The Scotch Malt Whisky Society is please to announce three ‘Desserts & Drams Challenge’ events in the USA. The Dessert & Drams Challenges are open to members and non-members. $50.00 per ticket. Visit the Scotch Malt Whisky Society here to purchase your tickets.

Chicago – Tuesday, October 13^th – drumBar

Washington, DC – Thursday, October 15^th – Jack Rose Dining Saloon

Seattle – Tuesday, October 20^th – Brouwer’s Café

www.smwsa.com

2016 WhiskyFest Tickets
Will Go On Sale Today
at 9 am EDT
Buy now at early bird prices

For 2016, WhiskyFest adds a FOURTH city:
Washington, DC!

The continuing success of our three WhiskyFest events in New York, Chicago and San Francisco has led to consistent demand for a fourth event. In 2016, we have decided to do just that by adding another city: Washington, DC, an influential city that has always loved whisky. The inaugural WhiskyFest DC will be held at the brand new Marriott Marquis, 901 Massachusetts Avenue NW. That’s four WhiskyFests in 2016, in four great cities.

Dates for WhiskyFest 2016

Washington DC — Wednesday, March 2
Chicago — Friday, March 18
San Francisco — Friday, September 23
New York — Tuesday, November 1

ORDER TICKETS

Tickets will go on sale at 9 am EDT; Quantities are limited, so buy now.  Be among the first to find out about WhiskyFest announcements by signing up for WhiskyNotes, our bi-weekly newsletter. Simply click here.  For more details about WhiskyFest, visit www.whiskyfest.com

OCTOBER TASTINGS 

Meaty Big Bouncy – 19 Greville St – Mon 12 Oct  More >

Flavour Profile Tasting – 28 Queen St – Thu 15 Oct  More >

Uisge Source Tasting – 19 Greville St – Tue 20 Oct  More >

Perth Preview Tasting – The Salutation Hotel – Fri 23 Oct  More >

Sheffield Preview Tasting – Leopold Hotel – Fri 23 Oct  More >

Greenock Preview Tasting – The Tontine Hotel – Fri 23 Oct  More >

Duck’s at Kilspindie Preview Tasting – Ducks, Aberlady – Fri 23 Oct  More >

New Members’ Tasting – 19 Greville St – Tue 27 Oct  More >

Cheese & Whisky Tasting – The Vaults – Thu 29 Oct  More >

Manchester Preview Tasting – Malmaison – Fri 30 Oct  More >

Cheltenham Preview Tasting – Hotel du Vin & Bistro – Sat 31 Oct  More >

Melrose Preview Tasting – Town House Hotel – Sat 31 Oct  More >

Which Whisky is Witch? – 28 Queen St – Sat 31 Oct  More >

FREE ENTERTAINMENT AT THE VAULTS

The Vaults Poker Night >  Mon 12 Oct

FREE Live Music >  Mon 19 Oct

Browse All Tastings >

The Scotch Malt Whisky Society, The Vaults, 87 Giles Street, Leith EH6 6BZ Contact: sales@smws.com or call 0131 555 2929 (Mon-Fri 9am-4.45pm). Visit the Society at here for membership information

This is your chance to join and to take advantage of their great offers!

Spot the SMWS bottles in this amusing You Tube video

WHISKY, BIRCH & SAUSAGES

AN ODD ASSORTMENT!

We like what Mackmyra are doing over in their gravity distillery, and the Midnattssol is a perfect example of what we like. This single malt is matured in both ex-Bourbon and ex-sherry casks, plus time in casks that held a Swedish wine made from birch sap! This triple cask maturation leads to notes of elderflower, birch, autumnal berries and a gentle florality. Weird, wacky, brilliant! More…

Dramboree is the annual pilgrimage to Scotland, where a veritable horde of whisky lovers descend on distilleries and enjoy their spirited fruits! For the 2015 festival  we teamed up with the guys at Dramboree and selected and labelled a cask for them.   This is the result! An eight-year-old Caol Ila bursting with peaty maritime goodness! More…

Back by popular demand! We freely admit that this shouldn’t work but for some reason it really does! This tasting is all about the debate, we provide artisan sausages and some of our favourite whiskies, and then you have to decide if the pairings work! Perhaps our most outrageous tasting, but certainly our most fun! More…

Our mailing address is:

Milroy’s of Soho

3 Greek Street

London, England W1D 4NX

United Kingdom

OUR AUCTION CLOSES TONIGHT FROM 7.30PM!

This is just a quick reminder to say that whisky.auction‘s September auction closes tonight, so you still have some time to make a bid on hundreds of whiskies, old blends, miniatures and memorabilia. There some great everyday drinking whisky still sitting at good prices – these sometimes slip under the radar of whisky buyers looking for ‘headline’ lots, so don’t miss out on these good-value bottles.

The auction will begin closing from 7.30pm tonight. Each category has its own scheduled finish time, to make life easier for people who have bid on a number of different categories, and to avoid every item in the auction closing at the same time. For information on the buying process, click here. Also, if a bid is placed within the last three minutes, the lot will be extended for a further three minutes. Our next auction will start on Monday 26 October – if you have bottles to sell, don’t hesitate to get in touch.

CLICK TO SEE OUR CURRENT AUCTION

To find out more, please email info@whisky.auction, call Enrico Gaddoni on +44 (0)20 8838 9381 or visit the website www.whisky.auction.

2016 WHISKYFEST TICKETS GO ON SALE OCTOBER 8TH

Dates for WhiskyFest 2016’s four cities:

Washington DC — Wednesday, March 2

Chicago — Friday, March 18

San Francisco — Friday, September 23

New York — Tuesday, November 1

Mark your calendars!

For more details about WhiskyFest, visit www.whiskyfest.com

HIGHLY DESIRABLE GLENFIDDICH 50-YEAR-OLD LEADS BONHAMS WHISKY SALE IN EDINBURGH

A bottle of Glenfiddich 50-year-old is the star lot in Bonhams next Whisky sale in Edinburgh on October 7th. It is estimated at £12,000-15,000.

Bottled in 1991, it has a special place in the history of the Grant family, distillers of Glenfiddich, which founded the company in the 1880s. It comes from a batch of nine casks laid down in the 1930s – one for each of the William Grant’s nine children who helped him build the Glenfiddich Distillery.  Once the whisky had been blended, it was returned to the cask for a year before being bottled in a limited edition of 500 of which this is number 184.  Bonhams whisky specialist, Martin Green, said: “This is one of the most desirable Glenfiddichs – or, indeed of any Scotch whisky –  and is keenly sought after by collectors for its exceptional quality and rarity.”

Bowmore Premier over 42 years old, £5,500-6,000

Other outstanding lots include a Bowmore Premier over 42 years old (lot 40) that was distilled in 1965 and bottled in 2008. It is numbered 37 of an edition of only 57 and is estimated at £5,500-6,000. Also offered are two bottles of The MaCallan Select Reserve 52 year old (lot 61) distilled in 1946. Martin Green commented, “The MaCallans distilled immediately after the Second World War are regarded as some of the finest the firm has ever produced. This whisky was made with peated malt because coal was so scarce and expensive at that time and this accounts for its special nuanced flavour.”

As usual, the sale features a selection of early whiskies including the rare Dalmore 50 year old (lot 48) distilled in 1928 and estimated at £4,000-5,000; the very scarce Glen Grant 1929 (lot 119) estimated at £1,500-2,000; and an interesting curiosity in the form of an early 20^th-century bottle of Lawson’s Liqueur Whisky (lot 129), blended by Lawson’s of Dundee estimated at £400-600.

NOTES

Bonhams, founded in 1793, is one of the world’s largest auctioneers of fine art and antiques. Today, the auction house offers more sales than any of its rivals. The main salerooms are in London, New York and Hong Kong. Sales are also held in the UK in Knightsbridge, Oxford and Edinburgh; in the US, in San Francisco and Los Angeles; in Europe, in Paris and Stuttgart and in Sydney, Australia. Bonhams also has a worldwide network of offices and regional representatives in 25 countries offering sales advice and valuation services in 60 specialist areas. For a full listing of forthcoming sales, plus details of Bonhams specialist departments, please visit bonhams.com.

The Whisky Exchange Whisky Show – this weekend!

It’s that time of year again. The office is really busy, new whiskies are appearing in every corner, emails containing huge lists of things are zipping around and I’m working on a weekend – it’s time for The Whisky Exchange Whisky Show.

Lots more details have appeared on the Whisky Show website since we last wrote about the event in February. Back then all we knew was that the venue had changed and that the theme was Legends of Whisky. Now, we’ve only got a few masterclass tickets left, we know what’s on the brasserie menu, have a lists of Dream Drams and special guests (including some proper legends of the whisky industry), know what food pairings and cocktails we’ll have, have a published schedule and map, and even have a list of all of the whiskies available to try.

It’s going to be excellent.

We’ll have TWE exclusive whiskies dotted around the show, with new whiskies from Arran, Kilchoman and The English Whisky Company all selected by us and available to try on their stands. The exclusive single casks of BenRiach and Glendronach that appeared a few weeks back will also be on the BenRiach Distillery Co stand, if you’ve not had a chance to taste them yet.

The show bottlings, available to try at the show for the first time

 On the Show Bottlings stand we’ll have some new exclusive whiskies bottled specially for the show. They are so new that I’ve not had a chance to try them yet, but reports from those who have are very good. Sherried drams from Ledaig and an anonymous family-run distillery in Speyside, a 22-year-old Irish single malt, and the latest in our Masterpieces series, as chosen by TWE director Sukhinder Singh.

This year, the boss has gone for a 2002 vintage Bruichladdich matured in a bourbon cask. The previous releases have not lasted long, and we don’t expect this one to hang around, either. If there are any show bottlings left after the weekend then they’ll appear on The Whisky Exchange website, so keep your eyes peeled.

Daryl Haldane from Highland Park introducing the room to Dark Origins last year

 Along with all the whisky, food, cocktails and special guests, we have our famed masterclasses. While many are already sold out, we do have a few tickets left for some of them:

The Science of Whisky with Ian Buxton and Paul Hughes, authors of The Science and Commerce of Whisky, comparing and contrasting whiskies from Royal Lochnagar, Dalwhinnie and Mortlach
Benromach: The Making of the Classic Speyside Malt with distillery manager Keith Cruickshank, deconstructing the excellent Benromach 10 Year Old and trying the 15 Year Old
Arran: The Coming of Age with brand manager Louisa Young, celebrating the distillery’s 20th birthday with a selection of new and upcoming limited-edition whiskies
Cigar Pairing with Dalmore and Hunters & Frankau, pairing up a Cuban cigar and one of Dalmore’s drams three times a day – once with a light cigar, once with a medium and once with a heavy, featuring a different dram each time
Whisky and Cheese with Balvenie and La Fromagerie. Balvenie’s James Buntin and cheese expert Bruno d’Abo will be bringing along six cheeses and three whiskies each day at the show to teach us how the two can complement each other

There’s also a whole program of free seminars and Q&A sessions through the weekend, many with a few special drams thrown in for good measure. As mentioned before: it will be excellent.  If you’ve not got a ticket yet, head over to our ticketing partner Billetto and grab one – we still have a few left for Sunday 4 October. Just click the oversized button below:

If you already have a ticket, then make sure to pop by Stand 8 to say hello. Even if you don’t want to talk to me, the whiskies are worth the trip.

COMPASS BOX WHISKY TASTING – WEDNESDAY 28TH OCTOBER 2015

It is the 15th Anniversary of Compass Box Whisky Co this year and we are delighted that we will be able to join in the celebrations as, on Wednesday 28th October, Herman Van Broekhuizen, Brand Ambassador, will be coming along to present a tasting of some of the wonderfully rich, smooth and complex whiskies that they produce.

Founded by John Glaser, Compass Box are a small, independent, specialist whisky company whose philosophy is that drinking Scotch whisky should be a pleasure – hence their motto of ‘Above All, Share and Enjoy’. Their award winning whiskies are created through the art of blending or vatting, and John Glaser’s extensive knowledge of the way oak casks interact with whisky, combined with his innovative thinking, results in a contemporary approach that builds on the great traditions of whisky making. Their range has something for everyone, from soft and fruity to spicy to full on peat, and whether you’re new to whisky or a connoisseur this is an ideal tasting to come along to as not only will there be a broad spectrum of Scotch whisky styles but also you will learn a lot about the important role of wood and maturation in whisky production. And if you have had the pleasure of attending a Compass Box tasting before then, don’t worry, there will be some new treats in store for you to try!

Tickets are £15 per person and will be available to buy online from 1.15pm on Friday 2nd October. Please note, no bookings will be taken before this time and the maximum number of tickets per booking is 6.

See below for all the details and if you have any queries just contact us.

Sláinte!
Fran and Ken
Arkwrights Whisky and Wines
www.whiskyandwines.com

UPCOMING EVENT
Name Compass Box Whisky Tasting
Date Wednesday 28th October 2015

Time 7.00 for 7.30pm
Venue Stanton House Hotel, Stanton Fitzwarren

Details Admission to the tasting is by ticket only, and the whiskies tasted will be available to purchase on the night. Tickets are £15 per person, and this also entitles you to a discount of £3 against a bottle of one of the featured whiskies if bought or ordered on the night of the tasting.

Tickets are very strictly limited, and allocated on a ‘first come, first served’ basis. Arkwrights reserve the right to restrict the number of tickets per customer and as these tastings usually sell out within hours it is best to book as soon as the tickets are released. To buy tickets just log on to www.whiskyandwines.com from 1.15pm on Friday 2nd October and place an order for the number you require. Please note that tickets cannot be reserved without payment and are non-refundable.

N.B. We have negotiated special rates at Stanton House Hotel for anyone who wants to stay overnight after the tasting – just quote ‘Arkwrights- whisky tasting’ when booking by ‘phone or email.

Vote For Us….

The Famous Grouse Experience are thrilled to be shortlisted in this year’s Whisky Magazine “Icons of Whisky” Scotland Awards. Following on from our success in last year’s awards we have been nominated in 2 categories, Visitor Attraction of the Year and Visitor Attraction Manager of the Year.

Glenturret Distillery have also been nominated for Distillery of the Year and Distillery Manager of the Year.

The voting is open to the public and closes on Friday 9th October. Click here to register your vote.