Whisky Wednesday posts his latest Whisky Video review! The Laphroaig PX cask http://youtu.be/qzfdLhDfBlM

25 years by the Granty Burn

More good news, you should now be able to find our brand new Speyburn 25 Year Old in the shops. Laid down in American oak Fino sherry and ex-bourbon casks, this is a whisky that slowly matures by the banks of the Granty Burn – for a quarter of a century. All those years mean the taste is rounded and smooth. And you’ll notice it’s got a longer, more warming finish than you might expect. Our oldest, most exclusive Speyburn now comes in a beautiful silver wooden box with two exclusive tasting cups. Every box is a one-off signed personally by Distillery Manager Bobby Anderson.

BUY SPEYBURN

Robbie Burns whisky tasting.  Hello from The Friends of the Quaich in Qualicum Beach, Canada.

We celebrated the Bard at our January tasting. Our hosts, Bob and Kathleen Drinkwater did a terrific job , you can see Bob lighting the Haggis with an ample amount of Glenlivet (left) with Mike Baird also in frame..

Our first dram: Bruichladdich – Laddie 10 – Oak Matured. A new bottling for 2013.

Nose: A touch of honey and lemon, the former perhaps even molasses.

First taste: A little peat, although this is unpeated.

Liquorice with lingering bitter lemon and at last the subtle oak.

A very acceptable whisky.

Next up: Kilchoman – Winter 2010 release. This is only 4 years old.

Matured in Buffalo Trace bourbon barrel.

Nose: Big Peat, Vanilla.

Pear and citrus with a sweet toffee finish. This is remarkable for one so young, somewhat reminiscent of a Port Charlotte, just a little less peaty.

We can’t wait for a 10 year old from this new distillery.

Bob decided to finish the evening with the bottle of Glenlivet and we did enjoy the velvety smoothness of this classic 10 year old.

The whisky club members (16 of them) will be on the road again in September this year, taking a whiskey tour of Ireland. Once again the club will be travelling with MCLEANSCOTLAND – we did a Scottish tour with them and we are still taking about it!

The Irish tour is getting everyone excited and we are all looking forward to meeting up with Liz and Paul again, as we did recently at the Victoria Whisky Festival.

The February Outturn is now available and as always it’s an eclectic assortment of delicious drams!

View our latest offerings at (and for an opportunity to join) www.smws.ca but first enjoy a sneak peek:

Cask No. 7.77 Elegant ladies taking tea

22 years old; refill barrel; 54.8%abv

The nose was attractive and evocative – ladies’ perfume, soft leather, raincoats, mint. The palate was absolutely fabulous! Big fruit flavours (apple, raspberry, pomegranate) swirled around with perfume, leather, oak, coconut meringue and mint leaf – elegant and delightful.

Cask No. 3.193 Baby-faced arsonist

14 years old; refill sherry butt; 57.7%abv

‘Sweet,’ ‘salty,’ ‘resinous’ – some of the Panel’s utterances on first nosing; far-away fish smokehouses, sweet barbecue sauce on baby-back ribs. The taste was full-on – ashy, smoked fish, crispy seaweed, earthy, salted caramels, sticky ribs.

Whisky Advocate’s 19th Annual Award: Islay Single Malt of the Year Lagvulin 21 Year Old Limited Edition – Single Malt Scotch Whisky

• Sherry Cask 2772 bottles

• Cask Strength 52% ABV

Limited # of bottles: Act Fast! $599.99

BUY NOW!

www.ralfy.com explores a rather ‘hot’ malt from a now dead-distillery with Whisky Review 338 – Rosebank 14yo Signatory

I trust this email finds you in good spirits, and well on the way to recovery from all the crazy-wild revelry that is Groundhog Day…one of my favorite holidays…especially when it falls on a Saturday! 

There is still time (but not much) to enter your nominations for the 2013 Drammie Awards: The Voice of the Whiskey Consumer. Hundreds of WhiskeyLovers like you, from six different countries on three different continents have already submitted their nominations.   

Don’t miss your chance to be heard: Tell the whiskey industry what you think and enter your nominations now.

Two weeks ago FWL Managing Editor Caroline Dewar published her notes from her time spent talking with Arran Distillers Chief Executive Euan Mitchell. The article was packed with insight into this resolutely independent Island distillery, and Mitchell’s plans for the future. If you haven’t read it yet, I urge you to check it out. 

Inspired, I decided to try one of their limited edition whiskies, and opted for the one Caroline herself professed to prefer: The Arran Amarone Cask Finished Single Malty Whisky. 

The Isle of Arran Distillery (as it’s formally known) has become known for a series of whiskys called thier Cask Finishes. The first release of this series, Arran Amarone Cask Finished, is a double matured 10 year old Scotch finished in an Amarone wine casks sourced from an artisan producer of this iconic Italian red wine. 

Arran Master Distiller James MacTaggart carefully monitored this period of secondary maturation to ensure the perfect balance was struck between the Amarone casks and the intrinsic sweet-fruity character of The Arran Malt. 

The end result is a single malt full of charm, complexity and quality that received top marks from Jim Murray in his 2010 Whisky Bible (96 out of 100), along with the comments ‘perhaps the best Arran nose of all time’.     

I found this to be a wonderful whisky that combines the best of Arran with the restrained sweet fruit and oak notes of Amarone wine. At first whiff there are aromas of poached pears, honey and toasted almonds and notes of sweet red berries. 

The taste is delightful, with flavors of coffee, chocolate orange, mellow butterscotch, sweet stewed fruits with pronounced notes of ripe dark plums, sweet cinnamon and slightly bitter almonds.  The finish is long and elegant. 

This a limited edition release, and since its been available for awhile, the global inventory has been all but depleted. But fortunately for us our man Nicky The Neck is, shall I say, “connected” within the Amarone industry….and so he has a guy, who knows a guy… 

And so we are thrilled to be able to offer you the opportunity to acquire your own bottle of Arran Amarone Cask Finished Single Malty Whisky for $75.50/ bottle. But make haste…their not making any more of this, and once it’s gone… 

Or, if you want to try Arran’s most popular expression. Buy a bottle of Arran 10YO Single Malt Whisky giftpack ($49.95/ bottle), and receive two (2) Arran Whisky glasses FREE with your bottle. 

Until next week…I wish you high spirits! 

Arran Amarone Cask Finished Single Malt Whisky

Arran 10YO Single Malt Whisky & 2 Glasses Set

Whisky Ramblings Via Video #32

Mark Dermul, Belgian whisky blogger, takes you to the Land of the Rising Sun to introduce you to the Taketsuru 12 Year Old Pure Malt, the Japanese blended malt from the Nikka whisky company. 

http://youtu.be/ifbV_KN_Wro

Park Avenue Liquor Shop is proud to announce the pre-arrival of Old Pulteney 40 Year Old.

Old Pulteney is about to unveil to the U.S. their oldest and most exclusive official expression of single malt to leave its warehouses since its establishment in 1826. The spirit of Pulteney (the northernmost distillery on Scottish mainland) is influenced by its environment like no other. The windswept and rugged Caithness Coast and the remote fishing port of Wick provide the background for one of the most intriguing whiskies in the world. This new, stunning Old Pulteney was shaped by the land and the sea for over four decades and is the ultimate expression of the Maritime Malt.

THE LOOK:
Old Pulteney 40 Year Old is an important chapter in the history of Pulteney Distillery. As such it calls for bespoke presentation; a real show of fierce pride, strength of the community and stunning craftsmanship.
The whisky is presented in unusual deep-blue bottles crafted by The Tudor Crystal Design company and its sister company Plowden and Thompson’s Undertaking. Hand blown from melting silica, soda ash and special additions each bottle is then finished with solid silver melted blown across the glass to form a wave pattern. This gives the familiar ‘Smuggler’s Kettle’ Old Pulteney bottle elegance and flair that pay respect to the liquid inside.

Each bottle of Old Pulteney 40 Year Old is topped with a stone closure whittled, polished, fine-pressure jetted, milled and polished again by the famous local Caithness Stone Industries. The bottles are finished with a Scottish hallmarked silver medallion stating the age of the whisky. The high-gloss lacquered wooden box that encases the bottle has the iconic Old Pulteney herring drifter silver-etched into it to complete the stunning presentation.

In addition every bottle of Old Pulteney 40 Year Old comes with a hand-signed book by whisky expert Charles MacLean.

THE WHISKY:
Old Pulteney 40 Year Old came from four casks. They include three Spanish ex-sherry hogsheads and one American oak ex-bourbon barrel. The casks yielded 493 bottles of whisky at a natural strength of 51.3% ABV. This unique single malt has been bottled at cask strength, has not been chill-filtered or colored. Despite the age the spirit shows remarkable freshness and intensity and boasts an unmistakable Pulteney character. Pulteney Distillery Manager, Malcolm Waring, explains:

“Old Pulteney begins its life as spirit already full of character. Then we mature it on site, here in Wick, we think its hugely important. With each passing year the whisky takes on a little bit of Caithness, the initial charisma is there but it develops more and more complexity. To see that so clearly in a whisky matured for over four decades is extraordinary; we are overwhelmed by the quality of this liquid and by how firmly it’s anchored here. The people, the process, the land and the sea are all in there.”

This item is highly allocated for the U.S. with less than five bottles expected in the NY market this month. If you are interested, please contact the store directly. Ask for Jonathan, Marlon or Eric. PH: 212-685-2442 email: info@parkaveliquor.com Our price: $2,500