SERGE AND HIS BELOVED BENRIACH 1976 MEGA-TASTING!

BACK in June, Serge Reijnders, a Belgian BenRiach enthusiast, hosted a unique tasting to sample nineteen BenRiach 1976 Single Cask expressions in one afternoon…and he sold out all forty places in just two days!

Collectors normally collect simply to collect – but Serge had different ideas. Such is his passion for BenRiach, he wanted to share as many of his beloved 1976 expressions as he could with his invited guests.

As 1976 is his favourite BenRiach year, you’d be forgiven for thinking it’s also the year he was born. It’s not – he was born in 1978 but justifies his choice by pointing out there weren’t that many outstanding Benriachs from that year!

So where did his obsession for 1976 BenRiachs come from?

Known in the Low Countries as “that guy with all the BenRiachs”, he explained: “Bert Dexters got me started. His enthusiasm was contagious – his explanations about whisky and his insistence on writing down all the tasting notes. I was immediately sold so I joined “Cask Six”, Bert’s whisky club, and my first tasting was a few weeks later at a whisky festival where, as instructed, I noted everything we tasted.”

Serge prefers mainly fruity and sherry-matured whisky. “It took me some time to appreciate peated whisky – although I have always enjoyed whisky with only a hint of peat where the fruit or sherry comes through.”

As with many people, his love of BenRiach was started by the company’s Chief Executive and Master Blender Billy Walker and Serge tasted his first BenRiach at a Lindores tasting.

Serge takes up the story. “Then Bert Bruyneel arranged a tasting and we tasted 11 different BenRiachs including my first 1976 which was specially bottled for the Craigellachie Hotel, the first-ever 1976 bottling. I just adored it – that evening I lost my heart to BenRiach!”

Soon Serge started searching for all the 1976s that had been bottled…and once he had got them all, he found he couldn’t stop.

“I just had to get every new 1976 that was released, wherever that might be. Through Magnus Fagerstrom, currently the biggest BenRiach collector worldwide, I was introduced to his Japanese contact which helped a lot because soon afterwards the first 1976s for Japan were released.

“Magnus also put me in touch with his contact in Taiwan which allowed me to buy two bottles of cask 3033. I took one of them to last year’s Lindores Whiskyfest where everyone had to take and introduce one bottle. Someone else had cask 3557 which was specially bottled for La Maison du Whisky and another had the 1976 for Aston Morris with him. We tasted them and everyone liked the La Maison du Whisky bottling the most.”

It was that day which gave Serge the idea of doing his 1976 mega-tasting.

“Originally I thought I’d keep them for my fortieth birthday in 2018 but every time I told people about my tasting plans, they’d invite themselves over to my house! That’s when I thought: if people are so interested in attending, why not put all the whiskies in a huge tasting, and that’s what happened.”

The tasting was presented by Jurgen Vromas and cost €200 per person. The 19 whiskies were tasted in 4 groups, 3 consisting of 5 whiskies and at the end a blind tasting of 4 whiskies. The whiskies were grouped according to reputation which meant that the tasting would only get better as the day progressed.

Group 1 involved three peated whiskies and two sister casks bottled by Signatory. Journalist Johan van Samang from Whiskypassion magazine also attended the tasting and noted: “They were enjoyable but not exceptional whiskies – although we could taste the amazing character of BenRiach coming through.

“In Group 2, we tasted cask 2013 which hasn’t been bottled yet, but we could compare it with the 2014. Cask 2014 won, and also won this group.”

In Group 3, they tasted three 1976s bottled for Asia and two for Europe. In this category, the Shinanoya bottling stood out for everyone.

And finally, group 4 was the best of the best, blind tasted:

Johan said: “Cask 3557 from La Maison du Whisky was expected to win, but amazingly it didn’t even make it into the top three. Gold was won by cask 3033 for Taiwan, silver for 3029 for Shinanoya and bronze for 3032 for Japan, so Asia won convincingly from Europe.

“But what 3557 and 3033 have in common is that they are really complex, more so than the others. They go deeper, they have more layers and above all they have what makes BenRiach 1976 so special – that fantastic taste of tropical fruit.”

He concluded: “This was probably one of the hardest tastings I have ever done, but it’s also one of the most interesting and definitely the most enjoyable.

“This kind of tasting won’t be repeated very often so our thanks go to Serge for his incredible drive and passion. It’s clear the passion of the few has benefited the many BenRiach enthusiasts in the Low Countries!”

(This feature is based on an article which first appeared in the Dutch Whiskypassion magazine.)

Our post on The Whisky Exchange Whisky Show can be read by clicking on the link below

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Wobbleydon aftermath.

Well here we are again. My local pub and hang out haunt CHRISTIES PUB, PERTH. This wee criak is all about a session we had in July, just after Big Andy was sadly beaten by the Swiss guy at tennis, wobbleydon. After some hard touring I just needed to chill and break out a wee bit. The usual suspects were up for it of course, I would like to say “long suffering Karen” served us, but – Karen usually gives better than we give her, have been told off for a wee dribble left in my favourite bottle – Black Bush, she just picks up the bottle and waggles it at me, giving me those telling off eyes only your mother could do! Been told off for not shaving, Bob gets her “look” often and she is fast on the returned remark, we know who she likes and who she doesnee like serving (no names mentioned) but we do love her all the same.

Bob and Dave are suppin Belhaven Black, or is it Dark Island? I take my usual, Black Bush. Waiting on a couple to join us before starting. Lizzie and Kevin arrive. They have a drink to settle in before we start whiskying. First dram is one I have brought in myself (sorry Billy – pub owner) – a dram from Finland; Teerenpeli single malt. This is distilled and bottled at Teerenpeli Distillery Lahti, Finland. 43% volume, 8 years old from oak cask. To be honest Bob likes most things and he liked this. The name Teerenpeli means ‘flirtation’ or ‘dalliance’. We tried this and were surprised how balanced and tasty it was, usual vanilla, flowery niffs, wee bit nutty, all in all, a good start, not peaty which helps, a good Finnish we thought. Thanks Mika. Moving on, “new glasses please Karen”… a pub dram; Glenmorangie Original… fruity, notes of lemon and apple, vanilla, toffee, malty and very fruity (have said that eh). A 10 year old perfected by the sixteen men of Tain no less! Lizzie liked this one, well she would be, originally from Tain hersel’. Talking of Lizzie, she (the queen) was here in Perth recently, she didnee call into the pub though, what a shame eh? After a break for a glass of irn bru, water, juice (we all have different tastes) even a Dark Island, we set out on the long road again, this time calling into Glengoyne for a nice easy 10 year old… big bourbon taste, fruity. Barley rich, more bourbon influence. Nae smoke or peat here either, funny wee thing this, the distillery is Highland, the warehouses and car park is Lowland! So what are we? Kev (Aberdeenshire), Lizzie (Tain), Paul (Connel) are Highlanders, Bob and Dave from Scone so borderland highland/central.

Back to the water of life; new glasses please! What is that racket goin on in the pub! a nice lookin Bowmore 12 year old was looking at us. Age is going up as we go on, well, we are all getting older as we sip. A 12 year old, a whiff of grass. Peaty, smokiness wafts of seaweed. Some sherry. Lots of salt! Ah a peaty dram to end on, er no – I had another up my sleeve; Lagavulin 16 yo. Sorry Billy (again), brought this with me from a recent trip to Islay (eye la) massive peat/smoke – one of the smokiest from Islay. It’s big, niffs of iodine, spices, vanilla, a mouthful of malt and sherry but sweetness, spicy finish, figs, dates, vanilla.

This ends our tasting for today (well it doesn’t but my mum may be reading this, who knows?), well done Andy from Dunblane (no far from where we are sittin), sadly no distillery there but, the lad has a long finish, outstanding nose, good right arm, can play on peat we hear, or grass, tried a seaweed finish one day, slipped up there son! Well you have to celebrate getting to the final, only two did and a Scot was one! At the end of the day, Andy Murray. He has balls.

Written by Paul McLean, of Angels & MCLEANSCOTLAND fame. Fame? He’s a legend in his own lunchtime. www.angelswhiskyclub.com  www.mcleanscotland.com

3:50 AM. Whose bright idea was this? Ah, that would be yourself bucko. It had seemed like a good idea at the tasting last night (tonight?) in The Whisky Shop where they had kindly hosted the Malt Maniacs for a stupendous farewell tasting; a fitting finale for our 15^th Anniversary gathering in Scotland. Does it every really become fully dark in Edinburgh in the summer? No matter, stick to the plan. Only 3 more whisky related activities left on the schedule in this 24 hour period; how delightfully Maniacal. Put on the kettle for a quick cup of tea and then a phone call to Ho-cheng’s room; “Are you awake?” “Yes” he replied, “OK, see you in the lobby in 10 minutes”. Indeed a quick cup of tea and 10 minutes later Ho-cheng and I were in the lobby. And he’d shaved…..how the hell had he done that?? The front desk arranged for a taxi which arrived with impressive speed and we gave our destination “28 Victoria Street please” and we sat back for the short journey. “Wait one, this is Castle Hill and not Victoria Street” I thought …but, ah, the entrance to the stair case which leads down toVictoria Street. Some what dark and ominous but there is WHISKY at the destination so press forward!

A minute later we pushed open the door of The Whisky Shop to reveal numerous bright eyed people bustling about setting up for the Compass Box world record attempt with John Glaser. John was attempting to hold a tasting in eight Whisky Shop locations in the UK in a 24 hour period and it involved a route from Inverness to Brighton. Shortly after our arrival Tim Puett from the Ardbeg Project glided into the shop (he’d shaved too). Interestingly for the future of whisky present at the tasting  were a number of young women who appeared to simply be there for the whisky; just like us. Surprise, surprise in walked Carsten Hering Nielsen whom I had first met a few years ago; small world!

After much fretting by staff the set up was complete and with a few minutes until the start time we were presented with little confetti devices along with final instructions for when John popped his head in the door. Bang on time in came John and who was suitably covered in streamers and confetti along with a warm welcome. John had shaved. Seemingly only your Honourable correspondent had failed to shave, I managed to consol myself with the knowledge that drams would soon be served.

John took a minute or two to say hello to everybody individually and then he started the tasting with a short talk about the world record attempt and the philosophy behind Compass Box whisky. We started off with a whisky cocktail made with Great King Street blended whisky, a ‘naked’ sample of Great King Street, followed by the Spice Tree and the story of how it came about and then finally the Peat Monster which went down very easily considering the time of the morning. Surprisingly quickly the allotted time was up and John and his team were off to their next stop, two down, six to go. 

As we walked back to the hotel we realized it was so early not even the Edinburgh tram line was running…but then will it ever? Only an hour and a half until breakfast so finally I’d have a chance to shave!

Noon Only two more events to go; now it was time for lunch at the Scotch Malt Whisky Society Queen Street; Tim had arranged for a lunch with some of the team from Glenmorangie Plc and we (Peter, Krishna and I) were going to meet Tim for a dram prior to his going off to lunch. After all it had been six and half hours since our last dram and we felt that we really needed to keep up our strength! Drams were duly selected from the monthly list and then suddenly the Glenmorangie team had arrived; Dr. Bill Lumsden – Head of Distilling & Whisky Creation, Iain Russell  Brands Heritage Manager, Hamish Torrie Head of Communications and Mark Harvey Business Development Director – USA and they very kindly invited us all to lunch downstairs in the main dining room which was very brave of them to take on 4  Malt Maniacs at once but they accomplished this by distracting us with drams of SMWS Glenmorangie and a stupendous meal (Scallops followed by lamb shank, both with appropriate wines). Thank you gentlemen. 

After lunch it was time for some shopping for souvenirs and gifts and perhaps a quick dash into one or two of the many whisky shops on the Royal Mile including the Scotch Whisky Experience near the castle. As always it was a very busy place and Amber restaurant was busy busy (one step above busy you understand). After shopping a quick diversion to the hotel to unload the purchases, check email, check-in online for tomorrow’s flights and then off to the Vaults for the grand finale of the day. 

6PM Tim, Peter and I had agreed to meet with Mark (WM Cadenhead Ltd) and Willie (WhiskyWhiskyWhisky forum) at the Scotch Malt Whisky Society’s Vaults at 87 Giles Street for a bite to eat and a ‘few’ drams. Tim and Peter being stout fellows seemingly had gone straight from post lunch drams at Queen Street to the Vaults and were happily ensconced sampling more (many) of the Society’s whiskies. 

Dinner, as usual at the Vaults was excellent (mixed green salad, grilled sausages and mash, gravy) and the drams were a malt lovers cornucopia including many bottlings which were the very first from various distilleries hidden far to the left hand side of the bar. Those bottlings have not been available for many, many years and all sported the Society’s original label (and bottle shape). Also a number of Society older Glen Moray went down range and soon enough it was time as both Tim and I had very early flights. 

The SMWS Vaults was a fitting venue for the 4th whisky event in 24 hours. As Tim and I left Peter, Mark and Willie were hard at it…

L to R below; Ho-cheng, Carsten, Lawrence, John & Tim

Here is a review of  the Whisky Lounge Stratford-Upon-Avon Whisky Festival that took place recently, you may read the review by clicking on the link below;

THE LINK

It is written by Jonathan Bryant of www.livingroomwhisky.com

Eight German Angels visited this years WhiskyFair in Limburg (GER).

It’s getting bigger and bigger we can say! Everyone who’s been there knows what I’m talking about!

We arrived at 2 o’clock at the fair and the weather was perfect. It was almost too perfect to have a dram! The thermometer outside in front of the entrance shew +30°. As we entered the tent in front of the Josef Kohlmaier Halle we saw Allistair Walker (BenRiach, GlenDronach) behind his stand sweating like crazy. There was no oxygen in the tent. The hosts tried to get fresh air into the tent with help of huge fans but without great success.
So we decided to leave the tent and head outside for a cool drink. We were standing at a table between the tent and the Josef Kohlmaier Halle. The sun was shining bright on our heads so we decided to get a cool fresh beer. Two angels went in to have some whiskies because we were at the WhiskyFair and not the BeerFair 😉

Inside the Josef Kohlmaier Halle it was hot, no fresh air and really crowded. We started with a Bruichladdich, emptied it while heading to the exit and took a WhiskyFair Bottling (Caol Ila ) dram from the WhiskyFair-Stand right next to the exit to enjoy outside. The other angels were still enjoying their cool beer as we came back to report on the conditions inside the hall. Having finished our excellent dram we ordered two beers to cool down a bit. The other six angels went inside to experience the hot conditions and get a few drams while we defended our table outside. It is very important to have a table at the fair because it makes it more comfortable with all your belongings.

We had backbags and jackets (for the night when it cools down) that you can leave at the table. See, it is horrible to walk through the crowd with your backbag. But you know what I mean when you ever been to a crowded place with a backbag =) So our system was that half of the angels stayed at the table outside while the others enjoyed the drams inside. Of course we did enjoy plenty of great drams!!! Worth to mention are Highland Park Thor (16y), Maltbarn Caol Ila 30y, Signatory Cragganmore 26y and Brora 30y.

We left the WhiskyFair in the evening for the Islay BBQ presented by Villa Konthor. The BBQ was set in a lounge close to the train station and like the fair it was crowded again. Three Bruichladdich Whiskies and a perfect Whisky based BBQ were waiting for us. I’ll never forget the delicious whisky-sauces along with perfect grilled meat! In the end the whole day was absolutly amazing! The weather was perfect, the drams worked and we enjoyed a tremendous BBQ.

No question that we’ll attend next years WhiskyFair again!!!

Jens
German Ambassador
www.angelswhiskyclub.com

Modernizing liquor laws overdue

By James Romanow

I am currently trying to organize a scotch tasting to be held in Saskatoon.

I want a specific set of scotch served to illustrate the regional characteristics of single malts.

I was asked to do this in seven weeks. That’s about how long it takes to set up and manufacture a new cellphone design. In the liquor business in Saskatchewan, seven weeks is a back-breaking deadline.

Among the hurdles needing to be cleared are:

. It’s illegal for a venue to serve liquor it doesn’t purchase itself, so a new, separate liquor licence is required. Because the hotel fears for its licence and profit margin, the event must be carefully negotiated, requiring at least four hours of three people’s time.

. The Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority’s special order desk is incapable of sourcing, ordering and delivering to me in less than eight weeks 25 bottles of unlisted scotch available in several places across Canada.

. Willow Park, a Regina vendor that actually carries these labels, properly listed under the SLGA system, cannot get the 25 bottles within five weeks because the product must go from the Alberta warehouse to the SLGA warehouse to Willow Park and then to me. This despite Willow Park having all of the inventory in its warehouse in Calgary.

The SLGA has ordered the closure of Saskatoon wine vendor Cava Wines. Cava is accused of buying wine in Alberta for resale in Saskatchewan, and possibly – some of the story is rather murky – for buying wine or wine futures in France.

Our baroque liquor laws are firmly founded on prohibitionism, on the certainty that liquor drinkers are an immoral lot who are always trying to circumvent the law. This legal structure is buttressed by an NDP faith that all jobs should be government jobs, and a spineless government bul lied into submitting to the prohibitionist-NDP axis.

Don’t believe me? Why then are we perfectly content to tax gasoline sold by an entirely private network of distributors and vendors, but are compelled to sell all alcoholic products via a single government importing agency? Oh, and virtually all “imports” come from notoriously sinful places such as Edmonton.

If all we want is the income to run our government, sales taxes will do the job. If our goal is maximizing government taxes, then we want as many vendors and distributors as possible. We do not have either, so I assume we want something else.

I am hard pressed to imagine what else that could be, except the selfrighteous glow that comes from burning witches and punishing sinners.

The SLGA warehouse is set up to handle 700,000 cases annually, but actually must deal with 2.1 million. In June 2008 I suggested to then-SLGA minister Dan D’Autremont that the government privatize the warehouse. He said it was impossible because “you need bonded warehouses.”

A new warehouse is now planned. It has yet to be built or opened. This is called moving at the speed of government.

Now the SLGA is apparently claiming the right to sell French wine futures, always a favourite procurement channel for rubbies and other alcoholics.

That’s not covered by existing legislation. However, to win that right, Cava Wines will probably have to litigate to at least one appellate level.

If I buy wine in France I can import it, as long as I pay the appropriate taxes at the border. “Aha!” the supporters of the current system say. “You’d just sneak across the border to buy it from those dissolute Albertans.” Unfortunately this is already happening.

Any number of my readers have told me of the joys of loading up the minivan at the Edmonton SuperStore.

Anyone should be able to set up a business selling wine futures. They are selling a financial product, not liquor. Anyone should be able to organize wine tastings without having to worry about what wines are carried at any venues, or by which vendors.

You don’t need to privatize the SLGA. The government can maintain as many stores as it and we wish to have. Remember us? We’re the voters.

This is our problem. All the government needs to do is draft legislation that includes a clause that allows bypassing the SLGA warehouse.

The government failed to do so in 2008 because it was and is terrified of attempting to bring the liquor laws into the 21st century. The Calvinists and voters afraid of change have won. What the neo-prohibitionist ideologues have done is to partially fund Alberta health care. They also made events such as beer, wine and scotch tastings difficult, expensive and rarer than need be.

Three cheers and goodbye, Cava Wines. It was fun while it lasted.

© James Romanow  All rights reserved. No re-publication without express permission by the owner. This article is reproduced here with the express permission of the author. Please visit his blog at www.drbooze.com Romanow is a Saskatoon based freelancer who writes a regular column on wine for The StarPhoenix.

Send us your own ‘Vignettes – Moments in Whisky’. If you have a whisky moment please feel free to submit your moment and we’ll do our best to publish it. Go on, you know you want to be famous…

Angels Whisky Club – The Perth Easter tasting sesh.

Now I must have to translate for our members without the gift of the translate; sesh; is a session. Easter here in Scotland does not hold the same draw as it does south of the border, our posties (postmen) are working, its almost a normal day, banks do close, that’s aboot it. Where were we? Back in the old haunt of Christies Pub (our local). Who was in the sesh? Paul, Ming, his brother Boab, Billy, floating guests; Offaly man, combat Paul, Lizzie, Ron, Kev and Diageo man (who was no invited).

Why? Celtic won the league trophy. (Glasgow Celtic Football Club), if we actually needed an excuse, this was it, Christies is a braw Hoops place after all. Naturally we started with Booshmills Black Bush; matured in Oloroso Sherry casks, giving it a deep amber tone, fruity and so easy to slip doon the neck its almost laffable! This is a (Paul) favourite in the pub and always runs oot. Taken with water or straight, it’s a really good Irish whiskey, why it has that name we dinnae know, it does cause some trouble when a new bar girl works, but lets not go into that. As we are celebrating another Celtic title, we thought it very apt to go for an Irish dram. This was then followed by another one. Offaly man (another Paul, from Co Offlay and a Liverpool supporter) wandered in, “here, av a dram big man”… about now a few pints of beer arrived; Dark Island, ( a dark real ale brew from Orkney) Ming drinks this as his “usual” – someone had seen him in from the other side of the bar and sent a couple over, so while he consumed these most of us had a Jamesons; made at the Midleton Distillery, this beauty niffs of flowers and cut grass – mind as a lad you knicked the marmalade when granny wasnee lookin? Smells (or memories) of this if you close yer eyes, a bit o fudge and honey, just a shame it didnee hang aboot long, so another was needed. Just around noo, Diageo man walked in, he’s a pain in the preverbial, nae one really talks to him, why the name? he works for em. As usual he steals Paul’s favourite dram off the shelf; Black Bush. As he attempts to chat to some poor unsuspecting stranger, we ignore him, but he is getting dangerous looks from someone, he downs his glass and leaves.

Ming was back after his trip to the dark side, so we moved on to a Highland Park; it screams Orkney so it does and we thought it a grand follow- on from the dark Island – see? Tryin to be clever again. The nip we tucked was the 18 year old; deliciousness, toffee, oak, and peat, a fantastic amount of smoke with the lasting taste note; “must have another!” There was a private party in the pub, a christening I believe, there was far too much food, so – as you do, an offer to help them out was taken graciously. Ah, a cheese butty with a dram of rich peaty liquid doesnee ever go wrong, a half cut sausage roll and a piece o keesh. We now wondered aloud “who brought the chokky egg?” a chocolate Easter Egg had appeared from nowhere. Now that’s another grand example of the whisky drinkers art; a wee slice of chocolate to cleanse the palate, so we all cleansed away. It turns oot it was Combat Paul who brought the egg, “Combat” was home on leave from Afganistan, aye, he’s a squadie. Proceedings were halted just then, a gaggle of good looking lassies came in, although the drams were a callin, so too were the lassies. After a very brief interuption (too many years difference in age soon put a stop to our chat) realism set in, so we had a very serious Glenfiddich Snow Phoenix Limited Edition; this is a gem that’s hidden behind the bar for those with a “good nose and being a local”. (it had snowed here in Perth recently) OK it costs a wee bit more, but well worth it. (Angel) Paul had introduced this to the bar a while back and persuaded the bar to keep it for special events, well aye this was special, c’mon the Hoops! wild ember smells of a campfire, with heather honey and swished doon with another piece of chocolate, a rich and complex dram (thanks Bert) with a whiff (readers question; is there a difference between a niff and a whiff?) of coffee and smoke. Bottled at 47.6% volume. We just had to keep it on the bar and sniff its open neck. Watching Celtic take Kilmarnock apart (a replay) sure helped the afternoon go well, a 6 – 0 slaughter was all we needed to tempt us into a Redbreast 12 year old; a beautiful pure pot still Irish Whiskey, rich flavours and a spicy kick (bit like Charlie Mulgrew). In the view of many of us, the best Irish whiskey available. Picked up many top prizes so a grand wee dram to end on, did I no say; Celtic are the Irish Catholic team in Glasgee, with many Irish flags flying at the games, we play in green and white, or is it white and green? Father Timothy started the team back in 1888, hence all the Irishness. Och just as we thought we were done, out went Combat and in donders Lizzie, who does like a dram (ask Paul). “Hi everyone, what you been upto?” so we relate our sesh and ye can see she is green, so we buy her a dram, Redbreast and a Snow dram, one or two wander away home for grub but Ronnie and Kev wander in, so its another sesh startin. With an Irn Bru diet and a Dark Island or two, we linger at the bar chattin to the newcomers. Talk moves to fishing, why? how? But it does, so Paul, Lizzie and Ming sit doon away from them, soon its Paul and Lizzie – thick as thieves. Its generally Lizzie who looks after Paul, but he does his fair share of lookin after too, these two have been known to share a drink or nine between them and normally, one helps the other home. Dinnae say anything, but sometimes there may be a fall, but of course its poor health no the drink that causes it. A cracking Easter had by all, Easter drinks, eggs, food and craik, cannee beat it eh! Did you notice we had 6 drams? Celtic scored 6, so we did too! I like it when a plan comes together!

Angels Whisky Club is free for everyone, new members welcome. www.angelswhiskyclub.com 

Send us your own ‘Vignettes – Moments in Whisky’. If you have a whisky moment please feel free to submit your moment and we’ll do our best to publish it. Go on, you know you want to be famous…

John climbed up Ben Lomond because he figured it would be the BEST place to do a tasting video for his whisky. 

Take a look for yourself at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0hhiJbkmmM

Well done John and thank you Emma!

Here’s a report from the official launch of the Highland Park ’Thor’ in Stockholm.

‘Thor’sday February 16 saw the day of the official European launch of the latest Highland Park – their ‘Valhalla’-collection that promises to office whisky in the character style of the old Norse Gods.

A very exciting and also a hard project according to Martin Markvardsen – the Danish brand ambassador for Highland Park. Martin tells me it has taken a lot of research into old Viking writings and chronicles to come up with the profile for this whisky – but they have released the first edition – the ‘Thor’

The launch of Highland Park ‘Thor’ was set in the capitol city of our Swedish brothers – Stockholm and at the Viking theme restaurant of Aifur (http://www.aifur.se/) a through and through concept with traditional long tables and benches, cutlery and the right décor and therefore also the right place for a launch of a whisky in this style. Aifur is located in Stockholm’s ‘Gamla Stan’ (Old town) with it cobbled streets starts to build up your expectations when you approach the place.

Aifur:

Inside Aifur the décor was much more alive like this guy with his Highland Park shield:

Martin Markvardsen said hello upon arrival and after getting a welcoming drink in my hand I quickly found a seat and started chatting with a guy from a local Stockholm whiskyclub.

Shortly after we were treated to a 3 course meal and a lecture about Viking travels by Charlotte Hedenstierna-Jonson from Stockholms University. To accompany the starter there was Highland Park 12yo + 18yo – 2 nice classics which was given a short introduction by Martin.

…and after the starter, it was time for the official launch of the ‘Thor’

Gerry Tosh gave an introduction to this new series and the concept behind before 2 tough looking Vikings in full armor carried a large chest down the stairs and hands Martin the keys.

He then unlocked the chest and in an old-religious style lifts out a bottle of ‘Thor’ and raises it above his head.

At the same time – a dram of the ‘Thor’ is passed around…

So let us de-mystify this much talked about latest release from Highland Park:

Highland Park ’Thor’ 16yo 52,1%, 23.000 Bottles
Cask ratios for this one deserves a mention as it’s not the normal Highland Park style. The ‘Thor’ is 90% refill American oak sherry casks and 10% first fill European oak

My own notes are:

Nose:
Clearly peated, but not in the heavy islay-style, but still significant compared to the normal Highland Park peating level. At the same time it comes across light and fresh and with an earthy note I can only describe as a dunnage warehouse style. Also very fruity, citrus style, flowers in an orange grove?

Taste: The peat hits right away, but like on the nose, its light and disappears to the back of the mouth and lets a large amount tropical fruits and citrus (grape fruits?) notes and some vanilla and oak play on the palate. Also a little spicy and salty in the aftertaste – all which dries out to allow a whiff of trademark Highland Park honey to appear. All in all a whisky with a huge mouthfeel that also allows for finer notes to appear… and what really impresses me with this one, is its incredible freshness all the way on to its medium short finish again with the peat present.

It’s a nice piece of work by Highland Parks whiskymaker Max Mcfarlane for sure.

The next release will hit the streets before the end of the year, but it has still not been decided if it’s going to Freya or Loki that’s next

After the tasting there was a photo-op – here’s Martin Markvardsen and Gerry Tosh and the star of the evening – Thor:

Then it was time for mains and wine and music and entertainment, incl. an demonstration of how the Vikings passed time during the long winter nights. One of the games was ‘cheek pulling’… and the one who gave up first lost, of course – see a demo of it here:

After that it was time to lets some of the impressions settle a bit and have another taste of the ‘Thor’ from the bar and some of the local brew also. Martin and Gerry had commitments with Italian TV so it was a perfect time to indulge myself in another dram.

Before I left for the evening, Martin and I spend some time talking about the whisky scene incl. their business agreement with cooperage at the Sherry Bodega of Gonzales Byass, that does all the cask seasoning for them. Sometimes all the sherry is just poured away or sometimes its reused for another seasoning of new European oak casks. We alsos talked about the craftmansship involved in putting together these casks when a guy almost juggles this 500 liter butt around the coopers yard.

After an introduction to Gerry Tosh, Martin also let me know that Gerry is quitting as Global Brand ambassador to work fulltime in marketing. His job is taken over by Darryl Haldane, which btw is the guy with the mobile in the picture with the 2 cheek-pullers.

It was a very enjoyable evening indeed…and the next day snowy Stockholm showed itself from its beautiful side with the sun coming out just before noon and by that creating the perfect conditions for a walk around the ‘Old Town’ in Stockholm… it is recommended for sure – just as the Highland Park ‘Thor’… so good I just had to have one myself 

Finally a thanks to Martin for the invitation to the event.

Claus ‘BigMac’ Rasmussen,
Chairman, Aalborg Whisky Club, Denmark
http://www.aalborgwhiskylaug.dk/