TIME FOR A BEER?

This spring we’ve been celebrating the good, old tradition of the ‘hauf ‘n’ hauf’ – that’s enjoying a whisky chaser alongside a beer, for those not on the West coast of Scotland. Most of our original matched drams are long gone: single cask whisky goes in a flash! So we asked our expert Whisky Ambassadors for some new pairings to delight the senses… #spritzich

Spicy & sweet

9.96 Refined and gentle, with a little kick £87.20

Paired with Belhaven Craft Pilsner. A light Scottish Pilsner that will help intensify the spicy and sweet flavours of this intriguing whisky.

Juicy, oak & vanilla

95.15 A graceful tight rope walker £87.20

Paired with Fyne Ales Highlander. A traditional amber ale, the taste is bitter-sweet with a rich maltiness cut by hints of lemon. Th e big flavours in this easy-drinking ale pair nicely with a well-balanced juicy and bitter dram.

Deep, rich & dried fruits

117.5 Smouldering, brooding and alluring £251.10

Paired with Guinness Foreign Extra Stout. Brewed stronger in alcohol and with more flavour to last long journeys, the distinctive bitter taste of Guinness comes through with a syrupy sweetness. A fantastic match to a dram with charred, chocolate and dessert notes.

Light & delicate

26.105 Bumblebees by the sea £122.60

Paired with Williams 80/- (Eighty Bob). We’ve matched this sweet, malty, biscuity beer with a light and delicate whisky. The beer amplifies the flavours of the whisky, creating a whole new taste experience.

Lightly peated

3.206 Heathery smoke drifting by the shore £60.00

Paired with Flying Dog Doggie Style Pale Ale. The perfumed, hoppy aromas and sweet malt of this PA compliments this equally sweet-smelling and lightly peated whisky.

Browse New Outturn
Browse All Bottlings

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

Independent  Bottler of  the Year 2014

We the Merchants of Single Malts & Blended Whiskies will release to you the people some amazing products in all ages colours flavours and styles.

This is the lead up to the mad season when the political class will promise to do this cut that build this demolish that! So we think you the people will need a bit of good old fashioned quality to get through the endless drivel.

April 2015 sees a number of new products as I have told you about before plus a few others, mind you we do have one topical release due next week that some in Scotland will have seen on the media so I had to grab a few cases naturally.

Before we head into the new releases I can now give a lot more detail on the London special edition Caol Ila.

We have been looking into the future quite a lot in these newsletters however this one is keeping very quiet on the future products so as not to give any spoilers for the 100’s of subscribers who will be heading to Campbeltown for the Springbank open day May 21 and the Campbeltown Malts festival running from May 20th to May 22nd

If you are heading to Campbeltown I hope you enjoy the event you lucky people. – Stephen at Cadenhead’s

Caol Ila 31 year old 54.3%

The London special edition of Caol Ila will be heading into the bottling hall on May 5th 2015 Distilled in 1984 and matured in a fresh fill bourbon cask we expect the final outturn to be 168 bottles in the world Below is the London Tasting Panels notes.

Nose: Salted Caramel, Honey with sweet smoke, fruity with some coastal notes trying to break through, summer at the seaside. Palate: First sip gives you a superb richness of caramel & salted popcorn, the next wave of taste delivers a superb sweet smoke that grows in perfect balance with the salted caramel found on the nose. As this dram opens the flavours flow across the palate with some rich fruity notes that interweave around the peaty richness of this vintage cask. Finish: Long rich smoke and peat with even more of the middle palate, shortbread and toffee apple, more of that sweet smoke that makes this a really rich complex vintage Islay.

Whisky Festival 2015

May 20th – May 22nd Springbank open day 21st May.

Scotland’s Oldest Independent distillery. family owned and run. Established 1828

AVAILABLE NEXT WEEK

SPRINGBANK 12 Y/O Port Cask Well I can now give you the estimated release date of Thursday 23rd of April 12:30PM

During several days of pre release tasting in London the feedback was amazing with 100% of those who tried wanting to buy it! They loved the rich red fruits that came from the first sip, a rich complexity throughout with layer up on layer of flavour. This is a very limited edition single cask offering from Springbank.

Also available from next week: Spirit of Freedom 45% makes a return with 18 bottles of the original blend that will sit along side a NEW Sprit Of Freedom 45+ If you live in Scotland I think you might have seen something about this on the news this week!

Stephen

Cadenhead’s Whisky Shop & Tasting Room

26 Chiltern Street London

W1U 7QF

Tel: 020 7935 6999

Unnecessarily Well Made

Angels’ Nectar Blended Malt Scotch Whisky Launched

Angels’ Nectar, a new Blended Malt Scotch Whisky, inspired by the Angels’ Share, has been launched, by Robert Ransom.

At any one time, there are an estimated twenty million casks maturing across Scotland, all exposed to what is affectionately called ‘the Angels’ Share’, the evaporation from casks during maturation.  The Angels take their pick; enjoying some casks more than others, whilst hard working distillers watch their efforts disappear. The Angels’ Nectar Blended Malt Scotch Whisky is a re-creation of the Angels’ Share, bottled for whisky drinkers to savour.  Carefully created from a selection of Speyside and Highland malt whiskies, Angels’ Nectar Blended Malt Scotch Whisky is unusually bottled at natural colour, has a sweet nose of apple and fruit syrup, a taste of heather honey and lemon, and a hint of spice on the finish. The Angels’ Nectar Blended Malt Scotch Whisky is vibrant and fresh, just the way the Angels’ like their dram.

The label for this new whisky brand features a striking fractal design, with an Angel shaped ethereal mist, within which, a series of Angels can be seen enjoying their share.

The Angels’ Nectar Blended Malt Scotch Whisky has been released by Highfern Ltd, a new drinks business founded by Robert Ransom. Commenting on the release Robert said; ‘I have worked in the whisky trade for ten years, and during that time I have enjoyed giving many distillery tours and tastings. Early on I noticed any mention of the Angels’ Share always made guests smile. The seed was sown; What if one could bottle the Angels’ Share? It would be the ultimate Blended Malt, and Angels’ Nectar is Highfern’s attempt to do just that’.

Notes:

1.  Blended Malt – a category of whisky which is a blend of malt whiskies, with no grain whisky, previously known as Vatted Malt.
2. Angels’ Nectar is available from The Green Welly Stop, Master of Malt, Robertsons of Pitlochry and the Speyside Heather Centre, amongst others.
3. Web: http://www.angelsnectar.co.uk/ Twitter: @angelsnectar     Facebook: angelsnectarwhisky
4. For pictures, more information and sales enquires please contact; Robert Ransom, Highfern Ltd, Robert@highfern.co.uk  Mobile: 07811 640778

We welcome Mark Thomson, UK Brand Ambassador for Glenfiddich to Stourbridge on Thursday, 23rd April, for what promises to be a top tasting event. Mark will be ‘deconstructing’ Glenfiddich’s 15 year old Solera, with samples of first-fill sherry, first fill and refill Bourbon and brand new casks. He is well-known for bringing whisky to wider audiences in a relaxed, informal and modern way – expect a highly entertaining and interactive evening! Please note, this event takes place at the nearby French Connection Bistro (2 doors up from Nickolls and Perks, in Coventry Street), and includes their excellent hot and cold buffet food!

Start time: 7.00 pm

Ticket price: £35.00

Tickets may be purchased online here

Or contact direct:

Nickolls and Perks Ltd

37 Lower High Street

Stourbridge

West Midlands

DY8 1TA

UK

T:  +44(0)1384 394518

M: n +44 (0)7878 425176

E:  tim@nickollsandperks.co.uk

W:  http://www.nickollsandperks.co.uk/

NEXT WEEK’S EVENTS

Drop-in Whisky & Beer Pairing Night > The Vaults, Leith – Mon 20 Apr

Explore the Spritzich beer and whisky matches with knowledgeable staff

Aberdeen Preview Tastings – Caledonian Thistle Hotel, Aberdeen

Society Ambassador Olaf Meier introduces a sneak preview of the next Outturn

Thursday 23 April >  

Friday 24 April >  Hurry only 2 tickets left!

Saturday 25 April >  

Highland Whisky Tasting > 28 Queen Street, Edinburgh – Fri 24 Apr

Kit up and join us tonight as we attempt the impossible feat of traversing the mountain of diversity that is Highland whisky

Guildford Preview Tasting >  Radisson Blu Edwardian Guildford Hotel – Fri 24 Apr

Society Ambassador David Smith introduces a sneak preview of the next Outturn

Winchester Preview Tasting >  Winchester Royal Hotel, Winchester – Fri 24 Apr

Society Ambassador John McCheyne introduces a sneak preview of the next Outturn

Liverpool Preview Tasting >  Malmaison, Liverpool – Sat 25 Apr

Society Ambassador Les Harrow introduces a sneak preview of the next Outturn

Browse All Tastings >

SMWS & THE WHISKY LOUNGE: WHISKY SOLSTICE 2015

The Society and The Whisky Lounge team up once more to put on an absolute belter of a day. A real summer celebration of all things whisky, proving once and for all that whisky really can be a drink for all seasons!

Early Bird Offer: Two Tickets for £50 >

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

Independent  Bottler of  the Year 2014

Just in time for St Georges Day is the latest release of Chapter 13. As some of you will know we have made a habit of giving Chapter 13 a bespoke label and this time is certainly no exception; the truly fabulous letterbox is, we think, an iconic English object that is recognised by people from around the globe.

As the sun is shining and no doubt you are all thinking of dusting off those BBQ’s, we have made sure this bottling of Chapter 13 will go down very nicely whilst in the evening sun after a hard days work.

Nose Orchard fruits, think stewed apples and pears. Cereal, hints of crushed digestive biscuits and porridge. Notes of toffee, honey and beeswax. A waft of rich fruit cake.

Taste Creamy mouth feel; the cereal comes through along with the toffee and honey. Again, orchard fruits. Sweet, spicy and oaky. A very long malty, dry finish.

£49.99

BUY NOW

BENRIACH LAUNCHES 10 YEARS OLD SINGLE MALT

new core range expression marks a significant milestone for the Elgin distillery

Global Whisky Distiller of the Year BenRiach has today (8 April 2015) launched a very special BenRiach 10 years old single malt.

This release is a momentous high point for the award-winning Elgin distillery as the whisky is the first core range expression to be produced predominantly from spirit distilled under The BenRiach Distillery Company’s eleven-year ownership.

Managing Director Billy Walker and his South African partners Wayne Kieswetter and Geoff Bell acquired BenRiach from Chivas Brothers in April 2004.

Bottled at 43% vol, the BenRiach 10 Years Old is Classic Speyside in character. The cask formula focuses on ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks – exactly the types of wood we favour at BenRiach. This fresh, lively, fruit-laden single malt captures warm oak spices, green apple, dried apricots, peach and banana with subtle touches of aniseed, lemon zest and barley.

Billy Walker’s tasting notes show that this special single malt is a stunning addition to BenRiach’s core range.

Colour : Crisp summer gold.

Nose : A fresh and lively combination of crisp, green orchard fruits, stem ginger and hints of tangerine mellows to creamy vanilla with a delicate note of mint and a gentle twist of citrus, all held together with a sweet barley back note.

Taste : Warm toasted oak spices flood through green apple skins and dried apricots, ripening to hints of peach and soft banana. Subtle touches of aniseed and lemon zest create a contrasting edge to the fruit and add an intriguing character to the long, crisp barley finish.

Sales Director Alistair Walker said: “Last year we released our tenth anniversary BenRiach bottling with four casks from the first week of distillation, but that was a strictly limited one-off expression.

“Today’s release is something different and is even more important for us going forward. The BenRiach 10 Years Old is a key new launch for us as it marks a significant milestone – it is the first core range expression to be created predominantly from whiskies distilled at BenRiach since we took over in 2004. We have, effectively, been working towards this single moment since we acquired BenRiach Distillery and the 10 Years Old expression will become the cornerstone of our range.”

Back in 2004, Billy Walker said he had modest but robust plans “to revitalise the distillery and target new markets, taking BenRiach to specialist outlets around the globe”.

His “modest” objectives have been more than met in the last ten years. Today, BenRiach is one of the country’s most admired distillers, having added GlenDronach, Glenglassaugh and a bottling plant to its comprehensive portfolio.

It is now trading in over forty countries worldwide with other emerging markets entering the negotiation stage. Over the ten years BenRiach has won numerous prestigious awards; only last month Whisky Magazine announced it was the 2015 Global Whisky Distiller of the Year.

Earlier this year, the London Stock Exchange Group released its list of ‘1000 Companies to Inspire Britain’ and The BenRiach Distillery Company was featured for the first time.

Kininvie 23 year old  Batch 3

This is the third release by the distillery – which was opened in July 1990 by the granddaughter of William Grant, Janet Sheed Roberts. Every bottle will highlight the year of distillation, the batch number and the individual bottle number. The latest release contains whisky from the very first batch from 1990 and has been created using a combination of American hogsheads and sherry casks.

£120 Buy Now

United States – Single Malt Scotch

• Seven Stills Fluxuate Whiskey 375ml ($35.99)

K&L Wine Merchants
http://www.klwines.com
Phone: 877-KLWines (toll free 877-559-4637)
Email: wine@klwines.com
San Francisco, Redwood City, Hollywood CA