“The Whisky Mafia has moved abroad! This is the first official thewhiskymafia.com dispatch from the Netherlands. Follow our hero Pat Dunlop and his new bride as they explore whisky in Holland.”
GlenDronach 18yo
Well, the time has come. I’ve been waiting to do this review for a very long time. I bought this bottle a long time ago and now it’s open, to be enjoyed with family and friends a like. To put it simply, if this whisky was a person, I’d have put a ring on it ages ago. It has everything i want for a price tag that’s below £100 in the UK, truly outstanding in every way possible. That’s all I can say without going on a super tangent and boring you all to death with superlatives. Enjoy the video!
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Black Bull 40 Year Old – What a stupendous opportunity to own an incredible blended scotch whisky. All the whiskies used to blend are between 40 and 51 years old. Additionally, Black Bull kept this blend to a rather high malt content; it contains only 14% grain whisky. The malts come from 1960’s and 1970’s distillates from such esteemed houses as Glenlivet, Macallan, Caperdonich, Highland Park, Bunnahabhain, and more. The single grain whiskies come from Caledonian, Girvan, and Port Dundas amongst others. This bottle received 94 points from Whisky Advocate as well as a #3 position on their “Buying Guide Top Ten Spring 2017”, and was blended and bottled at full cask strength and without the use of chill filtration or added coloring. This is truly a special bottle for any connoisseur or collector.
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Glendronach 18 Year Old Allardice
Glendronach 18 Year Old Highland single malt Scotch whiskey. Matured in Oloroso sherry casks, this sublime richly sherried malt is truly unforgettable. Sweet aromatics of fudge and muscovado sugar. Fruit compote and glacier morello cherries provide added complexity. On the palate remarkable flavours of stewed fruits and all-spice marry together with classical aged Oloroso and toasted walnut bread and chocolate orange. Glendronach malt whiskey distillery was established north east of Huntley in the Highland whiskey region by James Allardice in 1826. The malting floors at Glendronach Distillery closed in 1996 and it was the last distillery in Scotland to heat its stills directly with flames from a coal-fired furnace, until it had to comply with new regulations in 2005. Glendronach Distillery is resplendent with a traditional cask iron mash tun, wooden washbacks, four stills. Famous for its well-aged and top quality sherried single malt, for example Glendronach 21 Year Old Parliament, and single cask releases. The distillery is now owned by Brown Forman of America.
Ralfy tells the tale of malt and stuff with Ralfy Review 648 – Edradour 15yo @ 46%vol Fairy Flag
We are delighted to announce the launch of our new website glenfarclas.com This marks a significant step forward in an era where information is sought after in a quick and innovative manner; something we hope to have achieved with our mobile and desktop friendly website.
This online platform will educate not just our current family of followers, but those new to Glenfarclas who want to know a little more about our brand and heritage.
The website has been broken into the fundamental characteristics that has made our independent distillery such a continued success since it was established in 1836; Whisky, Production and Family. Explore the flavours of the core range whiskies, the history of the Family Casks and reflect on which might be your next dram of choice. Users can go back in time to find out how the last 150 years’ ownership of Glenfarclas has been challenged and evolved by six generations of the Grant family, and how each generation has implemented their unique mark on Glenfarclas for supporters to enjoy and be part of today.
Aside from the family traditions come the production tradition. “You can change anything you like, but don’t change the spirit” – John L.S. Grant. As the spirit continues to run, you can find out a little more about the staff and techniques that help turn our malted barley into the bottled Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky you see on shelves today. As interest in Glenfarclas has risen over the years, we are pleased to have also included a section dedicated to visiting the distillery, with up-to-date information on a selection of tours.
Finally, we endeavour to keep users up to date with news and accomplishments from J. & G. Grant; these are some of our proudest moments that we are pleased to share with those visiting the site. Today with only a handful of independent family owned distillers left, J. & G. Grant has stood the test of time and is pleased to continue to do so by delivering this online platform.
Glenallachie 20 Year Old 1996 Signatory Highland #5260 & #5261
Glenallachie 20 Year Old 1996 vintage Speyside single malt Scotch whisky. Matured in hogsheads #5260 & #5261 bottled January 2017 by Signatory Vintage for the Highland series. Glenallachie is a Speyside distillery sitting on the eastern edge of Ben Rinnes mountain where it is rather exposed to the elements and is often to be see sitting within the snowline. A modern building and its architect William Delmé-Evans created a distillery which is rather pleasing on the eye. Glenallachie was commissioned in 1967 with two stills which increased to four in 1989 in order to meet blenders ever increasing demand for Glenallachie malt whiskey. Whilst official releases are few independent releases are more numerous with those from Signatory Vintage and Cadenheads proving popular.
Taking a donder around Belfast whisky scene with a pal.
This is a blog written by Paul McLean, who went around various locations with Mark Burgess. Flew myself over to Belfast, checked into the hotel, dumped bags and had a dram. A quick call to Mark to ensure we are ok for a dram or five next day, then it’s time to chill oot and soak in the Belfast atmosphere, Mark opened the East Belfast Whisky Club, and to be sure I had to drink to its health!
The Duke of York – Traditional Belfast bar crammed with original mirrors and memorabilia and the largest selection of Irish whiskeys in Ireland. Snow Patrol first played here in 1998! Hiding down the cobbled streets of Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter, the Duke is home to a grand Whiskey selection and traditional Belfast craic, one of Belfast’s most famous whiskey bars. Tried a tasting of Powers Gold. I think there may be a gold rush pretty soon. In 1973, an IRA unit got caught in the narrow cobblestoned street that is home to the Duke. They ditched their car leaving the bomb in it and later brought the original building to the ground. In true Belfast fashion, owner Willie Jack, who bought the Duke after it was rebuilt, can only see the bright side. He points to the blue sky above, smiling broadly as he declares the now missing third storey means the street is flooded with sunlight. You have to admire him eh? The owner of The Duke of York and Harp Bar has opened the mini-museum and off-licence in Cathedral Quarter’s Hill Street A unique whiskey off-licence and museum has opened in Belfast. Willie Jack, the owner is an ex-director of the former Distillery Football Club, now, Lisburn Distillery FC, the head office of Bushmills whiskey was not always in the town which gave its name: but at 5/23 Hill Street. a few steps away from where the shop is. The Friend At Hand, it is also a mini-museum in Belfast. Named after his pal Bruce, who died suddenly last year. The off-licence has 500 different bottles of whiskey on the shelves but 300 will not be for sale as they are about celebrating the city’s distilling history – one bottle valued at £12,000!. Mr Jack is also producing a ‘Friend at Hand’ brand and there will be a series of 13. The first is already labelled ‘Reconciliation’, with hands clasped in friendship. I bought one, along with a few other bottles. Too many really! We also made a journey to Echlinville Distillery doon in the Ards peninsula, this was a great private tour and we thank them for that and the samples provided. They are the guys doin the Feckin whiskey, Three Crowns and a Dunville – amongst a gin or three and more, you can read a friends blog about Three Crowns here;
Dunville’s – Three Crowns – Review
“Until recently the only place you could find a bottle of Three Crowns was at auction. Now, we’re reviving this great whiskey to bring its flavour to a new generation.” Bold words indeed, but these are the words that greet you on the Echlinville webpage dedicated to the upcoming re-launch of this once revered Dunville’s brand. Since 2013, when they received the first Northern Irish distillers licence in around 125 years, Echlinville Distillery has been going from strength to strength with their new distillery / visitors centre and the introduction of some fine whiskey and gin to local market. This has been further backed up with their PX finished 10 year old single malt being awarded “Best Irish Single Malt (12 years and under)” at the recent Irish Whiskey Awards. I think it could be something very special indeed. Slainte. http://whiskybelfast.blogspot.co.uk/ with thanks to Stuart Irvine.
THIS BLOG IS FROM BELFAST, STUART IRVINE IS A HELL OF A WHISKY BLOGGER, see the larger blog, and more on his website, many thanks Stuart.
Blog by Paul @ MCLEANSCOTLAND.COM & WHISKYTOURS.SCOT
As you may have noticed already 2017 is a big year for us here at The Whisky Barrel. We are now a 10 year old – a 2007 vintage online whisky specialist shop. Wow! We haven’t made too big a song and dance about this date but that’s about to change. Last month, April, officially marked the 10 year anniversary, so now is the time to celebrate. Having started with just a few bottles we have grown into one of the leading online specialist scotch whiskey shops with a catalogue of hundreds of whiskies available at any one time. Not least our range of exclusive Burns Malt® and Burns Grain® whisky. And that’s not all. In the past 2 years we have moved into new areas. The Whisky Barrel is now specialising in craft Scottish Gin from the likes of The Electric Spirit Co.’s superb Achroous and Dunnet Bay’s well loved Rock Rose. More recently we expanded into the world of single cask Rum. The fantastic Kill Devil range from Hunter Laing & Co. and the single cask releases from Cadenhead’s are our top tipples here. But not forgetting our own exclusive Rabbie’s Rum – cousins to the Burns Malt whiskies!
We’re not talking politics here! We are immensely proud to be an independent, family-owned and family-run online whiskey shop. During these 10 years we have gone from strength to strength. We are now positioned as one of the leading online only whiskey shops with the key advantage of being based right here where our nation’s lovely Scotch Whiskey is produced – Scotland. And we have two messages of thanks to those who have supported us during our 10 year journey. First and foremost a thank you to our lovely, positively demanding and hugely knowledgeable customers all around the world. As the appetite for Scotch Whiskey continues to grow, we are happy to play our part of shipping one of Scotland’s most proud and recognisable products to your door…and your glass.
Secondly, we are hugely grateful to the wonderful array of independent Scottish whisky bottling companies. Hunter Laing & Co., Gordon and MacPhail, Signatory Vintage, Morrison and MacKay, to name but a few. Our affinity with these companies is a natural one. They hold the same independent and often family-centric approach and, most importantly, they bottle some of the finest scotch whiskey available. ‘Independent’ whiskies offer you the chance to explore, experiment and indulge in Scotland’s most prominent as well as the lesser known distilleries, with a particular penchant for releasing superb whiskies from some of Scotland’s lost and silent distilleries. They form the core of The Whisky Barrel stock today and over the last 10 years.
This strong relationship with some of Scotland’s finest independent bottlers provides the platform from which we will celebrate our 10 year anniversary. And, obviously, the best way to celebrate is with a dram. Not any old dram though, whiskey exclusive to and only available to buy at The Whisky Barrel. We have a few exclusive whiskies lined up for release this year but we will be starting with a special exclusive whiskey that showcases what our indie bottling chums are all about – variety. But you will have to wait. Not too long though. All will be unveiled soon.
We look forward to continuing to bring you the finest whisky, whiskey, gin and rum that we can source. Here’s to 10 more years!
Thank you and Slàinte- The Whisky Barrel Family
The first in the Viking Legends series from the Orkney distillery, this Island single malt dials up the Orkney peat to give a richer honeyed sweetness than the 12 year old. Matured in a combination of first-fill American sherry oak, bourbon and Spanish sherry oak casks as well as a selection of refill casks, the packaging has been created by Danish designer, Jim Lyngvild, who is of Viking lineage himself.
The Macallan Masters of Photography: Steven Klein Edition
The 6th in Macallan’s Masters of Photography series, this limited edition honours the work of Steven Klein and comes in a stunning presetnation case with a signed Klein print and a range of cocktail glassware designed by the artist himself. Charlie MacLean says “The whisky itself is superb! Bob Dalgarno, Macallan’s ‘Master Whisky Maker’ has excelled himself. My first – and probably, only! – 9 out of 10 this year… 10/10 is available only in Heaven!”
