Smokehead Sherry Bomb
Smokehead’s classic and hugely popular Peated Islay Malt has been given a phenomenol twist with this bold Oloroso Sherry Cask matured release. £64.99
Kilchoman STR Release
Standing for Shaving, Toasting and Re-Charring, a method pioneered by the late Jim Swan, the process invokes a unique and complex flavour to the Red Wine Casks. £82.50
If No Name was Peat as Thrash Metal, No Name No.2 is the Progressive Genre: Still Potent, yet cerebral too.
Knob Creek K&L Exclusive Single Barrel #7965B (Distilled 9/24/12, Warehouse W-P, Floor F-02, Rick R-025) Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey (750ml) $49.99 View
Mark’s Whisky Ramblings 256: Kavalan Distillery Reserve Peaty Cask
Mark Dermul, Belgian whisky blogger, tries a Kavalan distillery exclusive. One of the nicest souvenirs one can bring from a distillery visit is without a doubt a bottle that you can only buy there. So Mark brought himself Distillery Reserve from Kavalan. They come in 300ml bottles from different cask types. When he was there in January, they had a rum cask and a peaty cask. He chose the Peaty Cask. Funny detail: Mark has bottle 002 of 301. Bottle 001 was not available as it went into the distillery archive.
Caskshare – Crowdfunding for Whisky Casks
Edinburgh based whisky-technology company Uisge Tech Ltd – trading as Craft Whisky Club launches an industry-first platform to transform the way consumers buy single cask whisky.
Caskshare allows whisky lovers to reserve ‘shares’ of whisky casks from their favourite distilleries, choosing between a wide variety of wood types and ages as the whisky matures. Single cask bottles will then be sent directly to buyers upon maturation, or even traded between them on this new leading-edge technology platform.
Described as ‘crowdfunding for whisky’, the aim of Caskshare is to allow whisky-lovers the chance to experience different cask variations by lowering the financial barrier to cask-ownership.
Customers pre-order cask ‘shares’ from their distillery of choice via the Caskshare online platform. Cask ownership stays with the distillery where the spirit matures into whisky and until the ageing process is complete. Once ready for bottling, whisky allocations are bottled and distributed to ‘shareholders’.
The first casks to be featured on the Caskshare platform are from the trailblazing Raasay Distillery. The initial offering includes ex-Bourbon, Chinquapin virgin oak, and Bordeaux red-wine wine casks, giving customers the opportunity to experiment with several different finishes. There is peated and unpeated spirit on offer, with the first whisky cask listed on www.caskshare.io being bottled in 2022.
Raasay Distillery Co-founder Alasdair Day believes Caskshare offers distilleries a new way to connect with potential customers:
“We believe this is an industry-first that offers the opportunity to share a cask with others and allows us to share the story of our Raasay spirit. Caskshare offers real choice, the opportunity to select bottles from our different oak and cask types filled with our unpeated and peated spirit matured for three to twelve years.”
Uisge Tech/Craft Whisky Club co-founder David Nicol created Caskshare with the aim of making single cask whisky more accessible to whisky fans across the globe.
“Caskshare offers whisky fans a way to get closer to their favourite distilleries and wood types. Reserving shares of a cask by the bottle allows consumers to discover and experience all of the cask expressions their favourite distilleries have to offer. What’s more, you don’t need to part with the vast sums of money required to purchase a full cask.”
Caskshare has attracted attention from several prominent whisky producers, with a number of new distilleries set to offer casks in the coming months. Craft Whisky Club will be featuring whisky from Scotland and beyond on the Caskshare platform, allowing customers to sample whiskies of different ages and finishes from the world’s old and new whisky regions.
To find out more about Caskshare
http://www.caskshare.io
https://craftwhiskyclub.com/caskshare
MALT STOCK 2019
LESS = MORE!
Sometimes we like to mash things up a bit…. we’ll definitely do so this year! After successfully experimenting the last two years, getting a great amount of positive feedback, we are going to change our masterclass program this year. We’ll make it more relaxed. Guests and speakers really loved the concept of short tastings. And we loved them as well! So we’ll do a whole lot more of those this year.
Annette, Bob, Klaas, Stan, Teun
On our relaxed Saturday we will be running 20 minutes tastings, starting every 20 minutes, throughout the afternoon. In 3 different locations. These will be called “Drinks with…”
From now on you can choose which tastings you would like to attend. When you want, what you want. Sounds relaxed, doesn’t it?
On the Friday we will be doing two different (and special) masterclasses. Each of them we’ll do twice. Every Maltstock guest will get to attend one of the two. More info on these masterclasses and how to let us know which one you would like to attend will follow soon.
So on Friday every guest will get to attend one masterclass and on Saturday everyone has free choice!
We firmly believe this will make everything even more relaxed! Over the past 10 years we’ve had many amazing masterclasses. Stuff you won’t find on any other whisky festival. All very relaxed. But how many masterclasses have you been too (not just at Maltstock)? There are so many these days… We can and like to do things slightly different. Offering you something relaxed and different.
Besides, you were never really sure which masterclasses you were going to go to at Maltstock. With the new set-up you can go to whichever tasting whenever you want. When you are sitting in the Whisky-Online Auctions Square enjoying a dram in the sunshine, meeting old and new friends, you don’t have to leave a nice conversation just because your assigned masterclass is about the start. Relax. Stay.
Last but not least,tastings are much more intimate and interactive with just a small group. It will also definitely be different. The host can’t simply do his “regular chat”. They will have to be a lot more creative (and they’re looking forward to it!). Which will definitely add to the experience!
And with this new set-up. with around 30 sessions of “Drinks with…” and the masterclasses on Friday we’ll have almost double the number of seats available.
We’re very excited about this, our speakers are very excited, and we hope you’re all very excited as well. That would make us very relaxed.
The exact program will be on our website soon. We currently still have some tickets available for Maltstock, so don’t miss out and get relaxed now!
Make sure you don’t miss out on what promises to be a very special edition of Maltstock! We’ll get the full program online soon, but what a line-up it is, wow!!
So if you haven’t done so already, get relaxed and get your Maltstock ticket here
Inspired by the tales of ‘character, endeavour and craft’ of The Balvenie Distillery, pre-order the brand new Stories Series at The Whisky Shop.
Introducing 3 new expressions, the new Balvenie Stories Series tells the tales of the distillery both through the whisky itself and also on the packaging of each expression.
All three bottles in the series are available to pre-order below.
Balvenie
The Sweet Toast of American Oak
12 Year Old
Balvenie
A Day of Dark Barley
26 Year Old
Colour: dark gold.
Aroma : delicate wisps of peat smoke transforms aromas of honey cured meats and vanilla pods. Notes of fruitcake laden with nuts, raisins, and plump sultanas develop. A hint of menthol runs throughout. Undertones of zesty citrus and aromatic lemongrass linger.
Taste: a refined single malt. Subtle yet warming spice opens Into raspberry, cranberry, and sweet baked apple flavours. Thick cut seville orange marmalade and gentle sherry influences develop with time. Mature oak notes add a slightly drying character.
Finish: a lingering finish of smouldering bonfire embers entwined with lemon zest and charred oak.
Friday, June 14th 5-7PM:
Local Whiskey:
Hotaling Spirit Co
Formerly known as Anchor Distilling Company, our neighbors on Potrero Hill have created numerous award-winning whiskeys and spirits, including America’s first post-prohibition craft whiskey. This expert presented whiskey tasting features J.H Cutter and Old Potrero, two award-winning whiskies inspired by San Francisco’s centuries-old whiskey traditions.
