The Whisky Barrel comments on the new Civil Aviation Authority shipping regulations…shipments to Canada, China, Isreal, South Africa and the Unted States of America suspended.
THE WHISKY SHOP’S GUIDE TO BURNS NIGHT
Whisky is the perfect drink to enjoy on Burns Night and The Whisky Shop, the UK’s largest specialist whisky retailer, is highlighting the best whiskies to enjoy with the traditional haggis, neeps and tatties on Friday 25th January 2013.
Longmorn – 16 year old – £64.99
An initial big malt flavour that commands a pause, revealing a silky rich naturally sweet and quietly complex character.
Strathisla – 12 year old – £34.99
The core malt in Chivas Regal, Strathisla is classic Speyside whisky, rich in summer fruits.
Scapa – 16 year old – £69.99
A warm golden embrace, traces of honey and wild heather and the merest hint of the sea, this delicious whisky is an expression of the life of an Island.
Auchentoshan – 12 year old – £36.99
Easy drinking, fruity, soft and delicious, this whisky has benefited hugely from going from 10 to 12 years old.
Andrew Torrance, Managing Director of The Whisky Shop, said: “Burns Night is a traditional Scottish celebration and it is important to have the right whisky to complement the distinctive flavour of the spicy haggis.”
The Whisky Shop is the UK’s largest whisky only specialist with 21 stores nationwide. The flagship store is located at 70 Piccadilly, London and can be contacted on 0141 427 2977 or andrew@whiskyshop.com
Our First Certificate of Incorporation
Hi,
The first week back after the holidays is usually a busy one and this week was no different. I actually went back to work a couple of days early to sort through my emails. I expected a full inbox, and I wasn’t disappointed.
But it wasn’t all hardship – I also spent time selecting interesting whiskies…(please click on the link below to read the remainder of the article)…
Kind regards,
Ludo
Burns Night at Vinopolis
If you’ve not organised a Burns Night party for yourself and are looking for someone else to take care of the details then our friends at Vinopolis, hosts of our London shop, may have something to interest you… Vinopolis are running … Continue reading >>
Loch Fyne Whiskies ‘Collectors’ Loft’
A new edition of our Collectors’ Loft is now available with highlights from Port Ellen, Ardbeg and Kilchoman.
You may view the latest post by clicking on the link below
Loch Fyne Whiskies
david@lfw.co.uk
www.ralfy.com gets stuck into a notable ‘dressing malt’ with Whisky Review 332 – Longmorn 30yo (Gordon & Macphail)
Customers beyond Great Britain please note:
As a result of aviation regulations our previous shipping company (Royal Mail Group inc. ParcelForce, RMG) will no longer handle shipments of spirits. We now have new shipping partners who will handle our parcels as freight rather than mail.
This means our single bottle rate will go up significantly. Rates […please click on the link below to read the remainder of the article…]
Best regards,
Loch Fyne Whiskies
Quick 2012 Roundup
Milroy’s of Soho are continuing to put on exciting whisky tastings this year. Highly successful in December was our first ever live Tweet tasting; four of Milroy’s bottlings were sampled in our tasting cellar in Soho, and Twitter users who had received samples in advance tasted alongside us; everyone contributed their views in real time, online and in fewer than 140 characters.
Follow us on Twitter to get regular updates on new tastings and limited edition releases.
We’ve also seen some fantastic drams from other producers over the past year; here are our personal picks of the very best…
Lee’s Drams 1. Burnside 1994 (Scott’s Selection), Named after a long since closed Campbeltown distillery, rumour has it that this bottle is a mixture of Balvenie and Glenfiddich (two of my favourite distilleries) so no wonder I enjoyed it, add into that the whisky is heavilly sherried and you have a perfect winter dram. 2. Glen Garioch 1978, Fantastic balance of flavours that change over the course of several hours. 3. Benriach Solstice 17 Year Old, released December 2011 but I didn’t try it until early last year so I think I’m allowed to include it, a superb complex, fruity and earthy smoky whisky.
Angus’s Drams 1. Glen Garioch 1978 without question, 2. The Arran Eagle (apricot, apple, pear slightly oily, possesses drinkability and great depth of flavour at great value). 3. Then finally, the Balvenie Caribbean Cask (classic Balvenie honey with demerara sugar and satsuma notes. Balvenie remaining on top form.)
Mitch’s Drams 1. Tomatin 30 Year Old, Awesome! Wonderfully refreshing summer dram, like biting into a peach with enough old whisky tones to make it truly incredible. 2. Springbank Rundlets and Kilderkins, offering chocolate, wood spice and a good whack of peat smoke, this is a one off treasure. 3. Milroy’s of Soho, Cooley 2001, it’s got the best nose of anything I’ve tried this year. Instantly likeable, lively and enjoyable.
Do let us know what your drams of the year were. We never tire of talking whisky. Lastly, we would like to thank you all for your custom and feedback over the past year, we very much look forward to seeing you again in 2013. Cheers! from all of us at Milroy’s of Soho
To place an order please visit www.milroys.co.uk, call Lee on 020 7437 2385 or email Lee.Tomlinson@jeroboams.co.uk
Our mailing address is: Milroy’s of Soho 3 Greek Street London, England W1D 4NX United Kingdom
Hi folks. The last date to put bottles into the 22nd auction will be close of business on Friday, January 18. The auction goes live on Friday, Jan 25 and will run until Sunday, February 03.
Kind regards from Glasgow
Bill, Tam, Mick & Linda
TOMINTOUL DISTILLERY
Tomintoul distillery’s story start’s in a time of post war optimism for the Scotch whisky industry. After the lifting of first government then self imposed restrictions on sales the healthy increase in demand for the drink led to upturn in production. These measures included an all hands on deck approach to ensuring full capacity of stills was realised, when round the clock distilling wasn’t sufficient to meet projected demand expansion was often the solution then finally new distilleries started to appear. Tomintoul was the first time a Speyside distillery was built in the 20th century with Scottish money and the third new Highland distillery since the war. An amalgamation between two whisky brokers, W. & S. Strong & Co. and Hay & Mcleod, under the banner Tomintoul Distillery Ltd., began a year long search for a water source of reliably sufficient quality and quantity. By November 1964 the search was over and building started with the first production coming in July 1965. The setting of the distillery was not chosen for the sake of convenience being remote in the hills of Glenlivet near the river Avon a few miles from the village it shares it‘s name with. The architecture is functional but despite being approved by The Royal Fine Art Commission and designed by the National Fuel Efficiency Service it is hard to imagine permission being granted these days for any building of this magnitude in the area regardless of it’s socio-economic value being as it is in the Cairngorm national park. Pylons and wind farms might be another matter. Despite there only being three distilleries situated in the glen of the Livet whilst Tomintoul is within the Glenlivet parish 17 stills lay claim to the designation- presumably hoping by association a bit of the magic of the area might rub off. Few distilleries share such a lofty position, 880 feet (268 meters) above sea level, and the area is well known for snow and low temperatures with 2010 being particularly challenging.
Regarding ownership there has been a strong pattern of changing hands: the first sale, to Scottish and Universal Investment Trust or ‘S.U.I.T.S.’ (owned by the House of Fraser family), coming in 1973. Later that year Whyte and MacKay was also purchased by the organisation. Four years later there is a doubling of capacity thanks to the number of stills increasing from two to four. This followed a doubling in the size of the mash tun in 1972/73- it is of the semi-lauter variety. 1978 sees S.U.I.T.S. being taken over by investment conglomerate Lonhro, a company with interests as diverse as mining, textiles, hotels printing and newspapers. A decade later (February 1989) Lonhro sells on it’s whisky wing, known as Whyte and MacKay (W&M) since 1975, to Brent Walker. The following year American Brands Inc. buys W&M then a change of name in 1996 has the distillers known as JBB – Jim Beam Brands- (Greater Europe) Plc.. Current ownership under merchants, bottlers and blenders Angus Dundee dates from the first of August 2000. The company is headed by Terry Hillman an ex-executive of Burn Stewart who re-started his whisky interest via brokering. The Company added the Brechin distillery Glencadam to it’s portfolio in 2003. In the same year a blending centre was installed on site in at Tomintoul with vats ranging in size from 10,000 to 100,000 litres.
The distillery is unusual in that its wide and tall steam kettle heated wash and spirit stills are very nearly the same size as one another, the wash is ~22KL with a 15K charge and the spirit 19.6KL with a 9KL fill. Also perhaps as there are no formal visitor facilities there has never been a need for the cosmetic of lacquering the copper. Reflux bowls are employed while the still’s lyne arms ascend at twenty degrees. These two features combined with use of shell and tube condensers usually indicate the desire to create a lighter spirit. The large mash tun is stainless steel as are the 9 wash backs. Due to its remote location in a sometimes weather effected area barley storage facilities need to be more substantial than the norm. Maturing is in a combination of four six-high racked and some palletised warehouses with a considerable storage capacity for 116,000 casks on site. Maximum production is 3.3 MLPA coming from 15 mashes a week, taking all its brands into consideration the company is responsible for around 5% of Scottish whisky exports although only 2-3% of Tomintoul‘s production is sold as a single malt. Bottlings of the single malt first appeared in 1975 on the distillery’s 10th anniversary however the range available has only just started to blossom. Recent additions include an heavily peated variant named Ballantruan (after one of the springs) introduced in 2000 and produced for two weeks in the distilling calendar. In charge of the twenty staff is current manager, Robert Flemming, coming from a family line of whisky makers he has been overseeing the site since 1990.
‘Tomintoul’ means little hill of the barn.
Mark Davidson…
Of a distinguished Banff 1968 vintage Mark Davidson has a short but full body and so marries well (& subsequently producing two limited editions), frequently seen at whisky fairs in Scotland yet curiously difficult to find outside his domestic market it is hoped his inaugural launch on the Canadian scene will be well received. He is at home in independant bottling circles being most commonly found in the William Cadenhead livery where he has enjoyed a 13 year finishing period, however as a stand alone single expression under the Jolly Toper brand he can come into his own while being a fine mixer.
