The Whisky Barrel – Your Online Whisky Shop
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Whisky Magazine’s Online Retailer of the Year Award 2009-2016
International Wine & Spirits Competition Best Online Retailer 2015-2016
How time flies! It’s been five years since our last major website upgrade and we felt it was time to freshen things up. You’ll find our new website easier to navigate (especially on mobile devices) and packed full of even more award winning whiskies and gins from Scotland, including our prised independent bottlers and distillers. We also accept more currency payments including Euros and PayPal Express Checkout. Please note – your old login details won’t work on the new website (sorry!). Please follow the simple checkout instructions to create a new account login.
Ralfy encounters a windy day outdoors with Whisky Review 600 – A Rosebank on a windy day.
Let’s try some Irish Whiskies!
Sunday October 9th, 4-6pm
@ Palmer’s
2298 Fillmore Street(at Clay St)
Kate Flanagan of Pernod-Ricard will be pouring:
Jameson Original
Coopers Croze
Green Spot
Green Spot (Ch. Leo Barton cask finish)
Yellow Spot
Red Breast 12yr. Cask Strength
Space is limited so sign up today at our event page or call: 415-346-1325 to join the fun!
D&M, 2200 Fillmore St, San Francisco, CA 94115
Loch Fyne Range
Here in our workshop on the shores of Loch Fyne we do just one thing, and we do it very well. That’s to know what people like in a whisky. You’ve told us everything we need to know and we’ve heard you, because, like whisky, the skill of listening improves with age.
Breaking News
We are very excited to unveil our new look packaging and branding.
In addition to the rebrand, we have launched the first two expressions to feature the new refreshed look.
The English Original 43% ABV & The English Smokey 43% ABV
Commenting on the rebrand, Andrew Nelstrop, Director of The English Whisky Company said, “We have invested a lot of time in rediscovering our distillery and our values. Much has changed in the world of whisky over the last decade and we now have a far stronger voice, relevance and sense of identity in our rebranded packaging” Both bottles will be available from specialist retailers and St George’s Distillery next month
Glenrothes – golden years
Speyside distillery Glenrothes bucks the trend by releasing its whiskies by vintage rather than with an age statement. Since 2010 it has been under the sole ownership of wine merchant (and independent bottler) Berry Brothers & Rudd. We welcomed brand heritage director Ronnie Cox to host our latest TWE tasting.
Ronnie Cox, brand heritage director of BB&R Spirits
‘If you don’t like the whisky, keep adding water to it. I have a colleague who loves drinking whiskies at 50%+ ABV – I think he has a tongue like a Highland cow, a very clever Highland cow’
‘Someone told me they were getting Guatemalan bananas when tasting. I think he was showing off, so I asked him “do you mean in a bunch or singular!”. With tasting notes you can get people who disappear up their own backsides’
‘Richard Paterson has this habit of launching whisky into the air. I was on the stand next to him once and I kept getting drenched. The next time he was about to do it, I got everyone on the stand to fill their glasses with water and launch it back – he didn’t do it again! I still think he’s a wonderful guy, though’
‘You should have light whiskies before dinner and heavier whiskies after. If you had vintage port before the meal and Champagne after, it’d be like having dinner in your suit and going clubbing after pudding‘
‘One of the investors in building the distillery was the Scottish Presbyterian Church of Knockando. The irony is, every Sunday parishioners had been told “thou shalt not drink – it’s the devil’s brew!”‘
‘I only ever knew John Ramsay [retired master blender] as a bolt-upright pillar of society. But I found out he used to play the hind legs of a donkey in children’s panto in Glasgow – to add spice he used to take a squeezy bottle of water, lift his legs up and drench the front row during the show.’
‘We offer a service to authenticate old bottles of our whisky. You can send a bottle, we’ll verify it and send it back with a certificate. It’s it’s fake though, we’ll destroy it. We haven’t received any bottles in the past few years.
‘Until dramming stopped in the 1970s, workers would have up to five doubles a day. The local postman used to turn up every day at 11am as he knew he’d get some whisky’
‘I can guide people around the distillery and the complexity of the whisky, but what I cannot and will never do is teach you how to enjoy whisky. Only you can do that, and practice makes perfect‘
The tasting line-up
The 1973 was a special treat and a completely different beast from the whiskies distilled in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. There is one whisky that shone for me from the current range though: the sweeter 1995. The vintage was historically important, too, as it was the first laid down by Berry Brothers with the intention of being bottled as a single-vintage whisky.
Nose: Sweet nose of butterscotch, toffee and orange with a hint of black pepper.
Palate: Rich, sweet and creamy with notes of butterscotch, cinnamon, vanilla, lemon meringue, treacle and hazelnuts.
Finish: Long with sweet toffee and tangy lemon.
Comment: This is a whisky that was made for those with a sweet tooth, but the sweetness is balanced by the creamy texture and it isn’t cloying. A dram that works as a palate cleanser between starter and main, but will also hold its own after dinner.
Ronnie referred to the range in terms of enjoying them with food. From the lighter Bourbon Cask Reserve to the rich 1988, Glenrothes bottlings differ from easy-drinking to big and complex, while keeping to the distillery’s elegant and fruity house style – of course they are just as enjoyable on their own, too.
One whisky we didn’t taste on the night is a new innovation for Glenrothes: Peated Cask Reserve. Finished in Islay-whisky casks, this is a rare chance to enjoy a 20-year-old-plus whisky for under £50 and great value for money.
You can see all the Glenrothes whiskies available at The Whisky Exchange here.
Originally published on The Whisky Exchange Blog – Glenrothes – golden years
Hello and welcome to the newsletter for our 66th Auction,
This month’s auction is bursting at the seems with a dazzling array of drams from across the world and back through time as well.
Big Peatrie’s vLog once again gives us all a preview of the beautiful bottles here.
Starting us off this month is the distillery that launched the single malt revolution, Glenfiddich. In particular we have a wonderful 1939 50 year old. One of the world’s most sought-after whiskies, this outstanding bottle leads a parade of older vintages including ones from 1964, 1968, 1976 – the Concorde Exclusive, and two from 1978.
Glenfiddich’s sister distillery Balvenie offers us a wonderful 1967 40 year old single cask that was bottled exclusively for Heathrow’s Terminal 5 and is one of only 109 bottles.
Karuizawa makes a sizeable contribution to the top table this month with several cracking bottles. First up is 45 year old which is rumoured to have been the last of the 1967 casks left when it was bottled in 2012.
There is also a wonderful but delicate Karuizawa from 1965. This 21 year old was bottled by Mercian for its Ocean brand. We also have a bottle of the Uniting Nations 40 year old Essence of Karuizawa, a wonderful blend of 45 year old Karuizawa and 40 year old single malt from an unnamed Scottish distillery.
Blended whisky offers us more wonderful examples this month and in a league of its own stands the Directors Blends from Johnnie Walker. This complete collection of rare and wonderful whiskies represents the pinnacle of the blender’s art.
There is also a bounty of blended beauties in the shape of a Black & White from 1928, a rare old Vat 99, a Sandy MacDonald Spring Cap, a Thomson’s Deer-Stalker and an Antiquary 1977.
Next up is a wonderful old Glendronach which hails from the 1930s and proclaims itself as, “Most suitable for medicinal purposes”. Also from the 1930s is a wonderful Linkwood 1939 bottled by Gordon & Macphail.
Gordon & Macphail once again brings us some venerable Mortlachs, two that are 50 years old, one is from 1938 and the other is a mini distilled in 1936. This auction also sees a 20cl bottle of Gordon & Macphail’s 70 year old.
Dalmore shines brightly again this month with Constellation 19 year old, a 10cl sample of its magnificent 50 year old and an 40 year old Astrum.
Bowmore brings us one of its legendary bottlings in a bottle of its Black distilled in 1964 and bottled at 42 year old. We also have 30 year old bottled from a hogshead filled on the day of the Queen’s visit in 1980.
There are many magnificent Macallans in this month. This long list starts with a 1946 52 Year old, we then have a 1949 40 year old from Signatory, a series of Sixties distillations; 1962, 1963, 1964, 1966 and a lovely little Fine & Rare mini from 1972.
Springbank, Strathisla, Ord, Glen Moray, Longmorn and Laphroaig all bring us some wonderful examples of whisky distilled in the 1960s.
There is a wonderful Van Winkle Hand Made 16 year old, a Yamazaki 1993 which was bottled for Maison du Whisky, a Midleton 1984 Very Old and a Richard Hennessy cognac which contains spirit that is nearly 200 years old!
There are, as always, plenty of delicious drinking drams and many more exciting whiskies from all over the globe in this month’s auction so please take time to get in and have a look around. And remember, Don’t Lose Your Bottle!
All the best from us here at SWA HQ!
