phone or email.

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

June Auction Live!

Bidding Ends Sunday 14th June 8PM

Fresh from the shores of Islay comes a huge selection of Feis Ile 2015 bottles for you to bid on. All the major distilleries have released their limited edition bottlings, and at Just Whisky they are fortunate enough to be the first auction house to be live after the festival. Whether you’re looking for the likes of Bruichladdich, Bunnahabhain, Lagavulin or Bowmore you’ll find it in the pages of their auction this month.

Competition Time!

Fantastic Prize Giveaway

To celebrate Feis Ile, and also their biggest auction ever, Just Whisky are happy to announce they are giving away a fabulous 2015 Feis Ile release from Lagavulin. To win, it’s very simple:

1. Bid on ANY bottle on the auction this month
2. SHARE the bottle on either Facebook, Twitter or Instagram from this link.

That’s it! We wish you good luck – the winner will be announced at the end of the auction!

Just Whisky have just signed up to Instagram and will regularly be posting bottles in our forthcoming auctions. If you’d like to see this, please follow Just Whisky on Instagram – justwhiskyauctions

Of course, this month there are many more bottles than those from Islay to bid on. Log on for yourself and have a look.

As always, Just Whisky are accepting entries into their next month’s auctions. Now is a great time to get your bottles in early to ensure their place in the July auction. To take advantage, simply fill the short form available here.

BRUICHLADDICH HIGH NOON – FEIS ILE 2015

Bruichladdich’s 2015 Feis Ile bottle. This limited edition High Noon 134 has been bottled in a similar form to the Black Art series, 134 being the combined age of whiskies married to produce this whisky. This Valinch was produce with an outturn of 1881 individually numbered bottles.

• 48.7% vol
• 500ml

BOWMORE 12 YEARS OLD – FEIS ILE 2015 – FIRST FILL SHERRY BUTT

Every bottle of Bowmore is special, but this is more special than most. Hand-filled straight from the cask, by those few fortunate people during the 2015 Feis Ile. Laid down in the finest first-fill sherry butts in 07/10/2002 and release exclusively for Feis Ile 2015.

• 59.6% vol
• 700ml

BOWMORE FEIS ILE 2015 – VIRGIN OAK

This special bottling of Bowmore Single Malt has been exclusively selected for the Feis Ile 2015, solely matured in Virgin American oak casks. Bottled at cask strength with an outturn of 1,000 bottles.

• 55.7% alc./vol
• 700ml

BOWMORE 26 YEARS OLD 1988 – FEIS ILE 2015

This 26 year old bottling of Bowmore Single Malt has been specially crafted for the Feis Ile 2015 from hand-selected Sherry casks which were laid to rest on the 06/09/1988. Bottled at cask strength on the 04/03/2015, and non chill-filtered.

• 48.3%
• 700ml

VIEW AUCTION

WhiskyFest Tickets Make Great Father’s Day Gifts

Father’s Day is coming fast! It’s less than two weeks away… WhiskyFest to the rescue! You can get tickets right now and best of all, you still have time to save some bucks: early bird pricing for the fall events isn’t up until June 30! So get on Dad’s good side: buy him a pair of WhiskyFest tickets (you’re going with him, of course).

Order Now!

 Attend seminars by master distillers, master blenders and other whisky experts

Wow, what a week (and a bit).

I am, of course, referring to the Fèis Ìle 2015 (Islay Festival) that took place until Saturday gone. We were all there – some of us for the first time – and a great time was had by all. Joe assures me that a review of our time will be forthcoming, but for now you can head over to the FB page and check out some great images.

In celebration of the Fèis, we decided before we even left for the island, that we would put on a series purely focussing on the fabled Islay Festival bottlings. Read more below. We are also bringing our Whisky Festivals to Bristol and Edinburgh during June. Add to this Father’s Day, a bit of industry news and a stunning new competition and you should be sorted for the summer!

We have literally pillaged the island for 6 Festival bottlings in order to bring you a tasting par-excellence. For those of you not familiar with the concept, every year during the Festival, each distillery on the island releases a bottling especially and exclusively (normally) for the people who make the pilgrimage. These bottles are highly sought-after and are to be found in auction for often double or more there original price days after they go on sale. Well we would rather spread the whisky love than see more of these bottles go into collections. Just take a look at what we have for this unique series…

Caol Ila 1998-2015, selected by distillery manager, David Wood

Lagavulin 1991-2015, selected by the legendary Ian McArthur

Kilchoman, 10th Anniversary Bottling

Ardbeg, Perpetuum – Distillery Release

Laphroaig, Cairdeas 2015

SMWS, 3.243 (Their 1st Feis bottling, from a distillery starting with ‘B’ and ending in ‘e’)

All of these are bottled at natural strength and most are already sold out. Due to the cost of these bottlings being far more than for our ‘regular’ tastings, the price of these tastings is £35 per person, but this is potentially a once in a lifetime chance to try these whiskies together.

FEIS ILE TASTINGS DATES & VENUES

TUES.    16th JUNE       SHEFFIELD, The Tap, Sheffield Station, 7pm

WEDS.   17th JUNE       LONDON, Salt Bar, Seymour St., W2, 7pm

THURS. 18th JUNE       LEEDS, The Cross Keys, Water Lane, LS2, 7pm

WEDS.   24th JUNE       LIVERPOOL, Jenny’s Bar, Fenwick St., L2, 7pm

THURS. 25th JUNE       BRIGHTON, Lord Nelson, Trafalgar St., 7pm

FRI.        26th JUNE       NEWCASTLE, Blackfriars, Friar St., NE1, 7pm

FRI.        26th JUNE       MANCHESTER, Britons Protection, Gt. Bridgwater St, 7pm

SAT.       27th JUNE       YORK, Brigantes, Micklegate, YO1, 7pm

Click on the relevant date and venue to you or, if you can’t make it, you can buy a tasting pack instead by clicking HERE or going to the website.

THE EDINBURGH WHISKY SOLSTICE

Unbelievably we still have a few tickets left for this, one of our most exciting events of the year.

In the incredible surroundings of the normally private, Queen Street Gardens, you will get to sample fine whiskies from some of the best in the business.

In partnership with the Scotch Malt Whisky Society we are putting something truly awesome together, with crazy food pairings, masterclasses from the likes of Charlie Maclean and a Fèis Ìle 2015 class – all (hopefully) while we enjoy the Solstice sunshine. Going to be great!

Tickets are £30 and include a commemorative Glencairn glass, all of your drams (excepting under the counter drams), a small bottle of water and festival guide. The main event takes place from 12pm-5pm. Click HERE or on the banner for tickets.

We also have the Solstice Sundown, starting at 7pm, with 2 free drams, live music, a reasonably priced bar and more craic than you can shake a stick at. Tickets are £20 and available HERE.

THE BRISTOL WHISKY FESTIVAL

The fun’s not just up north you know! We are really looking forward to seeing our friends in the South-West and bringing some whisky festival hijinks to the fine city of Bristol.

The mechanic is easy. Turn up after 12pm, collect your free tasting glass from reception, along with a bottle of water and festival guide and then enjoy the offerings from our excellent exhibitors. The event finishes at 5pm (last pour at 4.45pm)

Once again, there are just a few tickets left for this event that should easily prove to be the whisky event of the year in the area.

The price for such a great afternoon is just £30 and tickets can be bought by clicking HERE or on the banner.

AUTUMN FESTIVALS

I know it doesn’t bear thinking about with the weather threatening to warm up, but it would be remiss of us not to remind you of our autumn program. Tickets are on sale now for all of the above events and given their popularity, it might be an idea to get them while they are still available…

Liverpool Whisky Festival, Saturday 5th September, Met. Cathedral, 12pm-5pm

Yorkshire Whisky Festival, Saturday 12th September, York Racecourse, 12pm-5pm

Manchester Whisky Festival, Saturday 24th October, Town Hall, 11am-3pm, 4pm-8pm

INDUSTRY NEWS From The Whisky Business A fairly news-light month, but here are the highlights… 1st June 2015 DOUGLAS LAING LAUNCHES LIMITED EDITION CASK STRENGTH BOTTLING OF SCALLYWAG 28th May 2015 SCOTCH WHISKY DISTILLERIES NOW ATTRACTING OVER 1.5 MILLION VISITORS 26th May 2015 MULTIMILLION POUND WHISKY DISTILLERY PLANNED FOR ISLE OF RAASAY 22nd May 2015 ARDBEG UNVEILS A DRINKABLE CLOUD THAT SUMMONS THE SPIRIT OF ISLAY (sample the Ardbeg ‘Haar’ at all of our festivals this year) 21st May 2015 DIAGEO ANNOUNCES DETAILS OF ISLAY FESTIVAL BOTTLINGS 18th May 2015 BENROMACH LAUNCHES NEW FIFTEEN YEAR OLD SINGLE MALT EXPRESSION and lastly, if you hadn’t already heard… 23rd April 2015 BRUICHLADDICH MASTER DISTILLER JIM MCEWAN ANNOUNCES HIS RETIREMENT Jim was a major factor in Eddie’s formative whisky years and therefore I’m sure we can all raise a glass to Jim and a well-deserved retirement. Sláinte Jim! That’s all for now folks, but enjoy the weather, enjoy some drams and we hope to see you at a TWL event soon.

Sláinte,

Eddie, Amanda and Joe

The Whisky Lounge Team.

Ian Macleod Distillers excel at the Scotland Food & Drink Excellence Awards 2015

Ian Macleod Distillers, one of Scotland’s leading, independent, family-owned distillers is celebrating after being crowned a double winner at the national Scotland Food & Drink Excellence Awards.

The company scooped the coveted Drinks (alcoholic) category with its 25YO Glengoyne Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky and the Brand Success of the Year category, an award recognising the strength of the market research and development, marketing initiatives and overall marketing strategy for the relaunch of Tamdhu Distillery and Tamdhu Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky.

The winners were announced on Wednesday 27 May at a glittering awards ceremony, hosted by Scottish television presenter Kaye Adams, at Edinburgh’s National Museum of Scotland. With 19 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 with a record breaking 239 entries, up 56% from 153 entries in 2014.

Commenting on the awards, Iain Weir, Marketing Director from Ian Macleod Distillers, said: “We are thrilled to be able to celebrate the wonderful successes of the business. These awards showcase the best food and drink producers in Scotland and so we feel honoured to have won two awards. This achievement recognises the hard work across the company including all the teams at both Glengoyne and Tamdhu Distilleries and our head office.”

The award judges tasted 161 food and drink entries and examined submissions from 116 businesses across all the categories.

Ian Macleod Distillers acquired Glengoyne Distillery in 2003. It launched the award-winning Glengoyne 25YO in March 2014. The malt is a bright amber beauty with red fruits, leather and brown sugar on the nose and soft oak, cinnamon, stewed fruits and a Seville marmalade tang on the palate. The finish is very long with spicy liquorice.

Tamdhu Distillery was acquired by Ian Macleod Distillers in 2011 and was reborn in 2012. The distillery officially re-opened with two bespoke events during the 14^th annual Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival 2013.

The Scotland Food & Drink Excellence Awards showcase a broad spectrum of food and drink companies.  Winners came from all over Scotland and ranged from large companies and multinationals to smaller start up companies.  The awards are organised by Scotland Food & Drink in partnership with The Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland (RHASS).

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

Early June Outturn Offerings 

Cask No. 3.221                       $160

Starry, starry night

Islay

Childhood memories of airfix paint, Scalextric tyres, linseed oil and Caramac. Smoked duck breast and grilled oyster on the barbeque. To taste the panel found red licorice laces and burnt marshmallows. A big puff of peat, tarry rope and chorizo on the tongue. With water, we found it became fresher with aromas of menthol and English lavender. A crisp mineralic quality smoothed out the peat. It reminded one of ‘sooking spoots’ (sucking razor clams) from the shell. A clean and spritely finish of black pepper and sparkling water make this a perfect nightcap.

Drinking tip: For a romantic liaison by the seaside

Colour: Red panda

Cask: Refill butt

Age: 19 years

Date distilled: April 1994

Alcohol: 54.2%

USA allocation: 180 bottles

Flavour profile: Oily & coastal 

Cask No. 66.54                       $115 

A chameleon coat of many colours

Highland, Eastern

An ever changing character if ever there was one! The nose neat was perfumed with lavender, bay leaf and dried petals. Damp dunnage warehouse, dried fruit pie developed with creamier notes of bechamel sauce emerging. To taste, the panel found bresaola and wild boar carpaccio with an oily finish. The addition of water catapulted them into a Spring walk through the woods with breezy pollen, mint and eucalyptus. The reduced taste reminded them of the toasty crust of a pizza with grilled mushrooms alongside dried apricots and figs. The sweet and savoury flavours finally united for the turn coat.

Drinking tip: When you feel contrary

Colour: Faded polished penny

Cask: Refill barrel

Age: 11 years

Date distilled: October 2002

Alcohol: 55.7%

USA allocation: 120 bottles

Flavour profile: Young & spritely

Cask No. 123.10                             $100

Sweet treats on deck

Highland, Southern

The panel were whisked into a flurry of fresh linen on board a freshly varnished yacht. They found sliced pear with angelica, vanilla ice cream and wafers. The taste delivered flavours of continental bakeries heavy with butter icing, French fancies, amaretto cantucci, iced gems, butterscotch and honey. Water released elderflower cordial, lemon and lime jelly sweets while reclining on warm, newly polished decking with elements of hessian rope. It had a fizzy quality that reminded the panel of champagne tea with bread and butter pudding, chocolate truffles. Kick back and relax!

Drinking tip: A good holiday dram

Colour: Shiny doorbell

Cask: First-fill barrel

Age: 9 years

Date distilled: May 2005

Alcohol: 57.6%

USA allocation: 60 bottles

Flavour profile: Sweet, fruity & mellow 

Cask No. 64.60                               $115

Hemingway Daiquiri

Speyside, Lossie

The aromas neat were an enticing combination of sweet and fruity aromas. Fresh apples, mangos and bananas as well as cherry limeade, syrup sponge and creamy peach cranachan lured us to have a taste. We were not disappointed. Initially lively like Space Dust popping candy and chilli chocolate, calming down to caramel apple lollipops, foamy bananas and gooseberry candy with a mouth drying finish of cracked black pepper Ryvita crisp bread. Water released Peach Melba with sugar roasted doughnuts and vanilla ice cream sprinkled with a lemon vanilla chilli hot sauce and an ‘El Floridita’ Hemingway Daiquiri on the side.

Drinking tip: Awakening the senses

Colour: Dim candle-light

Cask: First-fill barrel

Age: 11 years

Date distilled: June 2003

Alcohol: 62.3%

USA allocation: 150 bottles

Flavour profile: Spicy & sweet

Cask No. G8.5                                $145

Body surfing at Bondi Beach

Grain

The panel were transported to a nautical scene of newly sanded, then polished, teak yacht in warm sun. With new shoes, they stretched out on deck and enjoyed an herbal cigarette and Greek grappa. Our Australians friends captured the surfing moment along with salted caramel chocolate, with Nepalese tea and candy floss on the stick. Redcurrant jelly and pomegranate dryness relented with water to reveal Arctic Roll, wine gums and plum pudding. Floral rose and cut pine mingled with herbal flavours of cardamon, bison grass and pistachio nut. Sweet Mr Kipling raspberry tart concluded this curious and eclectic dram.

Drinking tip: A perfect digestif after a barbeque

Colour: Polished rollocks

Cask: Refill hogshead

Age: 25 years

Date distilled: June 1989

Alcohol: 59.6%

USA allocation: 60 bottles

Flavour profile: Juicy, oak & vanilla

View the Outturn on line HERE

Limited Edition Release

By popular demand, we are releasing a commemorative limited edition release to mark the birth of Her Royal Highness Princess Charlotte of Cambridge, born 2nd May 2015.

The engraved decanter bottles are presented in our red tubes and look fantastic, definitely fit for a princess.

On week commencing 22nd June 2015, only 499 bottles will be released worldwide, of which 199 will be for sale within the UK.

ORDER YOUR EXCLUSIVE BOTTLE INLOINE HERE

Spring turns to summer and as we approach the middle of the year and our annual quiet period for maintenance it’s our final summer before the casks in Warehouse 1 reach their third birthday.

It has been a good winter at Wolfburn with plenty of cold water to help productivity and lots of casks laid down. We’ve had many visitors from far and wide, notably a film crew from Japan who returned for the 3rd time to continue a documentary film about Wolfburn in the making, as well as two Morgan enthusiasts who’d travelled up from London in their pride and joy. Being at the northernmost tip of Scotland we are pretty remote, yet people of all shapes and sizes turn up on the doorstep wanting a whiff of the good stuff. And who are we not to oblige? It wouldn’t be the Highlands without a traditional warm welcome and a wee dram to warm the cockles.

We’ve also been busy behind the scenes making sure that our carefully crafted spirit has something very beautiful to live in once it leaves the distillery. Time is moving rapidly towards the day when we will start to fill our specially blown bottles and close the lid on the first of many cases.

In this edition of The Laydown we continue our look at wood, moving on to the cooperage side of things and also have a quick chat with Shane Fraser, our Distillery Manager to get his thoughts on a few things Wolfburn. Then for those who may be interested, and you all are, a look at some of the less than legal operations that ran in the past in the world of Scotch whisky. In the meantime we have a mash tun to clean, washbacks to scrub and a set of stills to polish to get ready for the second half of the year.

Sláinte

The Wolfburn Team

Wolfburn Henderson Park, Thurso, Caithness KW14 7XW United Kingdom

www.wolfburn.com

www.ralfy.com considers how peat influences traditional blended scotch with Whisky Review 539 – 12yo Islay Mist Blended Scotch Whisky

The typical Islay whisky is… not from Islay

Whisky recommendation engine Whisky Suggest analysed nearly 50,000 whisky tasting notes, to calculate the typical whiskies for all important whisky regions. The most striking result was Talisker’s 10 Year Old bottling showing the most resemblance to the average Islay flavour profile. After all, Talisker isn’t an Islay-based distillery. Talisker 10 Year Old is bottled on the Island of Skye, but scores slightly better as an ‘average Islay-Scotch’ than Ardbeg 10 Year Old.

Redbreast 12 Year Old Irish whiskey is the perfect representative of Irish whiskey. Redbreast 12 has the highest resemblance to the average flavour profile of Irish whiskey. In fact, the 12 year old single pot still is more similar to its home region than any other whisky.

Other regional whisky ambassadors include Auchentoshan 12 Year Old (Lowlands), Springbank 15 Year Old (Campbeltown), The Glenlivet 18 Year Old (Speyside) and Four Roses Single Barrel (United States). These ‘typical’ whiskies feature all local characteristics, making it the perfect regional entry whiskies. From there, whisky-beginners can fine tune their way up or down the ladder, to find the whisky that matches their personal preferences the best.

For more details, see http://www.whiskysuggest.com/typical-whiskies-flavour-profile-research/

About Whisky Suggest

Whisky Suggest features the world’s most comprehensive whisky flavour profiles, which are based on nearly 50,000 whisky reviews and tasting notes. The Whisky Suggest recommendation engine is one of its kind, offering the option to search by flavour, or to get recommendations based on your favourite whisk(e)ys.