www.ralfy.com re-reviews and considers the changes with Whisky Review 432 – Caol Ila 12yo malt re-reviewed

 
Whiskey has Balls of Steel

Balls of Steel were the first stainless steel whiskey chiller on the market. Originally made from solid high-grade stainless steel. Now, we’ve upgraded our Balls with a phase-change technology in the center called the Arctic Core.

Balls of Steel are more powerful than ever with the Arctic Core. A set can chill any whiskey without diluting the flavor with tap water and will always leave the heavenly flavors balanced and perfect like they were meant to be right outta’ the barrel.

Plus Balls of Steel were created to support men’s health. Each set sold helps raise awareness about  testicular cancer and 15 percent goes straight to testicular cancer cure research.

Check em out – http://www.originalbos.com/

UK vlogger Joe Ellis from Whisky Wednesday reviews Bruichladdich The Laddie 10

http://youtu.be/9TXcfdqx8fE

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http://Twitter.com/whiskytube

A wee story by Paul McLean, of MCLEANSCOTLAND & ANGELS WHISKY CLUB  on his journey to Finland, for the Helsinki Uisge whisky festival 2014.

I left Scotland at 5.30 Wednesday morning from Aberdeen airport, flying to Frankfurt – if you can help it, do not ever fly there!  The airport is so large and so much walking, stairs up and down between gates for connecting flights, you do not get enough time to get from a to b! Crowds of people fighting to get into a lift, to save them walking 3 flights of stairs! A nightmare, compounded by some German travellers who were really rude and pushing into lines awaiting check in, I almost had an argument with one rude pusher – inn!  Never again will I use Frankfurt! – having all of 15 minutes to get to another part of the airport for my flight to Helsinki.  I must also state the refreshments on Lufthanasa are shocking. A two hour flight; we were given a stale, hard piece of pizza on crisp bread (that you could crack a window with) and a drink. Goodbye Lufthanasa! On my return flight we had a sandwich, one round of bread cut in two with cheese salad. Anyhow, I arrived into Helsinki, much better airport, to find my friend Mika waiting for me. A taxi into the city took half an hour and I checked into the hotel, before sharing a drink or two in the Irish pub next door. Molly Malone’s pub, I ordered two pints of Kilkenny beer, shock horror – it was a Scouser (Liverpool) behind the bar! Good lad so he was. But – 15 euros for 2 pints!!!  That evening I met up again with Mika, who took me along to a pre planned whisky tasting event.  It was a tasting of 8 drams, all winners in their festival event, some faces I knew, well attended, from tours to Scotland. Also there Ingvar Ronde, editor of the Malt Whisky Yearbook, first time we had met, he was a good guy, we got on famously! A good night, the surprise of the night; Famous Grouse naked, won the blend! The Naked Grouse is a blended Scotch whisky matured in the very best first fill sherry casks. The label was removed from the bottle with the grouse left subtly embossed into the bottle to allow the naked stock to speak for itself.

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Day 2; Thursday the festival starts. I was there early with Ingvar (we shared a table) to set up our stand, we arrived at 1.30, plenty of time to set up and donder around seeing who else was there … och I knew a few people, the first I spotted was Stewart Buchanan of BenRiach, I know Stewart from years ago, a good Muilach (person from the Isle of Mull) presenting drams from Glenglassaugh, BenRiach and GlenDronach, I did partake! Lots of others there I said hello to, before the “gates opened” at 3pm. Saying that, at 2pm VIP and media came in.  Ending at 10.30 it was a busy day! Back to the hotel, a chat re a forthcoming tour with Ingvar and then away to ma bed!  The feet were happy to do this.

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Day 3; Friday – the busiest day of the festival, it was packed out, from 3pm to 10.30 rushed off our feet, so many questions, so many faces, people I did not know, some I did from past tours, some fun with them at least broke the hard work!  Plenty of sampling took place, we were given a 15 year old Tobermory for our table, we had to “sell” drams for vouchers, I must admit, 3 euros for a 1cl dram seemed a lot to me, but – maybe we sold half a bottle?  Thing was, anyone could get the same dram on the Interbrands stand at the same cost. The whisky is matured in Gonzalez Byass Oloroso sherry casks and the casks mature on the mainland before travelling back to Mull for the final year before bottling. It was a long day broken by some ventures out into the fray, Ingvar and I took turns to wander about, we also had help on the stand from the people next door; Malt Whisky Association of Finland, a big thanks to them. At the end of the Friday, stand came down and I headed back to Mika’s house for the next 3 nights. Very good of him! With so many brands and stands, including rum, there were many people I made new contacts with, too numerous to mention and it would not be right as some were better contacts than others.

Teerenpeli Distillery, Finland. Produce a couple of single malts, I brought a very good sherry finish home (or should I say a sherry Finnish?), a 10 year old single ex bourbon @ 58.5% living cask. www.taivaanranta.com/teerenpeli_tislaamo  They also produce good beer!  Tried it! Teerenpeli means “mating game” so I was told.  I also tried the Swedish whisky; Mackmyra – it would start with a “mac” eh! They focus on care, craftsmanship looking beyond the traditional approach, another good dram I tried.  Mackmyra Whisky is the new generation of Swedish whisky, made using Swedish ingredients without additives. Small casks of 30 and 100 litres create an intense maturation while the Swedish oak contributes prominent spice as we store whisky in a constant temperature, 50 meters deep into the ground in the Bodås mine.

Many others were good Scots and Irish drams, a Japanese and some others lost in my mind! Some highlights; Weymss whole range, Bowmore Devils dram was excellent, they ran out!  Being an Angel myself; I just had to try it! The Devil himself once visited Islay and hid in a Bowmore church. But, because the Devil is silly, he hid in a round church which had “no corner for the Devil to hide in”. He was chased out and ran to the Bowmore distillery where he hid inside a barrel on its way to the mainland. So now his spirit haunts the spirit in this bottling! Tasting of Christmas cakes. Warm dark fruits and chocolate. We take tours to Islay of course, including the kirk.  Jamesons, the lovely Caroline gave me a dram or three, I do like Irish whiskey – and the coleen’s. Kilbeggan was also sampled (a large one). The Highland Park Freya was making its world debut at the show, it was a really nice dram, but I think a wee bit costly.  Martin was kind enough to come over with a slug of it for me to try.  By the way, the food was very good at the event. Valhalla Collection, the latest edition has now arrived – Highland Park Freya.  After Thor and Loki, the folks at Highland Park decided a softer approach with Freya. Highland Park refer to her as ‘The Fair One’, and look to the aspects of her character focused on love and wisdom. She’s also a war goddess who rode out to battle to choose half of the warrior dead to join her in the afterlife of Fólkvangr rather than Odin’s Valhalla. Highland Park have focused on her feather cloak, said in some texts to be the cause of the Northern Lights, the Aurora Borealis. So, what will be the final dram? Valhalla itself? Odin??? Who knows?

I returned home to Scotland on the Monday. But before I left I shared a few days out with Mika and Anders, seeing more of Helsinki and surrounding areas, many thanks to both of them.

Summary of Helsinki whisky festival;  It proved expensive for a poor Scot, prices are high for everything. I saw many weird and wonderful facial hair styles in Helsinki, Charlie Maclean would have been proud of them! Plaited beards, weird handlebar tashes, if I go again I would choose summer, even the water surrounding Helsinki was frozen! Ma poor feet took a battering, it would be nice to see more world whiskies there next year. All credit to Mika for organising this event, it went smoothly and very well. I would recommend anyone to attend.

Paul McLean; www.mcleanscotland.com  www.angelswhiskyclub.com

www.ralfy.com examines the branding of official bottling flavour profiles with Whisky Review 431 – Caol Ila 25yo single malt @43%

Springbank 21 Year Old Vintage 1992 / Single Cask #248 / 150 Bottles

Distilled in 1992, Springbank single cask #248 was the dream of Dion Gunson, a wine merchant with close ties to the famous Campbeltown distillery. Back in the early 90’s, cask 248, an ex-bourbon filled barrel was purchased and left to slumber for 21 long years. In 2013 it was ready. Bottled at a natural cask strength of 51.9% vol and dressed with a label and fact book which has been designed and drawn by Scottish artist, Chris Watson.

A wonderful cask strength limited edition bottling of Springbank. With an out-turn of only 150 bottles, we can’t see this delicious Campbeltown malt hanging around for long…

£226.00 (£188.33 ex vat)

Click here to purchase Springbank 21 Year Old / Single Cask 248

Glentauchers 1994 / Gordon & MacPhail
Awarded 96.5 Points / Whisky Bible 2014

A vintage 1994 from Glentauchers distillery, bottled in 2012 by Gordon & MacPhail as part of their Distillery Label Range series. A superb tastng dram that offers excellent value for money.

Glentauchers 1994 was recently awarded 96.5 points in Jim Murray’s 2014 Whisky Bible, which was only 1 point behind the overall leader.

£39.50

(£32.92 ex vat)

Click here to purchase Glentauchers 1994 / Gordon & MacPhail

Springbank 21 Year Old / 2014 Release

The return of the much anticipated Springbank 21 Year Old, complete with gold attire. The 2014 release looks like it’s going to be another stunning dram, showing off the great complexity that you get from a Springbank whisky developed with age.

Very limited stock.

£216.00 (£188.00 ex vat)

Click here to purchase Springbank 21 Year Old / 2014 Release

Yamazaki Sherry Cask / 2013 Release

The 2013 Yamazaki Sherry cask, a beautiful Japanese single malt whisky that’s been aged exclusively in sherry casks.

The launch of the 2013 Yamazaki Cask Collection, coincides with the distillery’s 90th anniversary. There were four special whiskies released for 2013, matured in a variety of casks; Bourbon, Sherry, Puncheon and Mizunara Japanese oak.

Click here to view all the bottles released in the Yamazaki Cask Selection along with all our new arrivals…

£102.50 (£85.42 ex vat)

• Buffalo Trace K&L Exclusive Single Cask #43 Lot 4669 Kentucky Straight Bourbon 750ml ($24.99)
  Last October we toured Buffalo Trace distillery for the first time and got to select samples directly from the distillery. Getting to bottle our own selections from one of the nation’s best and most-popular distilleries is a fantastic way for us to provide something unique and interesting for our loyal whiskey customers. Now that the word is out that Pappy Van Winkle is made at the Frankfort facility, tourists have begun flocking to Buffalo Trace to conduct their own whiskey pilgrimages. When we were there in the Fall the campus was a madhouse of Bourbon aficionados and die-hard enthusiasts. We were lucky to taste anything as the gift shop was completely sold out of everything except cream liqueur. Luckily, there were two solid, classic Buffalo Trace casks there for the taking and we snatched them up. The #43 barrel offered plenty of burnt sugar, toasted nuts, and barrel spice right on the nose, with more on the palate right afterward. The cask yielded a little more than 200 bottles and we’re pumped to finally have them on our shelves. (David Driscoll, K&L Spirits Buyer)

• Buffalo Trace K&L Exclusive Single Cask #45 Lot 4669 Kentucky Straight Bourbon 750ml ($24.99)
  Last October we toured Buffalo Trace distillery for the first time and got to select samples directly from the distillery. Getting to bottle our own selections from one of the nation’s best and most-popular distilleries is a fantastic way for us to provide something unique and interesting for our loyal whiskey customers. Now that the word is out that Pappy Van Winkle is made at the Frankfort facility, tourists have begun flocking to Buffalo Trace to conduct their own whiskey pilgrimages. When we were there in the Fall the campus was a madhouse of Bourbon aficionados and die-hard enthusiasts. We were lucky to taste anything as the gift shop was completely sold out of everything except cream liqueur. Luckily, there were two solid, classic Buffalo Trace casks there for the taking and we snatched them up. The #45 was more herbaceous and full of bold rye flavor with plenty of wood spices on the finish. It’s a more intense version of the standard formula wi th everything dialed up a bit. We’re excited to have it all to ourselves! (David Driscoll, K&L Spirits Buyer)

• 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)

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

The Word extraordinary is often overused.

Defined as something beyond the expected, it should be reserved only for the truly remarkable. With that in mind, it is our pleasure to introduce the second expression from our Extraordinary Single Cask collection – the Glenrothes 1969 Single Cask #11485. With golden hues and peerless texture it is the most beautifully balanced, elegant and well-mannered single malt we have ever produced. The hogshead cask used to create this single malt has yielded just 133 bottles, meaning it is almost as exclusive as it is elegant.

FIND OUT MORE

Ireland – Irish Whiskey

• The Irishman 12 Year Old Pure Pot Still Whiskey 750ml – 11 available ($69.99)

• The Irishman Cask Strength Pure Pot Still Whiskey 750ml – 1 available ($149.99)
  Coming from the Midleton Distillery, this pure pot still whisky is hand selected and bottled in tiny batches. On average only 2000 bottles will be produced each year. Having received 94.5 points from Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible, it’s no surprise that this is one of the most anticipated new Irish Whiskey on the market. It takes a lot of a clout to get Midleton to release pure pot still for a new brand and thank god they did as this stuff is more proof that pure pot still whiskey deserves to be considered on par with single malt in terms of complexity and quality.

Scotland – Single Malt Scotch

• Macallan 62 Year Lalique Decanter Single Malt 750ml – 1 available ($31,999.99)

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

www.ralfy.com discovers a happy place with  Whisky Review #430 – Caol Ila 12yo 2000 61.4% (Gordon & Macphail)