We’ve taken things up a notch in our latest flash sale; along with some of your trusty favourites, we’ve added in discounts on premium bottles from Macallan, Balvenie, Ardbeg, and many more! These deals are around for a limited time only (and while stocks last) – head over to our whisky sale to search for some treasure.
$109.99 View
The wonderful Balblair Distillery has long been under the radar. In the little town on Edderton on the northern coast of Scotland at the southern edge of the Dornoch firth, this great distillery has never garnered the fan fare of it’s prominent neighbor just a few miles down the road in Tain. The distillery was originally founded 1790 and then rebuilt 1895, but closed during World War I. It wasn’t until 1949 when Hiram Walker fired the old plant up again. Many buildings from the 1870s still stand on the site, but the excellent malt has remained more less unknown to modern drinkers. It was not until Inver House Distillers took control of the distillery in 1996 that we began to see the malt available internationally and a large investment by Thai Beverage in 2001 set a course for a new chapter in the excellent distillery’s history. Over the last two decades the distillery has become famous for it’s vintage bottlings and odd squat bottles. Our buyers, Andrew and David, visitedt the distillery in Spring of 2019 to select a cask and meet distillery manager John Macdonald. This barrel is Spanish Oak, unlike the vast majority of oloroso butts we see. IN addition, it held for many years oloroso wine vinified outside of the Sherry triangle about 140 miles North East in the region of Montilla Moriles. The combo of Spanish Oak and old Montilla is a rare and welcome surprise. The resulting malt is a big dark “oloroso” bomb with powerful spice and unctuous texture.
Continuing our series which introduces you to the people behind the Cotswolds Distillery, meet Alice, who leads our New Product Development. Have a read on our latest blog to learn more about Alice’s role at the distillery, why our Old Tom Gin is Alice’s favourite product and where she gets her inspiration from when devising new recipes.
We write to you from our sunny island home with a spring in our step, excitement in our voice and a masssssssssssive announcement. For we have made a pretty special purchase – investing in a brand new distillery building that we will soon call home, and we wanted our Island Dispatch friends to be among the first to know.
Please join us in raising a glass as we make a toast to hope, happiness and exciting new beginnings.
Slàinte
Kate & Jonny
When we first embarked on our distillery journey we had our sights set on creating a brand new distillery building – all shiny and new. But then something happened to de-rail our plans. We were swept off our feet by a stunning island beauty, who won our hearts and we are very much in love.
And so it goes, that the historic Nunton Steadings building right next door on beautiful Benbecula will become our new home.
Built way back in the early 1700s, this amazing U-Shaped building is bursting with island charm. A former steadings, our new home features beautiful original cobbled floors which will be the perfect place for our whisky casks during maturation.
With a rich history – including tales of Bonnie Prince Charlie taking shelter at Nunton, we couldn’t be more proud to take over such an important building as we plan for the future of our much loved distillery. The place will become home to Downpour gin alongside our planned whisky distillery as well as being a welcoming hub for you all to visit for a gin or a dram when we get our visitor centre up and running.
We’re looking forward to transforming Nunton Steadings into our new home. And we hope to welcome all of you as visitors in the near future.
Does your collection need a bottle of E.H. Taylor Small Batch?
You could win a chance to purchase a bottle of Colonel E.H. Taylor Small Batch by doing one simple thing…downloading the new Party Source mobile app (and creating an account). All downloads and registered accounts made by Wednesday, August 5th at 11:59 PM will be entered for a chance to purchase a bottle. Those selected will be notified via email by August 7th.
Take the party on the go with the new Party Source app
Download the new Party Source app for easy ordering and exclusive deals. Available on Apple and Android.
ROCK TOWN’S FOUR GRAIN BOURBON SCORES A 95/100
AT THE 2020 ULTIMATE SPIRITS CHALLENGE
Chocolate Malt gets a 93/100
Little Rock, AR – (July 24, 2020) – Rock Town Distillery is pleased to announce its Four Grain Sour Mash Bourbon Whiskey has scored a 95/100 and was named one of the top 100 spirits in the prestigious 2020 Ultimate Spirits Challenge held in Hawthorne, NY.
Rock Town’s Chocolate Malt Bourbon scored a 93/100 and our Bottled on Bond Bourbon Whiskey scored a 92/100. The entire list of entries can be found here: https://www.ultimate-beverage.com/ultimate-spirits-challenge-USC-Results/2020-spirits-results/
All products are rated on the 100-point scale by the spirits industry’s most renowned judges including buyers, journalists, educators and bar owners.
“Not only did our Four Grain Sour Mash rate a 95/100, our Bottled-in-Bond Bourbon rated a 92/100 making it the top rated bottled-in-bond bourbon in the field from a craft distillery” said distillery founder and head distiller Phil Brandon.
Says UBC Founder and Judging Director F. Paul Pacult, “This year’s USC was the most international, with a dazzling array of quality distillates from as far away as Indonesia, India, and Iceland. Virtually all categories saw substantial gains in submissions, in particular, American whiskey, Ready-to-Drink cocktails, gin, and all brandy categories.
ABOUT THE ULTIMATE SPIRITS CHALLENGE
Ultimate Spirits Challenge (USC), held since 2010, is the world’s most prestigious and progressive global spirits and cocktail competition. The Ultimate Spirits Challenge was held at the custom-designed Ultimate Beverage Challenge (UBC) Evaluation Center in Hawthorne, NY throughout March and early April.
ABOUT ROCK TOWN DISTILLERY
Rock Town Distillery produces the award winning Arkansas Bourbon, Arkansas Single Barrel Bourbon Whiskey, Arkansas Hickory Smoked Whiskey, Arkansas Rye Whiskey, Rock Town Vodka and more which are distributed to multiple states and Canada. Winner of the 2015 US Micro Whisky of the Year in the 2015 edition of Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible.
Rock Town Distillery, Arkansas’ first legal distillery since prohibition, is located in downtown Little Rock at 1201 Main Street, Little Rock, AR 72202. The distillery is open for tours 6 days a week. To find out more please visit www.rocktowndistillery.com
Vic Cameron chats away about one of his favourite subjects; barley
Barley is not just barley; barley is one of the three raw materials required in the production of single malt whisky – one of the main things we do in this world. Not just use any barley no, bred specifically for the purpose of producing single malt whisky, and there is a very successful barley breeding program in operation in the UK. If you had told me ten years ago there was a breeding programme fer barley I would have thought you had too many drinks.
Says Vic; When I started malting ‘as a boy’ many years ago we were processing Prisma, Puffin and Derkado, moving onto Chariot and Optic in the years that followed. We are now moving away from Concerto to Laureate and there have been many varieties that have come and gone in the meantime. During my career with Diageo I sat on various industry committees that organised and ran the barley test programs, aimed at finding the next big Optic, Concerto or Laureate. The program is known as the ‘Stairway to Heaven’; heaven being the royalties that can be collected by the breeding companies from the sowing of a successful variety. All very apt now for Vic, being a preacher himself with his own church and following. Mind, he is a great guy, a friend, he does not run a “cult”.
He continues; It starts with the breeders looking at thousands of new lines trying to pick the best. These are then micro-malted by the industry; malting in small 500-gram batches to see what gives the best analysis for whisky production. If successful the variety can gain Provisional and then Full Approval from the industry and then it is ‘happy days’ for the breeder, and hopefully for the farmer and the distiller (Paul; And, I might add, for the whisky drinker!). In these trials, yield is king: yield for the farmer in terms of tonnage per acre and yield for the distillery in terms of litres per tonne of malt. Many producers are moving back to heritage varieties and maybe putting more importance back on flavour instead of yield. I myself am involved in a project using bere barley from Orkney and the Western Isles and other varieties with fanciful names from the past. We can sometimes produce problems for ourselves. In my opinion, we may have gone too far with dormancy reduction and introduced another problem for the industry known as pre-germination. But the breeding and the evolution of barley variety will continue in the future. Can we find that next Golden Promise, the variety back in the 1960s (created by gamma rays by the way) that produced that first big step change in terms of spirit yield? Can we find the next Optic, the variety that stayed and stayed for years and years longer than any other variety? What will we find next? Who knows, but it will happen sooner or later.
WHO IS VIC? After 23 years with Diageo, in operations and laboratory management, process support and cereal procurement, Vic left for a ‘’higher’’ calling. Affectionately known as The Whisky Minister, Vic combines his own whisky consultancy, Discerning of Spirits, with running a church. Vic is also a committee member of the Spirit of Speyside Whisky School and Technical Manager for the UK NIR Grain Network. He has taught at a variety of events including the Orkney Science Festival and Holland’s first ever whisky school. Vic is the course lecturer for a Diploma in Single Malt Whisky and has also contributed his vast industry knowledge to the content of other Edinburgh Whisky Academy courses. He is also my good friend and takes whisky schools for us on tour.
TGIF! The incredible Oban Distillers Edition has been restocked just in time for the weekend- and it’s on sale! We reckon that’s a double whammy of good news. Brimming with coastal notes (think: the smell of salty air on a summer’s day at the seaside) and matured in rich Montilla Fino sherry casks, we can tell why this is a popular dram.
But how long will it be around for? Grab a bottle before it goes!
As always, enjoy free UK delivery on all orders over £25.
Oban Distillers Edition
Was: £79.00
Now: £48.95
🎉 WE’RE BACK OPEN! 📢🎉
Today we’re delighted to be welcoming back some familiar faces to our Edinburgh store. It has been far. Too. Long.
We’ll be open from Wednesday to Sunday (11-5pm) with all staff keeping customers safe in store while they search for the perfect summer-in-the-garden dram, or a top-up of their usual tipple! 🥃
Don’t forget, you can Click & Collect your orders on our website and pick up your bottle when it’s ready in store. We’ve recently added even more incredible drams to our whisky sale online, just to tempt you a little bit… 👀
New whisky alert! The first release of Fettercairn 22 Year Old is now available to buy exclusively from The Whisky Shop for the month of July.
To celebrate its arrival, we’re giving you the chance to WIN a Highland getaway for two, in association with Fettercairn Whisky. The prize includes flights from any UK airport, two nights’ accommodation at a luxury hotel, dinner, plus a private tour and tasting at Fettercairn Distillery with Distillery Manager Stewart Walker – all for you and a guest to enjoy next year.
Sound good? To be entered into our prize draw, simply buy any 70cl bottle from the official Fettercairn range (including this delicious new 22 Year Old) online before midnight on Friday, 14th August 2020.
We’ll contact you shortly afterwards if you are selected as the winner. Good luck! Open to entrants 18 years and over. See full T&Cs here.
Shop our Fettercairn range to win ›
“Purity is a rare thing” exclaim this famous highland distillery, and the newly launched Fettercairn 22 year old embodies this mantra. Using only the purest spring water and matured in ex-Bourbon casks, Fettercairn have produced a 22 year old which offers their distinct tropical style: Spiced pear, caramelised orange and coffee, tempered by liquorice that then makes way to morello cherry, plum and treacle.
Be the first to get your hands this delicious dram!
