Visit the Whisky Exchange at http://www.thewhiskyexchange.com/

Ralfy is at it again, in these reviews he has published #75 – Budget & Quality Whiskies and #76 – Kilchomans’ First Whisky.

Ralfy at Work

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

The Scotch Malt Whisky Society have another website dedicated to events at their venues in the United Kingdom. Full details can be viewed at:

www.smwsevents.co.uk

From the new website;

No-one entertains and delights like The Scotch Malt Whisky Society.

Our highly experienced team are passionate about creating one-of-a-kind private events that meet every requirement and surpass every expectation. We can come to you for a private whisky tasting wherever you are in the world. Or you can come to us…

Our collection of uniquely stylish venues in Edinburgh and London provide the perfect backdrop to any corporate or private function, from a whisky tasting to private dining to a business meeting – or even a combination of all three!

You don’t need to be a member of The Scotch Malt Whisky Society to use our private rooms; they’re available to anyone with a taste for quality and sophistication.

We warmly invite you to take a look around…

This time around, we’ll have highlights from the Whisky Guild’s “Whisky on the Hudson” cruise, including the US debuts of the Balvenie Madeira Cask, Suntory’s Hibiki blended whisky, and Laphroaig’s new 18-year-old Scotch. In the news, Bowmore comes out with another edition of its legendary 1964 whiskies, Kilchoman debuts its first single malt, and bureaucrats on the loose!

Listen to Episode #217 on-line at http://whiskycast.com/

Mark Smith

Published on 11 Sep 2009
The Scotch whisky industry is not in crisis, in spite of mass layoffs at Diageo and recent production cuts at Chivas Brothers, and the forthcoming global export data will prove it, insiders at the Scotch Whisky Association claim.
The industry body’s figures for the first half of 2009, set for release at the end of the month, will reveal an uptick in the overall value of shipments around the world, SWA insiders said.
However, they will also show that during the first quarter of the year, whisky distillers saw markedly diminished demand from trade customers, which had difficulty obtaining funds from banks amid the credit freeze – but increases in the second quarter offset the earlier decline.
“We’ve said all along that the whisky industry is recession-resistant, not recession-immune – and we stand by that,” one insider said.
“What these latest figures will show is that global consumption overall has not decreased. The problem was that trade customers were ordering less because they were having trouble getting credit.
“These customers were simply using up existing supplies before deciding to restock. That situation changed in the second quarter.”
The insider told The Herald: “To suggest the whisky industry is in decline is ridiculous. In the past two years alone, around £500m has been invested into new and rejuvenated distilleries. If that’s not a sign of confidence, I don’t know what is.”
Such comments are noteable because Diageo, the world’s biggest drinks group, earlier this week said it would continue with plans to close its Johnnie Walker bottling plant in Kilmarnock and axe headcount at Port Dundas with the combined loss of 900 posts.
The group, which last week also issued a downbeat outlook for 2010, will offset the layoffs by creating 400 jobs through the expansion of the packaging plant in Fife.
Meanwhile, Chivas Brothers, which is owned by French drinks giant Pernod Ricard and controls around 20% of the Scotch whisky market, also this week said it cut production at several distilleries as whisky sales suffered in the past six months. It said volumes of Ballantine’s are down 4% and Chivas Regal off 5% year-on-year.
Earlier this year, SWA figures revealed the Scotch whisky industry has set new records for exports in 2008, earning £97 every second for the UK’s balance of trade. The value of shipments increased by 8% to a record £3.1bn.
Comments by insiders suggest that the latest half-year figures, when published, will reveal that industry is on track to set a new record in 2009.
“Some markets are down, it’s true. Spain, Korea and the US are down – and while this reflects the state of the economy, there are also credit and supply issues,” The Herald was told.
“But there is definitely a vast improvement over the situation at the end of last year and the beginning of this year. Whisky remains a growth industry.”
Whisky industry is not in crisis, claims Scotch Whisky Association

Whisky Intelligence has reproduced (with permission) The Gauntleys Whisky Newsletter for October 2008. 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

Well I’ve finished tasting the samples for the 2008 Independent Bottlers competition in the Whisky Magazine and it was the usual array of the good, the bad and the down right ugly. However the overall quality was again very high, and thankfully there were few really ugly ones! Although the evaluation has been completed and the ‘scores on the door’s’ have been submitted, I’m still in the process of collating my tasting notes and thoughts, so a full report will appear in the next newsletter. Hopefully by then I will know the names of the samples I tasted.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT?

According to AA Gill writing in last weekend’s Sunday Times, it is gastro guidebook season. He says, and I quote. “Guides are a curse and a bane on hospitality. The randomly solicited offerings from people whose qualifications are the ability to chew and the profligate use of exclamation marks are based on the false premise that everyone has an opinion, and all opinions are equally valuable.”

And in summing up adds this pearl of wisdom. “Would you pick five random people from a bus queue and let them decorate your bedroom, dress you or choose your next holiday? Then why on earth would you trust them to feed you?”

This got me thinking about the nature of critics. I mean what qualifications do they have. Some may have what is referred to as super palates, or a raft of qualifications from their field of speciality or un-swerving belief that their opinions are correct and as he or she has the wherewithal to put their neck on the line and go public with their opinion, well they’ve got be right haven’t they.

Taking whisky into account, there is no qualification as far as I’m aware in criticising or praising whisky. If you take someone like Jim Murray for example, he has years of experience in various facets of the industry, from distilling to blending the stuff, so you would imagine that he knows what he is talking about. As for me well I don’t have that sort of experience, but over the years of tasting both good and bad wines and spirits, I think I can say without a shadow of a doubt I know what constitutes and good or a bad one. And as I’m selling the stuff I think that makes my opinion pretty valid. Also having been asked to judge the Independent Bottlers Competition, twice in a row now, and given the fact that if I didn’t believe a spirit was of a good quality, or value for money, then I wouldn’t feel comfortable in selling it. One would like to think that I know what I’m talking about. Oh and maybe having a tendency to be outspoken helps! – But then what critic isn’t forthright.

The reason for this musing is that a woman came into the shop the other day to purchases a bottle of cognac. She informed me that the one that she was currently enjoying at the moment was quiet expensive, so anticipating a good sale I accordingly attached my salesman’s head and went to work. In order to close the deal I brought out a sample of the Maxim Trijol ‘Extra’ retailing for £106.50 and a simply stunning Cognac made from a blend of around 40 year old spirits, which my tasting notes describe as thus:

“Awesome aromas, which have a lovely crisp intensity. A marked similarity to the VSOP but amplified. Lovely soft orange/ apricot fruit with buckets of luscious, liquid honey. It is more delicately spiced than the XO and has a greater degree of luscious natural honey. Stunning in the mouth rich and fruity with an incredible rancio of honeyed dried fruit, raisins, sultanas and the sweetest, delicate spices imaginable. Opens up into a very floral/ violet middle and has a multi-dimensional quality with a superbly balanced, delicate yet powerful finish.”

Oh yes, it’s amazingly good. So I waited expectantly for a favourable reaction. “I don’t like it!” she proclaimed. Momentarily taken a-back by this pronouncement, I asked as to why. “I don’t know” was the answer. Well frankly I was stunned, and I genuinely wanted to know why this woman didn’t like it. After a few minutes deliberation she came up with the following two observations. “It’s not smooth, it tingles”. Yes dear that will be the intensity of the spirit and the declaration that really floored me was, this astonishing pronouncement. “It leaves a coating on my lips and tongue”. Well, duh! That’s called an after taste!

It dawned on me that this woman had absolutely no idea what constituted a good cognac. Yes she had an opinion, but as AA Gill says “Some people are right and everyone else isn’t”. And in this instance I am definitely correct in my belief that this is a truly magnificent cognac and she is, well, frankly, just plain deluded!

Now, you maybe thinking. ‘My you’ve got an ego and a half’, but I have integrity and a belief in my tasting abilities, and damn it if I say its good then its good! I mean I’ve tasted a few whiskies that I haven’t been particularly enamoured of, as you know my tastes veer towards unadulterated Bourbon oaked ones. But I know quality when I taste it and if it weren’t a quality product then it wouldn’t have a place on the shelf.

Right, rant over with. Time to taste some stuff and this month I begin where I left off last month.

MORE JAPANESE

The more I taste the whisky from this country, the more my love for it grows…… Oooh, getting all poetic here!

Nikka Miyagikyou 12 year old 45 % £61.95
A lovely, clean and rich nose of earthy orange fruit, honey, along with dark fruit, liquorice, chocolate and a faint whiff of smoke. A very polished and classy nose with the creamy oak becoming more prevalent over time. The palate mirrors the nose, until the spices explode onto the mid palate. Absolutely amazing stuff! As that spice bomb begins to recede the wonderful creamy oak comes through and tails off with a woody-spice finish.

Nikka From the Barrel 51.4% 50cl £25.95
Nikka From the Barrel 51.4% 50cl Glass Set £36.95
This must be the bargain of the century! This is a truly awesome nose. Very woody and so heavily spiced it’s untrue. The aromas are so dark and treacly with lashing of mature honey and liquorice. Being a vatting I would guess that there is a large dollop of mature spirits on display here, but the late vanilla oak keeps it all in check and balances it rather nicely. The palate opens up quiet softly, almost deceptively so and then whoosh – Wood tannins, orange, dark fruit, liquorice and exotic spices arrive like a bullet train hitting the tongue. Amazing balance and hugely spicy. Although it’s at cask strength the alcohol is definitely not intrusive.

A drop of water definitely tames the beast pushing the spicy wood notes to the background and allowing the most gloriously, luscious orange fruit to shine. If you are at all unsure as to the quality of Japanese malt whisky, then buy this! You will not regret it!

DIAGEO

I had a visit from the Diageo rep not so long ago. So what I hear you say! Well this was the first time anyone from that organisation had paid us a visit. Apparently they are now keen to help sales in the Independent sector. Now one wonders why they have decided to do this now. Is it because sales in the big multiples are slowing and having target, etc to meet, they have turned their attention to milking the independent sector? Cynical moi? Well if they really want to help the independent sector they can stop the supermarkets from heavily discounting those whiskies. I mean it doesn’t help if the likes of Tescos are selling their malts at a cheaper price than we can buy them.

Anyway being cynical aside it is good to know that we (the independents) do our best to sell their malts in what is now a difficult market place. The other reason for the visit was to inform us that Dufftown has had a make over and has been re-branded as the ‘Singleton of Dufftown’, why? I have no idea, and the thought that sprung to mind was ‘making a silk purse out of a sow’s ear?’ – Ooh!!

The Singleton of Dufftown 12 year old 40% – Not Stocking
A pungent and oily nose with some obvious sherry cask influence. Uncompromising (to put it nicely) and rough around the edges. The palate is intense and malty with obvious sherry character. It’s spirity and alcoholic, not exactly what you would call a malt with finesse. A drop of water makes the nose slightly soapy and emphasises the oils. Although it lessens the alcohol burn it still short and a bit rough. At least it seems to have lost its rubbery note, so I guess it’s an improvement after all?

BENROMACH – THE CONNOSSEURS CHOICE?

Oh alright that was a terrible pun, but the I really like what has been happening there since it was taken over by Gordon & MacPhail. It’s nice to see that it is not only Bruichladdich that has the monopoly on innovation. Take there latest release for example, the Origins. I love the fact that they are planning to release a series of bottlings that are produced from a single strain of barley. Now I know that is nothing new per se, but what is different is that they are labelling the variety on the bottle, and I’m sure that in a few years time it will be a fascinating exercise tasting all the different releases side by side. Now unfortunately I wasn’t sent a sample of this so you will have to make do with the distilleries tasting note, but they did send me a sample of the latest bottling of the marvellous peat smoke and tradition. So if you are thinking about a Christmas present for the whisky connoisseur in your life then the origins is an ideal choice

Benromach Traditonal 40% £21.95
Light, crisp aromas of citrus, soft spice and a late oily note. It has a lovely underlying oiliness. Light on the palate, initially a bit floral. Nicely mouth filling with an oily body and extremely spicy too! There is a good depth of rich fruit and a slight touch of peat smoke on the finish. Relatively straightforward due to its youth but dangerously drinkable nevertheless!

Benromach Peat Smoke Batch 2 43% £29.95
I was a bit fan of the first bottling of Peat Smoke, and the second batch definitely doesn’t disappoint. Crisp, clean and floral nose. It seems less overtly peaty than the first bottling, but that’s not to say that it is in anyway lacking in the peat smoke and coastal-rubber. It almost reminds me of a lightly peated Caol Ila with that fresh, garden fruit aroma. It has a lovely sweet-ish entry and a lot more fruit than the nose would suggest and definitely lacking the slight watery-ness of the earlier bottling. There’s a lovely, gradual build up of gentle peat and coastal notes. The mid palate is intense and extremely packed with citrus and finishes with a leafy, bog myrtle hint. Again really leaves me thinking of Coal Ila!

Benromach Origins Batch 1 Golden Promise 50% £35.95
A 9 year old spirit, matured in a combination of first and second fill sherry casks, lightly peated to 4ppm.

The nose has an initial buttery note along with floral influences. A prominent toasted malt note with subtle sherry notes in the background. With water it displays a prominent sweetness with heavy malt influences, delicate orange peel and some smoke. The palate starts creamy and becomes very sweet. Heavily toasted malt influences with a very delicate smoke. Mouth watering and complex. Water brings out a peppery note.

A NEW BOYO ON THE BLOCK!

Awhile ago Stephen Davies, the Managing Director of the Penderyn distillery gave me a call, after Jim Murray had forwarded a copy of my newsletter to him. I explained to him how our ‘relationship’ began and we had a long conversation about all things welsh. He said that he would keep me updated with anything new and low and behold a bottle of Penderyn Sherrywood appeared in the post. He also sent me an up to date sample as the last bottling I had tasted was from 2006!

I was surprised at how young the Penderyn is tasting as I would have thought that by now there would have been a lot more older spirit being used in the ‘blend’, but apparently the average age of it is around 5 years of age, even though the oldest spirits are closer to 8. I personally think that this needs some further investigation and if my request is fulfilled I’ll hopefully bring you an in depth article on just how this wonderful spirit is evolving.

I asked if there were plans to release a ’10 year old’ bottling in a couple of years, but there are no plans currently to do that. Although he did say that they may do a special ‘vintage 2000’ bottling. From a marketing point I imagine it would be a winner, but I guess we will have to wait and see.

Pendryn Sherrywood 46% £35.95
Lovely, rich nutty aromas of hazelnuts and sugared almonds followed by the slightly rose petaly young spirit. Over time caramel and sticky toffee aromas develop. Intriguing, sweet and earthy but nicely balanced by its freshness. The palate is quiet oily with the marc like rose petal spirit character more dominant than the sherry oak (in contrast to the nose), which begins to come through on the middle with hints of sugared almonds, toffee and caramel. Good length with cinnamon and soft, crumbly spice notes. Again lovely balance and not as sweet as the nose suggests.

Pendryn Maderia Finished 46%
April 2008 Bottling
Youthful, fresh and prickly on the nose with white liquorice, cereal/barley and a touch of rose petals, Turkish delight and botanicals. The oak drifts in later with creamy/ buttery vanilla and caramel notes. The palate opens with the oak in its butter/ creamy glory – loads of vanillins followed by toffee, rose petals and botanicals. Still seems very young with crisp barley coming through on the middle. Good length with a crisp, salty finish. By now I would have expected it to be showing more maturity. Maybe it is?

NEW BOTTLINGS FROM DEWAR RATTRAY

Macallan 1998 (9 year old) 54.4% – Not Stocking
A very spirity, acetone nose reminiscent of cheap grain. There is some earthy, orangey fruit, but it’s somewhat disappointing. The palate is equally unexciting, it has some sweet orange fruit and bourbon oak notes along with an intense winey middle, but the alcohol dominates and it all feels a bit dull. A drop of water calms the nose down a bit and brings out buttered toffee and a floral note, but that’s about as far as it gets. All a bit one dimensional to be honest.

Dufftown 1976 (32 year old) 55.4% – Not Stocking
Faintly rubbery aromas of old vegetation – yum! (Note the sarcasm!) There’s some mature orange fruit but the rubber becomes more intrusive. Like the distillery bottling its not subtle, earthy and rustic would be the kind way of putting it. The palate is oily, mature and earthy with a rubbery middle (surprise!). It’s redolent of old fruit, decaying rose petals, manure and alcohol! – Yes it’s that pleasant! A drop of water isn’t much help in fact it my notes say – Yuk, earthy, manure and old rose water with a side serving of old rubber! Enough said!

Bunnahabhain 1976 (32 year old) 49.4% £85.95
A wonderfully mature nose of coastal and refill sherry aromas. Luxuriously decadent with rich coffee and mature honey and hints of light menthol and bog myrtle. Over time some velvety vanilla oak aromas insinuate themselves with a lovely butter/ toffee nuance. Wonderfully inviting and an ideal after dinner dram. The palate opens with a wave of mature coastal fruits which are wonderfully rich and mouth filling. There are plenty of wood notes – coffee and vanilla and walnuts, all balanced by a wonderfully salty edge. Lovely and mellow it finishes with a return of the buttery oak. Personally I’d drink it neat as water softens it a bit too much and the oak overwhelms the mature fruit a bit, as well as brining out a faintly astringent (but not unpleasant) note on the nose.

NEW BRUICHLADDICH & MURRAY MCDAVID

Bruichladdich Peat 46% £32.95
Bourbon
Another new ‘multi-vintage’ bottling. This time the peating levels have been increased to around 35ppm which shows on the nose with a phenolic intensity of medicinal peat and rubbery fisherman’s garments. A classic peated Islay. Yet it is definitely not one dimensional. The Islay notes are backed by classic laddie bourbon coated apple and orange fruit. The palate is lovely, full of the most crumbliest, flakiest ………. peat – hang on getting carried away here! But seriously young, medicinal and bog myrtle it may be but there’s a robust fruitiness to this malt, oh and did I mention the peat?? In conclusion it is youthful yet beautifully rounded, full of Islay charm!

Bruichladdich 21 year old 46% £91.95
Oloroso Sherry
Welcome back old friend it has been awhile. This is a big rich sherry monster and it would appear that an odd rouge sulphurous cask has slipped in here. The nose is rich and sherried with velvety orange and apricot fruit, raisins, nuts and dried fig aromas. The spirit struggles to break through and briefly pokes it’s smoky/ bog myrtley/ coastaly head above the parapet before being once again swamped by rich toffee and pure Colombian and chocolate notes. The complexity is exceptional. The palate is super smooth and soft, like the nose there is a huge amount of sherry wood and tannins. Quiet heavily peated for such an old laddie and it is well into the mid-palate that the distillery character of toffee apple, crumbly spice, bog myrtle and medicinal peat begins to assert itself. The sherry sweetness returns on the finish, but this sweetness is marvellously kept in check by its rampant salinity. All in all an excellent expression, just slightly flawed, but with a palate like this that can be forgiven!

Murray McDavid Tobermory 1995 (12 year old) 46% Not stocking
Bourbon/ Madeira
Its quiet sulphury on the nose, it reeks of match heads. This is quiet unusual as it’s the first time I’ve tasted a non-sherry cask that has been tainted this way. Just for the record there’s a bit of crisp vanilla, Madeira cask and earthy notes. The palate is soft and fruity. Quiet salty with vanilla and Madeira notes with the alcohol being quiet intrusive. Best forgotten about I think.

Murray McDavid Highland Park 1989 (18 year old) 46% £58.95
Bourbon
I have said it many times before that MMcD have bottled some great casks of Highland Park 1989 in the past and finally here is a bottle worthy of praise. The nose is wonderfully soft and imbued with the juiciest orange fruit imaginable along with earth and gentle peat. It even develops some Laphroaig-esque medicinal notes and lashing of coastal fragrance! Soft and gentle on the palate, very much like the nose. Extremely peaty for Highland Park. It has a wonderful crumbly texture and the finish is very long with the smoky/ peaty/ coal dust flavours lingering.

Murray McDavid Craggenmore 1993 (15 year old) 46% £46.95
Bourbon/ Syrah
I thought the previous bottling of this as a 12 year old was quiet charming so I was interested to taste this new bottling and see what a few more years had done to it. Strangely enough the nose was initially a bit on the raw side but the sweet syrah fruit quickly kicks in followed by the creamy bourbon oak. And then………. Good grief!……..what’s this……….. peat!? I definitely wasn’t expecting that. When did Craggenmore start playing around with peat? (I’m sure someone will tell me!) And the peat aromas are not what you would call subtle either. Like the previous bottling the finishing cask is nicely integrated on the palate. There’s not much distillery character (but then does it really have?) and whoosh there’s the peat again backed up by a tremendous salinity! Well it has been maturing on Islay. Lovely finish with the citrus distillery character finally putting in an appearance. Well what a curio, who would have thought it a peated Craggenmore? Worth buying for the novelty value if nothing else. And for the record I do like it!

NEW RAYMOND ARMSTRONG

Glen Grant 1980 (27 year old) 51.6% £66.95
Bourbon Hogshead 20294
Deep, earthy and wonderfully mature aromas of orange fruit, marzipan, apricots in a light citrus conserve topped off with a lifting floral/ perfumed note of blossom and violets. It has a wonderfully soft and delicate vanilla sheen along with the classic nutty distillery character. The palate, like the nose displays the earthy, mature vanilla laced orange fruit and dusty spices, followed by lively orange blossom and a distinctly peachy middle. Its crisp alcohol keeps the mature dram lively, and the length is superb with mature, elegant honey (acacia?) notes.

A drop of water gives the nose even more of a wow factor. It deepens and intensifies the decadent orange fruit and coffee spice, light almonds and hazelnuts as well as accentuating its floral/ violet character. Whilst on the palate a delicate peat note is now perceptible. I have tasted some excellent old sherry casks from this distillery and this wonderful bourbon cask is testament to the quality of the spirit.

Caol Ila 1983 (25 year old) 54.3% £70.95
Bourbon Hogshead 4809
Quiet a light and elegant nose. It maybe light but it displays a massive depth of mature, floral fruit along with apple blossom, light menthol and honey aromas. Give it some time and the complexity level grows! Now there’s a touch of rubber, gorgeously sweet peat and late spice/ wood notes. Not particularly overtly coastal in character, yet that is more an observation than a criticism. The palate opens with a greater degree of peat and coastal flavours than are evident on the nose. It has that wonderful windswept Islay astringency along with a leafy note. The alcohol dominates the palate but there is some wonderful fruit lurking beneath. The length is superb and very elegant, leaving a sooty/ smoky coating on the tongue.

A drop of water brings out wet fern and bracken notes on the nose along with a distinct organic undergrowth character. The peat gently wafts somewhere in the background, yet the rubbery/ fishy notes remain. Water really opens up the palate and shows the complexity of this cask. It is now incredibly lively, definitely belying its age, almost crisply citrus with hints of charcoal and dying embers. The peat gently builds on the palate and it the water highlights the classic ‘garden fresh’ character that I associate with Caol Ila. The length is wonderful and seductive topped of with a sprinkling of wood notes.

AND FINALLY A QUICK ROUND UP!

James McArthur Linkwood 18 year old 50.1% £51.95
What a nose! It opens with aromas of chocolate/ coffee liqueur followed by a huge wave of orange and tangerine fruit and citrus oil. All backed up by the wonderfully creamy vanilla oak. A supremely inviting nose with a slight perfumed/ floral edge. The palate is like the nose, big, juicy and luscious with a slight grassy and earthy note. The alcohol is kept in check beautifully by the sweetness of the fruit. With a drop of water it becomes crisper and cleaner, emphasising its citrus and floral character. In conclusion this is the definitive fruity Speysider!

Well that’s it for now. I hope you enjoy the read and if you have any comments, you know where I am.

Sincerely

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

Ralfy is at it again, this review he has published a review #74 Supermarket Whiskies.

Ralfy at Work

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

I promised in my last email that I would write to you again with all the final details for the live webcast we will be doing at Maker’s Mark distillery in Kentucky so here they are.

The online event will be happening on Friday 25th September at 8pm Kentucky time which I’m told is Eastern Daylight Time (EDT). I believe that works out at 1am on Saturday 26th for the UK. I know this isn’t an ideal time for our FOLs in Europe but for anyone who can’t tune in, the video will be available a week or so later on the Laphroaig website for you to watch at your leisure.

Of course I hope as many of you as possible tune in live as you will be able to submit questions to the panel (Kevin Smith from Maker’s Mark, John Hansell who is the Editor of ‘Malt Advocate’ and of course myself) during the show. Anyone whose question is read out during the live broadcast will be sent a special prize as well so remember to include your email address when you submit the question.

We also have a special webpage set up which has a countdown on it as well as some further information on the event. If you go to http://www.distillerylive.us.com and make sure you bookmark the page so that you don’t forget the address on 25th!

Since my last email I have had a few emails from FOLs who don’t know what time the show will be on in their country. I’m going to update the webpage with the time in some countries but there will I’m sure be too many to list so you can also try looking online to work out the time conversion. On the www.distillerylive.us.com website we have now got a link to a page which will show the time of the show in your country.

As I mentioned in my last email we will be tasting a range of Laphroaig expressions including the 10 Year Old, the new 18 Year Old and finally the 25 Year Old. There are also some special items I am really excited about. The guys over at Maker’s Mark have found a famous chef who is going to come and cook some lovely food for us, designed to compliment Laphroaig and Maker’s Mark whiskies. Hopefully I can get hold of the recipes in advance so all you culinary experts can try out the recipes too.

As I mentioned in the last email we will also have a cocktail section. Thanks to everyone who has already emailed me their suggestions for cocktails, we’ve had a lot of fun trying out your recipes. Remember anyone whose cocktail is made during the show will win a special prize. If you still haven’t emailed your suggestion you still can, just drop me a line at info@laphroaig.com with the subject line: Distillery Live recipes.

In other news I have created a Twitter account – I am still a bit of a novice but am really enjoying connecting with some more FOLs from around the World in real-time. If you would like to follow my ‘tweets’ (as I have been told they are called) then go to http://www.twitter.com/laphroaigwhisky. I will be updating my twitter with news in the build up to Distillery Live but I will of course also be updating the FOL homepage.

Slàinte,

John Campbell

D Johnston & Company (Laphroaig) Ltd, 310 St Vincent Street, Glasgow, registered in the United Kingdom, registration number SC028072

Greetings to all Society members from not so sunny Campbeltown.   We are back to our usual Scottish weather, with all four seasons in one day.   Right now it’s winter, with grey skies and occasional heavy showers of rain.   Perfect weather for sitting by the fire.

Tour Guide
You may remember that we advertised for a tour guide to help us out for 3 months over the summer.   The “lucky” person was Bernhard Luenberger, who is a Society Member.   His time with us has just finished and he is on his way home.   I asked Bernhard to give us a little report on his time with us at Springbank.   He managed to learn a little of the local dialect, as you will see, and he made a lot of friends both in Springbank and the local community.

Confessions of a Tour Guide

“I will question you about this”, Frank McHardy said with a grin, handing me
over the documentation about Springbank distillery the morning after the
Glengyle open day during my second visit to Campbeltown. The first time
already being a few years back, I wanted to see my place of work for the 3
summer months and to attend the Glengyle open day on the 21.05.09. Indeed it was a great event with lots of music, guided tours of both distilleries by the respective managers and having an interesting Kilkerran tasting with Frank in the Glengyle Filling Store. I’m already looking forward to the Springbank open day next year!

Coming back from the Islay Festival of Malt and Music on the 1st of June I
was shown the cosy apartment right above the Whisky shop and the next day I was already in the shop wearing a Springbank polo shirt and trying to serve customers, filling shop shelves and operating the till under the guidance of 2 very patient teachers: Leslie and Donald. Not only did they show me how the Cadenhead’s shop is working but they also introduced me to the idiomatic specialities of the Campbeltonian lingo: “What’s happening in Campbeltown?” translates into “Hoots heppenin doon in the wee toon?” and “Out and about” into “Oot and aboot”. It took me roughly 1 month to get used to it and especially in noisy pubs I still need to ask twice or more times to understand everything.

During the first week in Campbeltown I attended tours by our main tour guide Jim and by Peter Currie. Further I was introduced to the friendly staff at  Springbank distillery. Everybody was enormously helpful and answered all my questions regarding Whisky and administrative stuff. One of the many
highlights for me was that Gordon, Hector, John and Pop from the production team allowed me to follow them a few times and to look over their shoulders while they performed their varied tasks.

On the Saturday of my first week what I had awaited eagerly finally
happened: I held my first tour through the distillery. I was quite nervous
and I had my notes in the backpack just in case I’d forgotten an important
detail. Apart from being a bit long, the tour worked out fine and over the
following weeks I managed to hold my tours a little more relaxed and
customised according to the interests of the guests. I held most tours in
English but every once in a while there were some French or German speaking guests who were very glad to have a tour in their own language, helping them to understand all the details and being able to ask questions more precisely. The technical terms were quite a challenge for me, so a lot of hand work and explaining was required.

There were roughly 5 different kinds of guests on tours and in the shop:
locals (Springbank bottles with customised labels are very popular wedding
and birthday presents), campers (there are quite a few campsites along the
beautiful sandy beaches of Kintyre), sailors and windsurfers (enjoying the
strong wind and the beauty of the lochs and Islands along the Scottish west
coast), golfers (the two courses at Machrihanish are well known and very
popular, even occasionally attracting Prince Andrew) and last but not least
the Springbank Whisky fanatics from all over the world. It’s amazing to see
what a strong support Springbank gets from its aficionados from literally
all around the globe: During the 3 summer months we had guests from all over Europe, the Americas, Hawaii, Australia, New Zealand and Asia. For many, the long journey down to Campbeltown was like a pilgrimage. And this is exactly what made my job as tour guide at Springbank so rewarding: the majority of guests were very much into Springbank and Whisky in general, asked me tricky questions to investigate and told me details I hadn’t known before. Every single tour was a special experience for me and hopefully also for the guests. Sometimes I met the guests after work in a pub or at the Ardshield hotel whisky bar (Flora upgraded the bar to over 400 different bottles of Single Malt in the last year) and we continued exchanging the latest news of the Whisky world over a dram or a pint.

Working only 5 days a week from 9 to 5 left me with a lot of spare time to
explore the beautiful nature of Kintyre and beyond: I did a few sections of the long distance hiking path “The Kintyre Way” (www.kintyreway.com) spanning the whole of Kintyre, went to beautiful hills and lochs around Campbeltown and climbed its landmark mountain Beinn Ghuilean by foot and on a mountain bike with Pete. Other highlights in the area are the Southend Highland Games, the great Mull of Kintyre Music Festival and last but not least the very lively pubs of Campbeltown featuring live music and a cheerful crowd.

To sum up I had a great time being part of the Springbank family for these 3
months and I would strongly recommend applying early for this job next year! I would like to say thank you to Frank and Peter for making this possible, to Grant and Ranald for your guidance and support, to Leslie and Donald for your instructions and patience, to Janet for your help and taps on the shoulder and to everybody at Springbank for making my stay such a memorable experience!

You’ll never guess – my last day and Frank tracked me down!!!!!

Test taken – results to be published.

Cheers

Bernhard
TEST RESULTS ARE IN – BERNHARD HAD A 92% PASS!!!!!

SOCIETY BOTTLE

We have started to talk about the next Society Bottle, and I have asked Frank to get together with Stuart and for them to dust down the casks at the back of the warehouse and come up with something a bit different for you.   We will wait with baited breath to see what they suggest.   Hopefully this will not take too long.

The last Society bottle, a Longrow 12 year old is going very well, with lots of members coming back for another.  If you missed out we still have a little left, so let me know if you would like some.   The cost is £45 plus postage and packing.   Feedback from members has been very positive, as always.

FACEBOOK

I’ve been on and registered, I see that Springbank has a lot of fans, if you’ve not been on yet, you should have a wee look.

SPRINGBANK OPEN DAY
Next year Springbank will be the host for our open day on Thursday 20th May, so get your holidays booked early!!!!! We will have two casks for bottling on the day.   There will also be at least one Masterclass, lots of products to be sampled, tours of the distillery, music and food, and who knows what else we will come up with.   I did suggest a bouncy castle for the big kids, but that was a no…………….maybe a dunk tank????

Cadenhead’s Whisky Shop will also host rather special tastings in the tasting room.    All will be revealed at a later date.
We will keep you up to date with the final plans, as they emerge.

OUT & ABOUT WITH PETER & RANALD
Whisky Live Glasgow: Saturday 12th September in The Thistle Hotel, Cambridge Street, Glasgow.   Peter will be at Whisky Live, so if you are in the area, why not pop along and see him on the Springbank stand.   He might have samples from the casks of Hazelburn we are considering for the next Society bottle, so be sure to take your Society Membership card with you if  you would like a wee taste.

The Technical Bit – by Stuart Robertson – Milling
Anyone who has had the experience of being here at the distillery when we are milling will have seen a sight only familiar to persons of a certain age. It is very unusual to see belt driven machinery anywhere these days but at Springbank we take great pride in the fact things haven’t changed much here in the last half century. A large single electric motor drives the main shaft which in turn drives a number of conveyors, elevators, a dust extractor, a drum screen and the mill. It is very rewarding to see the faces of people who see the mill in operation as they all, without exception, take delight in seeing belt driven machinery and will tell you it is an amazing experience. The noise, the different sounds, the smells and the sight of the mill in operation all add to the uniqueness of a visit to Springbank.

Why do we mill the malted barley? This is a question I am often asked and the simple answer is to allow the water to penetrate into the malted barley and convert the starches and protein into soluble products. The milling process allows us to prepare a grist of a consistency that allows fast wort run off and good extraction efficiency.

It is important to get the milling process right as it plays a major part in how efficiently the distillery produces alcohol. Malt is transferred from the selected malt bin through a conveyor, into an elevator, down a chute which has a large magnet for catching bits of metal and into a drum screen which removes any foreign objects and small corns. The cleaned malt passes down into the weighing machine and then into the malt mill, each coup of the weigher is 40 Kg. The mill is set to grind the malt into grist which contains 20% husk, 70% grits and 10% flour, this is the ideal consistency for our mash tun to allow clear wort drainage and good extraction. The grist as it is now known is transferred from the mill along a conveyor into an elevator, across a conveyor and finally into the grist bin where it will stay until needed.

The consistency of the grist is constantly monitored throughout the grind to ensure the mill is doing its job effectively. The operator takes a sample of approximately 120 grammes from the bottom of the mill and places it into a sieve box. The box has sieve screens with holes of different diameters the top sieve being larger than the bottom sieve. The lid is secured and the sieve box is shaken a number of times before the different fractions are weighed. Each fraction is weighed independently and a note of the weight taken. The husk, grits and flour weights are combined to give a total weight. Each fraction is then worked out as a percentage of the total weight.

As usual, anyone who would like a deeper understanding of the milling process please feel free to drop us an e-mail.

All the best

Stuart Robertson
Distillery Manager

SPRINGBANK/GLENGYLE TOURS & TASTING

Grant MacPherson has moved from Cadenhead sales to take over as Manager of Cadenhead’s Whisky shop in Campbeltown.   He has been busy this last few weeks getting the tasting room set out in his own very tidy, organised fashion.   This week he has taken delivery of a cask of Hazelburn for the tasting room, to add to the Kilkerran, Springbank and Longrow already there,  available for visitors who have a tour of the distillery then a tasting in the tasting room, you will be able to buy a bottle of Hazelburn straight from the cask.

LAST BUT NOT LEAST

As usual if there is anything you would like to share with us, please get in touch.   We are always happy to hear from you.

Slainte

Janet
for Springbank Society

To join the Springbank Society please contact Janet at society@springbankwhisky.com

http://www.binnys.com/