Welcome to Summer!

Or so it would seem. Having personally just spent 3 days bathed in glorious sunshine on the Isle of Islay, I am full of the joys of spring – well as much as I am actually able…

With the year nearing its halfway mark, we at The Whisky Lounge have already completed 5 of our Whisky Festival events – if you count Leeds this weekend – having also covered Newcastle, Brighton, Edinburgh, London. That is some mileage in anyone’s book!

Most recently we had the London Festival and Jam & Dram session, which was brilliant fun and was received by all extremely well. If you do Facebook, you can go and view some images, plus the moody Edinburgh Whisky Festival video… In fact click here to have a look.

However, there is no rest for the wicked – we still have another 4 to go, so there is no let up in the pace. Plus we have loads of things going on over the summer, including for Father’s Day, our popular Whisky Schools, a fabulous and exclusive Glenmorangie Cask Masters Series and further shenanigans up and down the country.

First of all though…

 

Our next festival, after Leeds, is in new territory for us, and as always we are very excited and looking forward to seeing lots of new (and old) faces on the 22nd June.

We have had an early-bird of 2 tickets for just £30 for a little while now, but just to ensure you don’t miss out, we are keeping this going until just Sunday 2nd June, so you’d best get your skates on!! Incredible! We really would like to get whisky-drinkers new and old along, so if you know anyone in the area, please let them know of this amazing offer…

As always, your ticket price includes:

• FREE Glencairn Crystal Tasting Glass
• FREE Festival Guide
• FREE Bottle of Water
• FREE Access to sample ALL ‘On The Counter’ Drams for no extra cost
• FREE 2 WHITE Under The Counter Dram tokens
• FREE Guided tour of the festival – for newbies and the uninitiated (see website for details)
• ACCESS to The Whisky Exchange shop within the festival

THE CASK MASTERS

We’re always on the hunt for something a little different to get ourselves – and yourselves – involved with. To this end, we have decided to partner with Glenmorangie for our summer series of tastings.

The ‘Morangie currently have a very exciting initiative called the Cask Masters, which appeals to the inner geek in us, and I suspect you too.

The basic idea behind this project is that Glenmorangie want the next limited release bottling to be chosen by the people who are going to be drinking it, i.e you! The first part of this process – and the best bit as far as we’re concerned – is getting to taste the whiskies concerned.

Therefore, you will get to taste, evaluate and choose your favourite from three cask samples (at 46% ABV), whilst using the Original Ten Years Old as a reference point. These have been chosen by Dr. Bill Lumsden (Head of Whisky Creation, Glenmorangie & Ardbeg), so as you would expect, they are top-drawer drams.

We are running this tasting in all of our UK locations, plus a special Edinburgh version which will be co-hosted by Dr. Bill Lumsden himself on the 24th of July. More news on this soon…

Perhaps the best news of all though….. these tastings are only £10 per person! Now if that doesn’t do it for you, nothing will!

Click here to go the events page where these tastings are now available to book… If you want find out more from the horse’s mouth, click here or on one of the banners above.

FATHER’S DAY!

It is that time of year again where we celebrate all things fatherly. Here at The Whisky Lounge we are no different and firmly believe in showing your appreciation for the father in your life, so here we have a few ideas for you…

GLEN GRANT 1974

We have kept back some of this amazing liquid for such a time as this. We, having shared in a portion of this with Berry Brothers, were staggered at the quality and the sheer tastiness of this dram. At not far off 40 years old, this is not creaky like some older bottlings can be, and at a satisfying full-strength of 47.8% ABV, this really is the real deal. We’ve also heard that the Berry’s 70cl version was extremely well-received by a certain Jim Murray who, in fact, made it his ‘Best Single Cask, Single Malt 35-40 Years Old’ in his last Whisky Bible…

There are only around 15 of our cute 20cl bottles of this remaining and at £59.99 we do not expect them to last…

We can even add a beautiful Whisky Lounge Gift Box and two Glencairn tasting glasses for an extra £10 – click here to go straight to this amazing whisky.

Our first raft of Whisky Schools earlier in the year were extremely well-received and sold-out in the main. To this end we have got some new dates for you in the autumn so you and/or your Dad have plenty of time to clear your diary. Rather than go on about how great they are and you really should go, here is a little video we put together that hopefully whets the appetite!

At only £90 per person you get tremendous bang for your buck…

As well as all of the whiskies on tasting, 2-course lunch and course material, you get to BLEND your own whisky and take a miniature of it away with you!

New dates are;

June 29th – London, Malmaison
September 7th – London, Malmaison
September 14th – Manchester, Malmaison
September 28th – Edinburgh, Hotel Du Vin
October 5th – Newcastle, Hotel Du Vin
October 5th – York, Hotel Du Vin

Click here to go to the Whisky Schools page and get booking!

NEWS

A new section where we round-up some industry news…

The Scotsman, 26th May 2013
The Indian single malt whisky hoping to break into the UK market
Featuring one of our newest exhibitors who will be at the remaining festivals this year.

The Guardian, 24th May 2013
Japanese distiller aims to revolutionise whisky drinking
Interesting slant on summer whisky-drinking?

Harpers, 24th May 2013
Glenfarclas and Hine join forces for 1953 vintage
Some very rare whisky and cognac from 60 years ago.

Just Drinks, 23rd May 2013
The Macallan Coronation 
Brief details of newest Macallan limited bottlings.

Spirits Business, 22nd May 2013
BUFFALO TRACE WARNS OF BOURBON SHORTAGE
Warning as demand outstrips supply! Aggghhh!

WHISKY LOUNGE NEWS

We are very close to securing our venues for both Liverpool and Manchester Whisky Festivals, but put the dates of 7th September and 12th October in your diaries…

We are also looking at an autumn date for our next ‘Islay, Backstage Tours’ which are now sold out for this summer’s versions from 15th June. We would like to hear from you with regards if and when YOU would like to go. In fact the first 50 people to express their interest and preferred dates during September/October will be entered into a prize draw for a special bottle of something peaty! Click here to respond.

Eddie has just got back from two days at the Islay Festival 2013 and has bottles and sunburn to prove it. Talking of which, have a little look at this short video he has just put together of his time there…

COMPETITION TIME!

And finally…given that Eddie came back with a few of the fabled Feis Ile bottlings from this years festival, we thought it would be rude to keep them all to ourselves…

Therefore we are offering small samples of the Ardbeg, Lagavulin and Laphroaig Feis Ile 2013 bottlings to the first 5 people who can tell us:

1. What is the name of the (in)famous Ardbeg distillery dog?
2. In what year did the legendary Malt Mill distillery at Lagavulin stop distilling?
3. What does the word ‘Laphroaig’ mean?

Email us at info@thewhiskylounge.com with your answers, name and address and we’ll announce the winners through our Facebook page and Twitter feed next week.

That’s pretty much it from us for now but I think that is enough to be going on with! Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter – @thewhiskylounge – and like and share our Facebook page to keep bang up to date with the latest news about our events and more.

We look forward to seeing you over a dram or two soon.

Sláinte!

Eddie, Amanda & Joe
Team Whisky Lounge