This week marks the debut of the first ever expression of Cotswolds Single Malt Whisky fully matured in Calvados casks which were hand-picked by our founder Dan and head of production Nick in Normandy back in September 2016.
Read about Dan and Nick’s road trip back then and the beautiful whisky that has been released six years later as our latest ‘fill your own bottle’, available exclusively at the distillery.
NORDIC CASKS #2 TASTING SET
A great opportunity to participate in a virtual live tasting with Berry Bros & Rudd on 15th September 2022 at 7pm GMT. Reserve Whisky Manager, Jonny McMillan will be joined by key representatives from each of the Nordic distilleries to delve into the exciting single malt selection from the Nordic region.
This is a superb opportunity to try these great whiskies before they’ve been released in full. 70cl bottles will be available to buy from the 15th September.
These great drams should not be missed, head over to the site to see what exciting samples you’ll receive within this superb tasting set!
As ever, if you have any questions, please just get in touch.
Slàinte Mhath
We are saddened at the passing of Queen Elizabeth II.
Over the course of her long life and her unprecedented 70 years on the throne, Queen Elizabeth’s service and dedication was unparalleled and inspiring.
Our thoughts and condolences are with King Charles and the Royal Family during this time.
Every year – the most updated whisky book on the market!
Malt Whisky Yearbook 2023 will be published 1st October
This is the 18th edition of a book that whisky enthusiasts look forward to every autumn.
The main part of the book (200 pages) covers no less than 774 malt whisky distilleries around the world with all the facts updated New exciting articles by distinguished writers such as Gavin D Smith, Ian Wisniewski, Johanne McInnis, Kristiane Sherry and Neil Ridley.
More than 200 tasting notes, including independent bottlings
New feature! Discover the Ghost Distilleries – gone but not forgotten
A listing of more than 150 of the world´s greatest whisky shops
The Whisky Year That Was – the most comprehensive summary you´ll find of the news and trends in the industry
An entire chapter about the world´s leading independent bottlers
All the latest info on bottlings and web sites as well as the latest statistics and figures
More than 500 colour photos
The Malt Whisky Yearbook is the brainchild of editor Ingvar Ronde and was first published in autumn 2005. Since then a new and completely revised edition has been published yearly. What started out as a go-to book for whisky enthusiasts wanting to keep abreast of the ever-changing malt whisky world, soon became a tool also for the whisky industry. Many producers now buy it for their staff (brand ambassadors, tour guides, sales people etc.) to keep them informed about the latest developments.
The Malt Whisky Yearbook 2023 is sold through www.maltwhiskyyearbook.com for £15.95 plus shipping. Available for preorder now with shipping starting 1st October. Ingvar Ronde – Editor Malt Whisky Yearbook and Keeper of the Quaich. ingvar.ronde@magdig.com
View The Malt Whisky Yearbook 2023 preview video HERE
The Royal Ranthambore Whisky
One of the largest distilleries in India, Radico Khaitan (NSE: RADICO.NS) has recently launched The Royal Ranthambore Whisky in May 2022 and is in distribution across the U.S. The product has earned the Spiritz Achiever’s Award 2021 for Product Debut of the Year Award as well as the Grand Gold Quality Award from Monde Selection.
The Royal Ranthambore whisky consists of blended malt scotches from different geographical regions of Scotland. The whisky is made with rare scotch grains from 100% malted barley, and was carefully blended with oak infused Indian Grain Neutral Spirit.
The history of Radico Khaitan (75+ years) as it remains one of the largest, oldest, and top distilleries in India to date. The outlook on the U.S. adult beverage industry and how it has changed over the years, focusing on product development and consumer trends. The line of Radico luxury products including the newest heritage whisky collection – the Royal Ranthambore.
Mr. Sanjeev Banga
Is the President of Radico Khaitan’s International Business sector, spearheading the global reach since 2008. Radico brands are available in over 85 countries. He has been instrumental in the growth and premiumization journey of the Company by creating luxury brands like Rampur Indian Single Malt.
About Radico Khaitan Limited
Radico Khaitan Limited (RKL) is one of the oldest and the largest manufacturers of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) in India. With over 75 years of experience in spirits making, Radico Khaitan has evolved from being just a distiller of spirits for others to a leading IMFL company with a highly reputable brand portfolio. One of the country’s most prestigious and valuable companies with a strong brand portfolio, Radico Khaitan Limited is also one of the largest providers of branded IMFL to the Canteen Stores Department (“CSD”), which has significant business barriers to entry. The company has been successfully building its brand equity in international markets and currently exports its products to over 85 countries.
The Company currently has two distilleries- Rampur Distillery in Rampur (Uttar Pradesh) and Radico NV Distilleries Maharashtra Limited, a joint venture with RNV in Aurangabad (Maharashtra). The company has a total capacity of over 157 million litres and operates 28 bottling units, spread across the country.
All the leading publications including The Economic Times, Business Today Magazine, The Financial Express, Business Standard, Forbes and Fortune listed Radico Khaitan Limited among the top 500 in the list of India’s most valuable companies. In one of the significant achievements in 2020, when the entire industry and the economy were trying to overcome numerous challenges, Radico Khaitan managed to become a Fortune 500 company as well.
#RoyalRathamboreWhisky
Our auction is well and truly underway and we have witnessed a flurry of bidding so far on our lots this month. In case you missed them here are a few more highlights from this month’s selection.
The Macallan 1950 Tales of the Macallan Volume 1 Lalique Decanter
Macallan have really outdone themselves with this fantastic expression distilled way back in 1950. The Macallan 1950 Tales of the Macallan Volume 1 is presented in a beautiful Lalique decanter which is itself housed in a mightily impressive almanac. If this is only the first release in the Tales of the Macallan series we can’t wait to see what the next installment brings.
Karuizawa 35 Year Old Sherry Cask #7417
A very old bottling from the now silent Japanese heavyweight, Karuizawa. This Karuizawa 35 Year Old Sherry Cask #7417 has spent three and a half long decades maturing in a sherry butt which has imparted a rich dark colour and no doubt bags of flavour too. Not one we see too often so make sure you take this chance to add this incredibly rare bottle to your collection.
Glenfarclas Family Cask 1954 – 2003 Trunk – 50 x 20cl
Finally, this Glenfarclas Family Cask 1954 – 2003 Trunk 50 x 20cl is a truly special lot. Inside this stylish leather and wood trunk rests a marvelous collection of fifty 20cl Glenfarclas Family Cask bottles including a vintage from every year spanning 1954 to 2003. Also housed in the trunk are a selection of elegant Glencairn crystal pieces: four tasting glasses, four tumblers, and a water jug. To complete the extraordinary ensemble, there are four slate coasters and three leather-bound notebooks. A fantastic time capsule of Glenfarclas distilling this imposing selection constitutes a complete collection in and of itself.With the auction drawing to a close on Sunday night now is the time to place your bids, and remember with over 7000 bottles in the auction this month if these fantastic highlights don’t grab you there will definitely be something that will.
Waterford’s own Ian O’Brien, who very graciously presented this great Irish whisky a couple of times now for our guests, will be present this year too! Your chance to meet with this great character, ask all about Waterford and share a relaxed dram! There are still tickets available for those who aren’t coming yet! www.maltstock.com/shop
We think Waterford Distillery is a specially relaxed distillery! Young at heart, combining old and new. Find out more below about what makes this whisky special and experience this during the Masterclass or Drink with… Ian session!
Bob, Klaas, Stan & Teun
Ian O’Brien
From barley, of course. From its ingredient. Otherwise why drink whisky over, say, rum, from sugar cane, Cognac, from grapes, Calvados, from apples?
It is barley which imbues single malt with its singular complexity — with, astonishingly, over 2,000 individual flavour compounds.
But we believe there is more to it than that. There has to be, otherwise whisky would be easy. So barley — sure — but where was that barley grown? How was that barley grown? Is it a modern variety, or a more flavourful, if challenging to grow, heritage variety?
Then there is the matter of the care with which one’s ingredient is looked after through the malthouse and distillery. Not just in the eye-catching, brochure-friendly gleaming copper stills and cool, dusky cask warehouses, but in the more-important stages, when the flavours of one’s barley is truly unlocked. The milling and mashing to create one’s wort. Most importantly of all, the fermentation, where one’s palette of flavours is established.
We are on a quest to unearth whisky’s most natural flavours. We are curious drinkers at heart; curious about every stage of whisky’s journey from barleyfield to bottle; curious to discover how much more flavour can be coaxed at each individual step.
Above all, we are interested in sharing our findings with other curious drinkers. Traceability. Transparency. Everything laid open for discussion and discovery. Which is why you’re reading this. A true whisky nerd’s guide to natural flavour.
For a long time, until it was conclusively proven, there were many who believed that terroir — the three dimensional effect of land, soil and microclimate, so fundamental to the world’s great wines — could not apply to whisky.
But barley is a plant, like any other. Nourished by the soils it grows in, the aspect of its land, the weather patterns to which it is subject. And its flavours deviate from those of the same barley planted elsewhere accordingly.
These differences are not subtle. One simply has to look at photographs taken in the extreme coastal barleyfields of Hook Head, and the lush, raised, inland barleyfields of Ballymorgan — photographs taken on the same day — to appreciate just how different barley, even the same variety of barley, planted in the same week and in the same county, can be.
Which is why we choose to work with 107 individual Irish Single Farms, separately harvesting, storing, malting, fermenting, distilling and maturing their barley. Effectively creating 107 individual Waterford Single Malt Whiskies.
Ireland is perfectly suited to growing barley, and we believe the barley grown in south-east Ireland is the best in the world. Which is why we choose to distil here — it makes sense — go where the best ingredients are. We want total provenance and traceability; our bottles read ‘Irish Single Malt Whisky’ and we believe that our barley should be Irish, not imported in bulk from abroad in a bad harvest.
But we have found that the character of barley can be further ameliorated by how it is grown. Which is why we have cultivated our Arcadian Barley series, revelling in the intensity to be found when returning to the old ways.
Organic farming. Eschewing liquid fertilisers, chemical treatments? Sure — we take all we can get. In fact we distil more Organic whisky than anyone else on the planet. Biodynamics, that iconoclastic series of esoteric preparations now championed by the world’s greatest winemakers? Yes, that too. All of Ireland’s biodynamic barley goes through our stills … and our blind sensory analysis has proven it to be more intense in flavour than conventionally-grown.
In the words of our Terroir Specialist, Angelita: “Biodynamic spirit seems to have much more depth of flavour going on – that’s what everyone keeps saying on the panel. There’s a lot of complexity. It’s almost like the attributes are speaking much louder. So a conventional farm on the very same soil, on the range of zero to fifteen on our sensory analysis scale, might have a score of seven for floral notes, maybe organic will fetch a nine, but the biodynamic would get an eleven. So it seems to be a stronger note than in the conventional.”
As for Heritage varieties, grains lost to time and the Irish landscape, we’ve worked with the Irish Department of Agriculture, Food & the Marine to revive several of them. Beginning life as mere 50 gram packets in a seed bank, we’ve upscaled them to enough to sow a farm with, and distil at a commercial level. Lost flavours, born again. A taste of real rarity.
Every farm, every harvest, sends its barley to the purpose-built, state-of-the-art facility that we call the Cathedral of Barley. Our terroir enabler. It is a huge logistical undertaking. 36 bays, each holding 100 tonnes of green barley. Without the Cathedral we couldn’t possibly treat every farm separately. Terroir and traceability would be gone.
Once malted to precise, individual specifications, the barley arrives at our distillery, The Facilitator, to be processed through our Technological Trinity, unique in the distilling world. The hydromill, for anaerobic, underwater milling, preventing oxidation of the grist, preserving the purity of the barley’s flavour. The incremental mash converter, for optimised enzyme activity; precision of flavour in the conversion of starch to sugar. Finally the mash filter system; 54 in-line pneumatic presses which remove draff entirely, allowing the purest, clearest wort — total terroir extraction.
Fermentation — now this is where the creation of real intensity of flavour comes in. Rather than a rushed, get-the-job-done, maximum output, short 50-hour-job approach, we’re talking a long, 120+ hour fermentation which, crucially, takes place in precisely temperature-controlled conditions between 30-32 degrees C. More sustained and consistent yeast activity, and the promotion of a flavour-enrichening secondary malolactic fermentation. More flavour compounds unlocked.
Distillation may not be where flavours are created — that’s fermentation, and the barley itself — but it is where flavours can refined and full-bodied uncutousness of spirit is established. The former, by restricting oneself to the most miserly of middle cuts — we take a ‘floating’ 10% middle cut, unique to each Single Farm Origin, forgoing a potential 60,000 litres of spirit annually. The latter by running the stills at a low-and-slow trickle — 400 litres per hour, as opposed to the more standard 1,500. More rectification, more purity and gravitas, more weight, more flavour.
Similarly, the wood most certainly does not ‘make’ the whisky — or what would be the point of all that effort before filling casks — but anything less than the most considered wood policy can certainly break it. All of our Single Farm Origins go into the same portfolio of good wood to be matured in the maritime conditions of our Ballygarran warehouses — a whopping third of our total production expense.
First fill and Virgin American oak for aromatic lactones; vanillas, creams, caramels, Premium French Oak and VDNs for depth and gravitas; spices, dark fruits, texture. But despite the expense, merely a supporting act to the dominant Waterford character of bakery-fresh bread and, most importantly of all, the individual flavours of the barley’s terroir.
It ought to go without saying that the likes of chill-filtration, artificial colouring and other additives are absolute no-nos.
All are bottled at a strength of 50%, preserving the oils and structure, and every bottle comes with its own unique TÉIROIR code, verifying every detail of the whisky’s production — integrity and traceability baked in — so you don’t have to take our word for it.
This really only scratches the surface of what we do at Waterford. We could go on to tell you about the vintage effect we are seeing in the barley from individual farms. About Cuvées, where individual farms are layered, after maturation, by Head Distiller Ned to create ultimate complexity and profundity. About cutting Irish peat — the first used to kiln Irish malt in generations. About crossing barley varieties to create our own, engineered for flavour over efficiency or yield.
There’s so much to share, and you can find most of it on our website. After all, the curious modern whisky drinker knows that one email, even a wordy one like this, could never fully sum up the whole of whisky’s complex parts.
So this is our invitation. To the curious whisky drinker. To the drinker who believes there is more to whisky than copper and oak. Waterford Whisky is on a quest to unearth whisky’s most natural flavours. We hope you’re curious enough to join us.
Get relaxed while you can!! Tickets are available from:
Looking forward to meeting you all!
A Thrilling Speyside Exclusive Cask from the Coveted Benriach
2009 Benriach 12 Year Old “Hart Brothers Finest Collection” K&L Exclusive Cask Strength Single Sherry Butt Unchillfiltered Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky (700ml) ($99.99)
“This distillery has been absolutely on fire recently … No one will be disappointed with this exceptional cask. It’s fabulous!” — David Othenin-Girard, K&L Spirits Buyer
As our Exclusive Cask program hums right along, the spirits team has just taken in another incredible haul from one of the most compelling and in-demand Speyside distilleries in operation today. Our long-time single malt fanatics have caught on to the utterly thrilling whiskies coming out of Benriach, and word of the genius of master blender Rachel Barrie is reaching all corners of the Scotch world. So, imagine our out-and-out joy when we secured three individual 12-year-old casks from this dynamic powerhouse through our connections with the ever-amazing Hart Brothers Finest Collection. We’re firm believers that you can never have enough Benriach on hand, and three casks in one swoop is a good place to start. On offer today is the 12 Year Old Sherry Butt, a monumental jaw-dropper that brings all the punch and power that sherry cask fanatics crave. Buyer David Othenin-Girard describes a truly multifaceted stunner in his review below, and all for a sub-$100 price. Even with the kaleidoscopic complexity from the aging vessel taking center stage, the now-famous, robust Benriach malt still manages to make its presence known in a full-throttle style. This is the single cask we’ve all been waiting for, and now is the time to get a hold of it.
K&L Notes: Benriach is quickly becoming one of the most attractive names in Scotch. They’ve won some huge awards, particularly for their slightly smoky 12 Year Old expression designed by the illustrious Rachel Barrie. Rachel is extremely adept at developing products that offer nuance and complexity, while not compromising on flavor. What we don’t see much out of most distilleries these days are LOUD whiskies—ones that step up and shout at you. And while we don’t always want to be screamed at, it’s impossible to deny the thrilling feeling of getting packed into a sweaty club and having a heavy metal band blow your socks off. It’s OK to enjoy it and still want to go to the opera next weekend. You don’t have stop liking Guns N’ Roses because you love ballet. This is bold, unabashed Benriach with 12 years in sherry butts, bottled at cask strength without chillfiltration or coloring. It might not be as punk rock as Ardbeg, but it’s still pretty cool. Most importantly, it’s absolutely delicious and totally worth the price of admission. We must thank Alistair Hart and his good reputation for getting us backstage passes to this event. Bottled without coloring or chillfiltration at a cask strength of 58.2% ABV.
David Othenin-Girard | K&L Staff Member | Review Date: June 01, 2022
It’s a sherry butt from Benriach! This distillery has been absolutely on fire recently thanks to master blender Rachel Barrie and all these awards. But the thing that people really want from this excellent Speysider, one of the few to operate its own malt floors in Scotland, are single casks. So we bought three of them. Having three different casks allows us to really begin to understand quintessential character of Benriach, which is a distillery that’s hard to pin down in the first place, the diversity of its offerings being one of its most prominent features. This sherry butt will be the most appealing to many, thanks to the continued obsession by most malt lovers with dark sherry casks. Let’s have a taste! The color is a beautiful tawny. A nice dark one here! I let it rest for ten minutes before first nosing. OMG, the nose has that perfect oloroso spice and nutty richness. Immediately, we get old saddle leather, the darkest cacao, stewed red fruit, and candied citrus. On the palate, liquified Christmas pudding, sweet and richly spiced. Big notes of cola, sarsaparilla, shoe polish, red currants, and a slight flinty character (not quite gunpowder). This absolutely loves water as well, which softens the savory, leathery nose and opens the jammy red fruit and rich, savory nuttiness. The bold ‘Riach malt still manages to poke through the rich wine and wood flavors. Tasting these three casks in succession is a truly eye-opening experience. No one will be disappointed with this exceptional cask. It’s fabulous! While the sister distillery sold out in a flash, this humble cask of Benriach remains one of the very best casks in the shop, but it will only take a few people to realize how special this is for it to disappear like the ‘Dronach we had.
Fettercairn
Warehouse 2 Batch 4
Look what we just got in! Fettercairn’s latest release out today is the fourth batch in the Warehouse 2 series. Find all the tropical charcter typical of this magical distiller, alongside rich spice, tannins and chocolatey notes from the wine casks. And as usual there’s no colouring or chill filtration, bottled at a lovely 48.8% abv.
Nestled away at the foothills of the Cairngorm mountains is the picturesque Fettercairn distillery. Hailing from Warehouse 2, this latest and fourth batch is matured in a tasty combo of first and second fill bourbon barrels and Hungarian oak Pinot Noir wine casks.
