KWM Whisky Advent Day 7 – Millstone Oloroso Sherry

It has been a little over a year now since Millstone hit the market in Alberta, and our customers are lapping up the many different whisky releases we have from the Dutch distiller, which also goes by the name Zuidams. Zuidams is a family owned distillery in Baarle Nassau, The Netherlands. The firm opened its doors in 1974, and for the first 14 years it produced vodka, liqueurs, gin and genever. The latter spirit, genever is the key to the firms progression to making whisky.

Genever, is a spirit with a very long history. In the early days of distillation in Europe, beer made from malted barley was crudely distilled into a spirit. The result was essentially a proto-whisky, but the spirit would have been almost unpalatable. To make it more drinkable herbs were added to alter the flavour. Juniper was also added as it was believed the berries had health benefits. The name Genever, or Jenever, is derived from the Dutch word “jeneverbes” or Juniper Berry.

The origins of Genever go back to at least the 13^th Century, and they are not exclusive to the Netherlands. There is reference to Genever coming from Bruges in the 1200s and Antwerp a couple of centuries later. But most scholars argree that Genever was likely first produced in Flanders, in the Netherlands. By 1606 the industry was sufficiently large for it to attract the attention of the Dutch authorities, who began levying taxes on genever and similar spirits in 1606.

There are two types of Genever, Old and Young. Young or “Jonge” genever is a style that came about around 1900. Modern distilling techniques allowed for the creation of lighter spirits. During the Great War (First World War) there was a shortage of grain and Genever was made from molasses and sugar beets. People started referring to the Old or “Oude” style genever. Some Old Genever is matured in oak barrels, like whisky. It is this style that Millstone is famous for.

In 1988 at the behest of the sons, especially Patrick van Zuidam, the firm started experimenting with whisky making. In 1996 they began laying down casks in earnest. The company produces not just single malt whisky (both peated and unpeated malt), made in the Scottish style, but also 100% rye whisky. We bottled our own cask of Millstone Rye Whisky this year and it has been a hit!

So first and foremost, we know, the whisky is not a 50ml… Apparently Millstone does 40mls instead. We aren’t really sure why. I chalk it up to the Dutch being Dutch. Good folk that they are, sometimes it is best not to ask… besides, we would not have otherwise had this whisky in our Calendar!

Millstone Oloroso Sherry – 46% – No Age Statement – Andrew’s Tasting Note: “Nose: thick with chocolate, Kahlua and caramel flavoured Baileys; big notes of liquorice Jujubes, polished new leather and brand new rubber boots. Palate: big, nutty, leathery and earthy; syrupy, juicy dates and more Kahlua; caramel sauce and more cream liqueur tones; the leather and spices build but also some waxy Strawberry Twizzlers; young but layered and rich. Finish: milk chocolate coats the palate along with caramel Baileys and liquorice Jujubes. Comment: this is a malt for those looking to get their sherry on… it is big, proud and unapologetic; very Dutch! – 50mls Available for $12 – 700mls are SOLD OUT in Alberta. Due back in 2018!

Springbank Distillery is delighted to announce that our new Local Barley 10yo is available in the UK today.

The Local Barley 10yo 57.3% ABV is available in the UK now – other markets/countries will vary throughout the weeks ahead. To help you find where you could buy a bottle of the new Local Barley 10yo please visit the “Where to Buy” section of the Springbank website: http://www.springbankwhisky.com/distributors/

Tasting Notes

Nose: The nose on this dram is constantly changing and always exquisite. Pick your favourite dessert: vanilla ice-cream with butterscotch sauce, pecan pie or creme caramel. Custard cream biscuit and chocolate honeycomb are also present. The tasting panel has a sweet tooth.

Palate: The whisky has a lovely delicate floral quality of lemongrass and citrus tea. There’s also the sweetness of almonds and marzipan which is balanced with a hint of peat and ends on a note of luxury, pure smooth velvet.

Finish: You can tell this was matured in a dunnage warehouse, with the soft earthy finish. At the end you can taste salted caramel and the spiciness of freshly baked cinnamon buns drizzled with honey.

Matured in 70% Bourbon and 30% Sherry with approximately 9000 bottles available worldwide.

The Campbeltown Cadenhead shop is selling each bottle for £86.00.

We would also like to take this opportunity to remind you all that the new Kilkerran 8yo cask strength from our sister distillery Mitchell’s Glengyle is available in the UK from today.

It will be available in the Campbeltown Cadenhead shop for £48.00.

For more information please visit the Kilkerran Facebook page.

FESTIVE WHISKY TASTINGS

Fancy making your own blended whisky ? Well, it’s all available at our lovely Whiski shop on the Mound, beside Whiski Rooms. With our own dedicated tasting room, we have a full schedule of fun and exciting whisky tastings – whisky & chocolate anyone?

The BLEND – A Masterclass by Chivas Regal

Wednesday’s  

6th,13th & 20th Dec ’17

Delve into the fascinating world of Scotch whisky and learn about the highly skilled process of making Chivas Regal blended Scotch whisky. Make and take your own blended whisky home to enjoy Two sessions run on Wednesdays:-  3-4PM and 6-7PM. £19.95 pp, Book Now on 0131-225-1532 or online here

Introduction to Whisky & Tasting
Daily Tastings

For newcomers and enthusiasts alike, this is a fun introduction to whisky, highlighting the regional styles and variances available from Scotland. See our schedule here and book online or call us. £25pp Book your tasting with our shop now on 0131-225-1532

WHISKY & CHOCOLATE TASTING

What a delicious combination – 4 delighful whiskies paired with 4 artisan chocolates sourced from our local chocolatier. £30 pp. See our schedule here and book online or call us on 0131-225-1532.

WHISKI SHOP

4 NORTH BANK STREET EDINBURGH. EH1 2LP  T: 0131-225-1532 W: www.whiskishop.com

WHISKI ROOMS 4-7

NORTH BANK STREET EDINBURGH,EH1 2LP T: 0131-225-7224 W: www.whiskirooms.co.uk

WHISKI BAR & Restaurant

119 HIGH STREET EDINBURGH, EH1 1SG T: 0131-556-3095 W: www.whiskibar.co.uk

Johnnie Walker Blue Label Ghost & Rare

A limited edition blend of the iconic Johnnie Walker Blue Label using single malt from the now silent Brora distillery, presented at the higher strength of 46% abv. Created by Master Blender Jim Beveridge and released in limited quantities worldwide, this blended Scotch is the first in the Ghost & Rare series from Johnnie Walker Blue Label.

£209.99 Order Now

Price Drop – Save £10 Orders will be dispatched week beginning 4th December

KWM Whisky Advent 2017 – Hyde 1938 No. 6 President’s Reserve

For the second straight year we have an offering from up and coming Irish Whiskey producer Hyde. Hyde is among the wave of new Irish distilleries that have opened up in the last few years. Most of them do not yet have stocks of mature whisky, so they are releasing whiskies produced under license. Last year we featured the Hyde Sherry Finish Single Malt on Day 9. This year we have the Hyde 1938 No.6 President’s Reserve Irish Whiskey, named for Ireland’s first Prime Minister Douglas Ross Hyde. Bottled at 46% the whiskey is composed of 8 year old single grain and much older single malt. The whisky has been married and finished in Oloroso sherry. Blended whiskey is composed of both malt and grain whiskey.

Single grain whiskey is a style of whiskey with roots in both Ireland and Scotland. Irishmen Sir Anthony Perrier introduced the first continuous still at Spring Lane Distillery, Cork in 1822. Just a few years later Scotsman Robert Stein, inspired by the “continuous still”, improved on the design by the addition of partitions in the column. His “patent still” was installed at Cameronbridge Distillery in Fife, but it failed to take hold. It didn’t go unnoticed however, an Irish Exciseman, Aeneas Coffey took the design and added a couple of pipes allowing the spirit to recirculate. The result was a lighter, cleaner distillate, that didn’t require multiple distillations.

The Coffey Still was a hit and embraced all over the world. The still was adopted by distilleries all over Europe and America. It was especially well received in Scotland and England for whisky and gin respectively. Curiously, the only country that didn’t adopt it with open arms was Ireland. Irish distillers felt the still produced bland, tasteless, inferior whiskey. Ironically the failure of the Irish to adopt the Coffey Still and other similar still types is one of the reasons cited for the decline of the Irish whiskey industry by the early 1900s.

About the Hyde Family: (In their own words) “The Hyde family have a long tradition of being involved in the Irish drinks business. From 1640 until 1962 the family ran a tavern located just outside the picturesque town of Bandon in West Cork. The Hydes sold traditional Irish Whiskey and draught stout straight from wooden casks, tapped by hand with a mallet and brass tap. The drink business runs through twelve generations of the Hyde family tree. At one stage in 1916, their grandfather, granduncle and grandaunt were all publicans in Bandon. Today, Alan and Conor Hyde are the first generation not to own a tavern, but they continue the family tradition by producing some of Ireland’s finest whiskey.”

About Hyde 1938 Whiskey: (In Their Own Words) “The Triple Distilled Irish Whiskey is a premium blend between 18 year old single malt whiskey and 8 year single grain whiskey, matured in Bourbon Barrels and finished for 9 months in Oloroso Sherry Casks and limited to just 5,000 bottles. The label commemorates the inauguration of Ireland’s first President ‘ Douglas Hyde ‘ in 1938.”

Hyde 1938 No. 6 President’s Reserve – 46% – 8 Year – Married 9 Months in Oloroso Sherry – Andrew’s Tasting Note: “Nose: hard toffee, caramilk, toasted marshmallow and lightly salted Marcona almonds; Weetabix, All Bran with milk and berries and a side of fresh squeezed oranges. Palate: creamy, floral and grainy: notes of dusty winter wheat and caramel corn; warming and spicy; more fresh squeezed orange juice with honeydew and cantaloupes; at first it is a little warming, evolving into assorted Jujubes. Finish: the finish is light, clean and short; the floral notes and Jujubes fade away quickly leaving vanilla and warming oak tones. Comment: this is a light, silky and pleasant dram.” – $90 for 700ml and $12 for 50ml

https://youtu.be/NCmB-B4xbAc 

Different location this week, but the different and new whiskies are still coming! Jack Daniels Rye! For the first time in 76 years, JD have switched up their recipe to now include a rye whisky. Having a very potent 70% Rye content, it dwarfs its cousin, Woodford Rye, which is only running at 53% rye content, but what works for Woodford won’t work for Jack and vice versa. It’s a genuinely wonderful value for money bottle, which is very important for this time of year. £25-£30 a bottle and bottle at 45%ABV – fair play JD, this is a new easy drinker that i’ll be adding to my shelf. Cheers

New Bottle Your Own Cask – the perfect Christmas Gift?

The Famous Grouse Experience has announced that its latest limited edition Bottle Your Own Cask is to be named after one of its famous feline residents: Glen. The Bottle Your Own series is hand-picked as an exceptional cask from the Glenturret Distillery. These are extremely collectable editions and the bottles from these hand selected casks are only available to purchase at The Glenturret Distillery Shop.

Read the full story here

Christmas Whisky Hampers

Our distillery shop is full of gifts for the festive season. Why not come along and browse our unique selection of Festive Hampers in store now? The Famous Festive Hamper comes with an assortment of Famous Grouse goodies including a personalised Famous Grouse bottle with your own choice of message. Our Glenturret Hamper is also available plus customers can make up their own hampers from a wide selection of gifts from our Famous Shop.

Tasting Experience

If you are looking for something to do this Festive Season why not visit the distillery and enjoy one of our Tasting Experiences? After a tour of our hand crafted distillery, where we will take you through the traditional art of making our Glenturret single malt whisky you can choose between our Famous and Finest whisky tastings. These bespoke tours offer a unique insight into the wonderful world of Scotch whisky and will be sure to delight you this festive season with a few warming drams! You can book your tour here

Mark’s Whisky Ramblings 187: Auchentoshan Solera 

Mark Dermul, Belgian whisky blogger, tries the Auchentoshan Solera. Introduced in 2012 in the duty free range, the Auchentoshan Solera is a triple distilled Lowlander that cannot hide its Pedro Ximenez sherry cask finish. It offers up a nose and palate that exhibits an incredible complexity, making this liquid dessert the near perfect dram.

https://youtu.be/O203fHJiS5w

Gordon Macphail Connoisseur’s Choice Caol Ila 2004

We are big fans of Caol Ila at KWM. To quote my friend Kelly Carpenter, a great friend of the store, Caol Ila “is one of the most consistently good Scotch whiskies”. Any opportunity to feature the distillery and its whisky in the KWM Whisky Advent Calendar is a welcome one. We didn’t have a Caol Ila last year, but we did feature a Caol ila from Gordon Macphail in the 2015 edition on Day 18.

Our Day 5 whisky, like that from 2 years ago, is a Gordon Macphail Connoisseurs Choice Caol Ila. In this case a 2004 vintage. Unlike most independent bottlers, Gordon Macphail fills their own casks, rather than simply acquiring them on the open market. The family firm, now in its 4^th generation has a wood policy that is among the best of any whisky firm in Scotland. In the last two years we have selected and bottled 4 Kensington Wine Market exclusive casks of Caol Ila from G&M. Every time they send us a flight of samples to select a cask, we struggle to select just one…

Caol Ila is Scots Gaelic for the “Sound of Islay”, the body of water separating Islay from Jura. Caol Ila, the largest of Islay’s eight operating distilleries has spectacular view of the Sound and the island beyond. But even though the view from the still room is second to no other in Scotland, Caol Ila has been modernized and expanded so many times that it is without question the island’s least interesting distillery to tour. Established in 1842 the distillery changed hands many times over the following century until it was acquired by Distillers Company Limited, one of the forbearers of industry giant Diageo, in 1927. The distillery has run ever since, with but three short breaks, including the War years, 1942 to 1945 due to wartime barley restrictions. It was also closed between 1972-4 and 2011-2, in both cases for major upgrades to add capacity.

As with past editions of the Kensington Wine Market Whisky Advent Calendar, Gordon Macphail whiskies will be featured on a number of occasions this year. We will dig more into their history in the posts ahead. For this post we will simply say that they have a well-deserved reputation for the quality of their whisky and their unrivaled depth of maturing stocks of Scotch whisky. No one has bottled older whiskies than the 75 year old and three 70 year olds that the firm has released in the last 5 years.

About the Connoisseurs Choice line (Courtesy Gordon Macphail): “In the 1960s George Urquhart, one of the first of four generations of the Urquhart family to shape the future of Gordon & MacPhail, pioneered a range of single malt Scotch whiskies, which he selected, matured, and bottled. In doing so, he effectively invented a category in a market previously focused entirely on blended whiskies. The ‘Connoisseurs Choice’ range broke innovative new ground, giving a platform to many of Scotland’s single malt distilleries from across all regions, some of which had never before been bottled as a single malt. Over the past five decades, we have maintained our belief that every distillery has a personality of its own. The collection of whiskies in the ‘Connoisseurs Choice’ range is constantly evolving, aiming always to highlight the unique characteristics of the individual distilleries.”

We love the fact that the Connoisseurs Choice range is bottled at 46% without added colouring. While this 2004 Caol Ila is not presently available in the market, Kensington Wine Market has a pair of store exclusive Caol Ila casks available at the time of writing. There is G&M Caol Ila 2007 KWM Cask, a 10 year old Refill Ex-Bourbon cask bottled at 58.6%, $122; and the 14 year old G&M Caol Ila 2002 KWM Cask, bottled at 52.5% from a First Fill Ex-Bourbon Barrel, $145.

Connoisseur’s Choice Caol Ila 2004 – 46% – First & 2^nd Fill Ex-Bourbon – Andrew’s Tasting Note: “Nose: classic young Caol Ila, sweet, meaty and malty with a whiff of smoke; juicy orange and melon, chewy bacon dipped in maple syrup and vanilla icing. Palate: creamy, round, coating and malty; wow, layered, it creeps up on you; scallops cooked in butter and more chewy bacon dipped in maple syrup with a side of orange juice; we can’t completely ignore the savoury smoke, it is there but hidden under the more decadent tones. Finish: the smoke is more assertive on the finish as the sweet syrup and punchy orange notes pull back; still creamy and malty. Comment: damn this is great Caol Ila, but we didn’t bring it in because of our aforementioned casks… we’ll have to rectify that! – $TBA

Ralfy overcomes a major blooper and carries on with Ralfy Review 701 – Antiquary 35yo Blended Scotch @ 46% vol: