BIG PEAT ROUNDS OFF 10^TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS WITH

FINAL RELEASE IN TRILOGY SERIES

Big Peat, revered Islay Malt Scotch Whisky brand, today unveils the final release in this Aged Trilogy Vintage Series – the 27 Years Old Black Edition.

The Limited Edition bottling follows the Gold Edition, aged 25 years and launched in 2017, and last year’s 26 Years Old Platinum Edition, and completes a trio of mature, refined and collectable Big Peat Malt Whiskies.

Bottled at 48.3% alcohol strength and offered without colouring or chill-filtration, Big Peat’s Black Edition is said to carry a “complex amalgam of barbequed meats, coal dust and rock salt”.

Established in 2009, Big Peat has celebrated “his” 10^th anniversary throughout 2019, kicking off celebrations with a 10 Years Old Limited Edition followed by extensive digital activation including an online birthday party and social media content.

The new Big Peat 27 Years Old Black Edition will be available from specialist spirits retailers globally from January 2020. Just 3,000 bottles exist.

Tasting Notes

Allow a heady, chimney-smoked nose to whisk you off to Big Peat’s Islay home, with hints of briney sea air, chewed leather and a honey sweetness. The refined palate shows a complex amalgam of barbequed meats, coal dust and rock salt, running to a long and satisfying finish with drifting puffs of peat smoke.

ABOUT DOUGLAS LAING & CO:

 www.douglaslaing.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bigpeat

Twitter: @remarkablemalts

Instagram: @remarkable_malts

 Douglas Laing & Co. is a leading independent Scotch Whisky blender and bottler specialising in the selection and release of Single Cask Single and Small Batch Malt Scotch Whiskies.

 The company was founded by Fred Douglas Laing in 1948 and is still owned and run by the Laing family – Fred Laing Jr and his daughter Cara Laing.

The company philosophy is to bottle the way the distiller intended – at a high strength and without chill filtration to preserve the robust and unique character of the Whisky. Douglas Laing’s industry reputation and many awards is testament to this ethos.

Douglas Laing’s Remarkable Regional Malts, the Ultimate Distillation of Scotland’s Malt Whisky Regions, encompasses The Epicurean Lowland Malt Scotch Whisky, Timorous Beastie (Highlands), Scallywag (Speyside), The Gauldrons (Campbeltown), Rock Island (from the Islands) and Big Peat (Islay). Beyond its Blended Malts expertise, the award-winning Douglas Laing portfolio also includes Provenance, Premier Barrel, Old Particular and XOP, collectively known as the firm’s “Exceptional Single Casks”.

An Otherworldly Single Malt at an Unbelievable Price
1998 Orkney (Highland Park) 20 Year Old “Thompson Bros.” K&L Exclusive Single Refill Hogshead Cask Strength Single Malt Scotch Whisky ($149.99)
“We’re not seeing anything on the market anywhere close to this caliber in this style.”
— David Othenin-Girard, K&L SoCal Spirits Buyer

Fans of Highland Park take note! This very special 20 Year Old comes to us from our new partnership with the Thompson Brothers and is one of the finer Orkney expressions we’ve encountered. Of course, when one sees Highland Park with such a significant age statement there’s the expectation of a hefty price tag. Remarkably, we are able to offer this K&L exclusive cask for under $150. This is an absolute bargain for a dram of this pedigree and standing. Made in a classic island style, it delivers a seemingly ceaseless array of sweet smoke, sea spray, savory herb, dried fruits, and a delightful complement of mineral—essentially everything one could hope for from this venerable distillery. Single casks from Highland Park grow scarcer by the day, so it’s possible we won’t see a cask like this again and certainly not so affordably priced. Given the strong demand for Highland Park in all its various forms, we expect this rarity to sell out in a matter of days, if not sooner. Single malt fans will serve themselves well by adding this very special 20-year-old to their collection.

1998 Orkney (Highland Park) 20 Year Old “Thompson Bros.” K&L Exclusive Single Refill Hogshead Cask Strength Single Malt Scotch Whisky (750ml) ($149.99)

The wonderful Dornoch Distillery sits hidden on the main drag in the tiny town of Dornoch. Behind the majestic Dornoch Castle Hotel and its famous whisky bar sits one of Scotland’s tiniest and most exciting distilleries. Founded by brothers Simon and Phil, the distillery is completely contained in one tiny stone shed. While the brothers might not have the resources and capital of many of Scotland’s new distilleries, they do have an incredible vision and the unwavering support of the single malt-loving community. In that little shed a truly unique experiment is underway. The Thompsons are trying to make whisky the old way. The distillery was funded without any outside investment and pre-sales of the first casks were crowd sourced online. The contrast between extreme forward thinking and commitment to tradition makes the Dornoch Distillery one of Scotland’s most exciting new distillers bar none. We’ve got years before their malt is ready to go and in the meantime the brothers are distilling and selling an incredible malted gin and trafficking in some seriously delicious single casks. This HP is part of the great wave of unnamed Orkney that’s hit the market recently. They nabbed some of the very best and somehow offer it up at a reasonable price. Other bottlers offer versions of the same whisky for twice this price and none we’ve had taste as good as this. It’s got everything, balanced excellently. Delicate Orkney peat, bold malt, gorgeous maritime quality—a real island dream.

David Othenin-Girard | K&L Staff Member | Review Date: December 10, 2019

We’ve had some up and downs with Highland Park recently. We’ve secured some incredible old stock with the distillery name on it, but also had offers for no named stuff at ridiculously high prices. Needless to say we’re always game for some HP. It’s really one of the very best distilleries out there and these incredible “no name” bottlings have been some of the very best values on the market today. Yet some of our suppliers feel comfortable charging well above what another no name might cost from another distillery. Of course, they’re looking at this like a business opportunity. They have high quality juice that can be implied to be from one of Scotland’s great distilleries, and most people are probably willing to pay their prices, but we’ve mostly avoided these offerings since we’ve been securing “named” versions in the $250-300 range consistently for the last two seasons. It wouldn’t make any sense for us to sell a similar product no name for the same price. These products must offer value. So we’ve passed on several casks due to the very high prices. But now it seems our supply of distillery bottlings is becoming more and more scarce. We had to say no to a 21-year-old hogshead this year from Old Particular due to the incredibly high price. And at the same time, our friends in Dornoch came knocking with this stunner. The fun labels poke fun at the new aggressive Viking style of the distillery bottlings, but do nothing to prepare you for the awesomeness that’s inside the bottle. The nose is the ultimate coastal curiosity: salty sea spray, coastal shrubs, crushed rocks, smoldering heather, floral peat, golden honey, ripe pears. Craggy rocks being battered by the ocean. Lots and lots going on, extremely layered and complex, but not brutish or explosive. On the palate there’s brown butter, wild honey, stewed grains, more peat. This is how I imagine gold tastes when it’s melted. More minerals more smoke, but not hard smoke. Soft sweet smoke. We’re not seeing anything on the market anywhere close to this caliber in this style. Nearly perfect.

Andrew Whiteley | K&L Staff Member | Review Date: November 23, 2019

HP20 is going to be delicious no matter what. At 150 bucks, it’s all the sweeter. This number is particularly interesting as it is a hogshead filled from same day vattings before it was sold off onto the independent market – a number of these casks have come up as Edrington has divested stocks, rumor has it, to pay for the budget sucking massive new Macallan distillery. It’s classically salty and has that beautiful medium intensity heather driven peat that the distillery is known for, although it shows most on the finish and not up front. Apricots and other stone fruits in varying levels of dehydration play across the entire experience from nose to palate and intermix beautifully with the floral smoke on the finish. Coming in at an even 50% ABV at cask strength, it’s a very sippable whisky neat. With a touch of water the oils come crashing out of solution as do the grain notes. The aromas suddenly explode with honeyed barley and a whole new drinking experience begins. An extremely good first showing from our new partners in Sutherland, the Thompson Brothers.

Will Blakely | K&L Staff Member | Review Date: December 08, 2019

Perhaps I’ve grown jaded or entitled (or both) from so many high-proof cask-strength offerings of late, so when I saw this clocked in at only 50% ABV, I was less enthusiastic. This gorgeous whisky made quick work of showing me what a fool I’d been. Turns out that in the 20 years of barrel aging, its alcohol reduced to 50% naturally, packing all that exquisite flavor into every coveted drop. This isn’t your hedonistic sherry bomb or caramel-sweet bourbon barrel like the distillery-released 17-year—what tumbles elegantly out of this bottle is superbly refined. Sultana, baked apricot, sea spray, and windswept grain build on the palate with the perfect amount of heat and ashy smoke. The finish is long, but not rushed, lingering with that oily texture we’ve come to love from properly aged Highland Park. Considering the price, this should be on everyone’s short list this season.

Alex Schroeder | K&L Staff Member | Review Date: November 21, 2019

I was just calling our Bunnahabhain 30 single cask our best whisky when Andrew plopped a bottle of this in front of me. Now I’m reconsidering. A single cask of 20-year-old Orkney Highland Park that is smooth as milk at 50% abv, with a very bright and distinct apricot, honey & apple core with a very subtle gravelly smokiness enveloping the fruit. I just can’t stop nosing it. The Thompson Bros. label is big bonus, too.

PEERLESS 3 YEAR OLD SINGLE BARREL
THE MERCHANT’S CASK
SELECTED & BOTTLED FOR NICKOLLS & PERKS

70CL | 54%
3 YEARS, 4 MONTHS OLD | LOT NO. R160307110
ONLY 210 BOTTLES

Crowned 2019 Craft Producer of the
Year by the Icons of Whisky,
this grain-to-bottle, single barrel
Kentucky straight rye whiskey has been
selected and bottled exclusively for
Nickolls & Perks.

“Though they are rare, each single
barrel of Kentucky Peerless Rye
exhibits an unparalleled balance of
depth, complexity, and uniqueness.”
– Caleb Kilburn, Head Distiller

£79.95

BUY NOW

TASTING NOTES
CRAIG MILLS, NICKOLLS & PERKS

NOSE:
Black cherry jam, coconut sponge cake and sugared almonds. Toasted spices, hibiscus cordial or rose water like floral notes. Some corn syrup, menthol and tobacco.

PALATE:
Thick and syrupy with a big cherry-menthol opening, then some drying toasted spices. Dark rye bread with notes of beeswax/honeycomb and red vermouth-heavy old fashioned cocktail. Some sticky ginger cake, dark marmalade and chocolate caramel.

FINISH:
Glace cherry, red apple, toffee and plenty of lingering aromatic spices with rye bread notes. Menthol, peppery vanillin oak and rootsy liquorice.

COMMENTS:
For me this is a big, bold and juicy-cherry-led young rye that packs flavour into every sip well beyond many an older rye whiskey.

Glenlivet 11 Year Old 2007 Sherry Cask

Bottled 2019 at a whopping 66% abv by Signatory Vintage exclusively for TWB. Just 289 bottles from cask #900128. Glenlivet 11 Year Old 2007 vintage Speyside single malt Scotch whisky. Single cask first fill sherry hogshead #900128 bottled February 2019 by Signatory Vintage for the Un-Chillfiltered series. This is a specially selected release exclusive to The Whisky Barrel. 289 bottles at natural cask strength. MAXIMUM 3 BOTTLES PER CUSTOMER. Having out-grown his distillery at Upper Drumin George Smith built a new distillery in 1858 at Minore just short distance upstream of the River Livet and which he opened the following year and named Glenlivet Distillery. During the 1850s the Edinburgh firm of Andrew Usher produced the first vatting of malt whiskey from a single distillery using a number of different vintages of Glenlivet whisky. Following expansion in 2010 this distillery is now equipped with fourteen stills making it one of the largest malt whiskey distilleries in Scotland. The range includes Glenlivet Founders Reserve and Nadurra.

Buy – Glenlivet 11 Year Old – £99.95

Paris Texas wins Pub Of The Year and Jim Rafferty of The Dylan Whisky Bar wins Bar Manager Of The Year. 

Wednesday 20th November: Having already won Innovative Pub Of The Year earlier in the evening, Kilkenny’s PARIS TEXAS went on to scoop the overall Irish Pub of the Year at the annual gala event at The Concert Hall in the RDS. Over 1700 applications were made to the awards this year and after receiving the award Pat Crotty, owner of Paris Texas said – “We are delighted and honoured to be recognised by our peers as the best pub in Ireland for 2019. We have a great team that work hard every day to deliver an experience that we hope will bring our loyal customers back again and again. Our innovation award recognises that we do things a little differently and we will not be resting on any laurels. We have more plans to improve the Paris Texas experience again in 2020.”

Jim Rafferty receiving his Icon Of Whisky Award

Thursday 21st November: At the annual Icons Of Whisky Awards ceremony held at the Iveagh Garden Hotel in Dublin, Jim Rafferty of The Dylan Whisky Bar in Kilkenny Whiskey Guild was awarded Bar Manager Of The Year. On receiving the award Jim said – “It is a great honour to receive this fantastic award and to be recognised by the industry. It is the culmination of a lot of hard work and I am particularly grateful to the support of my team at The Dylan Whisky Bar and colleagues in the Kilkenny Whisky Guild as well as the Irish Whiskey industry as a whole. It is a very exciting time to be involved in Irish Whiskey and I look forward to more growth and innovation in the category to celebrate and promote”.

NEW YORK WORLD WINE & SPIRITS COMPETITION AWARDS SAZERAC’S CANADIAN WHISKIES WITH ONE GOLD AND TWO SILVER MEDALS

MONTREAL (Nov. 26, 2019) – Caribou Crossing Single Barrel Canadian Whisky received a Gold medal at the prestigious 2019 New York World Wine & Spirits Competition. Silver medals were also awarded to Royal Canadian Whisky and High River Canadian Whisky.

Caribou Crossing is the world’s first single barrel Canadian whisky. Each barrel is chosen for its rich and complex flavor to the exacting standards of the world-renowned Master Blender, Drew Mayville.

Silver medal winners, Royal Canadian Whisky and High River Canadian Whisky are said to have shown refinement, finesse, and complexity, and were deemed to be among the best examples of their categories.

Full results have been released and published on the New York World Wine & Spirits Competition (NYWSC) website, www.nywscomp.com.

About Sazerac

Sazerac is one of America’s oldest family owned, privately held distillers with operations in the United States in Louisiana, Kentucky, Indiana, Virginia, Tennessee, Maine, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Maryland, California, and global operations in the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, India, Australia and Canada. For more information on Sazerac, please visit www.sazerac.com.

RAISING A DRAM AS DUNCAN TAYLOR SCOTCH WHISKY WINS MAJOR WHISKY AWARD

A Huntly based whisky firm has clinched the coveted ‘Grain Independent Bottler of the Year” award at Whisky Magazine’s Independent Bottlers Challenge.

They scooped the top prize at the annual awards which were held in the Balmoral Hotel in Edinburgh on Friday.  The Independent Bottlers Challenge, which has been running for 14 years, aims to reward the world’s finest whiskies and is known as the ‘Oscars’ of the whisky industry.

The whisky firm also came home with Silver Awards for their Octave Range Bunnahabhain 2014, Invergordon 2007 and a Port Dundas 1973 from their Premium Octave collection, one of a series of 8 whiskies that were only launched in October.

Commenting on their latest award success Chairman Euan Shand said; “ We are incredibly proud to see the quality of our grain whiskies recognised in such a big arena and against such fierce competition.  This is thanks to the calibre of whiskies that we’ve accumulated over the years, many from distilleries that no longer operate.  It’s great to see that our whiskies really stood out to the judging panel.”

Duncan Taylor Scotch Whisky are renowned for the quality of their whiskies including single grains. They were one of the first independent whisky companies to launch and develop the market for this type of whisky, having released single grains for over 20 years.  Grain whisky is distilled in column stills rather than pot stills, which can give it a lighter and sweeter character. However if lovingly aged in quality casks, such as the ones Duncan Taylor Scotch Whisky have, it can create wonderful whiskies that are great value for money.

Duncan Taylor Scotch Whisky Limited matures whiskies in the best ex sherry and ex bourbon casks. Since the company’s inception in 1938 they have accumulated one of the largest privately-owned cask collections, with many casks up to 60 years old maturing in the company’s warehouses.  Distributing globally to over 50 countries, the company has offices in Huntly, Aberdeenshire and Los Angeles.

The award-winning whiskies are available to purchase from specialist retailer outlets including The Spirits Embassy – www.thespiritsembassy.com

www.duncantaylor.com

NOTES

Duncan Taylor Scotch Whisky has ownership of one of the largest privately-held collections of rare scotch whisky casks. The company has been “laying down” casks from premium Scottish distilleries for decades and has, in recent years, made its branded products available to whisky connoisseurs throughout the world.

A. Smith Bowman Distillery Announces

Limited Abraham Bowman Whiskey Release 

Extremely Limited Twice Finished Whiskey

Released Only at Distillery

               Fredericksburg, VA. (Dec. 18, 2019) – A. Smith Bowman Distillery announces the latest release in its Abraham Bowman line of experimental whiskey, the Abraham Bowman Twice Finished Whiskey.

This limited release began in December 2006 when seven charred oak barrels were filled and laid to age peacefully for eight years and three months. From there, these barrels were consolidated into two-and-a-half barrels to be finished. First the whiskey was finished in Potomac Point Winery port barrels for four years and seven months. Then it was transferred into sauterne barrels for two months before being bottled yesterday, bringing the total age of this whiskey to 13 years.

The Twice Finished Whiskey was bottled at 100 proof, and will be very limited. These bottles will only be released to Virginia through the A. Smith Bowman Distillery gift shop on Saturday, Dec. 21 while supply lasts.

Tasting notes describe “upfront notes of sweet honey, and caramel with dried fruits from the port barrel lingering in the background. Heavy toasted oak flavors with a creamy mouthfeel and sweetness from the finishes coming through. The flavor finishes dry with coffee, dried figs, and hints of leather lingering on the palate.”

The Abraham Bowman Limited Edition Bourbon Whiskey is part of a series of limited-edition whiskies, named after Abraham Bowman, the commander of the 8^th Virginia Regiment in the American Revolutionary War. Each edition of the Abraham line is a different expression and a new release is offered a few times a year.  This is the 19^th release in the Abraham line.  The Abraham Bowman Twice Finished Whiskey will only be available at the A. Smith Bowman Distillery gift shop. Quantities are very limited. The Abraham Bowman series aims to release new and different expressions of innovative whiskey for each release, so it is unlikely this exact bourbon will be repeated. The total age of this bourbon is 13 years and it is bottled at 100 proof. These 750 ml bottles have a suggested retail price of $69.99.

About A. Smith Bowman

1. Smith Bowman’s distilling roots date back to the years before Prohibition when the Bowman family had a granary and dairy farm in Sunset Hills, Virginia. They used excess grain from the family estate to distill spirits. In 1934, after the Repeal of Prohibition, Abram Smith Bowman and his sons continued the family tradition and built a more modern distillery in Fairfax County, Virginia called Sunset Hills Farm.  The Distillery was moved in 1988 and is now nestled in Spotsylvania County near the city of Fredericksburg, 60 miles away from the original location.

As a small and privately owned company, A. Smith Bowman Distillery continues the time-honored traditions on which it was founded. Considered a micro-distillery by today’s standards, A. Smith Bowman produces an assortment of hand-crafted spirits distilled from only the finest natural ingredients and using the latest technology. This micro-distillery focuses on the production of premium spirits honoring the legacy of Virginia’s first settlers. As Virginia’s oldest and most award-winning distillery, its various brands have earned numerous prestigious awards over the years, including John J. Bowman Single Barrel, which received a gold medal at the 2019 San Francisco World Spirits Competition. For more information on A. Smith Bowman, please visit www.asmithbowman.com.