Laphroaig 15 Year Old 1997 $158.65
New! Caol Ila 33 Year Old 1980 $367.83
New! Macallan 15 Year Old 1997$186.61
Glenfarclas 46 Year Old 1966 $439.83
New! Port Dundas 35 Year Old 1978 $259.13
North British 50 Year Old 1962 $537.47
Hi folks. We’re on the move to bigger and better premises. From March 12 we will all be together at THE PENTAGON CENTRE, 36 WASHINGTON STREET, GLASGOW G3 8AZ. Telephone 0141 243 2585 for Reception, Booking In and Collection. For Packing, Delivery, Photography and Valuations. please use 0141 204 4714. There is ample metered parking outside the building. There is controlled entry, but just punch 003 into the keypad and we’ll buzz you in. Please also let your courier companies know our new address. There will be a presence at 1134 Argyle for a few weeks, but please use WASHINGTON STREET from now on.
Kind regards from Glasgow
Alex, Bill. Chris, Des, George, Graeme, Ian, Jackie, Jess. Linda,
Pete, Stuart and Tam
Here is a map of how to get from our old premises to our new HQ
New! Director’s Cut Single Cask Scotch
1992 vintage single sherry cask expression of the favourite Islay single malt from Douglas Laing & Co.
Due to popular demand, UK vlogger Joe Ellis from Whisky Wednesday reviews The Naked Grouse!
MANY THANKS TO EVERYONE – WE RAISED £395 FOR THE LIFEBOATS RNLI.
All monies direct to RNLI, thanks again to whoever bid this amount, amazing!
I would like to thank a few people (sounds like an Oscar eh!);
Charlie Maclean, Iain McClune, Ian Horne, and… the person who made the winning bid (and all other bidders).
THANK YOU TO EVERYONE
Paul McLean
CHAPTER 14 & 15
Multi Award Winning Single Malts
Our latest additions, Chapter 14 & 15 are proving to be a big hit and with good reason, they are really beautiful single malt whiskies from England.
BUY NOW or visit our online shop for our full range of single malt whisky.
www.ralfy.com compares a traditional malt with a contemporary marketing-loaded non-age bottling with Whisky Review 437 – Mortlach 21yo @ 43% (Gordon & MacPhail)
www.ralfy.com introduces a marketing-dominated variant of Tomatin with Whisky Review 436 – Tomatin Cu Bocan Peated Malt
Tomintoul 10 Year Old 40% Speyside Malt
Interview with Ingvar Ronde, Editor of the Malt Whisky Yearbook.
Paul McLean was talking to Ingvar Ronde in Finland, February 2014.
Ingvar, It was a pleasure to meet you at Helsinki, I have had the yearbook for a few years now, I never expected to meet you there! Like myself, I think that was your first Uisge fest? How did you find it?
A; I think it was a brilliant show. Not very big but a nice venue and the visitors were extremely interested and knew a lot about whisky.
Q; I was so happy that Helsinki had a “heat wave” while we were there, how does that compare to your weather in your part of Sweden?
A; Well, Helsinki is a wee bit colder than where I live in the south of Sweden but I did appreciate we didn´t have to force our way through a thick layer of snow because that happens from time to time.
Q; I don’t know about you, but after two days on our feet, I felt tired, how did you get on over the two days?
A; It wasn´t too bad. After all you and I were more or less stationed at our stand. I feel you get more tired when you´re walking around for 6 hours at some of the bigger whisky festivals in the world.
Q; The yearbook is a fantastic read, full of whisky information, facts and figures, something for everyone, How/why did you start it?
A; Thanks for the kind words Paul – never get tired of hearing that. I´ve been interested in whisky for a couple of decades now and the idea for the Yearbook actually sprung from my personal need for a decent annual update on the subject without having to surf the internet every time I needed to know something. There are Yearbooks for every subject nowadays and I was actually a bit surprised to see that whisky, and especially malt whisky, wasn´t covered. After my first couple of Yearbooks I found out that a lot of whisky enthusiasts out there must have felt the same way because sales have increased quite rapidly.
Q; Tell me more about the annual updates.
A; The book is divided into three parts. The first one is articles by some of the best known whisky writers in the world. Every year I send out topics to the authors to make sure there´s a nice mix of history, products, techy stuff etc. The second part of the book is the biggest where I cover all the malt whisky distilleries in the world. The Scottish ones get either a full spread or one page each, a chapter is reserved for the Japanese ones and then all the others from the rest of the world follow. The final part is a summary of the whisky year that was, a guide to independent bottlers, a list of good whisky shops and statistics and figures. Now for the annual updates, I always aim to have at least 70% new material in each new edition. Otherwise I feel I would be cheating the customer. Apart from visiting some of the distilleries in person I contact every distillery, as well as a lot of other people in the industry, every year to hear what´s new and what they have planned for the future. I have a list of around 500 people who either get a phone call or an email from me every year.
Q; Do you have any plans for other books or projects?
A; At the moment I´m working on a new whisky book in Swedish which may be translated into other languages later on. Can´t give you too many details at the moment but it is aimed at a broader audience than the Yearbook.
Q; How many copies are sold each year and in what countries?
A; Every year I sell somewhere between 15 and 20,000 copies – mostly in the UK and other European countries but there is also a healthy interest from USA, Canada, South Africa and The Far East.
Q; Where can people buy a copy?
A; You can always but it through my own website (www.maltwhiskyyearbook.com) but it´s also available at distillery visitor centres, whisky shops, book shops in the UK and of course Amazon.
Q; Finally, who writes the text, who does the research, the layout and who takes the photos?
A; Apart from the first 6-7 articles, I do all the work including research and layout. I wouldn´t say I´m a control freak (although my friends and family probably would) but I like to be involved in all stages of the production. I get some of the photos from the producers but I have also travelled a lot in Scotland with my friend Peter who is a photographer. Many thanks for giving me this interview, I hope to meet up again in the late summer over in Scotland, we are exploring the options of a whisky tour for you with friends.
Thank you Paul and I´m really looking forward to the tour and to see you again. Ingvar.
Note; MCLEANSCOTLAND will be designing & hosting/guiding a whisky tour for Ingvar and friends in Scotland, 2015.
www.mcleanscotland.com www.angelswhiskyclub.com
