Our first term of Whisky Schools is half-way through and running strong, with students leaving us with smiles as well as a much rounder knowledge of the good stuff. There are still a few to come at the intro price of £70 a ticket, which includes 2-course lunch at the hotel it is running in (Malmaison or Hotel Du Vin)…
DATES & VENUES
9TH FEBRUARY LIVERPOOL
9TH FEBRUARY LONDON – Sold Out
16TH FEBRUARY EDINBURGH – Sold Out
16TH FEBRUARY MANCHESTER – Sold Out
17TH FEBRUARY GLASGOW
23RD FEBRUARY BIRMINGHAM
Don’t worry those of you in cities where the events are sold out, more dates will be announced shortly…
#loveBowmore
Valentine’s Day is traditionally a time for flowers and chocolate. This year, however, we would like to change that. We would like to invite you to a very special pre-Valentine’s ‘whisky date’ with our own Master Blender, Rachel Barrie, and a selection of the great and the good from the world of whisky.
Our lucky winners will receive a very special Valentine’s whisky bouquet and an invite to a special Twitter tasting with Rachel. The bouquet will include four mystery Bowmore whiskies including a special work in progress Bowmore that has not been released.
On the night, Rachel will guide you through tasting each of these lovely drams as well as answer some of your questions.
For your chance to win one of two places up for grabs, simply enter your details on the Bowmore Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/bowmore.
We will notify winners by Monday 11th February.
For those who want to follow the tasting, it will take place on Thursday 13th February at 7pm. To join in, just use the hashtag #Bowmorelove. Hope to see lots of you there sharing the Bowmore love.
Balvenie Distillery Whisky Tasting – Thursday 7th March 2013
For our next whisky tasting evening we are really pleased to announce that we will be joined by the Balvenie UK brand Ambassador, Dr Andrew Forrester.
Balvenie is one of our favourite Speyside distilleries (and we’re not just saying that because our mate Phil works there…). The distillery is owned by William Grant and Sons and is a ‘family’ concern in the very best sense of the word. It still retains it’s own maltings and cooperage, and production of its fabulous rich, smooth and honeyed whisky has been overseen by David Stewart, who recently celebrated 50 years with the company. Excellent use of different cask types produce some delicious variations in the range and we’re sure you’ll find lots to enjoy in this tasting.
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
Balvenie Whisky Tasting
Date Thursday 7th March 2013
Time 7pm for 7.30pm
Venue Stanton House Hotel, Stanton Fitzwarren SN6 7SD
Details The whiskies we will be tasting range from the Balvenie 12 year old Doublewood through to the 21 year old Portwood, and you’ll be able to hear from Andrew all about how this handcrafted whisky is made and some of the stories of the craftsmen involved in its production.
Tickets are £13.50 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 and as these tastings usually sell out within hours it is best to book ASAP. To buy tickets just log on to www.whiskyandwines.com and place an order for the number you require.
Admission to the tasting is by ticket only, and the whiskies tasted will be available to purchase on the night so come prepared.
N.B. We have negotiated special rates at the hotel for anyone who wants to stay overnight after the tasting – click here for further details.
Is it February already?! Where did January go?!
WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!
We’re always looking for updates on how we can improve our facebook and twitter communication and there is no better way of doing it than asking you, our loyal friends, what you think.
Please post your comments below or on our facebook or twitter page (using #listening2u) and we will enter all posts into a draw to win a bottle of Whyte & Mackay.
Just to get you started have a think about the following
What are we doing well?
What could we be doing better?
What stories/posts/images would you like to see more of and those that you would like to see less of?
Do you think we are talking about Whyte & Mackay the whisky enough?
Are we posting too frequently or would you prefer to hear more regularly from us?
Your views are important to us so we would appreciate you taking a few minutes to let us know what you think about our social media. Don’t be afraid to be honest, we want to make sure our social media is as interesting and relevant to you all as possible. We want to make it perfect, just like our whisky!
Closing date: 22/02/12
Terms and Conditions
1. The Prize Draw is only open to entrants over the age of 18 and of legal drinking age in their country of residence.
2. Employees of the Promoter their families, agents or anyone professionally connected with the promotion are prohibited from entering.
3. To enter post your social media feedback/comments on www.whyteandmackay.com/blog or through our facebook or twitter page
4. Competition opens on 06/02/12 and closes at midnight on 22/02/12.
5. All entries must be received by midnight on 22/02/12. No late entries will be considered.
6. Promotion is limited to one entry per person and per email address. Multiple entries will not be accepted.
7. No applications from agents, third parties, organised groups or applications automatically generated by computer will be accepted. Incomplete or corrupted entries or those not in accordance with the entry instructions will be rejected.
8. Responsibility is not accepted for entries lost, damaged or delayed as a result of any kind of network, computer hardware or software failure of any kind.
9. The winner will be chosen at random from all entries that give feedback on social media, received by the closing date. Promoter’s decision is final.
10. The winner will be contacted by email within 7 days of the draw. All reasonable effort will be made to contact the winner, however, if the winner has not responded by email by 16/03/12 an alternative winner may be chosen. The Promoter’s decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.
11. The Prize is one bottle of Whyte & Mackay Special 70cl
12. Prize will be delivered on or before 29/03/12 to a single address provided by the winner by signed-for courier
13. Prize is non-transferable and there is no cash or other alternative to the stated prize. However the promoter reserves the right to provide an alternative prize of equal or greater value if the advertised prize becomes unavailable for reasons beyond the control of the promoter.
14. The Promoter reserves the right to provide an alternative prize in the event that the winner is resident in a country where national laws prohibit The Promoter from sending alcohol.
15. Unless otherwise agreed in writing by the Promoter, the prizes will only be available directly to the winners
16. By entering the promotion, all entrants will be deemed to have accepted and be bound by the rules and consent to the transfer of their personal data to the Data Controller for the purposes of the administration of this promotion and any other purposes to which the entrant has consented. All entry instructions form part of the rules.
17. Winners may be required to take part in publicity.
18. To obtain a copy of winner’s name and country please send a Stamped Addressed Envelope to Whyte & Mackay Social Media Competition, Dalmore House, 310 St Vincent Street, Glasgow, G2 5RG.
19. The Promoter and their agents accept no responsibility for damages, losses or injuries that result from acceptance of the prize.
20. The Promoter and Data Controller: Whyte and Mackay Limited, Dalmore House, 310 St Vincent Street, Glasgow G2 5RG
Liz and Paul of mcleanscotland attended the festival, here is the trip blog/story by Paul;
A Scots perspective view on the whisky festival.
We left a chilly Scotland on Wednesday 16 January, flew from Edinburgh to Heathrow (my advice, try and NOT travel via Heathrow, a nightmare!) from here to Calgary and on to Victoria – our travelling time including stop overs? Roughly 24 hours, tiring! We arrived tired out and exhausted at Victoria, we had Stan Willow waiting for us at the gate, what a relief and what a guy! Never met Stan before but he turned out to be a gem. He drove us to the Grand Pacific hotel, we checked in 9pm ish, thanked Stan and dumped luggage in the rooms, we then HAD to check out the hotel bar, och come on, we are Scots after all! A few drinks and bed beckoned.
THURSDAY; I woke up around 4am, couldnee sleep, still on Scottish time (8 hours different) so started unpacking and ironed some shirts! Met Mark Davidson from Edinburgh (the Jolly Topper) Oliver from Germany and Billy Abbott (The Whisky Exchange) at breakfast. A few other guys at breakfast, awaiting the trip to Shelter point, sadly I had to drop out of this trip (dam and double dam!). Top man Lawrence Graham appeared to say hello, it was he we were working with on the long lead up to this event. Liz appeared around 9ish to my amazement! We had a free day for a while, met a few people and dondered into town, where we found shops and, more importantly, the Bard & Banker Scottish pub, so we HAD to go in and see. A great bar with seriously good looking lassies working there, we had a couple of drinks, as you do, then our new pal Stan arrived and took us on a trip around the city, marinas, golf club and several places including his house, before calling in at Spinnakers for lunch and a beer. Good stuff. We had a dinner arranged tonight (Lawrence), the Canadian Whisky Awards, lots of people there and new friends made yet again – Highwood Distillers amongst them, many awards handed out but sadly no drams from the winners! Och well, we enjoyed some nice local wine. After the dinner; Adjourn to the bar, where more drinks consumed (bloody hell, the bar prices there are high!) and we met more folks, all too many to mention but must mention one, Grant Stevely from Dubh Glas distillery, another really nice guy. Cannee mind what time we went to bed? But it was another good day!
FRIDAY; much of a free day today, so went shopping again, guess what? We ended up at the Irish Times pub, well I am half Scottish half Irish! We both enjoyed lunch and drinks, I had a couple of pints of Kilkenny beer, superb, my mum is from there. More good lookin lassies there by the way. We returned to the hotel as we had a masterclass to attend that evening; Duncan Taylor. Peter did a great job and we had 6 drams, my own favourite the Black Bull 40 year old. Er, then back to the bar, becoming a habit eh! More people to meet, one too many for me, but that’s another story. Another great day ends.
SATURDAY; main day, I was down early (6am) checking out the room for our masterclass, all was ready and waiting for us. Liz came down 9ish and we set up the laptop to the projector, tested and did a trial run, fab! 10.30 friends arrived from further up the island coast, they have been on tour with us and again this year, they were to assist in our masterclass, more later. 11.15 we started our masterclass, Ranald from Cadenhead/Springbank took over for 15 minutes with 3 excellent drams, our thanks to pal Ranald for this, much appreciated. I then took over chatting about Scotland, showing photos and generally yappin on! I broke off to show an excellent short film of the 2012 Tiree music festival, a wee isle between Mull and Skye, this went down very well. Back to a wee bit of chatter then introduced Jack and Mike (locals) who told our class how good we were! I was very flattered and thankful we did well for them, you just cannee buy words like that, many thanks lads. Class over, a quick pack up and over to the hotel lobby. Can I just say, the festival staff are brilliant, they set the room up, poured all drams, stood guard for us and cleaned up at the end, flawless! Some questions and answers with guests, then relax with Mike, Susan, Jack and Lynn over lunch, we enjoyed all of that so far today! We pottered about checking out other masterclasses, poked our noses in to many rooms and chilled out. This evening started at 5pm for us, setting up at the table for the main tasting sessions, thanks again to Lawrence, we had a superb location for our stand, right next to the main hall entrance and food room! 6pm saw the VIP’s arrive, 7pm the general masses! It all went on until 10pm, we were kept busy talking about our tours all night, met many people, a few wasters but 99% interested parties looking to visit Scotland and Ireland with us on whisky tours. After many sample drams and great food, we took down the stand and dropped all back to the bedroom. Then ventured downstairs – where to? You know full well, the bar! More really nice people met here, in particular Del boy, most memorable! Drinks, drinks, until the bar closed!!! Liz opted for the pub with Del and a few others, I was worn oot and the legs giving way so stayed at the hotel. A long day.
SUNDAY; a sleep in, down at the breakfast room for 9am, nae sign of Liz. Sat about with Mark again until Liz arrived, Mark due out so we wandered aboot and did some shopping, ending up at the Empress hotel, where in the Bengal Lounge we had an afternoon (too long) of cocktails. A wee bit jolly, we headed back to our hotel to make ready for the farewell whisky dinner. This was an excellent night, great food, superb whisky and a great table of people to chat to. Met old and new friends tonight. Another good night.
SUMMARY; what a great event! It was hard to pull ourselves away to collect emails and actually do some work, but we did manage it. The whole organisation of the Victoria Whisky Festival was amazingly good, nothing too much trouble for anyone, the main guys superb; Lawrence, Stan, Iain, Glenn and many more – the names I have forgot, I am terrible with names, sorry to all I have missed. Everyone was superb, all the volunteers, every masterclass, dinner and tasting was run so well. The only poor item was the hotel closing the bar so early, but that is no due to any of the management of the festival. We were treated so well, looked after and cared for so well, we have attended many whisky festivals and by far, this one stands out a mile above the others. Our travel was long but I would do it again, I never knew there were so many Canadian whiskies! All that is left is to unpack and catch up with people, as I have promised to do. So – if you met us there I am pleased to have done so, please do drop me a line, I will answer everything. Thanks Canada!
What also made the Festival so different is that it is a non-profit event. All proceeds go to local charities, and of course lots of volunteers are involved. Another thing, the ‘no drink and drive’ policy is enforced strictly.
Paul McLean, owner mcleanscotland.com angelswhiskyclub.com Perth, Scotland
See http://www.timescolonist.com/life/around-town-at-whisky-fest-canada-s-high-spirited-secret-1.51248
The UK’s leading Whisky Experience where you can taste,
learn about & enjoy the world’s finest whiskies’
Save the Date! The Whisky Exchange Whisky Show returns for a fifth year
28th January 2013 – The Whisky Exchange Whisky Show team are very pleased to announce that the UK’s biggest and best whisky show will be returning to London’s Vinopolis for a third year, with consumer sessions running across the weekend of October 5th and 6th. The trade and press session will be on Monday October 7th.
Vinopolis have completed their refurbishment, opening up new spaces for us to fill with more whisky than ever before, and we will be continuing the traditions of previous years with masterclasses, special guests, food matching, the Show Brasserie and, as ever, a great selection of whiskies. The Dream Drams will be returning, with our exhibitors bringing some of their finest, rarest and most sought after whiskies to taste, and more new show highlights will be announced as we move towards October.
Tickets will be on sale soon from http://www.whisky-show.com
photo by Robert Hall
February 1, 2013,
First Friday Scotch Sipping at Six, $40
Arran Premuim Bourbon Cask #2096
Springbank 14 year old Fino Cask #265
Laphroaig Cairdeas Origin (2012)
February 9, 2013, Second Saturday Scotch Sipping at Six, $25
Craigallechie 13 year old 1998 Signatory Unchillfiltered Series
Kilkerran Work in Progress IV (2012)
Ardbeg 10 year old.
ST. ANDREW’S SOCIETY OF MONTREAL
1195 Sherbrooke West, Montreal, Quebec H3A 1H9
Telephone: (514) 842-2030 • Fax: (514) 842-9848
E-mail: info@standrews.qc.ca • Web site: www.standrews.qc.ca
St. Andrew’s Society of Montreal presents Whisky-Fête 2013
Montreal, January 2013 – The St. Andrew’s Society of Montreal, in collaboration with OUIDRAM Whisky Tastings, announces the premiere Scotch Single-Malt whisky tasting event of the year, Whisky-Fête 2013, to raise funds for McGill University’s new Chair in Canadian-Scottish Studies.
To be held on Friday, February 22nd, 2013 at the University Club of Montreal, the event will feature more than 50 rare and special whiskies 18 years and older. Representatives from over 12 agencies will be on hand to pour their single malt Scotches.
An event like this has never been held in Montreal; The Honourable Ken Dryden is patron of the event, with Canadian Whisky Ambassador for Highland Park and The Macallan, Marc Laverdière presiding as Whisky Patron.
Accompanied by fine Scottish foods, and Scottish entertainment such as bagpiping and highland dancing, the following is a small sampling of the single malts that will be featured:
Brora 30 Year Old – 1 of 2,652 bottles (distillery is closed)
Glenfarclas 40 Year Old – Distiller of the year in 2006
Gordon & MacPhail’s Linkwood 1991 – 1 of 1,900 bottles; rare
The Macallan 30 Year Old Fine Oak
Highland Park THOR – Limited Edition
Talisker 30 Year Old – 1 of 2,958 bottles; cask strength
A Chair in Canadian-Scottish Studies at McGill will ensure that the role of the Scots in Montreal, Quebec and Canada will be a focus of academic work for generations to come and provide a valuable avenue through which the St. Andrew’s Society and the McEuen Scholarship Foundation can pursue their missions and objectives.
Details:
Event: Whisky-Fête 2013; Single Malt Tasting of Rare Whiskies. Over 50 rare & special single malt Scotch whiskies.
When: Friday, February 22nd, 2013
Time: 6:30pm – 9:30pm
Where: The University Club of Montreal, 2047 Mansfield St., Montreal, QC, H3A 1Y7
Price: $325.00 per person (a portion of ticket is eligible for tax receipt)
Who: Presented by The St. Andrew’s Society of Montreal, 1195 Sherbrooke St. West, Montreal, QC H3A 1H9
Contact & Ticket Purchase Information & Ticket Purchase: www.whiskyfete.com
Questions: Ouidram:(514)636-1136 info@ouidram.com
St. Andrew’s Society: www.standrews.qc.ca
