Triple win at the Ultimate Spirits Challenge 2020

We’re proud to announce that all three of the Wemyss Malts core range of blended malts have all scored highly at this year’s Ultimate Spirits Challenge!

With a score of 96 points, Peat Chimney was named the best Scotch Blended Malt at this year’s awards, winning a Chairman’s Trophy and named as one of the top 100 spirits in this year’s competition.

The Hive and Spice King were also Highly Recommended finalists in the category, receiving scores of 92 and 93 points.

We hope you’ll join us in raising a dram and toasting to this fantastic win. Slàinte!

SHOP BLENDED MALTS

Laphroaig 18 Year Old

Single cask 2001 vintage bottled at 50%. Briney, ashy, smokey and salty. Laphroaig 18 Year Old 2001 vintage Islay single malt Scotch whisky. Single refill butt #15760 cask bottled March 2019 by Hunter Laing & Co. for the Old Malt Cask series. 300 bottles. Nose: Ash, peat, and brine. Palate: Peat, bonfire smoke, and salt. Finish: Long, with lingering smoke and ash.

LAPHROAIG SINGLE MALT WHISKY

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.

Shop >> Laphroaig 18 Year Old 2001

WIN: an exclusive tasting with The Macallan

Buy any 70cl bottle from The Macallan Double Cask range from our online shop before Sunday 30th August to be in with a chance of joining an exclusive online tasting with David Sinclair, Brand Ambassador for The Macallan.

All winning entrants will be selected at random after the competition’s end this Sunday. Winners will then be contacted and invited to join David Sinclair via a Zoom link for a private group tasting on Monday 7th September between 7:30pm and 8:30pm.

You only have one week to enter, so what are you waiting for? On your marks, get set…

Shop The Macallan Double Cask range to win ›

ralfy review 840 – Laphroaig 10yo CS@ 60%vol

PADDY IRISH WHISKEY NAMED BEST BLENDED WHISKEY

Paddy Irish Whiskey Wins Two Medals at 2020 International Whisky Competition

LOUISVILLE, KY (Aug. 12, 2020) – Paddy Irish Whiskey placed in two categories at the 2020 International Whisky Competition, earning a gold medal and was named the Best Blended Irish Whiskey. The whiskey also earned a silver medal and second place for the Best Irish Whiskey at the IWC.

Founded by Paddy Flaherty in 1779, the whiskey is triple-distilled from the finest barley and water from County Cork’s Irish countryside. Paddy’s matures in three types of oak casks. Hints of spice, honey and vanilla along with a gently fading sweet finish denotes a bottle of Paddy Irish Whiskey.

“We are very honored to receive the title of Best Blended Whiskey,” Marketing Director Tiffany Wilburn said. “Both of these awards are testaments to the efforts by our partners at Cork Distilleries.”

The International Whisky Competition launched in 2010 with a vision of creating a true competition, offering just three medals per category, like the Olympics. The IWC brings the best whiskies from around the world to be tasted and rated by a professional tasting panel. Complete results for the 2020 International Whisky Competition can be found at https://www.whiskycompetition.com/2020-results.

For more information about Paddy’s Irish Whiskey please visit https://www.paddywhiskey.com/.

About Sazerac

Sazerac is one of America’s oldest family owned, privately held distillers with operations in the United States in Louisiana, Kentucky, Indiana, Virginia, Tennessee, Maine, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Maryland, California, and global operations in the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, India, Australia and Canada. For more information on Sazerac, please visit www.sazerac.com.

A collection containing several of the most sought after single malts whiskies has gone up for grabs for £2 entry on the competition site Raffall.com

One lucky winner will take home the entire collection for a small entry fee. The competition is global and open to anyone over the age of 18 to enter.

A rare opportunity to aquire this stunning whisky collection for only £2. This wonderful collection features rare single malts from prestigious distilleries including The Macallan, Springbank and Glendronach, to also include one CASK of GlenAllachie 5 YO whisky yielding 263 bottles at 70cl.

The highlight of my collection is The Macallan 1946 52 YO Select Reserve which is acclaimed to be ‘one of the greatest Macallan whiskies ever released’. Supported by a stunning line-up including a Macallan 30 Year Old Sherry Oak (Blue Label), a 1959 Macallan 80 ̊ Proof and various Vintage Glendronach’s including the highly regarded 1978 single cask #1067 (bottle number 1) and the 1968 25 YO, All Nippon Airways Exclusive.

If you love Springbank Distillery then you’ll be pleased to have the opportunity to own a super rare set of private, Christmas bottling’s for staff, directors and shareholders of the distillery. This collection consists of twelve years’ worth of extremely difficult to procure bottlings that rarely come onto the secondary market and surge in value year upon year.

After completing the UK’s first ever successful £1 house and car competition which was recently won by a family from Leeds and featured in most of the National Press, we have decided to use this opportunity to offer our collection to one lucky winner prior to moving to Australia.

Whether you wish to drink them, keep them for investment purposes or sell them, this collection will surely put you on track to achieving ‘whisky envy’ amongst your friends and family. For only £2 entry, you could be the proud new owner.

Rules for entering this competition: This is a global competition; entrants must be over the age of 18 to enter the draw. Once the competition closes, the winner will be contacted to arrange delivery of your prize. We aim to ship anywhere in the world and have included local duties / import taxes within the competition fund, the winner shall not be responsible for any fees. Please note, should your local State or Country not permit the shipment of alcohol then the prize will be securely stored in Scotland (UK) awaiting your collection at no charge. The competition will close early once all ticket sales have been reached and the winner announced before the closing date in this instance.

Sotheby’s to Hold its Largest Online Spirits Sale

Over 250 Lots, with Whiskies from Scotland, Japan and India

First Offering at Auction of Set #1 of the First Release of

The Prima & Ultima Collection

The New Series of Single Vintage Malt Scotch Whiskies

*Proceeds from the Sale To be Donated to Diageo’s Charity Partner WaterAid*

 Open for Bidding from 26 August to 1 September

The Macallan Fine & Rare Collection

“We are thrilled to present our second spirits auction of the month and our largest online auction, with over 250 lots. The quality and variety of bottles offered in this sale are a testament both to the strength of the current whisky market and of our success in developing our online auction format throughout 2020.”

Jonny Fowle, Sotheby’s Spirits Specialist

LONDON, 25 August 2020 – From The Macallan’s most sought after releases to an array of rare Italian import Scotch, including the highly acclaimed Samaroli Laphroaig 1970, and the first full set of the new Prima & Ultima Collection, Sotheby’s online Distilled sale features some of the very rarest whiskies to be offered at auction. Comprising 267 lots with a combined pre-sale estimate in excess of £850,000, the auction will open for bidding at 2pm BST on 26 August and run until 1 September. 

MACALLAN 

“At Sotheby’s we have enjoyed a great relationship with The Macallan Fine & Rare series, setting the record for the highest value ever achieved for a bottle of whisky at auction with the Macallan Fine & Rare 1926.”

Jonny Fowle 

The sale includes 94 Macallan lots, with a combined pre-sale estimate of £619,460 – 840,450, led by The Macallan Fine & Rare Collection featuring the most iconic whiskies from The Macallan distillery. The collection includes vintages spanning 1940 to 1976, with estimates ranging from £10,000-14,000 to £35,000-48,000 per bottle. In addition, a selection of the 5cl press release samples from the original launch of the Fine & Rare Collection, which were sent out to journalists together with the press release, are estimated at £800-1,200 each.

The Macallan Fine and Rare 56 Year Old 51.5% 1945, est. £35,000-48,000

This Macallan Fine and Rare 56 Year Old is the second oldest age statement in the Fine & Rare Collection after the record-breaking 60 year old 1926. Macallan was one of the only distilleries to operate during World War II. It was forced to use local peat in their production, due to the rationing of commercial coal use. As a result, this distillate represents a very different character to modern Macallan, and with only 152 bottles of this whisky known to exist, this sale presents an exceptionally rare opportunity to acquire such a highly prized bottle.

PRIMA & ULTIMA

As well as the Macallan Fine & Rare set, this Distilled sale also marks a momentous occasion in the world of collectable whisky, by featuring Set #1 of the first release of The Prima & Ultima Collection, following the inaugural launch of a new series of single vintage malt whiskies that has only just been announced by distillery owner Diageo. With purchase only  through appointed agents, and with pre-order registrations looking to far outstrip the available 238 sets, Sotheby’s sale of set #1 – signed by Dr Jim Beveridge OBE, one of the world’s most respected whisky makers – is the first opportunity to acquire this collection at auction (est. £16,000-28,000). The winning bidder will also secure an exclusive whisky tasting experience with Dr Jim  Beveridge.

The sale marks Sotheby’s first ever collaboration with Diageo for charity, and proceeds will be donated to Diageo’s charity partner WaterAid.

Each rare Single Malt Scotch Whisky in the collection is “the first and the last” of its kind, drawn from a small number of casks from celebrated distilleries including Port Ellen, Cragganmore, Mortlach, Singleton of Dufftown, Lagavulin, Caol Ila, Talisker and Clynelish. These eight bottles are the first in an on-going series of single vintage malts, with further editions of Prima & Ultima to be made available in the coming years.

INDEPENDENT BOTTLES

The sale is distinguished by a number of independent bottlings, including three bottles of Laphroaig Samaroli 16 Year Old 1970 (est. £9,000-13,000). The whisky was scored 95 points by Serge Valentin, a well-known name on the whisky scene, one of the highest ratings he has ever given.

Emmanuel Dron, Sotheby’s Whisky Consultant, owner of The Auld Alliance whisky bar and author of Collecting Scotch Whisky, commented: “Silvano Samaroli’s bottles are among the most legendary ever produced and this 1970 Laphroaig is undoubtedly my number 1 whisky of all time. It is so rare to see three bottles of this whisky in a single auction”.

Two exquisite releases from Gordon & MacPhail comprise Glen Grant Gordon & MacPhail 62 Year Old Mr. George Centenary Edition 1956 (est. £5,500-7,500, illustrated far left), one of the oldest Glen Grant whiskies ever released, and Longmorn Gordon & MacPhail 53 Year Old Private Collection 1966 (est. £4,300-5,500, illustrated left).

BEAUTIFUL JAPANESE WHISKIES

The sale features an exceptional selection of Japanese whiskies, not least 28 Karuizawa lots with a combined pre-sale estimate of £79,300 – 104,100, made up of Single Cask bottlings and vattings from Japan’s most popular closed distillery. Earlier this year in London, Sotheby’s set the record for the most valuable Japanese Whisky ever sold when a bottle of Karuizawa 1960 achieved £363,000.

Stand-out highlights include Karuizawa Sapphire Geisha 36 Year Old Cask #5077 (est. £11,000-15,000, illustrated left) and The Yamazaki LMDW Private Cask #3T70070 (est. £7,000-9,000, illustrated right).

FURTHER HIGHLIGHTS

Eleven Port Ellen lots, with a combined pre-sale estimate of £28,950 – 39,250, led by Port Ellen 1979 40 Year Old Casks Of Distinction #1883 (est. £20,000-26,000, illustrated far left).

The Original Balvenie “Tun 1401” – The Balvenie Tun 1401 Batch #1 (est. £4,000-6,000, illustrated left).

SMWS 26 Malts Collection (est. £4,500-6,000)

Notes 

Auction World Record Prices for Spirits 

After launching our Spirits business last year this segment of the market saw the fastest growth with three new auction world record prices.

AUCTION WORLD RECORD PRICE FOR A BOTTLE OF JAPANESE WHISKY

London, March 2020

Karuizawa 52 Year Old Zodiac Rat Cask #5627 1960, $435,273

AUCTION WORLD RECORD PRICE FOR ANY BOTTLE OF THE DALMORE

London, May 2020

Two bottles of The Dalmore 62 Year Old, $324,445 (per bottle)

AUCTION WORLD RECORD PRICE FOR A BOTTLE OF COGNAC

London, May 2020

The Gautier Cognac 1762, $144,525

Sotheby’s holds producer records for: Bowmore, Springbank, Brora, Samaroli and Glenfiddich.

SOTHEBY’S ALSO HOLDS THE AUCTION RECORD FOR THE WORLD’S MOST EXPENSIVE BOTTLE OF WINE OR SPIRIT

London, October 2019

The Macallan Fine & Rare 60-Year-Old 1926, $1.9 million

CASK ISLAY – CASK STRENGTH

1st FILL BOURBON EDITION
SINGLE MALT SCOTCH WHISKY

This limited edition of our Cask Islay is fully matured in 1st-fill Kentucky bourbon barrels and bottled at cask strength, to preserve the rich, full-bodied mouthfeel and intense, rounded flavours.

TASTING NOTES

Colour: Dusky lemon.
Nose: Salted peanut, crab skewer, torched meringue and a bracing Islay breeze.
Palate: Smoked almond brittle, pink grapefruit and sweet maple.
Finish: Seared prawn and subtle balsamic cut effortlessly through the smoke.

Non-chill filtered & Natural Colour. Available in 700ml. Cask strength 58.6% Alc./Vol.

BUY NOW

FIND A STOCKISTVIEW THE FULL RANGE

Isle of Arran Sherry Cask

Bottled at a deliciously high 55.8% abv this takes Arran spirit and combines perfectly with the influence of Jerez sherry casks. Arran Distillery was commissioned by the Isle of Arran Distillers in 1995 and lies amid stunning scenery just to the south of Lochranza on the northern tip of the Isle of Arran. This distillery has four stills, dunnage warehouses, a visitor centre offering distillery tours and a distillery café. Arran distills both un-peated and peated malt spirit and matures its whisky in sherry, bourbon, port and wine casks in order to produce an ever-evolving and expanding range of whiskies including Arran single malts such as Arran Machrie Moor and The Illicit Stills, and Arran blended scotch.

Nose: Toffee, sweet spice and fruit.

Palate: Ripe fig and cherries.

Finish: Dark chocolate, Mandarins, Ripe figs.

Shop >> Arran Sherry Cask – The Bodega

https://youtu.be/NJmrsDXLv98

Waterford Bannow Island 1.1

A different cask structure:
– 35% 1st fill American Oak
– 20% Virgin Oak
– 25% Premium French Oak
– 20% Deux Natural (Oloroso)

When I first opened this, it didn’t hit me as quickly as Ballykilcavan. This was more subtle, not as directly sweet and that seemed to throw me off. However, after being open for a while, it almost has a style of flavour that reaches out of whisky and almost into Champagne territory.

The terroir debate still rages amongst drinkers, reviewers and creators – I’m still torn. Seeing the distillery will no doubt sway me towards the idea, distilleries are always a magical way to fall in love with a companies processes. However, may basic knowledge of distillation makes me believe that those subtle and very delicate barley styles will be ultimately lost in the very intense environment of whisky distillation.

I may be torn, how about all of you?