We offer three (3) new bottlings under the OLD MALT CASK label together with five (5) PREMIER BARREL releases.

Tasting Notes for OLD MALT CASK follow:

OMC 2221 Laphroaig 14 Year Old

Nose: Opens sweetly – then catch its “ocean” – peat and tar.

Palate: Still phenolic & sweet + spices – chimney soot & iodine.

Finish: Ashy – “bandaged” – still peated/sweet – tarry & spiced. (F)

OMC 2213 Macallan 18 Year Old

Nose: Fresh & clean with juicy barley’d – grass & a citrusy style.

Palate: Sweetly spiced – vanilla’d – with soft fruit – malt & honey.

Finish: Warmingly spiced + more sweet/sugary barley & smoke. (F)

OMC 2206 Bruichladdich 20 Year Old Sherry Finish

Nose: Hard candy sweet + sweet barley + sweet spices & late liquorice

Palate: Lightly salted initially – hints at peat & smoke-heads to ripe fruit

Finish: Carries camphor/cough drop spices, runny honey & late malt. (F)

PREMIER BARREL Tasting Notes:

PBR 0122 Glenrothes 8 Year Old Sherry

Relish this Rothes! For it is a rather rakish yet rustic rapprochement of refinement – being a characterfully crafted combo of captivating caramel and capricious chilli chocolate – whilst similarly sustaining a sumptuous and stylishly striking smokiness. (F)

PBR 0120 Dailuaine 10 Year Old Sherry

Dally with this dandifelarious Dailuaine dubbed “decadently delicious”. Fabulously fresh – it is fantastically fructiferous with a pleasing potion of poached pears and a magically multifarious maelstrom of mandarins – sweet, soft spices plus a paroxysm of perfect praline. (F)

PBR 0123 Arran 12 Year Old

An arrestingly archetypal Arran! A hallmarked, hearty herbal halcyon – in cahoots with a canvas of capacious– yes, and capricious – captivatingly catchy candied citrus – matched manfully by a masterful miscellany of Malt mash (F)

PBR 0119 Blair Athol 12 Year Old

Tango with this BA of the North! It facilitates faultlessly a fully fledged floral – and fruitful – flight of fancy with its galactic guzzleworthy gamut of glorious gristiness galore. Go get it, gastronome! (F)

PBR 0121 Glenburgie 13 Year Old

Gloriously gristy Glenburgie! Access avariciously its axiomatic Autumnal fructiferousness (Absolutely Apples!) -plus its hallmark halo of harmonious honey- and taste the tantalising toffee …… bringing its Bacchanalian butterscotch to buttress your taste buds. Beautifully bountiful! (F)

And so we close the year with the potential, and the hope, of some great Christmas/holiday sales for you, from these new monthly releases, as well as from our earlier selections. We thank you for your support of our Whiskies through 2012 – and though we have told you before – it merits repeating – they are appreciated and never taken for granted by us. All best wishes !

Yours faithfully

Fred H Laing

Managing Director

www.douglaslaing.com

December 2012 Outturn Offerings 

Arabesques of ash and high kicks of coal 

Cask No. 3.184                                             $115

Islay

This nose was complex – perfumed smoke, candles, black tea, vinegar on coal and buckets of brine – but sweet (barley sugars, sherbet lemons, cinnamon sweets, pineapple cake) and floral (lavender, geranium, jasmine). The taste swung from sweet (Edinburgh Rock) to savoury (smoked pork loin, honey glazed ham); also charcoal and witch hazel. The reduced nose had fragrant vanilla, lemon, roses, soap and White Linen perfume sprayed on driftwood. Flavours now danced around the tongue with leaps of liquorice, lavender and lemon, whirls of white pepper, arabesques of ash and high kicks of coal. 1779 distillery at the centre of whisky island.

Drinking tip: Perfect ceilidh dram – or as a reward for some other strenuous achievement

Colour: Moon gold                                     

Cask: Refill hogshead                                

Age: 15 years

Date distilled: October 1996

Alcohol: 61.0%

In a wild garden, late summer 

Cask No. 48.26                                             $155

Speyside, Spey

Distinctly floral to start – jasmine, lilac – with earthy, ‘mushroom grow-bag’ notes behind. We were reminded of a wild garden, but the heavy scents balanced by emerging lemon sherbets – and this citric note also modifies the sweet taste, with traces of paprika. Fresher and more Speyside-like with water, but still earthy, with a whiff of smouldering leaves, and a fresh note of ‘lemon-scented fabric-softener’. The taste is soft, sweet and quaffable; rounded and centre-palate – ‘mashed strawberries with black pepper’– with a medium length finish. This remote distillery overlooks the Haughs of Cromdale, where once a battle was fought, and its make is not currently bottled by its owner.

Drinking tip: Whilst watching someone else gardening

Colour: Pale amber; mousseaux beads            

Cask: Refill butt                                           

Age: 23 years

Date distilled: March 1988

Alcohol: 50.5%

Perfumed sweetness and zesty fruits

Cask No. 125.51                                           $90

Highlands, Northern

The nose took time to develop – eventually producing sharp zesty fruits, grated orange peel, vanilla, caramel, hint of mint and polished or waxed furniture. The palate was more immediately defined – the sweetness of Danish pastries (with vanilla cream and apricot jam) and the perfumed astringency of lime sorbet, starfruit and grapefruit; pepper and chilli arriving in the finish. In reduction, the nose expanded to include papaya, strawberry split ice-lollies, toffee, magic tree vanilla and yankee candles. The reduced palate delivered rich, perfumed sweetness (‘biting a woman’s neck’ someone suggested); oak sharpened the after-taste. The distillery was a brewery until 1843.

Drinking tip: The character comes through more in the palate than the nose

Colour: Dead man’s chest                                   

Cask: First-fill barrel                                    

Age: 9 years                                    

Date distilled: August 2001

Alcohol: 57.4% 

 Sweet and sour mélange 

Cask No. G9.1                                              $100

Grain

The nose balanced toffee, marzipan, glacé cherries and lemon puff biscuits against some spritzy, slightly acidic sherbet; we also found waxed paper, hazelnuts, greenery and geraniums. The unreduced palate had sharp, tropical fruits and lemon peel; also new wood and then something spicy and savoury. The reduced nose suggested peaches, cheesecake, woodland paths and a ruined castle by a lily-pad loch – quite a landscape. The reduced palate seemed a reasonable mixture of sweetness and astringency – a sweet and sour mélange of toffee, pineapple, green sappy wood with some white pepper spicy heat in the finish. Captain Haddock’s favourite dram, apparently.

Drinking tip: While watching (or reading) Tintin

Colour: Sunset gold                                               

Cask: Refill barrel                                       

Age: 11 years

Date distilled: September 2000

Alcohol: 57.8%

Please visit the Scotch Malt Whisky Society of America at http://www.smwsa.com/ for further information on their single cask bottlings.

Abbey Whisky – The Secret Casks – Release 2

We are proud to announce the 2nd release of ‘The Secret Casks’ series, a trio of single malt Scotch whiskies, aged 30, 40 and 50 years old, matured at Speyside’s finest distilleries and bottled under the Abbey Whisky label.

New bottle, new label, new whisky! A cracking range of exceptional drams, just in time for Christmas!

Abbey Whisky 30 Year Old Speyside / 2nd Release

The youngest addition to our Secret Casks Series is this beautiful 30 year old single malt distilled at secret distillery in Speyside. Lots of sweet wonderful flavours combined with ripe golden delicious apples. The flavours get deeper and more intense when the dram warms up a little. It’s not in any way over sweetened; it’s perfectly balanced with great complexity. A dram you could nose all day, lovely!

Nose: Wonderful sweet flavours, lingering caramel, toffee apple made from ripe golden delicious.
The back of the nose shows light butterscotch and hints of spices. The warmer the dram gets the richer the flavours become. This dram you could nose all night long!

Palate: Butterscotch apple, sweet golden syrup, a very smooth coating of the mouth. A very slight taste of spice & back to golden delicious apples with a hint of ginger.

Finish: Long finish, lovely sweet flavours coating the mouth, very light hint of chocolate liqueur with a hint of spice.

£129.95 (£108.29 ex vat)

Click here to buy Abbey Whisky 30 Year Old – The Secret Casks

Abbey Whisky 40 Year Old Speyside / 2nd Release

The second 40 year old release from our ‘Secret Casks Series’ is this stunning example of an aged single malt Scotch whisky. 40 Years of age, a dram that has beautiful deep flavours that have not been over powered from the long rest in cask. This is a dram that you just can’t get enough of.

Nose: WOW! Sweet golden syrup with hints of gentle spice, lingering muscovado sugar & baked stewed apples. Raisins & sultana bake, bread & butter pudding.

Palate: Sultanas, golden syrup, nutty mature Christmas cake. Again muscovado sugar, dried fruits with slight hints of oak…

Finish: Coats your mouth with lovely, sweet baked flavours, slight hint of spice and oak. You just want more of this dram.

£229.95 (£191.63 ex vat)

Click here to buy Abbey Whisky 40 Year Old – The Secret Casks

Abbey Whisky 50 Year Old Speyside / 2nd Release

The oldest and rarest in ‘The Secret Casks’ series is this 50 year old single malt whisky from Speyside. To think this whisky has been slumbering in casks for as long as 50 years is truly amazing, the involvement of the flavours combined, produce a stunning dram.

Nose: A very welcoming nose, keeps pulling you in for more. At first, lovely warm spices, followed by dried fruits, butterscotch along with sweet sherry flavours. At the back of the nose lingers sultanas, hints of oak and further spices.

Palate: A superb combination of flavours, similar to those on the nose, followed by hints of oak and dry sherried flavours, quite dry, with a nutty butterscotch undertone.

Finish: A smooth, long mouthful, hints of Christmas spice, cloves, nutmeg & cinnamon followed by a slight sweet sultana notes. Nutty-ish.

£369.95 (£308.29 ex vat)

Click here to buy Abbey Whisky 50 Year Old – The Secret Casks

This weeks email features MORE great gifts for the WhiskeyLovers in your life: A spectacular, limited edition single malt whisky from Ireland, a great tasting sampler from the 16 Men of Tain, and a great way to have your whiskey in the car or at work.

First, and most exciting, is the release from Midleton Distillery in Ireland of a spectacular limited edition single malt: Midleton’s Barry Crockett Legacy Irish Single Malt Whiskey.

In 1966, John Power & Son, John Jameson & Son and the Cork Distillery Company (which owned the Old Midleton distillery) merged to form the Irish Distillers Group. The board of the newly formed company decided to close their existing distilleries and consolidate all production at a new facility. This was built at Midleton as it was the only existing site with room for expansion. In July 1975, production ended at the old distillery and began in the new one. The old distillery has since been turned into a visitors’ centre.

The new Midleton Distillery is one of the most modern distilleries in the world and has its production areas linked via fibre-optic networks. The Midleton facility, with a production capacity of 19 million litres per annum, is the largest in Ireland. The distillery boasts three 75,000 litre pot stills, and three column, which are used in combinations of three to produce different types of whiskey.

First released in 2011, Midleton’s Barry Crockett Edition is named after the distillery’s master distiller. It is produced from a selection of pot still whiskies which have been matured exclusively in American bourbon barrels, with a subtle contribution from a pot still distillate, which has matured in an unseasoned American barrel.

Whisky Aficionado Dominic Rostrow said of the Barry Crocket Legacy Edition: “Like the man himself, this is altogether more considered and elegant, mixing whiskeys up to 25 years old for a complex and less bruising experience…Instead, lemon and lime zest, kumquat, and blood orange entwine themselves around vanilla, nutmeg, and soft, drying tannins. No big knockout punches, but it goes the distance and wins unanimously and easily on points”

The Barry Crocket Legacy Edition is truly a really exciting whiskey. And with only 2500 bottles are released each year, very hard to come by. But fortunately for us, our man Nicky The Neck has extended family” in Ireland, and so we’ve been able to procure more than our fair share. So it’s with great excitement that we offer you the opportunity to acquire a bottle of Midleton’s Barry Crocket Legacy Edition for $258.75/ bottle. But act fast, because once it’s gone…

Next, are you looking for a great gift that provides both exceptional quality and variety at an unbeatable price? I urge you to consider the Glenmorangie Taster Pack (4X100mL bottles), a great way to experience the classic Glenmorangie The Original 10 YO, along with several of the award winning Extra Mature Range of whiskies produced by Glenmorangie.

The three Extra Matured expressions are aged for two more years in Sherry Casks (Lasanta), Port Casks (Quinta Ruban) and Sauternes Casks (Nectar D’Or), While The Original 10 YO provides the quintessential Glenmorangie experience, the three additional 12 Year Old expressions allow for further taste exploration into Glenmorangie’s mastery of wood maturation. And at $37.95 for 4-100mL bottles, it makes a great gift at a phenomenal value.

Finally, if you are looking for a way to bring your whiskey to work, checkout Wondermade Gourmet Bourbon Marshmallows, made with Maker’s Mark Bourbon. These mallows are an incredibly delicious indulgence with hot coco, or eaten “neat”, and make great stocking stuffers for the WhiskeyLovers in your life.

Until next week…I wish you high spirits!

Doug Stone
Founder
ForWhiskeyLovers.com

BARRY CROCKETT LEGACY IRISH SINGLE MALT WHISKEY

GLENMORANGIE TASTER PACK – 4X100ML BOTTLES

WONDERMADE’S HANDCRAFTED BOURBON MARSHMALLOW

Flaming Heart – our rich, spicy, smoky limited edition whisky – is back! Its core is a delicious combination of new French oak-aged Highland malt and peaty Islay whisky. Bottled at a feisty 48.9% it is a whisky born of fire, with a big heart.

Flaming Heart has previously won numerous awards, including Malt Advocate’s ‘Blended Whisky of the Year’ in 2011, and was awarded 95.5 points in Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible. However, Whiskymaker John Glaser believes this version is probably the best yet: “This is really one of our whiskies of which I am most proud. Because there is, to our knowledge, no other Scotch whisky like it. No other that combines peat smoke and sweetness like this.” Or in the words of Whisky Advocate’s John Hansell, “Flaming Heart kicks a**, as always.”

You can order one of the 9,147 delicious bottles of Flaming Heart from your local retailer or via our UK Online shop

Christmas Cask Ends Sale: Ends Wed 19 Dec
Parcels like no other, each trio not only includes bottlings of past and present but also those that have NEVER been released. The spirit that is yet to come….take a look upon thee, will you see something special for you or a present for someone special?

Parcel A: Islay Casks Ex-sherry & Bourbon £159
Parcel A packs a punch with bottlings all from Islay, this parcel will be heavily sherried with an unreleased bottling from Distillery 3. Age Range: 14 to 22 years

SPIRITS PRESENT: 3 X 70cl single cask malts from Islay with 1 guaranteed 20yo (worth £72+)

YET TO COME: Unreleased 14yo bottling from Distillery 3

BUY      

Parcel B: Motley Malts only £159
This parcel is a rainbow of cask types; enjoy bottles from port, bourbon and ex-sherry casks with a guaranteed 22yo and a never been released bottling from Distillery 35.
Age Range: 11 to 24 years

SPIRITS PRESENT: 3 X 70cl single cask malts from Speyside with 1 guaranteed 24yo (worth £75+)

YET TO COME: Unreleased 24yo bottling from Distillery 35

BUY

Parcel C: Islay Casks Ex-sherry & Bourbon £159
The second of our smoky parcels is again primarily ex-sherry casks with an ex-bourbon bottling in there for good measure however this time our future bottling is from Distillery 29. Age Range: 14 to 20 years

SPIRITS PRESENT: 3 X 70cl single cask malts from Islay with 1 guaranteed 20yo (worth £72+)

YET TO COME: Unreleased 20yo bottling from Distillery 29

BUY

All of our Christmassy parcels contain mystery malts bringing a wonderful element of surprise that is bound to raise a few smiles. 

Best be quick, before these vanish, the sale ends Wed 19 Dec at midday (our last order date for guaranteed Christmas delivery)

Cask Ends Sale Available via Mail Order only

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.

A quick note of note from Colin Southcombe General Manager The Strath Ale Wine & Spirit Merchants located in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada;

Vancouver Island Based Members of the Scotch Malt Whisky Society.

I am pleased to announce that I now have bottles of the December Outturn available for tasting.  Unfortunately we weren’t able to present these in the soon to be regular “First Friday” format.  However we wanted you to have the opportunity to taste these fabulous new whiskies;  you should all have received a copy of the December Outturn by email from our Canada headquarters.

You are invited to attend an informal stand-up tasting in the store next Saturday December 15^th between 3:00pm to 6:00pm.  I will be pouring all seven of the December Outturn and thanks to generous subsidizing by the Society, I am offering this for a nominal $10 per member and $15 for non-members.  If anyone wants to check out any of the remaining October and November releases, you are most welcome to do that too.

Just drop in any time between 3:00pm and 6:00pm.  No ticket is required, just pay at the door, but don’t miss out.  If you can let me know you are coming, that would help.

New members who have not as yet picked up their Membership Kit, can do so at the same time.  Anyone joining the Society at the time, becomes instantly eligible to purchase any Society whiskies.  Gift memberships can also be purchased and we have the kits here, so there is no delay.

As always, if you have any questions at all, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Slainté!

Colin Southcombe General Manager The Strath Ale Wine & Spirit Merchants 919 Douglas Street, Victoria BC, V8W 2C2 Tel: 250-370-9463 Email: whisky@strathconahotel.com

Email the Society in Canada at curious@smws.ca for your chance to join and to take advantage of their great offers. Bottlings are currently available in Alberta (via Kensington Wine Mart Calgary) and in British Columbia (via The Strath Ale, Wine & Spirit Merchants Victoria and Edgemont Fine Wines, Spirits & Ales, Vancouver).

We offer two (2) new bottlings under the PROVENANCE label.

Tasting Notes for PROVENANCE:

PRV 0946 Glenrothes 8 Year Old Sherry

The nose carries a richly spiced character and develops to leather, bees wax and old polished oak furniture. The palate is powerful and mouthcoating, still spicy with a salted caramel and chili chocolate quality. The finish is long and dry, with leather returning plus tobacco and a light smoky style. (J)

PRV 0781 Glenburgie 12 Year Old

Opens clean and fresh on the nose carrying a sweetly gristed character plus a macedonia of fruit style. The palate is even sweeter, with a spiced ripe fruit quality which then develops to a citric tang. The finish remains fruity then runs drier to a subtle oak aspect. (J)

And so we close the year. We thank you for your support of our Whiskies through 2012 – and though we have told you before – it merits repeating – they are appreciated and never taken for granted by us.

Best wishes

Fred H Laing

Managing Director

www.douglaslaing.com

Loch Fyne Whiskies Stocks ‘Arran single Sherry Cask #1968 15yo 1996’ 

Arran Single Sherry Cask # 1968 15yo 1996 53.9% abv 

£62.90 inc vat £52.42 ex vat

Limited to 263 bottles

Loch Fyne Whiskies

david@lfw.co.uk