Exciting Times Ahead

Some Extra Special Casks Arrive

Imagine a winery with world-class wines similar in style and quality to the very best Sherries, Ports and Madeira’s. A winery that is located on the same latitude, 45 degrees North, as the Southern Regions of France, Spain and Portugal, ideal for growing wine.  A winery  that was so highly regarded by generations of Russian rulers that the Tsars had their favourite wines produced here, then when Stalin came to power he repatriated  the wines from all of the Tsars palaces to the cellars of this winery and when the Germans invaded the Crimea the wines from this winery’s cellars were removed for safe keeping until the invaders left at which time they were returned.

Overlooking the Black Sea. Imagine taking some casks from this winery, that have been used to ferment and age these exceptional wines, and then shipping them to Portsoy and using them to mature exceptional single malt scotch whisky. The result, hopefully, will be a truly exceptional range of whiskies and the good news is that we may not have to wait too much longer to find out the answer, well about 9 to 12 months.

We are very pleased that the world famous winery of Massandra in the Crimea and the Glenglassaugh Distillery Company  have reached an exclusive agreement for the use of used Massandra casks for maturation of Glenglassaugh Scotch Whisky.

Today the wines from this winery are as highly regarded in Russia and Eastern Europe as the top quality Sherries, Ports, and Madeira’s are in the West. Having visited the winery twice within the last 14 months I can testify to the quality of the wines and the knowledge and skills of the winemakers.  I am really looking forward to the impact that these casks will give to our whiskies.

First few Massandra casks – filled with new spirit The first shipment of these casks arrived in Scotland just before Christmas and are now filled and maturing in our warehouses. Some are filled with new spirit for full maturation and some with older whiskies which will be used for finishing.

I will keep you abreast of this exciting development.

January Round-Up

Stuart, Alex Salmond (First Minister for Scotland) and Mr Li Keqiang (Vice Premier of the State Council of the Peoples Republic of China) A busy start to the year with my visit to Edinburgh Castle to meet the Chinese Vice-Premier as his visit was toasted with a dram of Glenglassaugh, while back at the distillery Graham got production under way with his usual efficient and effective way.

The bad weather at the end of 2010 had led to casks which were coming from USA being held-up in Grangemouth and consequently our filling store vat was full over Christmas. We have now caught up with the filling programme and are moving ahead with filling this years’ production.

The changing face of the old office block. The mild start to 2009 has also allowed us to carry-on some work outside including removing a couple of chimneys from our old office block, which we are turning into a small visitor centre. The plan is that we will have the facility open in time for the Speyside Whisky Festival when we will be having tours plus  a special day to fill your own Octave cask and the opportunity to fill your own bottle of 2 year old Glenglassaugh.

February and another busy month

I have never been to  Japan, Singapore, Australia or New Zealand but by the end of February I will have visited all of these countries.

I am heading off later this week to visit Whisky Live Japan where Glenglassaugh is imported by Whisk-e  and then from there I go to Singapore to discuss the possibility of having our products imported there. Then it is off to see our importer in Australia, World of Whisky, where I will be carrying-out a private tasting. I then go onto Christchurch, New Zealand where our importer, Whisky Galore ,organises Dramfest  and where I will also have a master-class.  An exciting trip and the opportunity to meet new friends and hopefully introduce more people to the range and quality of whiskies that we produce.

This coming weekend, 18th February,  also sees Graham over at Munich Whisky festival where he will also be carrying out a master-class.

New Products

Back at the distillery we have also been busy in assessing the quality of the maturing spirit as we chose the next casks for the “Aged over 30 year old” and “Aged over 40 year old” products as we have finished the existing casks. I can tell you that the casks which we have chosen are both excellent with “Aged over 30 year old” particularly exciting as it has been maturing for the last 12 months in an ex-Sauterne cask which has given it an added layer of complexity. This should be available in March.

The next “Aged over 40 years” which is from a re-fill sherry cask will be available from June.

The Manager’s Legacy – Bert Forsyth – 1968 Vintage – 42 Years Old Following the success of the first two release of the Manager’s Legacy series, both of which sold out, we have now released the third in the series, a 42 year old whisky celebrating the contribution of “Bert Forsyth”. The final bottle in the series “Walter Grant” is a 43 year old and will be available from March 2011.

Slange

Stuart

Visit Glenglassaugh Distillery at http://www.glenglassaugh.com/