Day 1

We love the festive season here at Abbey Whisky!

The cold and frosty weather, fun times with friends and family and copious amounts of eating and drinking…what better excuse to enjoy a special wee dram in celebration!

December heralds the return of Abbey Whisky’s Winter Whisky Festival for 12 days on the run up to Christmas. On each of these days we will feature a daily offer on a range of special malts. In keeping with the season, these prices will remain frozen for the duration of the festival.

On the first day of Christmas Abbey Whisky gives to you…

Single Cask Whisky

A single cask whisky is exactly that, one cask of whisky where the bottles filled only contain the whisky that has been matured in the same cask.

Single Cask Barrels are very unique as wood is a living material, maturation may vary considerably from one cask to another making the whisky from every cask unique and unrepeatable.

It’s amazing to think that 2 casks made from the same tree, filled with the same batch of spirit, sitting beside each other in the same warehouse for the same period of ageing, can taste completely different!

Here are some very special single casks that have been bottled in very low numbers, with some vintages dating back to the 1970’s.

Ardbeg 1975 Single Cask 1375

Islay Single Malt Whisky

This single cask bottling could be one of the last from this decade as there are not many sherry casks from the 1970s left at Ardbeg for this kind of bottling.

List Price £890.00
Festival Price £800.00
Saving £90.00

Balvenie 1978 Single Cask 2705

Speyside Single Malt Whisky

Specially selected by Malt Master David C Stewart from Balvenie’s limited ancient reserve stocks. Hand bottled from single cask no. 2705 which had laid undisturbed since 11th March 1978.

List Price £575.00
Festival Price £525.00
Saving £50.00

Caol Ila 7 Year Old,  3rd Edition

Islay Single Malt Whisky

7 year old Caol Ila single malt whisky from Islay has been bottled at 60.9% from a single cask hogshead. 322 individually numbered bottles filled, signed by Kilchoman founder Anthony Wills.

List Price £97.00
Festival Price £88.00
Saving £9.00

Ichiro’s Malt, Hanyu, 23 Year Old

Japanese Malt Whisky

Hanyu 23 year old Ichiro’s Malt has been made from spirit that was distilled in 1985 and 1986, aged in Sherry wood and then finally bottled at cask strength as part of the Ichiro’s whisky range.

A wee stoater of a dram!

List Price £449.00
Festival Price £420.00
Saving £29.00

Glenmorangie Manager’s Choice

Highland Single Malt Whisky

Distillery Manager’s Choice 1981, a very special bottling that was hand picked by the distillery manager of Glenmorangie.

Laid to rest on the 14th May 1981 and left to mature for 17 long years before being filled on the 24th March 1998 at cask strength with only 322 bottles filled.

List Price £700.00
Festival Price £600.00
Saving £100.00

Highland Park 18 Year Old / 2902

Island Single Malt Whisky

Distilled at Highland Park on the 17th June 1985, and aged in cask 2902 for 18 years. Bottled at 43% on the 20th November 2003 by Signatory.

Please note that this is a 35cl bottle.

List Price £48.00
Festival Price £40.00
Saving £8.00

Abbey Whisky | Specialist supplier of rare, collectable and exclusive scotch malts. | Edinburgh, Lothian PO Box 23996, United Kingdom

Christmas Abbey Whisky

Balvenie’s Full Range of Single Malt Scotch Whiskies are available in all branches of The Whisky Shop and online at
www.whiskyshop.com  

For updates on the latest releases and limited editions from The Balvenie.
Sign up to Warehouse 24 today.

The Whisky Shop | info@whiskyshop.com | Tel 0141 440 0600 | www.whiskyshop.com

Hello Fellow Scotch Lovers –

As many of you will recall, this past spring I ventured across the pond to Scotland, to attend the Spirits of Speyside festival, and visit some of Scotland’s great distilleries.

One of my favorite distilleries was The Balvenie, in Dufftown, just outside of Speyside. Balvenie is the only distillery in the Scottish Highlands that continues to operate their own floor maltings, with four men in shifts turning the barley three times a day, seven days a week. The distillery also grows its own barley, and employs a full-time Coppersmith to care for their unique stills and a team of Coopers to care for their casks.

At the end of the tour we were treated to the byproducts of their efforts as you would expect. The entire tasting was one piece of candy after another…but one of the real stand-out whiskies was their 15 YO single barrel bourbon finished whisky.

The Balvenie 15 YO Single Barrel Single Malt Scotch Whisky is drawn from a single bourbon cask of a single distillation. Each cask is subtly different, however, Balvenie Malt Master David Stewart selects only those casks that have the essential characteristics of The Balvenie Single Barrel – particularly honey, vanilla and oaky notes.

Each cask forms a limited edition of hand-numbered bottles – there are a maximum of 350 bottles from any one cask – so each bottle is unique and unrepeatable.

After our Thanksgiving dinner, Nicky “The Neck” and I shared a few drams of this whisky. Reflexively, “The Neck” treated me and the other dinner guests to a series of moans of delight reminiscent of a bad porn film, and then declared his undying affection for this whisky, and his intentions to spread the love.

As always, “The Neck” kept his word, which brings me to this weeks Whisky Wednesday incredible opportunity to purchase Balvenie 15 YO Single Barrel Single Malt Speyside Whisky for $60 (reg $75).

As usual, the product supply at this price is very limited…and once it’s gone, it’s gone. So please purchase your bottle(s) ASAP if you are interested.

Until next week…keep those cards and letters coming!

Doug Stone
Founder
www.ForScotchLovers.com

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BALVENIE 15 YO SINGLE BARREL BOURBON CASK FINISHED SINGLE MALT

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TASTING NOTES – courtesy of John Hansell / The Whisky Advocate

One of the finest Balvenie 15 year olds that I’ve tasted. The flavors are clean, well defined, confident, and beautifully balanced. Full malty foundation (with some ripe barley thrown in). Soft, creamy vanilla, honeycomb, bright fruit (orange, nectarine, lemon peel, hints of pineapple), with emerging dried vanilla, coconut, oak resin, and subtle anise. Polished oak finish. It doesn’t have the depth that the classic older Balvenies have shown in the past, but what it does have, it has in spades. Quite splendid!

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TASTING NOTES – DAVID STEWART, BALVENIE MASTER BLENDER

NOSE – Fragrant aroma of vanilla, honeyed sweetness, hints of heather and dry oaky notes.

TASTE – Rich and complex, suggestive of years of careful ageing, it has a honeyed maltiness with vanilla, oak flavours and delicate spice notes.

FINISH – Long and complex with a touch of liquorice

Cyber Monday Specials! Discounted rates available now until close of business on Tuesday. (This arrived after publication on Monday)

Eagle Rare 10 Year Old Single Barrel Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey

Eagle Rare 10 Year Old Single Barrel Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey. The bright honey/topaz color shows sparkling bronze core features impeccable purity; the early aromas include gentle grain, toasted honey-wheat bread, and tobacco leaf with aeration, the aroma quickly transforms into a pedal-to-the-metal Bourbon bouquet as evolved scents of ripe banana and charcoal tweak the olfactory sense in the middle stage whiffs — fragrances of lanolin, almond butter, melon, and oil accent the toastiness beautifully — it’s a somewhat restrained, or better, understated aroma but I sense lots of power lying just beneath the surface; my, my, my, what have we here — in the mouth, this oily, toasty beauty seduces the taste buds at palate entry with dry flavors of cereal grain and mild oak resin — the mid-palate tastes explode on the tongue in unabashedly sweet and oily flavors of black raisins, grape- fruit, charred oak, and candied almonds; the finish is long, corny sweet, moderately fiery, and lasciviously oily; easily one of the most tactile yet assertive and expressive Bourbons I’ve tasted in the last two years; fasten your seat belts. 45% ABV. Paul Pacult, The Spirit Journal
was $29.99 – now $19.99

Benriach 18 Year Old Moscatel Finish Scotch
was $129.99 – now $79.99

Benriach 18 Year Old Moscatel Finish D&M Exclusive Bottling Single Malt Scotch Whisky. Distilled: 1991, Bottled: Bottled: January 2009. Cask# 4491, 251 Bottles. 57.5% ABV. This whisky was aged for 18 years and finished in a Moscatel cask #4491. Reddish walnut color with thick legs. There is a slight hint of mint and pepper to the nose. Very pretty with soft malt, candied fruits- pineapple and cherrieswith heather notes. There is sweetness right before a fiercely hot finish. A couple of drops of water really tames the heat. D&M Tasting Notes.
History

Benriach is located in the ‘Heart of Speyside’, mid-way between the village of Rothes and the town of Elgin, in the North-East of Scotland. The distillery was built in 1898 a quarter of a mile from its sister distillery Longmorn. Following the Pattison Crash in 1900, Benriach was mothballed after just two years of production. It however contnued to provide malt for the Longmon distillery. Benriach was rebuilt by the Glenlivet distillers and went back into production in 1965.

After having various owners over the years the distillery was once again mothballed in August 2002 by its then owners, Pernod Ricard. It did not stay closed for a long this time as it was taken over in early 2004 by an independent consortium. Production was re-commenced immediately, meaning that the inventory was effectively uninterrupted. The distillery sources its water from the Burnside Springs located underground, deep below the distillery, and has the capacity to produce over 2 million litres of pure alcohol per year. Approximately 10% of new production is peated / 90% unpeated. BenRiach Distillery is one of the last remaining malt distilleries to maintain traditional operational floor maltings, characterised by its classic pagoda style chimney. Although inactive since 1999, the new owners plan to re-activate the maltings in the near future as the BenRiach Distillery Company continues its quest to return to the more traditional methods of production. The distillery is managed by Alan McConnochie, who has worked at Tobermory, Laphroaig, Bunnahabhain and Ben Nevis malt whisky distilleries, and also at the Plymouth Gin distillery. In October 2008 Benriach distillery was crowned Whisky Distiller of the Year

D&M Fine Wines and Spirits | 2200 Fillmore St | San Francisco | CA | 94115

The WHISKYBASE SHOP is now open!

Look at http://shop.whiskybase.com and be one of the first to order from all we have to offer.

Already we have more than a hundred whiskies available and we will keep adding new whiskies
regularly.

In addition to Original and Independent bottlings, we will also carry joint bottlings and our own
bottlings. ARCHIVES is the name of our own bottlings.

ARCHIVES stands for quality whisky for a fair price. Especially for the opening of the shop we
have selected four beautiful whiskies. Together they are the Inaugural Release.

Strathmill 1974 Arc EURO 169.95

Littlemill 1989 Arc EURO 119.95

Clynelish 1997 Arc EURO 64.95

Caol Ila 2000 Arc EURO 59.95

The Whisky-Fässle bottled 3 great whiskies as a joint bottling for WHISKYBASE
Check this out !

Bunnahabhain 1968 WhF EURO 205.00

Caperdonich 1972 WhF EURO 195.00

Glencadam 1974 WhF EURO 155.00

WHISKYBASE is the importer of Silver Seal in the Netherlands
Some of their exclusive whiskies:

Bowmore 1995 SS EURO 110.00

Bunnahabhain 1968 SS EURO 274.00

Imperial 1991 SS EURO 140.00

Mortlach 1997 SS EURO 75.00

We were looking for the best bottlers and found another one:

Glen Garioch 1989 AC EURO 69.00

Ledaig 1972 AC EURO 195.00

Longmorn 1999 AC EURO 47.50

and another:

Craigellachie 2002 vW EURO 36.00

Dalmore 1990 vW EURO 49.75

Fettercairn 1995 vW EURO 36.00

Glencadam 1972 vW EURO 129.95

and another:

Auchroisk 1981 CWC EURO 130.00

Deanston 1998 CWC EURO 55.00

Glenallachie 1971 CWC EURO 180.00

And many, many more …

Dear Famous Friend,

Win a trip of a lifetime…

The past year has been full of celebrations for The Famous Grouse as we mark 30 years as Scotland’s favourite whisky and now we’d love to invite you to join in.

As you know we recently launched The Famous Grouse Celebration Blend presented in a limited edition Wade decanter to honour the occasion. With only 10,000 available worldwide, the decanter is set to become a much cherished collector’s item. Made by world leading ceramic makers, Wade, it features three unique illustrations of the iconic grouse taking flight painted exclusively for the decanter by the famous British wildlife artist, Rodger McPhail – the artist who also drew the much loved red grouse.

This new liquid is the first special blend that Gordon Motion has created since he assumed the role of Master Blender, and contains whisky from the year The Famous Grouse became Scotland’s number one. With the trademark smoothness of The Famous Grouse, the celebration blend has a soft mellow taste with hints of vanilla and blood orange and a light smokiness.

Now, The Famous Grouse would like to invite you to take part in the 30th anniversary celebration, and is giving one lucky blog reader the chance to win a luxury weekend trip to the spiritual home of The Famous Grouse – The Famous Grouse Experience – in Perthshire, Scotland. There, they will receive the decanter and learn how Scotland’s favourite whisky is made before creating their very own blend. For more details on the prize and how to enter visit the blog.

The past year has been full of celebrations for The Famous Grouse as we mark 30 years as Scotland’s favourite whisky and now we’d love to invite you to join in.

The Ultimate Christmas Gift…

Tired of trying to find the perfect personalised gift for a loved one this Christmas? If so then we have the ideal present for you – The Famous Grouse’s unique labelling system allows you to customise a bottle of Scotland’s favourite whisky, by adding a name to the front label, plus a personalised message to the back – the perfect festive gift with your very own personal touch added. Available to UK customers only.

Available at
www.thefamousgrouse.com
or call 01764 657025 / 01764 657025.

Yours famously,
The Famous Grouse Team

Soho Whisky Club

Benefits of membership

– New attractive bar in the heart of Soho incorporating large enclosed and heated terrace. Total capacity at any one time 40.

– Over 300 malts on offer, very competitively priced, including whiskies which are no longer commercially available.

– F ree WiFi.

– Any of the wide range of wines/champagnes purchased from The Vintage House can be consumed in the club for a small corkage charge of £12.00.

– Coffee and tea will be available for purchase throughout the day.

– There will be regular tutored whisky/spirit tastings (some will be free to members, others may have a cover charge). Due to limited space, tasting information will be emailed to members and places allocated on a first come first served basis.

– There will be tutored cigar appreciation sessions (weather permitting). Due to current regulations all smoking related events must have a realistic charge.

– The Club room will be available for hire to members. The number of such events will be strictly limited so as not to spoil the enjoyment of other members.

The Soho Whisky Club has been initiated to further the enjoyment of whisky and cigars in central London. The Club is part of The Vintage House which has been trading in Soho since 1944 and has decided to share the breadth of knowledge of it’s staff with fellow enthusiasts. The aim of the Club is to provide a welcoming haven for people in the trade, or people with a passion for whisky or cigars, to learn and share this experience. The Club also has the benefit of a large roof terrace so that one can enjoy a cigar in shelter and comfort during this cold season.

www.sohowhiskybar.com/

Last Vatted Malt: Compass Box Get Reactionary

Dateline: 22nd November 2011. Time: 11.59pm. Venue: A secret location in London. There’s going to be a raucous party this evening – a sort of ‘pre-wake’, if you will (don’t worry, all will become clear). A fancy Soho joint will be flashmobbed by a … Continue reading >>

and….

The Scotch Whisky Regulations of 2009 came into force at midnight on November 22nd changing the way that Scotch Whisky must be described. The names ‘Vatted Malt’ and ‘Vatted Grain’ are being retired so boutique whisky creators Compass Box are honouring their passing with two special releases, bottled just before the deadline. They are both available now at The Whisky Exchange:

Last Vatted Malt

1323 bottles 53.7% £175

A vatting of 35 year old Speyside and 26 year old Islay whisky to create a rich and smoky memorial.

http://www.thewhiskyexchange.com/P-15770.aspx

Last Vatted Grain

297 bottles 46% £130

A combination of grain whiskies from Invergordon, Carsebridge, Port Dundas and Cameron Bridge.

http://www.thewhiskyexchange.com/P-15787.aspx

For our tasting notes and more details of Last Vatted Malt day see the posts from Tim F and Billy over on our blog:

http://blog.thewhiskyexchange.com/2011/11/last-vatted-malt-compass-box-get-reactionary/  (As seen above)

http://blog.thewhiskyexchange.com/2011/11/compass-boxs-last-vatted-grain/

We also have an FAQ from Compass Box’s John Glaser explaining the changes and how they affect their whiskies:

http://www.thewhiskyexchange.com/D-530.aspx

While those two are amongst the finest whiskies we’ve tasted this year, we’ve been keeping an eye on all of the releases to bring you a list of our Top 20 Whiskies of 2011 – http://www.thewhiskyexchange.com/D-528.aspx

Monday, November 28th, 2011
The Cyber Monday Sale

The Way It Works:

You need not come to the store!! Order by email or phone.
Prices good til tonight Midnight only or available stock is sold.

First come, first served.
Some items will not be ready for pickup or shipping until Tuesday.
Call before coming in.

Payment Must be Made with Order
Sale is for Pickup or One Delivery to one location only by Sat Dec 3

Malts

Longmorn 30 Year Old: The Distillery derives its name from the Gaelic Lhanmorgund: Place of the holy man. Simply precious the nose is truly heaven from the highlands. While the site of the distillery may be blessed, so rarely are we mere malt-lovers blessed with the opportunity to try this single-malt.

This majestic whisky pours a dark amber. Exhibiting elegant sherry the focus is on rum raisin. The suggestion of christmas spices on the nose confesses the nobility of its age. Not be dominated, however, the true character of the distillery makes itself known in the form of sweet shortbread and flambéed bananas. Water enriches the mouth-feel to sinful levels.
Gordon & Macphail Longmorn 30 Y.O. – $225 – $175-6 available

Glenmorangie 10 Y.O. – $41.99 – $36.99 – 12 Gift sets available. Gift sets include the addition of 3 50mL bottles – 1 of each of the following scotches, also available seperately as full bottles.

Glenmorangie La Santa – $52.99 – $47.99 – 6 available

Glenmorangie Quinta Ruban – $52.99 – $47.99 – 6 available

Glenmorangie Nector D’ Or – $71.99 – $64.99– 8 available

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

The Stitzel-Weller Distillery in Louisville is holy ground for many bourbon lovers, even though it closed 20 years ago. Stitzel-Weller was the home of Pappy Van Winkle’s legendary bourbons, and we’ll look at the distillery’s history and its future on this episode of WhiskyCast with historian Michael Veach and Julian Van Winkle. Tom Bulleit’s Bulleit Bourbon is aged at Stitzel-Weller now, and he’ll explain Diageo’s plans to open at least part of the grounds to the public as The Bulleit Experience.

Visit WhiskyCast at www.whiskycast.com