Craft distilling has become big news in the US recently, with demand for small batch bourbon and rye sky-rocketing in the past few years. On March 25th we are lucky enough to have Chip Tate, President and Distiller of Balcones Texas Whisky, at The Whisky Exchange Shop at Vinopolis to show us his superb range of ground-breaking American whiskies.

Chip’s tiny stills produce a mere 1,000 litres of spirit at a time, and his whiskies have been winning awards left, right and centre since they first started to appear in 2011. For this tasting, he’ll be taking us through his core range, which includes the Baby Blue and True Blue Corn Whiskies, the amazing Brimstone smoked whisky, and finally the winner of Caskstrength.net’s 2012 ‘Best in Glass’ award, the Balcones Texas Single Malt.

The whole range was a huge success at The Whisky Show last year, so this is a great chance to see what all the fuss is about.

Chip’s enthusiasm for whisky-makin’ is infectious, and this casual tasting evening will give you a chance not only to meet the man himself, but also try something that we can assure you is completely and utterly different to anything you’ve tried before.

The tasting will take place on Monday 25th March, 7:30pm.

£15 per ticket

As ever, tickets will be sold on a first come, first served basis and are limited to two per customer

Book your ticket

Call us: 020 7403 8688 or visit our shop

http://www.thewhiskyexchange.com/Vinopolis.aspx

http://www.facebook.com/events/226698914136242/

Online catalogue

Go on, take a look….

This month, The House of Suntory Whisky proudly marks its 90th anniversary of whisky making. It has been 90 years since founding father, Shinjiro Torii, built the first whisky distillery in Yamazaki, Japan in 1923, and this new “art of whisky making” was born. Since then, the House of Suntory has grown to include its three luxury brands – The Yamazaki and The Hakushu single malts, and the blend, Hibiki – all which have gone on to earn high praise and global success.

Some highlights include:

– 1923 – Shinjiro Torii, established Japan’s first distillery in Yamazaki on the periphery of Kyoto

– 1973 – Torii’s son, Keizo Saji, completes Suntory’s second distillery, Hakushu

– 2002 – Shingo Torii, grandson of Shinjiro Torii is named the current Master Blender of the House, and continues to perfect the quality of Suntory’s Japanese Whisky

– 2012 – Suntory achieves global accomplishment, when named Distiller of the Year for the third time in three years

– 2012 – Suntory’s marks impressive global growth of shipments: The Yamazaki increased by 24% and The Hakushu increased by a remarkable 187%

– 2013 and on – Looking to the future, Suntory plans to strengthen their global presence by expanding to new markets, talking to new customers, and proposing new ways of enjoying their whisky. In 2013 and 2014, Suntory will be investing approximately 5 Billion Yen (US$50 Million) to increase productivity at the Yamazaki Distillery and the Ohmi Aging Cellars. This expansion and investment is to meet the increasing demand globally for Suntory whisky, specifically, in the US and UK.

Balcones Ambassador Night
Tuesday 19th March 2013, 6.30-8.30pm Milroy’s of Soho, W1D 4NX

Balcones Distilling in Waco, Texas, was founded in 2008 by renowned craft distiller and trailblazer, Chip Tate. Within the US craft whisky industry, Chip’s name is synonymous with expertise, innovation and precision, having produced some of the most highly acclaimed artisan whiskies to come out of the US over the last four years. From his award winning No 1 Single Malt through to his smoked Brimstone Corn Whisky, Chip’s whiskies are guaranteed to amaze the palate.

Join us for an evening sampling these craft whiskies with the man himself! As with all our Ambassador Nights the £20 ticket price can be redeemed against purchases made on the night.

Dates and information about forthcoming tastings

Taste Virginia Highland Malt in Northern VA! ABC Stores Host Free Event

(a message frm the Virginia Distillery Company)

We hope you’ll stop by one of these ABC stores this weekend for a free tasting of Virginia Highland Malt Whisky. It will be hosted by our own Dan FitzHenry.

Friday March 15 – Burke Center Shopping Center, 6-8pm
Saturday March 16 – McLean Shopping Center 12-2pm,
Saturday March 16 – Ballston, N. Quincy St., 6-8pm
Saturday March 23 – Alexandria, Belle View Shopping Center, 12-2pm
Saturday March 30 – Centreville, Union Mill Shopping Center, 12-2pm
Friday April 12 – Reston, North Point Village Shopping Center, 6-8pm
Saturday April 13 – Leesburg, Fort Evans Plaza, 3-5pm

You can really help by sharing this event on Facebook and Twitter…We appreciate the support.

Virginia Distillery Company |Lovingston | VA | 22949

Tickets on sale Tues April 2 at 10am!
Mark your calendars! Tickets for this year’s Spirit of Toronto Whisky Gala go on sale at 10am on Tuesday, April 2, once again through Roy Thomson Hall. Full details will be online in the coming week but suffice to say that we have our fingers crossed that ticket demand does not bring down the servers as it did last year!

Tickets in 2013 are $135 for admission to the main tasting hall at 6:30pm, and $35 for early admission to the 5:30pm masterclasses. Once again you will be able to reserve seats in the 7pm and 8:30pm masterclasses for a nominal fee of $15. Full details to be published online at http://www.spiritoftoronto.ca and the full masterclass schedule will be available next week.

Some Highlights for 2013
The last masterclasses are being confirmed and our new website is almost ready to go live—in the meantime, here are a few of this year’s highlights to whet your appetite…

Charlie MacLean: Author, Raconteur and Bon Vivant
I hazard to guess that few of you who take Scotch seriously have yet to hear of the inimitable Charlie MacLean, speaker, scholar and author of several books on the subject, most recently ‘Whiskypedia’, essential reading for lovers of whisky minutiae. On a personal front Charlie’s antics are legendary, and almost as memorable as his contagious enthusiasm for the ‘water of life’.

Those of you who have had the pleasure of tasting whisky under Charlie’s tutelage know how very fortunate we are to have him join us in Toronto, in what is a very rare North American appearance. Fans of Islay whisky in particular will not want to miss his early bird masterclass—“Icons of Islay, from Past to Present”—a session that promises to unveil the stories and tastes of some of Islay’s legendary distilleries. (Please note that there will be a $20 surcharge for this session.)
Rumour has it that Charlie enjoys a fine cigar paired with whisky to wind down the evening. We’ve assured him that he will have plenty of company on the outdoor terrace and suspect he will be holding court at the end of the night with a few fortunate guests (weather permitting, of course!)

Chip Tate, Balcones Distilling
Founder of the first legal distillery in Texas since Prohibition, I doubt it would be an exaggeration to call Chip Tate the rockstar of the American craft distilling movement if what we’ve read in the New York Times, Imbibe and the San Francisco Chronicle are anything to go by. Having already tasted some of Chip’s handiwork, we are confident that those of you with an open mind and open palate will relish this new style of American whiskey being sampled for the first time in Canada at Spirit of Toronto 2013.

We’re so pleased to have Chip join us this year that we will be welcoming him with a 4-course Balcones Whisky Dinner on Friday May 11. Being held on the poolside terrace of Roy Thomson Hall, this will be an opportunity for a few lucky guests to meet Chip firsthand and enjoy a harvest table of down home goodness paired with his range of exceptional Texas whisky. Seating is limited and can be reserved when Spirit of Toronto tickets go on sale on Tuesday April 2. The full menu will be published online at www.spiritoftoronto.ca shortly.

Ralf Mitchell, www.ralfy.com
Thousands tune in regularly to Ralfystuff on YouTube to hear Ralf Mitchell’s carefully considered, methodical reviews, no nonsense commentary and wry banter on all things whisky. Spirit of Toronto is chuffed to not only have Ralfy in person covering the show, but he will be taping some of his whisky reviews—otherwise known as v-logs—at the event before our live audience.

Mark Gillespie, WhiskyCast
When you’re asked to keep the details of a masterclass secret you can’t help but get excited, particularly when it’s being hosted by one of whisky’s most intrepid and roving journalists!

There are few places in the globe that Mark Gillespie hasn’t visited as part of his coverage for the cask strength conversation of his weekly podcast at www.whiskycast.com Mark is also an accomplished photographer and a few lucky guests at this year’s show will enjoy the tastes and sights of some of these distillery visits as part of his masterclass entitled “What I’m Tasting Now”. We would love to reveal more about this blind tasting, but we’ve been sworn to secrecy! That said, those of you who follow Mark on his travels may find some clues as to what he intends to share with us at this year’s show.

Official website: www.internationalwhiskyday.org

Facebook: www.facebook.com/InternationalWhiskyDay

Twitter: www.twitter.com/whiskyday

WIN FREE CUSTOM SCOTCH WHISKY

To help raise awareness of International Whisky Day (March 27th), and it’s efforts to help charities such as Parkionson’s UK, we’ve decided to give giving away five free bottles of custom blended Scotch whisky… because it’s officially the 5th year of IWD. One way to be in with a chance to win one of these 100% discount vouchers to be redeemed on whiskyblender.com is entering our prize draw. It’s simple, submit a label to us via the link: http://www.whiskyblender.com/iwd2013 and we’re announce the winner on at some point during the festivities.

IRISH WHISKEY TASTING

IRISH WHISKEY TASTING THIS WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13 @ 7 PM! WE’VE PICKED OUT SOME OF OUR FAVORITE IRISH WHISKEYS TO START CELEBRATING ST. PADDY’S!! $50 PER PERSON

www.dundeedell.com

Taste Virginia Highland Malt in Richmond!  ABC Stores Host Free Event

Hello River City Friends!

We hope you’ll stop by one of these ABC stores this weekend for a free tasting of Virginia Highland Malt Whisky. It will be hosted by our own Dan FitzHenry.

Friday, 6-8pm Richmond, Shockoe Bottom (Enging Company Lofts Building, N. 21st and Main St.)

Saturday, 12-2pm Short Pump, Short Pump Crossing Center

You can really help by sharing this event on Facebook and Twitter…We appreciate the support.