Whisky Going, Going, Gone…

Bruichladdich 14 Year Old Single Cask

We manged to snap-up some more of this United Kingdom exclusive release but once it is gone, it is gone. 2003 vintage, 60.8% and just 438 bottles. Bruichladdich Distillery was established in 1881 by the Harvey family of distillers based in Glasgow. Situated on the Rhinns peninsular on the island of Islay close and close to the sandy bays of Loch Indaal. Re-opened in 2001 with much of the original Victorian equipment restored to working order. The first release of Bruichladdich’s new whiskey was the highly acclaimed PC5, the first release in the limited Port Charlotte range. Also producing very highly peated Octamore, Organic using Islay grown barley, and triple and quadruple distilled single malt and single cask releases. Bruichladdich distillery participates in Feis Ile, the annual Islay Whisky Festival.

Buy – Bruichladdich 14 Year Old 2003 – $17.376

Raise a toast of the Macallan

With the new year upon us, it is the perfect time to raise a toast of The Macallan with friends and loved ones.

This year, we are taking the opportunity to celebrate some Scottish New Year traditions. “Hogmanay” is the traditional Scottish term for New Year’s Eve and at midnight we sing Auld Lang Syne and go First Footing.

Auld Lang Syne

This traditional Scottish song is sung at the stroke of midnight. It is a call to celebrate longstanding friendships, saying goodbye to the year past, and welcoming the year to come.

First Footing

“First Footing” is a popular Scottish tradition, referring to the first person to enter a home after midnight in the new year.

Gifts, including a dram of whisky are traditionally bestowed, granting good luck for the year ahead.

From everyone at The Macallan, we wish you all the best for the coming year.

Explore Hogmanay Traditions

Whew… what a year it’s been! After years of patience and preparation, Prelude: Courage & Conviction was released this past September as an early look into our very first line of American Single Malt whisky.

And it’s off to a great start. Whisky Advocate recently awarded Prelude: Courage & Conviction 90 points, describing it as a whisky of superior character and style.

In addition, our Cider Cask Finished Virginia-Highland Whisky was awarded 90 points as well. These scores are a testament to our team’s dedication to making great American whisky.

If you’re looking for that last minute gift for a friend or loved one (… or for yourself), you can check out your local store’s availability here.

As great as 2019 was, this is just the beginning. You can expect an even more exciting upcoming year with the launch of our Flagship release Courage & Conviction in the Spring of 2020. 👀

With the holidays upon us, please stop by our Visitors Center for a tour or tasting if you and your family find yourself in our neck of the woods. While we’ll be closed on New Year’s Eve, and New Year’s Day, we’ll be keeping normal hours of operation outside of that. We’d love to have you!

Thank you everyone for being a part of our journey as we help bring American Single Malt whisky into the spotlight. This season, we’ll be raising a dram to you.

Here’s to courageous beginnings. 🥃

Cheers,

– The Team at Virginia Distillery Company

A Very Relaxed 2020!

We’d like to wish you and your loved ones a very happy and relaxed 2020 and hope to meet you at Maltstock or anywhere else in good health!

Annette, Bob, Klaas, Stan, Teun and the relaxed Maltstock crew.

Cracking Hogmanay Deals!

Last minute savings on some outstanding whisky this Hogmanay including Highland Park, Lagavulin, Glenfiddich and more! Whether you’re having a party or a quiet night with friends, make sure you have the perfect bottle to share this New Year!

See All Offers

A lot can happen in a year …   Andrew Nelstrop, Managing Director 
The English Whisky Co

Once again I find myself being asked to write a few lines because we have come to the end of the year.  It does not seem 12 months since I last did this. I am not sure what has caused time to speed up – is it my never ending age increase or is it having young children at school with terms going by in a daze?

English whisky as a global category continues to grow with new export markets found and the word is quietly spread that whisky doesn’t have to be Scottish.  As the founding company behind this growth in English whisky we find it spectacular how many other distilleries are being built or coming online to join us. Yes it is a bit more competition but at the same time it is a lot more people banging the drum around the world and ultimately this helps awareness sink in. I am very fortunate to be leading the original English Whisky Company and my life is made easier by the fact that our team continue to make the very finest single malt and that we have a good stock of aged whiskies maturing in our bonds. One of the perks of owning the oldest whisky distillery is I get to try the oldest English whiskies before you and I can tell you the 12year old we are looking at releasing next year is amazing!

For those of you that haven’t visited the distillery for a year or two; we now have a very smart bistro that has proved to be a big hit, with our chefs knocking up some quality grub – it is well worth a visit. Now that we have somewhere lovely for you to relax and spend a bit of time, we have made the hard decision to reduce the tours to 4 a day. In the past we really couldn’t entertain visitors for an hour while they waited for a tour but the new facilities are lovely, so hopefully you will arrive early enough for a drink and maybe a nibble before your tour.

2019 has been a stressful year and it has nothing to do with making or selling whisky but everything to do with computers; which brings me back to my ever increasing age! We decided to implement a new website and whilst the website makers are incredibly helpful – I have never known a job so complicated or time consuming. The idea is that it makes your shopping experience an easy delight and looks smart as well. My misled belief was that computers should be able to do this easily – how wrong was I. In my aged wisdom I palmed this job off to Katy who is noticeably younger and therefore seems less miffed when a computer can’t carry out basic mathematics correctly. How many of you still have your Casio calculator? I do and it is far more accurate than a wrongly programmed computer.. Anyway months on and we finally launched the new site on Black Friday because we like a challenge. I have a feeling that there will be tweaks going on for many more months but I am delighted with the results so far, the new site is a great improvement on our old version. If you find  a glitch please do email or phone us  – there will be a glitch or two hiding somewhere.

My final comments are a request for you all. We know where our whisky is sold but we rarely know where it is not. If you have a lovely wine shop / great bar / hotel near you that doesn’t stock our goods please do let us know so that we can do our best to persuade the proprietor to stock a few of our products. Any new accounts gained this way and the informer gets a bottle of The English Original on me!

Once again – Merry Christmas

Andrew Nelstrop

We’d like to wish you a very merry Christmas from all of us at The Whisky Shop and to thank you for the past year, full of good times and a lot of drams!

Here’s to you!

It’s that time of year when we look back and remember all those who helped make it special.

So we wanted to say thank you for being an important part of Compass Box in 2019.

We only exist because of people like you – those with the desire to follow their own path and seek out singular products like ours.

Yet it’s not only about the year just gone. 2020 will be our 20th anniversary, and we’ll mark the milestone by releasing special whiskies and celebrating 20 years of exploring the world of great Scotch whisky. We hope you’ll join us.

All the best to you and yours from all of us at Compass Box.

And, especially at this time of year, share and enjoy!

John Glaser
Founder & Whiskymaker