Creating a new distillery in an old building comes with its own particular challenges. But it also allows you to start from scratch in terms of putting the visitor experience first, and in determining what the focus of your distinctive approach should be.

That’s certainly the case with Holyrood distillery, located in the historic Engine Shed building in the heart of Edinburgh, which started running its stills in July 2019.

Everything about the set-up from the visitor’s point of view is about flavour and knowledge, with the first stop on a distillery tour taking you to the Nosing Room. Before you even see a copper still, it’s been designed to put your olfactory senses to the test, and every stage of the tour is geared towards not only educating you about the process, but to helping you identify what kind of flavours you might be drawn towards more than others.

Click over to Unfiltered online to read the full article in this month’s magazine.

READ UNFILTERED

The Scotch Malt Whisky Society, The Vaults, 87 Giles Street, Leith EH6 6BZ

Contact: sales@smws.com or call 0131 555 2929 (Mon-Fri 9am-4.45pm). Visit the Society at here for membership information

This is your chance to join and to take advantage of their great offers!

Spot the SMWS bottles in this amusing You Tube video

Welcome to this weeks episode of the show in which I’ll be looking at some of the latest releases from independent bottler James Eadie.

https://youtu.be/uk1-ovF1rOs

Introducing Lost Lantern Whiskey

New Bottler of American Whiskey Dedicated to Shining a Light on the Independent Spirit

October 6, 2020—The best whiskey reflects its origin, its craftsmanship, its ingredients, and its distillers. Inspired by the long tradition of independent bottlers in Scotland, Lost Lantern is a new independent bottler of American whiskey. The company seeks out the most unique and exciting whiskies being made all across the country and releases them as single casks and blends, always with a deep commitment to transparency.

With the launch of Lost Lantern comes the introduction of the brand’s first bottling, American Vatted Malt Edition No. 1. This blend of single malts from six American distilleries will be available for purchase as of October 15 at LostLanternWhiskey.com and Seelbachs.com shortly thereafter; between the two sites, Lost Lantern Whiskey will be available in 40 states. Later this month, the brand will announce details on its first four limited-edition single cask whiskies, which will also be released this fall.

Lost Lantern was founded in 2018 by Nora Ganley-Roper and Adam Polonski, whiskey lovers who worked on two sides of the industry: Nora as a retail specialist and Sales Manager at Astor Wine & Spirits; Adam as a Senior Whisky Specialist and Editor at Whisky Advocate. The decision to become an independent bottler was born from their desire to highlight the great distilleries crafting exciting whiskey around the country. “There are approximately 2,000 distilleries in the United States, yet there’s no easy way for whiskey lovers to discover the best and most exciting ones,” explained Adam. “I kept dwelling on this idea and realized that somebody was going to do this sooner or later. It was clear that, between my experience and contacts and Nora’s palate and background in startups and operations, we were the ones who should do it.” Lost Lantern was born soon after.

Nora and Adam have committed to only purchasing whiskey from distilleries they have visited in person. “We’re presenting distilleries to our customers under the Lost Lantern name as exemplars in their field, so we need to understand what they’re doing and why,” commented Nora. Since deciding to create Lost Lantern, Nora and Adam have visited close to 100 distilleries. Many of these visits were part of their 2018 “Great Whiskey Road Trip,” which took the duo to 50 distilleries in eight months across dozens of states. Inspired to continue on, they visited another 25 while touring the Midwest in 2019, and that number has only continued to increase.

While their roles at Lost Lantern overlap in various areas, Nora and Adam have defined responsibilities within the company. Nora manages the operations and oversees whiskey production, while Adam heads up sales, marketing, and whiskey sourcing—seeking out distilleries that are making unique and interesting products. As Nora explains, “We think of Lost Lantern as shining a light on whiskies that would otherwise be
lost. That sometimes means bottling something from a distillery that is not distributed nationally, and which doesn’t get the attention we think they deserve. It can also mean bottling barrels from more well known
distilleries that are not consistent with their core lineup. This may be a finished whiskey, or an experiment that they’re not quite sure how to release. We’re looking for whiskies that we can bottle or blend that will expand the understanding of the landscape of American whiskey by whiskey connoisseurs.”

AMERICAN VATTED MALT EDITION NO. 1

In October, Lost Lantern will introduce their first whiskey, American Vatted Malt Edition No. 1. Limited to 3,000 bottles, the blend will be available for purchase at LostLanternWhiskey.com as of October 15th for $120. This 12-barrel blend of American single malts has been aged for two years, is non-chill-filtered with no color added and has been bottled at 52.5% abv.

This first edition is a complex and balanced blend with notes of baking spice, salted pretzel and hints of roasted barley surrounded by a savory smokiness that culminates in a long, warm finish of milk chocolate and sea salt.

American Vatted Malt Edition No. 1 is one of the first blends of American single malts ever made in the United States and represents the whiskey world’s true spirit of collaboration and harmony. Through a collaborative process that took several months to set up, Nora and Adam brought together the founders and distillers behind some of the country’s most distinctive single malts, all of whom hand-selected barrels for this unique blend and met in Denver to create it as a group. Over the course of a single marathon day, they worked, tasted, and blended together.

Jared Himstedt, Head Distiller at Balcones Distilling was supportive of the initiative from the beginning. “I was super excited to get to work on this project, to start with American Single Malts from a bunch of different distilleries from across the country and work collaboratively with the other distillers and blenders on this expression,” explained Himstedt. “It was a unique project that was lots of fun and I think an example of where the future of American Single Malts is headed. Independent bottlers, offering both single barrels and blends, are all going to be becoming more prominent as the category and community keeps developing to bring new and delicious whiskies to the table.”

The result is American Vatted Malt Edition No. 1, a singular and special single malt blend from the following distilleries:

• Balcones (Waco, Texas)
• Copperworks (Seattle, Washington)
• Santa Fe Spirits (Santa Fe, New Mexico)
• Triple Eight (Nantucket, Massachusetts)
• Westward (Portland, Oregon)
• Virginia Distillery Co. (Lovingston, Virginia)

“American Vatted Malt is indicative of why American craft whiskey is so exciting,” said the founders. “We brought together six of the very best single malt producers in the U.S. and we worked together to create something entirely new and unique. It’s a great symbol of what we want Lost Lantern to contribute to the industry and provide for whiskey lovers. It’s unique, collaborative, and above all, deeply delicious.”

Find Lost Lantern Whiskey online at www.LostLanternWhiskey.com, on Instagram at
https://www.instagram.com/lostlanternwhiskey and Twitter at https://twitter.com/LostLanternDram.

A chat with our new Master Whisky Maker

Our stills are singing again in Rothes and, while some parts of the estate remain unchanged since 1879, recently there’s been some changes afoot…as we mentioned earlier this week, a new Master Whisky Maker has joined The Glenrothes!

Laura Rampling will oversee the next chapter in our rich history, bringing with her a nose for detail and expertise earned through a career in the Scotch Whisky industry.

Laura will certainly be busy in her new role. From developing recipes, to ensuring consistency across production, Laura will be a custodian of quality, ensuring the range retains its unique and much-loved character for many years to come.

We caught up with Laura to chat about her appointment!

What excites you about your new role?

“Rolling my sleeves up, and getting to work! Making whisky is a real passion of mine and I look forward to working closely with my colleagues, both in Rothes at the distillery and the wider team.”

What is it that attracted you to whisky making?

“What I love about whisky is that it’s so diverse, with so many different flavour profiles and characteristics. Every day is different…”

Will the whisky profile change?

“No. The Glenrothes is known for its delicate, fruity character. Sherry casks have been integral to our house style for years and will continue to be. Our customers know and love our whisky and I look forward to continuing this legacy while creating some great new whiskies worthy of The Glenrothes name.”

What is your favourite The Glenrothes dram?

“At the moment, I am really enjoying The Whisky Maker’s Cut, often with just a splash of water but occasionally mixed into an Old Fashioned. The sherry cask flavours truly come to the fore”

#SpiritOfRothes

AVAILABLE NOW

You nominated, we listened, and the shortlist of great drams for our next Whisky of the Year has been finalised. Six whiskies – three chosen by you, our whisky-loving customers, and three by our co-founder Sukhinder Singh and head buyer Dawn Davies MW – have now been portioned out into Perfect Measure Judging Packs.

Each pack contains a 3cl sample of each of the six shortlisted whiskies, labelled A-F to ensure they’re tasted blind, as well as a unique, single-use code which will allow you to vote for your favourite whisky online at thewhiskyexchange.com/vote.

Sip through each whisky yourself, or taste along with our free online tasting, hosted on our Facebook page by Dawn Davies MW and The Whisky Exchange ambassador Billy Abbott. We’ll confirm the exact date and time of the tasting on our social media pages in the next few days.

  BUY YOUR JUDGING PACK      SHOP PERFECT MEASURE SAMPLE PACKS

TyndrumWhisky.com

Brings you Batch 4 of Cask Strength

GlenAllachie

This is a step up in liquid for GlenAllachie, one to seriously test the palate, fantastically complex and flavoursome, with a wonderfully sherried nose and amazing finish.

TyndrumWhisky Tasting Notes:
Dramtastic. Buy Me One.

Pre order available here:

Order Now >

The 4th release, and going by recent releases of GlenAllachie, this is going to be stunning. Bottled at 56.1%, the GlenAllachie Cask Strength Batch 4 is a combination of PX and Oloroso sherry puncheons along with a small quantity of Virgin Oak casks. They achieve a perfect balance of fruit, dark chocolate and spice with underlying classic GlenAllachie sweet honey notes.

Official Tasting Notes:

COLOUR: Rich Mahogany.
NOSE: Dark chocolate, vanilla pods and treacle, with rich notes of orange peel and cinnamon.
TASTE: Lashings of raisins, treacle, dark chocolate, layers of heather honey, cinnamon and orange peel.

Ideal to be paired with Speyside Chocolate from Chocisky.
From GlenAllachie Distillery

Saturday October 17th, 5:30 PM:

Starward Whiskey with Founder David Vitale

Join us for a virtual tasting of Starward Australian Whiskey, presented by founder David Vitale!

For this tasting, we have a $25.00 whisky tasting set available exclusively for our customers. Each set comes with a 2oz bottle of Two-Fold, Nova, and Solera expressions. Select ‘Add Tasting Set’ when purchasing to get yours. Shipping is free!

Starward whiskey brings together Australian malted barley and Australian red wine barrels to create a distinctly Australian spirit. Housed in a large industrial space in Melbourne, this urban distillery is as bold and unconventional as the spirit it produces and the city it calls home. Starward’s distinctive whiskies are exclusively matured in Australian wine barrels in the variable Melbourne climate – which experiences “four seasons in one day” – to create a dynamic form of elemental maturation.

Click Here to RSVP

What is a Virtual Tasting?

Virtual tastings are free educational zoom meetings held by whiskey & scotch experts. They typically consist of a presentation followed by question-and-answer, and run about 60-90 minutes. During the virtual tasting, you’ll be able to ask scotch & whiskey related questions to our experts and get a behind-the-scenes look at the scotch & whiskey world! 

Additionally, featured whiskys are always on sale on our website – you can purchase beforehand to drink along with our presenters or shortly afterwards.

https://youtu.be/I4POD_j3Xis

Arran is a whisky distillery that is still growing up; they’ve only just hit their mid-twenties. But, wow. For a distillery that is still in infancy, in the grand scheme of whisky, they’re giving us product after product of well made, balanced, robust, characterful single malt whiskies. This is The Bothy or The Quarter Cask. Nine years of full Bourbon matured raucousness in a bottle. Cask strength, natural colour, non-chill filtered. £50. TAKE ALL OF MY MONEY!

WALKER TURNS TO FRANCE, SPAIN AND THE USA FOR THE GLENALLACHIE’S NEW VIRGIN OAK FINISH RANGE 

The limited edition range features three 12-year-old single malts finished in virgin oak casks sourced from France, Spain and the USA

Building on a remarkable run of award wins, The GlenAllachie Distillery is launching The GlenAllachie Virgin Oak Series, a new limited edition range of Speyside single malt whiskies which have been finished in specially selected casks of different oak species from specific regions around the world.

Released in October, on the back of winning a 50^th award in three years, The GlenAllachie Virgin Oak Series consists of three limited edition 12 year-old single malt whiskies; the 12-year-old French Virgin Oak Finish, the 12-year-old Spanish Virgin Oak Finish, and the 12-year-old Chinquapin Virgin Oak Finish.

Each whisky in the Virgin Oak series is first matured in American Oak (Quercus Alba) ex-Bourbon barrels. To add a delicate and distinctive twist to the taste, the whisky then undergoes additional maturation for approximately 18 months in specially selected virgin oak casks. Each whisky is non chill filtered, natural colour, bottled at 48%, and limited to around 1,100 cases of each.

The subtle flavour differences in the Virgin Oak series are led by a variety of influences: the oak species, the local terroir and the period of natural air drying, along with the toasting, charring and coopering of the casks. Each of these reacts uniquely with the GlenAllachie spirit, adding texture, depth and variety.

In September, the Speyside distillery picked up its 50^th award in just three years, with a Double Gold at this year’s International Spirits Challenge for The GlenAllachie Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky 18-year-old.

The new Virgin Oak Series showcases the expert cask sourcing and renowned wood management skills of The GlenAllachie’s Master Distiller Billy Walker who hand-picked each cask type.

The 12-year-old Spanish Virgin Oak (RRP £59.99), is finished in hogsheads made of Spanish oak (Quercus Robur) sourced from the Cantabrian Mountains in Northern Spain which have a cooler climate and greater humidity than the rest of Spain.

Before being filled, the wood is air dried for around 18 months, opening up the oak for the GlenAllachie spirit to extract its flavours. This process produces a whisky with waves of heather honey, treacle, coconut and orange zest.

For the 12-year-old French Virgin Oak Finish (RRP £59.99), Walker sourced hogsheads made of French Oak (Quercus Robur) from the Haute-Garonne region close to the Pyrenees. The fine-grained, consistent wood is air dried for 15 months before hosting the GlenAllachie spirit. The result is a rich bronze malt with a subtle, sweet and earthy taste.

For the 12-year-old Chinquapin Virgin Oak Finish (RRSP £59.99), Walker selected casks from the Northern Ozark region in Missouri. Chinquapin is a sub species of Quercus Alba and delivers spicy flavours and aromas. Air dried for almost four years, then toasted to medium level, the casks create complex, zesty flavours with notes of heather honey, barley sugar, toasted biscuit and orange zest, followed by cinnamon, rosehips and liquorice.

Commenting on the new range, Walker said: “With this new range, I wanted to explore and showcase the different range of flavours that can be created with different types of virgin oak. Lots of people have matured or finished whisky in virgin oak before, but I wanted to take things further and explore what happens when you use different derivatives of virgin oak – for example with different terroir, different drying periods and different toasting and charring levels.

“There’s an understanding that good whisky matured in good wood makes something special. But I wanted to put good whisky in spectacular types of wood, wood with real history and unique characteristics. I’m constantly looking for interesting types of wood and with this range we found three exceptional examples from France, Spain and the USA that have helped create three very different and special whiskies.

“With the French virgin oak for example, the wood is very finely grained and rich, which creates a lovely sweet, earthy flavour with silky tannins. The pores of the Spanish virgin oak are less tight and it’s been naturally air dried for a slightly longer period which imparts more flavour, with the distinctive spicy, treacly notes.

“The Chinquapin Virgin Oak Finish is significantly different. The wood has been dried for a much longer period which creates really interesting flavours of liquorice and even hints of rosehips.”

Further information on the distillery and company can be found at www.theglenallachie.com

Facebook – @TheGlenAllachie

Twitter – @TheGlenAllachie

Instagram – @theglenallachie_

TASTING NOTES

12yo French Virgin Oak 

12yo Spanish Virgin Oak 

12yo Chinquapin Virgin Oak 

Preludium:04 Mine Stored Elegance

“Mine stored elegance. A true celebration of our Bodås Mine Warehouse“

Purchase A Bottle Of Preludium:04 Mine Stored Elegance

On Friday 9th of October, at 7 PM (BST) we will be releasing the final 14 distillery bottles of Mackmyra Preludium:04 Mine Stored Elegance.

The fourth edition in the series Mackmyra Preludium is a tribute to our own whisky warehouse – Bodås mine – where we store the liquid gold 50 metres underground.

Here you can own this edition of our first whisky release where every cask was matured in this amazing and unique location. To celebrate this, and to add a touch of occasion to this expression, Preludium:04 is also Mackmyra’s first wine-finished release using champagne seasoned casks from Philipponnat.

Mackmyra Preludium:04 Mine Stored Elegance, will be available to our UK and European Customers from Mackmyra.co.uk