It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas…

Stuck for gift ideas this Christmas? Call off the search party, we have the perfect gift right here at The Whisky Vault. Whether a connoisseur of fine whiskies or just starting out, the Magic of Islay Gift Set is ideal for the whisky lover in your life. Included inside this stunning black presentation gift box are four excellent 5cl Islay malts; Ardbeg Galileo 1999, Bowmore 1996 13 Year Old, Laphroaig 1994 12 Year Old Highgrove and a Port Ellen 1983 26 Year Old. To complete this desirable set, we have added a Whisky Vault Glencairn Nosing Glass, a Full Colour Information and Tasting Notes Card and a Jim Murray’s 2013 Whisky Bible.

If old blended whisky is your thing, be sure to check out our Old Blends Collection Gift Set where we showcase five incredibly rare 5cl blends from the 1950’s and 60’s.

With much more on the site and new stock arriving daily, please take a moment to browse our ever-growing and highly acclaimed catalogue. To view all our latest products Click Here.

We wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year as we head towards 2013.

The Whisky Vault
www.thewhiskyvault.com
mail@thewhiskyvault.com
Twitter: @thewhiskyvault

November/December pre Christmas drams in Perth.
Or; How to survive winter.

Well here we are again. Drinking on whisky intelligence! This is a wee chat about our pre – Christmas drams and thoughts, it’s really a “suggestion” or two for surviving the winter months.

My first suggestion for the winter months;

Barley & Oats. Nothing like a grand mixing of cereals, I like my oats on winter mornings (even winter evenings). A dram in a bowl of porridge never misses the target. Here I have shown some samples of a decent whisky to liberally pour into the mix, any whisky of choice is good, easy drams for the morning, maybe a peaty one for winter evenings. For those of you like myself, who dinnae have an open fire (as Liz does), I cosy up to my pc with a moving video of a roaring fire. Bowl of porridge, readily spiked with whisky, big fluffy slippers, wee willie winkie hat and Sarah Brightman ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbN0g8-zbdY )

Part two; Scottish nosh at its best, Maclean’s bakery up in the Highlands, does the best shortbread and oatcakes (see, back to oats again). Take a few oatcakes and maybe a shortbread, dribble liberally with your favourite dram, or dram of the moment. Leave a minute to settle doon, then enjoy! Grand for those winter evening tasting sessions, a dinner end, or anytime. All these glorious products shown available on tour with mcleanscotland.

My second suggestion for the winter months;

A Bruce, a battle & an Aberlour. A read and a dram (or six) never fails to stimulate the brain cells. Me? nothing better than a Scottish history book accompanied by some whisky. You can never go wrong reading the life and times of one of our better Kings – The Bruce. Aye, he did change sides somewhat over his time, but “the end justifies the means” seems to work well here. Here in Scotland, we do not use King of Scotland. NO, we use King of Scots. Our kings were kings of the people not the land, unlike our neighbours doon there. King Robert Scotch Whisky (Ian Macleod) is a consistent and complex blend of “first class” grain and malt whiskies. The malts used are only selected when mature and are usually older than the malts used in competitors’ standard brands. King Robert Scotch thus tends to be much more smooth and mellow. Also well worth a sup or two’; Douglas Laing King of Scots, a rare ole blend!

That’s it for the noo, I hope you enjoy these suggestions and “give em a try”, please do let me know how you got on and if you have your own suggestions for those winter months – apart from going to the Maldives of course! http://angelswhiskyclub.com/awc/prechristmas2012.asp

Bye for now

Paul McLean, www.mcleanscotland  www.angelswhiskyclub.com

Japan – Single Malt Scotch

• Nikka 12 Year Old Taketsuru Pure Malt Japanese Whisky 750ml ($59.99)
Malt whiskies matured for 12 years or more at the Yoichi and Miyagikyo distilleries are blended in vats to produce this outstanding pure malt whisky.

Scotland – Single Malt Scotch

• 2003 Bruichladdich K&L Exclusive Peated Single Barrel Cask Strength Single Malt Whisky 750ml ($72.99)
Originally slated for Bruichladdich’s short-lived 3D3 Peat expression, this malt began its life in Bourbon casks until it was dumped into a refill Sherry butt for extra maturation. That classic Bruichladdich tang is on the nose, the briny aromas that meander between rich, earthy, and tart. The peat shows itself first, bringing bright smoke and peat moss similar to Laphroaig, before the mild dose of Sherry kicks in, finishing more like Lagavulin with some nice oak and caramel. After a disasterous recall on last year’s Chenin Blanc barrel, this new offering from Bruichladdich comes just in time for the holidays to fill the hole. Now that Remy Martin has acquired the once-independent distillery, we’re not sure if this will mark the end of the independent cask program at Bruichladdich. Is this the last time we team up with our friends on Islay, or is this just another great chapter in an incredible relationship? We hope to continue our business with Bruichladdich , but if this peated cask is the last of its kind, it’s a hell of a way to go out. Big smoke, big flavor, tons of complexity, lots of chewy richness. This is Islay through and through. It’s Bruichladdich at its smoky best. (David Driscoll, K&L Spirits Buyer)

United States – Bourbon and Rye

• Old World Spirits Gold Run California Rye Whiskey750ml – 11 available ($49.99)
Finally, after almost a year of hype, local Belmont distiller Davorin Kuchan is ready to release his 100% white, organic rye whiskey, giving California its first real home-made option since Old Potrero. The Goldrun is about one year old, but already has a complexity and depth of flavor that places it much further beyond many of its upstart peers. Spicy, peppery, and full of bready yeast, there’s perhaps not another whiskey out there that tastes more like actual rye bread. Getting the yeast to fully ferment the rye was a challenge (which is why most distilleries add some barley and opt out of the 100% recipe), but the result was worth the effort. Davorin has always been an eau-de-vie distiller, so the purity of the rye was more important than say the vanilla from the wood. The question now is will there be enough to supply local demand? Rye whiskey has already been short in supply this year, so the appetite is definitely there. Luckily, our close relation ship with Davorin has allowed us to get to it first! These half-bottles allow us to package what is an expensive and labor-intensive process into something more affordable for the consumer. Grab one, get a glass, sit back and sip some local rye whiskey made just down the street! Supply is limited. (David Driscoll, K&L Spirits Buyer)

• Willett 11 Year Old Cask Strength Single Barrel Bourbon 750ml ($73.99)

• Woodford Reserve Master’s Collection Four Wood Finish 750ml – 1 available ($89.99)
The well-regarded Woodford Master’s Collection has always been difficult to get. Here we have an interesting experiment that draws partially from previous bottlings. Their contention is that finishing in a single wood type provides only a one-dimensional change to the flavor profile. By finishing in three different barrel types, the blender is able to achieve more complexity and character, so the story goes. I’ve had plenty of barrel finished product that are certainly more than one dimensional, but I’ve never had an American whisky finished in three types of barrels. Here we get Oloroso Sherry adding nutty sweetness, ruby Port giving red berry fruit, and the maple wood providing woody sweetness and spice. This stuff is always incredibly limited and inevitably someone will be disappointed when it runs out. (David Othenin-Girard, K&L Spirits Buyer)

Back in stock

Scotland – Single Malt Scotch

• 1988 Glenrothes Speyside Single Malt Whisky 750ml (Elsewhere $150) ( Price: Hidden )
Whisky Advocate: “The hue is deep amber and the nose is equally resonant and rich. This is Glenrothes in its most muscular guise, so that while you have the normal layers of fruity complexity, there is an extra weight. Think of citrus peels, sticky dates, walnuts, and fruit leather. The palate is soft and rolling with light tannin. For me, it’s at its best au naturel. ” K&L Notes: All of the creamy textures and soft sweetness of the beloved 1985 vintage in a new 1998 release. More vanilla, less sherry, with nutty toffee on the finish. Delicious.

 United States – Bourbon and Rye

• Willett 4 Year Cask Strength Single Barrel Bourbon 750ml – 3 available ($41.99)

• Willett 5 Year Single Barrel Cask Strength Bourbon 750ml – 3 available ($49.99)
This small, independent bottler is super-secretive, so there’s very little we can tell you about this specific bottling besides that it’s unique, small batch and going to sell out fast.

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

Grant’s in Colombia 

Hello All,

Last week I was in Bogota, Colombia for the launch of Grant’s Ale Cask. It was my first time in the country which is somewhat surprising considering it’s a relatively important whisky market, actually ranked 15th in the world. We opened an office there in January 2011 and my colleagues had prepared a busy itinerary…(please click on the link below to read the remainder of the article)…

THE LINK

Kind regards,

Ludo

Balcones – Don’t Mess With Texas

I have to admit I wasn’t all aboard the whole “craft distilling” boat when I heard that we were bringing the likes of Corsair, Balcones, and Redemption into the UK for the first time, but after two public appearances of these … Continue reading >>

The American Distilling Institute’s craft distillery map. There’s lots of them.

SPRINGBANK SOCIETY NEWSLETTER

Greetings Society Members

Winter is fast approaching with dark cold mornings and days when you donʼt know what the weather is going to be doing. As you all know Campbeltown can go through all four seasons in one day!!

Things usually slow down in Campbeltown over the winter but we are still busy here, there are still quite a lot of visitors to the distillery, this year we have had quite a few larger groups coming to the town and more and more are using the Tasting Room, enjoying a few drams with local produce to compliment our whisky. We include a little smoked salmon from our local smokehouse, a taste of our local cheese with oatcakes made by a local baker and of course a wee bit of chocolate (not locally made unfortunately).

This year we have had quite a few Society Members visiting us and it was really nice to be able to meet them and put a face to the email!

SOCIETY BOTTLES

We have now started to send the Society Bottles to the Cadenhead Shops in Europe, members still have to order by contacting Campbeltown so that we know how many tosend. Hopefully this will work out and all future Society bottles can be sent this way. We still have some of the Longrow 10 y/o and the Springbank 14 y/o available.

If you would like to order either of these Society bottles please let me know. The bottles can be sent to the shops in Europe with their next orders, following the same procedure aswe have just done. We would take orders here for the bottles, you would stipulate which shop you would like your bottles delivered to then when they are on their way an email would be sent to you advising of the phone number of the shop so that you can contact toarrange payment and dispatch – or to check when you can call in to the shop to uplift your bottles.

The next Society bottling should also be able to go to the US as the new importer there is now established. A lot of waiting to get things going and I do apologise for this but now that we are ʻon the moveʼ and more importantly legal, things should improve.

We can now start to look for another cask to bottle for Society Members, Frank and Gavin will be “on the case” and weʼll get a few samples together to pick the best. Perhaps this time we will send out a few samples to members to see which one they prefer. It would only be a few members, so a “lucky dip” to pick the winners.

We have just taken delivery of the new Springbank Calvados in the shop today, itʼs a 12y/o which has been 6 years in a bourbon cask and 6 years in a Calvados cask, strength 52.7% and costs £58.

Tasting Note:

Colour – Golden syrup

Nose – The influence of the Calvados casks is immediately apparent, with notes of greenapples, citrus fruits and sweet toffee showing themselves in the beginning. Vanilla essence, pears and some gentle spice come later.

Palate – A very lively dram at cask strength. Black pepper and rhubarb give way to demerara sugar, green grapes, a touch of cinnamon and a little bit of home-made fudge. This is an oily whisky for sure.

Finish – Orange marmalade, gooseberries and a pleasant, dry, peatiness leave a lasting impression

The staff up at the distillery have been working very hard both inside and outside and the place is looking very smart and tidy. There have certainly not been any “idle hands” overthe past few months. Our Distillery Manager, Gavin, is very neat and tidy and this must be rubbing off on everyone else, I think.

SPRINGBANK WHISKY SCHOOL

The whisky school will run next year from week beginning 6th May until week beginning 8th July, 10 weeks, arriving here on the Sunday and leaving on the Friday. Places are starting to fill up but we still have plenty to fill. There are only six places each week so thatwe can ensure that everyone has a chance to work in all aspects of the Distillery and spend as much time as possible with the Distillery staff. The staff are all very friendly and enjoy the Whisky School, being able to pass on their skills to people who are obviously so interested in what they do. Frank is busy making up new information for next yearʼs pupils and we are hoping to present them in booklet form which will be a reminder of your time spent with us here in Campbeltown.

Last year we published a piece on facebook weekly with a photograph of that weekʼspupils (all still smiling at the end of the week) and comments from the “Headmaster” FrankMcHardy. There were no “detentions” or “punishments” handed out to anyone throughout the ten week period and everyone seemed to get on really well, during and after working hours. We even had one pupil dressed up in a kilt – you know who you are!!!!

So, if you would like to join us next year please let me know by emailing whiskyschool@springbankwhisky.com and I will send you some information and a registration form.

SPRINGBANK OPEN DAY 2013

Next yearʼs Open Day is starting to be discussed, plans being made, etc. The Open Day will be on Thursday 23rd May and as we get nearer the time all will be revealed as to whatwe will be doing. There will of course be Single Casks and Masterclasses and tours, but we will have to wait and see what else is in store for you.

Watch this space ………………………….

SPRINGBANK SALES TEAM

The Sales Team have been kept very busy these past few months, Sales Manager Ranald Watson has been jetting around the globe spreading the Springbank word, MelanieStanger has been travelling round the UK and Europe, attending shows and Tastings and our newest member John McCallum has also been out and about, finding his feet, so to speak. When we get to the Open Day next year, John will be an “old hand” by then and will no doubt be involved in some of the tastings. Melanie was involved in the Open Day this year so she has already “cut her teeth”.

LONGROW CV

We now have the new Longrow which replaces the Longrow CV, the packaging is rather eye catching I think. The tasting note for the Longrow is as follows:

Colour: Light amber with slight olive highlights.

Nose: Very creamy, vanilla custard. The smoke develops gradually, like a slow burning log fire, never overpowering butalways reassuring. Our guest taster was reminded of marshmallows toastedon a campfire – crisp on the outside and sticky sweet in the middle!

Palate: Incredibly well balanced – rich and creamy with a slight medicinal hint. The smoke is

always present, washing over the palate in waves, like the soft billows of smoke from the kiln.

Finish: The gentle smoke lingers and lingers leaving you yearning for more!

The Cadenhead shop now also has Longrow 5cl £5 and Hazelburn 12y/o 5cl £5 in stock, as well as the Springbank 10y/o and 15y/o 5cl. These have proved to be very popular since being introduced recently.

St Andrew’s Night

The Tasting Room at Cadenhead’s Whisky Shop, Campbeltown are hosting a St Andrew’s Night on Saturday 1st December. There will be a 3 coarse dinner and a whisky tasting. Tickets available from Cadenhead Whisky Shop, Campbeltown at a cost of £25 per person. Time, 7.00 pm for 7.30 pm. If it is as successful as the Hallowe’en night we held recently it promises to be good.

Hallowe’en Night

We held a Hallowe’en night on 27th October in the Tasting Room and although fancy dress was not compulsory everyone joined in and came along dressed in various costumes, most of which were home made. We had Dorothy and her friends from the Wizard of Oz, a giant pumpkin, Edward Scissor Hands (the winner of the competition), a girly clown and lots more. The staff were dressed as zombies with Donald as the zombie chef, Grant as a very scary zombie and Mairi, Julie, Leslie and myself as zombie waitresses.

We enjoyed a lovely warming winter dinner cooked by Donald and accompanied by cocktails rather than a whisky tasting. The evening, of course, included some games – “dooking” for apples – surprised there wasn’t any mess for this one, and throwing corks into a pumpkin to win a prize. The Tasting Room was suitably dressed for the occasion with spiders webs, skulls, bones and gravestones, and spooky music playing all night (not too loudly).

This was our first Hallowe’en “function” and hopefully not our last.

Society & Canada

Our Sales Team have been working away in the background trying to set up something for Canada so that our Members there can enjoy the benefits of the Society without having to have their Society bottles delivered to the UK. We should soon be able to ship to Alberta in Canada if things go according to plan, but more news on that when it has been finalised, hopfully not too long!!!

That’s about all of our news for the minute, but as soon as Frank and Gavin have earmarked a few possible casks for the Society bottle I will let everyone know.

Meantime we wish you all well.

SLÁINTE!!!!

Janet

Please visit http://www.springbankwhisky.com/ to join the Springbank Society

2012 Springbank & Ralfy Charity Bottle Auction

For the third year, Ralfy teams up with a craft Distillery to present a unique bottle package at auction to raise funds for a Distillery-local charity, in this instance, a Primary School have arranged for the kids to take on a produce-garden to grow their own fruit and vegetables for the school dinners and for local families. They need to buy clothing, boots, tools and seeds so the auction of the “Springbank 1of1” should help.

Scotch Whisky Auctions

Hi folks. The 20th auction is now live with a record-breaking 949 lots! Something for everyone. Again.

It will run until Sunday, December, 02.

Best wishes from Glasgow

Bill, Tam and Mick

http://www.scotchwhiskyauctions.com/store/category/48_the-20th-auction/

BRAND NEW! Launched in November 2012,

Based on the classic card game; Whisky Trumps lets you do battle with Whisky using a set of 36 cards containing many classic, premium and rare single malts. Choose from any of five key categories on each card to Trump your opponents and reach victory by winning all the cards in the pack. Fun and whisky educational. 1st Release is a limited edition. £5.99 plus shipping/postage.

Available from Angels;  trumps@angelswhiskyclub.com

http://angelswhiskyclub.com/awc/whiskytrumps.asp

2nd Floor, 163 High Street, Perth PH1UN, Scotland.

Can be shipped as a single pack or groups all over the world.

Whyte & Mackay Spirit Guide

There are only 34 days until Christmas, which is both a thrilling and daunting realisation. All the things that are brilliant about Christmas – the office party, cooking, buying gifts, spending time with family – are also all of the things that can cause a little bit of dram-a (get the whisky pun?). At Whyte & Mackay, we’ve been thinking a lot about the real spirit of Christmas and we’ve compiled a light-hearted ‘Spirit Guide’ designed to help you (and us) cope with all the tricky bits of Christmas without losing our sense of humour or embarrassing ourselves at the Christmas party. We like to make sure the only dram-a at Christmas is Whyte & Mackay. Enjoy!

Download the Whyte & Mackay Spirit Guide