Adrian Grenier and James Corden crown winners of The Venture receiving share of $1 million fund

[July 27th, 2015]: The Venture, Chivas Regal’s global search for the world’s most promising social entrepreneurs, rewarded all five finalists the remaining share of the $1m fund at the final pitch event.  The announcement came after the five finalists pitched the potential of their start-up to create transformative social change to an expert judging panel that included actor and social entrepreneur Adrian Grenier. Algramo from Chile was awarded the largest share of the fund, receiving $300,000 to further develop the pioneering food distribution enterprise.

Other finalists to come away with funding on the night included Chipsafer ($150,000) from Uruguay who use innovative tracking devices to transform the way farmers look after their livestock; SenSprout ($150,000) from Japan who aim to make farming more efficient using a wireless field-monitoring system; Lumkani ($75,000) from South Africa, a company that uses technology to decrease the risk of devastating fires in informal settlements, and Diseclar ($75,000) from Colombia who turn waste materials into stylish furniture.

The Venture – which saw more than a thousand social entrepreneurs apply for $1million in funding – culminated at The Final Pitch event at The Herbst Pavilion, San Francisco in front of a large audience.  The evening was hosted by the Late Late Show presenter, James Corden who applauded all five of the social entrepreneurs who pitched for their commitment to using business as a force for good.

The Final Pitch event was attended by a range of high profile entrepreneurs and business leaders from Silicon Valley and beyond. Also in the audience was Golden Globe nominated actor Oscar Isaac who starred in Chivas Regal’s Win The Right Way film, which helped launch The Venture by issuing a challenge to aspiring social entrepreneurs and the world at large to re-frame their meaning of success.

The judging panel which included Adrian Grenier, Sonal Shah, Alex Ricard and Morgan Clendaniel, assessed each business based on their ability to create sustainable change through a viable business model and potential to scale.  To find out more about the winners and the other finalists who took part in The Venture visit www.theventure.com.

Adrian Grenier congratulated each of the winners on the night:

“Social entrepreneurship challenges society to reimagine what is possible and inspires us to create a better future and a better world. All of The Venture finalists tonight challenged us to imagine how business could transform a problem into an opportunity. They are all very deserving of support and show why it’s important for initiatives like The Venture to exist, to inspire as many brilliant minds from around the world as possible and to contribute to using business as a force for good.”

Speaking on behalf of the finalists Jose Manuel Moller Dominguez from Algramo added:

“What a night! I can’t believe I’ve received $300,000 in funding from Chivas – it’s truly life changing for me. The money will enable me to scale the business and really take it to the next level. I’m truly grateful for this experience and can’t wait to apply everything I’ve learnt since being in San Francisco.”

Pernod Ricard’s Chairman and CEO, and The Venture judge, Alex Ricard, expressed his and the brand’s commitment to the world of social entrepreneurship, and congratulated the winner:

“All five of the social entrepreneurs who pitched for funding tonight have founded innovative and inspiring social enterprises, each providing sustainable solutions for different issues. Ultimately Jose from Algramo demonstrated a concrete proof of concept and really convinced us that The Venture funding could deliver tremendous transformative change for their business. We’re extremely proud of the first year of The Venture and Chivas is looking forward to continuing this legacy in years to come.”

Social entrepreneurs from across the world are invited to apply for $1 million in funding as The Venture Year 2 kicks off from 10th August 2015, visit http://www.theventure.com/ for further details.

The Venture

The Venture is Chivas Regal’s global search to find and support the most promising aspiring social entrepreneurs who want to succeed whilst making a positive impact on the lives of others. With over $1 million in funding and resources, The Venture will enable social entrepreneurs from around the world realise their potential and gain exposure for their business.

About Chivas Regal

Launched in 1909, Chivas Regal is the world’s first luxury whisky and is considered to be a timeless classic, renowned for style, substance and exclusivity.

A truly global brand, Chivas Regal today sells 4.6 million 9L cases annually in more than 150 countries across the globe. Brotherhood, generosity, entrepreneurship and integrity are at the heart of Chivas Regal so in 2008, the brand launched its successful Live with Chivalry campaign, which has inspired Modern Gentlemen in more than 60 countries around the world to pursue success with integrity.

The Chivas Regal range includes Chivas 12, Chivas 18, Chivas 25 and the Global Travel Retail exclusive, Chivas Brothers Blend. In October 2014, Chivas Regal announced the addition of a fifth permanent expression in the Chivas Regal family, Chivas Regal Extra, sitting within the super-premium range, positioned between Chivas 12 and Chivas 18.

We’ve created the ultimate bottle of Sullivans Cove French Oak

Made using exceptionally rare whisky from our highest awarded French Oak casks including HH0525 – the World’s Best Single Malt Whisky, HH0390 – the Best Australian Single Malt 2015 and HH0509 – 96.5/100 Jim Murray’s Whiksy Bible 2013, and samples from extraordinary unreleased French Oak casks, the Sullivans Cove Manifesto is your opportunity to own a piece of whisky history.

Such incredible whisky demands a worthy vessel so we commissioned two of the county’s best glass blowers, who happen to live right here in Tassie, to create a set of two magnum decanters that best reflect the shared success of Tasmanian whisky.  We’re delighted to offer one of these two unique, hand blown magnum decanters to you today (the other one is available from Dan Murphy’s either online or in their Double Bay store incase you are too slow and miss out on buying this one).

Each decanter comes with its own specially blown glass “spirit thief” to extract the precious liquid, a hand moulded “travel” stopper made from rare Tasmanian Huon pine and Portuguese cork and a matching glass stopper for everyday use. The decanter is housed in a hand made Huon pine case lined with doeskin and is accompanied by a small sample bottle for the lucky owner to savour, should the purchase be deemed an investment.

The Sullivans Cove Manifesto is a non-chill filtered single malt whisky bottled at 47.9% and 1550ml in volume.

Click here for more information and to purchase.

New Releases

We have had many new releases coming in to stock over the last month or two.  Picking out just a few….

Wemyss

We have had a great new set of malts in from Wemyss.  This is the usual Wemyss gig where they have a phrase that sums up the flavour profile of the whisky.  You get the idea.  Click the links for more detailed tasting notes.  Just in case you have a brain like mine “Sea Haar Bound” is no more than what it it says on the tin (or in this case bottle).  It’s just stuck in the fog but more romantically phrased.  It is nothing more sinister.  If you have met the ladies at Wemyss then what else could it be?  Having a soft spot for old grain then the “Toffee Apple Crisp” really appealed to us and the Glen Scotia is like no other.

Wemyss Cragganmore 1999 14 Years Old “Heather Moorland”

Wemyss Bunnahabhain 1997 17 Years Old “Sea Haar Bound”

Wemyss Glen Garioch 1989 25 Years Old “Gooseberry Mocha”

Wemyss Glenrothes 1997 17 Years Old “Buttered Tealoaf”

Wemyss Glen Scotia 1991 24 Years Old “Leather-bound Ledger”

Wemyss Invergordon 1988 27 Years Old “Toffee Apple Crisp”

Imperial

Finding Imperial’s is like finding the tooth from a hen who has been bare-back riding a Unicorn so this Imperial 1996 from Gordon & MacPhail is a real treat.  It’s a delicate sherry cask whisky with possibly more bourbon cask characteristics on the palate.  Warning!  The supply is very limited.

Bargain Hunters

We have also obtained a small quantity of bargain priced single malts both from Provenance.  It’s always a good feeling to price a single malt below £30.

Provenance Glenallachie 9 Years Old £29.95

Provenance Graigellachie 8 Years Old £29.95

Collectors

We have, what we are told, is the oldest (as in Years Old) bottle of Macallan to be bottled and it’s a rare war-time bottling as well.

Speymalt Macallan 1945

More of our new items can be seen by clicking here

Speyside Spirit Cocktail Competition

There is still time to enter our Cocktail competition to find the best cocktail featuring a Speyside Spirit.  There’s a great prize as well.  Closing date is 1 September.  Click here for the full details.

Festivals

The Whisky Shop Dufftown Autumn Festival

Tickets are still available for some events at our festival which runs from 24 to 28 September this year.  You can see the full programme by clicking here.

The Whisky Auction starts on Tuesday 25^th August at 10am.  Doors will open at 9am and viewing is by appointment only.

The Timed Online Auction starts at noon on 27^th August and finishes at 7pm on 3^rd September.

We have some great whiskies for sale this time around, like a Macallan 1939 (Lot 130), Macallan 30 Year Old (Lot 1); Glen Mhor 8 Year Old (Lots 78 & 307); and a complete set of the 2014 Feis Ile bottlings (Lots 11; 12; 48; 49; 90; 91; 153; 154; 216; 217).  In addition to this haul we have strong showing from Springbank including an older bottling of their 21 Year Old (Lot 36) and a rare first release of the Bladnoch 10 Year Old Flora & Fauna in the wooden case with the white capsule (Lot 269).

http://www.mulberrybankauctions.com/

Whisky Ramblings Via Video #115

Mark Dermul, Belgian Whiskyblogger, tries the Glengoyne 10 Years. The distillery can be found in the valley of the geese (which translates into the Gaelic Glenguin, hence the name of the distillery). It is one of the few distilleries that never closed. Glengoyne has been in production since its opening in 1833. Mark tries their entry level malt, the Glengoyne 10 Years.

http://youtu.be/EGfrEFzPMds

ABERLOUR INTRODUCES THE VOICE-O-GRAPH

22^nd July 2015 – Aberlour, the award winning single malt Scotch whisky, today unveils the latest chapter in its ‘Made from Experience’ series – the Voice-o-Graph, an extremely rare vintage recording booth.

Built in the 1940s, and believed to be one of only two working examples, the booth cuts directly on to a 6″ vinyl, and represents one of the earliest forms of recording. From budding musicians to storytellers, to hopeless romantics recording messages of love, the Voice-o-Graph was used to capture these special moments – a unique method allowing a lifetime of experiences to be captured in those intimate 65 seconds; simply put – each vinyl was ‘Made from Experience’. Just as each drop of Aberlour is carefully crafted using the collective experience, passion and expertise of our craftsmen and Master Distiller and all the experience of quality oak cask maturation resulting in an intricately crafted malt of superlative quality ‘Made from Experience’.

Aberlour has also partnered with iconic and globally renowned independent record store, Rough Trade, to give consumers the chance to capture their own experience on vinyl in the Voice-o-Graph. For the first time in New York for more than half a century, the booth’s unique recording facility will be available for the public to try in-store at Williamsburg’s Rough Trade from July 24^th to 31^st, before moving on to London later this year.

Stephen Godfroy, founder of Rough Trade said: “The romance of vinyl is seeing a massive resurgence. The Aberlour Voice-o-Graph captures sounds, depth and character and then presses them onto vinyl – there’s nothing else quite like it. Our partnership with Aberlour was born out of a discovery of mutual values. At Rough Trade, we carefully consider every experience we offer our customers – from the choice of records available to intimate performances in-store, so partnering with Aberlour felt natural because of their commitment to offering authentic and enriching experiences.”

The Voice-o-Graph builds on Aberlour’s Global ‘Made from Experience’ series, which last year saw photographer and bassist from Mumford & Sons, Ted Dwane produce an exhibition of photographs – a curation of emotive portraits of people he had met and photographed during his experiences on the road with his band.Dwane’s unique and intricately crafted approach to photography uses hand-developed single edition prints that provide layers of contrast, and remain the unique and only result of the photo.

Nikki Burgess, Global Brand Director for Aberlour, said: “Our ‘Made from Experience’ series reflects our philosophy of harnessing skill, passion and expertise which culminate in a uniquely crafted result. Whether it be a velvety smooth single malt or a single edition vinyl pressed in our Voice-o-Graph, we believe incelebrating experience and facilitating authentic and meaningful experiences.”

NOTES

About Aberlour

Aberlour was founded in 1879 by James Fleming, the Aberlour distillery is located in Scotland, in the heart of Speyside – Scotland’s premier whisky-producing region. Aberlour is a leading single malt Scotch whisky brand in France, the world’s biggest Scotch whisky market. Since 1995 Aberlour has grown strongly and is now the seventh most popular single malt Scotch whisky in the world. 

About Chivas Brothers

Chivas Brothers is the Scotch whisky and premium gin business of Pernod Ricard, the world’s co-leader in wines and spirits. Chivas Brothers’ award-winning portfolio features some of the world’s most revered Scotch whisky brands including Chivas Regal, the world’s first luxury whisky and the No.1 Scotch whisky in China; Ballantine’s, Europe’s No.1 Scotch whisky; The Glenlivet, the world’s No.2 single malt whisky; and Royal Salute, the world’s only exclusively prestige Scotch whisky range. The portfolio also includes two of the world’s leading English gins – Beefeater, the world’s most awarded premium gin, and Plymouth gin – plus a selection of highly acclaimed single malt whiskies, including Aberlour, Longmorn, Scapa, Strathisla and Tormore. The range is completed by a collection of blended Scotch whiskies operating in many of the world’s key whisky markets which includes 100 Pipers, Clan Campbell, Something Special and Passport Scotch.

http://www.chivasbrothers.com/

@ChivasNewsRoom

About Pernod Ricard

Pernod Ricard is the world’s co-leader in wines and spirits with consolidated sales of €7,945 million in 2013/14. Created in 1975 by the merger of Ricard and Pernod, the Group has undergone sustained development, based on both organic growth and acquisitions: Seagram (2001), Allied Domecq (2005) and Vin & Spirit (2008). Pernod Ricard holds one of the most prestigious brand portfolios in the sector and employs a workforce of approximately 18,000 people, operating through a decentralized organization with 6 ‘Brand Companies’ and 80 ‘Market Companies’ established in each key market. Pernod Ricard is strongly committed to a sustainable development policy and encourages responsible consumption. Pernod Ricard’s strategy and ambition are based on 3 key values that guide its expansion: entrepreneurial spirit, mutual trust and a strong sense of ethics. Pernod Ricard is listed on the NYSE Euronext exchange (Ticker: RI; ISIN code: FR0000120693) and is a member of the CAC 40 index.

http://www.pernod-ricard.com/

The bar staff have to try all the whisky as it arrives, poor souls… it puts them in a great position to pick out the very best drams. Of course, no one agrees on the best flavour or style, so you’ll find a great variety of whiskies to choose from with one great theme running through them all: quality. August can be a busy time in Edinburgh with so many Fringe temptations, so we’ve planned a Members Tasting that goes back to basics and focuses on whisky alone. With an early (8.30pm) finish, you’ll still be able to catch a late show afterwards.

Fri 21 Aug, 7-8.30pm, £20/£29 

Details & Tickets >

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

Congratulations to Gordon Hynd, Betty and Inverhouse Distillers – OLD PULTENEY is once again the winner of The SPIRIT of WHISKY FRINGE Award 2015. Over the three days of Whisky Fringe, all visitors had the chance to vote for their favourite whisky sampled. Just over one third of attendees voted, while it was the usual exhibitors who really got behind the award to promote their products with pride and passion. Old Pulteney 17 year old, a previous winner back in 2011, has spectacularly triumphed yet again and will sit proudly in our shop display cabinet until next year’s event. It will be widely available throughout all our stores and both of our websites: RMW.com and drinkmonger.com.

As always, commiserations to the runners up. Glenglassaugh retained second place from last year, while the Benriach pushed it’s sister distillery very close with third place. Both these single malts are superb and highly recommended, along with the well received Tomatin 1988. Special mention should also be made about the Tomatin 36 year old as this was only available to sample for a short period of time each day as a special ‘Half Time Orange’ dram. Thanks to all the exhibitors for participating and thanks to all the customers who managed to vote.

1st PLACE
~ The Spirit of Whisky Fringe 2015 ~

OLD PULTENEY
17 Year Old
(£64.95)

 ******************** SPECIAL OFFER ********************
~ FREE UK MAINLAND STANDARD DELIVERY (worth £5.75)
with any order that includes a 70cl bottle of Old Pulteney 17 Year Old
***************************************************************

Royal Mile Whiskies 379 High Street The Royal Mile EDINBURGH EH1 1PW

Tel: 0131 225 3383

PRIVATE BARREL UPDATE

In case you haven’t heard the news already, we have some excellent selections available from the John Hughes Collection. Help us in celebrating the life of a beloved coworker and help us give to a good cause.

All profits will be donated to the Prostate Cancer Foundation in John’s name.

>>>Click HERE to Shop the JOHN HUGHES COLLECTION

Other barrels that have just hit our warehouse:

MASTERSON’S Straight Rye Whiskey French Oak 10yr TPS Private Barrel – $73.99

WOODFORD RESERVE Double Oaked Bourbon TPS Private Barrel – $57.99

The Party Source, 95 Riviera Drive, Bellevue, KY 41073.

This week Joe Ellis reviews and explores the now silent Caperdonich 1998 Vintage bottled by Gordon & Macphail.

https://youtu.be/5155-H6Mqg4

http://Twitter.com/whiskytube

https://www.facebook.com/whiskytube