The Whisky Exchange Vinopolis – My Memories

Ten years after opening in London Bridge, our Vinopolis store closed for the last time on Christmas Eve. We will be announcing its replacement very soon in the same part of town, and in the meantime, our new Covent Garden store is open for business. Alex Huskinson managed our Vinopolis shop for nearly six years, and he shares his memories of running the premier destination for whisky lovers in the capital.

The Whisky Exchange store at Vinopolis – a treasure trove of whiskies

As a cocktail bartender for many years before working in the shop, I had a big interest in spirits, but my only real experience of whisky was bourbon. I then started working part-time in the Vinopolis wine tour (back when it was good) just as they had the Diageo whisky room built and I was introduced to Talisker 10 Year Old. I fell in love.

I was then lucky enough to have The Nose – Whyte & Mackay’s Richard Paterson – come just a few weeks later and do a talk for us and I tasted the legendary 62 Year Old Dalmore (with accompanying bells, whistles and party poppers). It started an obsession.

I was first employed in the store part-time to teach the whisky geeks there about other spirits. The wealth of knowledge was more than extraordinary when it came to malts, and I was privileged to learn from them. Saying that, they knew nothing of Tequila, so it was a fair swap.

Alex Huskinson ran our Vinopolis shop for more than five years

The first tasting I went to was Mickey Heads and the launch of Ardbeg Almost There, which is still my favourite young Ardbeg. A real baptism of fire, with six-year-old Ardbeg all the way to one from my birth year.

One of the first events I organised was a gin tasting. It was a learning curve as I decided to think of the best tasting I could and just do that, irrespective of the amount of work involved. We did eight gins – all neat, and with a cocktail, and paired off against each other so you could see how they compared. Ninety people attended, which works out at 720 cocktails – in an hour-and-a-half. It was presented by Desmond Payne and Jared Brown and it took us four days to clear up, but it was fantastic.

In 2011, Chris and I got involved with The Whisky Show, running the first one in Vinopolis, with help from Emma Pineiro and the wonderful Martine Nouet – one of the most inspiring people in whisky. This was another tight learning curve, but most thought it was a success so we did the next three there, only moving out in 2015 when the Show became too big for the venue.

The aim with TWE Vinopolis has always been to create a store with character and personality while maintaining great customer service borne out by a love and passion for the drinks themselves. It was a lot of fun, and the people really made it special – both staff and customers alike.

Happy New Year from Whisky Enquiries. 

Some Industry Facts 

· The Industry earns £125 every second by exporting Whisky.

· 99 million cases were exported Worldwide in 2014. If we laid these bottles end to end they would stretch for about 30,000kms or the distance from Edinburgh to New York six times over.

· More than 10,000 people are directly employed in the Whisky Industry.

· Over 40,000 jobs in the UK are supported by the industry.

· Some 20 million casks are maturing in warehouses throughout Scotland.

· Scotch Whisky sells three times better than its nearest rival Whisky.

· More Scotch is sold in France in one month than Cognac in a year.

· Aberdeen University was the first in the UK to establish regular Medical Teaching in 1494, the same year as the earliest written reference to Whisky in Scotland.

· Andrew Usher was credited with producing the first Blended Whisky in 1853.

· The construction of the Usher Hall in Edinburgh was funded by Andrew Usher, he donated £100,000 to the city specifically to fund a new concert hall.

#WhiskyEnquiries

Contact Michel Hanratty of Whisky Inquires whiskyenquiries@hotmail.co.uk

William Grant & Sons partnered with Rugby World Cup 2015

Earlier this year (2015) William Grant & Sons partnered with Rugby World Cup 2015 as Official Spirits & Champagne Tournament Provider. The tournament has been hailed the most successful Rugby World Cup to date, with 2.47m consumers attending 48 matches, across 13 national venues and a record 120million viewers tuning in to watch the final match.

Through William Grant & Sons global partnership with Rugby World Cup 2015 we reached over 140m adults via our integrated campaigns. In the UK, our #RaiseEmUp2015 campaign offered fans the chance to win tickets and exclusive merchandise to matches. Around the world we have seen a William Grant & Sons ‘airport takeover’ at Auckland International, a Tullamore D.E.W. Facebook campaign in the USA as well as Grant’s and Glenfiddich activations in Australia and South Africa – all giving fans the once in a lifetime chance to win tickets to the final.

Gary Keogh, Marketing Director, William Grant & Sons UK said: “We have been honoured to be at the heart of the action, celebrating the great sportsmanship that has been on show. We hope that all our activations, offered fans something special and added to their experience throughout a great Tournament.”

Well-aged whisky with Balblair, Old Pulteney and AnCnoc

For our final tasting of 2015, we welcomed Inver House Distillers to showcase some of their whiskies, focusing on an aspect of whisky that most companies are not talking about much these days: long ageing.

Lukasz, looking dapper for his final tasting of the year

With whisky’s popularity at an all-time high and the spirit taking years to mature, it’s understandable that we’re seeing younger whiskies appearing on the market. Nice as younger drams can be, there’s something special about whisky that’s spent years in a cask.

We were joined by Lukasz Dynowiak, Inver House brand ambassador, to walk us through well-aged drams from three different distilleries: Knockdhu, Old Pulteney and Balblair.

We started at Knockdhu, on the east edge of Speyside – a Highland distillery by mere yards. Its whisky goes by the name of AnCnoc, to avoid confusion with nearby Knockando – Knockdhu means ‘black hill’ in Gaelic, but the hill that gives the distillery its name is the biggest in the area, so the locals just call it ‘the hill’, an cnoc. The distillery’s range starts with 12- and 16-year-old whiskies, we jumped in straight in at the top, and tried the 18- and 22-year-old drams.

The 18 Year Old is very much a traditional AnCnoc, with honey, spice and citrus, as well as hints of tropical fruit, whereas, the 22 Year Old adds in a few extra years and some more sherry-cask-matured whisky to create something weightier:

AnCnoc 22 Year Old, 46% ABV

Nose: Sweet and waxy with fresh and dried orange peel, floral notes and Love Heart candy sweetness. After that there’s crunchy caramel, lemon sherbert and sweet orange juice.

Palate: Soft and floral, with sharp citrus – candied lemon, orange peel and honeysuckle. There’s some aniseed ball heat, a hint of mint and underlying dried-fruit sweetness – mixed peel, raisins and sultanas.

Finish: Butter and spice, fading to grassy meadows and herbal lozenges.

Comment: An excellent balance of sherry- and bourbon-cask maturation, with the distillery’s character enhanced rather than hidden by the casks.

We then headed up to Wick in the far north of Scotland, to try some Old Pulteney. The whisky is referred to as ‘The Maritime Malt’ in Inver House’s portfolio for two reasons:

1. Wick has a long history that is intertwined with the rise and fall of fishing and working by the sea.
2. it tastes really coastal.

While there’s no actual salt in the whisky, Old Pulteney definitely has a tang of the sea to it – breaking waves, seashores and a touch of brine.

The distillery’s core range consists of three whiskies, and while the 12-year-old is one that I usually have in my whisky cabinet, we focused on the other two. Ever since the 21 Year Old picked up Jim Murray’s top award in the Whisky Bible 2012, it’s become a worthy best seller, but while it is a great dram, it’s the 17 Year Old that I keep returning to:

Old Pulteney 17 Year Old, 46%

Nose: Leather and dried lemon peel, with butterscotch, fruity pears, white pepper spiciness, salty touches and a hint of damp rope.

Palate: Floral and sweet, with some cinnamon heat and lashings of fruit – apples, pears, fleshy mango and a bit of banana. Spice builds, backed up by white chocolate and salted almonds.

Finish: Salted caramel, white pepper and brine, finishing with shortbread and aniseed.

Comment: A careful combination of the 12 Year Old’s seaside brashness and the elegance of the 21.

To finish, we returned south, to Balblair. The distillery bottles its whiskies with vintages rather than age statements, and they regularly produce new versions as they sell out – each new vintage will be similar to the one it replaces, but they are all slightly different.

We tried Balblair 1990 and 1983, very contrasting drams – the 1990 is finished in sherry casks, while the 1983 was matured exclusively in ex-bourbon casks. Both are great whiskies, but the 1983 was the one for me – very good spirit, well aged in a cask that doesn’t overwhelm the distillery’s character:

Balblair 1983, 46% ABV

Nose: Toasted bananas, peach syrup and pine needles with a background of creaminess – vanilla cream and creamed coconut. Ground almonds and tropical touches – papaya and dried mango – are joined by waxy polish and a zing of lemon zest.

Palate: ‘Caramel sauce poured over peaches and pears’, my notes say. Behind that are notes of milk and dark chocolate, woody spice, orange and grapefruit zest, and a touch of pith. Sweet spice builds: nutmeg, cinnamon and fragrant cardamom.

Finish: Syrupy to start, turning leafy and minty before hitting a rich and earthy end.

Comment: Stacks of fruit, all balanced by nuts, spice and a bit of creaminess. My favourite style of dram and easily my pick of the night.

We then had one more whisky, chosen to mark three events that called for a special final dram: the last drink of the night, the end of Lukasz’s last tasting of the year, and the final tasting to be held at Vinopolis – both our shop and the neighbouring wine experience have now closed. Don’t worry, as we have opened a new shop near Covent Garden and it won’t be long before we’re back in the London Bridge area.

Our last dram was Balblair 1969, a suitable final whisky – old and elegant. While whisky isn’t all about long ageing, when it’s done right, it can produce something incredible.

If you want to know more about Inver House’s distilleries, I visited them a few years back – find more here: Balblair, Pulteney, Speyburn and Knockdhu.

This week Joe Ellis starts 2016 with a whisky review of The Glen Garioch Renaissance 15 Year Old.

https://youtu.be/kVvc7bARi80

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​A BIG HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYBODY FROM ALL OF US AT SCOTCH WHISKY AUCTIONS. 

We’d like to thanks all our sellers and buyers for helping make 2015 a record-breaking year. As a thank you for your support we will herald the start of 2016 by offering sellers a one-off commission-free sale for the 58th auction, which runs from Friday, January 29, to Sunday, February 7 

That’s right, all bottles in the next auction will attract zero commission for sellers. All you need to pay is the usual £3 listing and £4 reserve fees.

Bottles need to be in by January 15, so give us a ring or drop us an email. We collect from all over Scotland, England and Wales.

There has never been a better chance to sell your bottles through Scotch Whisky Auctions, the country’s leading online whisky auction site.

Kind Regards from Glasgow – The SWA Team

www.ralfy.com reviews his “Whisky Of The Year 2015” with Whisky Review 567 – Old Pulteney 17yo re-reviewed

HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM WHISKY.AUCTION – GET BIDDING!

Happy New Year to all of you!

We hope that you have a happy and prosperous 2016, and what better way to start the year than by taking a look at our selection of lots from our latest auction.

We expect a high level of interest – don’t miss your chance!

This auction ends January 7th, 2016

CHRISTMAS with ANGELS

22 December 2015; the happy wanderer, departing Perth in the Ford pick up truck, well you just dinnaee know what the Scottish weather will throw at you! Best to be in a heavy 4×4, it was a beast. Whisky samples, food and wine enclosed in the cab, I headed north via the A9 route. Most distilleries are now closed for the festive period, so visits are low, but – nothing to stop me fae turning up and seeing who is there and what’s happening! The road trip started getting “drammy” when I met up with Robert Ransom, owner, blender of the famous Angels Nectar, we had arranged to meet in Grantown on Spey, where he handed me the two bottles, the Nectar blend and a brand new Angels Nectar Peat Edition. Created from a selection of the finest Speyside and Highland malt whiskies, bottled at 40% Vol., the First Edition of Angels’ Nectar Blended Malt Scotch Whisky is naturally light in colour, no added colouring, a sweet nose of vanilla, stewed apples and fruit syrup, with a taste of heather honey and lemon, and a hint of spice on the finish. Blended by Angels, to be Shared with Friends. (http://www.angelsnectar.co.uk/) The Peat Edition was only bottled on 17 December, I think I was one of the first to get it, and – I don’t think angels will get any of my bottle, no, most of it will go with me to Wick in February when I do a tasting at Mackay’s Hotel of whiskies, tickets will be so hard to get hold of, I know 10 have gone already and not many more will be available. From GoS I drove to Aberlour and took a wee detour I know over the hill to Craigellachie, where I took a few angel photos. Then I drove on to Nairn with the angels in the truck, happy as Larry. Took time out to go to the beach. Checked into my hotel and chilled oot. A visit to the local bars followed with some grub.

23 December; The Picts were perhaps the true ancestors of the Scottish nation. By AD848 Pictavia, The Land Of The Picts, was united with the Kingdom of the Scots (Celts) creating the foundations (Dalriada) of modern day Scotland. What has mainly survived is the great heritage of their carved symbol stones, and Sueno’s Stone in Forres is the largest known Pictish monument. Sueno’s Stone, standing over 20 feet high and dating to the end of the first millennium AD. I stopped to say hello. I spent a half day with a few friends and a policeman, we drove into the darkest depths of Speyside, into the Glenknock, looking for beetroot rustlers. When caught, we knew who they were as their hands were purple and they had great big (mammy) lips, again of purple. It is a problem this time of year so I had agreed – as a sideline and something to while away an afternoon – to accompany the two beetroot Rangers and the law. It was an enlightening afternoon. A pleasure to grow and pull up out of the ground, beetroot has a unique earthy flavour that works really well with haggis and whisky. Don’t forget that young beetroot tops are just as delicious as the root. Ah haggis, I have also been privy to the hunt for haggis rustlers in the summer months, but’s that’s another tale. Beetroot are generally harvested from the early summer to late autumn in their first year of growth. It usually takes around 60 to 90 days for beetroot to reach full maturity. Beetroot can be harvested when required and left in the ground until the first heavy frosts of autumn. With our long summer and only just arrived (mild) winter, the Scottish beetroot harvest has been prolonged this year.

24 December; this morning I took a drive over to the Black Isle where I strolled along the coast for a while eyeing up the oil/gas rigs out in the Firth. Stopping at wee towns and villages of Avoch, Fortrose, Rosemarkie and Cromarty, a nice morning drive. A nice deviation from whisky. The afternoon consisted of (aye, you guessed …) more distillery visits. As I dropped by Miltonduff, Roseisle and Glen Moray. A long drive today, but what else is there to do? Final call whilst out, Sainsbury’s for my Christmas dinner tomorrow. I did enjoy a real ale or two and a dram before beddy time. Almost forgot, I picked up an interesting wee bottle today, Famous Grouse Smoky Black – (previously The Black Grouse) the smoky nature is due to the higher proportion of peated malts within the blend. The Famous Grouse’s Master Blender, Gordon Motion, explains that this is achieved by creating a peat fire underneath the malted barley whilst drying. Just by using a small amount of this peated barley intensifies the smoky taste in the blend and gives it a darker, russet colour, it also incorporates a rare version of Glenturret with an exceptional grain, into the blend. A lingering spiciness.

25 December; slowly opened the wee eyes and found the weather to be raining. Went down for breakfast, the pub/hotel was closed today but were serving breaky for its guests – all one of us. A Christmas day of travel, as I drove along the coast of Moray to Portsoy and all wee harbours in between, I especially enjoyed my time at Portknockie; a cliff-top village overlooking the Moray Firth midway between Aberdeen and Inverness. Early settlement is suggested by the remains from the Iron Age. Founded in 1677 it became a herring fishing port during the nineteenth century. At the height of the herring fishing boom about 100 sailing boats crowded its harbour. The present harbour dates from 1890 and, as late as 1929, it was still being used by up to 58 steam drifters. Today, Portknockie’s fishing fleet comprises ten boats, who land their fish at Scotland’s east and west coast ports with just five smaller boats locally landing creels and mackerel. I wanted to get a few photos of what I call, Devil’s Elbow, known locally as Bow Fiddle Rock – see photo. Christmas dinner? A picnic on the beach at Lossiemouth. Christmas night? In ma room, tv, grub and drinks.

26 December; homeward bound, driving south, as I arrived over the hills, past Dalwhinnie into Perthshire, the snow hit! Arrived home – with my Angels and Smoky Grouse intact, now that’s another story yet to be told.

Story and tour taken by Paul McLean, http://www.whiskytours.scot/ & http://www.mcleanscotland.com/

As a very special year at Ardbeg draws to a close, I think it’s fair to conclude that 2015 will go down in history as one of our finest.

This was the year we celebrated the past, present and future of Ardbeg. So join me for one last trip through time, as I share my favourite moments from the past 12 months…

We glimpsed the future…

On 30th May 2015, a record-breaking 15,000 Ardbeggians came together to celebrate Ardbeg Day.

Everywhere we looked, we found Committee Members embracing the spirit of Ardbeg’s bicentenary year. From robots, time travel tunnels and Shortie Circuit racing, to the uncorking of Ardbeg Perpetuum, it gave me tremendous pleasure to see the Committee celebrating in true Ardbeggian style.

Thanks to you, our 200th Anniversary marked not only the biggest Ardbeg Day ever, but quite possibly the best. You can re-live the highlights here

….and tasted the past

This year, Jackie and I had the privilege to host not one, but three special 200th Anniversary dinners here at the Distillery. These were truly momentous evenings, and we were delighted that so many Committee Members brought and shared rare expressions from over the years. My thanks to all those who made the journey to be with us.

…as the Ardbeg Haar rolled in

Committee Members across the world were among the first to experience the incredible Ardbeg Haar – a unique way to ‘sip’ a cloud of Ardbeg. We look forward to rolling it out to more Ardbeg Embassies next year. Take it from me, it’s an experience not to be mist!The final, final frontierExactly 3 years, 7 months and 27 days after Ardbeg spirit blasted into orbit, Dr Bill Lumsden published his highly anticipated White Paper on the mysteries of micro-gravity maturation. As our adventure in space came to an end, we launched one final, fleeting Committee bottling of Ardbeg Supernova.

If you haven’t already done so, I recommend watching our Final Frontier Film: the Pier Review, starring none other than Dr Bill Lumsden and two equally eminent peers.

In conclusion…

On behalf of everyone at the Distillery, I’d like to wish every one of you a happy new year, and thank you for making 2015 so momentous. How can we possibly top it next year? We’re just going to have to keep you in the dark a little longer…

Slàinte!

Micky Heads

Committee Chairman

(Please click HERE fro details on the Ardbeg Committee)