This year covering 501 distilleries around the world!

The Distillery Section completely revised with all the latest news. The chapter on Distilleries Around the Globe now bigger than ever. New exciting articles by distinguished writers such as Charles MacLean, Gavin D Smith, Neil Ridley, Jonny McCormick, Dominic Roskrow and Ian Wisniewski

Completely new Japanese chapter by Stefan Van Eycken. More than 250 tasting notes, including Japanese malts and independent bottlings. New feature – The Formation of the Big Owners.  A listing of more than 150 of the world´s greatest whisky shops. The Whisky Year That Was – the most comprehensive summary you´ll find of the news and trends in the industry. All the latest info on bottlings, web sites, books as well as the latest statistics and figures. More than 500 colour photos. All in all – the most updated whisky book on the market!

Published by MagDig Media Ltd.
Publication date; 1 October 2017
Number of pages; 300
ISBN 978-0-9576553-4-8
Recommended retail price in UK; £13.95
Contact; ingvar.ronde@magdig.com
www.maltwhiskyyearbook.com

1994 Auchroisk 23 Year Old “Old Particular” K&L Exclusive Single Barrel Cask Strength Single Malt Whisky (750ml) $89.99

While our previous cask of Auchroisk 15 year was a hot deal while it lasted, this advanced and equally brilliant 23 year old edition may have it beat. Absolutely brimming with sweet stone fruit, rock sugar candy, and syrup, this barrel of 53.3% cask strength single malt whisky from Diageo’s Highland distillery brings yet another bang for your buck under the guise of Old Particular. The nose has all the classic aromas of malted barley, vanilla, and oak spices, but it’s the initial blast on the palate where this whisky ultimately shines. Rich and robust on the finish, it’s a classic Scottish malt through and through and the unbeatable price reflects our continued effort to combat the current market with affordable, mature, and exciting whiskies straight from the source.

By: Jeffrey Jones | K&L Staff Member

By: David Driscoll | K&L Staff Member

Eighth Generation Beam Family Member Freddie Noe Introduces Annual Limited Release Series, Little Book™ Whiskey

Clermont, KY (September 20, 2017) – The Beam family is proud to officially announce the launch of Little Book™, the first and highly anticipated product release from Freddie Noe, eighth generation Beam family member and son of current Beam master distiller, Fred Noe. The debut of Little Book marks an exciting step forward for the next generation of Beam family whiskey makers.

Named after the childhood nickname given to Freddie by his grandfather, legendary master distiller, Booker Noe, Little Book™ is an annual, limited release series that will feature a new and unique blend each year, presented uncut and unfiltered1. Guiding each year’s release will be Freddie’s passion for crafting high-quality, interesting blends different from anything else on the market.

“I’m humbled and honored to share Little Book with the world,” said Freddie, who currently serves as the distillery’s fermentation manager. “When I joined the family business five years ago, I told Dad I wanted to learn everything there was to know about making whiskey. Along the way, I discovered I’m particularly fascinated by the endless taste profiles that can be created through blending. I’m excited for whiskey fans to taste the first batch of this annual release, and I look forward to sharing new, one-of-a-kind blends every year. It’s a real honor to carry on my family’s legacy, and I hope I’ve done them proud.”

The inaugural batch release of Little Book, called Little Book “The Easy,” draws inspiration from what the Beam family is known for – great bourbon whiskey. Little Book “The Easy” is a blended straight whiskey that features four unique components: uncut and unfiltered1 corn, rye and malt whiskies – representative of the three grains commonly found in a bourbon mashbill (or recipe) – balanced with uncut, unfiltered1 Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey. Creating the final liquid for Little Book “The Easy” was a labor of love for Freddie, who worked on the final recipe for over a year and tried more than 25 different blends of the liquid before he decided that it was just right and worthy of his debut release.

“It’s exciting to watch my son, Freddie, follow in the family footsteps and share his passion for blending with the release of Little Book,” said Fred Noe. “My dad, Booker, and I used to always say that if Freddie ever decided to join the family business, his distinct palate and nose, along with his eagerness to learn, would take him far. Freddie’s coming into his own as part of the next generation of whiskey makers, and I couldn’t be more proud to support him as he launches his first product.”

Bottled uncut at its natural proof, Little Book “The Easy” is meant to be just that – easy to enjoy however you like it best, whether that’s neat, over ice or with a splash of water. Little Book “The Easy” was blended by Freddie Noe and developed with the following characteristics:

• Blend Overview:
  4-year-old Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey
  13-year-old corn whiskey
  About 6-year-old 100% malt whiskey
  About 6-year-old high-rye whiskey
• Proof: 128.2
• Tasting Notes: Little Book “The Easy” leads with caramel and oak notes, then moves into flavors of toasted nuts and hints of corn grain. The finish is long and packed with peppery rye, making this liquid approachable and easy to enjoy.
• Sipping Suggestions: Neat, over ice or with a splash of water.

Little Book “The Easy” will be available nationwide beginning in October in limited quantities with a Suggested Retail Price of $79.99 for a 750mL bottle.

For more information about Little Book Whiskey, visit http://www.beamsuntory.com/brands/little-book

About Little Book™
Little Book™ is the first-ever product release from Freddie Noe, eighth generation Beam family member, son of seventh generation Beam master distiller, Fred Noe, and grandson of legendary Beam master distiller, Booker Noe. An annual, limited release series, Little Book will feature new and unique blends each year that bring to life Freddie’s passion for blending and his curiosity for the limitless tastes that can be achieved through the process. Each blend will be uncut and unfiltered1 to allow the nuanced taste profiles to shine through and fans to enjoy it the way they choose.

In 2017, Freddie introduced his inaugural batch of Little Book, called Little Book™ “The Easy,” and he will continue to carry on his family tradition of innovation in the industry by creating new releases for Little Book each year, always with the goal of developing new and interesting blends.

About Beam Suntory Inc.
As the world’s third largest premium spirits company, Beam Suntory is Crafting the Spirits Brands that Stir the World. Consumers from all corners of the globe call for the company’s brands, including the iconic Jim Beam and Maker’s Mark bourbon brands and Suntory whisky Kakubin, as well as world renowned premium brands including Knob Creek bourbon, Yamazaki, Hakushu and Hibiki Japanese whiskies, Teacher’s, Laphroaig, and Bowmore Scotch whiskies, Canadian Club whisky, Courvoisier cognac, Hornitos and Sauza tequila, EFFEN and Pinnacle vodka, Sipsmith gin, and Midori liqueur.

Beam Suntory was created in 2014 by combining the world leader in bourbon and the pioneer in Japanese whisky to form a new company with a deep heritage, passion for quality, innovative spirit and commitment to Growing for Good. Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, Beam Suntory is a subsidiary of Suntory Holdings Limited of Japan. For more information on Beam Suntory, its brands, and its commitment to social responsibility, please visit www.beamsuntory.com and www.drinksmart.com.

Old Pulteney 1983 Vintage

46% vol. / 70cl

£500.00
Ex VAT £416.67
Pre-Order Now

Orders will be delivered week beginning 9th October

Distilled in 1983 at Wick’s Pulteney Distillery, this limited edition Highland single malt has matured for over 33 years in a combination of American and Spanish oak casks, creating an elegantly balanced single malt.

Nose: stewed fruit and toffee before a building chocolate note, spicy vanilla and oily citrus.

Palate: full-bodied with a sweet and savoury heart, salted caramel and dried fruit atop a vibrant honey and vanilla note.

Finish: creamy, long and elegant.

Old Pulteney 25 Year Old

46% vol. / 70cl

£300.00

Ex VAT £250.00

Pre-Order Now

Orders will be delivered week beginning 9th October

Distilled at the Pulteney Distillery in Wick, this Highland single malt has spent a quarter of a century maturing in a combination of American and Spanish oak, all the while breathing in the invigorating sea air of the Caithness coast.

Nose: spicy dark chocolate with rum-soaked raisins and lime honey, before clean orange peel and baked apples.

Palate: bitter chocolate and creamy vanilla with sweet toffees, coconut and crisp lemon overtones.

Finish: long and spicy with dried fruit cake and exotic wood.

NEW FUKANO EDITIONS

As the Fukano brand continues to develop, the whiskies from the Kumamoto Prefecture are not only getting more precise in their balance and concentration of flavor, but they’re also getting older. We’ve got our first ever Fukano single barrel with an age statement -12 years old – as well as another sensational sherry cask that should make sweet Oloroso-chasers very happy. Both are distilled from rice as is the case with all the Fukano editions. I thought both made welcome additions to our Japanese spirits shelf.

Fukano “Sherry Cask” Japanese Whisky (750ml) – $89.99 – Fukano’s rice whiskies continue to populate our shelves here at K&L and the latest Sherry Cask release gives Oloroso fans heaps of what they love: rich, saturated, sweet sherry goodness with a textural mouthfeel and plenty of raisined richness on the finish. While the rice component of the spirit gets lost under all that decadence, fans of the genre won’t care. It’s a perfect vehicle for those who love opulence!

Fukano 12 Year Old Single Cask Japanese Whisky (750ml) – $99.99 – Fukano’s first rice whisky with an age statement is another impressive addition to a lineup that has been a big success thus far at K&L. Full of oak flavor and plenty of vanilla from the extended time in wood, this doesn’t have the sweetness or the extra heft that some of Fukano sherry matured editions have exhibited, but the balance is much more in line with what one would expect from a classic malt whisky. It’s another fun and curious look into the future of rice spirits from Japan.

OUR LIMITED BARDSTOWN BOURBON COMPANY COLLABOR&TION ALLOCATION ARRIVES!

Just wanted to add a quick note for those of you who pre-ordered: your bottles are now available but you may need to contact the store to have your bottles shipped or moved to the store of your choice for pick-up. Because we use the pre-order service mostly for wine, we don’t automatically ship out bottles that are purchased in advance due to weather, etc. You can email me if you need help with that.

In the meantime, these babies are now here and they’re ready to rock!! There’s only about 200 bottles of each, so when they’re gone they’re gone. I’m hoping we can stretch our inventory into November so that we can at least offer these as holiday gift options, but I’m not sure that will happen. The bottles are impressive, as is the whiskey inside them, so I’m not holding my breath on that front. I was just tasting them again this morning and I can’t decide which one I like more. At first, I was definitely all about the American Brandy Barrel finish, simply because I liked how it didn’t alter the traditional flavors of classic vanilla, charred oak, and sweet spices, but rather lifted them and brought them to the surface. The bold proof only accents all of that intensity and the whiskey tastes expensive. But after a few more runs with the Mistelle finish, I’m starting to waver in my support. For those of you who have no idea what the “Mistelle” is, it’s a liqueur made by Joe Heron at Copper & Kings that uses orange peels and coriander, so it almost adds a candied finish to the whiskey. It’s completely decadent on the finish, but I started to imagine drinking it on a cold winter evening after a long day at the office. It’s easily the more unique of the two, so you have to ask yourself: what do I need? More great Bourbon that tastes like great Bourbon, or maybe something sweeter and richer for the coming Fall and Winter seasons that doesn’t taste like everything else I already have?

Maybe one of each? Tough to say. You won’t be sorry either way:

Bardstown Bourbon Company “Collabor&tion – Brandy Barrel Finish” Cask Strength Bourbon Whiskey (750ml) – $124.99 – The Collaboration series is the first release of whiskey from Kentucky’s soon-to-be star Bardstown Bourbon Company, a project done in “collaboration” with Louisville brandy specialists Copper & Kings. Using 10 year old stocks of Bourbon distilled at MGP in Indiana, BBCo finished each of the whiskies for an additional 18 months in two different types of casks: American brandy and Muscat Mistelle. Made from 75% corn, 21% rye, and 4% malted barley, the Collabor&tion expression aged in Copper & Kings American brandy barrels is bottled at cask strength of 113 proof and offers classic, yet bold Bourbon flavor with vanilla, oak spices, and a concentrated richness that speaks to the age of the whiskey. We tasted this on our initial visit to the distillery this past summer and instantly fell in love with the additional fruit and subtle sweetness added from the brandy barrel finishing. It has all the classic flavors of great Bourbon but with extra lift and roundness on the finish. In the spirit of collaboration, the teams at BBCo and Copper & Kings really knocked this one out of the park.

Bardstown Bourbon Company “Collabor&tion – Mistelle Barrel Finish” Cask Strength Bourbon Whiskey (750ml) – $124.99 – Made from 75% corn, 21% rye, and 4% malted barley, the Collabor&tion expression aged in Mistelle barrels has an incredible viscosity and chewiness to its texture from the time spent in the used casks. Mistelle is unfermented grape juice (in this case Muscat) fortified with un-aged brandy (Muscat eau-de-vie) and then aged in bourbon barrels for 18 months. The empty barrels are deeply and highly caramelized with the grape sugars and fruit essences and the Collabor&tion whiskey aged in these barrels is pure joy. It’s a completely novel sensory experience; deeply concentrated, rich whiskey that has a supple, fruity, and absolutely delicious finish. It’s both an incredibly unique and divine tasting experience. Bottled at 47% cask strength ABV.

KILCHOMAN RED WINE CASK

Just under 10,000 bottles of the limited edition release will be available worldwide from the 9th of October. Distilled in 2012, the Kilchoman Red Wine Cask Matured has spent its full maturation term in the single cask type rather than being a ‘finish’,
where the whisky only spends a few months in such casks prior to bottling. The casks, from the Douro Valley in Portugal, were personally selected by Kilchoman Founder Anthony Wills. The Red Wine Cask Matured follows Port, Madeira and Sauternes matured expressions released annually by the distillery since 2014.

As with all of the Kilchoman range, the Red Wine Cask Matured is peated, non chill filtered and has a natural coppery red colour as a result of extraction from the oak casks. This particular expression has been bottled at 50% ABV, slightly stronger than their typical 46% ABV, the higher bottling strength adding structure and intensity to the dram.

Red Wine Cask

Bottled at 50% ABV     ||     RRP: $124.99

Nose:   Buttery and creamy with peat smoke lingering in the background.

Palate: Sweet and rounded with bitter chocolate, licorice and integrated peat smoke.

Finish:  Clean and sweet with a rich texture and long finish.

GlenDronach 1993 | AW 10th Anniversary Exclusive

This big beauty of a dram, is one of several crackers we’ve lined up to celebrate our tenth year online. Since our previous GD exclusives, (cask 33 & 3400), we’ve been delving through the GlenDronach sample warehouse searching for the perfect dram to follow… In so doing, we believe we’ve found an exceptional dram that surpasses its much loved predecessors.

Pre-order now available for our mailing list members!

(There’s been a lot of excitement and interest in this latest release (and rightly so, its an excellent dram!) We’re not putting a limit on quantity per order at this time…)

PRE-ORDER NOW

A SHOCKER FROM DEANSTON

While Deanston has never been a household name in the whisky world, even with the genre’s most knowledgeable fans, it’s long been a part of the Bunnahabhain/Tobermorey company portfolio now owned by the Distell group and a large chunk of the Highland whisky goes into the blend Scottish Leader, which sells quite well outside the states. Deanston has never been all that successful at K&L. I’ve carried it from time to time when there’s room, but it’s never put out anything exciting that I’ve tasted. Most of the time the whiskies I’ve experienced are dependable, but forgettable.

However, that all changed earlier this week when I tasted Deanston’s new 10 and 20 year old sherry-aged malts.

I was downright floored by the new 10 year old PX sherry cask finished edition, bottled at a whopping 57.5% ABV with a sweet sherry note that is simply gorgeous. There’s no doubt about which of their competitors they have in their sights with this new release. It’s priced and crafted perfectly to square off with the Aberlour A’Bunadh, one of the boldest, sherry-matured whiskies on the market and one that we plow through here at K&L on a regular basis. That being said, Deanston has the advantage here for a number of reasons: the PX sherry butts give it a fruitier, sweeter edge than the Aberlour and the 10 year age statement is a huge bonus for whisky fans who like knowing exactly how old their malt is. Full of caramel and sticky toffee pudding on the nose, the palate explodes with dried figs and rancio notes, but the core flavors of the vanilla from the malt are never lost. This was a total shocker for our spirits department and we responded by loading up on our inventory. It’s a bold step forward for one of Scotland’s most overlooked distilleries.

Deanston’s new 20 year Oloroso sherry-aged release, however, will draw comparisons to Glenfarclas and Aberlour with its concentrated caramel and rancio sherry notes and supreme decadence. More savory on the finish than sweet, it’s one of the best new releases from the distillery that I’ve ever tasted (I still give the nod to the 10 year). Bottled at 55.5%, it’s got plenty of heft, but it carries that power surprisingly well. If you want something more saturated with sherry, go with this. But if you want that sweet, fruity PX sherry note, the 10 will really surprise you.

I absolutely love it when something like this happens. I love seeing underachievers over-achieve!! Maybe it’s the former elementary school teacher in me.

Deanston 10 Year Old PX Sherry Finish Highland Single Malt Whisky (750ml) – 59.99

Deanston 20 Year Old Oloroso Sherry Aged Highland Single Malt Whisky (750ml)- $159.99

We’ve released four preview bottles from October Outturn that are perfect for watching autumn sunsets. Mysterious and marvellously multifaceted, spend time discovering the luscious layers within these sundowner drams.

A great opportunity to buy before next month’s First Friday but be quick to order, only a limited number of bottles are available ahead of the full Outturn release on Friday, 6 October at 9am.

VIEW ALL WHISKY

The Scotch Malt Whisky Society, The Vaults, 87 Giles Street, Leith EH6 6BZ

Contact: sales@smws.com or call 0131 555 2929 (Mon-Fri 9am-4.45pm). Visit the Society at here for membership information

This is your chance to join and to take advantage of their great offers!

Spot the SMWS bottles in this amusing You Tube video