Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

For those of you who have contacted us for a place at the upcoming Ardbeg tasting here at Vinopolis; if you have not heard from us today, then unfortunately your name was not selected in our lottery draw.

If it makes you feel any better (which it probably won’t), we had well over 300 applicants for only 40 places at the event.

Rest assured however that we do have plenty of other exciting events lined up for the rest of the year, so keep your eyes peeled for future newsletters!

Sláinte,

The Team

Exclusive Member Offer – Celebrate Father’s Day with The Glenlivet

The Glenlivet 21 Yr Old is the perfect way to celebrate any special occasion so we’ve put together an exclusive Taste The Glenlivet member offer for Father’s day.

Buy a bottle of The Glenlivet 21 Year Old from The Whisky Exchange before Sunday 19th June 2011 quoting the code TGL21 at checkout and you will receive a complimentary copy of Ian Buxton’s best selling whisky guide ‘101 Whiskies To Try Before You Die’.

The first 200 orders placed will also include a pair of The Glenlivet premium tasting glasses* from which you can enjoy your favourite dram.

Amongst some great company ‘101 Whiskies To Try Before You Die’ describes The Glenlivet 21 Year Old as ‘a real stamp of quality and drinking satisfaction’. It was written by whisky expert Ian Buxton who features on our Video Tasting Guide.

Order before 16/06/2011 to guarantee delivery in time for Father’s Day.

Order here…

The single malt that started it all.

Berry Brothers & Rudd
The Britons Protection, Manchester 
Friday June 17th 2011, 7.30pm 
 
£22.00 / ticket       

Berry Brothers and Rudd have long been associated with fine wine and their shop in St. James’, London is a real experience and akin to stepping back in time to Dickensian Britain. For some years now they have also been developing a formidable reputation for bottling fine whiskies. These normally take the form of single cask, single malt and bottled at no less than 46% ABV. Join us on this fantastic evening when Eddie Ludlow will be showing off some of the latest and greatest additions from this most incredible independent bottler. Due to the sheer breadth of what they bottle, this tasting really is suitable for all tastes and we believe your breath will be taken away by the quality on offer!

The whiskies will be available to purchase on the night.

As always each tasting is designed to be fun and enjoyable for all levels of whisky drinker, and is not a lecture. You will almost certainly learn something new every time, but if you don’t walk out with a smile on your face then there we have done something wrong!

If you would like to purchase tickets for this event as a gift, please email us at info@thewhiskylounge.com upon completion of your order. We can then email you a PDF with a gift voucher for you to print and pop into a card of your choice!

(You will not be sent a ticket through the post. Your details will be added to the event register and all you need to do is print the payment confirmation page and bring it with you to the event).

Visit The Whisky Lougne at www.thewhiskylounge.com

SCOTCH AND SHERRY
Tuesday, May 24, 6:30-8:30pm

Join Martin Daraz, Edrington Group Brand Ambassador and native Scotsman, for a unique tasting of The Macallan and Highland Park whiskies, ranging in age from 12 to 30 years old, coupled with a blind tasting of other malts either aged or finished in sherry casks! In this tasting we will examine the use of sherry barrels in the scotch industry and what they mean to the flavor and texture of your favorite single malts. We will have copious amount of quality chocolate and mineral water to reinvigorate the palate too! $10 W/Binny’s Card / $15 non-members.

Call 312-768-4400 or email southloop@binnys.com for reservations.
Chicago – South Loop
1132 S. Jefferson Street | Chicago | 312-768-4400

Visit Binny’s at www.binnys.com

Dear Friends in Spirits,

With another successful Expo behind us, plans are already brewing for the next exciting show in spring 2012.  Many thanks for all your feedback; it is proving very useful for planning a bigger and better event for WoW 2012.  We have in mind several brand new and magnificent venues, in addition to the good ole Hornblower Yacht’s “San Francisco Belle”.  We’ll be announcing our new location very soon!

As much as we like to listen to you, we hope you will allow all future attendees of the show to benefit from your feedback.  We greatly encourage you to take a minute and tell the world about YOUR experience of the last Expo.  Websites such as Yelp, Judy’s Book, Whisky Connosr, and others, will gladly post both your heartfelt appraisal and open minded critique.

Now on to the Whisky Talk:
 
This seems to be a year of mass creativity in the spirits world and we hope you are out there sampling some of the fascinating new bottlings on the shelves of bars and shops.
Glenmorangie has introduced Finealta.  Click for a sampling of this intriguing new expression.

From the larger more familiar brands, like Glenmorangie…to the tiny family owned distilleries we go on a summer road trip!  Up into New England and the home of Cabin Fever Whisky, a completely unique maple syrup based spirit developed over several years (and multiple recipe trial and error sessions) by the brilliant Robbilard Family.  Run a web search and you will find a highly personal and educational site all about Cabin Fever and its history, present and future. This is a definite bottle to be added to your Americana collection!

Word is out that High West, the intrepid Utah distillery, is in the process of aging further batches of some of its most amazing bottlings: Rendevous Rye and Double Rye.  If you haven’t tried these wild west whiskeys, you are missing out big-time!  And don’t overlook Bourye…as delicious a spirit as you will ever imbibe and only available in limited quantities.  Treat yourself to a summer vacation in Park City, Utah and walk through the doors of the distillery/restaurant right off the main street below the big mountain.  Or….wait until January and head out for the Sundance Festival where High West whiskies take center stage.

While we’re on the western theme it’s a good time to educate yourself about the unusual spirits coming to life at Balcones in Texas!  An amazing whiskey of BLUE CORN distillation, a single malt with a mystery all it’s own and more.  Chip Tate seems to always be brewing up something new and different and as big as Texas in flavor.

Isn’t it remarkable what America has been doing with whiskey in the past 10 years?  A whole new revolution…and a peaceful happy one!  It’s about time someone struck out for world peace and human contentment in this manner!!

**************************************************************************
 
Have a great spring and don’t forget that we’re always here to listen to your suggestions for the next WoW Expo, about new whiskies you’d like to taste, and new features to experience.

As for the features…were you one of the adventurous ones to visit the Beam Global Mixology Booth at this last Expo?  Then it’s very likely that their well mixed whisky cocktails (with such great whiskies as Makers Mark, Canadian Club, Laphroaig, and Knob Creek) were a nice discovery of the evening.  See all the recipes listed at the bottom of this newsletter.
 
We are also gearing up for local Whisk(e)y dinners/pairings. Get ready for a cooking class where we will prepare and then sit down together to eat our fabulous meal paired with Whisky.  Cooking is fun, cleaning up not so fun, so the restaurant staff takes care of this detail.  What more could you ask for?  Oh yeah, dessert.

And finally, congratulations to Animal Kingdom for a great race on Derby Day this month!  For the next year’s race, please remember that the best mint juleps are made with the best bourbons…and we’re sure to bring many of those for your enjoyment to the next Expo!

Cheers,

Douglas Smith

See updated photos from WoW 2011
WoW Photos (1)
WoW Photos (2)

Whiskies Of The World Expo
168 Park Bolton Pl
San Jose, CA 95136

www.whiskiesoftheworld.com

How much more Hand-s on can you get?

Two spaces left in ADI’s Hands-on Whiskey Distilling Workshop, June 5 – 10 at Stillwater Spirits (611 2nd St.) Petaluma, CA

$3,500 covers instruction, Bay Area distillery tours, presentations and tastings by ADI staff & guests, plus room and board at the very cool Metro Hotel 

Classes limited to 12 students. Send us an email to hold your space and a $3500 check to:

ADI Box 577 Hayward, CA 94543  or go to http://www.distilling.com/workshop.html and use PayPal.

Either pea soup for lunch or corn wash!

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

We’re very proud to announce that The Whisky Exchange at Vinopolis has been invited by Ardbeg to become an official Ardbeg Embassy – a privilege only a handful of specialist retailers around the globe have been offered. As an Ardbeg Embassy, we will always have a healthy range of bottles from the distillery open to sample in store. We will also be given a glorious 4.5 litre bottle of the new Ardbeg Alligator for its Committee Exclusive launch on the 1st June, which we’re under strict instructions to drink and share with other Ardbeg Committee members only. How about that!
 
ARDBEG EMBASSY LAUNCH,
with Michael Heads
Tuesday 31st May, 7:00pm

In celebration of this very exciting collaboration with one of our favourite Islay distilleries, we’re hosting an Ardbeg tasting evening on Tuesday 31st May, presented by Distillery Manager Michael Heads. This will also serve as a sneak preview of the Alligator, which will be sampled on the evening, just before its Committee Exclusive launch the following day. The exact line-up will remain a closely guarded secret, but suffice to say that Mickey will be bringing down a few treats from the distillery’s warehouse for us to try. We also heard a whisper that the delectable Ardbeg Land Girls may be accompanying him, so we’ve invested in a set of super-strength shackles for Toby, just in case.

For those of you unfamiliar with the distillery, Ardbeg is renowned for its heavily peated, intensely smoky style of malt whisky, very much typical of the Island – Islay – from which it comes. If you are a fan of Laphroaig or Lagavulin, this will most likely be up your street. If you’ve never tried a peated style of whisky before, it may well be worth trying a dram of Laphroaig at a reputable hostelry before you consider attending this tasting.

As demand for this tasting is likely to be astronomical, we will be offering places at the event in a slightly different fashion to the usual first-come, first-served manner. To make things as fair as possible to anyone who may be indisposed, stuck at work or otherwise unable to call us in the usual manner, we will be drawing names from a hat and offering the selected names a chance to buy 1 or 2 tickets. If you would like to come along to this spectacular night, please either send an email with your name and preferred contact number to vinopolis@thewhiskyexchange.com, or alternatively give us a call during our opening hours on +44 (0)207 403 8688. The deadline for doing this is 3:00pm, Monday 23rd May. We will run the draw on that evening, and notify the randomly selected lucky people the following day (Tuesday 24th May) by phone. You will then have 24hrs to purchase your ticket(s), priced at £30 each; otherwise we will pass the offer on to the next person in the list.

We hope that you understand our rationale behind offering places in this manner. We’d also like to point out that this is not how we intend to proceed with all tastings, it’s just that Ardbeg has something of a cult following and there’s likely to be a minor stampede for places! Also, it’s worth mentioning that while none of the TWE Team here at Vinopolis would claim to possess unwavering moral fortitude, we won’t be accepting bribes for places from anyone (you know who you are!).
  
Sláinte,

The Team

Fellow whisky enthusiasts,

The past few weeks the Maltstock promo team was in Scotland for the Spirit of Speyside festival and in Limburg, Germany for the whisky fair. It was great meeting lot’s of you there. If you haven’t been to either of these events yet, I higly recommend both of them!

Dorms

Meeting lot’s of people is a great way of getting some feedback. One of the questions we were asked was regarding the sleeping accommodation at Maltstock. We have bunk beds at the Maltstock venue. These are in small dorms. Toilet and showers are shared. Most dorms are for either 4, 6 or 8 persons. So if you come with some friends, let us know and we will try our very best to give you your own dorm.

Jock Shaw – Scotchandfolk

We are very happy that Jock Shaw has agreed to bring some friends from his Scotch and Folk band and perform at Maltstock. Jock knows how to entertain with stories and songs! More info on his Dutch website www.scotchandfolk.nl

Masterclasses

We hope to have the final masterclasses confirmed within the next few weeks. We expect to have them all online and bookable for you in the second half of June. Of course we will let you know in advance.

Accepted casks – rejected casks

Anthony McCallum-Caron already told us his plans for Maltstock. He will be hosting a masterclass with new Chieftain bottlings. There will be samples from accepted casks which will be bottled and also from casks were rejected. That promises to be a very interesting tasting.

The Whiskyshop Dufftown

As mentioned before everybody coming to Maltstock will get a 10% discount at The Whiskyshop Dufftown. And every reader of this newsletter will get a 5% discount (use the code: WSDMaltstock). Mike Lord from the Whiskyshop will be at the Islay festival next week. And he is willing to take your bottle(s) there if you like. Just make sure you order before this Saturday. Delivery at Maltstock is of course also possible.

Limited availability

Just a reminder to get your Maltstock tickets in time. There’s limited availability at Maltstock and tickets sales are going really well. We already sold more tickets than we did the entire first year. So go to the the Maltstock shop  and make sure you don’t miss out.

If there are any questions at all, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Hope to see you all in September!

Arthur, Bob, Eline, Rogier & Teun
www.maltstock.com

Win the Consumer’s Beverage of Choice

The Spirits International Prestige (SIP) Awards takes a fresh approach to beverage competitions by linking producers to the people who matter the most – the consumers.  The contest organizers invite all producers of alcoholic spirit beverages to submit entries for the annual consumer-judged awards competition.  The SIP Awards were instituted in 2009 to celebrate the diversity and high quality of spirits and to recognize the best of the best in an effort to generate unbiased and impartial acknowledgment. 

The SIP Awards are different from similar competitions because they use consumer judges instead of industry professional judges. “We wanted to find out which spirit brands would come out on top if all of the hype and marketing were taken out of the equation,” says Paul Hashemi, executive producer of the SIP Awards. They remain steadfast in their goal of providing one of the most reliable measures of beverage quality in the world. By working directly with educated and impartial consumers, The SIP Awards has established a completely merit-based awards system that effectively levels the playing field for beverage producers, both seasoned and new.

Spirits entered in the competition will be judged in a blind tasting that is strictly based on the characteristics of aroma, taste, and finish. By winning a bronze, silver, gold, or platinum SIP Award, a brand is empowered and transformed into the consumers’ choice for its spirit category.  In 2010, 162 brands entered in the global competition, with 29 receiving platinum medals. The consumer judging panel stripped away the layers of elaborate marketing, brand recognition, price point disparity, and most importantly, the bias of established judges, to reward the brands that are truly the best in class.

Winners of the SIP Awards will also receive exclusive exposure through internet media, social networking sites, television, and print publicity campaigns.  Brands that win SIP Awards are distinguished as a preferred brand by consumers, which strengthens the brand to rise to new heights in marketing and sales.  Beverage industry media partners offer special promotions extended only to SIP Award medal winners, which further contributes to their public relations activities. 

The SIP Awards is sponsored by the most well-known industry publications, such as:  Bar Business Magazine, Nightclub & Bar Magazine, Chilled Magazine, Food & Beverage Magazine, Modern Distillery Age, Proof66, DrinkedIn, Mutineer Magazine, and DrinkMe Magazine.  As an international competition, the SIP Awards’ reach is far and wide and, as such, a portion of all proceeds are annually donated to the American Red Cross, an organization whose long history of good will is felt worldwide.

The deadline for entering the SIP Awards competition is June 3, 2011. For entry forms and information on the upcoming competition, please visit http://www.sipawards.com or
call 1-888-254-1764

Last Tasting of the Year!!!!!!!!!

This is it, the last tasting of the year!!

No tickets necessary, simply turn up with 2£ (and raffle money) and savour your 4 drams! Still a huge selection left!

When: Wednesday 18th May – 7pm
Where: The Butchart Centre, University Road
 
Are you going???

Thank to everyone who supported us this year! We´ll be back in September for an even bigger and better AUMWS!!!!

University of Aberdeen Malt Whisky Society
The Butchart Centre
University Road
Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire AB24 3UT
aberdeenwhisky@googlemail.com