BOOM!

You’ve been asking, so who are we to deny? Three of our most highly anticipated shows of the year are finally available to book. And not only that, but all three are on our EARLY-BIRD offer of 2 tickets for £40 for the first 100 lucky folks to book!

Liverpool Whisky Festival  7th September, Camp and Furnace
Manchester Whisky Festival 12th October, Bridgewater Hall
York Whisky Festival 26th October, Park Inn

As always, your ticket price includes:

• FREE Glencairn Crystal Tasting      Glass
• FREE Festival Guide
• FREE Bottle of Water
• FREE Access to sample ALL ‘On The Counter’ Drams for no extra cost
• FREE 2 WHITE Under The Counter Dram tokens – NEW (see below)
• ACCESS to The Whisky Exchange shop within Liverpool and York Festivals, The Wright Wine Company at Manchester

Aside from the above, familiar goings-on and freebies, we also have our new and exclusive ‘Under The Counter Drams’ (UTCDs)…

The idea is to give the seasoned Festival-goer something else to look forward to. Armed with white and black tokens (available for £2.50 and £5 respectively), seek out those participating stands – that’s most of them – and ask to see their UTCDs. If you like the look of them, simply swap your token for the appropriate dram. White token drams are a cut above – slightly more exclusive and older drams. Black tokens are where you get to the business end of things. Port Ellens, 25+ year old whiskies, and more have all been spotted as black token drams in previous events this year…

You get two white tokens as part of your ticket price, but you can also buy additional tokens at the relevant festival page or on the day itself.

Special classes and workshops and exhibitors will be appearing on each relevant page as they are added.

What more do you need to know? Click on the relevant banner above to be taken to the booking page.

Dear Society Members,

I hope you are all well and have all been experiencing some hot weather like we have here in Campbeltown! It was glorious weather last week, it is a wee bit duller today but apparently it’s to brighten up at the end of the week – fingers crossed!

In the last newsletter I gave you some information on Campbeltown Grammar School’s fundraising trip to Gambia which they are planning for February 2014. I also mentioned that Springbank were going to be doing their bit to help the fundraising and would be drawing two bottles from the oldest cask we have in our warehouse at the moment (24 years, 3 months and 9 days old!) One bottle will be getting auctioned off and the other will be available by the dram at the Ardshiel Hotel.

The auction started on Friday (12th of July) and ends at 5pm BST on Monday 26th August 2013.

To bid, send your offer along with your name, address and contact telephone number to: auction@springbankwhisky.com

A weekly announcement will be made on the Springbank Distillers Facebook page and Springbank website to let everyone know the current highest bid, with the winning bid being announced after 5pm on Monday 26th August.

I am going to be away on holiday for 2 weeks as of Thursday (18th July) so if you would like any more information or anything else before then please let me know and I can arrange this before I go.

Kind Regards,

Mairi

Mairi Paterson

For the Springbank Society

To join the Springbank Society please contact them at society@springbankwhisky.com

Whisky, Jazz and Fun(draising): An Afternoon Tea Party With a Difference

This July, Londoners will have the chance to attend an afternoon tea party with a difference.

In place of Earl Grey or English Breakfast, will be a bespoke whisky cocktail served in tea cups, and a Brazilian jazz singer will entertain instead of a pianist or string quartet.

What’s even better? All money raised on ticket sales and a silent auction will go directly to Marie Curie Cancer Care.

Hosted by Miss Whisky, in partnership with Dre Masso and Eric Yu’s latest cocktail bar sensation – Opium Bar at 16, Gerrard Street in China Town – the afternoon whisky tea party will run from 3-7pm on Sunday, 21 July.

Providing the base for the delicious drinks are sponsors Glengoyne whisky, while Aline Stoffel – a Brazilian jazz songstress who has performed from stadiums in Rio de Janeiro to London’s Ronnie Scott’s – will delight anyone with a penchant for sultry tunes.

“I am thrilled to be announcing this partnership between myself, Opium Bar, Glengoyne and Aline Stoffel – to have so many amazing people on board to raise funds for this vital charity is absolutely wonderful,” said Miss Whisky founder and editor, Alwynne Gwilt, who has volunteered with the charity’s Hampstead Hospice in London since 2011.

Marie Curie Cancer Care provides support to terminally ill patients and their families and its hospice nurses do incredible work in the community, often allowing patients to pass away peacefully in their homes rather than in a hospital.

In the past year, 31,000 patients were cared for by the 2,700 nurses, doctors and healthcare professionals employed by the charity, making it the biggest provider of hospice beds outside of the NHS.

But, without the generous donations of the public, the charity would simply not be able to run.

Around 70 per cent of its funding comes from the community, with the other 30 per cent coming from the NHS.

Speaking on the importance of events such as this, Natasha Sadaoui – community fundraiser at the Marie Curie Hospice, Hampstead – said: “The Hospice provides expert care and the best possible quality of life, for people with cancer and other terminal illnesses, and support for their families, completely free of charge. It costs us £5.4 million a year to run just the Hampstead Hospice and we just wouldn’t be able to provide such a service without the support from the local community and people like Alwynne!”

When Alwynne was 13, she lost her mother to cancer and unfortunately her mother’s last days were spent in a hospital rather than at the home she loved.

“I only wish she would have had the support of a charity like Marie Curie at that time. The work they do for families and those patients in their final days is incredible and I want to do all I can to ensure other families receive this type of care if they end up in a similar situation,” she said.

Speaking on why Glengoyne has decided to participate, Neil Boyd – UK Commercial Director of Ian Macleod Distillers Ltd, the brand’s owner – said: “Marie Curie Cancer Care is an exceptional charity bringing much needed relief and support to families across the UK. We hope that our Teapot Dram can add to the enjoyment of this fun and original charitable event.”

Tickets for the event are now on sale through Miss Whisky’s Just Giving Page ( https://www.justgiving.com/miss-whisky ), which has been set up to ensure attendees avoid ticket charges and to allow the charity to benefit from Gift Aid.

Tickets include a bespoke whisky cocktail and the concert, and are £13 ahead of time. Those wishing to purchase them simply need donate that amount through the page’s donation function and fill in their name in the “Donated By” section to be added to the guest list.

Tickets will also be available on the door at a cost of £15. All money raised from ticket sales will go directly to the charity.

Donations in excess are of course also wholeheartedly welcome.

A silent auction featuring lots of delectable goodies will also be running on the day. Anyone wishing to donate items for it should get in touch with Alwynne before the 16th July. So come along and make your Sunday afternoon tea even more special this July – it all makes a big difference!

For further details, press queries or to discuss donations for the silent auction, please contact Alwynne on: info@misswhisky.com or through Twitter on @themisswhisky

Notes:

About Marie Curie: Marie Curie Cancer Care is one of the UK’s largest charities.Employing more than 2,700 nurses, doctors and other healthcare professionals, it provided care to more than 31,000 terminally ill patients in the community and in its nine hospices last year and is the largest provider of hospice beds outside the NHS. In 2009 the Marie Curie Hospice, Hampstead underwent a £3.8 million refurbishment which included converting the hospice’s multi-occupancy wards into 26 single en suite rooms with patient controlled lighting, heating, TV and internet access. As well as being a place for terminally ill people to stay as in-patients, the Hospice also offers a wide range of day services, which are open to terminally ill people being cared for at home. These day services help patients to manage their symptoms as well as relax, refresh and unwind such as complementary therapies, emotional support and use of the hydro pool. The charity has two centres for palliative care research, the Marie Curie Palliative Care Research Unit at University College London and the Marie Curie Palliative Care Institute Liverpool. It also supports palliative and end of life care research through its project grant funding streams, the Marie Curie Cancer Care Research Programme (administered by Cancer Research UK) and the Dimbleby Marie Curie Cancer Care Research Fund. For more information, visit: http://www.mariecurie.org.uk/

About Miss Whisky: Founded in 2011 by journalist Alwynne Gwilt, Miss Whisky brings news, reviews and features on the whisky industry with the goal of opening up the world of whisky to a wider audience. For more information, visit: http://www.misswhisky.com/

About Opium Bar: Opened in December 2012, Opium Bar China Town is the latest cocktail bar from Dre Masso and Eric Yu. Providing exceptional cocktails and delicious dim sum, the bar – hidden behind an unassuming door at 16, Gerrard Street – is an oasis from the crowded streets surrounding it in central London. For more information, visit: http://www.opiumchinatown.com/

About Aline Stoffel: Raised in Brazil but now residing in London, Aline Stoffel is a stunning young jazz songstress wowing audiences in venues such as Ronnie Scott’s and Somerset House and as a headline act in her home country, in cities such as Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. With a mix of English and Brazilian tunes, Aline is a firecracker on stage, and is joined by legendary guitarist Marcos Vianna. For more information, visit: http://www.alinestoffel.com/

About Glengoyne Whisky: Based just outside of Glasgow at the base of the Dumgoyne Hill, Glengoyne distillery is often considered one of the prettiest in Scotland. With a whisky range including a 10, 15, 18 and 21 year old, along with a cask strength release, the company has a wide range to suit all palates and budgets. For the afternoon tea party, Glengoyne will provide its legendary Tea Pot Dram, normally only available to buy at the distillery. For more information, visit: http://www.glengoyne.com/

www.ralfy.com takes a sympathetic but unsentimental view at Whisky Review 377 – Johnnie Walker Gold Label 

LIQUID HISTORY: OLDEST BENRIACH AND GLENDRONACH SINGLE MALTS IN EXISTENCE RELEASED

DESCRIBED proudly by The BenRiach Distillery Company’s Managing Director Billy Walker as “an iconic moment in the history of BenRiach and GlenDronach”, the two award-winning distilleries today announced the release of their oldest whiskies.

BenRiach Distillery, located in Speyside, has released “Vestige”, a 46 year-old single malt Scotch whisky, which was distilled and filled to cask on the 21^st of September, 1966.

When BenRiach became independent in 2004, the new owners inherited a handful of casks from 1966 – the oldest stock in the distillery’s warehouses. By the end of 2012, just two of those casks remained, and Billy Walker has selected one of those casks, BenRiach 1966 cask # 2381, to be bottled as “Vestige”.

This whisky is ‘classic Speyside’ in style, and was matured in a traditional hogshead. It is bottled at cask strength (44.1% vol). After 46 years of maturation, the cask generated just 62 bottles, which will be sold worldwide. The UK retail price is £3999.99.

“Vestige” has been so named because it represents a moment in time, a small trace of something very special that, once lost, can never be replaced. The BenRiach 1966 cask # 2381 truly is a piece of the distillery’s history.

GlenDronach Distillery, which was acquired by The BenRiach Distillery Company in 2008, is proud to release “Recherché”, a 44 year-old Highland single malt, which was distilled and filled to cask on September 24^th , 1968.

The ’68 stock represents the oldest whisky in GlenDronach’s vast warehouses, and GlenDronach 1968 cask # 005, an Oloroso sherry butt, was hand-picked to be bottled as “Recherché”. The name “Recherché” has been chosen because it means “carefully sought-out”.

This expression is sublime; a full-bodied, richly-sherried single malt (bottled at a cask strength of 48.6% vol), with all the traditional characteristics you would expect of a GlenDronach…and indeed one of which enigmatic founder James “Cobbie” Allardice would heartily approve!

This is a limited release of just 632 bottles, which will be available worldwide. GlenDronach “Recherché” will retail in the UK at £2749.99.

Billy Walker added: “A combination of barley, water, excellent oak and the passage of time have combined to create liquid history. These special bottlings, which represent our oldest mature stock, are in impeccable condition, and are testament to the enormous attention to detail applied by the current and the previous custodians of our distilleries. Together, “Vestige” and “Recherché” are a celebration of the phenomenal craft of two distilleries over a period spanning more than four decades.”

For more information, go to…

www.benriachdistillery.co.uk or email info@benriachdistillery.co.uk

www.glendronachdistillery.co.uk or email info@glendronachdistillery.co.uk

Pictures show BenRiach “Vestige” and GlenDronach “Recherché”.

After our massively successful 1st ‘Backstage’ Tour of Islay in June, we have decided to up the ante.

The Feis Ile (or Islay Festival of Whisky and Music for the initiated) is a week-long celebration of all things Islay – although mainly whisky, obviously. We have been going for some years and feel the time is right to take some of you with us!
Each of the distilleries on the island are given a day in which to shine and welcome visitors, although in reality every one of them has activities going on throughout the week. Special tours, tastings, bbqs and concerts or gigs are all on the cards as the great and good of Islay push the boat out to attract whisky enthusiasts from around the world. There is also the small matter of the limited Feis Ile bottlings that each distillery releases on their open day…

Included in the trip is the accommodation (at the lovely Finlaggan House), food and drink at the house and travel around the island. What isn’t included is travel to and from the island – although we can advise/help – and the distillery activities. Although we would love you to accompany us on each tour, tasting or ramble, we don’t want you to feel you can’t go off and do your own thing – therefore we are not charging you for stuff you may not want to do. We will release an itinerary of planned activities a little closer to the time and at that point you can then choose what you want to do.

There are a maximum of 10 places in the two time slots. The first is from Saturday 24th until Tuesday 28th May, with the second – longer trip – from Tuesday 28th until Saturday 31st May. You can even choose to come for the whole week if you’re feeling flush and have the time to spare!

Click here or on the banner above to be taken to one of the Feis Ile pages. From there you can navigate to whichever of the trips you are interested in.

July 2013 Leaflet Outturn Offerings 

President’s Choice – Cask No. 30.71 

Burnt crumpet and Highland Toffee 

Cask No. 30.71                                  $115

Speyside, Spey

As one we cried: “burnt buttery crumpet spread with chunky Dundee marmalade” – later it became “spread with dark comb honey” – and some noted strawberry fudge and McCowans Highland Toffee as well. The taste at natural strength was sweet and saccharine-bitter, with warm spiced rum, and some sherry in the aftertaste. Water inevitably raised sulphur to start – boiled eggs and struck matches – but then creamy treacle toffee, dried cranberries and flowering currant bushes. The texture is luscious; the taste of liquid caramel, with pleasant bitterness: salted caramels ‘robed’ in dark chocolate. A Top Class Speyside, not a new town…

Drinking tip: For sharing at dusk with good friends

Colour: Deep amber with scarlet lights                       Date distilled: April 1997

Cask: Refill Sherry gorda                                     Alcohol: 57.5%

Age: 14 years                                               USA allocation: 114 bottles 

Sugared almonds in a mattress factory 

Cask No. 31.23                                  $155

Highland, Island

The intriguing nose delivered dried fruits and mixed nuts, toffee, green malt, mouse-trap cheese with a black, sooty fireplace grate somewhere in the background. The palate was pleasantly sweet yet robust – with moist iced gingerbread, liquorice, salt, smoke and chalky, limestone, earthy elements. The reduced nose turned somewhat fatty and savoury, like leg of lamb or the wrapping of a haggis supper – also cigarette papers and a mineral beach, with salt marshes nearby. The palate now floral and sweet suggested sugared almonds and iced gems in a coil-sprung mattress factory. The distillery, designed by architect William Delmé-Evans, was built around 1960.

Drinking tip: To take in a hip-flask up the Paps of Jura (or any other hill)

Colour: Old gold                                                                Date distilled: September 1988

Cask: Refill hogshead                                                       Alcohol: 51.7%

Age: 23 years                                               USA allocation: 90 bottles 

Big, brooding, masculine and intense 

Cask No. 33.122                               $85

Islay

Peat-smoked fire bricks, tarred ropes, lobster pots on old boats, Fisherman’s Friends, sweet scallops, seaweed, coconut husk doormats, barbecued sausages – that was the nose. The palate was a massive, tongue-roasting, smack in the face (ash, smoking charcoal, charred sausages and black pudding, over-done crême brûlée and lime); but somehow calming with its vanilla ice-cream sweetness. The reduced nose – dunnage warehouses, oily, herby, peaty, oaky, burnt toast – fascinating. The palate remained big, brooding, masculine and intense, with over-roasted vegetables, flamed chorizo and some plastic, soapy resonances (manly version of rubber duckies at bathtime?). Now Islay’s only distillery with a Jack Russell.

Drinking tip: Has the power to revive – perhaps late evening, watching Zombie movies?

Colour: Sunflower diffused gold                              Date distilled: February 2005

Cask: First-fill barrel                                                           Alcohol: 59.7%

Age: 7 years                                                USA allocation: 96 bottles 

An apple a day… 

Cask No. 84.15                                  $100

Speyside, Spey

The initial nose without water is very fruity and sweet; rich red apples, ripe bananas, candid pears as well as lemon drizzle cake and Danish pastry. With time deeper notes like toffee and chocolate éclair emerge. The taste neat is hot like biting on a chilli, also fresh oak and expensive apple schnapps. With the generous addition of water grapefruit and lime appear next to – you have guessed it already I am sure – apple sorbet ice cream, candid apple and Campino candy. The taste is now that of chocolate limes, peaches and apricots but also Appletiser and a spritzy apple wine mixed with sparkling water what makes this a very refreshing drink indeed.

Drinking tip: Picking apples on a sunny autumn day

Colour: White silver                                                           Date distilled: October 2001

Cask: Refill barrel                                                               Alcohol: 56.4%

Age: 11 years                                               USA allocation: 96 bottles 

Orange Blossom Honey Straws 

Cask No. 85.25                                  $115

Speyside, Lossie

First impression the Panel voiced, this is a sniffers dram; glue, solventy and warm paper from a photocopier in use a few decades ago, you know what we mean. With time fruity/earthy notes appear like apple, banana leaf, aloe plant, cactus and mango trees; we have moved into a glass house at the Botanics. The taste is hot, sweet/sour, a creamy horseradish and almost numbing. With water we left the glasshouse and are outside in a tropical garden during a very heavy downpour. It feels hot, wet and damp with floral and fruity aromas all around us. The taste now sweet, like a very ripe orange, creamy like vanilla custard as well as fresh like an apple sorbet. This distillery, starting with Glen, is named after Scotland’s smallest city.

Drinking tip: When in need of a sugar rush

Colour: Lion’s paw                                                            Date distilled: October 1999

Cask: Refill hogshead                                                       Alcohol: 56.3%

Age: 13 years                                               USA allocation: 84 bottles

Please visit the Scotch Malt Whisky Society at http://www.smwsa.com/

The Skull is back!

Ian Macleod Distillers’ Limited Rock Edition Smokehead – the rich and powerful Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky – is back to the US Market!

Our new tin evolved from the design of Smokehead’s existing tactile metal presentation tin, demanding attention with the introduction of a smoking skull, the time-honored symbol of rock.  Cocooned within the skull are the many adjectives that capture the Single Malt’s boisterous, outrageous, and deep peaty flavors.

Marketing Director for Ian Macleod Distillers, Ian Weir, commented: “The new presentation tin not only celebrates Smokehead’s close affinity to rock music, but reaffirms the brand’s unique position within the Single Malt category. Smokehead is vigorous and unapologetic about its big and intense peaty flavors. Like rock and roll, people must accept it for what it is or not at all.”

A rich, seaweedy and intensely peaty Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky, Smokehead is not for the faint hearted.  With immense fresh and fruity flavors that burst with notes of sherry, iodine, toffee, smoke and sea salt, Smokehead hits the palate like a cannonball. Smokehead’s RRP is $53.99.

92 points by Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible.

Smokehead – The Rock Edition will be available in the US throughout 2013.

For more information, please contact ImpEx Beverages, Inc. at office@impexbev.com or call (650) 872-1113.

Cheers!

The ImpEx Team

OUR BIGGEST AND BEST FESTIVAL YET

We’re delighted that over 400 of you joined us on Jura for our 50th anniversary. Thank you, we couldn’t have done it without you. And we’re not just saying that. It’s physically impossible to have a festival without the revellers and what revellers you were.

It was a privilege to see so many make the pilgrimage from all over the world to share in our story – from breaking out the vintage 1977, the new 30YO, the rare 39 ¾ (a sneak preview of the new 40YO) and the exclusive festival bottling to tasting Turas-Mara on the waves and soaking up the lively atmosphere inside the cooperage.

Relive all of these great moments in moving pictures and see if you can spot yourself in our photo gallery by clicking on our highlights video below. Don’t worry if you couldn’t be with us this time. Adventures like these await you next year:

Become an honorary Diurach, be the first to hear all of the latest news and help us to write many more exciting chapters like this.

BEAM Global Spirits & Wines

 BEAM Spirits Confidential – Toronto , June 26, 2013

By: Wendy Harker (representing Whisky Intelligence)

“Every time it rains, it rains Bourbon from Heaven”

(Dean Martin, When You’re Drinking ‘Bourbon from Heaven’)

On June 26, 2013, I had the great pleasure of attending Spirits Confidential – Toronto.  This was a Beam Global event that showcased the breadth of their spirited products held at the very hip and urban venue, Evergreen Brick Works.  It was an all-day event, split into an afternoon session for trade insiders and media and an evening session open to the public.  Beam Global’s portfolio is a palate seducing wish list that includes bourbons and other whiskies, rum, tequila, cognac, and vodka.  Spirits Confidential was also a special occasion to meet Master Distillers, Blenders and Brand Ambassadors.

Fred Noe

On this occasion, it was notably significant to have the opportunity to meet Fred Noe, Great-Grandson of Jim Beam and seventh generation Beam family distiller based in Clermont, Kentucky.  The Beam family name is synonymous with bourbon where their legacy of producing innovative and premium quality whiskey is still going strong. The Small Batch Bourbon Collection is a stellar foursome comprised of Booker’s, Baker’s 7, Knob Creek and Basil Hayden’s.  The Jim Beam brand carries a variety of bourbon whiskies like Devil’s Cut, Red Stag, and Jim Beam Black to name a few.  It is impossible to not share a deep appreciation for Mr. Noe’s family history and the baton of greatness that is being passed on from one generation to the next with bourbon expressions wearing the Beam name.

The afternoon event began with an exclusive invitation to an hour long Masters VIP Tasting of eight different spirits.   The principal spirits and presenters were:   Jim Beam & Small Batch, Devil’s Cut, Fred Noe, Master Distiller; Cruzan Rum, Cruzan Single Barrel, Don Nelthrop,  Assistant Master Distiller, Son of founder, Donald Nelthrop;  Marker’s Mark, Maker’s 46, Greg Davis, Master Distiller; Cooley’s Irish Whiskey, Kilbeggan 18 yo, John Cashman, Master Ambassador; Canadian Club, Canadian Club 20 yo, Dan Tullio, Master Ambassador; Courvoisier, L’Essence de Courvoiser Cognac, Patrice Pinet, Master Blender; Laphroaig, Cairdeas Port Wood Edition, Simon Brooking, Master Ambassador; and, Sauza Tequila, Sauza Tres Generacions Plata Tequila, Karina Sanchez, Master Ambassador.

At registration, I was given a chip with #5 on it which represented the table where I would begin the exclusive tasting circuit.   The eight site-tables were arranged in a circle comprised of ‘give or take’ groups of 10 guests moving from one table to the next with a bell announcing the end of each presentation.  To get the ball rolling, I was happy to discover that table #5 was Canadian Club and hosted by CC’s dynamic Brand Ambassador, Mr. Dan Tullio.  Without a second to waste, Dan launched into a brief historical synopsis of Hiram Walker, the Windsor Distillery and then introduced our palates to a sample of Canadian Club 20 year old, aged in sherry casks, 40% abv., $49.95.  The CC 20 awakened and warmed up my taste buds with its lingering notes of toffee and cloves.  I felt it was the perfect whisky to begin the afternoon journey of tasting premium Beam spirits.

Each presentation was educational and held something of particular value to me.   Of the 5 Bourbon/whiskies that were presented, the one that I hadn’t previously tasted was the Laphroaig Cairdeas Port Wood Edition, 51.3% abv, NCF.  I was thrilled when I saw it on the table.  This bottling is a limited port finish release created for the Islay whisky festival, Feis Ile 2013.  It has been double matured in bourbon and port wood casks.  This is a unique Laphroaig with its’ all natural pink hue colouring after being aged in port barrels. The Laphroaig was presented by the animated Simon Brooking, Brand Ambassador who gave an engaging and tactile session. I very much appreciated having the opportunity to sample this Islay whisky because it is not available at the LCBO; and, on the Laphroaig website, “sold out” marks the spot.  On my palate, I thought it was a balance of extracted sweet berry fruit that complimented Laphroaig’s signature back bone of brine and peat.   I was impressed that the port had such strong character to pop out like that.  My only regret was that I didn’t have more time to taste and think about it.

Before I knew it, the hour long Master VIP Tasting was over.  Fortunately, there was a fun filled afternoon to look forward to.   I headed over to a large open concept building where booths representing the Beam portfolio filled the venue.  As I stepped into the hall, it felt both daunting and amazing to think that one company owned such a distinctive stable of spirits.  I decided I would begin the next tasting chapter with another Canadian whisky named Alberta Premium Dark Horse, 45% abv, $29.95.  As I got my bearings, a dram with a lot of rye running through my veins felt like a good thing.   This portion of the event was relaxed, casual and filled with its fair share of pleasant surprises.  I welcomed the opportunity to talk with the Brand experts and to learn as much as I possibly could from them.

Wendy Harker & Greg Davis

It was a real pleasure to catch-up to Maker’s Mark Master Distiller, Greg Davis.  The signature seal of the red wax bottles were on full display, with an oak plank stretched across the right corner of the table. This striking display told the story of what makes Maker’s 46 different from Maker’s Mark.  In the final 2-3 months of aging, seared French oak staves are inserted into barrels of Maker’s Mark whisky to draw out more flavour notes and to give this bottling its unique characteristics.  The chance to retaste Maker’s 46, 45% abv, reminded me of how much I really liked it.  So much so, in fact, I bought a bottle the next day!

My next stop was with John Cashman, Brand Ambassador of Cooley’s Irish Whiskey.  In January 2012 Cooley Distillery was purchased by Beam Global.  I am a fan of Irish whiskey and the brand produces a couple of my favourites like Tryconnell and Greenore; other well known whiskies under Cooley’s umbrella are Kilbeggan and Connemara.  I asked John what we had to look forward to from Cooley’s and what have been some of the changes it has experienced now under Beams wing.  He said that the distillery will now be able to hold onto their younger aged whiskies that would have otherwise been sold to other companies.  He added that this will also give the distillery the opportunity to produce older aged whiskies and develop new finishes.  This had me wondering if the increased volume of in-house whiskies would also increase limited releases.  I asked him about Cooley’s Poitin, a Single Pot Still New Make whiskey which is also currently being aged in barrels.   I asked if he thought the barrel aged whiskey would be released in 2014?   Shaking his head, John non-specifically predicted that it would be later than that.  He also talked about how they had been faced with the obstacle of marketing and distributing on a global scale. But with Beam Inc, they would now be able to reach a worldwide market. I was left with a good impression that we were going to see some exciting new releases from this distillery.  And, the quality, creativity and Brand heritage that Cooley’s is known for was very much intact.

Not all of the brands at this event were owned by Beam Global.  Grouped together at one end of the hall were three Scottish Whiskies: Highland Park, Macallan and Famous Grouse.  I wondered what their relationship was with Beam Global and asked one of the Brand Ambassadors.  The whiskies are owned by the Edrington Group with Beam Global being their Canadian distribution partner.

I approached the Macallan table and was equally delighted to find the knowledgeable and hospitable, Marc Laverdiere, Macallan Brand Ambassador, and The Macallan 1824 Series: Gold, Amber, Sienna and Ruby.   The bottled series uses a range of woods for flavour and colour and is without age statements.  As of the first week of July, the series is a new release at the LCBO with Canada being one of the worldwide markets to receive the entire collection.   I was grateful to have the opportunity to sample the four new expressions.  Of the four, Sienna was my favourite; the whisky has been aged in 100% American oak sherry casks and bottled at 43% abv. I tried to savour my sample with its lingering finish and flavours of plump fruit, honey and warming spicy tones.   It felt like a lovely treat.

With the afternoon coming to an end, it just seemed right to finish my day with a dram of Baker’s 7, one of the bourbons from the Small Batch Collection.  It was my personal way of toasting the namesake of the event and to ponder the past four hours that seemed to slip through my fingers.  I felt that I had been navigating myself through a series of complex whiskies and brand relationships.  One lasting thought was that while under the umbrella of the powerhouse of Beam Global, the cultural beginnings and the rich heritage of bourbon and other whisky brands that comprise its portfolio have remained preserved.  These gems of whisky symbolized a blend of ingenuity and traditional value while at the same time delighting and challenging my senses of taste and smell.  It is also important to recognize the hard working experts like the Master Distillers, Blenders and Brand Ambassadors that are so personable and willing to answer questions and share their knowledge.  The spirit of this event was one of generosity and fun.