A new scotch whisky appreciation club has been established in St. Louis Missouri, details can be found by visiting http://www.scotchstl.com/

The Dalmore OCULUS

The Dalmore is delighted to announce the auction through Bonhams of one of the most precious whiskies in the world. The Dalmore Oculus has been created from some of the most exceptional whiskies of the past 140 years and is the first and last of its kind.

The single malt will be presented for sale in a Baccarat crystal decanter that has been beautifully decorated with The Dalmore’s iconic stag in solid silver, and will be sold at auction by Bonhams in Edinburgh on 18 November. Experts expect the one-off expression to reach in the region of £20,000.

Richard Paterson, The Dalmore Master Distiller has said: “This is the most exquisite expression I have personally crafted, with all the loving reverence it so richly deserves to seduce the most discerning and sophisticated palates imaginable. I am confident it will appeal to epicureans, investors and collectors.”

Visit the Dalmore at http://www.thedalmore.com/ however keep a tight grip on your wallet!

The whisky world gathers every November for Malt Advocate’s WhiskyFest in New York. The 12th annual edition featured new whiskies and longtime favorites. We’ll cover the entire show in this episode, including Lifetime Achievement awards for retired Edrington Group master blender John Ramsay and Beam Global’s Robert Hicks. In the news, Louisville’s Urban Bourbon Trail adds two stops, Woodford Reserve releases a Seasoned Oak version, and details on a new competition for WhiskyCast listeners!

Listen to episode #226 at http://www.whiskycast.com/

In two new episodes Ralfy reviews two unusual and interesting versions of obscure Malts; #89 – Glenburgie 15yo (Distillery Shop) and #90 – Glen Scotia 18yo (Indi: rum cask).

Ralfy at Work

Visit Ralfy at http://www.ralfy.com/ Click on “Whiskyreviews”

Whisky Intelligence has reproduced (with permission) The Gauntleys Whisky Newsletter for July 2007; a look back in time. The author, Chris Goodrum, has some excellent insights into the whiskies being commented on which makes for excellent reading on a Sunday.  Enjoy!

Dear Whisky Customers

It’s a funny thing life isn’t it? You hand out some praise and generally speaking you never hear anything, but as soon as you criticize, well that’s a different matter! Ok so I’ve had a bit of a dig at the whisky magazine in the last couple of newsletters (good naturedly!) and this finally elicited a response from Rob Allanson the editor, who from the tone of his voice initially wasn’t exactly happy, but we spoke at length about what I was hoping to achieve and whisky things in general and by the end of the conversation I think he was happier, although I’m certain he’ll tell me if he wasn’t! He also pointed out that they only have a couple of competitions a year. To me it just seems like more!

I have been wondering if maybe I am too outspoken (answers on a postcard please!). I mean as far as whisky goes I’ll happily call a spade a spade. I have no sponsors, advertisers or any other shackles to contend with and I would like to say that I always try to see the good points in every sample that I taste although sometimes samples have no redeeming characteristics whatsoever. So the way I see it is that I am just being honest and chances are if I think its rubbish then so are you the customers and there is no way I could recommend a whisky to a customer that I didn?t believe was a good expression. Another point I’d like to make is that if you don’t receive criticism, as long as it is constructive then there is no incentive to up your game so to speak. Oh and before you ask, yes I have received critical emails! And the occasional nice one too!

Right there is quiet a bit to get through so pay attention at the back, as I’ll be asking questions later! (only joking!)

NEW BOTTLINGS FROM BLADNOCH

Raymond and the team at Bladnoch have been busy of late and kindly sent me some samples of not one but four new distillery bottlings. These included a 14 year old bottled at 40%, a 16 year old bottled at 55%, a 16 year old finished for two years in ex-rum casks which I was especially looking forward to trying as the previous bottling was superb (although Jim Murray disagreed!) and finally a 15 year old bottled at 46% matured in sherry casks.

I was to honest a bit disappointed by the 40% bottling, it seemed a lot younger on the nose and quiet spirity and high toned. It showed more maturity on the palate but was quiet short. The other bottlings were superb and up to Raymond?s usual high standard. Tasting notes below.

Bladnoch 16 year old Rum Finish 46% £42.95

Quiet a big and expansive nose, classic Bladnoch aromas mingle with buttered rum toffees, dried fruits and lazy sweet spices. It’s a bit schizophrenic, swirl it around the glass and one minute it’s all grassy citrus-ness and the next time it’s all buttered toffee. It’s quiet mad really and I love it! On the palate the entry is soft and sweet with the buttered rum toffee flavours predominating, yet slowly the distillery character seeps through. It has a lovely mouth feel with oodles of tangy, spicy, citrus, apricot and a touch of tropical fruit. Wow this really wakes up the palate; it certainly tasted higher than 46% (the last bottling was bottled at 57.4%). A drop of water doesn’t diminish its Jekyl and Hide character on the nose yet on the palate it rounds it out; the distillery character is now more prevalent although it retains its sweetness nicely. Now the finish is playing a supporting role like it should do. It is very grassy with a floral note and the gorgeous spice drifts in effortlessly on the finish. Absolutely yummy!

Bladnoch 16 year old 55% £46.95

One word. Wow! Great nose! (Ok that?s three!) Deep, heavy and lusciously oily with loads of apricot, orange, grass, earth, citrus and vanilla. Extremely harmonious and stunning. Definitely Bladnoch at it’s best. The palate like the nose is deep, rich and pretty much mirrors the nose. The finish is stunning with a wonderful sweetness. A drop of water emphasizes the grass and sweet spice notes along with fern and bracken (?). On the palate it certainly has the wow factor, emphasisng the sweetness, and like the nose bringing out the fauna and spice (cinnamon). Now it has a real spicy kick to it and the finish lasts for ages!

Bladnoch 15 year old Sherry Cask 46% £41.95

A very intense nose. Very soft and polished. As to be expected there is a huge amount of sherry character, redolent of luscious, melting orange fruits, a touch of smoke and malt. Then in wades the butterscotch and natural caramel. Underneath all this lurks the grassy/ earthy citrus aromas and a faint whiff of gun powder, which I don’t think spoils the enjoyment. The palate is luxurious, soft, smooth and loaded with butterscotch and natural caramel, coating the palate in lovely malty fruit. Very, very intense and powerful, the citrus fruit pokes it head up in the finish. Lovely tangy finish with loads of earth and sweet spice and a big buttery finale. Definitely one to savour with desert!

A CUTE LOWLAND FROM MURRAY McDAVID

Not exactly a brand spanking new bottling from these guys, but as they sent me a sample I thought why not!

Murray McDavid Littlemill 1991 (16 year old) 46% £36.95

Bourbon Cask

Sometimes there is a lot to be said for taking a good whisky and just leaving it to mature in good quality Bourbon oak casks and this is definitely one of those instances. It is crisp and clean on the nose, very grassy with straw, apricot, toffee, earth and banana aromas. Slightly oily and delicate but with a lovely depth to it. On the palate it is quiet oily with apricot, toffee and vanilla which opens into quiet a creamy middle with a slight nuttiness. Lovely length with the grassy character lasting right through to the finish where it signs off with a flourish of soft spice.

RETURN OF THE PRODIGAL DUNCAN!

It’s been awhile since any of the Duncan Taylor bottlings have put in an appearance on the newsletter which has been a shame as they have amazing stocks of wonderfully mature whiskies. Like most independent bottling companies they have had their off moments (can’t give you too much praise guys!) but by and large the quality of their single cask bottlings has been superb. So as the outstanding issues we had have all been resolved I would just like to say ? Welcome back!?
Pittyvaich 1979 (28 year old) 51.4% £69.95

Cask 5639

Deeper and a lot more oilier than the sample of cask 5638. It has oodles of honied orange fruit, a touch of grass and a better balance of vanilla. Delightfully awesome with hints of soft, ground, sweet spices. A quiet oily entry. Soft, smooth with gloriously honied fruits and a winey sauvignon blanc-esque middle. Clean, hard and mineral finish with the sauvignon character persistent along with a touch of botanicals. A drop of water really doesn’t bring any further revelation so I would drink it neat.

Glen Grant 1970 (37 year old) 49.7% £86.95

Cask 3490

Wow, definitely a first fill sherry butt! Rich and intense with some serious malty/ coffee drama going on, but the sherry takes the high ground. Oh god this is luxurious. A superb cask. Slightly floral and nutty notes emerge. An almost orgasmic experience, endlessly deep. Not an off note or a sulphur blemish in sight! The palate is dry, full of sherry fruit (surprise!). Intense, oodles of coffee, spice and wood tannins along with orange fruit. Superbly clean and intense with rich, malty dried fruit. A big wow! A drop of water brings out a very slight vegetal note on the nose and reminds me of a spicy madeira sponge cake soaked in coffee and sherry. On the palate it softens and rounds it out. This is so good, mature, mellow with a wonderful balance. Nuff said I think!

Glen Mhor 1975 (32 year old) 42.6% £75.95

Cask 4031

Very clean and rich. Full of sherried orange fruit, dried, dusty spices and coffee. Luxurious and mature with malty fruit notes. You can quiet happily loose yourself in this nose for hours! Soft and quiet oily on the palate, mature, restrained, clean, focused earthy, mature sherry fruit along with coffee/ chocolate, and old leather armchairs. Lovely balance and very mouth filling with grilled nuts notes in the finish. No need for water this is just perfect.

Inverleven 1979 (28 year old) 53.7 £77.95

Cask 5662

Initially the nose is quiet spirity but once it settles down it displays a lovely depth of orange fruit along with malt and grassy notes. Quiet full for a Lowland with a touch of buttery vanilla, banana and toffee. Soft and creamy on the palate with vanilla, cherries, citrus grass (especially on the middle) yet the alcohol dominates the palate. Lovely garden fresh (peas?) finish. A drop of water softens the nose emphasizing the grass and crisp fruit. On the palate it brings out a lovely sweetness. It has become very full bodied and displays a superb dry, spicy finish. Is this really 28 years old it tastes more like mid teens. Who said Lowlands can’t age? This is an exceptional cask.

Banff 1975 (31 year old) 42.2% £95.95

Cask 3416

Who this is a serious fight in a florists! Loads of violet, lavender, vanilla oak, salt, orange fruits and distant smoke. Absolutely amazing! I don’t think I’ve ever smelt anything quiet like it. The palate is clean, soft and linear with earthy orange fruit, barley, malt, spice, lavender and just a fleeting touch of vanilla. Finishes with a veritable riot of botanicals! The palate is maybe not as amazing as the nose but as the distillery closed in 1983 you are drinking a priceless bit of heritage!

Glenrothes 1969 (38 year old) 40.7% £88.95

Cask 381

Mature aromas of old polish, rich, luxurious, spiced orange cake soaked in mature honey. Another nose to loose yourself in! Incredibly complex with candied citrus peel, a touch of smoke, glorious gentle spice and mature wood notes. I don’t think there is any other word to describe it other than graceful! It takes awhile to get going on the palate then the flavour flood out. Mature honey, wax, vanilla, orange fruit cake, and soft cinnamon spice. Quiet a floral middle which descends into a rich plumy, spiced dried fruit cake morass with mature malt extract and a touch of coffee and bitter chocolate. Lovely mouth feel with the floral notes returning on the after taste. A lovely, mature Bourbon cask, the finish is absolutely endless

AH HA! YOU THOUGHT I’D FORGOTTEN SPRINGBANK

Stuart Robertson and Frank McHardy have decided to release a vintage dated Springbank, bottled at its cask strength. The first batch of the 1997 matured in re-charred Sherry Butts for 10 years will be released shortly. Each batch will be numbered (with a neck label) so you know that Batch No1 will become an instant collector’s item as there are only 11,000 bottles available for the world. The normal retail price will be £42.95, but being an incredibly generous person if you place an order now you can have it for £40.95. Now we have taken delivery of 12 bottles and as I have my name on one bottle, so that leaves 11 bottles remaining, so it will be first come first served with a maximum of 2 bottles per person (just so everyone gets a chance).

Springbank 1997 (10 year old) 55.2% £42.95

Crisp and aromatic aromas of creamy/ oily vanilla, smoky peat, orange, apricot, and toasty oats. Quiet coastal (as expected) and incredibly complex with hints of coffee, walnuts and earth. On the palate Batch 1 is rich, crisp yet oily. Tangy orange and apricot conserve mingle with sweet oak, a touch of peat and a mere suggestion of sherry. Very expressive, lovely balance and mouth filling. A drop of water brings out the gorgeous earthy fruit on the nose along with its inherent oiliness. This is loads better than the standard 10 year old! On the palate it brings it all together emphasizing the delicate earthy-peat. In a way it kind of reminds me of Longrow. It finishes with a medicinal menthol note. This is very, very good!

Phew, well that was an action packed newsletter. So if you have any comments or would like to place an order, please contact me in the usual way!
Sincerely
Chris Goodrum

http://www.gauntley-wine.co.uk/

As usual Dry Fly have released an extremely wordy update;

Next release December 4th. Washington liquor stores will be determined by a lottery by the State liquor board. Binnys.com will also have a few cases for those outside Washington. 80 cases. Batch 2.

Don G. Poffenroth
Dry Fly Distilling Inc.
www.dryflydistilling.com
Distillery (509)489-2112

 
Background from August 2009

Fans of Washington’s Dry Fly Distillery will be very happy when August rolls around. That’s when the craft distillery, famed for its simple and clean vodka and crisp gin will be releasing their first Washington Wheat Whiskey. Since Dry Fly launched back in 2007 they’ve been promising loyal fans a whiskey. The spirit, made with local grains, spent the last two years maturing in charred whiskey barrels. The magic day has finally arrived but retail customers are going to have to act fast. On August 7 stores listed on the Dry Fly website will begin selling whatever product remains after they are done selling to restaurants and bars. The distillery will also sell around 20 cases but caution that they expect to sell out in hours even with a two bottle per person limit.

Laphroaig 10 YO, Distillery Release  Single Malt Scotch Whisky

This week only: $29.99

“The Laphroaig 10 YO, Single Malt Scotch Whisky has a medicinal, phenolic, seaweedy nose, with a hint of sherry.

Body: Medium oily.

Palate: Seaweedy, salty, oily.

Finish: Round and very dry.”

Michael Jackson

Laphroaig 10 Year Old is an all-malt Scotch Whisky from the remote island of Islay in the Western Isles of Scotland. Laphroaig, pronounced “La-froyg”, is a Gaelic word meaning  “the beautiful hollow by the broad bay”.

In making Laphroaig, malted barley is dried over a peat fire. The smoke from this peat, found only on Islay, gives Laphroaig its particularly rich flavour. Laphroaig is best savored neat, or with a little cool water. Roll it around on your tongue. Release the pungent, earthy aroma of blue peat smoke, the sweet nuttiness of the barley, the delicate heathery perfume of Islay’s streams. It is as unique as the island itself.
 
 
 
Join our Single Malt Scotch Club!

If you have a hankering for Single Malts (and the heart of a Scotsman) you might check out one of our two Single Malt clubs:

The D&M Single Malt Aficionado’s Society and the D&M Single Malt Connoisseur’s Club.

 
The sale price for the Laphroaig 10 Year Old  Scotch Whisky is good until  Sunday November 15th, 2009. Order your bottle today!
 
Visit D&M at  http://www.dandm.com/

Society Bottle

As you know we had a wee tasting panel made up of twenty Society Members who were entrusted to choose your next Society bottle.   They each received three miniatures and were asked to assess them and cast their votes in the order of preference.   The panel chose cask number 4 from 2001 from a fresh bourbon cask, followed very closely by number 7, also from a fresh bourbon cask.

The labels have been printed, and the cask bottled, and we are now ready to get the show on the road.   The number is very limited, so will be on a first come first served basis, one per member.   The cost for this one is £36.00 plus p&p and I would ask those of you who would like to order to e mail me at society@springbankwhisky.com

As this is the last Society Bottle of the year, and it is approaching Christmas we have decided to give you a little Christmas gift with your bottle.   We have ordered some Glencairn nosing glasses with the Society logo on them, and we will include one of these lovely glasses with your bottle.   The glasses will be available for sale to Society members at a later date.

You can read some of the panel’s tasting notes in the Springbank forum under general discussions then under “Society bottle winner” and “Society bottle have your say”.

We do intend to make this a regular practice so that Society members are more involved in what we bottle for you.   We will, however, announce the fact that we are looking for a tasting panel in the forum before it is announced in a newsletter, so if you are not on the forum yet, and are keen to join in, please go into the forum and register.   If you have any problems when you try to register either e mail me or telephone me and I will try to help you.

Springbank CV 20cl Sets

We now have the Springbank CV 20cl sets available for sale both in the online shop and in Cadenhead Whisky shop.   The sets are made up of Springbank, Longrow and Hazelburn CV and are priced at £35 less your 10% discount, so price to members is £31.50 plus p&p.   Check out the website for an image of the set – a very nice gift pack.

Local Barley Prints

We sold quite a few of the local barley prints, but unfortunately some of our members are still waiting to receive their prints.   We had placed our order with the supplier when we were asked for a few more, and it was too late to change our order.   Apologies to those who are still waiting.   If anyone is interested in buying one of the prints, which are numbered, and also have your Society membership number, please let me know, then when we have enough orders we will have another run of the print done.  

Poetry Competition

We had a poetry competition last month, again announced on the forum, and had only two entries.   We could not choose between the two entries, so gave each of the members a bottle specially labelled with their names as a prize.   The poems will be put on the forum shortly.

We will try to have competitions on a more regular basis, but this is your Society, so tell us what you would like and we will take everyone’s suggestions into consideration.

Recent New Mercedes Launch

Springbank’s products were featured at the recent launch of the new Mercedes.   The event attracted thousands of guests over 3 days, with Springbank, Campbeltown Loch and Longrow being the chosen whiskies.   The bar was set up in the prestigious Maybach Room, for their most exclusive guests only.

You can see the pre event photographs on the forum, General discussions.

The Technical Bit

Mashing

The sole purpose of combining hot water and grist or mashing, is to extract the maximum amount of fermentable sugars as sugar wort from the malted barley.

Here at Springbank mashing takes place in a large circular vessel made of cast iron. It is equipped with a conventional rake and plow mechanism for stirring the mash and ridding the mashtun of draff. Gun metal drainage plates with a large number of small slits cut in them are laid on the mash tun floor to create a “ false bottom “. Connected to the bottom of the mash tun are drainage pipes and these pipes are connected to a collection vessel known as either a balance drainer or an underback. Grist entering the mash tun is mixed with hot water in a Steel`s mashing machine. During the mashing process starch within the grist is gelatinised allowing enzymes to attack and break down the starch and large degradation products into fermentable sugars.

Depending on malt types and harvest conditions the temperature of water and grist mixed within the mashing machine should be between 63.0 and 65.0ºC. Depending on the distillery and type of plant the ratio of water to grist should be around 4 to 1 when mashing in. Once mashing is complete the grist and water mix is left for a minimum period of time known as “ the stand time “.

Springbank Distillery has a conventional mash tun. Mashing in of grist and water takes around 20 minutes. After the stand time controlled drainage of the water, known as “ wort “ takes place until the mash bed is almost dry. A second water is then added to the grist bed at a temperature of around 70ºC. Again, controlled drainage of wort takes place until the mash bed is almost completely dry or to the point where the wort starts to turn cloudy.
The first and second waters are pumped through a heat exchanger commonly known as a worts cooler where the temperature is controlled to around 16 – 20ºC. The cooled worts are pumped to a fermentation vessel known as a washback. The total amount of worts collected from the first and second waters will equate to approximately three quarters of the volume of the washback. The original gravity of the worts collected from the combined first and second waters will be in the order of 1048 – 1070 dependent on the distillery.

A third and, sometimes a fourth water, will now be added to the mash tun at temperatures of between 80 and 90ºC. These liquors will be used for mashing during the subsequent mash.

After draining all four  waters the grist, now known as draff or wet grains, is removed from the mash tun by mechanical means. Springbanks mash tun has large rotating paddles know as “ stirring gear “ which are used to stir the grist bed and to assist in the removal of draff. Draff can be sold to farmers in its wet condition where it can be used as a good “ filler “ for sheep or cattle. It contains around 4% protein and 1% fibre. In its wet condition draff contains around 80% moisture.

As always, if you have any questions or wish to add to the discussions in the technical section please feel free to email us here at the distillery.
Cheers
Stuart
Distillery Manager
Malting

The production team have been malting some barley recently.   Here’s a photo of one of the guys laying the floor.

NEW WHISKY BAR AND SHOP, MILAN

A new Cadenhead’s Whisky Bar has opened at Via Poliziano 3, 20154 Milan, Italy.   Contact details: telephone 0039(0)2 3360 5592 or e mail whiskybar@cadenhead.it website www.cadenhead.it

As usual,  your comments are welcome.

Slainte

Janet
for Springbank Society

J & A Mitchell and Co Ltd, The Tasting Room, 9 Bolgam Street, Campbeltown, Argyll, PA28 6HZ
Registered in Scotland, registration number 3582
Tel :   + 44(0) 1586 552009   Fax :  + 44(0) 1586 553232  website  http://www.springbankwhisky.com 

To Join the Springbank Society please email Janet at society@springbankwhisky.com

Dear All,

Everyone at The Whisky Exchange would like to say an enormous ‘thank-you’ to all of you that came along to The Whisky Show over the weekend. The feedback has been tremendous and we’ve already lost count of the number of people that have said that it was the best event that they’d ever been to, so roll on 2010!

However, the main reason for this e-mail is to let you all know that the tickets for the Four Roses bourbon evening with Mr. Jim Rutledge the Master Distiller/Global Brand Ambassador on Monday 16th November (6.45pm in the shop) will be available from 3pm tomorrow. This will be a unique opportunity to spend an evening with one of the truly ‘big guns’ of bourbon whiskey, and to ensure that we keep it intimate there’ll only be a maximum of 25 places at this event. Tickets for this will be £20 each and are on the usual ‘first come, least disappointed’ basis.

 Followed by

On Monday 30th November we’ll be showing off the latest additions (20+!) to our Single Malts of Scotland and Elements of Islay ranges. The full listing for the whiskies on taste is a little too lengthy, but for the princely sum of £20 you’ll be furnished with 8 tasting vouchers and, as with previous launches, we have only tried a couple of the whiskies so we’ll be having fun together. As if this isn’t enough, there’ll be at least one ‘guest’ presenter to ensure that the evening bubbles along at a merry pace. Tickets for this are going on sale from 3pm on Tuesday 17th November and there’s no limit to the number of places you can grab for this (we’ve had over 120 guests at previous SMoS evenings) so we’d be delighted to see lots of you on this one as there’s bound to be something for everyone.

And finally…

 Celebration, for the tiny number of you that might be interested (sic.), was Caol ila. A single cask of 1999 distillation with more than a hint of sherry, and there’s just a few litres left in the cask…

The Team

The Whisky Exchange

Vinopolis

1 Bank End

Southwark

London

SE1 9BU

Tel:-  +44 (0) 207 403 8688

Fax:- +44 (0) 207 403 8788

e-mail:-   vinopolis@thewhiskyexchange.com

website:- www.thewhiskyexchange.com

In episode #88 – Ralfy reviews another blend, this time Chivas Regal 12yo.

Ralfy Cuddles an Islay Malt

Visit Ralfy at http://www.ralfy.com/ Click on “Whiskyreviews”