HERITAGE HILLS Bourbon Cream – Heritage Hills delivers a wonderfully delicious bourbon cream that can stand the test of the rest. The alcohol is well integrated as there is no bite, just delightful bourbon and cream. Try it over ice for dessert or as the final course of your next bourbon tasting.

HERITAGE HILLS Honey Bourbon – Another wonderful smooth sipper from Heritage Hills, this one is equally as excellent. The flavor truly tastes like you mixed fresh wild flower honey with a smooth small batch bourbon. With a rich and delicious flavor and harmonious balance of spice and sweet. It’s juuuust right.

OL’ MAJOR Bacon Flavored Bourbon – In complete and utterly honest disclosure, we were less than sure about what we were about to sip when we were presented with Ol’ Major Bacon Flavored Bourbon. Nose to the tasting glass, and it was all rich smoky bacon and bacon fat backed by pleasant caramelly bourbon. It smelled good. It tasted just the same. This is two of the best things in the world combined in one bottle.

Hello, my name is Johnathon “J.O” Owen and I enjoy different, obscure, and breakaway from the norm beverages. Welcome to Drink Different. As the fall leaves start to turn and the weather turns cooler, it starts to creep back into our lives. It is everywhere. In my beer, my coffee, my doughnut. A flavor that you either look forward to or groan about. I, of course, am talking about pumpkin flavor. Love pumpkin or hate it, I have found Ole Smoky Pumpkin Pie Tennessee Moonshine and it is very good. Coming in at 20% ABV the alcohol is subtle, making a very easy moonshine to enjoy.

Ole Smoky Pumpkin Pie Tennessee Moonshine – $18.99 Look: Bright pumpkin orange Smell: Fresh pumpkin with spices of cinnamon, clove, and nutmeg Taste: A fresh velvety bite of pumpkin pie Finish: Like the heavy whipping cream on top of my pumpkin pie slice, the finish has creamy vanilla taste. Whether I am putting a splash into my hot cocoa or turning it into a pumpkin martini. I find it a welcome addition to the fall pumpkin flavor line. Remember folks, don’t be afraid to drink a little different. -Johnathon “J.O.” Owen.

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

Glendronach 20 Year Old Octaves Scotch Whisky

Glendronach 20 Year Old 1994 vintage Octaves Highland single malt Scotch whiskey. This is a one-off bottling created by combining five PX Sherry Octaves.

Limited release of 371 bottles.

Nose: An intense concentration of chocolate fondant, candied ginger and glace cherries; all perfectly balanced with a warming grind of black pepper, rich oak spices and a slight touch of liquorice.

Palate: Full-bodied sherry characteristics give dark molasses enriched Christmas cake. Sour plum syrup and delightful cigar box spices. A subtle combination of dark espresso and nutty dryness gives the finish tremendous depth.

Finish: A rare combination of heavyweight sherry Octave maturation and robust, rich Highland whisky characteristics, capturing the darkest depths to the most delicate spice.

Buy – $671.22

Glendronach malt whisky distillery was established north east of Huntley in Scotland’s Highland whisky region by James Allardice in 1826. The malting floors at Glendronach Distillery closed in 1996 and it was the last distillery in Scotland to heat its stills directly with flames from a coal-fired furnace, until it had to comply with new regulations in 2005. Glendronach Distillery is resplendent with a traditional cask iron mash tun, wooden washbacks, four stills matures its malt whisky in top quality sherry casks. Glendronach Distillery has a distillery visitor centre offering a range of distillery tours and the distillery participates is the Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival.

FIRST EVER PORT FINISHED BOURBON FROM 1792 

Second in series of limited edition bourbons from Barton 1792 Distillery 

            BARDSTOWN, kENTUCKY (Sept. 29, 2015) – Barton 1792 Distillery has unveiled a second new expression in its collection of premium 1792 whiskeys, 1792 Port Finish Bourbon. Similar to the inaugural 1792 expression released earlier this year, 1792 Sweet Wheat Bourbon, availability of this special expression will be quite limited.

            Produced using a painstaking process, 1792 Port Finish Bourbon marries expertly crafted bourbon whiskey with the sweet flavor profile from port wine barrels. This bourbon was aged for six years in new American white oak barrels before spending another two years maturing inside  used port wine barrels, extracting the subtle yet sweet flavors distinct to port wine. The rich vanilla characters of American white oak mingle with the delicate fruit notes of port to create a magnificent whiskey with rich character and full flavor.

Ken Pierce, director of distillation and quality assurance, describes the new bourbon as having “A rich aroma of apple and fruit mingling with noticeable vanilla. The taste is soft, yet balanced. Filled with toasted caramel, jam-like fruit, and a touch of licorice. A clean, somewhat lingering finish completes the taste.”

1792 Port Finish Bourbon is bottled at 88.9 proof. Bottles are expected to hit stores sometime in October at the suggested retail price of $39.99.  1792 Port Finish Small Batch Bourbon was aged a total eight years. Although this is the first and only batch of 1792 Port Finish Bourbon, the distillery is considering making more. Furthermore, 1792 Distillery plans to release more new and different 1792 expressions over the next few years.

About Barton 1792 Distillery

Barton 1792 Distillery is part of Barton Brands.  Barton Brands has facilities in Bardstown, Ky., Carson, Calif., and Baltimore, Md. Barton Brands is owned by the Sazerac Company, an American family-owned company based in New Orleans, La. Barton 1792 Distillery was established in 1879 and continues today as the oldest fully-operating Distillery in the “Bourbon Capital of the World.” The Distillery is located on 196 acres and includes 28 warehouses, 22 other buildings, the Morton Spring and the Tom Moore Spring.  Distilling, aging and bottling fine Bourbon whiskey are hallmarks of the historic Barton 1792 Distillery. 1792 Small Batch Bourbon Whiskey is produced at Barton 1792 Distillery. This whiskey is named for the year Kentucky became a state and is the recent gold medal winner at the 2015 Los Angeles International Wine & Spirits Competition. To learn more visit http://www.1792bourbon.com/.

I bring you some exciting news this afternoon….the new Society bottling is officially READY FOR PURCHASE!!

Unfortunately I have some bad news to begin with however. Some of you will be aware that during the Campbeltown Malts Festival 2015, we held a special tasting for Society Members to decide what whisky should be chosen for the Autumn Society release. Heartbreakingly, when we regauged the cask to find out how many bottles we were going to get from it, we noticed there had been a bad leak meaning we were not going to get a sufficient number of bottles to satisfy demand. I was so, so disappointed when told about this, as I know many of our members will be too. For members who were at the tasting, I will be sending you a separate, additional email to this so please keep an eye out for it arriving in the next hour or so.

The good news is that we have found an equally as impressive and tasty replacement which I’m sure you will all love. I’m pleased to announce that the new Society bottling is a Springbank 18 year old, matured in a Re-charred Sherry Butt. It was distilled in July 1997 and bottled in September 2015 (Friday 25th September to be precise!) It has been bottled at a cask strength of 58.9% abv and is limited to 502 bottles.  

The cost of this bottling is £90.00 and because this is a bigger cask than our recent Society releases, members will be able to purchase two bottles per person, if you wish.

The tasting notes for our new Society release are:

Nose:  Aromas of dark chocolate, cocoa powder and brandy butter underlined by a soft caramelization. 

Palate:  An oily and mouth coating dram with rich chocolate, liquorice and sherbet notes coming to the fore followed by wood char and nutmeg.  

Finish:  A long, dry finish with notes of fennel and espresso with tobacco smoke in the background. 

For those of you who have tasted the Springbank 1997 Vintage – this whisky is very reminiscent of that….delicious!

If you would like to reserve a bottle then please email me ASAP as it will be based on a first come first served basis. As you will be aware, my inbox gets extremely busy after a new release is announced and it can take me a couple of weeks to get through all the emails so please don’t panic if you don’t get an immediate reply. Please be assured I will be working through them as quickly as I can.

As we have welcomed a lot of new members to the Society over the past few months, here is some information on how the Society bottles work:

We release two special Society bottlings each year which are only available to members of the Society. In the past, the releases have been at different times of the year but to make it more uniform, we will now release one each Spring (March/April) and one each Autumn (September/October).

When we release a new bottling, I will email you with all the details and if you would like to order a bottle (there is no obligation to do so) then you should email me back with your request, including where you would like the bottle to be delivered to and how you would like to pay. 

There are a couple of different options for delivery. You can either have the bottle sent to your home address or have it sent to one of our Cadenhead Shops for collection.

Excluding the USA (due to strict import laws), we are able to ship bottles worldwide so if you would like to know the shipping costs for 1-6 bottles to your country then please email me and I will send you over the details. Our prices include all taxes and costs on our side but does not cover any entry fees or taxes which may incur when the whisky reaches it’s destination country.

As mentioned above, we can also ship your Society bottles to the following Cadenhead Shops for collection:

• Edinburgh (UK)
• London (UK)
• Cologne (Germany)
• Berlin (Germany)
• Salzburg (Austria)
• Odense (Denmark)

If you would like your bottle delivered to any of the Cadenhead shops mentioned then PLEASE state this when ordering your bottle.

If you order your bottle to be delivered to any of our UK Cadenhead stores then payment for the bottle will be organised through me plus a £2.00 packaging fee and we will send it out with their next order (orders are usually sent weekly).

If you order your bottle to be delivered to any of our European stores then you will pay for the bottle when you collect it from the stated shop. The European shops usually get orders every 2-3 months so if you would like it sent there then please let me know and I can arrange it with the next shipment. Please allow a bit of time for the delivery and as soon as I have a shipping date then I will let you know. Can I kindly ask that you wait until you have heard from me before phoning the shops to ask if they have arrived.

In addition to the two options above and for any of our members living in Canada, one of our stockists in Calgary, Kensington Wine Market, are able to import Society bottles so if you would like to have your bottle sent to them for collection then please let me know this and we can get it arranged.

Sláinte,

Mairi

Mairi Paterson 

For the Springbank Society

To join the Springbank Society contact Mairi at society@springbankwhisky.com

ANCIENT CLAN Blended Scotch Whisky –

This is a fine blended scotch that pays homage to the people who inhabited the rugged mountains and glens in which this blend is married and matured. It’s produced by Tomatin Distillery and is an excellent value in the ever growing category of fine blended Scotch.

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

Glendronach Batch 12 is a collection of nine single cask whiskies ranging from 11 to 43 years old. Individually hand-numbered, non-chill filtered and bottled at natural cask strength.One of the highlights of the range include a 1972 vintage which has developed a cult following from all corners of the globe. All whiskies are as always very limited and will be sold on a first come first served basis.

£78 – £1000 View the full collection

15 might be the magical number: there are a few seats left for the “15 year old” Scotch Whisky class this Saturday at 2:30 pm. 

Click here to register

The Brandy Library 25 N. Moore Street, New York, NY 10013 

GlenDronach releases batch 12 of its single cask bottlings

AWARD-WINNING GlenDronach has today (30 September) released the latest batch, its twelfth, of single cask bottlings.

All nine are outstanding and have been matured in Pedro Ximenez sherry casks from Southern Spain to create a dark, spicy whisky with notes of sherry sweetness, dried fruits and raisins.

Bottled in August, all are available as of today and presented in beautiful gift boxes.

As with previous batches, each single cask’s character is distinctive and the taste sublime, with the Pedro Ximenez sherry influence perfectly balancing the spicy notes and robustness of the renowned GlenDronach spirit.

Batch 12 ranges from 43 to 11 years old. Eight whiskies have been matured in Pedro Ximenez sherry puncheons while one, the oldest, comes from a wonderful Pedro Ximenez sherry butt.

The nine casks have been hand-selected by Master Distiller Billy Walker who said: “Our whiskies are all about the interaction of the wood with the Highland character of the spirit.

“In these nine extraordinary bottlings, you see and taste the sherry wood working its magic on our whisky. The whisky sits and ages in peace, and it starts to darken and pick up subtle flavours from the wood, resulting in sensational aged whiskies that are appreciated worldwide by our customers.”

GlenDronach Batch 12 has a number of superb highlights.

The oldest, 1972 cask number 706, at 51.1% vol, is a dark mahogany 43 years old sherry monster matured in a Pedro Ximenez sherry butt. On the nose, rich sour plums and dark chocolate are backed by a nutty tobacco note and a hint of clove oil. And on the palate, sherried Christmas cake is sweetened with a dusting of Muscovado sugar and mixed candied peel.

As a contrast, the 11 years old from cask number 5524, at 57.8% vol, is the youngest. On the nose, rich prunes and oak spices combine with a grating of nutmeg and a delicate liquorice note. On the palate, soft treacle toffee and rich raisin juice are infused with hints of cinnamon sugar and sweet floral oak spice.

The cask details are as follows:

1972 cask # 706 / 43 years old / Pedro Ximenez Sherry Butt / 51.1% vol.

1990 cask # 1375 / 25 years old / Pedro Ximenez Sherry Puncheon / 51.6% vol.

1994 cask # 3273 / 20 years old / Pedro Ximenez Sherry Puncheon / 53.3% vol.

1994 cask # 3398 / 20 years old / Pedro Ximenez Sherry Puncheon / 53.2% vol.

1995 cask # 444 / 20 years old / Pedro Ximenez Sherry Puncheon / 52.0% vol.

1995 cask # 3806 / 19 years old / Pedro Ximenez Sherry Puncheon / 54.5% vol.

1995 cask # 4034 / 19 years old / Pedro Ximenez Sherry Puncheon / 55.4% vol.

2003 cask # 934 / 12 years old / Pedro Ximenez Sherry Puncheon / 53.7% vol.

2004 cask # 5524 / 11 years old / Pedro Ximenez Sherry Puncheon / 57.8% vol.

All nine bottlings will be available soon at your local retailer.

Two images attached.

For more information, visit www.glendronachdistillery.co.uk

The Scotch Malt Whisky Society is please to announce three ‘Desserts & Drams Challenge’ events in the USA. The Dessert & Drams Challenges are open to members and non-members. $50.00 per ticket. Visit the Scotch Malt Whisky Society here to purchase your tickets.

Chicago – Tuesday, October 13^th – drumBar

Washington, DC – Thursday, October 15^th – Jack Rose Dining Saloon

Seattle – Tuesday, October 20^th – Brouwer’s Café

www.smwsa.com

2016 WhiskyFest Tickets
Will Go On Sale Today
at 9 am EDT
Buy now at early bird prices

For 2016, WhiskyFest adds a FOURTH city:
Washington, DC!

The continuing success of our three WhiskyFest events in New York, Chicago and San Francisco has led to consistent demand for a fourth event. In 2016, we have decided to do just that by adding another city: Washington, DC, an influential city that has always loved whisky. The inaugural WhiskyFest DC will be held at the brand new Marriott Marquis, 901 Massachusetts Avenue NW. That’s four WhiskyFests in 2016, in four great cities.

Dates for WhiskyFest 2016

Washington DC — Wednesday, March 2
Chicago — Friday, March 18
San Francisco — Friday, September 23
New York — Tuesday, November 1

ORDER TICKETS

Tickets will go on sale at 9 am EDT; Quantities are limited, so buy now.  Be among the first to find out about WhiskyFest announcements by signing up for WhiskyNotes, our bi-weekly newsletter. Simply click here.  For more details about WhiskyFest, visit www.whiskyfest.com