Tasting Room Event Taste in the Dark Event

Taste in the dark – Release your senses

March 26 from 3:30PM to 8:00PM

We are offering our customers a free tasting event in which you will taste with one of the most important senses removed – your sight. Most of us use the look of a whisky to pre judge the taste, well not this month!

We will take a look at wood and age but during the tasting you will decide what is older and what wood style is being tasted. It’s not that easy trust me…I have got them wrong a few times during trial runs of this event!

CLICK HERE FOR TICKETS

Cadenhead’s Whisky Shop & Tasting Room

26 Chiltern Street

London W1U 7QF

Tel: 020 7935 6999

WoW SF is only a few weeks away and, on March 28, Breast Cancer Emergency Fund will bring us all together on the fantastic San Francisco Belle to nose, swirl, and enjoy the most revered spirits in the world.

With more than 200 expressions present, the show is sure to be one of the largest ever and has already SOLD OUT! We can’t wait to see you there! If you haven’t already, make sure you sign up to the Masterclasses.

For those whisky-insatiable in the South Bay, Whiskies of the World San Pedro Square Market (March 26) has maxed out on the whiskies we can squeeze in. WoW San Jose will bring much for the whisky lover to enjoy: over 150 whiskies to sample, whisky seminars and a cigar pairing, and some local whisky celebrities. A few tickets to this limited space event are available.

Whisky Masterclasses

Don’t overlook the Whisky Masterclasses as a unique chance to get more personal with your whisky favorites and their amazing makers. Just go the website and book your seat using the fast sign-up form.

One of the newest programs, and one of the most extensive too is offered by the ardent lady-whisky, Monique Huston of Marsalle and her class “A Global Whisky Sampler”.  What a journey: we will taste the Drumguish single malt (Scotland), James Oliver Rye (American), Lark Tasmanian Cask Strength Single Malt (Tasmania), Uisce Beatha Irish Whiskey (Ireland) and a surprise Scott’s Selection single cask single malt offering.

Quite amazing is Monique’s career: she’s been conducting whisky and spirits tastings, seminars, and tours for over a decade now, traveled the world extensively to continue whisky and sherry education and was recently inducted as a Keeper of the Quaich. Many whiskies, many memories, many experiences to share!

Special Accommodation Rates

We’ve secured an exclusive rate for a block of rooms in The Hilton Financial District Hotel, located just a few blocks away from the Hornblower’s Pier 3 and close to major downtown tourist destinations.

WoW participants receive a special rate of $220 per night + tax, valid for the night of the Expo and the two adjacent nights.

Book directly by calling (415) 433-6600; or online. Note that the number of rooms is limited and must be booked by Wednesday, March 11, 2015.

Group Code: Whiskies of the World

MARCH EVENTS

Mother’s Day Brunch > The Vaults, Leith – Sun 15 Mar

St Patrick’s Day > 19 Greville St, London – Tue 17 Mar

Irish Whiskey Tasting > The Vaults, Leith – Thu 19 Mar

Sheffield Preview Tasting >  Leopold Hotel, Sheffield – Fri 20 Mar

Scotland v Ireland Tasting Lunch > 28 Queen St, Edinburgh – Sat 21 Mar

New Members Tasting > 19 Greville St, London – Tue 24 Mar

Whisky and Alechemy Beer Tasting > 28 Queen St, Edinburgh – Wed 25 Mar

Cheltenham Preview Tasting > Hotel du Vin & Bistro, Cheltenham – Fri 27 Mar

Dundee Preview Tasting >  Malmaison, Dundee – Fri 27 Mar

Inverness Preview Tasting >  Kingsmills Hotel, Inverness – Fri 27 Mar

Leeds Preview Tasting >  Malmaison, Leeds – Fri 27 Mar

Outturn Preview Tasting > The Vaults, Leith – Tue 31 Mar

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

Easter Egg Hunt

Join us at St George’s Distillery from 3rd to 6th April, 10am – 4pm, for our very own Easter egg hunt. £1 per treasure map, no advance tickets required Collect your treasure map and stamp from Reception, then follow the trail. Collect your bag of treats at the end. The trail is outside and may be wet, so remember to bring your wellies! All proceeds to Cancer Research UK, in memory of our founder

News from the Isle of Arran Distillery Visitor Centre

Our Visitor Centre opened this week for our summer timetable and we hope that we will have the pleasure of seeing many of you over the summer months. Our Visitor Centre and CASKS Cafe are ready to welcome you with our usual warm island hospitality. You can click here to read more about the various tours that we offer, from the Oak tour right through to the Gold VIP tour. If you’d like to meet some of the Arran Team, you can also find out more about the people behind the Single Malt on our web site. We are busy organising ourselves for our annual Arran Malt & Music Festival which takes place this year from 26th – 28th June.  This has become a very popular date on the whisky calendar and there are still some tickets left for the various masterclasses on offer from our friends at Arran Events. You can read more about this fantastic event which celebrates all things Arran Malt & Music by clicking here.

Old & Dignified Whisky Tasting – Battle for Bailey Fundraiser

Monday March 25, 2015 – 7pm
The Scotch Malt Whisky Society – The Vaults
87 Giles St, Leith, Edinburgh
Tickets £55

Come down to The Vaults Members Rooms of The Scotch Malt Whisky Society (SMWS) in Leith, Edinburgh for an Old & Dignified whisky tasting fundraiser to support Bailey.

Tickets or donations
http://battleforbailey.brownpapertickets.com/

Background…

Bailey needs us! My dear cousin – this once healthy, energetic & loving 15 year old girl has been reduced to a shell of her vibrant self through an extremely rare and very aggressive form of cancer – Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma. Bailey was diagnosed in November after dozens of agonising tests in a month long search for the cause of her illness. Bailey has and continues to undergo many chemotherapy treatments, which as of late have had a diminishing effect.

Now the only hope is for Bailey to be able to receive her brother’s loving gift of his matching bone marrow! But with some curve balls that caused delays in getting the transplant, further treatment of radiation is now required. This is where you can help.

The emotional toll on Bailey & her family cannot be calculated but the financial toll can be – with initial estimates of $100,000 US!! Together we can make this happen and give Bailey back the chance every young girl deserves: to become old & dignified!

Now back to the event…

Get your ticket today and come down to The Vaults on Wednesday March 25 at 7pm. The Scotch Malt Whisky Society has so generously donated 5 fabulous single cask, cask strength whiskies from their “Old & Dignified” flavour profile for us to taste. Available only to Society members, SMWS single cask whiskies are completely unique and offer an ever-changing variety of flavours and taste sensations.

Not only that but the lovely Annabel Meikle, The Whisky Belle (www.thewhiskybelle.com/) & Society Ambassador, will be there to guide us through the whiskies! Often referred to as a sensory expert, Annabel work closely with The Scotch Malt Whisky Society as an ambassador and regularly chairs the panel. Annabel has worked for twelve years in the whisky industry and has now established her own consultancy to train and entertain as a whisky advisor.

You will also enjoy a Society supper. There will be door prizes and various fundraising activities revolving around more fabulous whiskies and spirits. So please make sure to bring cash with you and all the spare pound coins you have in your piggy bank for a Whisky Pound Coin Push!

100% of all proceeds go directly to Bailey’s family to help cover her medical expenses.

Tickets must be purchased here in advance (or donations can be made here too!) http://battleforbailey.brownpapertickets.com/

As we will be sipping some complex “Old & Dignified” whiskies, if you please, feel free to come dressed however you interpret “Old & Dignified”.

**Note: Everyone 18+ is welcome! Members or non-members of SMWS alike are welcome as this is a private fundraiser hosted by Crystal Coverdale (Manager of SMWS The Vaults)

I’m excited to enclose details of the confirmed tastings and masterclasses which will take place during the Campbeltown Malts Festival, running from Wednesday 20th – Friday 22nd May 2015.

As always, the Springbank Open Day will take place on the Thursday (21st) and we will offer a range of masterclasses and warehouse tastings on the day. In addition to the Thursday tastings, we will be running a Society Tasting on the Wednesday (20th) and a couple of Cadenhead Warehouse Tastings on the Friday (22nd) – more details of all these are listed further down this email.

Glen Scotia will be holding their Open Day on the Wednesday meaning all events on that day (other than the Society Tasting and dinner in the evening) will be taking place over at Glen Scotia. They are currently undergoing some major renovations at the distillery and are also installing a shop and tasting area which is looking great (I’ve peeked in the window on my way past!!) All the work will be finished before the festival so it will be great opportunity for them to show off their new look. They will hold tours and masterclasses throughout the day and are just in the final stages of confirming their events so as soon as I have this information then I will forward it onto you.

Friday will be a more relaxed day with a couple of Cadenhead Warehouse Tastings and a few other events which will be announced in the coming weeks.

The break down of our confirmed tastings and masterclasses are listed below:

Wednesday 20th May 2015 

At 1pm on the Wednesday, we will be holding an exclusive tasting for Society Members to attend for free. This will take place at 1pm in the Malt Barns at Springbank Distillery and once again, members will be given the power to chose which whisky we will bottle for the Autumn Society bottling this year. The tasting will be limited to a maximum of 60 people and I imagine spaces will fill up very quickly so please let me know asap if you would like to attend.

Thursday 21st May 2015 

12pm:   Kilkerran Masterclass with Jenny Karlsson

12.30pm:   The Distillery Manager’s Springbank Warehouse Tasting with Gavin McLachlan

1.30pm:   Springbank Masterclass with Ranald and guests

2.30pm:   The Distillery Manager’s Springbank Warehouse Tasting with Gavin McLachlan

3pm:  Cadenhead Masterclass with Mark Watt and Martin Mccallum

4.30pm:   The Distillery Manager’s Springbank Warehouse Tasting with Gavin McLachlan

Each masterclass costs £25.00 per person which includes a Glencairn glass and each is limited to 60 people.

Each Springbank Warehouse Tasting costs £20.00 per person (4 drams) and each is limited to 25 people.

Friday 22nd May 2015 

12pm:   Cadenhead Warehouse Tasting with Mark Watt

3pm:   Cadenhead Warehouse Tasting with Mark Watt

Each Cadenhead Warehouse Tasting costs £25.00 per person (6 drams) and is limited to 25 people.

If you would like to book onto any of the tastings listed above then please let me know as soon as possible. It would be best to email my other email address (mairi@springbankwhisky.com) so that I can keep all festival emails together. I expect quite a high volume of emails to come in over the weekend which may take a few days to get through so thank you in advance for your patience and I will get back to you as soon as I can!

Have a great weekend!

Best regards,

Mairi

Mairi Paterson
For the Springbank Society

To join the Springbank Society please contact them at

society@springbankwhisky.com

2015 arrivals at Miner’s Delight Inn

Atlantic City, Wyo.  The snow’s still flying, the temperatures are still below zero (F), and the whisky’s still flowing. Here’s a recap of the year’s newly arrived single malts from Scotland.

Arran 12 year old Cask Strength Batch 4. 15,000 bottles at 53.2%. $65

Arran Machrie Moor Fifth Edition. The distillery’s lightly peated malt. 12,000 bottles. 46%. $70

Benromach Hermitage. A nine year old whisky: more than six years in bourbon barrels and then transferred to casks from the Hermitage Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée, in the Rhone region of northern France for 27 months. 4,200 bottles (420 for the USA) at 45%. (Our first whisky picked as a result of tasting it at the Victoria Whisky Festival in January.) $90

Bunnahabhain Ceòbanach. A limited edition, ten year old, made with peated barley. 46.3%. $85

Blair Athol 18 year old from Editions Spirits. A single sherry cask produced 563 bottles at 54.7%. $150

Hazelburn Rundlets & Kilderkins from Springbank Distillery. The small casks (rundlets & kilderkins) held 18 Imperial gallons (68 liters), according to the label. 12,000 bottles at 50.1%. $120

Kilchoman Original Cask Strength. 35 bourbon barrels netted 9,200 bottles at 59.2%. $105

Springbank 17 year old from a single Fresh Sherry Cask. 252 bottles at 51.4%. $175

Tomatin Dualchas. (This used to be Legacy in the USA). 43%. $30

To see our selection of 86 single malts from Scotland visit us at http://www.minersdelightinn.com/

Slàinte,

Bob

RELAXED DISCOUNT!!! – SPIRIT OF AMSTERDAM

Are you planning to go to the Spirit Of Amsterdam festival 07 March 2015? Buy your tickets with a relaxed Maltstock discount!

Discount price: 29,50
A very relaxed 10,- discount!

Buy your relaxed tickets here: TICKETSHOP

TICKETS ARE GOING FAST
>> ALL CABIN TICKETS ARE SOLD OUT <<

Tickets are going fast! We already have sold more than one third of all available tickets.

Cabins
The cabins were a great success last year! This year, we sold them out within weeks.

Buy your ticket at our ticketshop
Be sure you buy your tickets soon, so you can look forward to going to Maltstock in a very relaxed way..

http://www.maltstock.com

ps. about food: the pizza’s were an enormous success last year. They will be back this year. Cowabungaaaaa!!!

MALTSTOCK PROMO TOUR

Of course you can find us at a wide range of Whisky Festivals again. Come and have a dram with us at our stand or when we are present without a stand, say “hi”. We always love to talk to fellow Maltstockers! Would you like to have your own Maltstock Wanted poster? Come and visit us at one of the locations below and take a selfie with our wanted cut-out boards.

Agenda:
07-03-2015, Amsterdam www.spiritofamsterdam
14\15-03-2015, Gent http://www.http://whiskyfestival.be/
27\29-03-2015, Groningen http://www.wfnn.nl/
11-04-2015, Leiden http://www.whiskyinleiden.nl/
25\26-04-2015, Limburg http://www.festival.whiskyfair.de/
27-04-2015, Glasgow
28-04-2015, Fiddlers in Drumnadrochit
29-04-2015, Dornoch Castle, Dornoch
30\04-05-2015, Speyside http://www.spiritofspeyside.com/
25\27-09-2015, Nijmegen http://www.maltstock.com

This has got to be the best winter weather we’ve ever had, unless of course you like to ski or are involved in the local ski industry. Our local mountains always look so nice covered in snow. On the flip side, can you believe this weather? Have you any friends or family out east? If so I hope you’re sending them lots of pictures, not to gloat, just to let them know we care and the daffodils are in bloom.

St. Patrick’s Day is almost here and have we got an Irish surprise for you, see below. We will also be showcasing our Irish Whiskies throughout the month of March so be sure to drop in for an Irish dram to celebrate all things Irish. As a reminder; we’ve got no snakes here either.

On Tuesday, March 10th we will be hosting our first Irish Whiskey dinner here at the Whisky Kitchen, or in honour of St. Patrick’s Day, should I say “Whiskey” Kitchen.

Simone Kelly, Irish Distillers Brand Ambassador, will be hosting our St. Paddy’s Day launch with a wonderful line-up of Irish Whiskies from their Distillery in Middleton, Ireland. Once again we will be treated to some great whiskies, including a couple rare and hard to find Irish treasures.

Join us as Simone takes us back to the Emerald Isle with the fascinating story of Irish Whiskey, it’s history and production. Boasting an elegant personality and distilled 3 times in Copper Pot Stills using malted and un-malted barley, Irish whiskey is quite different from it’s counterparts across the Irish Sea. Irish Whiskey once held global dominance over Scotch Whisky both in England and the Americas. At one point there were 93 distilleries operating in Ireland, but the industry was all but wiped out through Irish temperance, famine, separation and of course prohibition in the U.S., with 3 of the remaining 4 distilleries joining together as Irish distillers in 1966.

Recent years have seen an Irish Whiskey resurgence and is currently the fastest growing spirit in the world. Current growth in the U.S is up 500%, with the number of distilleries increasing from 10 to more than 15 in the next couple of years.

Spend an evening with us at the Kitchen sampling these Irish Gems as our talented kitchen team pairs 5 stunning Irish inspired dishes with 5 great whiskies.

We will also be launching our new partnership with Granville Island Brewing, featuring the latest draught from their Small Batch Beer Program; all mashed, brewed and casked on Granville Island, The Shamrocker Potato Stout.

Please join us on Tuesday, March 10th at 6:30 for our St. Patrick’s Day Whiskey Pairing dinner!

As always these dinners sell out very quickly.

Please make arrangements for a safe ride home!

The cost for this event is only $84 including gst and gratuity and is open to only 25 people! click here to register