Whisky innovators Compass Box release The Lost Blend Limited Edition as a homage to their own long lost whisky 

“Yes, sir, the stuff was distilled elixir of battle, money and high life.”

From The Lost Blend by O. Henry, 1907

For the first time, three different front labels adorn the front of the same whisky.

THE LOST BLEND is the new limited edition release from award-winning Scotch Whiskymaker Compass Box. This marriage of three single malts is a homage to their long lost (and much loved) Eleuthera whisky, and boasts the same unique smoky fruity style. After 10 years of searching, whiskymaker John Glaser was finally able to track down the unique whiskies he required earlier this year. The result is The Lost Blend. Bottled at 46% and packaged in a high quality gift box adorned with ‘lost items,’ it will be priced at $120 in the US, £85 in the UK and $100 in Europe. It will be available from 1st October in the US, UK, Europe and all key international Compass Box markets.

John Glaser adds, “In 2001, we created our first single malt blend which we called Eleuthera. It was an elegant marriage of approximately 80% unpeated Highland and 20% peaty Islay single malts. Alas, after 3 years, we were suddenly no longer able to obtain one of the key whiskies required for the recipe so, sadly, we retired Eleuthera in 2004. Quietly, I have been looking for whiskies that we could use to bring it back, even if temporarily, but without any luck. Until now.”

Glaser has had a name that he’s been waiting to use for a whisky project like this—The Lost Blend, inspired by the O. Henry story of the same name.  This sharp and witty portrait of life in a New York bar in the early 1900s was published in 1907 and features two business partners who try to recreate a blend of different spirits with close to supernatural properties. 

Compass Box has created three different front label designs all around the same theme: lost items. These include an antique nautical octant, a Woodstock typewriter, an Excelsior cylinder gramophone, the tragically lost RMS Lusitania, and of course the Dodo. The whisky behind each label is the same, and the three labels have been randomly bottled and put into cases, which allows customers an additional discovery to the whisky itself:  which label did I get?

ABOUT THE LOST BLEND

This elegantly complex whisky is a union of rare old Highland single malts and a delicious peaty Islay single malt. An ethereal fruit and herbal character and a sweetness on the palate is buttressed by an underlying smokiness. Single malt whisky (of a certain age) from the Clynelish distillery, and a small cache of extraordinary whisky from the Allt-A-Bhainne distillery, aged in American oak barrels and just a few years shy of two decades old, is combined with malt whisky from the Caol Ila distillery. Bottled at 46% this limited edition of 12,018 bottles was bottled in August 2014. It is not chill-filtered and is natural colour..

ABOUT JOHN GLASER

American ex-pat John Glaser started Compass Box Whisky Company from the kitchen of his west London home in 2000.  Having started his career on a path to become a winemaker, then re-routing himself through the corporate world and ending up as marketing director for Johnnie Walker in London, Glaser has a unique perspective on both the creation and the marketing of Scotch. Glaser established Compass Box based on his commitment to evolving practices in the industry to make great Scotch whisky more approachable and relevant to more people. From the beginning, his vision has been to create one of Scotland’s finest and most exciting whisky companies, re-establishing the standards for quality, innovation and style in the industry.

ABOUT COMPASS BOX (http://www.compassboxwhisky.com/)

The Compass Box Whisky Company is a boutique Scotch whiskymaker and craft blender, started in 2000 by John Glaser. Compass Box produces and bottles a range of Scotch whiskies, available in over 25 countries around the world.  A five-time winner of the Whisky Magazine Innovator of the Year award, Compass Box is known throughout the whisky world for quality, innovation and passion for great whisky. The Compass Box Signature Range of whiskies includes Asyla, Oak Cross, The Peat Monster, The Spice Tree and Hedonism.  They also produce limited release whiskies annually, and Orangerie, a Scotch whisky infusion. In 2011 they launched a groundbreaking range of Blended Scotch whiskies called Great King Street. The first was called Artist’s Blend with a second, Glasgow Blend, due to be released in October 2014.

Scotch Whiskymaker Compass Box Releases Smoky Sherried Sibling to the Award-Winning Great King Street Artist’s Blend  

“There is no Blended Scotch whisky quite like this.”

John Glaser – Compass Box Founder & Whiskymaker 

GLASGOW BLEND is the second permanent whisky to be introduced to the Great King Street range of innovative, small-batch Blended Scotch whiskies from Compass Box.

Glasgow Blend will be available from mid-October in UK and Europe, and from November 1st onwards in the US, North America and all key international Compass Box markets. It will be priced at around £30 in the UK and €36 in Europe for a 50cl format (with stylish red gift tube), and $45 and $25 in the US for the 750ml and 375ml formats respectively (without a gift tube).

The Great King Street range is dedicated to applying a contemporary approach to the creation of Blended Scotch Whiskies in the full-flavoured style of the late 19th century blending houses. To this, they lend a 21st century sense of exploration and innovation for which Compass Box is known. The range takes its name from 24 Great King Street, the company’s registered address in Edinburgh since John Glaser started the business in 2000. Great King Street Scotch whiskies lend themselves to a variety of usages—they can be enjoyed neat, with ice and a splash of water, served as a classic Highball, or as a key ingredient in cocktails.

John Glaser adds, “Over a year in the making, the ‘Glasgow Blend’ involved the creation of over 100 recipe prototypes before we finalised it. We’ve been trying to make a Blended Scotch whisky like no other on the market today, something based on the traditional Scotch whisky styles of peatiness and sherry cask aging, but reinterpreted for today’s drinkers who seek out big flavours, complexity and fullness on the palate.  This is full-on Blended Scotch whisky, in all its sherry-aged, peaty glory, classic in style, updated for today with its flavour intensity and sweetness – part owing to the grain whiskies, part owing to the small amount of French oak finished malt.  There is no Blended Scotch Whisky quite like this.” 

In his 1930 book ‘Whisky’, Aeneas MacDonald mentions that Glaswegians historically preferred fuller bodied and more flavour-packed whiskies than people in other parts of the world. So what better name for a whisky such as this? For decades, The Wellington Statue, outside Glasgow’s Gallery of Modern Art, has been cheekily topped by a traffic cone, something the local population has taken to heart as a symbol of their sense of humour. It has become one of Glasgow’s most iconic images, and graces the label for the Glasgow Blend. 

ABOUT GLASGOW BLEND

Glasgow Blend has been created to provide a very different expression of the Great King Street house style. While the whiskies share the same moreishness, creaminess and approachability, Artist’s Blend is fruity, spicy and packed with vanilla, while Glasgow Blend is rich, round smoky and sherried. Glasgow Blend offers a rich vein of peaty-smokiness underpinned by sherry cask-aged whiskies full of dried fruit and wine character.  The palate is full and round, with a sweetness typical of whiskies from Comapss Box. It is made from approximately 67% malt whisky from the regions of Islay, the Highlands and Speyside and 33% Lowland grain whisky from a Fife distillery. It is aged in a combination of first-fill Sherry casks, first-fill and refill ex-Bourbon barrels with a small portion of new French oak finishing. It is bottled at the traditional bottling strength of 43%, is not chill-filtered and is a natural colour..

ABOUT JOHN GLASER

American ex-pat John Glaser started Compass Box Whisky Company from the kitchen of his west London home in 2000.  Having started his career on a path to become a winemaker, then re-routing himself through the corporate world and ending up as marketing director for Johnnie Walker in London, Glaser has a unique perspective on both the creation and the marketing of Scotch. Glaser established Compass Box based on his commitment to evolving practices in the industry to make great Scotch whisky more approachable and relevant to more people. From the beginning, his vision has been to create one of Scotland’s finest and most exciting whisky companies, re-establishing the standards for quality, innovation and style in the industry.

ABOUT COMPASS BOX (www.compassboxwhisky.com)

The Compass Box Whisky Company is a boutique Scotch whiskymaker and craft blender, started in 2000 by John Glaser. Compass Box produces and bottles a range of Scotch whiskies, available in over 25 countries around the world.  A five-time winner of the Whisky Magazine Innovator of the Year award, Compass Box is known throughout the whisky world for quality, innovation and passion for great whisky. The Compass Box Signature Range of whiskies includes Asyla, Oak Cross, The Peat Monster, The Spice Tree and Hedonism.  They also produce limited release whiskies annually, and Orangerie, a Scotch whisky infusion. In 2011 they launched a groundbreaking range of Blended Scotch whiskies called Great King Street. The first was called Artist’s Blend with a second, Glasgow Blend, released in October 2014.

Gordon & MacPhail Ultra Collection

Four extremely rare Speyside whiskies chosen jointly by members of the third and fourth generations of the Urquhart family have been released under the prestigious Private Collection Ultra by Gordon & MacPhail and 1 of each is available from The Whisky Shop Dufftown priced at £6250.  They all have the same bottle number if the set is required.

To see the full range at The Whisky Shop Dufftown go to:

http://www.whiskyshopdufftown.com/2014/10/gordon-macphail-ultra-collection/

The whiskies are:

• A 61 Year Old Linkwood, the oldest ever released, from cask No.279, selected by retired director Rosemary Rankin and her son Stephen Rankin, Gordon & MacPhail’s Director of UK Sales,
• A 62 Year Old Glenlivet initially matured in first fill Hogshead before being transferred to another first fill Hogshead in January 1969, selected by retired Managing Director Ian Urquhart, his son Neil, Gordon & MacPhail’s Director of Logistics and Facilities, and daughter Jenny Houldsworth, who is a Non-Executive Director of the company.

• A 63 Year Old Mortlach from the company’s last cask of 1951 Mortlach, selected by retired Joint Managing Director David Urquhart and his twin sons Stuart, Gordon & MacPhail’s Whisky Supply Manager, and Richard, Export Sales Executive.
• A 57 Year Old Strathisla, the oldest ever released, selected by current Managing Director Michael Urquhart and his daughter Laura Urquhart, Gordon & MacPhail Brand Manager.

The four whiskies in the Gordon & MacPhail Private Collection Ultra are presented in beautifully-designed decanters, individually numbered, with the whisky details engraved and in-filled with silver colour. A silver-plated neck collar and stopper adorns each decanter.

Wood, metal and glass are combined in a striking and innovative way to protect and display the whisky; the decanter nestles in a glass-bottomed pack, revealing a hint of the whisky colour.

A series of four books by whisky writer Jonny McCormick, one for each of the whiskies, tells the story of Gordon & MacPhail and the whisky and regales the reader with tales of origins and ancestry, of people, place and belonging.

Canada – Other Spirits

• Forty Creek Copper Pot Reserve Canadian Whisky 750ml – 10 available ($23.99)

• Forty Creek Double Barrel Reserve Canadian Whisky 750ml (ships as 1.5L due to bottle shape) – 4 available ($46.99)

United States – Bourbon and Rye

• High West K&L Single Barrel Rendezvous Rye Whiskey 750ml ($69.99)

• Hooker’s House Bourbon 750ml ($35.99)

• Peach Street Colorado Straight Bourbon Whiskey 750ml – 10 available ($62.99)

• Willett Pot Still Reserve Bourbon 1.75L (ships as 6L champagne) – 3 available ($89.99)

K&L Wine Merchants
http://www.klwines.com
Phone: 877-KLWines (toll free 877-559-4637)
Email: wine@klwines.com
San Francisco, Redwood City, Hollywood CA

Kilchoman Original Cask Strength 2014 Release

Kilchoman Original Cask Strength, a vatting of ex-bourbon barrels aged for 5 years. This special edition release has been bottled at cask strength, 59.2% abv.

£65.90
(£54.92 ex vat)

Click here to purchase Kilchoman Original Cask Strength

FLAVOUR HUNT: GOING OUT WITH A BANG

We’ve tracked down some elusive flavours and had fun matching Society drams with wild game but it’s nearly time to turn back towards the lodge as Whisky and Game Season draws to a close. Snare yourself one of the last few catches of the season before they disappear back into the undergrowth…

Young & spritely loves woodcock
64.56

A husky hairy lumberjack

£47.10

Sweet, fruity & mellow loves mallard
117.3

Hubba-bubba, mango and Monstera

£335.00

Spicy & sweet loves hare
48.51

Grapefruit, monkfish, manzanilla!

£44.70

Spicy & dry loves grouse
9.83

Tiger Balm, Limoncello and scented candles

£100.00

Deep, rich & dried fruits loves roe deer
39.100

Exotic contradictions

£87.20

Old & dignified: LAST WEEK 10% OFF

Light & delicate loves red deer
50.58

A seesaw of spring cleaning and scones!

£99.60

Juicy, oak & vanilla loves partridge
36.79

Welcoming and comforting

£53.00

Oily & coastal loves rabbit
3.232

An Outdoor Life for Me

£73.80

Lightly peated loves guinea fowl
31.27

Bold sailor’s dram

£95.00

Heavily peated loves wild boar
53.200

A day at the beach

£71.70

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

Win a bottle of Kilchoman 

AW Exclusive – Single Cask Whisky!

We recently launched our very own cask of Kilchoman! The response and feedback by customers, whisky writers and blogs worldwide has been incredible! Obviously we agree wholeheartedly with everything that has been said, it’s a fantastic dram…

Anyway… We thought it was only fair to share the love so we’ve decided to give away a bottle of this stunning Islay whisky to one lucky winner!

It couldn’t be easier to enter… all you have to do is head across to Facebook and ‘like’ the Abbey Whisky page – ‘Like and share’ the competition post and answer the following question…

Which distillery on Islay has the following slogan on the front of their whisky bottles? –

“Islay’s Farm Distillery”

Competition closes 23.59 (GMT) on Tuesday 21st October 2014. The lucky winner will be chosen at random and revealed on Wednesday 22nd October 2014.

After reading just a few of the wonderful reviews below and you just can’t hold off any longer – don’t fear! – head across to our online whisky shop and pick yourself up a bottle or two… Be quick though, only 270 bottles were filled from single cask 285/09…

A little bit about Kilchoman Distillery and also our exclusive single cask release… (Kilchoman cask 285/09)

Established in 2005, Kilchoman distillery holds true to tradition, it’s one of only a handful of distilleries to still practice floor maltings; they even grow their own barley! We’ve always greatly admired Islay’s farm distillery and what it stands for, so to team up and release this wonderful dram makes us incredibly proud indeed!

Kilchoman Cask #285/09 has been matured for over four and a half years in a fresh bourbon barrel before being transferred to a Pedro Ximénez cask for a further four months maturation. The PX finish on this release works a treat, softening things down a little but still allowing the dram to hold the traditional taste & characteristics you would expect from a Kilchoman whisky of this age. A perfect combination.

Bottled at cask strength, 58.3% vol with 270 bottles filled…

For full T&C’s head across to our whisky blog here

Good luck – Sláinte

Great King Street – Glasgow Blend New Release! After more than a year of creation and well over 100 different recipes, we are delighted to announce the release of the second permanent whisky in our Great King Street range: Glasgow Blend. For those of you – like us – who really liked both Great King Street Smoky and Sherry Experimental Batches last year, you’ll be pleased to hear that we’ve settled on a recipe that combines the best of both!

Glasgow Blend offers a rich vein of peaty-smokiness underpinned by sherry cask-aged whiskies, full of dried fruit and wine character. The palate is full and round, with a sweetness typical of whiskies from our company. In his 1930 book ‘Whisky’, Aeneas MacDonald mentions that Glaswegians historically preferred fuller and more flavourful whiskies than people in other parts of the world. So what better name for a whisky such as this? Glasgow Blend is made from a high proportion of Highland and Islay single malts – around 67% – combined with 33% Lowland single grain whisky. It is matured in a combination of sherry, American and French oak casks. Bottled at 43%, quite simply there is no other blended Scotch whisky quite like it. Contact your local retailer now for a bottle or, alternatively, just pick one up from our UK-based web shop*.

“Above All, Share & Enjoy!”

* Great King Street Glasgow Blend is available now in the UK and Europe, and in the next month or so in Canada, South Africa and Asia. It will be released in the US on 1^st November 2014.

GROUND CONTROL TO MAJOR DRAM

— Ardbeg – the first distillery in space – has returned home after three years in orbit — 

ISLAY, SCOTLAND – As part of a pioneering research experiment, a vial of Ardbeg re-entered the earth’s atmosphere, on September 12, 2014, after nearly three years orbiting the globe aboard the International Space Station.

For the first time, the expedition will allow scientists to decipher the impact gravity has on the whisky maturation process. Having blasted off from earth in 2011, the spirit, from the island of Islay in Scotland, has been on a galactic journey – one destined to change the whisky industry forever!

Specially designed for the mission, the vial of Ardbeg has been orbiting the earth’s atmosphere at 17,227 miles per hour, 15 times a day for 1,045 days. At the same time an identical vial had a slightly easier journey, having been housed at Warehouse 3 at the Ardbeg Distillery on Islay to act as a control sample.

Now the two samples will be reunited in a laboratory in Houston, Texas for an experiment researchers believe could change the future of whisky production. Scientists will compare the two samples, examining the interaction of the Ardbeg-crafted molecules with charred oak to document what differences occur between earth whisky and space whisky.

It is the first study of its kind.

Dr Bill Lumsden, Ardbeg’s Director of Distilling and Whisky Creation, will lead the research, working alongside Ardbeg’s space partners – US-based space research company NanoRacks LLC.

Considered one of the leading innovators in the whisky industry, and a chemist by trade, Dr Lumsden explained: “Ardbeg is known for taking risks in its development of some of the most coveted whiskies in the world, so it is fitting that it is the first distillery ever in space. We are now close to the end, close to finding answers to something previously unknown, which is truly exciting.

“This is one small step for man but one giant leap for whisky, and the team hope to uncover how flavours develop in different gravitational conditions – findings which could revolutionise the whisky-making process.

“We hope to shine new light on the effect of gravity on the maturation process but who knows where it will lead us? It could be to infinity and beyond!”

The single malt has landed back on solid ground in Kazakhstan aboard the Soyuz-U rocket, and is now on its way to Houston to begin the analysis of its space odyssey. The final white paper with the full research findings will be published in 2015 once all testing is complete.

To celebrate Ardbeg’s journey – where no whisky has ever gone before – the distillery has released a new expression of their peatiest single malt: the sold out, highly sought-after Supernova. Fittingly named after a super bright explosion of a star, Ardbeg Supernova 2014 is bottled at 55% ABV and is available as of September from local Ardbeg embassies in Alberta and from provincial liquor stores in BC, MB,SK, ON, NB, NS, and NF later in 2014. 

Mission control has called Ardbeg home with what could be the most gravity-defying new knowledge the whisky world has ever known. 

About Ardbeg

Ardbeg prides itself on being the ‘Ultimate Islay Malt Whisky’. Established in 1815, Ardbeg is revered by connoisseurs around the world as the peatiest, smokiest and most complex of all the Islay malts.

Despite its smokiness, Ardbeg is renowned for its delicious sweetness, a phenomenon that has affectionately become known as ‘the peaty paradox’.

During the 1980s and 1990s, Ardbeg suffered from an uncertain future and it was not until the brand was purchased by The Glenmorangie Company in 1997 that the Distillery was saved from extinction. Since then, the Distillery has risen like a phoenix and today Ardbeg is well established as a niche, cult malt, with a passionate following. The legacy of the whisky was safeguarded by the formation of ‘The Committee’ in 2000 from thousands of Ardbeg followers across the globe keen to ensure, “the doors of Ardbeg never close again.”

Ardbeg was voted ‘Scotch Whisky of the Year’ three years in a row by Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible and was awarded ‘World’s Best Single Malt’, ‘Best Islay Single Malt’ and the ‘Global Icon Visitor Centre Manager of the Year’ at the World Whisky Awards 2013.

Responsible Drinking

Ardbeg advocates responsible drinking and suggests that drinkers

 Visit our Airport stores: Edinburgh, Glasgow, Gatwick North and South, Heathrow T1, T2, T3, T4 and T5,
Manchester T1, Newcastle and Stansted.

Pre-order collections are available at all our stores, and at Aberdeen and Heathrow T3
(from main World Duty Free stores).

www.worldofwhiskies.com

Please drink responsibly. www.drinkaware.co.uk

All featured items are subject to availability.
Prices are correct at time of going to print and are available exclusively after security control.