Loch Fyne Whiskies is stocking a new item, ‘Balvenie Madeira Cask 17yo’
Balvenie Madeira Cask 17yo
43% abv
£62.90 inc vat
£54.70 ex vat
Best regards,
Loch Fyne Whiskies
david@lfw.co.uk
Visit Loch Fyne Whiskies at https://www.lfw.co.uk/
Daily Dram
Our Daily Dram online shop has extended his range. We can offer 4 new bottlings as follows:
New: Craigellachie 1984, 25 years, 53.7%, Joint bottling of Daily Dram & Whisky Agency
Undercover n°4 1990 (Speyside), 19 years 48%
Rigah Opal: Laphroaig 1996, 13 years 55%
Glaring Echo: Glen Garioch 1991, 18 years 46 %
We have also added the Islay Selection of The Whisky Agency´s Liquid Library to our shop:
Bowmore 1998, 10 years, 46%
Bunnahabhain 1976, 32 years, 45,8%
Caol Ila 1982, 29 years, 49,9%
Laphroaig 1996, 12 years, 59.8%
Laphroaig 2000, 9 years, 58%
Laphroaig 2001, 8 years, 59%
Our current range is updated here: www.daily-dram.de
Your contact: info@dailydram.de (Vincent Löhn)
The Octave & Quarter Cask Range Premium Single Malt, Single Grain and Exclusive Blendings
Duncan Taylor and Co Ltd has experimented for many years in the use of differing cask sizes for the maturation of Single Malt and Single Grain Scotch Whiskies. Our research stemmed from a simple premise that there is more wood interaction with spirit over a shorter period of time in a small cask than in a large cask, therefore allowing a more rapid “melding” of wood, air and alcohol. The resultant spirit demonstrated a depth of maturity missing in a larger cask over a similar period of storage. On completion of a relatively short maturation period of a younger whisky, the spirit appeared smoother, more balanced with plenty of character more reminiscent of a long maturation. The rough edges were removed and the taste profile changed dramatically to what would be considered a whisky of a much more mature nature or vintage. The whisky became polished, bright and sparkled with intensity.
We experimented to see how octave and quarter cask maturation would affect whiskies that had already been matured for long periods in larger casks. The trial was done on existing 2nd or 3rd fill casks using older whiskies that had not quite matured to the level of quality expected by Duncan Taylor. The result was once again astonishing. On re-racking the whiskies, we found that after just a few months the casks had breathed new life into the whisky, quickly changing hue, taste, form and character of the spirit. The whisky was rejuvenated, a little more aggressive, with the commanding presence of a mature well balanced peerless Scotch Whisky.
The results of our maturation tests for both young and old whiskies confirmed our belief that this would interest consumers and that they would try this revolutionary method of what is regarded as technically finishing a whisky, no matter what the age or whisky type.
After many in-house tasting sessions with customers we quickly realised that releasing the definitive Octave and Quarter Cask Range of Single Malt and Single Grain Scotch Whiskies was a given.
You now have the benefit of our exhaustive research to have a unique cask of your own to monitor first hand how your whisky will transform in your chosen cask format, whether it is in octave or quarter casks, ex Bourbon or ex Sherry wood.
Euan Shand
Quality Spirit
Duncan Taylor & Company Limited, established in 1938, is renowned for the quality and range of its single malts, single grain and deluxe blended Scotch Whiskies. It has been awarded the IWSC Trophy on two occasions, IWSC Golds, The World Whisky award for Scotch Grain 2010 (note: matured in a Duncan Taylor Quarter Cask) , and is currently Whisky Magazine’s Independent Bottler of the Year 2009. The pedigree is there for all to see.
Octave and Quarter Casks
Our octave and quarter casks have been constructed from ex Sherry casks in Spain and from ex Bourbon casks here in Scotland. The casks are of the highest quality using the finest staves.
The whisky in our Octave and Quarter Cask Range has not been chill-filtered or coloured, it remains in its natural state keeping the flavours and textures unaltered. The spirit is from a single cask, and is kept at cask strength.
As octave and quarter casks are smaller than standard butt or hogshead casks, the opportunity to own a private cask just became more affordable.
With fewer bottles from each cask, the spirit becomes all the more exclusive.
Exclusively Yours
The Octave and Quarter Range provides a method of cask ownership that is totally unique and perfect for corporate and own label bottlings or personalizing your own bottles with your family, company or club name. The Octave is the perfect size allowing you 70 bottles to share with family, friends or business colleagues.
Duncan Taylor maintain an in-house marketing and design team with diverse experience and an award-winning portfolio. Custom labels and corporate packaging can be arranged to suit your needs.
A back label for this brand is customized to include the distillation and bottling date, cask number, total number of bottles, whisky region and age. Tasting notes can also be incorporated into the descriptive text.
A Vast Range of Whiskies
Duncan Taylor has produced its own range of Octave and Quarter cask bottlings from its vast range of Single Malt and Single Grain Scotch Whiskies. Only the top Distilleries spirits have been used for this range, including whiskies from Bunnahabhain, Bowmore and Caol Ila from Islay, Ben Nevis and Glengarioch from the Highlands, Glenlivet, Macallan and Glenrothes from Speyside, Springbank and Glen Scotia from Cambeltown, Highland Park and Jura from the Islands and Auchentoshan and Inverleven from the lowlands. The grain range has Invergordon, Strathclyde, Carsebridge and many others.
Available Stock
The following single malts and single grains are a sample of the whiskies available from the Octave and Quarter cask range:
Aberlour
Auchentoshan
Ben Nevis
Bowmore
Bunnahabhain
Carsebridge
Caol Ila
Caperdonich
Glen Grant
Glenlivet
Glengarioch
Glen Moray
Glenrothes
Imperial
Invergordon
Laphroaig
Lochnagar
Macallan
Springbank
Strathclyde
Tomatin
Many others are available on request. Please contact
the Duncan Taylor sales team at +44 (0)1466 794055
or at sales@duncantaylor.com.
Amazing November Arrivals at the Park Avenue Liquor Shop
Greetings!
This week is ‘WhiskyFest Week’ here in New York City. Sure it’s a ‘convention’ by definition but we consider it more like a long holiday. As part of the celebration we are happy to announce the debut of some exciting new whisk(e)y bottlings including yet another Park Avenue Liquor Shop exclusive.
Thanks for looking. Be sure to contact us with any questions.
Cheers!
Jonathan & Eric
Park Avenue Liquor Shop
292 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10017
212-685-2442
www.parkaveliquor.com
info@parkaveliquor.com
Usquaebach Flagon (Ceramic Crock)
Usquaebach Flagon
The wait is over!! The Usquaebach Flagon that you remember is back on the shelf. This bottling is a blend of 41 malts, the oldest of which is 20 years old.
It has a vibrant, honey-amber color and a what has been called, “one of the most beguiling noses in the Scotch world.” Roasted almonds, butter cream, sweet oak and vanilla combine in a wonderful symphony of fragrance. There are concentrated flavors of pepper, coffee and sherry to dazzle tastebuds that extends to the mid-palate and beyond. This remarkably balanced blend
is ‘crock’ full of character. Welcome back old friend.
Our Price: $120
Compass Box: Lady Luck
Park Avenue Liquor Shop Exclusive
Notes provided by Compass Box:
Lady Luck This is a malt whisky inspired by what we used to refer to as the “lucky blend”. Compass Box came across some casks of 25 and 29 year old Caol Ila whisky. They then set to create this ‘lucky blend’ by combining it with some gorgeous 14 year old Imperial single malt. The result is nothing short of special. Flavor descriptors: Deeply smoky, with an ethereal fruity character in the background. Extremely complex on the palate. Structured, balanced and very, very long on the palate. (92 proof, not chill filtered, natural color) Our Price: $166
Wild Turkey – “Tradition”
Wild Turkey Tradition
This is a limited edition 14 year old, 101-proof bourbon. This Master Distiller Selection, only the third in this series of special selections, celebrates the history of the Wild Turkey Distillery and the traditions held dear by the people of Kentucky. Only 14,000 bottles are available in the U.S. It has been aged for 14 years in white oak barrels with the heaviest (and most expensive) level of char. After aging in the “sweet spot” or “center cut” of the warehouse, the liquid was bottled at 101 proof to retain its true bourbon flavor. Our Price: $120
Woodford Reserve: Seasoned Oak
Woodford Seasoned
‘Seasoned Oak Finish’ is the fourth in a series of limited bottlings from Woodford Reserve called the, “Master’s Collection”. According to Master Distiller Chris Morris, Woodford is the only bourbon company that crafts its own barrels, which as a result gives them unique knowledge of the process. The staves for most bourbon barrels are seasoned for three to five months; however, ‘Seasoned Oak Finish’ combines fully matured Woodford Reserve barrels crafted from wood that has been exposed outdoors for three to five years-the longest in the bourbon industry. The result is a new and complex flavor profile. Our Price: $100
Loch Fyne Whiskies News has posted some new items;
Gold Bowmore
42.4% abv
£2975.00 inc vat
£2586.96 ex vat
Bowmore Tempest
55.3% abv
£39.50 inc vat
£34.35 ex vat
Hurrah! Bowmore is back without it’s flowery friend!’…This is Bowmore truly back on form and an ace…’
Glen Garioch Founder’s Reserve
48% abv
£27.00 inc vat
£23.48 ex vat
You may view the latest post at
https://www.lfw.co.uk/
Best regards,
Loch Fyne Whiskies
david@lfw.co.uk
Its back…but only for a while.
Only 100 cases available in Brtish Columbia.
LAGAVULIN 12 YEAR OLD ABV 57.9%
A limited edition, natural cask strength single malt whisky. From the essential Islay distillery, Lagavulin, on Islay’s rocky south coast. Eighth of a series of special 12 year old releases from the original distiller’s stocks.
Vatted from refill American Oak casks, each at least 12 years old.
Available in limited quantities worldwide.
LAGAVULIN 12 YR – Available now
CSPC # 409706
PRICE: $115.99
LISTING STATUS: Specialty
“GOLD MEDAL” Scotch Whisky Masters 2009
TASTING NOTE:
Appearance: Very pale white wine
Palate: Sweet and fresh, then very smoky. Marshmallow, digestive biscuit, Assam tea.
Finish: Billows smoke, Lagavulin trademark peatiness, slight fruit, warming and long finish.
Kris Steed
Reserve Brands & Wine Specialist
RESERVE BRANDS GROUP
A division of Diageo Canada
www.weareworldclass.com
“Live, eat, breathe luxury”
Society Bottle
As you know we had a wee tasting panel made up of twenty Society Members who were entrusted to choose your next Society bottle. They each received three miniatures and were asked to assess them and cast their votes in the order of preference. The panel chose cask number 4 from 2001 from a fresh bourbon cask, followed very closely by number 7, also from a fresh bourbon cask.
The labels have been printed, and the cask bottled, and we are now ready to get the show on the road. The number is very limited, so will be on a first come first served basis, one per member. The cost for this one is £36.00 plus p&p and I would ask those of you who would like to order to e mail me at society@springbankwhisky.com
As this is the last Society Bottle of the year, and it is approaching Christmas we have decided to give you a little Christmas gift with your bottle. We have ordered some Glencairn nosing glasses with the Society logo on them, and we will include one of these lovely glasses with your bottle. The glasses will be available for sale to Society members at a later date.
You can read some of the panel’s tasting notes in the Springbank forum under general discussions then under “Society bottle winner” and “Society bottle have your say”.
We do intend to make this a regular practice so that Society members are more involved in what we bottle for you. We will, however, announce the fact that we are looking for a tasting panel in the forum before it is announced in a newsletter, so if you are not on the forum yet, and are keen to join in, please go into the forum and register. If you have any problems when you try to register either e mail me or telephone me and I will try to help you.
Springbank CV 20cl Sets
We now have the Springbank CV 20cl sets available for sale both in the online shop and in Cadenhead Whisky shop. The sets are made up of Springbank, Longrow and Hazelburn CV and are priced at £35 less your 10% discount, so price to members is £31.50 plus p&p. Check out the website for an image of the set – a very nice gift pack.
Local Barley Prints
We sold quite a few of the local barley prints, but unfortunately some of our members are still waiting to receive their prints. We had placed our order with the supplier when we were asked for a few more, and it was too late to change our order. Apologies to those who are still waiting. If anyone is interested in buying one of the prints, which are numbered, and also have your Society membership number, please let me know, then when we have enough orders we will have another run of the print done.
Poetry Competition
We had a poetry competition last month, again announced on the forum, and had only two entries. We could not choose between the two entries, so gave each of the members a bottle specially labelled with their names as a prize. The poems will be put on the forum shortly.
We will try to have competitions on a more regular basis, but this is your Society, so tell us what you would like and we will take everyone’s suggestions into consideration.
Recent New Mercedes Launch
Springbank’s products were featured at the recent launch of the new Mercedes. The event attracted thousands of guests over 3 days, with Springbank, Campbeltown Loch and Longrow being the chosen whiskies. The bar was set up in the prestigious Maybach Room, for their most exclusive guests only.
You can see the pre event photographs on the forum, General discussions.
The Technical Bit
Mashing
The sole purpose of combining hot water and grist or mashing, is to extract the maximum amount of fermentable sugars as sugar wort from the malted barley.
Here at Springbank mashing takes place in a large circular vessel made of cast iron. It is equipped with a conventional rake and plow mechanism for stirring the mash and ridding the mashtun of draff. Gun metal drainage plates with a large number of small slits cut in them are laid on the mash tun floor to create a “ false bottom “. Connected to the bottom of the mash tun are drainage pipes and these pipes are connected to a collection vessel known as either a balance drainer or an underback. Grist entering the mash tun is mixed with hot water in a Steel`s mashing machine. During the mashing process starch within the grist is gelatinised allowing enzymes to attack and break down the starch and large degradation products into fermentable sugars.
Depending on malt types and harvest conditions the temperature of water and grist mixed within the mashing machine should be between 63.0 and 65.0ºC. Depending on the distillery and type of plant the ratio of water to grist should be around 4 to 1 when mashing in. Once mashing is complete the grist and water mix is left for a minimum period of time known as “ the stand time “.
Springbank Distillery has a conventional mash tun. Mashing in of grist and water takes around 20 minutes. After the stand time controlled drainage of the water, known as “ wort “ takes place until the mash bed is almost dry. A second water is then added to the grist bed at a temperature of around 70ºC. Again, controlled drainage of wort takes place until the mash bed is almost completely dry or to the point where the wort starts to turn cloudy.
The first and second waters are pumped through a heat exchanger commonly known as a worts cooler where the temperature is controlled to around 16 – 20ºC. The cooled worts are pumped to a fermentation vessel known as a washback. The total amount of worts collected from the first and second waters will equate to approximately three quarters of the volume of the washback. The original gravity of the worts collected from the combined first and second waters will be in the order of 1048 – 1070 dependent on the distillery.
A third and, sometimes a fourth water, will now be added to the mash tun at temperatures of between 80 and 90ºC. These liquors will be used for mashing during the subsequent mash.
After draining all four waters the grist, now known as draff or wet grains, is removed from the mash tun by mechanical means. Springbanks mash tun has large rotating paddles know as “ stirring gear “ which are used to stir the grist bed and to assist in the removal of draff. Draff can be sold to farmers in its wet condition where it can be used as a good “ filler “ for sheep or cattle. It contains around 4% protein and 1% fibre. In its wet condition draff contains around 80% moisture.
As always, if you have any questions or wish to add to the discussions in the technical section please feel free to email us here at the distillery.
Cheers
Stuart
Distillery Manager
Malting
The production team have been malting some barley recently. Here’s a photo of one of the guys laying the floor.
NEW WHISKY BAR AND SHOP, MILAN
A new Cadenhead’s Whisky Bar has opened at Via Poliziano 3, 20154 Milan, Italy. Contact details: telephone 0039(0)2 3360 5592 or e mail whiskybar@cadenhead.it website www.cadenhead.it
As usual, your comments are welcome.
Slainte
Janet
for Springbank Society
J & A Mitchell and Co Ltd, The Tasting Room, 9 Bolgam Street, Campbeltown, Argyll, PA28 6HZ
Registered in Scotland, registration number 3582
Tel : + 44(0) 1586 552009 Fax : + 44(0) 1586 553232 website http://www.springbankwhisky.com
To Join the Springbank Society please email Janet at society@springbankwhisky.com
This special blend is a marriage of the finest 12 year old single malt and single grain whiskies distilled in Scotland. The selection of whiskies falls true to the Duncan Taylor ethic of unbridled quality, each whisky from each cask is nose and tasted before going into the Black Bull vatting.
The Black Bull blend was originally trademarked in the 1930s and was consumed by connoisseurs for over 70 years predominantly in the United States and Great Britain, however it is now exported to many more countries throughout the world.
50% malt, 50% grain, 50% abv
Black Bull contains 50% malt whisky and 50% grain whisky a
nd is non-chill filtered.
Tasting Notes
Colour: Full Amber
Nose: Robust, chunky aromas. Chocolate, toffee, sherry,
vanilla and lemon sherbet.
Flavour: Smooth, mellow and rounded. Milk chocolate, treacle
toffee, pears, green apples and lots of sweet vanilla.
Finish: Some heavier fruity notes emerge, and lots of creamy
notes coming through.
Comment: A very creamy whisky with a lot fruity toffee notes.
Brought to you by the award winning independent bottler
Duncan Taylor & Co, Huntly Scotland
www.blackbullwhisky.com
November 2009
Dear Customer,
Tasting notes for our two (2) new PROVENANCE bottlings are as follows:
PRV0583 ROYAL LOCHANGAR 10 YEAR OLD
The nose is fresh and fruity with peaches in syrup, even marinated apricots, and carries a vanilla sweetness. The palate opens sweet with more vanilla and develops to a citric, spicy oak character. The finish is long, still attractively fruity, spiced, and sweet (pineapple juice). (J)
PRV0584 ALLT-A-BHAINNE 11 YEAR OLD SHERRY FINISH
The nose opens with raspberries in syrup then a malty sweetness appears with a barley sugar quality. Sweetness and spices balance each other on the palate reminiscent of an authentic Turkish delight. The finish is long and
warming with Scottish tablet and a burnt caramel tang. (J)
All the best,
Fred Laing
Managing Director
Visit Douglas Laing at http://www.douglaslaing.com/
