From Ludo at Grant’s

Best blended Scotch whisky, 19 years and over

Hi All,

I usually buy a copy of Jim Murray’s whisky bible when it comes out but it looks like I definitely need to get hold of one this year as Jim named Grant’s 25 Year Old  ‘Best Blended Scotch Whisky, 19 Years and Over’.

An internationally recognised whisky commentator, Murray spent 4 months during, tasting and rating over 1,000 whiskies from all around the world. (Yes, life can be tough!)

In giving the award, he said Grant’s 25 Year Old “stood head and shoulders above others in its category. I was particularly impressed by this blend’s quality and complexity; this is the work of a Master Blender at his very best.”

High praise indeed, and congratulations to all those involved in the making of this whisky, especially to Brian Kinsman, our new Master Blender.

Grant’s 25 Year Old was created to celebrate five generations of the Grant’s family and to mark 100 years since Charles Gordon, the son of our founder, William Grant, set off on an epic 12-month voyage to take Grant’s to a world-wide audience. You can read more about Charles Gordon here and here .

Just over 2,000 bottles have been produced, and they are currently available at leading airports around the world.

Jim’s 2011 Whisky Bible is available from many book stores, including of course Amazon.

If you’ve had the opportunity to try our 25 Years Old, I’d love to hear what you think. Do you agree with Jim?

Regards

Ludo

The Malt Maniacs have published a new epsitle on the chemistry of whisky and it can be read at http://tinyurl.com/2010×09

Ralfy’s back with a three part Introduction and Recommendations of available, decent-priced American Spirits with the assistance of John Lamond, whisky guru and Master of Malt.

Check out www.ralfy.com WhiskyReviews 155 – 1,2 & 3.

Thomas Kuuttanen has an update on the Stolen G&M Mortlach 70yo…

“The show ended at midnight Sunday, and exhibitors were escorted out of the hall about 12:30 by security. Symposion only had a few minutes to secure 300 bottles of whisky until they could return in the morning to tear down the booth. They hid the Mortlach package inside their bar surrounded by dozens of other bottles. In the morning, the Mortlach and what he described as a normal bottle (a 25-30 year old Macallan!) were missing. The thief took the bottle, but left the box and documentation behind, which will make it difficult to sell to a collector. The bottle was #53 in the series, and that’s engraved on the bottle.

Stockholm police took a report, but did not interview any of the security guards on duty overnight or anyone else in connection with the theft, and plans no investigation unless someone comes forward with information! Thomas says that if the bottle is returned (I know, not a chance in hell that it would happen), that he would drop the police report with no questions asked.”

Many thanks to Mark at www.whiskycast.com for this update.

Compass Box marks 10 years in the whisky business this week, and John Glaser is celebrating with retrospective tastings in New York and Edinburgh. We’ll have highlights of the New York tasting on this week’s episode. In the news, a rare bottle of Mortlach 70 is stolen at the Stockholm Beer & Whisky Festival, and two bottles of 64-year-old Dalmore have sold for about $160,000…each! We’ll also remember Ronnie Eddins, the longtime Buffalo Trace warehouse manager who passed away this past week.

Visit WhiskyCast at www.whiskycast.com and listen for yourself.

This month

Finally, a quick news letter for you all. We promised we wouldn’t bombard you, but I am beginning to feel that if we sent any less, you may have us up for dereliction of duty.

As you have requested, I am giving you a heads up that Chapter 7 and 10 are now in our shop and on the website. Both Chapter 7 & 10 will come in our lovely ibisco decanters once again and will be limited in numbers for the 2010 release.

New Launches

Chapter 7 has been finished in rum casks. Below are the professional tasting notes done by David , our head distiller. My own amateur notes are: Imagine eating Rum & Raisin Ice cream whilst having a glass of whisky. We are selling these for £49.99

Nose: Sweet, soft & slightly spicy. A mixture of vanilla and rum and raisin ice cream, fresh and citrusy with a hint of tropical fruits. Slightly nutty with a hint of marzipan.

Taste: Very soft again with citrus notes. Slight peppery spice with a hint of raisins. Malty with a hint of fresh wood. Salty and dry on the finish. Slightly nutty.

Chapter 10 this is our whisky that has been fully matured in Olorossa casks. It has an amazingly deep colour and such a traditional rich taste. If you are a traditionalist and struggle to find a decent sherry whisky these days – then this is the one for you. We are selling these for £49.99

Nose: Quite heavy with raisins and dried fruit. Rich fruit cake, Christmas pudding with wine gums, dates with a hint of marzipan. A delicate waft of aniseed breezes in after a while.

Taste: Again very fruity, rosehip syrup. Citrus fruits. Full bodied and quite chewy with a long, fruity finish. Very dry.

Other news:

 Some of you may be aware and others won’t be that when we bottle a limited run, we have to guess the amount of liquid in a cask, then print the labels accordingly ready for bottling. Invariably we have a little left over. This applies to Chapter 5 & Chapter 8. Obviously there will be no more numbered decanters but we have decided to put these last few drops into 200ml bottles as I am aware that some of you have missed out on the odd chapter and would like to complete your collections. Therefore if any of you need a small bottle of CH5 or CH8 please let us know. This is limited to one bottle per person, and only to those of you who didn’t manage to get a full bottle in the first place. These will be £20 each and won’t be on our website until you have all had a chance to respond.

 We have started delivering our baby 30ltr casks full of 3yr old whisky at 59.2% approx to those of you who have purchased. We have quite a few of these, so if anyone else feels having their own cask of whisky at home would be fun, please give us a ring or email and we will let you know any details. These are £1200 all in. Come and collect one or we can get it to you.

 Finally we have launched a new wooden gift box, that holds a 20cl bottle and 2 glasses, or 2 bottles and 2 glasses or even 3 bottles. Lots of options and different prices. If you are stuck for Christmas presents – look no further!

Some technical info:

For those of you that participate we have a new Facebook page. Could I ask existing English Whisky Society members to sign up to the new page, so we can get the old one shut down. We would be delighted if the remainder of you signed up as well as this is a great way to keep you informed of what we are up to. The new link is English Whisky Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Roudham-United-Kingdom/English-Whisky-Co/160291333996827?ref=search

As usual, if you are bored by my ramblings please email Sarah on office@englishwhisky.co.uk and tell her you don’t want to receive any more emails from us. Alternatively you could always email her and tell her who else would like to hear from us.

Kind Regards

Andrew

Visit the English Whisky Company at www.englishwhisky.co.uk
 
 

Balblair 1989 & FREE Glass        
 £51.00 inc VAT     £43.40 exc VAT 

Balblair 1997  & FREE Glass
£34.19 inc VAT £29.10 exc VAT

Balblair 2000  & FREE Glass
£35.49 inc VAT  £30.20 exc VAT

Visit Single Malts Direct at www.singlemaltsdirect.com

…. from the busy Bothy of www.ralfy.com, Whisky Review #154 – Dalwhinnie 15yo … the ‘honeyed’ Malt Scotch from the highest Distillery in Scotland, which gives this chappie a coastal character !!!

A blue chip role for a blue chip person. Johnnie Walker Blue Label is one of the crown jewels for Diageo – globally revered and commanding high prices because of its rare craft, rare casks and rare character.

The Brand Ambassador role will be critical in generating the next phase of the brand’s growth, introducing the brand to the uninitiated and turning them into disciples. You will be the human face of the brand within Great Britain, developing and delivering experiences which connect people – bartenders, sommeliers, business power players – with the brand in such a powerful way that they want to relive it with others.

In addition, you will play a critical role in shaping the brand’s strategy in GB, working in partnership with the brand manager to ensure that winning plans are developed.

You will also be part of the fastest-growing team in GB, the newly-formed Reserve business unit which comprises 45 people across Sales & Marketing who are passionate about unlocking the potential of premium spirits in GB. We have had a stunning first year (20% NSV growth) and are already tracking at 40%+ growth in Q1 F11, and are looking for a great individual to join the team and inspire us to achieve even greater things on JW Blue Label.
 
——————————————————————————–
Dimensions of the role
——————————————————————————–

A) Market Complexity

Johnnie Walker Blue Label competes in the Luxury arena with products of exceptional quality that represent the best that money can buy: Cartier, Rolex, Krug, Mont Blanc.

Our target consumer is “men at the top”, a group we have segmented into three tiers. Tier 1 – CEOs who earn £1m+ (population 10,000). Tier 2 – business leaders who earn £250k+ (population c.60,000). Tier 3 – senior managers in business who earn £100k+ (population c.500,000). All of these tiers have similar characteristics albeit at different levels: successful men with style as well as substance, they have their own symbols of success in their lives and want the best of the best, they rely on member’s clubs as their venues of choice and have outsourced a great deal of their life to the P.A.s. Their drinks choices are traditional within social norms, especially wine and fine dark spirits.
 
Within this world, we focus our sales energies on Trend-Leading accounts where our target consumers drink and shop: The Dorchester, Ritz, Savoy, Gleneagles, Harrods, Selfridges etc. In these accounts we deliver activity and experiences to connect those consumers to the brand. However, as Blue Label becomes better-known we are extending its distribution into other selected retailers who also attract our target (eg Oddbins, Costco, Whisky Specialists, golf clubs).
 
We have also established relationships with strategic 3rd parties who operate at this Luxury level: eg Jaguar, Richemont, Established & Sons, Fosters & Sons, Goodwood, Quintessentially.
 
Competition for Johnnie Walker Blue Label as a drink includes other fine dark spirits (rare malt whisky, Cognacs like Louis XIII, Chivas Royal Salute) and as a gifting choice against other symbols of success (Mont Blanc pens, Mulberry wallets etc).
 

Purpose of Role

To turn other people into disciples for Johnnie Walker Blue Label in order to double the size of the brand in F11 and beyond.
 

Qualifications and experience required

•           Understanding of the world of Luxury
•           Track record of influencing and connecting with people
•           Track record of showing entrepreneurial initiative and self-starting drive to make things happen
•           Commercial experience and understanding – On-Trade experience advantageous
•           As a minimum, base level understanding of Scotch production, liquid credentials and tasting ability
•           Full clean driving license
•           A large part of the success of this role will be connecting with consumers when they are at leisure – ie during evenings and at weekends.

http://tinyurl.com/JWBAmbassador

Hi all,

Apologies for the further intrusion this month but I had a few things I wanted to tell you about, but either hadn’t the room or hadn’t them organised by the time of the last email.

Springbank Tasting – London Date

I know many of you have been waiting for this and many apologies for the confusion and upset caused! I have now settled on a date and venue, which will be…

Thursday 28th October 2010
The Red Lion, Crown Passage, St. James’s, London SW1
£20 per person, 8.30pm start

Should be another great night with the entertaining and informative Iain Scott from distillery present. Please also note the slightly later than usual start time. To book online please go to http://www.thewhiskylounge.com/Events.aspx

The Whisky Show London and Glasgow’s Whisky Festival

Although not Whisky Lounge events, I do feel strongly that I should tell you about these two worthwhile events.

The Whisky Show London takes place on Friday and Saturday the 29th and 30th October at The Brewery, London, EC1Y 4SD

It is very much at the top end of whisky events with exhibitors displaying and tasting through their top-end bottlings. This is the second year of the event and from the list of exhibitors and the venue, it should be even better than the first edition last year. I was there all too briefly last year and was highly impressed with the set-up and the drams on offer, with many bottles well in excess of £100 – many at several hundreds of pounds. The ticket price of £95 does reflect the privilege of tasting such whiskies, but for that you get a 2-course ‘whisky-infused’ meal in the ‘Whisky Kitchen’, a voucher to taste an ‘ultra-premium’ whisky (all valued at over £800) and a free whisky tasting glass. There is no voucher system for the exhibited whiskies in the main hall and there are several mouth-watering masterclasses for an additional cost. To find out more, view the exhibitors and buy tickets go to www.thewhiskyshow.com

Glasgow’s Whisky Festival takes place on Saturday 13th November at The Arches, Argyle Street, Glasgow, G2 8DL

It has arguably been a long time since there was a strongly supported whisky festival in Glasgow. Put together by two enthusiasts who were keen to bring the best of local (and not so local!) product back to the fair city. As far as I can see this can only be a good thing, and looking at the support they already have from exhibitors from all over the world, I am not alone! Tickets are a very reasonable £15 and include all of your drams – I am reliably informed that tickets for this are being put on the ‘endangered species’ list as it has sold very quickly.
To find out more, view the exhibitors and buy tickets got to www.glasgowswhiskyfestival.com

And Finally…

For those of you based in and around my home city of York (and in fact for those not too…), we welcome back finger-pickin’ acoustic blues legend Catfish Keith. If you’ve never experienced him before then you really should as it is not only fantastic music but fantastic craic, with Keith being a real performer and a genuinely good guy.

In York he will be playing at City Screen on Friday 22nd October at 8.30pm and tickets (£9 in advance, £10 on the door) can be found here.

If you would like to find out more about Catfish Keith and if and when he is playing a town or city near you, then go to his website… www.catfishkeith.com

Coming soon…

Our final events of the year including a series of ‘blind’ Islay Tastings…

Take care for now!

Cheers,
Eddie

Eddie Ludlow
Whisky Evangelist

thewhiskylounge
IWSC Spirit Panel Judge 2009-present
www.thewhiskylounge.com
eddie@thewhiskylounge.com