Robert Paker explores the world of Bourbon and Rye;

“What started as a fun distraction to see what was so special about Pappy Van Winkle led to a full throttle inspection/conquest of bourbon. To tell you the truth, I have never been a big fan of liquor, but I was blown away by the quality of the top bourbons. They are every bit as good as a great cognac or Armagnac … and I’m not kidding!”

Robert Parker, Wine Advocate May 2013

Black Maple Hill Limited Edition Kentucky Straight Bourbon Sour Mash >> 96 Points

Unctuously textured, rich and concentrated, its style reminds me somewhat of the 20-year old Pappy Family Reserve Bourbon, but of course the Black Maple Hill is far less expensive and easier to obtain.

Buffalo Trace Eagle Rare Single Barrel Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey 10-Years Old. >> 95 Points

A sensational Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey, appears to be be a classic.

Old Bardstown Black Label >> 94 Points

Believe it or not, this bourbon came close in taste, texture and smell to the more expensive, virtually impossible to find Pappy Van Winkle 20-Year Old Kentucky Bourbon.

Noah’s Mill Small Batch Boutique Bourbon >> 96 Points

It is fabulous, intriguing, distinctive bourbon.

High West Rendezvous Rye Whiskey >> 94 Points

This is a sweet, smoky, spicy, flamboyant whiskey that is full, rich and intense, but not the least bit harsh.

Whisky Ramblings Via Video #48

Mark Dermul, Belgian whisky blogger, visited the Belgian Whisky Festival for Independent Bottlers, which offers hundreds of bottles only from, err… independent bottlers. Quite an experience, for the Indies do try to get their hands on magnificent casks that might otherwise never get bottled in their own right. An short video impression.

http://youtu.be/n4HawDDwp6U

SPECIAL OFFER

Speyburn 10 Year Old

Speyburn 10 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky

This perfectly-balanced single malt whisky was born in the Highlands of Scotland more than a century ago. It’s created using fresh spring water from Speyside. And, it’s this soft water which gives this whisky its distinctive character and unique flavour.

SRP £30.25 Save £8.00

PURCHASE NOW – £22.25

UK vlogger Joe Ellis a.k.a Whisky Wednesday reviews Benriach Curiositas 10 Year Old Single Malt

http://youtu.be/xlcF81vu1eI

http://Facebook.com/whiskytube

http://Twitter.com/whiskytube

http://www.tomswhiskyreviews.com/

This coming Friday, 17th May

Jameson Irish Shindig…

Stephen Carberry looks after Jameson brands for Pernod Ricard and is eager to share both his knowledge and expertise with us down in the tasting cellars of Stourbridge.

Featuring this selection of amazing whiskeys from Pernod Ricard’s Chief Ambassador:

Jameson Green Spot
Jameson Yellow Spot 12year old 46% abv
Jameson Limited reserve 18 year old
Jameson Powers JL
Jameson Redbreast 15 year old 46% abv
Jameson Select reserve
Start times: 7:30 pmTickets £20.00

For further details, email david@nickollsandperks.co.uk or phone 01384 394518

Call or email to reserve your tickets

We look forward to seeing you soon.

Sláinte!

The Nickolls and Perks Team

Nickolls & Perks Ltd
37 Lower High Street
Stourbridge, West Midlands DY8 1TA
www.nickollsandperks.co.uk

Federal Wines & Spirits

The Whisky Cruise
As Put on annually by The Whisky Guild
Saturday, May 18th
Aboard the Spirit of Boston Cruise Ship
200 Seaport Blvd., Boston, MA
VIP Hour – 12:00pm – 1:00pm
Main Boarding – 1:00 – 1:30pm
Sail Time – 1:30 – 3:30pm
20% Discount with the code: federal
For Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/event/5010646980

Joe writes, Join us once again for a cruise around Boston’s harbor and some great whisky drinking. Chances are too few and far between to taste the full line-ups of so many brands and independent bottlers. We’re proud to be pouring some of our favorite whiskies alongside some of the best in the industry. Visit www.whiskyguild.com for regular updates to the pour-list. Price of admission includes a buffet lunch and those who join us for the VIP hour will have free acess to (though space is limited, contact us quickly to sign up) a Masterclass as hosted by yours truly. This will be a first for me, so details to come as I think of them.

 Federal Wine & Spirits
________________________________________
Email: info@federalwine.com
Phone: (617) 367-8605
Web: http://www.federalwine.com/

Tasting Notes: Talisker Port Ruighe

The folks at Diageo have been paying a bit of attention to Talisker recently. With the 35 year old Special Release at the end of last year, a packaging update for the 10 year old, the recent release of Storm and a … Continue reading >>

Whisky Ramblings Via Video #47

Mark Dermul, Belgian whisky blogger, puts two independent releases from Malts of Scotland, the renowned German bottler, head to head: the Auchentoshan 21 Year Old 1991 vs the Auchentoshan 28 Year Old 1984.

http://youtu.be/iaVyluRGQ2k

www.ralfy.com takes a trip down Memory Lane returning to an old familiar full-flavour single malt with Whisky Review 361 – Talisker 10yo re-reviewed 2013

Winter has finally left us up here. It has been a long one, but the spring flowers are out and the days are getting warmer. The Peat cutting season has just started, which lasts until June. Now is the time when it is dry enough to get onto our peat beds but still nice and wet which is what we want for maximum peaty smoke in our kilns! As always we still cut our peat by hand. Not just because it is the traditional way but because the peat retains more moisture when it is hand cut – the old ways are the best. I will try and post you some pictures of the guys out on our “Peat Moss”.

Feis Ile 2013

We are now busily preparing for the Island annual festival – The Feis Ile, held in last week of May.

If you would like to see our programme of special events this year you can view them here. But I have to say that once again they are all fully booked already! With this in mind we are doing as much as we can this year for all of you who cannot make it up here. We will be blogging, tweeting and Facebooking over the 3 primary days, writing and posting photographs of all the events as they happen, much of it live!

The 3 key days are Sunday 26th, Monday 27th and Tuesday 28th May when we will be hosting our Friends Gathering with a delicious roast pig and lashings of Laphroaig. And indeed drinking the last of the Laphroaig cask matured beer that we first had at last year’s Laphroaig Live in Germany. Of course Tuesday 28th May is our official open day when we will try to cover all of the special events live online including my special one when I will be tasting some of the last 40 year old with a few lucky friends!

New Packaging

Soon you will begin to notice a change in our tubes and labels in your local shops. There has been no organised change in the Laphroaig packaging for over 30 years.

Over the years each expression has had a slightly different packaging design so it has all got a little messy. We have now reworked them back into one family design. It is not a huge change- as you would expect. But the whole family looks a lot smarter now I think. Of course we researched these changes thoroughly with many Friends of Laphroaig first to make sure you liked it. So a big thanks to all of you who participated. If you cannot wait, you can see the new 10 year old design here. I hope you like it.

That’s all for now. But please do “tune in” to our Facebook or Twitter pages on our three special days as I hope it will give you a “flavour” of all the fun we have on these big days and encourage you to come next year.

Slàinte,

John Campbell
Distillery Manager, Laphroaig

Visit http://www.laphroaig.com/ to join the Friends of Laphroaig; it’s free!