Balblair 21 Year Gordon & MacPhail First Fill Sherry Cask Strength Single Barrel Single Malt Scotch 750ml

( $229.99) Only 5 cases for California and we got them all! This is massively sherried Balblair at the peak of maturity. A true Sherry Bomb if you’re in the market for one. Dark like coffee, rich like molasses. It’s a dream for any lover of the Sherried style, but also a great introduction to the unusual Balblair Distillery.

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

This week Joe Ellis reviews Eagle Rare 10 Year Old Single Barrel Bourbon.

https://youtu.be/PNkdm3um3Nw

http://Twitter.com/whiskytube

https://www.facebook.com/whiskytube

The “Hell’s” Angels’ Share: Speyside Distillery goes full throttle with launch of Beinn Dubh black single malt

It was not so much the Angels’ Share, more the “Hell’s” Angels’ Share as Speyside Distillery crossed to the dark side to launch its new black whisky – Beinn Dubh – at Europe’s biggest Harley Davidson motorcycle rally today (30 August, 2015).

The single malt was unveiled to over 3,000 motorbike enthusiasts who gathered in Aviemore in the Cairngorms – the home of the tiny boutique distillery – for the annual Thunder in the Glens event.

Speyside Distillery CEO John Harvey McDonough says there was no better platform to launch Beinn Dubh than at the biker rally, which draws Harley enthusiasts and visitors from all over the UK and Europe.

He adds, “Whisky drinkers know all about the Angels’ Share – the term for the whisky that evaporates into the atmosphere during maturation – but with the launch of our new whisky at a motorbike rally, it’s possible that the angels who were looking over Beinn Dubh were wearing black leathers and biker boots.

“Visitors to Thunder in the Glens have been able to sample Beinn Dubh over the weekend, and the feedback is that it’s a heavenly dram. The colour of the whisky – a very rich ruby-black – has been a real talking point.

“We feel honoured to be part of this fantastic event. There has been an incredible atmosphere in Aviemore, and we are delighted that our new friends from Thunder in the Glens have been among the first people in the world to sample this new single malt.”

Beinn Dubh was the name given to Ben Macdui – the highest peak in the Cairngorm mountain range – by Professor Norman Collie after his solo climb to the summit in 1891. It translates from Gaelic as the black mountain – a reference to the mystical and spooky atmosphere Prof Collie encountered on Ben Macdui.

Speyside Distillery wanted to recreate the essence of the black mountain in a bottle, and Beinn Dubh was born. It gets its unusual colouring because it has been finished in toasted port casks from the Douro Valley in Portugal.

Speyside Distillers Ltd managing director Patricia Dillon says, “Like the mountain, the whisky is dark and mysterious. It is very much the whisky of the Cairngorms – the water used in its production is from the Black Mountain itself, and the malted barley is sourced locally.

“We are deeply passionate about the Cairngorms and our links to this area: the landscape, the history and the people are very much part of the distillery’s story. The Cairngorms is a truly magical place and I can understand why thousands of bikers come to Thunder in the Glens to ride through this beautiful area.”

George McGuire, rally co-ordinator for Thunder in the Glens, says visitors were intrigued by the brand new expression from Speyside Distillery.

“It’s a fantastic dram and the colour is so unusual; no one has ever seen anything quite like it. If any whisky was to represent the Cairngorms – this incredible part of Scotland where people come from all over to ride – then it is Beinn Dubh,” he says.

Beinn Dubh’s taste is deep and dark: rich fruits, currants and chocolate dominate at first, but these gradually give way to both bitterness and sweetness. Beinn Dubh is 43% ABV and the 70cl bottle has an RRP of £50.

Speyside Distillery near Kingussie has been in production since 1990 and is operated by Speyside Distillers Ltd. For further information about Beinn Dubh, visit http://www.beinndubh.com/

Springbank Society Newsletter

August 2015

Greetings Society Members,

I hope you are all enjoying a nice Summer and have been experiencing some warm weather wherever you are! Unfortunately the Campbeltown weather hasn’t been too kind to us this year but I suppose it just makes us even more thankful for the odd sunny day that we’re blessed with! The Summer seems to have flown by, I can’t believe that we will be in September soon so I thought it was best to drop by with the latest news for you all!

Information for New Society Members

We have welcomed a large number of new members to the Springbank Society over the past few months so a big hello to all of you and welcome aboard!

Just a quick reminder of the process – you will receive updates from the Society whenever there is a new general release from the distillery, whenever there is a new Society release or just when there is some important news to share with you. You will receive information on new bottlings via email but other general news will tend to be added to the Society Blog on the Springbank Distillers website, which you should have been informed about when you joined. Regrettably, I haven’t been able to update this as much as I would like to since the website went live, as things have just been so busy over the past few months, but I will hopefully get more updates on there soon.

If you would like to order bottles after a new release, or at any time throughout the year, you can email me at society@springbankwhisky.com or call on +44 (0) 1586 55 2009. Unfortunately we are currently unable to ship bottles to America and Canada due to strict import laws but can ship to all other counties worldwide. For the Society releases, we do have a source in Canada who can import them for members so you can still order the exclusive Society bottlings when they are released. I will explain this in more detail when the next bottling is available.

If you would like the shipping prices for a particular country sent over to you then just ask and I will be more than happy to provide them for you. Also, if you have any general questions at any time then please do not hesitate to get in touch and I will try my best to get back to you as soon as possible. At busy times, this can take longer than I would like but I do try my hardest to reply as quickly as I can.

News from the Distillery & Sales Team

We’ve welcomed a record breaking number of visitors to the distillery this Summer, with September already looking to be the busiest month of all with lots of large group bookings in the diary. It’s always fantastic to see so many people making the long journey to Campbeltown to visit us and we really do appreciate each and every visitor. We know Campbeltown is not the easiest place in the world to get to but hope that it is worth it for our visitors when they get here and that they leave happy! There have been plenty of tour guides on hand to show the visitors round with Jim, Martin, Cameron, Donald, Mhairi and Lea all working very hard and gaining more experience and confidence each day.

Gavin and his team at the distillery are currently malting on both malt floors which is always one of my favourite sights to see at the distillery. The team will malt until the end of October when they will move all the malted barley up to Glengyle to distill until mid- December. The spirit from Glengyle is maturing beautifully at the moment and we are all getting increasingly excited about the launch of the 12 year old next year. Apparently there is a sample bottle of the upcoming 12 year old doing the rounds in the office so I will need to try and get my hands on that soon!

The Sales Team have their diaries fully booked for the next few months with lots of trips scheduled. Between them, Ranald, Melanie, David and Grant will visit Germany, Belgium, Japan, France, Poland, Switzerland, North America, Norway, Sweden and Italy as well as a few festivals within the UK. I will be attending the Glasgow Whisky Festival with Grant in November so I’m already looking forward to that and will hopefully see some of you Society Members there!

Springbank Whisky School Dates 2016

Some of you have possibly already noticed the Springbank Whisky School dates for 2016 on the Society Blog but here is some information for those who haven’t:

The dates for the Springbank Whisky School 2016 have now been announced and spaces are filling up quickly already, with people who had registered their interest earlier in the year. For those of you who don’t know about the Whisky School, during the Summer months we offer whisky enthusiasts the opportunity to come and work in the distillery. Whisky School students get to experience traditional distilling methods first hand at Springbank where they will work for a period of 5 days under our expert supervision. During the week, students will gain knowledge and experience in all stages of the whisky making process including malting, mashing, distilling and bottling as well as gaining some ‘tasting’ experience along the way!

The dates for next year are:

Term 1: Week commencing Monday 16th May 2016 – FULLY BOOKED

Term 2: Week commencing Monday 23rd May 2016 – FULLY BOOKED

Term 3: Week commencing Monday 30th May 2016 – SPACES AVAILABLE

Term 4: Week commencing Monday 6th June 2016 – FULLY BOOKED

Term 5: Week commencing Monday 13th June 2016 – SPACES AVAILABLE

Term 6: Week commencing Monday 20th June 2016 – SPACES AVAILABLE

Term 7: Week commencing Monday 27th June 2016 – SPACES AVAILABLE

Term 8: Week commencing Monday 4th July 2016 – SPACES AVAILABLE

If you would like further information on prices, availability and what exactly is involved, please email Janet at whiskyschool@springbankwhisky.com.

Campbeltown Malts Festival 2016

Continuing on from the success of the 2014 & 2015 Campbeltown Malts Festivals, Springbank, Glengyle, Glen Scotia and Cadenhead’s will team up again next year to host the Campbeltown Malts Festival 2016. The festival will take place from Wednesday 18th-Friday 20th May 2016 and I can’t wait to start the planning! As always, Thursday (19th May) will be dedicated to Springbank Open Day with Glengyle, Glen Scotia and Cadenhead related events taking place on the Wednesday (18th) and Friday (20th).

There was a fantastic turn out for the 2015 festival and it was great to see so many Society Members coming all the way to Campbeltown to visit us! A review of this years festival was posted on the Society Blog at the beginning of July so for those who couldn’t make it over, head to the blog to read all about the events which took place. More information on the various 2016 events will be released at the beginning of next year so I will email you as soon as any plans are confirmed.

Upcoming Releases & Current Products

August has been an extremely busy month for our Bottling Hall staff who have been working very hard, making sure we have plenty stock of all our core products. Included in the recent bottling programme is our new version of the ever popular Springbank 12 year old Cask Strength. This has been matured in a combination of 70% Sherry casks and 30% Bourbon casks, been bottled at 53.8% and is very limited with only 9,000 bottles for worldwide distribution. The price for the Springbank 12 year old Cask Strength is £47.00 and as it is part of our core range, members receive their 10% discount on it, working out at £42.30 for Society Members. The UK allocation of this bottling is extremely limited and our shop will only receive a small number of bottles so it will be strictly limited to one per person and will likely sell out within a day or two. The tasting notes for the August 2015 release are:

Nose: There’s a saltiness similar to Campbeltown Loch fishing creels, a typical Springbank maritime style. Spicy notes are very dominant: cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon sticks and some ground black pepper.

Palate: Lip licking – thickly buttered gingerbread, sticky toffee pudding and crème brûlée. Cream and butter really coat the mouth in classic Campbeltown style.

Finish: Dry finish ending with barbecue smoke and chicory sauce.

Also recently bottled is the 2015 version of Longrow Red. This is the 4th in the Longrow Red series which has produced bottlings matured in Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz and Port casks so far. The new edition has been matured in Pinot Noir casks and is 12 years old. It has been bottled at cask strength of 52.9% and again, there are only 9,000 bottles available for worldwide distribution. The price for this is £58.00 and as a Society Member, you will get your 10% member discount, meaning it will cost you £52.20. Again, please note this bottling will be limited to one bottle per person as it is just so limited. The tasting notes for the new Longrow Red are:

Nose: There’s a cornucopia of fruity aromas: marmalade, strawberry preserve, fruit coulis and orange sherbet. Not forgetting the tobacco smoke which is associated with Longrow whiskies.

Palate: The fruit theme continues with raspberry jam, and strawberry jam with cream sponge. The whisky has a sweet side too, rich toffee, honeycomb and candy floss.

Finish: Very soft, this Longrow whisky doesn’t disappoint with campfire smoke and charred embers dominating the finish.

Both new releases will be hitting shops around the UK this week including our Cadenhead shops in Campbeltown, Edinburgh and London. They will also be available in various other countries very soon, including our Cadenhead shops in Cologne, Berlin, Salzburg, Odense and Baden. Both bottlings are likely to sell out from our Campbeltown shop very quickly so if you would like to order a bottle then please let me know ASAP and I will try my best to get one for you. I am going to be on annual leave from Tuesday 1st September until Wednesday 16th September so if you are placing an order from Tuesday 1st September, please call the Whisky Shop directly on +44 (0) 1586 55 1710 (option 1).

As mentioned, we have recently stocked up on all core products so here’s a reminder of what we have, including the up to date prices of each:

– Hazelburn 10yo:” £38.00 (-10% Society discount) = £34.20

– Hazelburn 12yo:” £50.00 (-10% Society discount) = £45.00

– Springbank 10yo:” £38.00 (-10% Society discount) = £34.20

– Springbank 12yo:” £47.00 (-10% Society discount) = £42.30

– Springbank 15yo:” £53.50 (-10% Society discount) = £48.15

– Springbank 18yo:” £84.50 (-10% Society discount) = £76.05

– Springbank 21yo:” £180.00 (-£10.00 for Society Members) = £170.00

– Longrow Peated:” £38.00 (-10% Society discount) = £34.20

– Longrow Red:” £58.00 (-10% Society discount) = £52.20

– Longrow 18yo:” £84.50 (-10% Society discount) = £76.05

Next Society Bottle

As previously mentioned, the next Society bottling is due to be released at the end of September. Unfortunately I am unable to provide any other information on it at the moment but I will send details as soon as I can so thank you for you patience!

Support the continuation of the Campbeltown Ferry Crossing

Many of you will already know that as well as my various Springbank related tasks, part of my job is also to administrate and organise events for Explore Campbeltown. For those who don’t know about Explore Campbeltown, it is a marketing initiative founded in 2013 by Springbank Distillery, the Ardshiel Hotel and Machrihanish Holiday Park. Since February 2013, we have been working together with the local businesses of South Kintyre to help promote the area, showcasing what wonderful goods and services the  Kintyre peninsula has to offer and to encourage more people to visit/spend their holidays here. As well as creating a website to showcase our local businesses, we have hosted many successful events including two Christmas Markets in the Malt Barns at Springbank, a Fashion Show and a Wedding Fayre with many more lined up for the future.

At the moment, we are working closely with the Campbeltown Ferry Sub-Group to campaign for the current 3 year trial summer ferry service from Ardrossan-Campbeltown to be made permanent. The summer service, which started in May 2013, is in the final year of its 3 year trial and it’s important that the ferry continues beyond the current trial period to provide a vital link between the central belt and Kintyre. The first CalMac ferry from Ardrossan arrived in Campbeltown on Thursday 23rd May 2013 and the final ferry, this year, is scheduled for Sunday 27th September 2015.

We are currently working with local businesses to gather information which will help us compile statistics for us to argue our case. We are very keen to get the community and visitors involved in supporting the continuation so we have created a Facebook page titled ‘Keep the Campbeltown Ferry Crossing’. It would be great if those of you on Facebook could ‘like’ and ‘share’ the page to help spread the word. We are encouraging ferry users to interact on the Facebook page by sharing their stories, opinions and photographs and if we get a good, positive response to this, it will hopefully help in our bid to keep the ferry in service beyond the current 3 year trial period.

The service has been an extremely positive addition to Kintyre and many of our visitors travel to Campbeltown using the ferry so we are desperate to make sure we do all we can to try and make the crossing a permanent service. We are in the process of designing a short questionnaire on Survey Monkey which will ask a few questions about the service, targeting ferry users out-with the local community. When this goes live, it would be great if any of you who have used the service could help us out by answering the few questions. The link to the survey will be posted on the Ferry Facebook page as well as the Springbank and Explore Campbeltown Facebook pages as soon as it goes live so it would be really great if you could fill out the survey.

I think that is all the news I have for you at the moment but I will be back in touch at the end of September to give you all the details about the next Society release.

Sláinte,

Mairi

For the Springbank Society

To join the Springbank Society please contact Janet at society@springbankwhisky.com

SAMPLE OLD & RARE WHISKIES

Join us for an amazing night of Old & Rare Whiskies! We dug really deep into our huge range to select 5 that we consider the very best of single cask bottlings: un-filtered, un-coloured & cask strength. Where else can you find a tasting like this? Tue 15 Sept, 6.30-9pm

Details & Tickets >

The Scotch Malt Whisky Society, The Vaults, 87 Giles Street, Leith EH6 6BZ Contact: sales@smws.com or call 0131 555 2929 (Mon-Fri 9am-4.45pm). Visit the Society at here for membership information

This is your chance to join and to take advantage of their great offers!

Spot the SMWS bottles in this amusing You Tube video

Whisky Ramblings Via Video #116

Mark Dermul, Belgian Whiskyblogger, tries the new Ardbeg Perpetuum. Feis Ile is the music and whiskyfestival on Islay – a festival on which all Islay distilleries open their doors to literally thousands of fans. And of course, exclusive whisky releases are an integral part of the festival. During the latest festival, Ardbeggians could drool over the new Ardbeg Perpetuum, a release that sold out over the weekend and is now highly sought after, commanding ridiculous prices. A few months later, a general release of 72.000 bottles at a slightly lower ABV followed. Now that the hype has died down a bit, Mark puts both releases head-to-head. 

https://youtu.be/LdxOiL7OPpA

Save Lars Whisky – The Final Edition

August 2015

At last, the third and final limited fan edition of the Save Lars Whisky Trilogy has arrived!

The Save the Lars Homestead project, in which the iconic Star Wars movie location was restored by fans from around the world, was a great success. To celebrate, two of the project’s crew – Mark Dermul and Imanuel ‘Manny’ Dijk, both whisky aficionados – released 100 bottles of a wonderful Bruichladdich 20 Year Old 1990.

After searching hard and long Mark & Manny found a worthy successor and were proud to announce the Save Lars Whisky – Second Fan Edition: a fantastic Auchentoshan 24 Year Old 1989, again limited to 100 bottles. The first and second edition are now highly sought after bottles.

And now, after more than a year of searching for an exceptional cask to conclude the bespoke Save Lars Whisky Trilogy, they stumbled upon a sherry cask matured Speyside malt: Balmenach 14 Year Old 2001, bottled at a cask strength of 50,2% ABV!

Click here to find out more about this Final Fan Edition! Yes, you read that right. This is the final edition. So do not miss out on this one! It is your last chance to own one of these bespoke bottles of fine single malt in commemoration of a fantastic project.

Expected bottling date: September 2015. Expected delivery date: October/November 2015.

MAY THE MALT BE WITH YOU.

Tasting Notes

Nose: fairly sweet nose on banana and pineapple, but it is dominated by sweet malt. Some silver polish that I quite like, as if it was poured by R2-D2 on Jabba’s Sail Barge. Some pine and grain biscuits. The fruit evolves towards the candied variety. Some vanilla and gooseberries. Nice nose.

Palate: the arrival is powerful and peppery. Immediately sweet on white fruit, pineapple and some banana (although less than on the nose), but now some citrus fruit kicks in. Think grapefruit and lime. Light and fresh with a good body. This is quite enjoyable.

Finish: the finish may be short, but it is spicy with some pepper at the death.

Lovely and accessible whisky that would do well in Chalmun’s Cantina in Mos Eisley and hence a wonderful conclusion of the bespoke whisky trilogy in commemoration of the Save Lars project.

Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Fire – it’s finally here

A reputation is a terrible thing. You post one thing on the internet, more people than expected read it, and from that day on you are ‘that guy who likes Jack Daniel’s Honey‘.

So, when a new JD liqueur hits our shores, who’s the person who gets presented with a bottle and told to write tasting notes? That would be me. The new release in question: Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Fire.

Jack Daniel’s fans are an active, watchful and vocal group. Within minutes of JD producer Brown-Forman announcing a limited, experimental roll-out of a cinnamon-flavoured JD liqueur across a handful of US states last year, the questions as to when we would be stocking it started to appear. Unfortunately we couldn’t get any at the time, but suspected that the limited nature of the launch wouldn’t last long. First they expanded the release to the whole of the USA and now, only 18 months later, Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Fire has hit our shores.

Please stop emailing us about it – you can find it here.

It’s what you’d expect – a mix of Jack Daniel’s Old No.7 and cinnamon liqueur. With the flavoured whiskey market booming and cinnamon quickly becoming the flavour of choice, it was only a matter of time before JD dipped their toes in the water. But how does it stack up?

Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Fire Cinnamon Whiskey Liqueur

Nose: Cinnamon fireballs and Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal. Cinnamon is the focus and not much else makes its way through the spicy onslaught.

Palate: Sweet, spicy and alarmingly drinkable – much less fiery than those nose suggests. It has a big hit of cinnamon, a pleasant heat and lots of flavour, but doesn’t take the fire too far. It’s thick and oily in texture, with brown sugar and butter underneath the cinnamon and spice.

Finish: Cinnamon biscuits, more cereal and a hint of barrel char to balance out the sweetness.

Comment: While not wanting to destroy my whisky-connoisseur reputation any more than I already have, this is my favourite of the cinnamon whiskeys on the market. It’s got a concentrated cinnamon core but doesn’t go too far in terms of heat, while also having a rich, rounded and sweet background for when the heat fades.

If you want to join me in liqueur-related shame/enjoyment, then we’re offering an introductory offer of £22.95, £2 off our regular price.

Get it now, while it’s hot! [Ed – We’re done. I told you: no puns]

In these intoxicating times of neo-whisky appreciation, we cannot deny that we as a staff are consuming more single malt than ever in our thirty-plus year history. The world has rediscovered its love affair with Scotch and our motivation to bring K&L customers the best whisky deals possible has never been stronger. But that level of consumption does not come without a price. The Scottish whisky industry has seen its star rise over the last decade, but there have been and will continue to be casualties of that success. When you drink whisky faster than the distilleries can age it, shortages arise. In the case of Glendronach, perhaps our favorite Highland distillery and one of our closest partners, the iconic sherry-aged whisky has recently announced the discontinuation of the 15 year expression; one of the most popular whiskies we sell. They’re hoping to get production back online in 2018, but for the time being we’re planning on a three year gap. What we have left is all she wrote, so if you’re a fan of the dark, supple, rich and round character of the Glendronach single malt, now is the time to load up.

Glendronach 15 year old “Revival” Distillery Bottling Single Malt Whisky 750ml ($89.99)

93 points Whisky Advocate: “Deeper, richer, more viscous, and more intriguing than the 12 year old (and not as sappy as the 18 year old). Complex and intriguing, with raisin, orange marmalade, grape skin, sugar plum, cinnamon bun, raspberry preserve, mixed nuts, and coal ash. Nice tannic grip on the finish. The best of the bunch, and very impressive! (Summer 2010) Reviewed by: John Hansell”

K&L Notes: Distillery notes: “Renowned amongst many whisky enthusiasts around the world, this remarkable and full bodied malt is matured for a minimum of 15 years in the finest Oloroso sherry casks. Bottled at 46%, the GlenDronach Revival is non chill filtered and of natural colour. A truly excellent single malt. Appearance: Deep gold with a lovely mahogany heart. Nose: Incredible concentration of aromas. Treacle toffee and chocolate orange. Palate: A very dynamic and full bodied dram for its age. Chewy with coffee chocolate and treacle scones. Conclusions: A veritable feast to enliven the senses.”
href=”http://www.klwines.com/PersonalReviews/Bio?PRID=163&ReviewerType=S”>David Driscoll | K&L Staff Member | Review Date: April 19, 2015

Big rich sherry flavor for those who like their single malt dark like coffee.

James Knight | K&L Staff Member | Review Date: June 05, 2014

I like Scotch ale, the “wee heavy” beer, and I like this Glendronach 15-year “Revival.” It’s more than a wee bit richer than the 12. It’s spicy, and smoky; candy apples smoking cigarettellos at a pumpkin pie party. Comparisons? Here’s my take: Spicier than Glendronach 12; not quite as intense as Aberlour A’bunadh….but getting there. Way more fiery than Macallan 12, but super sherried and rich. A sort of Lagavulin 16 ashiness on the palate, perhaps. A powerfully inviting detour.

While the older Glendronach whiskies are becoming scarce, that doesn’t mean our friends in Scotland aren’t working on bolder, younger expressions of supreme quality. Glendronach recently released batch three of their cask strength series and we couldn’t have been more blown away by the whisky. While there will be subsequent releases of the cask strength edition over the next few years, supplies will be limited and infrequent. Grab what you can while it’s here!

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 of the Month

To celebrate our sponsorship of The Glenturret Music Tent at the Crieff Highland Gathering earlier in August, we are offering a complimentary tasting glass with every purchase of our Whisky of the Month; The Famous Crieff Limited Edition carton which celebrates The Famous Grouse brand home in Crieff. You can get your bottle and complimentary glass here for only £20!