HIGHLAND PARK Odin £180.00

Appropriately named after Odin, ‘The Furious One’, as it will sell furiously. Inevitably some will miss out, leaving a general feeling of furiousness.

The BenRiach 10th Anniversary

In April 2004, Billy Walker and his two South African partners acquired the BenRiach Distillery. In September of that year, the first distillation under new owners was filled to cask. Master Distiller Billy Walker specially selected four exceptional casks from the first week of production to create this very special bottling. This whisky commemorates our 10th anniversary and as such is a unique and one-off bottling.

COLOUR

Gleaming, rich harvest gold.

NOSE Ripe white pear, fruit salad syrup and rich clotted cream hold a crisp twist of candied peel and soft vanilla.

PALATE

Crisp barley with peppery toasted oak and stem ginger flood over rich crème brulee, coconut butter and vanilla poached pear.

Visit our website for more information and keep in touch with us via Facebook and Twitter to find out all of the latest news on the BenRiach Distillery.

Sláinte!

Stewart Buchanan
Brand Ambassador

Glenglassaugh 51 years old

The range of expressions from the Glenglassaugh Distillery gradually expanded over the year with the release of the first batch of single casks and Torfa; the first peated expression. We were excited to release our oldest ever bottling aged 51 years. Filled to cask on February 15th 1963, this classic vintage captures Glenglassaughs unique coastal charm and is bursting with fruity characters.

NOSE Fascinating depths and layers develop from figs and prune syrup to delicate apricot and hints of blackberry. All carry invitingly subtle soft Belgian chocolate and intriguing hints of roast coffee.

PALATE The exclusive mellow yet full-bodied character gives a rich, complex symphony of red fruit preserve, touches of treacle and the slightest mountain herb influence. Gentle clove oil, distant sour cherries and the softest peppery oak add a memorable sophistication to this rare vintage.

Visit our website for more information and keep in touch with us via Facebook and Twitter to find out all of the latest news on Glenglassaugh Distillery.

Sláinte!

Stewart Buchanan
Brand Ambassador

Very limited stocks of the Highland Park Odin are now available to pre-order on a strictly first come, first serve basis on www.lfw.co.uk

Highland Park Odin – £180

Odin is the much awaited fourth and final edition in the limited Valhalla Series, following the Thor, Loki and Freya releases. Odin is created from a combination of Spanish oak sherry casks and re-fill hogsheads.  Odin has the signature sweet and gently smoky aromas expected of a Highland Park malt with a surprisingly long, oaky finish and a waxy mouthfeel. Bottled at 16 years old at 55.8% abv and one of only 17,000 bottles ever produced.

Pre-order now – £180

Highland Park Dark Origins – £65

Inspired by the distillery’s founder, Dark Origins uses double the amount of first fill sherry oak casks allowing for a far richer taste than almost all other Highland Park expressions.

Appearance: Rich mahogany
Nose: Sherried spice and ripe bananas combine with toasted hazelnuts and baked apple
Palate: Well-balanced, dry peat at first mellowing out to maraschino cherries, warm dark chocolate entices the palate
Finish: Enduring sweet smoke

 Click here to buy – £65

Loch Fyne Whiskies
Main St Inveraray
PA32 8UD
Tel 01499 302219

GlenDronach has bottled nine of its finest single casks, ranging from 43 to 18 years old for its Batch 11 release. All casks were hand-selected by Master Distiller Billy Walker, who has selected them to show the influence wood has on the spirit, while maintaining the classic GlenDronach style.

1971 43 year old
The oldest release from Batch 11, this whisky was filled from Pedro Ximinez Sherry Puncheon cask number 2920, and was distilled back in 1971. 43 year later, the whisky has a rich treacle toffee flavour, with hints of coffee and sour plums. It also has fantastic depth with its leather and tobacco flavours, perfectly balanced by notes of toasted walnuts and dates.
One of only 523 bottles, bottled at 48.6% abv.
£955. Pre-order now.

1990 24 year old
Bottled in November 2014, this whisky was first filled to its cask in 1991. Filled from Pedro Ximinez Sherry Puncheon cask 1020, this fantastic single malt has fresh, peppery oak spice and a wonderful flavour of rich sultanas, dark chocolate covered coffee beans. Hints of nutmeg, cinnamon and clove oil add a longlasting depth.
One of only 606 bottles, bottled at natural cask strength of 53.8% abv.

£152. Pre-order now

1996 18 year old
The youngest of this batch, this 18 year old was filled in February 1996 to an Oloroso Sherry Butt, cask 244. It has a wonderfully balanced flavour, with hints of mixed candied peel and stewed dark fruits topped with Demerara sugar. Delicious hints of toffee, cracked barley and warm oak spices combine to give a long, elegant finish.
One of only 399 bottles, bottled at natural cask strength at 56.9% abv.
£104. Pre-order now

1990 24 year old
Pedro Ximinex Sherry Puncheon Cask 1162
£152
Pre-order now

1994 20 year old
Pedro Ximinez Sherry Puncheon Cask 3201
£117
Pre-order now

1994 20 year old
Pedro Ximinez Sherry Puncheon Cask 3386
£117
Pre-order now

1994 20 year old
Oloroso Sherry Butt
Cask 54
£117
Pre-order now

1995 19 year old
Pedro Ximinez Sherry Puncheon Cask 538
£110
Pre-order now

1995 19 year old
Oloroso Sherry Puncheon Cask 4941
£110
Pre-order now

YOUR MOST BELOVED FEBRUARY DRAMS

Love is decidedly in the air this week, for exciting new whisky at least! Members all over the country have been falling head over heels for February’s drams and we’d like to share your five hottest picks. With a few selling out in minutes, there’s no time to waste: choose your perfect match from the very best of the list.  (Shhhh… the bar staff have a secret crush this month too: the 112.9 Cooper’s Apron; perfumed mink is a very unusual and handsome specimen)

No. 1: Oily & coastal
3.237

‘Candle taking its last breath’

17 years old
Refill ex-sherry butt
One of only 537 bottles

£62.40

No. 2: Spicy & sweet
77.36

Easy peasy lemon squeezy

13 years old
Refill ex-bourbon hogshead
One of only 267 bottles

£47.10

No. 3: Young & spritely
48.50

Mirror, mirror on the wall…

13 years old
First fill ex-bourbon barrel
One of only 242 bottles

£44.70

No. 4: Light & delicate
37.62

Easy like a Sunday morning

10 years old
Refill ex-bourbon hogshead
One of only 266 bottles

£44.00

No. 5: Spicy & sweet

35.121

‘You make me feel (mighty real)’

12 years old
First fill ex-bourbon barrel
One of only 235 bottles

£43.80

Browse New Outturn 
Browse All Bottlings

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

Continue your love affair with our whiskies as we tempt you with the February Outturn.  For full tasting notes please visit http://www.smws.ca/ but for now enjoy the brief bottle notes below.

Also, be sure to sign up for the March tasting (on Friday, March 6th) at The Strath before it sells out.  Pop in to see them at 919 Douglas Street or call them at 250-370-9463.

Cask No. 2.87  Satisfying as a butcher’s blade

21 years old; refill hogshead; 51.7%  

Sweet, fruity & mellow

The nose combines ‘old’ impressions (antique bookshops, mentholated snuff) with fresher stewed apples, lemon, honey, carnations and peppermint. The palate is fascinating and tasty – toffee apple and caramel apple granny cake are followed by a finish of humbugs and tiger balm.

Cask No. 77.35  Fresh, vibrant and attractive

11 years old; refill barrel; 58.4%  

Young & spritely

This fresh, vibrant nose lifts you to sunny summer meadows – orange, lemon, apple, pear, grape, bourbon and vanilla, slightly woodier in reduction. The palate gives pleasant tingling heat (chili, ginger, liquorice) and tasty citrus (blood orange, sherbet lemons); good bitter-sweet duality.

Cask No. 73.63  Vanilla spice latte

11 years old; refill sherry butt; 59.8%

Juicy, oak & vanilla

An enticing fruity and sweet aroma as well as the freshness of an Appletiser Mojito which carries on in the taste with an additional kick of chili flakes. Water adds creaminess and in the taste a balance between salty and sweet flavours.

Cask No. 117.5  Smouldering, brooding and alluring

22 years old; refill sherry hogshead; 55.5%  

Deep, rich & dried fruits     Very rare Irish whiskey!

The nose is simply alluring, with cherry pieces in dark chocolate, coconut, Brazils and smouldering cinnamon and sandalwood incense. The mouth-drawing palate has Black Forest gateau, Moffatt toffees, blackcurrant jam, Campinos, fried sage and brooding eastern spices – teasing, trance-inducing and tasty.

Cask No. 4.190  Big boys smoking in the sauna

22 years old; refill hogshead; 53.9%

Spicy & dry

A punch of cigar smoke and polished wood. Mediterranean tapas and Moroccan spices on Arbroath smokies with Mexican hot chocolate. Hot sauna wood and heather with tobacco leaf unfurling. Cured hams with mango chutney. Round the world in a glass!

Cask No. 27.105  Too cool for school

13 years old; refill sherry hogshead; 53.9%

Lightly peated

Ginger nuts in creamy latte with mint chocolate ganache. Old leather books and waxed church pews, a puff of hickory smoke. Toasted marshmallow and peppered tuna steak. Ginger snap baskets with red berries. Salty french fries and chocolate milk shake.

Cask No. 29.150  Hand-rolled Cuban cigars

18 years old; refill barrel; 59.2%

Heavily peated

Watching the fishermen unloading their catch of shellfish with aromas of bacon rolls filling the salty sea air.  The taste is juicy and spicy with a hint of earthiness from a peat hearth. Adding water more fruity on the nose and flavours of hand-rolled Cuban cigars.

http://www.smws.ca/

FEEL THE LOVE

Heart racing, breath shallow, cheeks flushed: emotion runs high with the excitement of new love. Let your senses lead you though an evocative landscape of flavour as 14 gorgeous drams vie for your affection. Catch yourself daydreaming of Vichy kisses with 25.68, an elegant, ephemeral vision from a long-closed distillery. Put a spring in your step with 35.117, the luxurious array of fruity aromas will make you Cock-a-hoop with happiness. But don’t be shy, order today as these charming suitors won’t be alone for long…

Young & spritely 48.50

Mirror, mirror on the wall…

£44.70

Sweet, fruity & mellow  35.117

Cock-a-hoop with happiness

Exclusive to the Captivating Case and Opposites Attract Pair

Spicy & sweet 25.68

Vichy kisses

Closed Distillery!

£117.10

121.77

Dunnage warehouse orange boxes

The oldest bottling from distillery 121 ever bottled! It’s exclusive to the Treasured Trio so snap one up quick…

35.121

‘You make me feel (mighty real)’

£43.80

77.36

Easy peasy lemon squeezy

£47.10

Old & dignified  G3.8

Eccentric and Exotic – Grain Whisky

Closed Distillery!

£62.40

Light & delicate  37.62

Easy like a Sunday morning

£44.00

44.63

Zesty, zingy and alive

£49.20

Juicy, oak & vanilla  112.9

Cooper’s apron; perfumed mink

£53.00

Oily & coastal
4.202

Salt and pepper

£126.00

3.237

‘Candle taking its last breath’

£62.40

Peated  53.219

Confident high-wire artist

£53.00

Heavily peated  127.42

Peat freak heaven

Low outturn: only 127 bottles!

£61.30

Browse New Outturn 
Browse All Bottlings

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

Nothing quite says ‘I love you’ like dead vegetation, saturated fat sugar products and cheap lingerie.

You may as well just stay in and have a drink.

Might we suggest a dram of good whisky perhaps?

NEW SPRINGBANK

SPRINGBANK 21 Year Old £179.95

SPRINGBANK 17 Sherry Wood £86.95

SPRINGBANK 12 Cask Strength £47.95

If you have ever travelled all the way round to Campbeltown to visit the Springbank distillery then you will understand how unique a place it is and will no doubt have considered your long journey to have been more than worthwhile. The only Scottish distillery to undertake 100% of whisky production on one site, Springbank is world renowned for doing things it’s own way. They have started 2015 at a frenetic pace, releasing their annual bottlings of the 21 year old & the 12 year Cask Strength as well as a sensational 100% ex-sherry cask matured 17 year old.

FOR ALL GENERAL ENQUIRIES PLEASE CALL: 0131 524 9380 or email: contact@royalmilewhiskies.com

REDBREAST UNVEILS ITS FIRST ALL SHERRY MATURED WHISKEY

– New limited edition whiskey available exclusively

to members of The Stillhouse via www.SinglePotStill.com –

Irish Distillers Pernod Ricard has announced the launch of Redbreast Mano a Lámh, the first expression in the Redbreast range to be matured solely in ex-oloroso sherry butts. This special whiskey is the latest release from the Midleton Distillery as it aims to satisfy the increasing global demand for new and original Single Pot Still Irish whiskeys.

Mano a Lámh, meaning ‘hand in hand’ in Spanish and Gaelic respectively, represents the relationship and passion between the Midleton Distillery and the collective of artisans in Spain, which has crafted the distillery’s sherry butts for more than 20 years.

Specially commissioned for the Midleton Distillery, oak is felled in the forests of Galicia, north-west Spain, and then crafted and seasoned by some of the country’s most prestigious family businesses. The Antonio Páez Lobato Bodega in the South crafts the oak into casks, which are then seasoned with Oloroso sherry for two years at the prestigious Páez Morilla Bodega in the nearby sherry capital of the world, Jerez.

The freshly seasoned sherry butts are then shipped promptly, during the cooler winter months, to the Midleton Distillery where they are then filled with new make pot still whiskeys.

Redbreast Mano a Lámh is being released exclusively to members of The Stillhouse, the web-based members club for Single Pot Still Irish whiskey fans. The Stillhouse forms part of the www.singlepotstill.com website, which launched in 2011, to educate discerning whiskey lovers about the quality and provenance of this unique style of Irish whiskey.

While the core Redbreast range is matured in a combination of American bourbon and Spanish oloroso butts, Redbreast Mano a Lámh luxuriates in this signature sherry style by bringing together whiskeys which have been matured exclusively in first fill Spanish oloroso sherry casks, imparting distinct, rich, fruity flavours and a full body.

Billy Leighton, Master Blender at Midleton Distillery, said: “Redbreast Mano a Lámh celebrates our longstanding relationship with the family of artisans in Spain who craft our sherry butts, which are so synonymous with the signature style of Redbreast Single Pot Still Irish whiskey. It was an exciting challenge as a Master Blender to work on this project; having to ensure that the right balance was achieved and the sherry contribution did not over power in the final taste. For me, Redbreast Mano a Lámh offers a distinctive, rich whiskey with intense flavours of dried fruit, which gives way to the perfection of the Spanish oak. I am really eager to learn what our Stillhouse members and Redbreast fans think of this rare expression.”

Brendan Buckley, Global Innovation and Prestige Whiskeys Director at Irish Distillers added: “Since its re-launch in May 2011, Single Pot Still Irish whiskey has quickly established itself as the insiders’ Irish whiskey style of choice with the Redbreast brand very much at the vanguard of this revival. We hope that Redbreast Mano a Lámh will excite whiskey lovers, especially those who enjoy sherried style whiskeys”.

“The coming together of tradition and people, talents and passions – true craftspeople working hand in hand through generations and across borders – is what has helped make Redbreast the most definitive Single Pot Still Irish whiskey in the world and long may it continue.” Limited to just 2,000 bottles, Redbreast Mano a Lámh is non-chill filtered at 46% ABV and is available exclusively to members of The Stillhouse from February 2015, priced at €65. For more information on Single Pot Still Irish whiskey and to join The Stillhouse, visit http://www.singlepotstill.com/.

#RedbreastWhiskey 

NOTES

Redbreast Mano a Lámh tasting notes by Billy Leighton, Midleton Master Blender

Nose: Very deep dried fruits, raisins and sultanas with the more earthy tones of fig, dates and prunes. The sweetness is from the fruit and balances perfectly with pot still spices such as dill and black pepper, and the contribution of the toasted Spanish oak.

Taste: Silky smooth and deceptively sweet, full of rich, ripe, dark fruit with the leisurely emergence of the signature spices.

Finish: The rich fruit slowly gives way to the perfection of the Spanish oak. 

About Irish Distillers

Irish Distillers was formed in 1966, when a merger took place between Irish whiskey distillers, John Power & Son, John Jameson & Son and the Cork Distillery Company. In an attempt to reverse the decline in Irish whiskey sales, the company decided to consolidate production at a new purpose-built facility alongside the existing distillery in Midleton, Co. Cork. Irish Distillers was bought by Pernod Ricard in June 1988 and today, Jameson is the No.1 Irish whiskey in the world, selling over 4 million 9L cases worldwide and contributing more than any other Irish whiskey brand to the phenomenal global growth of the category. Irish Distillers is committed to driving continued, sustainable growth of the Irish whiskey category.

Irish Distillers’ portfolio of whiskeys is comprised of Jameson, the world’s no.1 Irish whiskey; Irish favourite Paddy; Powers, the robust super premium whiskey for discerning drinkers; and the much-acclaimed brands that comprise the Irish Distillers’ Prestige Collection – the Single Pot Still Whiskeys of Midleton which includes the Spot range (Green Spot, Yellow Spot) and Redbreast, Ireland’s most awarded single pot still whiskey brand – and the pinnacle of the Prestige Collection, Midleton Very Rare.

http://www.irishdistillers.ie/

About Pernod Ricard

Pernod Ricard is the world’s co-leader in wines and spirits with consolidated sales of €7,945 million in 2013/14. Created in 1975 by the merger of Ricard and Pernod, the Group has undergone sustained development, based on both organic growth and acquisitions: Seagram (2001), Allied Domecq (2005) and Vin & Spirit (2008). Pernod Ricard holds one of the most prestigious brand portfolios in the sector and employs a workforce of approximately 18,000 people, operating through a decentralized organization with 6 ‘Brand Companies’ and 80 ‘Market Companies’ established in each key market. Pernod Ricard is strongly committed to a sustainable development policy and encourages responsible consumption. Pernod Ricard’s strategy and ambition are based on 3 key values that guide its expansion: entrepreneurial spirit, mutual trust and a strong sense of ethics. Pernod Ricard is listed on the NYSE Euronext exchange (Ticker: RI; ISIN code: FR0000120693) and is a member of the CAC 40 index.

http://www.pernod-ricard.com/