EPISODE 199: MAY 10, 2009 is now available ….

“It’s another road trip for WhiskyCast…this time to the Spirit of Toronto festival! The festival is in its fifth year, and better than ever. We’ll hear from Dan Tullio of Canadian Club about the debut of CC’s 20-year-old expression in North America, Mike Harrison of Berry Bros. & Rudd gives us a sneak preview of the first-ever kosher expression of The Glenrothes and new expressions from Cutty Sark, and John Hall of Kittling Ridge tells us about the upcoming port wood version of Forty Creek!”

Visit http://www.whiskycast.com/ to listen to this episode.

Yet another small distillery in the works, for details visit

http://www.abhainndearg.co.uk/

2009 BEST IN SHOW AWARDS March 6th, 2009

THE TASTING PANEL MAGAZINE DISTILLERY OF THE YEAR

THE GLENLIVET DISTILLERY – BANFFSHIRE, SCOTLAND

BEST IN SHOW – BROWN

Parker’s Heritage Collection Kentucky Straight Bourbon, Kentucky, USA ($200)

BEST RYE

Wild Turkey Russell’s Reserve Rye, Kentucky, USA ($30)

BEST IRISH WHISKEY

Bushmills 10 Year Old Single Malt Irish Whiskey, Ireland ($40)

Importer: Diageo North America – Norwalk, CT

BEST OTHER WHISKY

Suntory Yamazaki Single Malt Whisky, 18 Year Old, Japan ($100)

Importer: Suntory Int’l Corp. – NY, NY

BEST BLENDED SCOTCH

Buchanan’s Special Reserve 18 Year Old Scotch, Scotland ($32)

Importer: Diageo North America – Norwalk, CT

BEST SINGLE MALT SCOTCH

Port Ellen 29 Year Old Single Malt Scotch, Islay, Scotland ($400)

Importer: Diageo North America – NY, NY

Further details can be found by visiting

http://www.sfspiritscomp.com/index.html

By Tom Marquardt & Patrick Darr (San Marcos Daily Record) http://www.sanmarcosrecord.com/

Making whisky on Scotland’s Isle of Arran is not a new activity.

Scotland’s purest water from the Loch na Davie, and the moderating influence of the Gulf Stream that speeds maturation of the barreled whisky have created an environment that favors the production of high quality single malt scotch.

But the opening of the Arran distillery in 1995 marked the first time since 1837 that the whisky produced on the island was legal, and with the full approval of the local government.

The Arran Malt is a small, craft distiller of about 150,000 liters per year and conforms to the three rules of producing single malt scotch: use only Scottish malted barley, distill twice in copper pot stills and in one distillery, and age the whisky in oak casks in Scotland for 3 years.

Unlike some other single malt scotch producers, Arran doesn’t dry the malted barley over a peat fire but instead uses heated dry air. The result is a non-smoky tasting spirit that is clean and fruity on the palate.

We recently met with Euan Mitchell, managing director of The Arran Malt, and learned first-hand about the colorful legal and illegal history of distilling on the Island of Arran, and had a chance to taste their efforts. Euan shared with us that Arran does not add any caramel color to their whisky and also doesn’t chill-filter their product in the belief that like fine wine filtering can strip some of the flavor from the beverage.

We also learned an invaluable tip for tasting single malt scotch, especially those in the 90-plus proof categories. Mix chilled pure water with the whisky in a brandy snifter style glass at about a 10:1 ratio of whisky to water. Don’t use ice cubes since they will chill the scotch to a point where some of the flavors and nose are muted.

We found that the small addition of a bit of water took the alcoholic fire out of the nose and smoothed out the whisky in the mouth, without diluting the bouquet or flavors. Tasting the whisky we were impressed with the clean, fruity flavors and complex impression on the senses.

The Arran Malt 10-year-old 46 percent alcohol (92 proof, $49) is aged in used American oak bourbon barrels and exhibited a lovely fruity rich round nose with a hint of grain. Creamy and fruity in the mouth this whisky is a good introduction to the Arran single malts. We also tasted two premium single cask aged single malts, that were delightful. The Arran Malt Single Bourbon Cask 50.5 percent alcohol (101 proof, $79) was selected for bottling from as single cask with the date of distillation and cask number printed on the individual bottle.

A terrific single malt with a wonderful fruity nose, and hints of vanilla and almonds in the mouth. The Arran Malt Single Sherry Cask 58.5 percent alcohol (117 proof, $79) definitely needs the water treatment to calm it down.

Once diluted a hint of sherry nuttiness and richness develops with some chocolate and citrus notes. Delicious!

Drinkers order Whisky Galore island’s entire stocks … five years too early

Published Date: 04 May 2009 The Scotsman http://www.scotsman.com

By SHÂN ROSS

NOT a brick has been laid to build the first distillery on the island where Whisky Galore! was filmed – but connoisseurs have already signed up to reserve the entire batch of its first-year casks. Peter Brown will begin building the distillery on Barra in the autumn. The distillery, costing more than £1 million, will make about 5,000 gallons of Isle of Barra Single Malt Whisky a year using water from Loch Uisge, the island’s highest loch. It will use barley grown by crofters on the island before being milled and malted locally and be bottled at the distillery in Borve.  Whisky needs to be matured for three years before it can legally be called whisky so the distillery will not have its first consignment until 2014.

In the meantime Mr Brown has taken orders for the £1,000 oak casks from individuals and groups of friends from countries including Germany, Japan and Sweden, and the rest of the UK. More than half the casks will be retained by the distillery but he is already selling his public quota of second-year reserve. Mr Brown said it was impossible to tell at this stage what the whisky would taste like but that it was “unlikely to be excessively peaty”. He said it would sell at about £30 a bottle at current prices at the premium end of market. Mr Brown, who ran a courier company in Edinburgh before moving to Barra 12 years ago, said: “The whisky will be of the island, from the island. It will be a reinforcement of the Highlands and Islands tradition of 200 or 300 years ago when there was scarce an island or glen that did not have its own cottage distillery. “The essence of this is to create something going back to what we had in Scotland before the Customs and Excise shut it all down. We will not be like a call centre turning up with computers which can then be closed down as quickly as it opened.”Mr Brown added that the Whisky Galore! “legend” would be a great advantage.“There is a lot of ‘Brigadoon’ sentiment in the film but it is sufficiently rooted in some kind of fact to give it meaning. It is hugely helpful because people have an automatic association between whisky and Barra.”

Whisky experts say Mr Brown’s venture is part of a wider expansion trend in Scotland over the past two years to meet demand from new markets including India, Brazil, China, Russia and south east Asia. Other new distilleries currently planned include those at Annandale in Dumfriesshire, Huntly in Aberdeenshire, and Falkirk. Major new malt whisky distilleries have also recently opened at Roseisle near Elgin and Ailsa Bay in Girvan.Annual exports are worth £3 billion to the UK economy.

A spokesman for the Scotch Whisky Association said: “The developments on Barra are part of a wider, encouraging trend in the whisky industry, with investment in new, and the expansion of old, distilleries supported by the growth of demand. “There is optimism about Scotch whisky’s future prospects despite the current economic conditions.” Alasdair Allan, SNP MSP for the Western Isles, said: “I’m delighted with this progress with the Barra distillery plan and wish the venture every success.“You only need to look at Islay to see how important economically whisky can be for an island.“Barra’s many connections with the novel and film Whisky Galore! can also be exploited.

“There is no reason why the Outer Hebrides with its pristine environment and abundant peat should not benefit from such developments.”

Festival to celebrate spirited tale of salvage

BARRA became associated with whisky after Sir Compton Mackenzie’s 1947 novel Whisky Galore! was turned into a classic Ealing comedy.Mackenzie’s novel immortalised the true events of 5 February, 1941, when the SS Politician, sailing to New York, foundered on rocks in the nearby Sound of Eriskay. About 264,000 bottles of whisky among her cargo were lost, leading to a salvage operation by islanders, who hid a large number of the bottles before excise men arrived.

In 1949, film director Alexander Mackendrick brought a film crew to Barra and many local people appeared as extras alongside the stars of the day – Basil Radford, Joan Greenwood, Bruce Seton and Gordon Jackson.The novel and film centred on the salvage operation and how the local policeman was persuaded to turn a blind eye and thwart the efforts of the Home Guard to stop the salvaging and search the island for bottles. The island is holding its first Whisky Galore! Festival on 18-20 September as part of the Homecoming celebrations. The programme includes screenings of the film, ceilidhs and film location tours. The Craigard Hotel, in Castlebay, where some of the scenes in Whisky Galore! were filmed, has a bottle from the SS Politician in a case in its bar. In December 2008, a bottle of Ballantine Scotch Whisky salvaged from the SS Politician sold at auction for £2,200.

• For details of the Whisky Galore! Festival, tel: 07971 518571, http://www.whiskygalorefestival.com

Episode 198 is now available at http://whiskycast.com/ starting with the news that Highland Park 21 now has the the title of World’s Best Singe Malt in this year’s World Whisky Awards………………

The Spring Bottling List from the Scotch Malt Whisky Society of America is now online at http://www.smwsa.com/members/BottlingList.pdf 

The Spring Newsletter is also available at http://www.smwsa.com/members/smws-newsletter.pdf

The American branch of the Society has also launched a new website;

“We are proud to announce the launch of our official

website for The Single Malt & Scotch Whisky Extravaganza.

A complete tour schedule, tasting expressions,

photos captured at the events and much more information

can be found on this site. The website also provides

the opportunity to purchase tickets online and is

a good means for new and potential attendees to become

more acquainted with the tour and all the excitement

that takes place.”

Visit  http://www.singlemaltextravaganza.com/ for complete details….

We are confident we make good single malt whisky at Highland Park. Our confidence comes from the knowledge that we adhere to tradition and from the positive comments sent to us by enthusiasts like you.

We tend to do rather well in tastings as well; in fact, we are starting to run out of wall space for our certificates.

The results of this year’s annual San Francisco World Spirits Competition were announced last month. More than 800 spirits were entered from 63 countries.

Highland Park 12 year old won a Silver medal.
Highland Park 15 year old won a Double Gold medal.
Highland Park 18 year old won a Double Gold medal.
Highland Park 25 year old won a Double Gold medal.
Highland Park 30 year old won a Double Gold medal.

The San Francisco World Spirits Competition is the first comprehensive, international spirits judging ever held in the United States on an annual basis. It was founded in 2000 by Anthony Dias Blue, the Wine and Spirits Editor of Bon Appetit Magazine and Carol Seibert, the Managing Director of the San Francisco International Wine Competition.

The San Francisco World Spirits Competition continues to grow each year, in size and in reputation. The same could be said of Highland Park…

For more information on the San Francisco World Spirits Competition visit www.sfspiritscomp.com

For more information about the Best Spirit in the World visit www.highlandpark.co.uk

Gerry
Head of Brand Education, Highland Park

Sleeping giant to take malt lovers on a journey of re-discovery

WARM, rich oak and sherry sweetness. Deep amber gold. Rich mahogany. Spiced mulled wine and pear. Treacle toffee and chocolate orange. Fruit compote and glacier morello cherries. Walnut cake and mocha. Viscous and syrupy.

An astonishing smorgasbord of complex tastes, colours and character is at the heart of the new GlenDronach portfolio of single malts which are re-launched today (Tuesday April 7) following a £250,000 investment by its new owners, The BenRiach Distillery Company Ltd.

The GlenDronach Distillery in Forgue, Aberdeenshire, is famous for producing richly-sherried single malt whiskies of inimitable and individual character. Today sees three sublime malts – a 12, 15 and 18-year-old – make a welcome re-appearance on the market.

Managing Director and Master Blender Billy Walker was instrumental in awakening the sleeping giant. “This is the beginning of our strategy to re-package and re-launch GlenDronach in markets worldwide. We’ve taken it back to how it was originally, promoting it as one of Scotland’s original sherried whiskies.”

Distillery Manager Alan McConnochie (pictured) said: “Whisky connoisseurs have been waiting patiently for our new core range and it’s exciting for all of us at GlenDronach to be part of bringing this iconic brand back to life. I hope my tasting notes are interesting.

“The classic GlenDronach 12-year-old, a superb, richly sherried single malt, is matured for at least twelve years in a combination of the finest Spanish Pedro Ximinez and Oloroso sherry casks. Non-chill filtered, of natural colour and bottled at 43%, the GlenDronach 12-year-old “Original” is a sweet, creamy dram.

Appearance
Deep amber-red gold.

Nose
Sweet, creamy vanilla, with hints of ginger. Spiced mulled wine and pear.

Palate
Rich, creamy, silky-smooth. Warm, rich oak and sherry sweetness, full mouth feel, raisins and soft fruits. Spicy with medium length and a dry finish.

Conclusions
Long, full and firm, slightly nutty.

Renowned amongst many whisky enthusiasts around the world, the GlenDronach 15-year-old full-bodied malt is matured for a minimum of fifteen years in the finest Oloroso sherry casks. Bottled at 46%, the GlenDronach “Revival” is non chill filtered and of natural colour.

Appearance
Deep gold with a lovely mahogany heart.

Nose
Incredible concentration of aromas. Treacle toffee and chocolate orange.

Palate
A very dynamic and full bodied dram for its age. Chewy with coffee chocolate and treacle scones.

Conclusions
A veritable feast to enliven the senses.

“And finally the famous GlenDronach 18-year-old, now re-named “Allardice”, is the third expression in the GlenDronach core range. This exceptional single sherried malt is non chill filtered and of natural colour. Matured in the finest Spanish Oloroso sherry casks and bottled at 46%, this richly sherried malt is truly unforgettable.

Appearance
Bright deep gold with a tawny centre.

Nose
Sweet aromatics of fudge and muscovado sugar. Fruit compote and glacier morello cherries provide added complexity.

Palate
Rich dark and seductive. Remarkable flavours of stewed fruits and all-spice marry together with classical aged Oloroso and toasted walnut bread and chocolate orange.

Conclusions
Tremendously complex and long.”

Billy added: “The name “GlenDronach” is Gaelic for “the valley of the brambles” but there’s nothing prickly about our three new releases. All have that distinctive sweet, sherried GlenDronach nose, with subtle hints of chocolate, ginger, autumn fruits and much more.

“And you don’t have to imagine them any longer; you can now taste them for yourself. The sleeping giant has awoken!”

For more information and stockists, visit our new website www.glendronachdistillery.co.uk or call Marketing Manager, Kerry White, on 00441 324 682220.

Dear Malt Messenger Subscribers,

More often than not I use the Malt Messenger to be the harbinger of good news. Who doesn’t like hearing about the latest whisky release from Bruichladdich, the return of a rare Ardbeg expression or the latest release of Port Ellen. Unfortunately, a government tax increase on liquor doesn’t fall into this category.

You’ve probably heard about the Alberta Government’s decision, in the latest budget, to raise taxes on alcohol. The changes are expected to raise a further $180,000,000.00 for our government to misspend! Although a government’s decision to increase taxes on liquor is not entirely surprising, the swiftness with which this took effect surprised everyone. Some of our new prices took effect last week and they will continue to do so as new stock is ordered. Unlike some businesses, we will not be preemptively raising our prices; rather we will be adjusting them as new stock comes into the store. In this way we will continue to ensure that our pricing is fair, and that our customers continue to receive excellent value.

Please see below how this tax increase will affect some of our exclusive whiskies and private bottlings. Some of our most popular whiskies will be going up in price, however if you act quickly on our cask of Springbank, the Finlaggans, Benromach Organic or the Ileach Cask Strength you can grab a few bottles before the price goes up.
If you have any questions don’t hesitate to contact me.

Sláinte!
Andrew Ferguson

Pre Tax Affected Products

Some of our products will not be affected by the tax increase. The retail price of four of our five in-stock casks will not go up in price because all of the stock is in store. We will continue to offer the following KWM private bottlings at their existing price until stock runs out.

1. Gordon & MacPhail Glen Grant 1966 – $499.99 + GST
   • 134 individually numbered bottles half of which have sold.
   • Single Refill Sherry Hogshead, bottled at cask strength.
   • Beautifully packaged in an engraved, glass-fronted, rosewood box.
   • Spicy, sweet and surprisingly gentle for nearly 42 years of age with a slight cocoa/mocha bitterness on the finish.
   • 1/8th the price of most whiskies of this age.
2. OMC KWM Port Ellen 25Yr – $249.99 + GST
   • 210 individually numbered bottles, less than half of which are left.
   • Single Refill Sherry Butt bottled at cask strength.
   • Closed Islay Distillery 1983
   • Classic Port Ellen: smoky, salty, and peaty balanced with soft sherry notes.
3. Tullibardine 1987 KWM Cask w/ Glass – $189.99 + GST
   • Only 25 bottles left!
   • Single Refill Sherry Hogshead bottled at cask strength.
   • 191 individually signed bottles.
   • Classic Tullibardine creamy milk chocolate with the sherry notes of Macallan 18Yr.
4. Evan Williams 1998 KWM Single Barrel Bourbon – $54.49 + GST
   • Only 11 bottles left!
   • 138 total bottles.
   • 1st Ever Private Bottling of Evan Williams in Canada.

Springbank 1996 KWM Manzanilla Cask

Our cask of Manzanilla Sherry Cask of Springbank 1996 is, unfortunately, going to be affected by the tax increase. To date, we have only brought half of the cask in from the Government warehouse. Unfortunately the bottles still in storage with the Government (300 bottles) will be affected by the tax increase. We have spent the last week talking about the fairest way of easing in this price increase and have decided to do the following:

1. We will sell the remaining 45 in-stock bottles of Springbank 1996 KWM Manzanilla Cask at the pre-tax-increase price of $109.99 + GST.
2. Once those 45 bottles are sold, we will be increasing the price of the Springbank 1996 KWM Manzanilla Cask to $115.99 + GST, an increase of $6.00.

Our cask of Springbank has been a huge success since we released it in mid February. To date we have sold more than 250 of the 600 bottles! Here is a review of the whisky and its specifics:

“Another first! Kensington Wine Market has become the first store in Canada to bottle its own cask of single malt whisky from Springbank distillery. Released approximately two months ago, the whisky has been flying off the shelved with more than 250 of the 600 bottles sold! If you haven’t tried it yet, you must drop by the store and rectify that. Our friendly staff will be more than happy to pour you a sample!

Springbank is Scotland’s oldest family owned distillery, and has been in the possession of the Wright/Mitchell family since its inception in 1828. It is also Scotland’s most traditional distillery, and accordingly, probably its finest. It is the only distillery in Scotland to malt 100% of its barley and is one of a very few that bottles its whisky on site. This gives the distiller more control over quality than any other in the country, and also means that it employs more people. Even though Springbank’s production is relatively small, it employs 10 times as many people as most distilleries 4 to 5 times its size.

Springbank is located in the Victorian town of Campbeltown near the mull of the Kintyre peninsula. At one point, in the late 19th and early 20th C, the town of Campbeltown was the heart of the Scottish whisky industry, supplying whisky to the burgeoning American market. Its 32 distilleries were only outnumbered by its churches. Distilleries wary of the temperance movement kept empty churches open to keep the movement at bay. Today there are only 3 distilleries in Campbeltown, and many of the old church and distillery buildings have been converted to other uses.

Kensington Wine Market was given the opportunity to purchase a cask of Springbank single malt whisky in the fall of 2008. On September 16th, our “Scotch Guy”, Andrew Ferguson was at the distillery in Campbeltown with a group of 6 whisky enthusiasts from Calgary. With the guidance of Peter Currie and the legendary Frank McHardy, they sampled 5 expressions of 1996 vintage Springbank single malt, each matured in a different type of Sherry cask: Oloroso, Fino, Cream, Manzanilla, and Amontillado. The group unanimously chose the Manzanilla cask.

Cask No. 258 has been bottled exclusively for the Kensington Wine Market at a cask strength of 56.4%. Matured exclusively in a single manzanilla sherry cask, the whisky is surprisingly soft and sweet at its strength, and has a very long finish. The cask yielded 600 bottles, of which more than 250 have sold in the last 2 months. I have also sent a sample of it to Malt Advocate magazine where I expect it will be very well received. The whisky is available only at the Kensington Wine Market for $109.99, and if you’re nice we might even offer you a taste!

Nose: rich and spicy, brown sugar and cedar wood notes give way to fig bars and young Christmas cake. Palate: sweet and spicy with firm tannins, and great depth, this is an after dinner whisky, or at least in need of a juicy steak; toffee cake and dark chocolate notes dominate the late palate with fig-like fruits. Finish: mouth-coating and rich, the finish is long, smooth and full with a rich nuttiness.”

Other KWM Exclusives

Unfortunately, all of our other exclusives whiskies will also have to increase price. While this change is weeks or months away for some products, it is much closer for others. Finlaggan, Finlaggan Cask Strength, Ileach Cask Strength and Benromach Organic will all be going up in price. In theory their price should be going up immediately, however we have decided to offer them at their existing prices until the end of the month, Thursday April 30th. Beginning May 1st the prices of each of these whiskies will be going up by $4-$6 / bottle. We will honour the former prices on all bottles of these four whiskies purchased or ordered prior to midnight Thursday April 30th:

1. Finlaggan Old Islay Reserve – $49.99
   • Historically our best selling single malt whisky.
   • Distilled at Caol Ila: Layers of Dark Chocolate and Peat
   • 94pts Jim Murray: “If you don’t buy a bottle of this you’ll regret it the rest of your life!”
2. Finlaggan OId Islay Reserve Cask Strength – $85.99
   • Distilled at Caol Ila: Sweeter, chewyer and richer than the non-cask strength version.
3. The Ileach Cask Strength – $85.99
   • Jim Murrays 2008 Whisky of the Year Runner Up / 97pts
   • Distilled at Lagavulin: Salty and smoky, with a layer of sweet honey; very smooth.
4. Benromach Organic – $85.99
   • The world’s first and only certified organic single malt whisky.
   • 91pts Jim Murray
   • Matured in New/Virgin American Oak: Massively buttery, loads of vanilla, sweet, creamy and smooth…
   • Our best selling whisky with women, and the perfect dram to sit on a patio this summer.

You can purchase or order all of these products in-store, over the web at www.kensingtonwinemarket.com and by phone at 403-283-8000/888-283-9004.

Sláinte!
Andrew Ferguson
scotchguy@kensingtonwinemarket.com