The Ones That (Might Have) Got Away

One of our big tasks in December is finding interesting products to put special offers on. These can be things we’ve got lots of bottles of, things that we can knock some money off and things that we can give … Continue reading >>

Whisky Intelligence has added a new category called ‘Vignettes – Moments in Whisky’ which will feature whisky moments as experienced by the readership. If you have a whisky moment please feel free to submit your moment and we’ll do our best to publish it.

Go on, you know you want to be famous…

On Sunday January 5th, 2014 Whisky Intelligence will publish the best and most complete profile of the now demolished Lochside Distillery. It’s a fascinating read…the article is written by Mark Davidson, the Jolly Toper himself.

UK vlogger Joe Ellis a.k.a Whisky Wednesday starts 2014 with a review of The Whisky Shop Exclusive single cask Arran 15 Year Old. 

http://youtu.be/YU_y63rh4GU 

http://Facebook.com/whiskytube

http://Twitter.com/whiskytube

Late December 2013 Offerings 

Cask No. 26.89                                            $185 

An exotic tearoom experience 

Highland, Northern 

Lemon drizzle cake, dried pineapple cubes and waxiness on the nose give way to fresh ginger, gorse flowers and wood glue. Tasted neat, there was a spicy pepper heat and the waxy notes. The taste also offered peaches, vanilla pods and an apricot cake. Adding water led to notes of vanilla ice cream and toffee sauce, lemon sorbet, spiced apple tea and an indulgent orange spiced soap! The taste was warming and exotic introducing Turkish delight, old fashioned perfume (lavender) and a hint of ras el hanout spices. This cask comes from the Brora distillery, whose name means ‘sloped garden’. 

Drinking tip: A dram for after church high tea 

Colour: Polished pine                               Date distilled: November 1984

Cask: Refill Sherry butt                               Alcohol: 56.6%

Age: 27 years                                              USA allocation: 120 bottles 

Cask No. 29.142                                          $135 

Rock Pooling and beach barbeque 

Islay 

It is a warm sunny afternoon on the beach and we are rock pooling, exploring diverse marine life; starfish, anemones, crabs, limpets, small fish and seaweed – exposing a possible meal every low tide. Talking of a meal there is also aromas of lamb chops sizzling on a barbeque with a hint of rosemary and the freshness of mint sauce. The taste is ashy to start, oak smoked mackerel, cold smoked salmon and the sweetness of honey glazed ham. With water turning into sweet cured herring with a dill sauce and gravlax with a honey mustard marinade. The taste is now hickory sweet smoked fish, beer battered calamari and roasted marshmallows over an open fire – hungry yet? 

Drinking tip: Take a hint from the title

Colour: Polished copper                         Date distilled: April 1995

Cask: Refill barrel                                        Alcohol: 58.6%

Age: 18 years                                              USA allocation: 108 bottles

Cask No. 63.29                                            $160 

Charcuterie board in a carpenter’s workshop 

Speyside, Spey 

We all moved into a carpenter’s workshop with warm, deep and woody aromas of chestnut, cedar, pine, oak and cinnamon bark. At the same time wood shavings, glue, felt tip pens and a glass of freshly pressed apple juice. The taste turns the juice into Calvados, very mouth coating and moreish with a pleasant semi dry finish combined with the chewy sweetness of blackcurrant wine gums. Adding water, still plenty of aromatic wood besides tobacco and banana leafs and a quince jelly. The taste is now more oriental wood, alongside a well brewed Lapsang Souchung tea accompanied by a charcuterie board served with oatcakes. 

Drinking tip: Whilst getting things ready for hosting a party 

Colour: Polished brass                              Date distilled: December 1989

Cask: Refill barrel                                        Alcohol: 53.0%

Age: 23 years                                              USA allocation: 84 bottles

Cask No. 73.52                                            $160 

Speakeasy perkiness     

Speyside, Deveron 

The nose hinted at uniforms and boots in a wooden chest, musky perfume in a leather handbag, calvados, sherry-soaked fruit cake, molasses, syrup, crême brûlée and a distant bonfire. With water it remained fascinating and perky – perhaps fruitier (apple, pear, peach, orange) but with some bitterness, burnt notes, wood and hessian. The palate delivered a surge of sweetness and a spreading glow of warmth – marmalade, aniseed, apple pie, black coffee and traces of smoke. The reduced flavours suggested humbugs and a gangster’s moll sipping espresso in a 1920’s speakeasy. The distillery contributes to Dewar’s and sits between Keith and Buckie. 

Drinking tip: While watching favourite gangster movies 

Colour: Autumn gold                               Date distilled: May 1989

Cask: Refill Sherry butt                               Alcohol: 57.5%

Age: 23 years                                              USA allocation: 90 bottles 

Please visit the Scotch Malt Whisky Society at http://www.smwsa.com/

NEW ARRIVALS

Scotland – Single Malt Scotch

• 1978 Bunnahabhain Samaroli Single Malt Whisky 750ml – 6 available ($419.99)

• Oban 15 Year Distillers Edition Montilla Fino Single Malt Whisky 750ml – 10 available ($89.99)

• SMWS 35.100 (Glen Moray) “Rare Release” Single Barrel Cask Strength Single Malt Whisky 750ml ($115.99)
  The illustrious Scotch Malt Whisky Society finally comes to a retail store. Do not fret if you’re already a member, the amount of whisky being released to the public is a tiny drop in the bucket, just a taste to show the world what the Society has for those who are not aware. We were lucky enough to be selected as one of the four retailers to carry SMWS, along with a few key on-premise accounts, and will be your only source for SMWS bottlings for non-members. This outstanding cask is highly collectable not simply because it’s the 100th cask from this little distillery to be bottled by the Society, but also because it’s one of the best whiskies I’ve had all year. Glen Moray is not a well known distillery in the states, but I think the utter freshness of this whisky will shock even those who know it well. Vibrant and brimming with life, it spent 10 years in a fresh bourbon barrel. The Society’s stringent cask selection system is on display h ere, so it will certainly be sought out by SMWS members who pride themselves on procuring special casks like this one. Get yours now or wait and lose out on one of our most interesting casks of the year. SMWS tasting notes, “Fruity and Fresh, the nose has lime pastilles, apple sours and Midori, coriander leaf, flowers and rhubarb tart – refreshing as a waterfall. The palate has lime, orange sherbet, apple turnover and kiwi – wood shavings, pepper and chilli provide a punchy finish.”

United States Bourbon & Rye

• Redemption 6 Year Old Barrel Proof Straight Rye Whiskey 750ml ($69.99)

BANK IN STOCK

Ireland – Irish and Blended Scotch

• Tyrconnell Single Malt Irish Whiskey 750ml – 4 available ($33.99)

Scotland – Irish and Blended Scotch

• Samaroli Evolution 2012 Multi Vintage Pure Malt Scotch Whisky 750ml – 6 available ($319.99)

Scotland – Single Malt Scotch

• Glenlivet Archive 21 year old Single Malt Whisky 750ml *ships as 3L in box ($159.99)

• Glenlivet XXV 25 year old Single Malt Whisky 750ml (Elsewhere $390) ($349.99)

• Macallan 25 Year Old Distillery Bottling Single Malt Whisky 750ml – 9 available ($799.99)
  Extremely Limited! Macallan’s 25 year old sherry casks are a modern classic.

 
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

Glenfiddich Spirit of a Nation

December saw the official launch of the Glenfiddich ‘Spirit of a Nation’ 29 Year Old Limited Edition. The bottling was produced to commemorate their sponsorship of the Walking With The Wounded South Pole Challenge 2013. This is the second year … Continue reading >>

Japan – Single Malt Scotch

• Suntory Yamazaki 25 year old Japanese Single Malt Whiskey 750ml – 1 available ($1,599.99)  
• Suntory Yamazaki 12 year old Japanese Single Malt Whiskey 750ml – 11 available ($49.99)

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