We’re getting curiouser and curiouser this month with this new release of single casks. Available to buy now, explore a wonderland of unique flavour concoctions – from textural landscapes, autumnal orchards and geranium greenhouses to smoked mussels, anchovy paste and white asparagus, there’s something here to surprise and delight.

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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

Mcallan Oscuro

Shop £928.90

Heavily sherried and incredibly rich. Matured in casks distilled between 1987 and 1997. Macallan Oscuro Speyside single malt Scotch whisky’ Matured in casks distilled between 1987 and 1997. Oscuro is wonderfully dark, luscious and deeply satisfying.

The Macallan Distillery was established by Alexander Reid in 1824 as Elchies Distillery near Easter Elchies House. Easter Elchies House dates back to 1700 and the estate itself to at least the 17th century. Macallan Distillery is a malt whisky distillery situated in Speyside whisky region. The old still house was re-commissioned in 2008 and now Macallan Distillery operates with two still houses sheltering twenty-one copper stills. A brand new distillery is under construction and designed to house thirty one stills thereby retaining Macallan amongst the top producers by volume. On-site maturation is carried out in traditional dunnage warehouses and by racking in large new warehouses on the estate. Popular official releases include Macallan 18 Year Old and Macallan 30 Year Old.

Welcome to the landmark 300th episode of the show and what better way to celebrate it than by looking at a selection of the limited edition releases by the Langatun distillery in Switzerland.

https://youtu.be/_ara7U9EkSw

Virginia Distillery Company Recognized for Third Year in a Row at World Whiskies Awards

Distillery also nominated by industry peers in three categories for the ICONS of Whisky Awards for 2019 

Lovingston, Va. (Jan. 31, 2019) –American Single Malt whisky distillery Virginia Distillery Company’s Port Cask Finished Virginia-Highland Whisky was recognized last night for the third year in a row with the ‘Best American Blended Malt’ at the World Whiskies Awards.

The American results were announced in New York on January 30. The World Whiskies Awards highlights whiskies from around the world. The international results will be announced on March 28, 2019 at an awards dinner in London.

Virginia Distillery Company was also nominated by industry peers for the ICONS of Whisky Awards, designed to celebrate the people and places behind a brand’s whisky. The category nominations were for Visitor Attraction Manager (Amanda Beckwith, Guest Experience and Education Manager), Master Distillery/Master Blender (Ian Thomas, Distillery Director) and Craft Producer of the Year, for a second year in a row.

“Everything we do at the distillery is a team effort. I couldn’t be more excited about last night’s results – not only winning for the third year in a row but also for the individual nominations our team members received,” Virginia Distillery Company CEO Gareth Moore said. “Since we opened our doors, our sights have been set on the release of Courage & Conviction in 2020. We’re thrilled the early stocks have shown so well and that we have such a great team in place to make it happen.”

Port Cask Finished Virginia-Highland Whisky is available at the Virginia Distillery Company Visitors Center, in select markets throughout the U.S. and online through Passion Spirits. The Port Cask Finished Virginia-Highland Whisky is made from 100% malted barley. Virginia Distillery Company marries its American single malt whisky distilled and aged on-site in Virginia with single malt whisky from Scotland. The whisky is then cask-finished in port-style wine barrels sourced primarily from Virginia to add nuance and complexity.

The awards are a part of the World Drinks Awards program which launched in 2007 with the World Whiskies Awards and World Beer Awards. Judges for the awards included a panel composed of leading journalists, specialist drinks retailers, bartenders/mixologists and hoteliers. Each entry is tasted blind, and in addition to nose, palate and finish the judges look for balance, character, complexity, quality and functionality when judging. The ICONs awards were selected through voting by industry members.

Virginia Distillery Company continues to focus on innovation across all products and always maintains the highest quality in whichever form it takes. The profile of the Virginia-Highland Whisky series been bolstered by marrying in the distillery’s own Virginia whisky, which showcases early stocks of the base for Virginia Distillery Company’s signature American Single Malt product Courage & Conviction, which has been aging for over three years.

For more information, visit the distillery’s website.

About Virginia Distillery Company: 

Virginia Distillery Company whiskies yield a complex taste, due to the influence of Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains and maturation in former Bourbon, Sherry and Cuvée wine casks. The distillery is currently crafting its ultra-premium American Single Malt whisky, Courage & Conviction, at the distillery located in Lovingston, Virginia. The casks have been resting since November 2015 and the flagship product will be released in the Spring of 2020, with a pre-release product called “Prelude” coming out in the Fall of 2019. While Courage & Conviction ages, customers may enjoy the Virginia-Highland Whisky series.

MACALLAN RARE CASK BATCH NO.3
Available for pre-order

The third edition in the series of batched releases of The Macallan Rare Cask, this Speyside single malt is crafted from some of the rarest stocks in The Macallan Estate. Each limited batch is created with just 50 sherry seasoned European oak butts. Showcasing the depth and complexity of The Macallan, less than 1% of the stock maturing in The Macallan Estate is deemed worthy to be used in the creation of Rare Cask Batch No.3. This release is presented at 43% abv in a sculpted, heavy glass decanter.

£295 – Pre-order here

Pre-orders being dispatched W/C 11th

Learn more here

OCTOMORE 10 YEAR OLD DIALOGOS
Available for pre-order

This third limited edition 10-year-old from the Octomore range was distilled at Bruichladdich in 2008 using 100% Scottish grown Optic barley. Matured in a selection of bourbon, cognac, port and virgin oak casks, it has been bottled at 56.8% abv and is super-heavily peated at 167ppm. Only 12,000 bottles have been filled as part of the Dialogos series from the Islay distillery.

On the nose there is a rich chocolate and tobacco note, followed by vanilla custard and blueberries. The palate is warming and spicy with tobacco, old leather, icing sugar and a wonderfully earthy peat smoke with an oakyand coconut finish to balance the peat with a touch of vanilla re-emerging.

£160 – Pre-order here

Pre-orders being dispatched 11th February

Learn more here

Glenmorangie Allta
Now in stock

The 10th relese in Glenmorangie’s award-winning Private Edition series, Allta is the distillery’s first single malt to be created with yeast discovered growing wild on Glenmorangie’s own barley. Taking its name from the Gaelic for wild, Allta (pronounced ‘al-ta’) demonstrates the impact yeast has on the flavour of whisky and is bottled at a strength of 51.2% abv, free from chill-filtration.

£79.00 – Order Now

Learn more here

Glendronach 1993 25 year old single cask
Very limited stock remaining

This Highland single malt was distilled in February 1993 at GlenDronach and matured for a quarter of a century in a single Pedro Ximenez puncheon. Chosen exclusively for The Whisky Shop’s customers and bottled in May 2018, only 631 bottles have been produced, each one at a strength of 51% abv.

Described by Charles MacLean as a ‘superlative example of sherry cask maturation’, this impressive dram is an excellent example of The GlenDronach’s ‘big sherry’ style, bringing notes of Christmas cake, dried fruits and dark chocolate.

£210 – Order Now

Learn more here

VISIT THE WORLD’S GREATEST WHISKY BAR –
FOR TWO DAYS ONLY

Only two-and-a-half weeks to go until The Whisky Show: Old & Rare returns to Glasgow for one of the world’s biggest and best celebrations of old and rare whisky. Tickets are moving fast and masterclasses are beginning to sell out, so whether you’re an old hand or just dipping your toes into the magical world of old and rare spirits, don’t miss out on a true highlight of the whisky calendar.

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Laphroaig 18 Year Old

2000 vintage single cask bottled for the Old & Rare Platinum Selection.

Shop £275.45

Laphroaig 18 Year Old 2000 Islay single malt Scotch whisky. Single cask refill hogshead bottled October 2018 by Hunter Laing & Co. for the Old & Rare Platinum Collection. 209 bottles. Laphroaig Distillery was established in 1815 on the rocky south coast of the Isle of Islay off the west coast of Scotland. This malt whisky distillery continues to malt barley using its traditional malting floors and malt kiln. In 1994 the distiiley was awarded the Royal Warrant. The core range is quite extensive and supplemented by limited releases including a 21 year old was issued in 2015 to celebrate 21 years of Friends of Laphroaig. Independent bottlings are also available from Signatory, Cooper’s Choice and Hunter Laing. Laphroaig distillery also participates in Feis Ile, the Islay Festival of Malt and Music.

Mark’s Whisky Ramblings 237: Kavalan Solist Vinho Barrique

Mark Dermul, Belgian whiskyblogger, visited the Kavalan Distillery in Taiwan. They have a beautiful range of single casks bottlings in their so-called Solist range. This is one of them: Vinho Barrique, a wine cask. Mark is very fond of the bourbon and sherry matured Kavalan, but wine for him is often hit or miss. But in this case – cask W090220005 that was bottled in 2009 – Mark thinks it is an absolute stunner. The video was shot at the Kavalan Distillery!

https://youtu.be/JLTBrTGS-uc

Investing in whisky; the good, the bad, the ugly.

Like us, have you ever thought of getting a piece of the whisky action? We have had a go, it is bloody hard to get right, much of what we did was luck, or being in the right place at the right time. We have so many of our guests/clients on whisky tours, asking us about investment, we say be careful. At the end of the day why is whisky made? To drink of course. Looking at this from another angle, if you bought a super doper E Type Jag 20 years ago, what is it worth now? Whisky; how long do you need to hold onto it before profit creeps up? A cask; many years. A bottle; depends on the bottle and luck, or is it skill? There are so many websites offering you a service, some are really helpful and worthy, some I’m sorry to say are not, just look at this … Available online as rare; Balvenie  40 year old £3,500.00  – it is available at Glenfiddich and many other outlets, it is on Amazon; The Balvenie 40 Year Old Single Malt Whisky  FREE delivery,  how is this rare?  Another so called rare whisky website state: We specialise in excellence – we only stock rare malt whiskies. Every single bottle we present to you will be in some way significant: it may be a single cask edition or a one-time release bottling… but on this website it shows  Glenfarclas Distillery Exclusive 2004 Port Cask £199.00 (it sold at auction for 85 quid) and Aberlour A’Bunadh Batch 58 at £79.00 (same auction site 55 quid, sorry guys these are NOT rare or hard to find.  Rare; adjective: rare; comparative adjective: rarer; superlative adjective: rarest. synonyms: infrequent, few and far between, scarce, sparse, scattered, thin on the ground, golden, like gold dust, as scarce as hen’s teeth; (of a thing) not found in large numbers and so of interest or value.

Phrases such as; specialising in Old & Rare Whiskies. Using passion, knowledge, experience we specialise in sourcing the rarest of world whiskies, but if you look at that site (not mentioning this by the way) it offers Yamazaki 12 Year Old for £149.00, BUT it’s available at Amazon – Suntory Yamazaki Whisky 12 Year Old 70cl for only £113.00. This is not rare or hard to find. Do your own homework. People, you have to be so careful when buying “rare or hard to find whisky”, with some bottles going for obscene prices at auction, this is creating a panic in whisky buying, forcing prices up, when there is no need for this. You can buy a bottle of Macallan Double Cask 12 Year Old whisky for $71. You could also, if you have have $11,000 in your back pocket buy a bottle of Macallan Fine & Rare 1990. A 750ml single malt 60 year old Macallan 1926 whisky sold at Bonham’s in Edinburgh for a record price of £848,800 or just over $1.1 million. WHO IS BUYING these bottles? Are they ever going to drink them? How large is the market for whisky of this ilk? Be careful when venturing into the whisky investment world, there are pitfalls like every other investment. AN INVESTMENT IS ONLY PROFITABLE WHEN SOMEONE OFFERS TO BUY IT! Otherwise it’s a white elephant. We have dabbled in this on a very small scale, some are duds and we have learnt the hard way, others we have had good luck. With these good luck sales, it has enabled us to buy “drinking whisky” to enjoy, not for a dusty cupboard or safe vault.

A personal blether from Paul McLean. www.whiskytours.scot

Conor O’Driscoll Joins Heaven Hill Distillery as Fifth Master Distiller

Industry veteran brings extensive distilling, innovation expertise to largest family-owned and operated American Whiskey company

BARDSTOWN, Ky. – Heaven Hill Distillery is proud to announce Conor O’Driscoll as the fifth Master Distiller in its 84-year history. O’Driscoll’s wealth of experience in the industry and technical expertise gives him the ability to focus on quality, authenticity and innovation, all hallmarks of the Heaven Hill distilling legacy.

“Conor is among the finest young distillers in our business and we could not be more thrilled to have him at the forefront of distilling for our historic portfolio,” said Max L. Shapira, President, Heaven Hill Brands. “In his 15 years in the industry, he’s played a key role in growing production and innovation, with an expectation of quality and a respect for craftsmanship. In that regard, he is a perfect fit for us.”

In 2004, O’Driscoll started his journey in whiskey as Operations Manager for the Brown-Forman Distillery in Shively. After five years, O’Driscoll moved to oversee operations at the Woodford Reserve Distillery. Shortly thereafter, he added warehousing and processing responsibilities beginning a robust warehouse expansion program. In 2017, O’Driscoll left Woodford Reserve to lead the operations efforts at Angel’s Envy Distillery in Louisville.

“I’m very proud to be a part of Heaven Hill’s storied whiskey legacy,” said O’Driscoll. “The trust of the Shapira family is humbling. And I am excited and honored to carry on the traditions of the Master Distillers that helped establish Heaven Hill’s place in the industry.  I am especially honored to carry on the legacy of Parker Beam, whose expectations for quality and consistency live on today.”

As Master Distiller, O’Driscoll will oversee historic brands reflective of the pioneers, places and principles of American Whiskey. Heaven Hill Distillery has long preserved the heritage of Evan Williams, Elijah Craig and John E. Fitzgerald Larceny among its flagship brands while recognizing the whiskey traditions of Pikesville, Maryland, Rittenhouse Square, Pennsylvania and the Bernheim Distillery in Louisville, Kentucky which date back to the mid-18th century. Beyond that, it is Heaven Hill’s steadfast commitment to the principles of quality, authenticity and innovation that make it among the global leaders in whiskey production.

O’Driscoll will immediately begin leading the distilling and warehousing teams at the Bernheim Distillery in Louisville.  Recent renovations at that facility, including a new still, earned it the designation of the largest single-site Bourbon distillery.

A native of Dublin, Ireland, O’Driscoll moved to the United States in 1989 after completing his degree in Chemical Engineering at University College Dublin. His early experiences with Pfizer and Aker Kvaerner paved the way for his move to whiskey distilling where he’s pursued his passion ever since. He resides in Louisville with his wife and family.

ABOUT HEAVEN HILL DISTILLERY: Founded in Kentucky by the Shapira family in 1935, Heaven Hill Distillery continues its legacy as one of the foremost American Whiskey producers. Heaven Hill has cultivated the traditions and history of America’s Native Spirit with its fierce independence, passionate family ownership, dedication to quality, and thoughtful innovation. Today, Heaven Hill Distillery maintains over 1.5 million barrels aging in 57 warehouses throughout Nelson and Jefferson Counties. It is home to an award-winning collection of American Whiskeys including Elijah Craig Bourbon, Larceny Bourbon, Evan Williams Bourbon, Pikesville Rye Whiskey, Rittenhouse Rye Whisky and Parker’s Heritage Collection. Heaven Hill Distillery currently holds the title of 2018 San Francisco Spirits Best Bourbon, 2017 Whisky Advocate Whisky of the Year, and previously held the titles of 2016 Whisky Magazine Distillery of the Year, 2016 Whisky Advocate American Whiskey of the Year and 2016 Rye Whiskey of the Year from “Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible.” For more information, please visit www.heavenhilldistillery.com.

Heaven Hill reminds you to “Think Wisely. Drink Wisely.”