– THE –
TUN 1509
Batch No. 1

Malt Master David Stewart is one of the most respected experts when it comes to marrying whisky casks. Following on from his highly regarded Tun 1401, comes Tun 1509. Larger than its predecessor, Tun 1509 allows David to select a wider range of component casks; 42, in fact, resulting in a remarkably complex expression.

Of the 42 selected casks, 35 are traditional American oak barrels and seven are European oak sherry butts – all from the distillery’s precious aged stocks. Among these casks are some of the finest The Balvenie has to offer. And all have been allowed to marry together and sit for several months in Warehouse 24 before bottling.

The result is an expression that is deep and rich on the nose with floral notes and clear hints of sweet vanilla and orange peel. It is velvety smooth to taste with distinct tangy citrus, mellow cinnamon spice and blossom honey overtones. In short, this is a truly exceptional expression.

Each bottle comes with a series of graphics representing the flavour profile of each cask.

To learn more about this extraordinary expression, click the link below.

LEARN MORE

Buy Trent’s first batch of Double Cask

Ladies and Gentlemen we have a treat for you. Our main man, blender and bottler extraordinaire Trent Bowring, is very proud to present his first batch of Double Cask, and so are we! After some careful selection involving a lot of sipping and sampling he settled upon a mix of one FRENCH OAK and three AMERICAN OAK barrels.

French Oak Cask HH0597 was chosen for its rich, oily mouth feel and gives structure to the body. It also brings a deep fruity nose. American Oak Cask HH0169 adds balance in the finish. American Oak Cask HH0147 fills out the body with some beautiful fruity notes and finally American Oak Cask HH0074 supports the body with spicy notes and underpins the finish with caramel and raisin notes.

Double Cask 71 Tasting Notes
Colour: Light golden straw
Nose: Fragrant and floral with vanilla sponge cake drizzled in honey. Oak rounds out while spice lingers.
Palate: A medley of basket fruit with fresh cut pears and green apples bursting through. Rum, raisins and oak spice soften out the palate.
Mouth feel: Lightly oiled, well coated.
Finish: Dark dried fruits, raisins and caramel intermingle, warming and sweetening over time. Medium finish, inviting another sip soon after!

Click here to buy now

The Whisky Exchange

TWE London Shop Hours – Whisky Show changes

With The Whisky Exchange Whisky Show rapidly approaching, we have some work to do in our London shop to get ready. As such we will be changing our opening hours over the coming week to avoid any banging and crashing while our customers are perusing the shelves.

PLEASE NOTE: web orders are unaffected by these changes.

It won’t be quite as extreme as this…

Here’s the schedule:

Friday 26 September: Midday-9pm
Saturday 27 September: 10.30am-8pm
Sunday 28 September: CLOSED
Monday 29 September: Midday-7pm
Tuesday 30 September: Midday-7pm

We’ll back to normal as of Wednesday 1 October, but will be running slightly different hours over the show weekend:

Saturday 4 October: 10.30am-8.00pm
Sunday 5 October: Midday-8.00pm

Monday will be business as usual, although after a weekend of Whisky-Show-related exertion, running up and down ladders may not be as fast as normal.

Billy – The earliest TWE photograph of me, with our customer service queen Ali and Diageo’s Colin Dunn

Balblair 2000 – TWE exclusive first-fill sherry butt

Time has rolled on a bit. It seems like only yesterday that I was a balding computer programmer, sat at a table in The Whisky Exchange shop in Vinopolis, confronted by 10 excellent whiskies. It was the company’s 10th anniversary tasting, and I was a punter who liked whisky.

Move on five years to the present day. I’ve got even less hair and while I still sit in front of a screen all day, I now do so at TWE HQ and attempt to write words that make sense to people rather than computers. That extra five years also means that TWE has now hit another milestone – we are 15.

To celebrate our birthday, we’ll be releasing a few whiskies over the coming months, and the first is something special: a Balblair 2000 single cask, fully aged in a first-fill sherry butt.

It’s special because sherry casks are not really Balblair’s day-to-day business. They’re well known for their bourbon-cask-matured whiskies, and other than occasional indies it’s rare to see a fully sherry-matured dram – distillery manager John MacDonald specially selected this cask, as he reckoned it would be to TWE Director Sukhinder Singh’s taste. He was right, and it was a must-have as soon as we tasted it.

Balblair 2000 #1343
Natural colour, of course.

Balblair 2000. First Fill Sherry Butt #1343. 53%. £95

Nose: Rich and heavy ginger cake, studded with burnt raisins and maraschino cherries, and covered in bitter-sweet dark chocolate. Dry oloroso sherry, the kind they love in Spain, provides a heavy, vinous backbone, with cherry-jam-slathered black bread, rich earth, liquorice and dark sugars – demarara and molasses. Damp and charred notes develop, with flamed orange zest, charred oak and driftwood bonfires, doused by a rainstorm. Water brings out chocolate-fudge-brownie sweetness, sweet leather and brown toast. The fruit is subdued, but the raisins are less burnt and the cherries sweeter.

Palate: Intense treacle toffee, baked apple and bitter coffee. Cinnamon bark is joined by freshly sawn oak, driftwood and clove, leading to a drier palate than the sweet nose suggests. There is still sweetness, with plump raisins and touches of brown sugar joined by fruity dark chocolate and cinnamon sugar. Water adds more sweetness, but also sharpens the wood, bringing more oak, with sweet butter, nutmeg and bitter-but-balanced barrel char.

Finish: Lingering char notes, with liquorice pastilles, plump raisins, cinnamon sugar and bitter dark chocolate. Hints of Murray Mints develop as you consider your next sip.

Comment: The biggest and boldest sherry cask matured Balblair I’ve ever tasted. Rich and dark with controlled sweetness – a grown-up whisky. Drams like this make me lament the small amount of sherried Balblair available.

To go with the launch, we’re also running a prize draw:

Buy a bottle of the 2000 or any of the other core vintages from Balblair’s range and you’ll be entered into a draw to win a trip to the distillery, including a tutored tasting with distillery manager John MacDonald.

You can find full details over on our competition page, but the most important bit is that it closes at 11:59pm GMT on 14 November 2014. To whet your appetite, here’s my blog post from when I visited a few years back. They’ve finished building their visitor centre now, and it’s even more worth a trip.

www.ralfy.com cheers himself up with Whisky Review 488 – Springbank 12yo cask @54.3%

As we fast approach the official end of British summertime and the kids go back to school, we’re getting all nostalgic here at Wolfburn. The sun beams in onto our faces from the open roller shutters, and one can’t help but shut the eyes, take in a deep breath of malty air and wonder about all the previous summers that have been before this. Did the manager of Wolfburn of yesteryear take in the same summer flavours back in 1820-something? This summer the Stillhouse smell has had an edge of peat to it, as some of you will already know, we experimented with a month’s run of peated malt. Find out what happened here.

It’s highly likely, being that peat was the main fuel available in those days, that the original Wolfburn had a smoky aroma.
We’ll never know of course, as there is nothing left for us to sample and so far, no record of the taste. We’ve been doing a bit of digging in the archives, and found some very interesting stuff on the people involved though. Check out our history article for more.

Lastly, a bit of fun to tempt your inner artist and a bit of nostalgia put to words. Read ‘Reprise’ written by our fabulous photographer Brian Hamilton here.

Slàinte

The Wolfburn Team

The Johnnie Walker Ryder Cup Limited Edition – the final few bottles available online at The Whisky Shop. 

The Whisky Shop is proud to present the brand new limited edition Johnnie Walker Blue Label Ryder Cup bottling.

Johnnie Walker celebrates 2014 Ryder Cup with Johnnie Walker Blue Label ‘Ryder Cup Limited Edition’ in celebration of The Ryder Cup’s return to Scotland.

Each bottle of the Johnnie Walker Blue Label “Ryder Cup Limited Edition” is individually numbered, making it a rare and unique keepsake or gift. The distinctive design of both the packaging and the bottle depicts the unforgettable, classic view of the iconic Gleneagles Hotel and celebrates the return to Scotland after 41 years of The Ryder Cup, the world’s leading match play competition.

All orders will also receive a three pack of limited edition Ryder Cup Titleist golf balls!

Tasting notes:

Nose: A mellow, rounded nose, with a dry smokiness (a Johnnie Walker signature flavour) mixed with raisin sweetness.

Palate: The first sip reveals a velvety mouth-feel, then an explosion of flavour – hazelnuts, honey, rose petals, sherry and oranges. Subsequent sips reward you with more hidden secrets like kumquats, wispy aromatic smoke, sandalwood, tobacco, and dark chocolate.

Finish: A rich and uniquely long and satisfying finish of smoke and pepper, ending with a glorious touch of spice.

£225 Simply Click Here to buy

New Arrivals

Scotland – Single Malt Scotch

• 1983 Glenfarclas Family Casks Single Malt Whisky 750ml – 6 available ($349.99)

• Kilchoman Machir Bay (2014 edition) Islay Single Malt Whisky (w/ Glencairn glasses) 750ml (cannot ship gift pack) ($54.99)

• 1991 Macallan Samaroli Single Malt Whisky 750ml – 5 available ($299.99)

United States – Bourbon and Rye

• Bowman Bros Small Batch Virginia Straight Bourbon 750ml (1 bottle limit) ($29.99)

• John J. Bowman Single Barrel Virginia Straight Bourbon 750ml (1 bottle limit) ($49.99)

Back in Stock

United States – Bourbon and Rye

• Bowman Bros Small Batch Virginia Straight Bourbon 750ml (1 bottle limit) ($29.99)

• John J. Bowman Single Barrel Virginia Straight Bourbon 750ml (1 bottle limit) ($49.99)

Scotland – Single Malt Scotch

• Ardbeg Auriverdes Limited Edition Single Malt Whisky – 6 available ($199.99)

• Big Peat Islay Vatted Malt Scotch Whisky 750ml – 10 available ($55.99)

• Oban 18 Year Limited Edition Single Malt Whisky 750ml (Elsewhere $150) ($99.99)

United States – Bourbon and Rye

• Faultline Straight Bourbon Whiskey 750ml ($39.99)
  We’ve been doing gin and single malt for years, and now rum, so why not throw our hat in the Bourbon pool? One of the obstacles that kept us from making a Faultline Bourbon earlier was availability: the current demand has made the extra barrel a thing of the past. One of the only distilleries that would sell us a cask for a private label was the old LDI distillery in Indiana, but with the already overcrowded LDI market (Bulleit Rye, Templeton Rye, High West, etc) we didn’t think our product would be different enough, or of the quality we desired, for the Faultline name. That’s when John Little from Smooth Ambler stepped in and said he’d be happy to help us do something special. If we were going to work with LDI casks, then we needed the capability to blend something special to taste – the specs wouldn’t sell this baby. John had some incredible 10 year old low rye formula that we used in conjunction with some 7 year high rye. We kept tastin g and tasting until we found the sweet spot at 100 proof. It’s FAR better than I ever thought it would be. I hoped we could provide something fun and different, but the final whiskey is phenomenal. It’s rich, with sweet fruit right on the entry, a full-bodied mid-palate, and a long, rich, spicy finish. It tastes like it came from Four Roses or somewhere fancy and at 50% it pops in all the right places. I hope we can make another batch like this because this Bourbon is the new king of K&L. Taste it if you don’t believe me. (David Driscoll)

• Stranahan’s Colorado Small Batch Whiskey 750ml (1 bottle limit) – 3 available ($54.99)

• Tuthilltown Hudson Baby Bourbon (375ml) – 11 available ($42.99)

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

DISTILLERY DEVASTATED AT TRAGIC PEAT’S PASSING

It is with great sadness that the team at The Glenturret Distillery must announce that Peat, our beloved distillery cat, has tragically passed away at just 6 months old. On the afternoon of Monday 8th September, Peat was found injured at the side of the road by a member of the Distillery team. Despite immediate veterinary care, there was nothing more that could be done to save him and he peacefully passed away in the arms of our Distillery Manager, Neil Cameron.

READ MORE HERE

This week Joe Ellis reviews the Darkness Ardbeg 21 Year Old PX Finish Master of Malt Bottling.

http://youtu.be/mt2PCKV9rTY

http://Twitter.com/whiskytube
https://www.facebook.com/whiskytube

Laphroaig Live 2014 comes to Stockholm! On the beautiful island of Fjäderholmarna. Wednesday 24th September 2014, 8pm CEST

German lounge opened by Vicky

Not long now before I start my Scandinavian tour that will of course end in Stockholm and Laphroaig® Live on Sept 24th at 8.00PM local time. Before I leave I thought I would share some of the latest news.

Laphroaig 18 Year Old The 18 year old is the winner for tasting No4!

All the votes for the 4th expression are in and it seems you have expensive tastes as the fabulous 18 year old was the overwhelming winner. So we will be tasting it along with our new Laphroaig® Select, Cairdeas 2014 and the Nordic special – a great line up.

But for those of you who voted for the classic 10 year old…

I have been told about the many Laphroaig® Live tasting parties that are being set up in the US and Europe and understand that instead of the Nordic special available only in Scandinavia, you will be tasting the 10 year old. So to make sure I can also take part in all these tastings, I will be toasting you live on the night with a bottle of 10 year old!

Our extra Laphroaig® Live guest star

For the first time Laphroaig® Live is having a pre broadcast drink – why not I say!

It is to be a Swedish Laphroaig® cocktail created by one of Sweden’s most famous bartenders Madeleine Rapp. She has learnt her craft in cities such as New York, San Francisco and New Orleans and has since appeared on Swedish TV inspiring other to create cocktails. Here’s the recipe:

Cut and burn
10 ml Laphroaig® Select
40 ml Maker’s Mark
20 ml sea buckthorn purée from fresh sea buckthorn
20 ml freshly squeezed lemon juice
20 ml honey syrup
Shake all the ingredients and pour into a coupette glass

Smoked dishes on the night

Many of you have written in to ask about our ‘Smoke Fest’.

Our Swedish chef has sent me the dishes (in Swedish) which I have had translated (so apologies for any mistakes). If you have any questions about them do let me know.

• Laphroaig® smoked elk with chanterelles and apples
Rökt älg med kantarell o äpplen
• Small Skagen toast with Kalix bleak roe
Liten skagen toast med kalix löjrom
• Laphroaig® smoked salmon with spinach and fresh potatoes
Varmrökt lax med spenat och färsk potatis
• Laphroaig® marinated salmon with cider mustard and dressing
Laphroaig® gravadlax med cidersenap dressing
• Laphroaig® smoked deer filet with cloudberry compote
Rökt renfilé med hjortron kompott
• Swedish farm cheeses with Laphroaig® marmalade
Svenska gårdsostar med goda tillbehör och Laphroaig® marmelad

All very different, I think you will agree – But all sound delicious!

Join Us

If you can, please join us on the night. It’s bound to be fun!

We’re live on Sept 24th at 8.00PM local time but to get the exact time for Your location, just Click Here to access our counter. See you then and remember to keep sending in your questions Here!

Sláinte

John Campbell

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