Ardbeg OB Supernova 2010 60.1%alc.

Very limited and so strictly maximum of 2 bottles per person.

Official Tasting Note

Colour: Deep gold

Aroma: Big and powerful with peaty, earthy and deep herbal notes.

With the first sniff, encounter deep earthy peat oils and crushed black pepper embedded in the darkest chocolate. Swirl the glass and dip your nose into herbal infusions of juniper, elderflower and agave. Tarry ropes and creosote-soaked elm follow with flowering currants, olives and hot chilli peppers.

Swirl water into the glass, and voyage into the unknown with smoky coal tar, an open box of rolling tobacco, peat moss and roasted malt. A barbeque of smoky charcoal rises above the peat moss, softened by camomile, cedar and heather bloom. A blast of brine, white pepper and smoky asparagus escapes into the atmosphere with a spritely display of gooseberries and greengages.

Taste: Ardbeg challenges the palate with a smoke and salt explosion – hot, sizzling and gristy sensations effervesce and explode on the tongue with a powerful peaty punch. Black and white crushed pepper pop with chilli and chocolate. Chewy sweet rolling tobacco, linseed oil and newly tanned leather roll backwards on a wave of brininess and burst of juicy lime marmalade. Cigar smoke builds up to a crescendo before drying out to bring dark roast earthy coffee, toasted almonds and liquorice root.

Finish: Long, deep and powerful, refusing to fade away – remaining warm and drying with tarry peat, cocoa and chilli.
Ardbeg Supernova 2010

Price excluding VAT: £64.60
£75.90 Including VAT at 17.5%

Order your today at www.lfw.co.uk

The Irishman Tasting Notes

Did you know….

…that Martine Nouet of Whisky Magazine in France has put together the following tasting notes on The Irishman?

The Irishman 70 Potstill

Nose: Fruity, fresh lemon and a hint of freshly cut grass

Palate: Ginger at first, then followed by a fruit explosion with touches of      green apples

Finish: Smooth, fruity, spicy and lingering

The Irishman Single Malt

Nose: Citrus, lemon, sweet and creamy

Palate: It goes straight to the roof of the mouth, sweet fruit, red fruits (reflecting the sherry cask finish) with a hint of passion fruit, dried cereal, almonds and honey

Finish: Cloying, drier, warm and extremely well balanced

 Let us know what you think. We would be delighted to send a bottle of The Irishman Single Malt as a prize for the most creative and meaningful tasting notes for The Irishman Single Malt notes we receive from a whisk(e)y club. Drop us an e-mail with full mailing address and the name of your whisk(e)y club…and of course your tasting notes for The Irishman Single Malt.

Sláinte!

www.thehotirishman.com

June Outturn: 10 little honey-bees perfect for summer seduction

It’s all about those sweet, sweet single casks this June Outturn.  Be transported to the fairground with the candyfloss memories of 123.5.  Enjoy the buttercup, honeysuckle and passion-fruit in 63.25 or a highly potent kick in the diaphragm with 23.64 (if you’re that way inclined).

31.19 Night-shift in the canteen
Highland Island
£56.20 inc. Free P&P
A grubby, industrial background – diesel oil, exhaust fumes, bus stations, ship yards – with scents of food in the foreground – glazed ham in a roasting tin, omelette, egg custard
Age: 21 years            Cask:  Refill ex-bourbon hogshead

23.64 Potent and assertive
Islay
£40.20 inc. Free P&P
We thought the nose very unusual, with lots going on; charred apricot, delicately cured ham, machair (cotton grass, flowers, salty, fresh), oaky white wine, honey, barley sugar
Age: 7 years            Cask:  Refill ex-bourbon barrel

Summertime Sweethearts:
Buy Sweetheart Pairs 1.153 & 27.80 OR 123.5 & 63.25 for only £86
(save £10.40)

1.153 A cornucopia of mellifluous sweetness
Speyside Spey
£42.20 inc. Free P&P

27.80 Old hemp ropes in a fishing boat
Campbeltown
£54.20 inc. Free P&P

123.5 Feisty but fun
Highland Southern
£40.20 inc. P&P

63.25 The magic of flowers
Speyside Spey
£56.20 inc. P&P

SIX June Outturn
@ Aberdeen Mal & Birmingham & Brighton Hotel du Vin
Sample SIX new June drams behind the bar at Aberdeen Malmaison and Birmingham and Brighton Hotel du Vin. 

Enjoy: 123.5, 4.141, 31.19, 44.44, 23.64 & 33.86

SMWS Whisky Tasting & Events
New Outturn Open Tasting – London, Sat 5 Jun
New Outturn & Sunday Roast Tasting – The Vaults, Sun 6 Jun
New Outturn Open Tasting – London, Mon 7 Jun
Whisky & Gems with Nicholas James – London, Wed 9 Jun
Whisky & Diamonds with Eric Emms – London, Thu 10 Jun
Taste of Islay London Cruise – Edwardian Cruise Boat, Thu 17 Jun
Two Distilleries, One Day Tour – The Vaults, Sat 19 Jun
Blend Your Own Whisky Lunch – The Vaults, Sun 20 Jun
South African Dinner – 28 Queen Street, Wed 23 Jun
Wokingham Preview Sensory Tasting – Cantley House, Thu 24 Jun
Dundee Preview Tasting – Hilton Hotel, Fri 25 Jun
Inverness Preview Tasting – Kingsmills Hotel, Fri 25 Jun

Join the Society today so you too can enjoy thses bottlings http://www.smws.co.uk/memberships

Dallas Dhu 29 Year Old, Duncan Taylor Rare Auld

Single cask #388. Bottled May 2010, a cask strength bottling of the closed and very collectable Dallas Dhu distillery from the award winning Duncan Taylor, Rare Auld series.

271 numbered bottles.

Distillery: Dallas Dhu

Historic Scotland maintains this mothballed, Highland distillery as a museum which allows visitors to inspect the inner workings, to the very guts, of a distillery but without the noises, heat or smells. Rather an eerie sense to the place and a tad naked without its own stock in its own warehouses, but at least it is still standing, stills intact. Founded 1898, closed 1983.

Product Details

Age: 29 Year Old
Vintage: 1981
Volume: 70cl
ABV: 53.0%
Bottler: Duncan Taylor

New single cask releases…

Bowmore 22 Year Old, Old & Rare Sherry £174.99 £148.93 ex VAT
Caperdonach 37 Year Old £121.99 £103.82 ex VAT
Coal Ila 9 Year Old £43.99 £37.44 ex VAT
Port Ellen Rarest of the Rare 27 Year Old, 1983 £189.99 £161.69 ex VAT
Port Ellen Provenance 27 Year Old, 1983 £144.99 £123.40 ex VAT
Hanyu Noh 1988 Cask #9306 £124.99 £106.37 ex VAT
Hanyu 1990 Cask #9305 £104.99 £89.35 ex VAT

Visit The Whisky Barrel at www.thewhiskybarrel.com

We are pleased to make the SUPERNOVA available to buy NOW
 
£ 78 inc VAT
 
(2 bottles per person maximum folkes)
 
World wide shipping is avaiulable for this product…please ask for prices.
 
YOU NEED TO ORDER FROM US……………….
 
Thanks
 
David Gardener
Nickolls and Perks
International Wine & Spirit Merchants 1797
 
(+44 0)1384394518
Icons of Whisky 2010
 
www.nickollsandperks.co.uk

Whisky of the Week  Benromach 10YO 43%

The Benromach 10YO is our Whisky of the Week this week and is a favourite of everyone here in the office. One of the more medium-bodied Speyside whiskies this one has lots of rich fruit and spice on the nose and on the palate fruit salad, lots of malt and underlying peat smoke.

Yours this week for only £27.99

http://www.singlemaltsdirect.com

Dear Customer

This just confirms that we are releasing one new PROVENANCE bottling this month whose tasting notes follow:

PRV0623 CLYNELISH 12 YEAR OLD

On the nose detect spicy citric notes with oak, grist and copious honey apparent. The palate also shows distinct honey, with an attractive backdrop of barley and soft buttery oak – all leading to a still sweet finish, which is spicy and trails smoke. (F)

We hope you like it and the current selection is proving attractive to you.

Thank you for your support which is appreciated.

Please accept our best wishes,

Fred H Laing
Managing Director

Visit Douglas Laing at http://www.douglaslaing.com/

Dear Customer

We have caught up a little on our preferred schedule for the OLD MALT CASK offering 8 new selections (including an 18 year old Ardbeg) From the DOUBLE BARREL brand we have batch number 6 of the Macallan/Laphroaig and have filled 2 new PREMIER BARREL bottlings in their ceramic decanters – hoping for your and your valued clients ongoing interest.

Tasting Notes follow first for OLD MALT CASK

OMC1843 MORTLACH (SHERRY) 12 YEAR OLD
Nose: Opens spicy, with a Christmas pudding quality – runs to barley & toffee
Palate: Warming, mouth coating, still spicy – develops to a vanilla + oak style
Finish: Long & richly spiced, carries to a toffee on burnt toast character (J)

OMC 1839 DEANSTON 15 YEAR OLD
Nose: Fresh & flowery – runs to honey with a fruit Macedonia style
Palate: Warming, spicy + sweet barley + a stewed tropical fruit quality
Finish: Short and delicious, still fresh with an attractive fruit tang (J)

OMC1755 ARDBEG 18 YEAR OLD
Nose: Starts sweet, warms to barley, tails to peat.
Palate: Heavily and sweetly phenolic, now tarry/creosoted
Finish: Sweet with soft tar, plus light smoke ‘n’ spice (F)

OMC1842 GLEN SCOTIA (SHERRY FINISHED) 18 YEAR OLD
Nose: Toffee & shortbread, dried fruit + a buttery sweet character
Palate: Opens sweetly, then warmingly spiced + a dry oaky style
Finish: Long, dry, runs to a nutty/late herbal (camomile?) quality (J)

OMC1840 TAMNAVULIN 18 YEAR OLD
Nose: Opens with toffee and tobacco – runs to sweet spices + a ripe fruit style
Palate: Initially fresh & gristy, carries to a macerated fruit style + more toffee
Finish: Round and smooth, still sweet with more spices + a light smoky quality (J)

OMC1841 DALMORE (Amontillado SHERRY FINISHED) 20 YEAR OLD
Nose: Malty and spiced, smoothly oaked, fruit gums in style + chickory?
Palate: Massively dry, very spiced , and attractively “waxy”.
Finish: With a dry cough mixture style – distinctly Amontillado in character (F)

OMC1838 GLENBURGIE 20 YEAR OLD
Nose: Barley sweet + stewed raspberries + caramelised peaches
Palate: Still sweet + wine gums + orange liqueur + buttery vanilla
Finish: Medium long, with a gristy dryness + orange pith (J)

OMC1844 MORTLACH 21 YEAR OLD
Nose: Honey sweet initially – running drier and spicier.
Palate: Gentle till held – then Malt, honey and spices kick in.
Finish: Big on camphor, warmingly spiced, sweet then dry! (F)

The OLD & RARE Tasting Notes follow:

0AR0097 BOWMORE (SHERRY FINISH) 22 YEAR OLD
This is not your typical Bowmore. The nose is fresh and carries sweet spices, muscovado sugar and runs to spicy fruit boxes, polished wood and tobacco. The palate is mild, round and has different layers which interchange throughout between spicy toffee and honey, to ashes and a pipe smoke quality. The finish is long and well balanced between sweetness and smoke, spices and ashes (J)

Tasting Notes for PREMIER BARREL are as follows:

PBR0077 HIGHLAND PARK 11YEAR OLD
Watch out for the Parky! This one’s purview particularly provides a protégé’s package of dulcet purity and a pugnaciously palpable pedigree/prospectus of fabulous phenolic propensity and providence to partake. A pageant of peat! (F)

PBR0076 MACALLAN 12 YEAR OLD
AR OLDA highfalutin homily to a hugely harmonious harvest of honey – stimulated by a swanky splice of spice – specifically, a calculatedly cumulative current of curiously camouflaged camphor. The meritorious made manifest in the Macallan! (F)

DOUBLE BARREL

DBS0012 MACALLAN/LAPROAIG 10 YEAR OLD
The Laphroaig dominates yet allows waves of soft honey from the Macallan to roll ashore. We believe these are all of the correct quality we, and you look for in our bottlings and we hope that they will have your interest accordingly. We will look forward to hearing from you over the coming weeks and send you our best wishes from all – including BIG PEAT (on his 9th batch) – at Douglas Laing & Company.

Yours sincerely

Fred H Laing
Managing Director

Visit Douglas Laing at http://www.douglaslaing.com/

JOHNNIE WALKER GREEN LABEL

SCOTCH VATTED MALT OF THE YEAR – 95 POINTS – Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible 2010

PRICE: $69.99

CSPC: +196188

STATUS: Specialty

SIZE: 12 x 750 ml per case

NOTE: Four signature malts provide the key taste influences giving this 15 year old whisky its status as a malt of substance.  TALISKER™ introduces power and depth of character, CAOL ILA™ contributes mystery and intensity, at its heart, CRAGGANMORE™ provides a sweet overt maltiness and LINKWOOD™ touches it with finesse.  Blending the whisky entirely from malts produces a smooth whisky in which the flavours of individual components are more distinctive.

Of rich gold amber appearance, this medium full malt summons up a multiplicity of complex natural aromas.  It starts on the seashore, then drifts inland over moist moss and through evergreen forest.  Next come the exotic notes of Seville orange peel, stewed peaches, cooked black fruits and sour cherry.

Ever-changing on the palate too, JOHNNIE WALKER GREEN LABEL has a soft rich core with suggestions of heather honey, banana chips, loganberry baked apple and butterscotch.  Sweet spices touch the sides and a nutty note allows intense flavours to filter through.  All this is framed by subtle oak and finished in spice, cocoa, cedar and smouldering tobacco.

http://www.johnniewalker.com/

Sample the World’s Most Expensive Whiskies (on a Budget)

Online retailer and independent bottler, Master of Malt, have launched a revolutionary whisky sample service called ‘Drinks by the Dram’
For the first time ever, whisky lovers and drinks connoisseurs will be able to purchase inexpensive 3cl (30ml) samples of a rapidly growing range of Scotch whisky and other spirits from across the globe.

The inability to sample high-end drinks like Scotch whisky before making a purchase has been a clear stumbling block for online off-licenses since their emergence in the late 1990s. “Drinks by the Dram” neatly solves this problem allowing by connoisseurs and beginners alike to ‘try before they buy’ on a huge range of whiskies and other spirits.

Master of Malt’s Sales Director, Ben Ellefsen, explains that the idea originally grew out of an informal sample service for friends and staff:

“As pretty serious whisky fans ourselves, we wanted a way that we could sample new releases from our favourite distilleries and bottlers without the expense of committing to a whole bottle of each before we’d even tried it.

Drinks by the Dram started life as a way of allowing our staff and friends to compare and contrast a range of whiskies safe in the knowledge that the investment required was not one that was likely to land them in the dog-house on a semi-regular basis.”

He continues “We soon found the friends we gave samples to often came back and bought the rest of the bottle! When we showed the idea to the distilleries and brand owners, the reaction was so unequivocally positive we decided make the service available to our customers as well.

A few months down the line, and we’re starting to see excellent results, grateful customers, and slightly more haggard-looking employees… We hope to have several hundred drams available soon, and are currently working tirelessly to offer an even bigger selection for whisky fans everywhere.”

Try before you buy

One of the most exciting parts of the service is the wide range of samples available. The selection is vast, and numerous styles of spirits and whiskies are available; from 10 year old Bourbon, to 40 year old single malt Scotch whisky.

The range isn’t just high end malts though; there are samples of “everyday” whiskies, with prices starting from only GBP 1.95.

The drams are labeled with handmade paper, and each bottle individually wax dipped to seal it.

The initial range includes samples from many world famous brands including Glenfarclas, Bruichladdich and Edradour whisky distilleries, and several outstanding independent bottlers, including Murray McDavid; Renegade Rum; Alchemist; Signatory and The Vintage Malt Whisky Company.

The range is expanding rapidly, and there will be several hundred more samples available by the end of May, with over a thousand expected by Christmas. A full list of samples is available at: http://www.masterofmalt.com/drinks-by-the-dram

About Drinks by the Dram

• Inexpensive 3cl (30ml) samples to try before you buy
• Revolutionary new concept in online drinks retail
• 100 drinks currently available as “drams” with over 200 expected by the end of May
• See a list of available drams at: http://www.masterofmalt.com/about-drinks-by-the-dram

About Master of Malt

• Award winning Independent Bottler
• Online Whisky and Spirits retailer with over 25 years of experience.
• Website: http://www.masterofmalt.com

Follow Master of Malt on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/masterofmalt.com
Keep up to date with whisky and spirits news on the Master of Malt blog: http://www.masterofmalt.com/blog
Contact Ben Ellefsen, +44(0)1892-888-376, contactus@masterofmalt.com