A rare expression from the 1920s inspires Hankey Bannister Heritage Blend

Hankey Bannister Blended Scotch Whisky celebrates its illustrious and rich history today by launching the Heritage Blend, a faithful recreation of the 1920s style of Hankey Bannister.

In 2012 a British couple discovered they were in possession of a very rare bottle of Hankey Bannister Fine Old Liqueur Scotch Whisky dating from between 1924 and 1928. They approached the brand which purchased the find with a view to add it to the archives. As it turned out, the seal on the bottle was intact and the liquid inside was perfectly preserved.

First decades of the 20th century were the golden era of Hankey Bannister, at the time the favourite tipple of many celebrities and politicians, but until recently the brand had no liquid from that period suitable for analysis. This made the discovery of the old bottle all the more significant.

Slightly sweeter and noticeably smoky, the 1920s classic inspired the company Master Blender Stuart Harvey to recreate the style of the long-forgotten blend using currently available stock. Mr. Harvey used Hankey Bannister Original Blended Scotch Whisky as the starting point and carefully transformed it into a faithful recreation of the historic liquid with the use of older whiskies and peated malts. The result is a rich and full flavoured blend bursting with sweet and fruity aromas of burnt oranges and green apples followed by vanilla, caramel and hints of spice, with a whiff of smoke adding to its darker and more complex character. The blend has a high malt content is bottled at 46% ABV.

Hankey Bannister Brand Manager Lynne Buckley commented:

‘The colourful history of Hankey Bannister is of great interest to our team and also to our drinkers, so to have the opportunity to bring to life an authentic part of the whisky’s history has been an enormous pleasure. We are very fortunate that someone back in the 1920s decided to store this bottle for posterity – and that it was in such good condition 90 years after bottling. Stuart Harvey has done a great job in creating a blend that is true to the taste and style of the antique whisky whilst also being a wonderful dram for modern day whisky drinkers.’

In line with the meticulous work carried out in the blending lab, the design team took inspiration from the original packaging. The result is a beautiful and striking black bottle, created using a pioneering glass colouring technique, graced with period lettering and the iconic Hankey Bannister logo.

For a discerning whisky drinker Hankey Bannister Heritage Blend is a rare opportunity to experience first hand a piece of the whisky industry history and sample liquid which George V, Sir Winston Churchill, Evelyn Waugh and many of their contemporaries would instantly recognise.

5000 cases of Hankey Bannister Heritage Blend will be available globally. The recommended retail price in the UK is £25.

BUFFALO TRACE DISTILLERY EXPERIMENTS

WITH ENTRY PROOF IN LATEST RELEASE  

Four Different Wheated Recipe Bourbons are the Latest

Experimental Collection Release 

FRANKFORT, Franklin County, Ky (July, 2013) In the whiskey world, the topic of barrel entry proof has always led to heated discussions. Some distillers believe a higher entry proof, especially for a wheated recipe bourbon, will lead to a better end result, purporting that alcohol ages better than water.  While other distillers attest that a lower entry proof leads to a more mellow, consistent finish.

The latest Experimental Collection release from Buffalo Trace Distillery investigates the entry proof debate, with all four of the experiments coming off the still at a consistent 130 proof, but put into the barrel for aging using four different entry proofs.  All of the barrels were then aged together for 11 years, 7 months and bottled at 90 proof.  Here are the details:

Wheat 125 – At 125 proof, this was the highest entry proof used, which also resulted in a high evaporation rate of 71% in the 11-plus years it was in the barrel. The high entry proof of this wheat recipe bourbon resulted in a well-rounded flavor with the taste being a balance of cooked berries mingled with sweet honey and slight hints of spicy cloves and pepper.

Wheat 115 – This wheated recipe bourbon was put into the barrel at 115 proof and lost the highest percentage due to evaporation, at 73%.  Tasting notes for this bourbon say it is a well-balanced spirit, which was rated the best tasting by the quality analysis team at Buffalo Trace.  The upfront taste is sweet and fruity, with buttery toffee notes that follow. A dry oaky finish completes the taste.

Wheat 105 – At an entry proof of 105, the angels were particularity generous with their share, taking the lowest amount of all four experiments with a rate of 62%.  The 105 entry proof produced a bourbon that is a nice balance of sweet caramel, vanilla, and dry oakiness.

Wheat 90 – At an entry point of 90, this bourbon had a 64% evaporation rate as it aged alongside the other four experimental wheat barrels in Warehouse K. The result was a bourbon with more wood characters and slight sweet notes. It is mellow with hints of cedar and other wood flavors.

“This was an interesting experiment for us to conduct, and by keeping all of the variables consistent such as the proof off the still, aging time and placement next to each other in the warehouse, we were able to focus just on the entry proof into the barrel and see how it affected taste and evaporation rate,” said Harlen Wheatley, master distiller.  “We were pleased that what we consider the ideal entry proof for a wheated bourbon, at 114 proof, was pretty close in proof to what we evaluated to also taste the best in this experiment – which was the 115 proof experiment. It was gratifying to see that we have been on the right track this whole time with our entry proof for our wheated recipe bourbons.  Another point of interest is the higher entry proofs, the higher the evaporation rates, which is something we’ve always suspected but now know for a fact.”

These wheated recipe barrels are part of the more than 1,500 experimental barrels of whiskey aging in the warehouses of Buffalo Trace Distillery. Each of these barrels has unique characteristics that differentiate it from all others. Some examples of these experiments include unique mash bills, type of wood and barrel toasts. In order to further increase the scope, flexibility and range of the experimental program, an entire micro distillery, named The Colonel E.H. Taylor, Jr. “OFC” Micro Distillery, complete with cookers, fermenting tanks, and a state-of-the-art micro still has been constructed within Buffalo Trace Distillery.

The Experimental Collection will be packaged in 375ml bottles and will be packed 12 to a case, with three bottles of each entry proof in a case. Each label will include all the pertinent information unique to that barrel of whiskey. These whiskeys will retail for approximately $46.35 each. These rare experimental bottles should be available in late June or July. For more information on the Experimental Collection or the other products of Buffalo Trace Distillery, please contact Elizabeth Hurst at ehurst@buffalotrace.com.

About Buffalo Trace Distillery

Buffalo Trace Distillery is a family-owned company based in Frankfort, Franklin County, Kentucky. The Distillery’s rich distilling tradition dates back to 1787 and includes such legends as E.H. Taylor, Jr., George T. Stagg, Albert B. Blanton, Orville Schupp, and Elmer T. Lee.  Buffalo Trace Distillery is a fully operational Distillery producing bourbon, rye and vodka on site and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Distillery has won seven distillery titles since 2000 from such notable publications as Whisky Magazine, Whisky Advocate Magazine and Wine Enthusiast Magazine. It was named Whisky Magazine 2010 World Icons of Whisky “Whisky Visitor Attraction of the Year.” Buffalo Trace Distillery has also garnered more than 200 awards for its wide range of premium whiskies. To learn more about Buffalo Trace Distillery visit www.buffalotracedistillery.com

COOPERS CHOICE PRODUCTS AVAILABLE THROUGH EDGEMONT LIQUOR STORE

Below is available from the independent bottler Cooper’s Choice including the newly discovered whisky that was accidentally delivered!

The newly discovered: Coopers Choice Macallan 13YO Distilled 1995, Bottled 2009. Cask ref 10445, Only 720 bottles made. Refill Butt 46% $138.95 (A case of the above was found in our stock of the below. A fun error that means we have a completely different, unique & totally exclusive to us locally whisky!)

Coopers Choice Macallan 14YO Distilled 1995, Bottles 2010. Cask ref 10449, Only 350 bottles made. Hogshead 46% $148.95)

July 2013 Leaflet Outturn Offerings 

President’s Choice – Cask No. 30.71 

Burnt crumpet and Highland Toffee 

Cask No. 30.71                                  $115

Speyside, Spey

As one we cried: “burnt buttery crumpet spread with chunky Dundee marmalade” – later it became “spread with dark comb honey” – and some noted strawberry fudge and McCowans Highland Toffee as well. The taste at natural strength was sweet and saccharine-bitter, with warm spiced rum, and some sherry in the aftertaste. Water inevitably raised sulphur to start – boiled eggs and struck matches – but then creamy treacle toffee, dried cranberries and flowering currant bushes. The texture is luscious; the taste of liquid caramel, with pleasant bitterness: salted caramels ‘robed’ in dark chocolate. A Top Class Speyside, not a new town…

Drinking tip: For sharing at dusk with good friends

Colour: Deep amber with scarlet lights                       Date distilled: April 1997

Cask: Refill Sherry gorda                                     Alcohol: 57.5%

Age: 14 years                                               USA allocation: 114 bottles 

Sugared almonds in a mattress factory 

Cask No. 31.23                                  $155

Highland, Island

The intriguing nose delivered dried fruits and mixed nuts, toffee, green malt, mouse-trap cheese with a black, sooty fireplace grate somewhere in the background. The palate was pleasantly sweet yet robust – with moist iced gingerbread, liquorice, salt, smoke and chalky, limestone, earthy elements. The reduced nose turned somewhat fatty and savoury, like leg of lamb or the wrapping of a haggis supper – also cigarette papers and a mineral beach, with salt marshes nearby. The palate now floral and sweet suggested sugared almonds and iced gems in a coil-sprung mattress factory. The distillery, designed by architect William Delmé-Evans, was built around 1960.

Drinking tip: To take in a hip-flask up the Paps of Jura (or any other hill)

Colour: Old gold                                                                Date distilled: September 1988

Cask: Refill hogshead                                                       Alcohol: 51.7%

Age: 23 years                                               USA allocation: 90 bottles 

Big, brooding, masculine and intense 

Cask No. 33.122                               $85

Islay

Peat-smoked fire bricks, tarred ropes, lobster pots on old boats, Fisherman’s Friends, sweet scallops, seaweed, coconut husk doormats, barbecued sausages – that was the nose. The palate was a massive, tongue-roasting, smack in the face (ash, smoking charcoal, charred sausages and black pudding, over-done crême brûlée and lime); but somehow calming with its vanilla ice-cream sweetness. The reduced nose – dunnage warehouses, oily, herby, peaty, oaky, burnt toast – fascinating. The palate remained big, brooding, masculine and intense, with over-roasted vegetables, flamed chorizo and some plastic, soapy resonances (manly version of rubber duckies at bathtime?). Now Islay’s only distillery with a Jack Russell.

Drinking tip: Has the power to revive – perhaps late evening, watching Zombie movies?

Colour: Sunflower diffused gold                              Date distilled: February 2005

Cask: First-fill barrel                                                           Alcohol: 59.7%

Age: 7 years                                                USA allocation: 96 bottles 

An apple a day… 

Cask No. 84.15                                  $100

Speyside, Spey

The initial nose without water is very fruity and sweet; rich red apples, ripe bananas, candid pears as well as lemon drizzle cake and Danish pastry. With time deeper notes like toffee and chocolate éclair emerge. The taste neat is hot like biting on a chilli, also fresh oak and expensive apple schnapps. With the generous addition of water grapefruit and lime appear next to – you have guessed it already I am sure – apple sorbet ice cream, candid apple and Campino candy. The taste is now that of chocolate limes, peaches and apricots but also Appletiser and a spritzy apple wine mixed with sparkling water what makes this a very refreshing drink indeed.

Drinking tip: Picking apples on a sunny autumn day

Colour: White silver                                                           Date distilled: October 2001

Cask: Refill barrel                                                               Alcohol: 56.4%

Age: 11 years                                               USA allocation: 96 bottles 

Orange Blossom Honey Straws 

Cask No. 85.25                                  $115

Speyside, Lossie

First impression the Panel voiced, this is a sniffers dram; glue, solventy and warm paper from a photocopier in use a few decades ago, you know what we mean. With time fruity/earthy notes appear like apple, banana leaf, aloe plant, cactus and mango trees; we have moved into a glass house at the Botanics. The taste is hot, sweet/sour, a creamy horseradish and almost numbing. With water we left the glasshouse and are outside in a tropical garden during a very heavy downpour. It feels hot, wet and damp with floral and fruity aromas all around us. The taste now sweet, like a very ripe orange, creamy like vanilla custard as well as fresh like an apple sorbet. This distillery, starting with Glen, is named after Scotland’s smallest city.

Drinking tip: When in need of a sugar rush

Colour: Lion’s paw                                                            Date distilled: October 1999

Cask: Refill hogshead                                                       Alcohol: 56.3%

Age: 13 years                                               USA allocation: 84 bottles

Please visit the Scotch Malt Whisky Society at http://www.smwsa.com/

July Update: Game, Set and Match!  
Single cask fever is competing at top levels with tennis this week, with three bottlings already knocked out of the tournament. Here are the top five seeds still battling for the title…

1) 4.177  In a Japanese Garden
12yo First fill ex-bourbon barrel, £54.70
20 available… Buy

2) 35.93  Wimbledon final dram
17yo First fill ex-bourbon barrel, £62.50
16 available… Buy

3) 29.138 Hospitals, hearths and headlands
18yo Refill ex bourbon barrel, £69.10
29 available… Buy

4) 9.72 Lockets Honey and Lemon Lozenges 
17yo Refill ex-bourbon hogshead, £59.50
23 available… Buy

5) 64.45 Day, me say Day-o
24yo Refill ex-bourbon barrel, £66.90
36 available… Buy  

July Offers: Playing by Our Own Rules

Grand Slam TRIO: 76.103, 64.47 & 29.138 for £179
52 available…  Buy

Doubles Game PAIR: 9.72 & 76.103 for £125
56 available… Buy

July CASE Offer: 4.177, 48.37, G1.11, 3.204 
9.72 & 76.103 for £329
12 available…  Buy 

Browse July Outturn

*76.103 is exclusive to our July offers
*64.47 is exclusive to our July Trio

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 http://www.smws.co.uk/memberships for your chance to join and to take advantage of their great offers.

We have the pleasure of unveiling the new design for the core expressions of our award-winning Isle of Skye Blended Scotch Whisky range.

Reconnecting the brand with its historic home, the new packaging for Isle of Skye 8 Years Old and 12 Years Old takes direct inspiration from the majestic scenery and romance ofScotland’s famous ‘Misty Isle’.

With a new standout color palette on the label and bottle top that reflects the Red and Black Hills of the Cuillin Mountains, the new label design introduces a striking watercolor sunset over the Isle of Skye, perfectly showcased by a new premium distinctive bespoke bottle.

The new age-roundel on both the red and cream label of the 8 Years Old and black and gold design of the 12 Years Old adds greater prominence to the age statement, emphasizing the premium quality of Isle of Skye. While the majority of Blended Scotch Whiskies are un-aged,Isle of Skyeis unusual in its guarantee that all the Single Malts used in its blend recipe are matured in oak casks for at least 8 or 12 years.

This commitment to excellence has led toIsle of Skyebeing favored by whisky expert Jim Murray in the 2012 Whisky Bible rating Isle of Skye 8 Years Old as a ‘superstar whisky that gives us a reason to live’.

Isle of Skye 8 years old has an RRP of $28.99 andIsle of Skye12 years old has an RRP of $37.99.

For more information, please contact ImpEx Beverages, Inc. at office@impexbev.com or call (650) 872-1113.

Cheers!

The ImpEx Team

The Macallan 18 year old 1995 is now in stock and available for dispatch. Stock of this delightful expression is very limited!

The new Macallan 18 year old 1995 vintage has finally arrived. With stocks running low on any aged Macallan we do not expect this to last long.

Colour: Light mahogany

Nose: Dried fruits and ginger, with a hint of citrus, vanilla and cinnamon.

Palate: Rich dried fruits with spice, clove, orange and wood smoke.

Finish: Full and lingering with dried fruits and sweet toffee, ginger and a hint of wood smoke

Bottled at 43% volume.

Only £122.99

Simply Click Here To Buy

DIRECTOR’S CUT Tasting Notes:

DIR0047 MACALLAN 15 YEARS
Nose: Opens fresh & fragrant carrying a honey’d quality – developing to sweet grist plus light oak
Palate: More honey on the sweet palate + vanilla fudge, camphor & an attractive citric style
Finish: Still fresh, now gently spiced – with more camphor and fudge (F&J)

PROVENANCE Tasting Notes follow:

PRV0685 DALMORE 11 YEARS
Opens clean on the nose, carrying a green malt character plus a honey and fruit quality. The palate is light and fresh, running to an American Cream Soda style. The finish is medium long, softly spiced with a lingering orange pith character.

PRV0993 AUCHENTOSHAN 12 YEARS
Fragrant, floral and lightly fruited initially on the nose – warming up to subtle barley, spices and caster sugar. The palate shows that same sugary sweetness then runs to a liquorice and light oak style–with the finish encapsulating all of those characteristics-but in a drier mode (F)

PRV1001 LAPHROAIG 12 YEARS
Initially the nose is surprisingly sweet carrying a subtle bonfire ashes character plus a charred fruit quality. The palate is distinctly Islay in style, still sweet with smoke building up to soft tar, BBQ ashes plus smoked bacon. The finish is long, remains smoky and develops to a rich, dark chocolate character. (J)

PRV0999 BLAIR ATHOL SHERRY 15 YEARS
Opens clean and fresh on the nose then develops to a sweetly spiced character with a barley sugar quality. The palate remains sweet and warms to a spiced caramel/butterscotch style plus a late hint of charred oak. The finish is long and runs drier to a chocolate and orange zest quality. (J)

PRV0998 BENRINNES SHERRY 18 YEARS
Opens spicy and sweetly gristed on the nose, then runs to a cookie dough and toffee character. The palate is richly spiced carrying a butterscotch and soft leather quality. The finish is medium long, still spicy and sweet carrying late fresh pipe tobacco. (J)

All best wishes
Fred H Laing
Managing Director

With a nod to Shakespeare and Las Vegas we’re pleased to bring you another curious Outturn.

So dive in – the whisky’s fine!

For full tasting notes visit www.smws.ca

Cask No. 26.88 Midsummer night’s dram
9 years old; 1st fill barrel; 61.8%
The nose combined fruity notes (pears in syrup, lychees, red apple, lemon) with real honeycomb scented candles and fresh linen. The palate was juicy and tasty – a ‘wow factor’ burst of exotic fruit flavours (watermelon, mango) with some hay and a pleasant mouth-coating texture.

Cask No. 36.57 Puff candy and vanilla sponge
23 years old; refill hogshead; 53.4%
A spicy nose of ginger sponge cake with creamy custard and vanilla sponge cake followed by clean cotton sheets on the clothes line. The taste is much sweeter than expected – jelly beans and honeycomb – and it drinks well straight.

Cask No. 35.75 Victorian walled garden in Las Vegas
17 years old; 1st fill designer hogshead; 57.9%
Reminiscent of a sports physiotherapist’s office – muscle spray, shea butter and massage oil next to a disinfected tile floor and a newly opened First Aid kit. To taste, an oriental market and belly dancers in Las Vegas – hot and intense; intriguing depth.

Cask No. 30.73 Plum jam and toffee apples
11 years old; refill port pipe; 58.5%
A very interesting nose with lots going on – plum jam, peach, apricot, rose-hip syrup, cinnamon toast, honey, toffee, almond and fresh oak. The palate started with crisp greengage freshness before turning to pomegranates and red toffee apples, closing with dried figs and dates and mild spice.

Cask No. 53.173 Glowing embers on the tongue
16 years old; refill sherry butt; 59.8%
Typical sooty, briny and oily fish scents with citric, herbal and medicinal background notes, along with light honey on brown toast and tart berries. To taste, it had a very ashy texture – hot ash, ‘like glowing embers’, but the vanilla and honey helped counterbalance the salty and smoky characteristics.

www.smws.ca

The Scotch Malt Whisky Society Canada
104-1240 Kensington Road NW, Suite 160
Calgary, AB, Canada T2N 3P7
Email – curious@smws.ca

A rare survivor.

Alfred Barnard’s booklet on Pattison’s and the Glenfarclas Distillery. 

Two copies only known.

Alfred Barnard wrote for Pattison’s and their then partners the Glenfarclas Distillery sometime around 1896. About that time Barnard wrote 6 of these promotional pamphlets for different whisky companies.  This is one of the rarest.  So far as we can establish (and we have done some digging) only 2 copies are known.  We were able to find one in pristine condition, scan it and now plan to republish this with a new Introduction.  It’s also the most substantial of any of the pamphlets (80 pages in length) and the most extravagant, not only for the claims he makes for Pattison’s (who were shortly to go spectacularly bust) but for the many fascinating illustrations. 

This is an irreplaceable and very rare piece of whisky literature which would grace any library on the subject.

Limited Edition facsimile reprint in edition of 100 copies only, with new Introduction. 150gsm white silk coated paper with 350gsm white silk coated board PUR bound.

Price:  £35 including ‘Signed For’ delivery – UK only (£40 International)

Expect to be shipping copies during early September 2013.