May 2010

Dear Client,

This month we are offering seven (7) new OLD MALT CASK releases, as well as another DOUBLE BARREL (Highland Park/Bowmore) plus a new (36 bottle) pack of miniature BIG PEATs.

The OLD MALT CASK Tasting Notes follow:

OMC 1832 Tobermory 14 Year Old Sherry Finished
Nose: Rich & nutty, powerful & warming + leather & cordite
Palate: Sweetly cherried, runs to smoking oak + a tannic quality
Finish: Long & dry, still smoky runs to a tangy walnut character (J)

OMC 1830 Glen Grant 14 Year Old
Nose: Opens fresh & clean with barley sugar and develops to a toffee character
Palate: Light and attractive, the fruitily sweet body carries to a spicy, citrussy style
Finish: Medium long, replicates nose & palate + vanilla + an orange pith tang (J)

OMC 1815 Scapa 16 Year Old
Nose: Opens sweet, lightly spiced + caramelized banana
Palate: Still spicy & sweet + dried fruit + a homebake style
Finish: Long & dry + a hazelnut & dark chocolate quality (J)

OMC 1828 Jura 18 Year Old
Nose: Fresh, sweet and yeasty (freshly baked waffles) + fruit & cream
Palate: Light and fresh, then sweet + an orange marmalade style
Finish: Orange pith continues then burnt oak and smoked spices linger (J)

OMC 1827 Glen Keith 20 Year Old
Nose: Fresh & clean – sweet stewed fruit quality + barley sugar
Palate: Oily sweetness runs to mouthcoating mandarine liqueur style
Finish: Remains sweet tails to a spicy orange tang and light oak (J)

OMC 1831 Glen Grant 20 Year Old Sherry Matured
Nose: Polished oak, spicy raisins + orange style + ripe bananas & rum
Palate: Opens rich, spiced & warmingly – runs to gingery spiced fruits
Finish: Long with a dry, leathery quality tailing with a nutty, late spiced, style. (F & J)

OMC 1829 Glenlivet 32 Year Old
Nose: Macerated macedonia of fruit + caramelised banana & chocolate
Palate: Distinctly sweet + a warming, buttery, spicy cookie dough quality
Finish: Dedium long and dry + oak & spices + orange bitters lingering (J)

We hope and believe with the new DOUBLE BARREL bottling and BIG PEAT’s minis, allied to some great casks (in particular the Glen Grant 20, and Glenlivet 32) we should have a real interest from all our customers!

Best wishes

Fred

Visit Douglas Laing at www.douglaslaing.com

Caol Ila 25 Year Old Single Casks #5387 & #5388

Two fresh new indie bottlings of the smoky Islay malt from the Bladnoch forum series.

Single cask ex-bourbon hogsheads. Each bottle is Individually numbered.

£74.99 (£63.82 ex VAT) each

www.thewhiskybarrel.com

Scotland’s Online Whisky Shop

Announcing our triumphant new all-natural vintage

The rich mouth feel of our innovative Nadurra range has already caused a stir in the whisky world. That’s why we are delighted to announce the launch of a new Limited Edition vintage, Nadurra Triumph 1991. Available online from The Whisky Exchange.

http://www.thewhiskyexchange.com/P-11884.aspx

Matured in a mixture of American and European oak casks, Nàdurra Triumph 1991 is a limited release bottled at 48% and is the first Nàdurra expression based on a vintage statement.

This new expression has been selected from stocks that were distilled in 1991 using Triumph, a variety of the barley that is no longer used in the production of The Glenlivet. Keeping in line with the Nàdurra range, the Nàdurra Triumph 1991 is non-chill filtered, which better retains its natural flavours with an additional richness and a creamy mouth feel.

The additional resting time and a broader selection of casks provide a layer of complexity, and results in a whisky that is more fruitful and has a mildly sweeter flavour; sure to be appreciated by whisky lovers everywhere.

With only 2,500 bottles available in the UK, Nàdurra Triumph is a real collector’s item. You can purchase it now online at The Whisky Exchange.

The single malt that started it all

Since we announced at the end of last year that we had distilled some new make spirit using peated malt, we have had requests to bottle some of the spirit and also to sell casks filled with spirit which is produced from peated malt.

Firstly we can let you all know that we will be bottling some of the peated new make spirit over the coming months and this will be available through our on-line retail shop initially and dependent upon demand we will make this available through our importers also.

Secondly we have decided that we will produce some more peated spirit at the end of June and at that stage we will fill both Octave Casks and 250 Club Casks. To give us an idea of how many people are interested in purchasing one or other of these types of casks could anyone who is interested please let me know by sending an email to casks@glenglassaugh.com

We are continuing to improve the website and we now have a list of UK stockist and a list of our International Distributors. These can be found under the section called “Our Products”

Over the coming weeks there will some further changes to the site and we will also be able to tell you about some future products which we are currently working on.

As always please let me know if you have any comments or suggestions.

Slange

Stuart

1ST May 2010

Dear Customers,

This month we are bringing to your attention – and to the market – four (4) new PROVENANCE bottlings.

Their Tasting Notes are:

PRV 0617 Glenburgie 11 Year Old
The nose is fresh & clean and carries a sweet, candy floss character and develops to a barbershop style. The palate opens with a fruity sweet quality, reminiscent of pears poached in wine and spices. More pears on the finish, now with cloves and spices (J)

PRV 0614 Arran 12 Year Old

Opens with a sweet character on the nose then develops to a spicy, complex amalgam of bees wax, polished wood, boiled sweets and stewed fruits. The mouthcoating palate carries toffee and runs to dried fruit and spices. The finish is long, replicates the palate and tails with an oak tang. (J)

PRV 0615 Royal Lochnagar 12 Year Old

Opens fresh and fruity on the nose and carries to a barley sugar, sweet style. The palate replicates the nose, still fresh with a mandarin liqueur, sweet character. The finish is light and attractively fruity, still fresh with an orange tang that just runs and runs. (J)

PRV 0624 Port Ellen 27 Year Old

The nose is fresh and clean, developing to a salty, oceanic style and runs to sweet smoke and burnt citrus peel. The palate is well balanced between sweet and smokey elements, then a mentholated quality appears which carries to a soft tar character. The finish is long, sweetly
smoked with a salty, leathery quality. (J)

Already tasted by recent visitors to the office, we hope they will similarly be appreciated by you and your own valued clients. The (ever decreasing) Port Ellen and the Glenburgie (which was considered nicely aperitif and very appropriate for summer consumption) were particularly well received through these recent informal tastings.

We hope they will all have a real interest when we take some of these malts on a Whisky tasting near you. At your service!

Best wishes

Fred

Visit Douglas Laing & Co at http://www.douglaslaingwhisky.com/

Glenfarclas OB 40yo 46%alc.

If you fancy a super-premium, ultra-aged, souper-dooper dram ready for drinking at a penny-pinchingly affordable price, here it is.

There is everything you want from a prestige whisky for sharing, well sherry-matured – but not too much, big aroma – but not too heavy on the palate and big-big value.

On the flavour map it fits in square J5, ‘Rich’. But not just for the rich (ho-ho). Buy lots.

On the flavour map we put it in square J5
Rich

Price excluding VAT: £217.02
£255.00 Including VAT at 17.5%

Visit Loch Fyne Whiskies at www.lfw.co.uk

“This MASTER edition of CÀIRDEAS, which means ‘friendship’ in Gaelic, is a masterful harmony of spirit ranging from 11 to 19 YEARS OF AGE.  It was specifically selected by Laphroaig Master Blender Robert Hicks in celebration of the 2010 Feis Ile and our Friends of Laphroaig worldwide.”

And the back label:

“The spirit from hogshead, combined with the ex-bourbon barrels, have created a truly distinctive Laphroaig with a complex, fruity nose which then gives way to a surprising peat explosion in the mouth, tempered by softer, sweeter, notes.”

Going online to friends.  Beginning of June   £45  3 bottles max per person

1000 – Distillery-sold in the Visitor Centre

4000 – online

Visit Laphroaig Distillery at http://www.laphroaig.com/

Loch Fyne Whiskies has stocked two Signatory Vintage Bottlings

Springbank 1969 40yo Signatory
54.4% abv
£585.00 inc vat
£497.87 ex vat

Magnificently presented 40yo.

Distilled 12 February 1969

Bottled 14 September 2009

Matured in a Refill Sherry Butt no. 263

Limited to 356 bottles.

‘Deep amber in colour, the whisky is rich and powerful, with marmalade – Seville oranges to the fore, with dried fruit peel followed by a delicate almond nuttiness. The finish is long and rewarding.’

Glenugie 1977 32yo Signatory
58.6% abv
£136.50 inc vat
£116.17 ex vat

Distilled: 15 October 1977

Bottled: 19 March 2010

Cask no: 1

Matured in hogsheads and finished in Oloroso butts for 90 months.

Limited to 670 bottles.

Here’s a real room-filling whisky. The sherry-style aroma fills all nooks and crannies like cigar smoke in a snooker room, clinging to your clothes and hair in the way you don’t want chip-fat to.

A big rich whisky; some minty, lavender notes and plenty of dry wood (tea-caddy) and slight smoke, a cigar malt if you must and an ace for me. (LFW Comments)

Best regards,
Loch Fyne Whiskies
david@lfw.co.uk

Visit Loch Fyne Whiskies at www.lfw.co.uk

You will recall I teased you about the imminent release of four new expressions of Highland Park exclusively for global travel retail. Well, here goes…

The Vintage Editions range will replace the current expressions in duty free and consists of four whiskies which were distilled in 1998, 1994, 1990 and 1973. We looked into our maturing stocks to find sherry-seasoned casks which would showcase different dimensions of the classic Highland Park profile of honey sweetness and aromatic peat. Whisky Maker Max McFarlane identified specific vintage years with exceptional casks.

The differences between the expressions lie in the extent to which first-fill or refill European and American oak casks have been used; as always, maturation influences the colour and complexity of each whisky. So the 1998 and the 1990 Vintages emphasise the smokier notes whilst the 1994 and the 1973 highlight the sweeter characteristics.

We asked some whisky luminaries for their opinions. For example, Charlie MacLean found the 1998 “a flawless malt for its age”. Dave Broom reckoned the 1994 tasted of “ripe fruits and melting dark chocolate”. Dominic Roskrow thought the range as a whole was “amazing to see… totally unexpected characteristics”.

The whiskies are not available anywhere other than duty free – not even at the distillery – and will be priced as follows; 1998 Vintage €46 (1l), 1994 Vintage €65 (70cl), 1990 Vintage €99 (70cl) and 1973 Vintage €750 (70cl).
The Highland Park Vintages range is available with immediate effect. Full tasting notes can be found on our website.

For more information on the Best Spirit in the World visit www.highlandpark.co.uk

 
Gerry
Whisky Brand Ambassador of the Year, 2010

The Balvenie Signature – third batch released

The Balvenie Signature is always released in small, numbered batches, and we can reveal that the third batch is nearly ready to meet its public. 

Members of Warehouse 24 can access a short film in the Special Features section, showing Balvenie Malt Master David Stewart selecting the casks and discussing the process.

David explains how, three years ago, he celebrated his 45th year in the whisky industry by creating a 12 year old single malt that embodied the spirit of The Balvenie. To do this he married The Balvenie matured in the three most traditional cask types; first fill bourbon, refill bourbon and sherry.

Signature Batch 3 will be on shelves from May in the UK and France and heading to other countries a little later.

Slainte mhath,

David Mair

THE BALVENIE DISTILLERY COMPANY LIMITED
Registered in Scotland. Registered Number SC138003
Balvenie Maltings, Dufftown, Banffshire, Scotland AB55 4BB
www.thebalvenie.com