A NIGHT ON EARTH – THE FIRST LIGHT

Cask & Crust: Si King and Cask Trade Serve Up a Perfect Pairing of Whisky, Pies, and Purpose

Cask & Crust is a new, limited-edition whisky bottling collaboration between cask whisky specialist, Cask Trade, and one of the UK’s best-loved cooks and broadcasters, Si King.

Cask Trade’s team of passionate whisky experts have led Si through the journey of bottling his very own liquid, which has been expertly selected and paired with new recipes from PROPA! – Si King’s popular pie brand in Sunderland.

The unique collaboration sees a combination of Si’s passion for food, whisky, and charity, with bottle profits being donated to the Newcastle and Sunderland food banks.

Cook and broadcaster, Si King, says the collaboration embodies his lifelong passions, bringing true purpose to the end-product. “Whisky is such a remarkable spirit full of character, variety and tradition. I’ve had a lifelong love for it, so being able to hand-pick some unique drams with Cask Trade and use them in my PROPA! Pies has been a real joy. To then bottle those whiskies for others to enjoy has been fantastic. Both Scotch whisky and PROPA! Pies carry a strong sense of place and purpose, so bringing the two together in support of Sunderland and Newcastle food banks has been an absolute privilege.”

The three hand-selected, single malt whiskies are: Benrinnes 2013 (11 years), Pulteney 2013 (11 years) and Ben Nevis 2010 (15 years), bottled at 46% ABV.

Si has taken his love of the liquid and culinary genius one step further, creating three new PROPA! pie recipes which are infused with the very whisky he has bottled – Steak, Whisky & Green Peppercorn Pie, Chicken, Haggis & Whisky Cured Bacon Pie and Wild Mushroom, Blue Cheese Pie, Onion & Whisky Gravy.

Director of Cask Trade and Keeper of the Quaich, Colin Hampden-White, says: “Creating a bespoke bottling is always a joy, whether for our trusted independent bottlers, for fun, or, as in this case, for charity. Working with Si on his idea of pairing drams with his PROPA! Pies was truly special.”

Colin adds: “We were able to tailor every element of the journey to honour Si’s commitment to local talent and business, such as the bottle label design. The experience was truly rewarding and I hope people take as much delight in the end-product as we did making it.”

The trio of Cask & Crust whiskies will be available from https://casktrade.square.site/ as of 23rd October 2025. The price per 50cl bottle is: Benrinnes – £49.99, Ben Nevis – £59.99 and Pulteney – £39.99.

ABOUT CASK TRADE:

Cask Trade was set up by award winning entrepreneur, Simon Aron, in 2018, born from his personal experiences of buying casks as a passionate whisky collector for more than 20 years. Having found cask ownership difficult to navigate with few reputable companies operating, he envisioned creating a marketplace that made buying and selling casks transparent, open, and honest. Cask Trade has grown from strength to strength, building its success on several core values:

•    Stockists, not brokers – Cask Trade own all its stock, giving buyers a 100% transactional guarantee and the peace of mind that all casks have been through stringent quality checks.
•    Market-leading stocklist – since 2018, Cask Trade has represented over 170 distilleries across the world of whisky, rum, Cognac and Armagnac.
•    End-to-end support – Cask Trade nurtures client relationships beyond the point of sale and offers full cask management, sampling, re-gauges, and multiple exit options when customers come to sell on their cask.
•    Trust and transparency – The company’s casks are held in the best HMRC bonded warehouses, regularly visited and approved by Cask Trade whisky masters. All stock holdings have a complete paper trail.
•    Expert team – above all, the Cask Trade team are passionate about cask ownership and strives to help clients achieve their goals, whether they are looking to buy, sell or bottle their casks.

Alongside cask sale and ownership, Cask Trade offers other unique services which elevate client experience and cask exit when the time is right:

Cask Trade Warehouse
In 2025, Cask Trade opened its own bonded warehouse. The unit is situated in Speyside, Scotland, and has the capacity for up to 25,000 casks. Clients can now book onto open days to visit the warehouse, see where their cask is stored, and sample directly from their cask or taste an indicative sample in the custom-built tasting room.

Cask Trade Bottling
For trade clients and those looking to bottle and enjoy their cask, Cask Trade offers a comprehensive bottling service located next door to their warehouse in Speyside. From cask selection, bottle options, label design and printing, and shipping to your final location, Cask Trade Bottling looks after every element of the process.

Auction Your Cask
Auction Your Cask is the world’s first dedicated online cask auction site. With four auctions a year, clients as well as the public can either submit a cask to sell or bid on other casks with 0% seller fees and an agreed reserve.

Recognition
Acknowledgement for the achievements of Cask Trade has been recognised by the FT1000 when the business was ranked as one of the fastest-growing companies in Europe; listed in The Sunday Times Hundred fastest-growing private companies in Britain, and named among the UK’s most innovative new businesses’ by StartUps 100 Index. CEO and Founder Simon Aron and Director Colin Hampden-White have also been listed again in the Spear’s 500 Top Recommended Whisky Advisors 2025.

ralfy review 1099 – Arran 12yo @50%vol: (Duero Discovery).

THE REVIEW

I’m back from holiday and it’s time to get opening all of the new stocks! I managed to secure a really fun bottle from a much loved release from the folks at The Thompson Brothers, I’ve also renewed my membership with a particularly excellent and well established indie bottler.

Outside of all of this, we’ve been sent loads of great bottles from the folks at The Whiskey Wash who I do some other work for. You can check out the written reviews at the link below, or you can wait for me to get them on here. Either way, whatever in this video you really want to see, do let me know below. That’s what this is all about.

Whisky Reviews every Wednesday
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Finn Thomson Glen Garioch 36 Years Old

ABV: 45.2% 70 cL

Distillery profiles: Dallas Dhu.

Construction started in 1898 when the Glaswegian blenders Wright & Greig were granted a site at Dallas near Forres in Moray adjacent to the Highland Railway line on its route to Grantown-on-Spey, Aviemore and afterwards Perth. The land was part of distiller and entrepreneur Alexander Edwards’s Sanquhar estate. In this year Edwards also formed Oban & Aultmore-Glenlivet Distilleries Ltd, having built Aultmore in 1897, he also commissioned Benromach in 1898.

In Roderick Dhu Wright & Greig had a successful blend and as demand for the brand rose the company had to source more spirit, Highland Park had apparently been a major component. The name of the blend is taken from a character in Sir Walter Scott’s then popular Lady of the Lake. The distillery was originally going to be called Dallasmore but by November 1899, 7 months after the completion of the buildings, it was referred to as Dallas Dhu.

During construction the boggy nature of the land meant strengthening ties were required to prevent some parts of the distillery from sinking. As there was not originally a siding at the distillery goods in and out were initially transported to Forres station by horse and cart. Wright & Greig went in to voluntary liquidation in 1919 unable to survive 2 decades of downturn in the industry and ownership of the distillery was passed to J. P. O’Brien & Co. Ltd, again of Glasgow who also had control over Caol Ila.

Dallas Dhu Distillery- (Rotorworx / S. Gardiner)

In 1920 Benmore Distilleries Ltd. took over Campbeltown distilleries Benmore and Lochead as well as Lochindal on Islay and Dallas Dhu in 1921. The company was made up of brewers and merchants including several based in England. Benmore Distilleriies were taken over in January 1929 by DCL who then transferred it to its subsidiary, Scottish Malt Distillers Ltd. (SMD) the following year. After a period of closure in the early 1930s the distillery reopened in 1936 but a fire on the 9th of April 1939 destroyed the still room. It was said that had there been stronger winds and if the fire brigade not been so prompt to attend the fire may have spread and the whole distillery could have been lost. Although malting took place in the remainder of the 1939 season distillation did not restart until 1947 as the war years prevented barley being supplied for production.

Due to a limit on the water supply Dallas Dhu was not expanded in the post war boom of the 1950s and 60s although it was modernised with electric power being introduced relatively late in 1950. In common with other SMD sites 1963 saw the introduction of mechanical stoking of the coal fired stills. Subsequently along with other actions production increased by 25% the following year. As at its neighbour, Benromach, hand malting of barley was discontinued in 1968 with the opening of Burghead maltings. Internal steam heating was introduced in 1971 meaning a water wheel powered rummaged was retired. The rummager had been powered by overflow from the worm tubs.

After a peak in demand in 1979 there was a falling off in popularity for whisky and DCL decided to close some of its older and smaller units. After a period of operating at 50% of capacity the last cask was filled on 16.3.1983. The licence to distil was finally cancelled in 1992. The copper domed mash tun was made of cast iron, there were 6 45KL larch washbacks, 2 stills, the wash at 6,377L was heated by kettles whilst the spirit was heated by coiled pipes and has a 5,623L capacity, both have similarly descending lyne arm leading to worm tubs. Maximum output was 0.75ML. The distillery was selected to be preserved as an industrial museum having many original features retained as examples of historic practices and equipment.

Asides.

In 1843 Dallas, Texas was renamed after American vice-president George M. Dalllas who was a descendant of William de Ripley who was granted the lands around which the distillery was eventually built. De Ripley changed his name to de Dallas.

Between 1894 and 1899 19 distilleries were built in Speyside and Banffshire. Dallas Dhu was the last facility to be constructed in the 19th century.

Mark Davidson, aka The Jolly Toper Profile

The Grand Whisky Auction ENDS TONIGHT!

The auction closes on Tuesday, 2nd September 2025 from 9:00pm (BST)

________________________________

Are you interested in selling whisky in our next auction?

📞 +44 (0)1463 210 427

📧 sales@tgwa.com

Compass Box Bespoke Culver & Sepulveda + 5th & Harrison + Secrets of Smoke Limited Edition Pack

(3x700ml) (Previously $500)

$380.00

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Very rarely are we able to find such significant upside for our wonderful scotch customers as this outrageous deal. As it turns out, there are still incredible deals to be had if you can find the right way to ask. This nifty little pack represents a nearly $140 value and the ONLY way to secure a bottle of the final 5th & Harrison’s on the market today. With it you’ll also receive Compass Box’s “Secrets of Smoke” a 2024 limited edition blended malt that challenges assumptions about peated Scotch, revealing layers of fruit and sweetness beneath the smoke. Bottled at 52% ABV, with natural color and no chill-filtration, using carefully selected parcels from Caol Ila, Laphroaig, Bowmore, and Ardmore. Wine and sherry-seasoned casks bring out a striking spectrum of flavors: Caol Ila in Palo Cortado sherry butts offers oily smoke, toffee, and sultana; Laphroaig in Marsala barriques delivers medicinal peat, blueberry jam, and dates; Bowmore in refill bourbon barrels adds floral peat and mango; Ardmore in sherry hogsheads brings heather honey, barbecue, and gentle florals. A portion of The Peat Monster finished in Spanish red wine casks contributes nutty, smoky, and bright cherry notes, while recharred American oak parcels add charred herbs, pineapple, and leather. Crafted by former lead whiskymaker James Saxon. With a bottle of Culver & Sepulveda – the famous blend of old Bowmore, Caol Ila, Sherried Glendullan that goes into the 5th and Harrison – and you’ve got one heck of a deal.

Email: wine@klwines.com
Phone: (877) KL-WINES (Toll Free 877.559.4637)
K&L Wine Merchants 3005 El Camino Real Redwood City, CA 94061 USA
San Francisco, Redwood City, Hollywood CA

Ardbeg Anthology #3 – The Beithir’s Tale 2025 Whisky 15 Year Old

70cl · 46% ABV

£129.95

Beithir: A fearsome—and famously thirsty—serpentine creature, said to bring misfortune to any who dare cross its path.

The third and final edition in the Ardbeg Anthology Collection features the legendary Beithir. Matured for 15 years in specially crafted bourbon casks—air-seasoned, heavily toasted, and lightly charred—this limited edition single malt is a whisky of mythic character. With a nose that entices, a texture that slithers silkily across the palate, and a finish that lingers like legend, The Beithir’s Tale is a dram not easily forgotten.

The Beithir’s Tale is a supremely aromatic dram. Just a splash of water unveils bold waves of eucalyptus and menthol, followed by piercing notes of fennel and pine. Peat smoke and coffee grits intertwine with sweet raisins, mellow vanilla, and a whisper of smoked butter—proving once more that Ardbeg is no stranger to the extraordinary.

Aroma: Bold and complex. Pungent, oily, and spicy with rich treacle wrapping around creosote & smoked herbs. Hints of toasted apples and raisins add a hidden sweetness. With water, expect a vivid burst of eucalyptus and menthol, followed by aromatic fennel & pine.

Taste: Astonishingly well-balanced. A sizzling mouthfeel gives way to earthy peat smoke, coffee grits, and currants. Sweet lemon balsam intertwines with smoked mandarins, leading into a sharp, smoky tang.

Finish: Long and meandering, it trails off with elegant notes of vanilla and smoked butter.

Invergordon Fragrant Drops Single Cask #8 Whisky 50 Year Old · 1974 Vintage

70cl · 46% ABV

£278.95

Bottled by the independent Fragrant Drops this 50 year old whisky from the Invergordon distillery is one of only 259 bottles produced. A rich, balanced profile of vanilla, dried fruit, buttery shortbread, dark chocolate, and hazelnut, with hints of clove, sultanas, and a dry, earthy finish with a touch of rhubarb.