Ailsa Bay
The first single malt Scotch whisky to be released from Ailsa Bay distillery, which was build in 2007 within the grounds of Girvan distillery. The whisky within this release is heavily peated and has been created from a combination of casks – new oak, baby bourbon barrels, refill American oak and first fill bourbon.
Whisky News from Scotland’s Oldest Working Distillery
This month, The Famous Grouse Experience continued its award-winning streak with another accolade: Whisky Visitor Attraction Manager of the Year at the Global Icons of Whisky Awards 2016. The award, organised by Whisky Magazine, was given to General Manager Stuart Cassells for his work in cementing The Famous Grouse Experience as one of Scotland’s must-visit destinations. Read more about it here.
United States – Kentucky
Four Roses “K&L Exclusive” Single Barrel OESV Cask Strength Bourbon (750ml) $64.99 View
K&L Wine Merchants
http://www.klwines.com
Phone: 877-KLWines (toll free 877-559-4637)
Email: wine@klwines.com
San Francisco, Redwood City, Hollywood CA
Be the first to try the Laphroaig Lore
Introducing the new and delicious Laphroaig Lore. Created by John Campbell (The Laphroaig distillery manager), Laphroaig Lore is billed the richest ever Laphroaig. Lore: meaning the passing of a skill or tradition through word of mouth..
Rich and deep with distinctive smoke, peat and seaside minerality – this expression is unmistakably Laphroaig. This is a result of liquid being drawn from a selection of casks including first fill sherry butts, smaller quarter casks and their most precious stock capturing the timeless passion and very essence of the Laphroaig Distillery..
Laphroaig 25 year old
Laphroaig 25 Year Old is a wonderful marriage of sherried, oaky flavours from the European Oloroso Sherry Casks and the soft, velvet rich flavours from the ex-American Bourbon Barrels. The Oloroso Sherry Casks and ex-American Bourbon Barrels were filled with newly distilled Laphroaig spirit from day one. Bottled at Cask Strength this rare classic is getting harder to find. Available while stocks last!
Laphroaig 10 Year Old Douglas of Drumlanrig
This Douglas of Drumlanrig Laphroaig 10 year old was distilled in September 2004 and bottled in March 2015. Limited to only 395 bottles. Very pale in colour: almost tarnished silver. The nose is natural (sea-breeze), maritime (seaweed, iodine), medicinal (carbolic, coal tar, public swimming bath) and lightly smoky (charred sticks); the taste surprisingly sweet, salty and big-time smoky in the finish. Surprisingly spicy for its strength. Water flattens the flavour considerably.
NEW AND LIMITED FROM LAGAVULIN
LAGAVULIN 8 YEAR OLD 200TH ANNIVERSARY LIMITED EDITION
2016 marks the 200th anniversary of one of whiskies most loved distilleries – Lagavulin. To celebrate this remarkable milestone Lagavulin have launched a delightful limited edition expression which is now available to order with The Whisky Shop. Inspired by a visit to the distillery 200 years ago by the world famous Alfred Barnard who fell in love with the 8 year Lagavulin all those years ago. Matured using a combination of European and American Oak casks and bottled at 48% volume, Available while stocks last.
LAGAVULIN 12 YEAR OLD 2015 LIMITED RELEASE
A limited edition,natural cask strength Single Malt Scotch Whisky from Lagavulin – the 15th in the series, limited to a few thousand bottles worldwide! An expressive, energetic and self-assured Lagavulin with a straightforward aroma and a direct, full-on Islay flavour: classic, pleasantly relaxed and cleanly structured with a fine balance of cereal sweetness, appetising sharpness and dry, volcanic smoke, all adroitly set off by citrus and mint.
LAGAVULIN DISTILLERS EDITION
Each Lagavulin Distillers Edition expression undergoes a second, or double, maturation in casks that have previously held a fortified wine. This is the 1997 vintage, which used Pedro Ximinez sherry casks for the second maturation period. A really distinctive and distinguished dram, full of peat while the Pedro Ximinez sherry wood naturally has a big say; A more mellow Lagavulin, not quite as deep or intensely flavoured as the 16 year old.
LAGAVULIN 16 YEAR OLD
An Islay Malt, this is from one of Scotland’s ‘essential’ distilleries, on a cramped, chaotic, wildly romantic site. Demand heavily exceeds supply. The intense character comes from their own richly peaty water supply; the heavily peated barley; the unusually long fermentation – up to 75 hours; and the slowest distillation of any Islay malt.
Scapa 2001 / Bot. 2016
A 2001 vintage Scapa, filled from cask in 2016 by Independent bottlers Gordon & MacPhail. Previous bottlings have been very good, expecting more of the same from this release, bottled at 43% vol.
Poteen – the spirit of Saint Patrick’s Day
Tomorrow is St Patrick’s Day, and while I will inevitably drink a pint of Guinness and a shot of Jameson, I try to spend the day looking at another side of Irish drinks. Last year I delved into the world of Irish cream liqueurs, but this time I’ve decided to step further back into Ireland’s drinking history and look at the original Irish spirit – poteen aka poitín.
These days, whiskey is the best-known spirit produced in Ireland, but back before commercial distilling, poteen was what people made and drank. Poitín, pronounced ‘potcheen’ and often anglicised as poteen or potcheen, is Irish for ‘little pot’, in reference to the small stills in people’s homes that were once used to make it. With advent of licensing, stills moved to more rural areas and poteen’s reputation as an underground spirit began.
Things have moved on over the past few hundred years
With the current rise of Irish spirits, it was inevitable that commercially produced poteen would appear, and while it’s still a young category, there’s already considerable variation between the small number of releases. I recently tried a few while visiting the Irish Embassy, and while there were no Ferrero Rocher, the poteen did impress me.
First up is Bán, pronounced ‘born’. This is the second edition of the company’s poteen, produced at Echlinville distillery in Northern Ireland. While the distillery hasn’t released any of its own whiskey yet, as it won’t be ready until at least August this year, the owners have let the folks from Bán use its equipment to produce a spirit that’s very different from their usual fare. While traditional poteen used grain as its base, over the years other sources of sugar were used by illicit distillers, depending on flavour, availability and cost. Bán has embraced this heritage and use a mixture of malted barley, sugar beet and potatoes, which makes for a complex spirit:
Nose: Sour cream, cinnamon toast and plasticine to start, with rich bready notes underneath – freshly sliced white bloomer and heavy German rye. The yeasty, bready notes grow, accompanied by black-pepper spice and sweet lemon cream.
Palate: Oily in texture and laden with sweet spice off the bat – cinnamon toast, clove and mace. Creaminess builds, with sweet milk chocolate and milky coffee balanced by underlying barrel-char and coffee-ground bitterness.
Finish: Creamy and clean, fading quickly to leave a hint of lemon Fondant Fancy.
Comment: Unexpectedly spicy and complex, with rich creaminess and carefully balanced sweetness. A tasty sipping spirit and one that I’d like to use to make sour cocktails.
At the other end of the poteen spectrum sits Glendalough. It is mainly known as an exciting new whiskey producer, with its own spirit still maturing and its award-winning releases using casks sourced from Cooley, but it also produces a range of bottlings that challenge the nature of poteen. While it is traditionally an unaged spirit, and Irish law both restricts the length of time it can be stored in wood to just 10 weeks and specifies what can be said about the ageing on the label, Glendalough proudly calls its aged expression Sherry Cask Finish Poitin.
Glendalough’s poteen spends some time in sherry casks after distillation, giving it a very different character and colour to other poteens.
Nose: Cherry jam, menthol, strawberries and black pepper. Sweet medicinal notes – cough linctus and red Strepsils – are joined by red and black liquorice, fruit and malt loaves, and spicy cinnamon fireballs.
Palate: It starts with rich and spicy fruit cake – Dundee cake with dates rather than almonds on top – and rich Christmas pudding. The cherries from the nose then rush in, along with bitter liquorice pastilles and sweet Bertie-Bassett-shaped Liquorice Allsorts. Behind the sweet and fruity notes is a layer of charred oak bitterness, rich earthiness and hot cinnamon spiciness.
Finish: Dry spice, stewed apple, dates, Ryvita and cinnamon gobstoppers.
Comment: It may have only been in a cask for a short time – I suspect for longer than the 10 weeks the law allows – but it’s picked up a lot of sherry character.
As more new distilleries appear, I expect we’ll see many more poteens appearing – they are the equivalent of the gin and vodka being made at new distilleries elsewhere in the world. However, with years of tradition to draw on, I expect the differences to continue and look forward to a rich and varied category as Ireland’s distilling boom continues.
You can find these and more St Patrick’s Day ideas over on The Whisky Exchange website.
United States
Michter’s US #1 Sour Mash Whiskey (750ml) $39.99 View
Canada
Whistle Pig 12 Year “Old World Marriage” Rye Whiskey (750ml) (1 bottle limit – ships as 1.5L) $119.99 View
Scotland
2000 Highland Park 13 Year Old Alexander Murray Cask Strength Single Malt Whisky (750ml) $89.99 View
K&L Wine Merchants
http://www.klwines.com
Phone: 877-KLWines (toll free 877-559-4637)
Email: wine@klwines.com
San Francisco, Redwood City, Hollywood CA
Whisky Ramblings Via Video #124
Mark Dermul, Belgian Whiskyblogger, tries another duty free expression from his favorite distillery. Auchentoshan recently launched two new expressions in the Global Travel Retail segment. A no age statement Blood Oak and a 24 Year Old Noble Oak. The Noble Oak – another a great name! – is a vatting of triple distilled Auchentoshan matured on bourbon casks and oloroso sherry wine casks and is the successor of the celebrated Silveroak. The result, bottled at 50,3% ABV, is a fine dessert dram from the Lowlands
New Visitors Center Hours and Upcoming Events:
As of March 1st, we have been staying open until 6PM for those of you who can’t stop by earlier in the day. We’re open daily from 11AM to 6PM, except on Sundays when we open at 1PM. On Friday, April 1st, we will launch “First Fridays”, where we will stay open until 8PM on the first Friday of every month. Be one of the first to experience our new monthly cocktail menu! As some of you know, we change our cocktail sampling menu every month, going by the season based on what is locally available. Stay tuned as we post more information on our special kick-off to First Fridays. Join us this Saturday, March 12th, for a special St. Patrick’s Day celebration featuring some good ‘ole Luck of the Irish at the Visitors Center from 11AM – 6PM. We’ll have Sweethaus Bakery’s mini Grasshopper Mint cupcakes on hand (they taste just like a Thin Mint) and the first 100 guests wearing their St. Patty’s Day green will get a free cupcake! Singer, songwriter Matthew McAllister will be performing (1-4 PM) and South Fork Food Truck will also be on site (11-5 PM) offering up a special St. Patty’s Day tasty surprise in addition to their regular menu of delicious Southern-style cooking. We’ll have our famous cocktail, The White Winter, all decked out with green shamrock sprinkles for extra festive spirit. Sláinte!
We’ve partnered with Poplar Forest on March 25th and March 26th for a series of tours involving beverages and spirits served during Thomas Jefferson’s time. These tours are at Poplar Forest, Thomas Jefferson’s summer home. Explore early-19th-century Americans’ beverages of choice on a guided tour that begins in Jefferson’s kitchen and progresses through the house, with stops along the way to sample different beverages and share insights into the types of foods enjoyed on the plantation. Following the tour, our team will provide a whisky tasting and whisky primer.
The Poplar Forest tours are available Friday, March 25 and Saturday, March 26 at 6:00 and 7:00 p.m. each night. Admission is $25 per person and tickets can be purchased by visiting here or by calling the Museum Shop at 434.534.8120. Visitors under the age of 21 are welcome; non-alcoholic beverages will be available on the tour. Visitors 21 and over must present valid ID. We’re working on creating lots of fun events for 2016. Follow our events page for the most up-to-date information.
The Virginia Whisky Experience — Tours!
After many months of planning, we’re getting closer to the launch of our full tour program, The Virginia Whisky Experience. Included in the tour will be a museum and video experience, along with a walking tour of the production distillery, giving visitors a behind-the-scenes sneak peek at whisky-making in action. The tour will conclude with a tasting in our cask warehouse, allowing guests to see and smell our whisky as it ages. Of course, a cocktail sampling will also be part of the experience! We’ll keep you posted as we’ll soon announce the first day of tours along with all of the fun festivities surrounding it.
We’re working on releasing a special limited series of our whisky later this spring. It’s still in the works, so we can’t say much for now, but be sure to follow us on our social channels– Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and keep an eye out for our newsletter to be the first to know!
