Smokeye Hill “Heirloom Blue Corn” Barrel Proof Indiana Straight Bourbon Whiskey (750ml) $79.99 View

“The Smokeye Hill win is the greatest upset of any major competition I’ve seen in my career. And the thing is, in a blind tasting, professional judges loved it over some of the biggest A listers in bourbon.” – Fred Minnick. The legendary Smokeye Hill sits amidst the rugged western landscape. It’s cattle country, but during prohibition, its secluded location made it perfect for bootleggars to run their wares all throughout the west. Legend a crooked agent with ties to the area would discreetly tip off distilled to the Fed’s impending arrival. The mooshiners of Smokeye Hill hung bells on their roaming mules as a way to warn of lawmen rounding the bend. Composed of a unique mash of blue corn, yellow corn, rye, and malted barley, Smokeye Hill’s “Heirloom Blue Corn” ages a minimum of five years in white American oak barrels in a variety of char levels and sizes. The blue corn has been cherished by the indigenous peoples of the southwest for millenia. Smokeye Hill is the first bourbon to feature this heirloom varietal of corn in its mashbill, giving it a distincly southwestern swagged. Bottled uncut and unfiltered, this whiskey was awards Bourbon Of the Year by Fred Minnick at his blind tasting of the country’s best bourbons, besting the top names from Kentucky and beyond.. Tasting notes, “Creme brulee, vanilla, tobacco, leather, dark wood. Robust vanilla, caramelized brown sugar. Long lingering finish of vanilla and caramel with honey.”

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Loch Lomond Group concludes another remarkable year, securing more than 100 awards and Master Blender honoured with prestigious Keeper of the Quaich

Michael Henry, Loch Lomond Group’s Master Blender, has been awarded a prestigious Keeper of the Quaich, the Scottish distiller has announced.

Michael has led the whisky blending team at the independent distiller, which has been producing the finest single malts since 1814, for the last nine years.

Growing up near Bushmills Distillery in Northern Ireland, whisky was woven into the fabric of Michael’s community. Both his father and grandfather enjoyed a dram, and it was their enthusiasm for and interest in whisky which inspired his lifelong passion from an early age.

A graduate of Heriot-Watt’s brewing and distilling course, he joined to Loch Lomond Group in 2007 as a warehouse manager, before taking on the role of Master Blender in 2015.

Since then, Michael has been behind a shift which has seen the Loch Lomond Group propel itself into the heart of the finest Scotch in the world. Today, he has oversight on the liquid production of multiple brands including Littlemill, Glen Scotia, Loch Lomond Whiskies, Spearhead, and Noble Rebel.

Michael and his team’s dedication to the craft has continued to be recognised in multiple industry awards, with Loch Lomond Group being awarded more than 100 awards this year alone.

These have included Most Awarded Scotch Distillery at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition (SFWSC), where the business took home 14 awards this year; Best Single Malt Producer at this year’s International Wine & Spirit Competition (IWSC), and entry into the Hall of Fame after being crowned superior gold at the Tokyo Whisky and Spirits Competition.

Keeper of the Quaich is one of the highest recognitions in the drinks sector, awarded only to individuals who have demonstrated an unwavering commitment to the heritage and future of Scotch whisky. The ceremony took place at Blair Castle in Perthshire last month.

Bill White, Group Operations Director, Loch Lomond Group, said: “This is a real testament to all Michael has achieved in his career, but especially over the last almost 20 years where he has worked at Loch Lomond Group. We are ever impressed by his craftsmanship and abilities to work across such as wide portfolio of liquids, and this is demonstrated through our multi-award-winning brands. I am so pleased to see Michael recognised as one of the best of the best in the Scotch industry.”

Michael Henry added: “I am deeply honoured to be named a Keeper of the Quaich. It’s a personal accomplishment, but it also reflects the incredible team at Loch Lomond Group and all the work we have achieved, making our distilleries some of the most interesting in the world. We are committed to creating something special, and I am very proud to be part of the journey.”

The Keepers of the Quaich is an international society which was established by the Scotch whisky industry to celebrate the outstanding commitment of those involved in the production, promotion, and protection of the world’s finest distilled spirit.

The Quaich, a traditional Scottish drinking vessel, symbolises friendship and the shared enjoyment of Scotland’s national drink.

About the Loch Lomond Group

Loch Lomond Group is an independent distiller based in Alexandria and is home to several award-winning brands that are sold in more than 125 countries worldwide.  It has been producing the finest single malt whiskies since 1814.

Images and interviews with key staff from the Group are available upon request.

www.lochlomondgroup.com

WRAPPING UP 2024 AT SPRINGBANK

As 2024 comes to an end, we would like to wish our friends a Happy New Year and give an update on what’s been happening at the distilleries this year, what the team has been up to, and what to look forward to next year.

LIMITED RELEASES

During the second half of 2024, there were a number of limited releases from our distillery. One batch, released in August, included our Springbank 18yo and Springbank 21yo. Our November batch included the Springbank 10yo Amontillado, Springbank 12yo Cask Strength, and Longrow 18yo.

Following into the new year, the next batch in February will include our Springbank 8yo Local Barley, Springbank 30yo, and Longrow 100 PROOF. These whiskies will be available to purchase through the usual retail channels.

COUNTDOWN COLLECTION

The third edition of our five-part Countdown Collection series, designed to commemorate Springbank’s journey towards its 200th anniversary, is set to be released early next year. This upcoming bottling will be a 30 Year Old Springbank matured in bourbon and sherry casks.

As with each edition in this series, it will be limited to just 500 bottles and available to purchase by Springbank fans all across the world. Stay tuned to our socials to find out more about this release…

With each Countdown Collection release, a prize draw will be conducted the following year for purchasers who have returned their prize draw stub from their certificate. We recently announced that the top prize in our upcoming prize draw for those who purchased the 2024 Countdown Collection 26yo bottling will again be a week on our whisky school.

See more information on this announcement and the runners up prizes here.

All those who have stored their bottle at the Distillery Shop in Campbeltown for collection will be automatically entered into this prize draw. The winners will be announced early next year!

SOCIETY BOTTLINGS

In October, we released the second Springbank Society bottling of the year, a Springbank 5yo 100 PROOF fully matured in Oloroso Sherry casks and bottled at 57.1% as a 70cl. This whisky was bottled for the Society to showcase the stark contrast in flavours when compared to the previous Springbank 5yo 100 PROOF fully matured in Bourbon casks, released in early 2023.

The upcoming Society bottling will be released early next year, so stay tuned!

TASTING PACKS

After great feedback, we have continued to make tasting packs which include a variety of the harder-to-obtain whiskies from our releases. Our second tasting pack release was sold in Summer 2024 and included samples from our February and June 2024 releases.

To accompany this, our Sales Team hosted an online tasting to guide viewers through the drams and answer any questions they had. Catch the replay on our Facebook or YouTube Channel.

Earlier this month, we launched our most recent tasting pack sets which were offered to Society members first before the general public sale.

The lineup for these tasting packs:

Springbank 18 Year Old 46% (2024) – 2cl

Springbank 21 Year Old 46% (2024) – 2cl

Kilkerran 16 Years 46% (2024) – 2cl

Springbank Amontillado Cask Matured 55% (2024) – 2cl

Springbank 12 Years Cask Strength 56.2% (2024) – 2cl

Longrow 18 Year Old 46% (2024) – 2cl

The next online tasting for this tasting pack release will be held on Thursday, 30th January 2025 at 7pm (GMT). Catch it live or on replay via our Facebook, Instagram and YouTube Channel.

We hope you can join us! 🥃

PRODUCTION TEAM’S DISTILLERY UPDATE

– Findlay Ross, Director of Production

As another year draws to a close, we are left asking ourselves how the year has passed by so quickly? I’m reliably told ‘it’s an age thing’ but it truly doesn’t seem like 11 months ago we fired everything back up at Springbank following our Christmas holidays, and it certainly doesn’t feel like we should be in our last week of production at Glengyle as I write this!

As always we have had our usual split of 34 weeks of production at Springbank followed up with 12 weeks of production at Glengyle, and this has been one of the smoothest years in recent memory in terms of minimal disruption due to equipment issues or all the usual gremlins that come with operating a 196 year old distillery. We have put a real focus on preventative maintenance and expanding the range of servicing and auditing that takes place on site in recent years, and we feel like this has contributed greatly to making sure old pieces of equipment are flagged up and repaired or replaced before we get to the catastrophic failure stage.

Summer temperatures remained much closer to historical spring and autumn temperatures, which really aided in the maltings – allowing us to keep temperatures in that 16-20 degrees celsius range which is optimal for producing well modified malt. it is probably the only positive thing I can think of about the ‘summer’ we were handed in Scotland this year!

In terms of spirit output, we have fallen slightly below our target of 264,000 LPA at Springbank as we filled 252,000 LPA into casks. One of the contributing factors to this was the fact we received much more barley from our local farmers this year which allowed us to do 3 weeks of local barley production rather than 1, where the malt only yielded an average 369 LPA/T. The plus side is we will have more local barley to work with in future years, something which I know will be well received by almost everyone.

As things stand we have produced around 81,000 LPA at Glengyle with 2 fillings left to go for the year – a smaller week of highly peated Kilkerran to allow us for one week of our triple distilled expression. Glengyle has had an eventful year as we celebrated it’s 20th anniversary via multiple events, the highlight of which was undoubtably a black-tie dinner enjoyed with our suppliers and customers across the business, followed up the next evening with an unforgettable concert in which legendary Scottish band ‘Travis’ played to a raucous crowd of invited local and not so local guests.

We continue to progress and plan for the future in multiple ways, not least in developing and promoting staff, and we were delighted that long serving Production Supervisor Robert McGarrie accepted his promotion to the position of Assistant Production Manager where he will work closely supporting Production Manager Gavin McLachlan and the wider department.

Our future planning also included further progress on our new bottling and dispatch facility, with foundations poured and progress made on preparing the ground for the erection of the 3 separate areas that will make up the facility.

We look back at 2024 fondly and look forward to 2025 where we plan to improve the site further by upgrading the kiln burner at Springbank to one that can run on LPG and with a higher degree of modulation, as well as refurbishing all the stills at Springbank in September 2025, after many years of dedicated service have started to take their toll on them!

We hope you all have a great festive period and look forward to seeing you on site in 2025!

ONLINE SCOTCH WHISKY AWARDS

On Saturday, 2nd November, fifteen staff from various departments within our company met in the Washback Bar to tune in to this year’s Online Scotch Whisky Awards Ceremony.

Watch the live stream here. We are delighted to have won 1st place awards in following categories for 2024:

Best Value Whisky – Kilkerran 12yo
Best Blended Malt – Campbeltown Loch

Findlay Ross, our Director of Production, spoke to Roy and Ralfy on the live stream to accept both awards and thank them on behalf of J. & A. Mitchell. On another note, as we have previously won the Best Distillery Award three times in a row from 2021 to 2023, we are happy to receive our first Trifecta Award! All three award certificates are now proudly displayed on the wall of our Washback Bar at the Distillery.

MALTS FESTIVAL 2024

In May, we hosted our Springbank and Kilkerran Open Days as part of the 2024 Campbeltown Malts Festival and besides the poor weather, everyone had a great time!Relive the memories here with these two videos by our very own Bar Manager, David Wood, who documented the entire week on camera!

Watch here:

SPRINGBANK OPEN DAY 2024 – VIDEO

KILKERRAN OPEN DAY 2024 – VIDEO

The dates for our festival next year have already been set:  Monday 19th to Saturday 24th 2025.

Springbank Open Day – Thursday, 22nd May 2025
Kilkerran Open Day – Friday, 23rd May 2025

If you wish to be added to our mailing list for Springbank / Kilkerran / Cadenhead’s festival events, then please email festival@springbank.scot and you will be notified when further information is available.

We hope to see you there! 🥃

SOCIETY ‘ON TOUR’

During the second half of the year, we embarked on our Springbank Society European Tasting Tour from August to October. These 16 individual tastings across 11 different countries helped us bring the Society to our members and let attendees taste new & upcoming releases before anyone else in the world!

Andrew’s journey across Europe took him to meet Society members in:

Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, France, Norway, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Poland & Sweden. It was great to share these special drams with our most loyal fans, the Springbank Society members! Thanks to everyone who attended. We plan take the Society on more tasting tours in the future!

20TH ANNIVERSARY OF KILKERRAN

To round out this year’s celebrations for Kilkerran’s 20th Anniversary, we decided to host a number of special tastings in the UK, Taiwan, Switzerland, Netherlands, Denmark, and Germany to showcase everything that Kilkerran has to offer!

As a thank you, the majority of these tastings were hosted with retailers who have backed Kilkerran since the very beginning. Then on Friday, 15th November, we hosted a very special tasting in Campbeltown’s Town Hall and welcomed 120 guests from all over to taste Kilkerran whiskies from major milestones throughout the years, followed by a tasty buffet from Argyll Bakeries.

📸  Photo credit to John McFadyen (Website)

On the night, attendees entered the hall and were given an arrival dram of our flagship Kilkerran 12yo and then six pre-poured whiskies were waiting for them at their tables. Of the tasting lineup, one of the whiskies was our new Kilkerran 20yo Single Cask aged in Fresh Madeira for 10 years, then Refill Bourbon for 10 years.

Guests then noticed a small piece of card, with the word “RESERVE”, where they could write their name on the back and reserve a bottle before it went on sale exclusively in the Distillery Shop, the following morning.

📸  Photo credit to John McFadyen (Website)

We hope you have enjoyed celebrating Kilkerran’s 20th Anniversary as much as we have! Now it’s time to start planning for Springbank’s 200th Anniversary in 2028… 🎉

MERRY CHRISTMAS & A HAPPY NEW YEAR

From everyone at J&A Mitchell, we would like to thank you for your continued support this year. Whether that be drinking our whisky, travelling to our distillery, or simply telling a friend about us, we greatly appreciate it.

If you are planning a visit over the festive period, find our end-of-year opening hours on our Facebook and Instagram.

Finally, we all recently headed up to the Glengyle Distillery to pose for our annual Christmas Jumper Day photos! Have a fantastic time over the festive season and we hope to see you in 2025!

Sláinte Mhath 🥃

Springbank Distillery, 9 Bolgam Street, Campbeltown, Argyll, Scotland, PA28 6HZ

Year Of The Snake – Limited Edition

2025 · 70cl · 40% ABV

Celebrate the 2025 Lunar New Year with the prestigious Johnnie Walker Year of the Snake. Designed by Asian-American artist and cultural pioneer James Jean, inspiration is taken from every drop of Johnnie Walker Blue Label. His artwork of the mythical snake, interwoven and layered with auspicious elements, echoes the visceral flavour experience of this exceptional Scotch Whisky.

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Old Grand-Dad 16 Year Old Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey (750ml) $199.99 View

This high-rye homage is a one-time bottling from the folks at Jim Beam. Inspired by the original whisky that was first bottled in 1882, this special edition Old Grand-Dad (named after Basil Hayden Sr.) is bottled at 100 proof. Grab this piece of bourbon history while you can!

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ralfy review 1059 Extras – Building your ‘experienced’ STASH.

Edrington announces Board leadership transition

Edrington, the ultra-premium spirits company, today announces the retirement of its Chair, Crawford Gillies and the appointment of his successor, Angus Cockburn.

Mr Gillies will step down from the Edrington board on 31^st March 2025 after eight years’ service. During his tenure Edrington has seen sustained growth, with highlights including the opening of the new distillery at The Macallan in 2018 and core revenue rising to over £1 billion.

Mr Cockburn is a Chartered Accountant with an MBA from the IMD Business School in Switzerland and is an Honorary Professor at the University of Edinburgh. Prior to joining the Edrington Board as a Non-Executive Director in September 2020 he had a highly successful career as a CFO, senior finance officer and Non-Executive Director with several major international companies.

He was Chief Financial Officer of Serco Group plc and before that, CFO of Aggreko plc. He is currently Chair of James Fisher & Sons plc, Senior Independent Director of Ashtead Group plc and a Non-Executive Director of BAE Systems plc.

Mr Gillies said: “It has been a privilege to chair Edrington and to witness the growth and resilience of the company and its world class portfolio of ultra-premium spirits. I have been impressed by the Giving More charitable ethos that is at the heart of the unique culture and values demonstrated by its extraordinary people around the world.

“I wish Angus every success in his role as Chair of Edrington and know his background as one of the UK’s most experienced CFOs and Non-Executive Directors will be invaluable to Edrington in the coming years.”

Mr Cockburn commented: “It is an honour to be taking over from Crawford as Chair of Edrington, a unique business that has such a clear purpose in that it competes globally with some of the world’s best-known brands whilst being owned by a charitable trust, The Robertson Trust, and plays a significant role in Scotland’s economy.

“Crawford leaves the business in good health, and I look forward to supporting the Executive Team as we navigate the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.”

Scott McCroskie, Edrington CEO, said: “Crawford has been an outstanding Chair, helping to steer the company through a period of significant growth despite volatile trading conditions. The Board and Executive Team are grateful for his dedicated service and the positive impact he has had on Edrington during his tenure. On a personal level I have thoroughly enjoyed working with Crawford and have learned a lot from him.

“Angus has been a great support to the business as a Non-Executive Director for the past four years and we are all delighted to welcome him as Chair as Edrington faces into a more challenging trading environment.”

About Edrington

The Edrington Group Limited, trading as Edrington, is a privately owned international spirits company based in Glasgow, Scotland. It produces single malts such as The Macallan, Highland Park, The Glenrothes, Naked Malt, and The Famous Grouse blended Scotch whisky.

Fettercairn Distillery closes its bicentenary with an Icon of Whisky Award for Andrew Lennie

The globally renowned whisky house, Whyte and Mackay, is celebrating after Single Malt specialist Andrew Lennie was named Scotch Whisky Brand Ambassador of the Year at the Icons of Whisky Awards 2025 following an elegant ceremony at Edinburgh’s The Signet Library.

Lennie was awarded the accolade in recognition of his work championing Fettercairn on the international stage since joining the house in 2019. The Highland Single Malt, which this year marked 200 years of imaginative whisky making, is famous for its tropical house style, unique production methods and its ethos for doing things differently and naturally.

Lennie has been instrumental in sharing Fettercairn’s enlightened approach to whisky making throughout the bicentennial year. Including, introducing refreshed collections across both the core and travel retail ranges and concluding with presenting the Anniversary Collection – six remarkable Single Malts with a combined age of 200 years housed in a beautiful, bespoke cabinet.

Lennie comments:  

“To be recognised by Icons of Whisky, especially in Fettercairn’s 200th Anniversary Year, is incredible. I have been overwhelmed by the response to this award, and to our 200th Anniversary Collection, with six whiskies that celebrate everything that is special about Fettercairn. Thank you to everyone that has supported myself, especially the team that make these whiskies at Tamnavulin, Jura and Fettercairn”

During the night, Whyte and Mackay’s beachside distillery, Jura, also took home a trio of medals in the World Whiskies Awards Scotland.

Most notably, Jura 14 Year Old American Rye was a triumph with judges, claiming a Gold medal in the Single Malt Islands (non-Islay) category thanks to its finish in hand-select Rye barrels, adding depth and complexity to Jura’s fruity, aromatic and coastal house style.

The award is a tribute to Jura’s bright, community spirit. Nestled off Scotland’s West Coast, Jura’s Distillery has become the beating heart of the community since it reopened its doors 60 years ago. With fewer than 250 residents, the island of Jura and its community shape every bottle of whisky – today the UK’s number 1 Single Malt^[1].

The impressive collection of awards further solidifies Whyte and Mackay’s position as a driving force in whisky and home to multi-award-winning Single Malts, including The Dalmore and Tamnavulin.

Award-Winning Whisky Makers Whyte and Mackay

Whyte and Mackay is home to a collection of multi-award-winning Single Malt Whiskies including The Dalmore, Jura and Fettercairn. With a premium spirits portfolio that includes contemporary whisky brands Shackleton, Woodsman and John Barr, alongside popular alcohol brands Wildcat, Fundador and Harveys Bristol Cream and Aperitivo. In the UK the company produce Whyte and Mackay, an award-winning ever-popular Blended Whisky, which recently launched the market-leading ‘Whyte and Mackay Light’ – a lighter spirit drink from Scotland, bottled at a lower ABV.

In 2020 the company were publicly recognised by the First Minister of Scotland for their support of the national pandemic response. Whyte and Mackay are official partners to SAMH – Scottish Association for Mental Health, which saw Whyte and Mackay employees worldwide complete a virtual-race-around-the-world to raise awareness for the charity.

Founded in Glasgow 1844, the whisky makers celebrated their 175 year anniversary in 2019. Today Whyte and Mackay have offices from New York to Singapore. In Scotland, Whyte and Mackay operate a state-of-the-art Bottling Hall and Distribution Centre in Grangemouth and a Whisky Production and Warehousing Centre in Invergordon.

Whyte and Mackay’s whisky making is led by Master Distiller Richard Paterson OBE and pioneering Master Whisky Maker Gregg Glass.

[1] By volume, Nielsen MAT 02.04.24. Also number 1 by value in total UK off trade, Nielsen MAT 02.04.24

December’s Outturn is here and with it we usher in a month of malty celebration to ease you into celebrating the most wonderful time of the year. And be sure to download the .pdf of the Outturn to read the final installment of our year-long look at Scotch and sherry.

A TRANSCENDENT EXPERIENCE

CASK NO. 93.208

CASK:  1st fill ex-bourbon barrel

AGE:  9 years

LOCK, STOCK AND TWO SMOKING BANANAS

CASK NO. 78.75

CASK: Refill HTMC ex-Islay hogshead 

AGE:  9 years

WELCOME IN, 2025

CASK NO. 39.307

CASK:  1st fill ex-bourbon barrel

AGE:  12 years

MERRY CHRISTMAS

CASK NO. 115.33

CASK:  1st fill oloroso hogshead

AGE:  9 years

BACON BAKED IN TREACLE FRUITCAKE

CASK NO. 53.471

CASKS:  1st fill & refill bourbon and sherry hogsheads

AGE:  15 years

FROM HEAVY PEAT TO STICKY SWEET

CASK NO. 140.20

CASK:  New oak barrique #3 char

AGE:  3 years

BROWSE DECEMBER OUTTTURN HERE

VIEW ALL BOTTLINGS

The Scotch Malt Whisky Society Canada
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