New 2015 bottling of the natural strength Highland whisky matured exclusively in Oloroso and Pedro Ximenex sherry casks.
Japan – Single Malt Scotch
United States – Bourbon and Rye
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
We’re sprouting into life
Follow our progress as we grow into full bloom
Like the rootlets spreading out and extending their reach in your vegetable garden, the inner workings of our distillery are taking shape more and more each day. We’re installing piping, our mill, our boiler, and our grain handling system all while expanding into two new markets and planning more events. Just like your garden, spring is a very busy time of year here at the Virginia Distillery Company.
Construction inside our distillery has hit a fever pitch. Building a facility like ours, where we’ll be using more hands than computers, is not easy, but we think it’s worth the effort. Every day, more and more feet of steam and process piping snake their way through the distillery. As always, follow our progress on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Or, throw on a hard hat and pull up a chair. It’s pretty fun to watch.
Virginia Distillery Company
299 Eades Lane
Lovingston, VA 22949
This week Joe Ellis reviews Laphroaig 25 Year Old.
www.ralfy.com talks oak rings and circle after a lovely dram of scotch with Whisky Review 533 – Old Pulteney 12yo single malt re-reviewed for 2015
Paul McLean relates his latest tour experiences around Scotland.
On tour in Speyside with Ingvar Ronde and friends
For five days in April, we guided a wee group of fantastic Swedish whisky “nuts” around Speyside. To say it was a good tour, would be an understatement. Is this a record? 43 distilleries visited in just 5 days! Ok, not all where full on tours, but surely this must be a record?
We started at Aberdeen airport, met up with Ingvar and the lads, then drove to Ardmore distillery, a long tour was taken (and enjoyed) here. Alistair the distillery manager took the tour, as you can see by the facebook photos (https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100009466238501) it was good and many cask strength drams taken (apart from myself who was driving, but Alistair gave me a few samples). I came away with a couple of Ardlair samples. What a good start, then to lunch at Huntly, followed by a visit to Duncan Taylor, we met up with Euan, took a tour of the new bottling plant/warehouse facility and aye, enjoyed a good few drams! From here to Elgin, where we were based for four nights.
Day two we were ready to go early as we drove the short distance to Glen Moray, where Iain took our guests on a tour. Me? I experienced yet again the “drivers share” a cup of tea. A really good tour and many, many drams followed, including the new peated expression – more on that later. Then dropping in at the Cooperage before lunch at the whisky inn, it was good to meet up again with Tatsuya after his years travelling around Europe as European Brand Ambassador for Suntory. Had a chat and will be back there very soon. A short drive to Ben Riach for a tour and taste here, a taste, I should say a good few tastes! Today we also saw several other distilleries (a part of the 43). Back again at the hotel, a wonderful whisky dinner, beautiful food and drams and beers!
Day three started with a few distillery visits, short and sweet, before a full private tour at Ballindalloch. We were there a day before the official opening by Prince Charles. Thanks Brian for the tour here, though no drams. Followed by a visit to Ballindalloch castle. After more distillery visits we arrived for lunch at Glenlivet, while the guys chomped doon their lunch, I chatted to Ian Logan – our tour guide! I had first met Ian many years ago on a 3 day whisky school at Glenlivet (will be seeing him again soon, that’s another story). If I said there were a good selection of drams, that would be understating it! Warehouse 1 lies a cask worth £1million retail, a 50 year old. Glenlivet doubling output to 20 million litres annually, with space for 30 million if needed! One or two more visits and then back to the hotel, time for my drinks.
Day four – a target of just the 21 distillery visits today. We managed it by the way! Macallan, cardhu to start and then Tamdhu, taken around by Sandy. That was a good long visit and special tastings, oh I wish I could have drammed too! Knockando and then back to Dalmunach and daluaine before lunch at Glenfiddich. Their new shop is a lot better. We drove to all the Dufftown distilleries before Glenrothes, for a long visit, including many drams. Aye we did the 21 visits, back at the hotel, a well earned few drinks.
Day five, the final day, started at Spynie Palace, also known as Spynie Castle, was the fortified seat of the Bishops of Moray for about 500 years. The founding of the palace dates back to the late 12th Century. Back to Glen Moray and then Linkwood, a few others including all three in Keith, including a full tour at Strathisla before lunch. We then drove (a little later than planned) to Knockdhu for a tour with Gordon, plus many, many drams! A fitting end to the tour, as we headed back to Aberdeen airport and a haste ye back!
Can I just say, the 5 guys on this trip were brilliant, thank you for my drinks and lunches! I did repay them with drams daily in between distilleries, I had a series of drams ready in the vehicle (with glasses and water). The Glen Moray visit; after tasting approx. 10 drams, Iain told us the peated bottle was due to go on sale on Friday, we ordered a bottle each on Tuesday, we returned at 10am Friday for them, the first people in the world to buy them.
THE 43 … “Spent five fantastic days in Speyside with a group of fanatical whisky Swedes. Paul and I put together a record breaking program for the trip, visiting 43 distilleries – nine full visits and the rest stopping by for photos. Thanks to Paul we also managed to get quite a bit of history and culture. Already planning a new visit for next year.”
Cheers for now! Ingvar
Ardmore, Glen Moray, BenRiach, Glenlossie, Mannochmore, Miltonduff, Glen Elgin, Coleburn, Aberlour, Glenfarclas, Ballindalloch, Glenlivet, Tamnavulin, Braeval, Allt-a-Bhainne, Longmorn, Macallan, Cardhu, Tamdhu, Knockando, Dalmunach, Imperial, Dailuaine, Glenfiddich, Parkmore, Glendullan, Mortlach, Dufftown, Balvenie, Kininvie, Convalmore, Craigellachie, Glenrothes, Glen Spey, Glen Grant, Speyburn, Linkwood, Auchroisk, Glentauchers, Strathisla, Glen Keith, Strathmill, Knockdhu.
Paul owns www.mcleanscotland.com and www.angelswhiskyclub.com
NEWSFLASH!!
Dear Society Members,
Firstly, thank you for your patience with my replies since the latest Society Bottling was released. As imagined, my inbox has been a very busy place since the bottling was announced and although I’ve been working through the orders as quickly as I can, there are a handful of members who are still waiting for a reply. I can confirm that if you have emailed to order a bottle of the new Society Longrow 13yo up until this date then you have definitely got a bottle reserved so I will contact you for payment as soon as I can.
On top of the Society orders, I’ve also been getting everything finalised for the Malts Festival (I promise I will be sending new details on Friday – thank you again for your patience) and organising a Wedding Fayre! As many of you may already know, part of my job is also to administrate and organise the events for Explore Campbeltown and the next event is the Wedding Fayre which is taking place this Sunday (26th April). We have over 30 businesses exhibiting on the day with stalls, demonstrations and a catwalk all happening so it’s been a bit manic recently to say the least!! I love my job as there is never a dull or uneventful day in the office but at times like this, it can be pretty hectic!
UK Single Cask Bottling – AVAILABLE NOW!!
I know a lot of you have been very excited about the release of the new UK exclusive Single Cask bottling. I can confirm this has now been bottled and is available for purchase in our Campbeltown shop from this afternoon and other UK retail outlets (including our Edinburgh and London Cadenhead shops) from Friday 24th April.
This new bottling is a Springbank 12 year old Port Wood and a nice wee fact is that it was distilled in 2003 which was the 175th anniversary of Springbank Distillery. It has been bottled at a cask strength of 58.3% and is extremely limited with only 696 bottles available. The price for this bottling is £60.00 and unfortunately no Society discount will be available as it is just so limited.
If you would like to order a bottle from the Campbeltown Cadenhead shop then can I ask you to please get in touch with the shop directly as I will not be taking orders for this – simply because I will not be able to keep track of how many bottles they have available. Each shop will only have a very small allocation and I imagine they will sell very quickly. You can contact our shop by calling +44 (0) 1586 55 1710 (option 1).
The tasting notes for this bottling are:
Nose: Mineral – granite, oily, bees wax and salty. Hints of almonds and banana skins then port – winey notes come through.
Palate: Cloved oranges, orange bitters, roasted coffee beans. Malty with hints of oak.
Finish: Dark chocolate and orange then becoming fairly dry towards the end.
**With water the port influence is more prominent.
I’m still waiting on the product shot for this whisky but I will put it onto the Springbank Distillers Facebook page as soon as I get it (hopefully tomorrow).
Spirit of Freedom ’45 Plus’ Auction
Springbank Distillers Ltd have just released our latest Spirit Of Freedom Blend, ’45 Plus’, a follow up to November’s ‘The 45’. The new bottling contains more than 45 different whiskies from across Scotland and has been bottled at 52%vol. This bottle will retail at £27.50 per bottle and Society members will receive their discount on this meaning it will cost members £24.75.
The tasting notes for this bottling are:
Nose: Malty, creamy, vanilla and buttery with hints of marzipan. Then dried apricots and muesli.
Palate: Dried fruits, dates and lime cordial. Heather and parma-violets.
Finish: Subtle hints of peat smoke come through towards the end, finishing with a long malty, honey sweetness.
We are currently auctioning off a limited edition pair of Spirit of Freedom ‘45 Plus’ bottles – one of which has been signed by the former First Minister, Alex Salmond alongside Argyll & Bute SNP candidate Brendan O‘Hara and the other by Springbank & Glengyle Distillery Manager, Gavin McLachlan. Funds raised by the auction will be donated to the Kintyre Kidney Dialysis Campaign. This campaign has recently started in Kintyre to persuade NHS Highland to provide much needed dialysis facilities within Campbeltown Hospital. This will save many locals the tiring and traumatic 3.5 hour trip to the Vale of Leven Hospital in Alexandria three times per week for life saving dialysis.
The auction began on Friday 17th April 2015 and ends at 4pm BST on Friday 24th April 2015 with the current highest bid sitting at £150.00. To bid, send your offer, along with your name, address and contact telephone number to: auction@springbankwhisky.com. An update is made every day on the Springbank Distillers Facebook page and the winner will be notified shortly after 4pm on Friday. Happy Bidding!!
Sláinte,
Mairi
Mairi Paterson
For the Springbank Society
To join the Springbank Society please contact them at
NEW ARRIVALS
Canada – Whisky
BACK IN STOCK
United States – Bourbon and Rye
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
It’s been just over a month since we reopened the Milroy’s doors following the change of ownership and our extensive refurbishment. Now we finally have the time we thought we’d give you all an update on how we are doing and let you know about the changes and exciting new products we have in store.
What’s New In Store
Bars – two of them actually – for those of you who haven’t managed to pop in yet we now have a stunning coppertop whisky bar on the ground floor, allowing you to sip a dram (35ml measures – 25ml just isn’t enough!) whilst perusing the shelves and then receiving 10% off the bottle you’ve just enjoyed.
The second bar is located in the basement, previously this was our tasting room. We’ve now added a concrete bar and opened up what we like to call the Barrel Room, a small 10 seater vault, previously our whisky cellar. Downstairs is a little different, the focus here is cocktails expertly made by Natalino and Simo, open from 6pm Tuesday-Thursday and 5pm Friday & Saturday, or you could of course stick to whisky (or even try our own beer!).
Web Store
As you will know we haven’t yet got a working web store up and running, much to the frustration of both ourselves and of course you our customers. For those of you out there who are in I.T. and I’m sure there are a few, you’ll know designing a top quality (working!) web store isn’t something done overnight, and as we are now a totally new company keeping the old web store wasn’t an option. The good news though is we aren’t far off – we hope to have a transactional web store up and running by mid-May.
The second piece of good news is you can still buy online, kind of, in the interim we will make sure we update you on new stock as and when it arrives, so simply email back to the newsletter or give us a call and we can send out the stock to you. If there is anything you are looking for just let us know and we’ll be happy to help.
New Stock: Samaroli
A name synonymous with quality whisky, established almost 50 years ago Samaroli is amongst the most famous independent bottlers in the world of whisky. Some of the older Samaroli bottles now command a high price, and having tried the 2014 releases we can honestly say nothing has changed in terms of quality. Silvano Samaroli at the time of starting his bottling company in 1968 was the first to do so outside of the UK.
Samaroli’s ethos remains the same as ever, bottling whiskies when they feel the time is right, and the flavour represents what they feel a whisky should be. Everything is done in small batches and their total yearly output is a mere 14,000 bottles worldwide, as such we only have a very small number of each.
Jura 1997, 17 Year Old, 43%
This tasty 17 year old Jura is big on the coastal flavour profile. Seaweed resting in a quiet harbour, petunias and lashings of sea salt make for an amazing dram! £91.75
Ferry To Islay, 55.1%
A blended malt of Bunnahabhain, Caol Ila and Laphroaig. This is typical Islay oozing in peat with a surprising minty subtlety. £179.95
