Welcome to this week’s episode of the show in which I’ll be reviewing the new releases from Hannah Whisky Merchants, in their Lady of the Glen of the Glen range.
Edinburgh’s Scotch Whisky Experience Invests in the Future
This year will see a major investment, anticipated to be in the region of £3 million, in one of Scotland’s premier visitor destinations. The Scotch Whisky Experience is a five-star attraction operating from the top of Edinburgh’s busy Royal Mile.
The Experience has been educating and enthusing visitors about Scotch whisky for over 30 years already welcoming more than 8.5 million visitors from around the globe, in addition the Amber Restaurant and Whisky Bar accommodate corporate events and private dinners.
The Scotch Whisky Experience brings the joys of Scotland’s whisky heritage to a worldwide audience. The substantial investment of £3 million will enhance the visitor experience, with work already underway, this will reflect the premium nature of Scotch whisky. With tour options to suit both whisky lovers and those with a passing interest, the new tour experience will include technology not yet seen at a visitor experience in the UK.
Susan Morrison, Chief Executive of The Scotch Whisky Experience, said “we’ll be creating a theatrical and magical experience to tell the story of Scotch whisky production, blended with technologies which we believe have never before been used in a visitor experience. Our team have been nurturing this vision since well before the pandemic, and excitement is building. We can’t tell you more yet, but we promise that what we have in store will be breathtaking and truly unique.”
The Scotch Whisky Experience was first created when 19 individual Scotch whisky companies jointly invested in showcasing the industry to international visitors. The Scotch Whisky Experience remains a key partner for the industry. Representing a significant proportion of the Scotch whisky distillers companies, the experience has new distillers joining all the time as more and more distilleries are built all across Scotland.
The Scotch whisky industry is a very considerable player in both Scotland and the UK representing £5.5 billion in gross value added (GVA) to the economy with 11,000 people directly employed in Scotland, 7,000 of those jobs in rural areas. In 2021, Scotch Whisky accounted for a remarkable 22% of all UK food & drink exports.
(Source: Scotch Whisky Association, Jan-Dec 2021 data)
Education is a key ingredient in the success of Scotch whisky with its unique and complex heritage. The product of the distillation of water, barley and yeast it encompasses a huge range of possible expressions based on differences of age, source of ingredients, region, type of maturation and the production process itself. The industry offer includes many varieties of single malts, product of just one distillery, and a huge range of blended whiskies made by the highly-skilled Master Blenders. The Scotch Whisky Experience’s new investment is destined to bring even more visitors into this extraordinary world of Scotland’s whisky heritage.
Work commenced in early January and will be completed by Summer 2023. Any disruptive work will be undertaken outside opening hours and will not impact on tour experiences, Amber restaurant or private events.
NOTES
The Scotch Whisky Experience is a five-star visitor attraction, where visitors learn how Scotch Whisky is produced, situated on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile. As well as tours and tastings, guests can purchase whisky and souvenirs in the shop or enjoy a meal at the Amber Restaurant.
The Scotch Whisky Experience is also home to one of the largest whisky collections in the world, The Diageo Claive Vidiz Scotch Whisky Collection.
The Experience is available in 20 languages with family-friendly and tailored tours and is fully wheelchair accessible.
Open daily with tours available from 10:00 – 17:00
(extended hours at weekends and high season)
Tours range from £21.00 per person and are available to book online at: www.scotchwhiskyexperience.co.uk
DANCING GOAT PRESENTS SERIES LAUNCH
The Dancing Goat Distillery® is proud to present our sourced whiskey inventory: 4,500 barrels of uniquely aged whiskey stocks. This multi-year series will feature 16 mash bills with ages ranging from 6-21 years. Composed of multiple vertical series, boundary bending blends, and one-off releases; the Dancing Goat Presents collection will highlight our blending and finishing skills as we patiently wait to share our own aged distillates.
The first Dancing Goat Presents release will feature a 21-year-old light whiskey. Bottled non-filtered at 126.4 proof, Very Old Goat features notes of syrupy sweet oak, toasty oak, robust caramel, honey, pepper, and light fruit. Very Old Goat will be available online at Seelbach’s and Shared Pour on March 31st. A limited quantity of 36 bottles will be available on a first come first served basis at the Dancing Goat Distillery at 6pm on March 30th for $200. Distillery visitors will also have the opportunity for pre-market purchase of the second Dancing Goat Presents release, a 7-year port finished rye coined I Would Rye 4 U. The second release will be made available online and in Wisconsin and Illinois later in April.
Please join us for a celebration of Indiana’s finest bounty and follow @DancingGoatDistillery.
ABOUT DANCING GOAT DISTILLERY
Dancing Goat Distillery is in Cambridge, Wisconsin. The proud producers of Limousin Rye and Death’s Door Gin, the facility spans 34,000 square feet with four stills in operation. Over 7,000 barrels of whiskey are aging in the state’s first true Kentucky style open-air rickhouse. The Dancing Goat Distillery offers tours, guided tastings and a gin academy where guests can craft their own bottle of gin. For more information, please visit www.dancinggoat.com or email info@dancinggoat.com
New Diploma date at Penderyn
We’re thrilled to be travelling to South Wales this June to teach our flagship Diploma in Single Malt Whisky at the Penderyn Distillery. Earn your SQA-certified whisky diploma – our highest award – over two days in the foothills of the Brecon Beacons. You’ll discover a world of knowledge from the in-depth material, allowing you to better appreciate your favourite drams and get more from every drop.
Arran 12 Years Old Sherry Hogshead Shop Exclusive
This single cask bottling, distilled in 2009 at Arran distillery, is our newest shop exclusive. This excellent dram full of rich, warming flavours was aged for 12 years in a single sherry hogshead. It was bottled straight from the cask without chill-filtration or artificial colouring at natural cask strength.
NOSE Initial aromas of chocolate-covered raisins lead into toffee pennies and roasted hazelnuts followed by caramelised orange.
PALATE Rich and buttery with oak spices giving way to rich fruit cake laden with cherries and citrus peel.
Only 290 bottles were produced.
£85.00
Glencadam 10YO
Glencadam is a tiny, quaint and overlooked distillery that just doesn’t get the attention it deserves. Not an easy thing to state in whisky these days.
Producing around 1,300,000 litres of whisky per year, and maturing them in a wide selection of cask types, it is a gentle and almost ‘lowland’ like style of single malt whisky.
In the ownership of Angus Dundee Distillers, I’d like to use this video to bring some very needed and apt attention to this whisky distillery. The 10YO that I’m reviewing is a bourbon cask matured whisky that is scented with pineapple, whipped cream and some delicious melon notes throughout it.
Kildara
Killeigh
SAANICH, BC, March 16, 2023 /CNW/ – Macaloney’s whisky maker Graeme Macaloney may be Scottish by birth, but this esteemed whisky maker has more than a touch of that famed roguish Irish twinkle in his eye. Which is why it makes perfect sense that Macaloney’s Island Distillery is launching a quartet of Irish-style Triple Distilled Single Potstill Whiskies – and just in time for St. Patrick’s Day!
“As a Scot of 7th century Irish extraction, I used to revel in the joke that the Irish say they ‘gave whisky making to the Scots and the Scots begrudgingly agree… but add that they made it better!'” laughs Macaloney about his foray into the potstill whisky category. “In our case here at Macaloney’s, I come by my potstill whisky making honestly: I studied Irish potstill whisky making at Midleton distillery in Ireland where I spent time with their Master Whiskymaker who taught me their traditional methods.”
Fast forward to their inaugural launch of their first-ever triple-distilled single potstill whiskies, and Macaloney is thrilled to reveal that the range has already been lauded by critics and whisky lovers alike, winning two Gold medals at the World Whiskies Awards in the UK. Killeigh Whiskymaker’s Signature Selection won Canada’s Best Potstill at WWA 2022, with Kildara Whiskymaker’s Signature Selection taking a gold medal at the awards too.
Single Cask Kirkinriola Moscatel
Both these beautiful drams, as well as the other two potstill whiskies in this range – the single cask Kirkinriola Moscatel, and the single cask Kirkinriola Portuguese Red Wine – are now available in Canada, USA, UK and select EU countries via their online shop at www.MacaloneyDistillers.com, and at the distillery’s tasting room in Saanich on Vancouver Island.
About Macaloney’s Potstill Whisky Range
In order to make traditional Irish-style triple distilled potstill whisky, Macaloney attended the Midleton Irish Whiskey Academy and personally met twice with their past Master Distiller Brian Nation over the course of two years in order to get his advice and input on traditional Irish methods.
Back in Canada, Macaloney then overlaid whisky master Dr. Jim Swan’s methods whereby he optimized a traditional whisky process to be the best that it can possibly be.
The result is that Macaloney’s triple distilled single potstill process is true to a traditional Irish method but optimized using Dr. Swan’s learning. The resulting newmake was amazing and won gold – Top Two in the World, and Best in Canada – in blind tastings at the World Whisky Awards.
Why Irish-Style Whiskies from a Scotsman?
As reported by Whisky Advocate magazine recently, Irish whiskey exports to North America have taken off in a big way over the last couple of years, seeing a 28% growth rate from 2021. What’s more, single potstill has increasingly become the most important part of Irish whiskey’s repertoire.
Recognising this, and already a long-time fan of Irish-style potstill whiskies, as evidenced by his educational adventures in the style, Macaloney decided the time was right to produce his very own range of potstill whiskies, but celebrating local ingredients. The end result is a range of triple-distilled single potstill whiskies which are as remarkable for their flavour as for their provenance.
This inaugural launch also showcases Macaloney’s expertise and ability to embrace more than just one style, without ever sacrificing quality and, ultimately, deliciousness.
Visit Macaloney’s Island Distillery
If you happen to be on Vancouver Island this St. Patrick’s Day (Friday March 17, 2023), the official launch day of the Macaloney’s Triple-Distilled Single Potstill range, visit their tasting room donned in green or wearing a kilt to receive happy hour pricing all day long!
The Saanich tasting room is open Friday and Saturday 11am to 8pm; and Sunday through Thursday 12pm to 6.30pm.
About Macaloney’s Island Distillery
Guided by his love for Uisge Beatha, the water of life, Graeme Macaloney, the expat Scot founder and whisky maker at Macaloney’s Island Distillery, set out to create the finest single malt whisky in North America and perhaps the world. Driven by quality he focused his efforts on bringing together the industry’s best Scottish distillers, ingredients (great Canadian barley, select American & European oak, and island air!) and the best equipment (from the famed Forsyth’s copperworks, Speyside, Scotland).
Thanks to these high-quality ingredients, world-class facilities, and deep expert knowledge base, Macaloney and his team were able to produce exceptional single malt whiskies in just three short years using exclusively traditional techniques. They then expanded their range, and now produce more than a dozen different drams for whisky lovers of all whisky and whiskey styles.
Their world-class and internationally recognised distillery celebrates local ingredients, using exceptional Canadian barley combined with island water and air, to produce a complex but balanced spirit, with a pristine quality.
The Macaloney’s team is passionate about what they’ve created and can’t wait to share it with you.
Macaloney’s Island Distillery & Twa Dogs Brewery
https://macaloneydistillers.com/
First Release Bottling Gallery
A look behind the curtain
We are delighted to be in touch to share some photos from the bottling of our Limited Edition First Release – the Wolfcraig 30 Year Old Premium Blend.
It is a huge milestone for the team to finally hold the finished article in our hands for the first time after 3 years of hard work behind the scenes.
We hosted a local soft launch of our 30 Year Old Blend last night and the initial feedback was exactly what we had hoped for – smooth, and possessing a luxurious depth of flavour, a genuine quality that only age can bring.
Another step will be launching the fulfilment of our UK orders next week. To be included in the first ever shipment of Wolfcraig Scotch Whisky click here to purchase your Limited Edition bottle.
Master Blenders, Richard Paterson and Ian Macmillan, decided on a restricted batch of only 1400 bottles of this aged icon to protect its rarity for those that have taken the step to add this bottle to their coveted collections.
We hope you enjoy this glimpse behind the curtain of this huge milestone for Wolfcraig, and we look forward to being back in touch next week with further shipment updates.
A Stupendous Buy in Collectible Bourbon
Heaven’s Door 14 Year Old “Caribbean Rum Finished” K&L Exclusive Cask Strength Single Barrel Straight Bourbon Whiskey (750ml) ($149.99)
This “14-Year-Old” Straight Bourbon is really 14 years old in name only, thanks to a quirk in the aging and bottling process (see below for more details). At its actual 17-year age, it’s easily the oldest single cask we’ve ever seen from Cascade Hollow, and since any other premium straight bourbon with a 17-year age statement is going to set you back significantly more, consider this an opportunity to score one of the greatest secret bargains in the spirits market.
K&L Notes: This wild offering is listed as 14 years old, but it was distilled on January 5th, 2005 from a mash bill of 84% Corn, 8% Malt, 8% Rye. It aged undisturbed for over 15 years before being transferred to a freshly dumped Venezuelan rum cask, likely Diplomatico, and aged for an additional two years before bottling at cask strength without chill-filtration of any kind. The whiskey is almost certainly coming from the Cascade Hollow distillery in Tennessee, but has such a distinct character, it would be hard to pick it out as such without prior knowledge of the mash bill. Perhaps it’s the exceptionally high proof, which is rarely achieved with single-cask offerings from the famous old distillery outside of Tullahoma. In fact, we’ve never offered a single cask from this distillery anywhere close to this age and proof range, a true oddity in that respect. The dense, dark flavors of the rum have been fully integrated after the long finish at Heaven’s Door’s Nashville warehousing facility. Add the high-quality finish, and you’ve got a recipe for a legendary pour. Similarly aged products have sold for significantly more—Heaven’s Door’s own 17-year and the George Dickel 17-year went for $500 and $280 respectively, so we’re actually very grateful they didn’t change the age statement and raise our price! We’d much rather tell this story and save you the $200 to $300 a bottle than insist on an accurate age statement! Lovers of Angel’s Envy bourbon will appreciate the opulence here.
Email: wine@klwines.com
Phone: (877) KL-WINES (Toll Free 877.559.4637)
K&L Wine Merchants 3005 El Camino Real Redwood City, CA 94061 USA
San Francisco, Redwood City, Hollywood CA
Hankey Bannister 21YO
Independent Scotch by David Stirk
Unique. There is no other word to describe the relationship between distiller, producer and independent bottler. In this first ever account of independent bottlers the author, David Stirk, looks at the history of how and why this anomaly arose; how an aged and rooted, bulk-driven industry missed, at first, the change in consumer demand. Using his own business as an example, this book explores how independent bottlers operate and helped to nurture a new and engaged consumer base.
With contributions across the industry this book catalogues the lost and current independent bottling companies. Often in their own words a picture will be painted of family, and consumer-driven enterprise (themes that are the bedrock of the Scotch whisky industry); companies that strive to show Scotch whisky at the pinnacle of what it can achieve. Pour a dram and delve into the world of independent bottlers.
