Angels fly into Perth.

Angels whisky club; a flight of angels recently landed upon Perth, Scotland. Reason; celebrations! 1; Pre Halloween dramfest, and 2; Celtic Barcelona pre fixture challenge.

Halloween; a flight of angels pounced on Christies pub again, myself (Paul), Ming, Boab, Lizzie & Kev. With a little help from our friends (Ron, Billy and Irish Paul). Settlin doon at the usual corner of the bar (it’s a round bar in here) we set upon a pre fest thirst quencher. A mix of Dark Island (suitable for all Hallows), Black Bush and a pear cider (apples you see), telly was on sky sports. Ahead of us lay some weird animals, may the Lord be truly thankful. First dram was a refreshing Sheep Dip; The name came from Scots farmers –  a time when farmers distilled their own whisky, to avoid paying taxes to the excise man they put the whisky in barrels marked “Sheep Dip”.  A golden colour,  floral and fruity, pear, orange the main accent from the Highlands (Dalmore) and Speyside Glens. A nice easy start, we all dipped again! Then moving on to a Pigs Nose; came to the market in 1977 as a stable pal for Sheep Dip… the whisky in the bottle was as smooth as a pig’s nose. 16 different malts go into Sheep Dip, while Pig’s Nose has a high malt content of 40 per cent. Enough from the farm, we moved onto the water and sampled an Alligator; one of a brood from Islay with a bite and a snap to it. Flowery, chocolate notes, yer granny’s out of date humbugs and smokey bacon crisps (er, that could be Boab with his damn bag of prawn cocktail) developed into peat/smoke, this alligator is perfectly happy out of water! So what did we do? Added a wee pool of water to our glasses. Ardbeg’s drams always sing goin doon.

Time for a breather, Lizzie was getting tearful (farmers girl so she is) with all these animals consumed. As part of the brand campaign for Black Bottle Whisky a new Halloween party has been announced at Film City Glasgow in October. The campaign has been launched on the Black Bottle Whisky facebook pages. Further online and offline activities will be revealed at a later stage pre and post the event.  www.facebook.com/BlackBottleWhisky  – be quick! So we tried one, much to Boab’s displeasure, its his bottle!

After a few snacks from Helen & Billy, we dived into Halloween again, Raven’s Blood cocktail; grenadine, a good slosh of Black Bush whiskey  a lemon/lime to taste, many thanks go to Karen behind the bar for this concoxion. It certainly woke us all up! Reminded me of a Grouse with ice and appletise. This drink created some amusement in the bar, or was it us? Anyhow, onwards, on the “broom”stick trail with my first ex (she will be flyin aboot anytime noo) … see what we are doin here? Actually there is no need to introduce Dave Broom. He is one of the best whisky writers out there, you have read at least one of his books or magazine things already. So he does like a good whisky; “a Cutty Sark and soda in a bar about half an hour ago. The perfect drink for the moment”. See, even a credible expert admits to a soda! So we had to try it, (Paul just happened to have a bottle of the new Cutty Sark Storm). Too clever I know; witches, brooms and storms. Just then the local black cat wandered in through the open front door, took one look, and wandered back oot.

We ended our travel to Halloween with a Satsuma tangerine each, a perfect citrus finale.

Celtic Barcelona pre fixture challenge. we all were surprised and delighted we were only beaten 2 – 1 at the Nou Camp, Barcelona. Even then, it was 3 and a half minutes into extra time before the second fell into our net. So we end today with a salute to Celtic Football Club, with a suitable dram – a Wild Geese hot toddy – it started to snow here so we thought it apt!

Patrick Sarsfield’s army is defeated at the decisive Battle of The Boyne (July 1^st 1690). From this point on, his attempts to oust the English and place James II (see the Scottish link here) on the throne, were doomed. There followed the Treaty of Limerick where Sarsfield’s army was given a stark choice. Those that chose to live under English rule filed one way, others like Sarsfield and his followers turned the other way, to board French ships to take them to France. They took the name The Wild Geese in the hope and belief that this would be a temporary strategic exile in Europe much the same as Celtic’s season last time in Europe. Come on the hoops, lets give the Barca’s something to remember us by! Slainte!

Story written down (as remembered) by Paul McLean, www.angelswhiskyclub.com

Whisky Ramblings Via Video #25

Mark Dermul, Belgian Whiskyblogger, tries a young rum finished Laddie (Bruichladdich 8 Year Old 2001 Rum Cask), bottled especially for the Belgian market. Not a big fan of finishes, he has to admit that this one gets it right!

http://youtu.be/ubaYUSd6rM8

www.ralfy.com tackles the confusion surrounding Blended Scotch and Blended Malt,  both being blended Scotches, but only one is a blended Malt.

Whisky Review 315 – AD Rattray’s 19yo malt-blend Batch No: 1

Meet Our Ambassador in Poland

Hi everyone,

Following John in Ecuador, Valentina in Russia and Cruz Mario in Venezuela, I would like to introduce another member of our team of ambassadors. Mateusz Zabiegaj has been working with us in Poland for the past three years. His background is a little different from our other ambassadors; he’s an experienced mixologist. I asked him…(please click on the link below to read the remainder of the article)…

THE LINK

Kind regards,

Ludo

Hi folks. The 19th auction is now live. There are 804 lots, so there’s bound to be something there you like!

Best wishes from Glasgow

Bill, Tam & Mick

www.scotchwhiskyauctions.com

You’ve heard the rumours,
You’ve hoped they were true,
So it’s time to announce,
Without further ado…

WE’RE LAUNCHING IN BC!!

Please join us along with Victoria’s The Strath Ale Wine & Spirit Merchants to celebrate the expansion of the Canadian branch of The Scotch Malt Whisky Society.

News this big deserves a party or two, so we’re going to open twelve fantastic bottles of single cask single malt whiskies, put out some good food, and invite you to come find out what all the fuss is about! And we’re going to throw you a curve ball or two, so be prepared to be curious!

Victoria Event:
Saturday, October 27/12
$50+HST
7pm – 9pm
Hotel Grand Pacific, Pender Island Ballroom
463 Belleville Street
To register contact The Strath Ale Wine & Spirit Merchants at
whisky@strathconahotel.com
919 Douglas Street, Victoria
250-370-9463

ENJOY OUR PRODUCTS RESPONSIBLY
PLEASE DON’T DRINK AND DRIVE

Loch Fyne Whiskies Stocks ‘Springbank Calvados Wood 12yo’

Springbank Calvados Wood 12yo 52.7% abv

£56.90 inc vat £47.42 ex vat

Best regards, Loch Fyne Whiskies david@lfw.co.uk

Diageo Special Releases 2012

It’s that time of year again and Diageo has launched its Single Malt Scotch Whiskies. To benefit from our spectacular generosity please select from one of Special Releases 2012 Sets below. As usual, the series embraces some exceedingly rare and therefore increasingly sought after single malts from the dwindling stocks of long-silent distilleries alongside expressions from familiar and less familiar working distilleries, but at unusual ages. All are at natural cask strength.

To Buy Diageo Special Releases 2012:

Lagavulin 12 year old – “limited numbers”

Offer Price £71

Set of Two Special Releases 2012

(experience the two extremes: the peatiest and the most delicate of the Special Releases 2012)

Includes: Lagavulin 12, Dalwhinnie 25.
RRP: £256
Offer Price: £243 (5% discount)

Set of Four Special Releases 2012

(selection of our four favourite Special Releases)

Includes: Lagavulin 12, Talisker 35, Caol Ila 14 Unpeated, Dalwhinnie 25.
RRP: £847
Offer Price: £804 (5% discount)

Set of Seven Special Releases 2012
(complete set excluding Port Ellen)

Includes: Lagavulin 12, Lagavulin 21, Talisker 35, Caol Ila 14 Unpeated, Brora 35, Dalwhinnie 25, Auchroisk 30.
RRP: £1,827
Offer Price: £1,735 (5% discount)

Complete Set of Eight Special Releases 2012

Includes: Lagavulin 12, Lagavulin 21, Talisker 35, Caol Ila 14 Unpeated, Port Ellen 32, Brora 35, Dalwhinnie 25, Auchroisk 30.
Offer Price: £2,427

The eight single malt releases this year are:

	Port Ellen 32 year old – 2,964 bottles Twelfth of a very limited series of annual releases. From refill American Oak   and refill European Oak casks filled in 1979. Distillery closed in 1983. Nose   – Unmistakable Water Melon and a hint of satsuma. With time hay barns and wet   hay with Port Ellen’s characterful Chamoise Leather creepy in. Palate – Sweet   water melon, the peat isn’t overpowering, lanolin, menthol and hint of cream.   Finish – Fantastic, more chamoise leather, fudge and camp fire wood. The nose   and finish were superb, but on the palate it didn’t quite live up to   expectation – but could it ever? RRP £600
	Brora 35 year old – 1,566 bottles Eleventh of a very limited series of annual releases. Vatted from whiskies at   least 35 years old distilled in 1976 & 1977 and aged in refill American   Oak casks. Distillery closed in 1983. Nose – Incredible, sweet spiced   oranges, dried raisins, toffee and chocolate, there is so much here it would   take an evening just to fully appreciate the aroma. Palate – Wonderfully rich   and complex, white chocolate, cocoa powder with a hint of cold black coffee,   costal salt and the faintest waft of peat. Finish – Spice apple, brown sugar   and espresso. Complexity in abundance, so much going on, brilliant! RRP £400
	Auchroisk 30 year old – 2,976 bottles The oldest Auchroisk ever released by the distillers. From a mix of American   & European Oak refill casks filled in 1982. Nose – Dried red berries,   some slight jammy notes developing into varnish and rich sherry oak notes.   Palate – Age defying sweet dried fruits at the start, moving into slightly   bitter wood notes finishing with a hint of caramel. Finish – Wood and burnt   sugar, complex and pleasing. One of the best whiskies of the night, instantly   enjoyable and remarkably good value for a 30 year old cask strength whisky. RRP £230
	Lagavulin 21 year old – 2,772 bottles Only the second 21 year old ever bottled by the original distillers. Vatted   from first fill ex-sherry European Oak casks each at least 21 years old,   filled in 1991. Nose – Burnt wood embers and zippo lighter fluid. Palate – Stewed fruits, spicy peat, very good though lacking some thing to   make it outstanding. Finish – spiced fruit and coal fires. Truly impressive.   Required far more time and attention than we were able to give it. One for   great contemplation. RRP £350
	Talisker 35 year old – 3,090 bottles The oldest limited release ever offered by the distillery. Sixteenth in this   series. From American & European Oak refill casks filled in 1977. Nose –   Typically Talisker, sea air, white pepper, thyme and a touch of crème brulee.   Palate – Grapes and spiced pears and cinnamon fire ball gob stoppers. Finish   – Fresh menthol and oaky caramel. The abundant Talisker style comes out well   given the 35 years. RRP £525
	Caol Ila 14 year old – “limited numbers” From a batch made only once a year, the 7th limited release of unpeated Caol   Ila, the first at fourteen years old, also the first ‘sherried’ Caol Ila   released in this series. From 1st  fill ex-bodega European Oak casks   filled in 1997. Nose – Great sherried character, rich malty with milk   chocolate. Palate – More of the same, biscuity with cloves and a dash of   citrus. Finish – Delicious marmalde and pepper, very enjoyable. Much more   richness and depth than its unpeated predesscors. Lovely take on an quirky   classic. RRP £66
	Dalwhinnie 25 year old – 5,358 bottles Latest of four limited releases to be offered by the distillery, and the   first of these to come from rejuvenated American Oak hogsheads. Nose – Very   expressive, floral notes, orchids and wild flowers. Lime infused cream and   freshly sawn pine. Palate – Gentle belying its 52.1%. Almost citrus like   acidity backed up with some light oak and spun sugar. Finish – Subtle hints   of sweet caramelised oak. Surprisingly interesting, rounded and elegant   – despite not being one the night’s chest thumping blockbusters it was an   excellent well balanced delightful Dalwhinnie.  RRP £185
	Lagavulin 12 year old –   “limited numbers” Eleventh in a series of special 12 year old releases from the original   distiller’s stocks. Vatted from refill American Oak casks, each at least 12   years old. Nose – Wash backs and brewers yeast instantly spring to mind,   lemon infused crème caramel and well intrigated peat. Palate – More yeasty   notes, hay, cured meats and red fruits sit on top of the rich peat, a great   whisky. Finish – Sweet toasted oak, freshly cut hay and something a little   farm yard-esq. The popular vote winner on the night we tasted it and perhaps   the best Lagavulin 12 bottled to date. £71

To place an order please visit 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

A Most colorful October To You Fellow WhiskyLover

This weeks featured article on ForWhiskeyLovers is a terrific profile of Balvenie’s David Stewart and his 50 years(!) in the whisky industry. The article by Ian Buxton, covers David’s career from a stock-boy at William Grant, to his rise to Balvenie’s Master Distiller. It’s a great read, and well worth taking the time to check it out.

And so in keeping with honoring David Stewart and his career, this weeks featured whiskies are two of my favorite whiskies from the distillery: Balvenie Portwood 21 Year Old and Balvenie 17 Year Old Peated Cask.

The Balvenie Peated Cask is a bit of whisky hybrid. In 2001, a heavily peated batch of barley was distilled at The Balvenie Distillery and was allowed to mature until David Stewart decided it was time to rejuvenate the maturation process. So the whisky was transferred to newly prepared traditional casks.

The casks that had originally held the peated liquid had taken on much of its character. So David decided to experiment by filling them with 17 year old Balvenie for a short period. The result was an intensely peaty whisky. Marrying this liquid with 17 year old Balvenie finished in new American oak casks produced The Balvenie Peated Cask, a complex single malt that is rich and spicy with layers of smokiness.

To create Balvenie 21 YO Portwood, David took a marriage of rare Balvenie whiskies, and transferred it to 30 year-old Port pipes (port casks), which have held fine port wines. Here it was sampled regularly by David to ensure that just the right amount of character is imparted by the port casks, enhancing and developing the single malt whilst preserving its original characteristics.

This additional period of maturation in has given this aged Balvenie an extra level of depth and concentration of flavour, adding potent fruit and smoke notes to the silky-smooth full-bodied palate. This is a rich, indulgent, after-dinner Speyside at it’s best.

And so it is with immense joy that we’re offering you two of David’s great accomplishments: Balvenie 17 Year Old Peated Cask ($119.95/ bottle) and Balvenie 21 Year Old Portwood ($175/ bottle).

I hope you’ll join me in honoring David Stewart and commemorating one hell of a career, by partaking of two of the great fruits of his 50 years of labor.

Until next week…I wish you high spirits!

Doug Stone
Founder
ForWhiskeyLovers.com

BALVENIE PORTWOOD 21YO & PEATED CASK 17YO SPEYSIDE WHISKIES

DAVID STEWART’S TASTING NOTES

Peated Cask 17YO
NOSE: Gentle floral aroma with hints of violet and lavender. Delicate smoke beautifully balanced with honeyed vanilla and spicy oakiness.
TASTE: Prominent smoke softens to reveal oaky honey and vanilla. Cinnamon and nutmeg develop with time.
FINISH: Sweet and spicy with a hint of smoke

Portwood Finish 21YO
NOSE: A perfume of fruity and ripe raisin notes, backed by a nutty dryness.
TASTE: Refined with remarkable character, it’s creamy & silky with fruit, honey & spice notes.
FINISH: Long, gentle, nutty.