BUSHMILLS™ IRISH WHISKEY SWEEPS THE BOARD AT 2012 SPIRIT COMPETITIONS

BUSHMILLS Irish Whiskey has finished the 2012 awards season with a sweep of accolades from some of the world’s most prestigious spirit competitions – twelve of which have been picked up in the last month alone.

The recent awards include two gold medals for BUSHMILLS 21 Year Old Single Malt Irish Whiskey – one at the 2012 International Wine and Spirit Competition and another at the 2012 Spirits Business Irish Whiskey Masters.

The medals bring the number of awards that the handcrafted BUSHMILLS range has won in 2012 to 32. This includes the accolade of ‘Best Irish Whiskey’ that BUSHMILLS 21 Year Old also picked up at the 2012 San Francisco World Spirits Competition.

BUSHMILLS 16 Year Old Single Malt also picked up a coveted ‘Master’ award – the highest in its category – in the 2012 Spirits Business Irish Whiskey Masters.

BUSHMILLS Global Brand Director, Samantha Reader said: “The quality of BUSHMILLS, as recognised by the most credible experts in the industry, is an important factor in the growth of the brand.”

“Picking up a haul of 32 top awards has been the perfect ending to a big year for us. In the past few months, we’ve launched a new product, BUSHMILLS Irish Honey, in the U.S.; staged Bushmills Live – a handcrafted whiskey and music festival – at the home of BUSHMILLS; and collaborated with a range of world-famous artists such as Snow Patrol, Bon Iver and Elijah Wood.”

BUSHMILLS Master Distiller, Colum Egan, said: “It has been an incredible year already for us here at Bushmills and we have been thrilled with each and every award that has been bestowed on our beloved whiskies.

“We spend a lot of time here at Bushmills handcrafting each of our whiskies in small batches – that’s our secret to creating the best quality Irish Whiskey and the smooth taste that is our house style. We’ll certainly be enjoying a glass to celebrate!”

BUSHMILLS Range

Topping the boards: The BUSHMILLS Irish Whiskey range.

Bushmills 21 Year Old

Best Irish Whiskey: Bushmills 21 Year Old Single Malt Irish Whiskey

Colum Egan

BUSHMILLS Master Distiller Colum Egan celebrates the brand’s awards haul at the Old Bushmills Distillery.

Samantha Reader

BUSHMILLS Irish Whiskey Global Brand Director Samantha Reader: “The quality of BUSHMILLS, as recognised by our industry peers already this year, is an important factor in the growth of the brand”.

Bushmills Live

Bushmills Live – the festival of handcrafted whiskey and music – at the Old Bushmills Distillery.

Notes

BUSHMILLS Irish Whiskey is handcrafted in small batches for a smooth taste at Ireland’s oldest working distillery, in Co. Antrim, Northern Ireland. The brand portfolio includes six award-winning whiskies: BUSHMILLS, BLACK BUSH, BUSHMILLS 10 Year Old Single Malt, BUSHMILLS 16 Year Old Single Malt, BUSHMILLS 21 Year Old Single Malt and our anniversary edition, BUSHMILLS 1608.

BUSHMILLS Irish Whiskey awards 2012: 

About Diageo

Diageo is the world’s leading premium drinks business with an outstanding collection of beverage alcohol brands across spirits, beer and wine. These brands include Johnnie Walker, Crown Royal, JεB, Buchanan’s, Windsor and Bushmills whiskies, Smirnoff, Cîroc and Ketel One vodkas, Baileys, Captain Morgan, Jose Cuervo, Tanqueray and Guinness.

Diageo is a global company, with its products sold in more than 180 countries around the world. The company is listed on both the New York Stock Exchange (DEO) and the London Stock Exchange (DGE). For more information about Diageo, its people, brands, and performance, visit us at Diageo.com. For our global resource that promotes responsible drinking through the sharing of best practice tools, information and initiatives, visit DRINKiQ.com. Celebrating life, every day, everywhere.

Macallan 16yo 1995 (53%, SMWS, Refill Hogshead, 24.122)

On the undiluted nose there are some fragrant notes along with some sweetness and some dried fruit (apricots, peaches, apples – think concentrated). Following these delights are some very good dusty malt notes (like being in a malt barn) and the sweetness and the dusty malt work very well together. With water the concentrated oak flavours are still quite evident (& still good). The undiluted taste is from the oak side of the flavour spectrum with lots of spicy characteristics and it’s very dry; like a dry aperitif perhaps? There’s also some grapefruit and some chewy malt. With a splash of water things calm down some what but there are still lots of flavour and it remains true to the undiluted sample. The finish is good and reflects the nose and the taste very well; it’s long and vibrant. The grapefruit (& malt) makes an appearance also just to add some colour to the finish.

Quite different from the officials bottlings and an interesting addition to any malt lovers mileage. Only 120 bottles imported into the USA (The total outturn is not specified).

$120

Score 81 points

To order (& to join) contact the Society at 1 800 990 1991 or www.smwsa.com and please visit HERE to read the official notes. Sample kindly provided by the Scotch Malt Whisky Society of America. Sample  two of four this week.

A Taste from the Past – Grant’s 25 Year Old Character Jug

Hello all,

It seems many of you enjoyed my recent review of one of our old Royal Doulton decanters with over 1,000 of you ‘liking’ our Facebook post. I love social media sites in that respect, as they give me instant feedback on what our fans enjoy reading. And so, this week I have found another…(please click on the link to read the remainder of the article)…

THE LINK

Kind regards,
Ludo

Award Season Analysis – Fool’s Gold?

A big congratulations to all the British medal-winners… at the 2012 International Wine & Spirits Competition, the Spirits categories of which were announced a week or two ago. A total of 1,346 medals were awarded this year (more than 100 more than … Continue reading >>

The Ardbeg Galileo

The Ardbeg Galileo is absolutely stunning! It not only looks the part but it tastes outstanding to. Distilled in 1999 and bottled in 2012 The ‘heart’ is Ardbeg matured in ex-marsala casks from Sicily Balanced with first fill ex- bourbon casks bottled at 49% ABV Non Chill-Filtered.

Stock arriving on the 1st of September. To avoid disappointment order today. We think this one will sell out very quickly and will be one of the most popular releases of the year!

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The Whisky Shop Tel 0141 440 0600 info@whiskyshop.com  www.whiskyshop.com

THE FAMOUS GROUSE SETS NEW WORLD RECORD

As countless world records have been broken in London this month a new one has been awarded north of the border as The Famous Grouse unveiled a 228 litre bottle of its blended whisky – the largest bottle of whisky in the world. Scotland’s favourite whisky was awarded the Guinness World Record by an official adjudicator in front of fans at the brand’s birthday celebrations yesterday (Sunday 12th August) – having exceeded its target of 200 litres comfortably. The bottle stands at an impressive five feet five inches tall and holds the equivalent of 9,120 drams of whisky. It took three hours to fill the enormous bottle with help from a number of VIP guests, Paul McLean of MCLEANSCOTLAND & ANGELS WHISKY CLUB, included. The bottle will now sit proudly on permanent display at The Famous Grouse Experience for visitors taking a tour at the distillery to see. The bottle has travelled over 1,200 miles from Svetla, a town near Prague, where it was handmade by Czech glass manufacturers BOMMA. The Czech company were commissioned by The Famous Grouse as the only people skilled enough to make a hand-blown bottle of this size.

Glen Gribbon, Director of The Famous Grouse, commented: “We have been gearing towards this momentous day for a long time and it’s been extremely nerve-wracking for all involved. We are so thrilled to bring this record to the home of Scotch whisky and are relieved that it’s now official – we have the biggest bottle of whisky in the world! “The bottle will now be displayed at The Famous Grouse Experience so fans can visit and see the bottle for themselves.”

The record was awarded by an official Guinness World Record adjudicator as the brand marked its 107th birthday and The Famous Grouse Experience celebrated 10 years since opening at Glenturret Distillery, Scotland’s oldest and most visited distillery.

As well as witnessing a new world record, guests enjoyed live entertainment, a new whisky tour around the distillery and highland games demonstrations from strongman Gregor Edmunds. Gregor was crowned Scotland’s Strongest Man in 2002 and has won a host of Strongman competitions including the Highlander Challenge World Championships last year.

The Famous Grouse takes the world record from Jack Daniel’s who entered into the Guinness World Record Book last year by producing a 184 litre bottle.

Please enjoy our whisky responsibly.

Image caption
TOP: Guinness World record adjudicator Jack Brockbank declares The Famous Grouse has taken the world record for the largest bottle of whisky
BOTOOM: Tracy McCafferty, General Manager at The Famous grouse Experience, with the world’s largest bottle of whisky and Guinness World Record certificate

Longmorn 8yo 2003 (61.6%, SMWS, 1st fill barrel, 7.69)

On the nose there are tree fruits, golden syrup and some very nice oak spice. Some further investigation reveals some good malt (as one would expect from Longmorn and of course some good notes from the ex-American cask (vanilla etc). With water there’s some good fragrance in with the malt and some creaminess. The undiluted taste is very active and strong but brings out a little green notes, more fruit, dried and uncured tobacco, malt and more of the syrup but now everything is concentrated. Very nice! With water it’s slightly more appealing (although the undiluted sample is very engaging too) with more of the tree fruits and tobacco and some really nice sweetness and (bonus) some really good dark chocolate moments. The finish is strong and has hints of heather and rose water but still the tobacco and malt moments are still there tying it all together. It’s a very big finish that is quite active and has some staying power. Malt, malt too.

A little goes a long way; very good from start to finish. Only 150 bottles imported into the USA (The total outturn is not specified).

$85

Score 86 points

To order (& to join) contact the Society at 1 800 990 1991 or www.smwsa.com and please visit HERE to read the official notes. Sample kindly provided by the Scotch Malt Whisky Society of America. Sample  one of four this week.

Tomatin 30 Year Old Limited Release Whisky

Tomtain 30 year old limited release, a combination of European and North American oak casks matured for over 30 years.

A superb tasting malt whisky, limited to 1500 bottles per annum.

Gold Medal – San Francisco World Spirits Competition 2012

Only £121.90

(£101.58 ex vat)

Click here to buy Tomatin 30 Year Old

Abbey Whisky

enquiries@abbeywhisky.com
www.abbeywhisky.com
0800 051 7737

EXCEPTIONAL 50 YEAR OLD DALMORE AT BONHAMS SCOTTISH SALE IN EDINBURGH

A bottle of The Dalmore-50 year old, filled into barrels in 1926, is the star item in the whisky section of Bonhams Scottish Sale Part II on 29 August at 22 Queen Street.

The whisky, which has been described as having the complex aroma of old English marmalade, ripe bananas, treacle toffee and fruitcake, comes in a ceramic decanter with stopper and is estimated at £5,000-7,000.

Among other lots is a Black Bowmore 1964 bottled in 1993. Number 1372 of 2000, it comes in a wooden presentation case and carries an estimate of £2,000-2,500.

Three commemorative bottles also stand out. A Port Ellen Maltings-21 year old bottled to commemorate the 25th Anniversary of Port Ellen Maltings (1973-1998) is estimated at £1,000-1,200 and a Bowmore-30 year old-1963 which marks the 30th anniversary of Morrison Bowmore Distillers ownership is expected to fetch £800-1,000.

Finally a bottle of Blair Athol Bicentenary-12 year old which commemorates 200 years of distilling (1798-1998), comes in its original carton and is estimated at £800-1,000

In all there are over 100 bottles on offer. They form part of Bonhams Scottish Sale Part II which takes place over two days – 29th and 30th August – and is a celebration of all things Scottish.

NOTES

Bonhams, founded in 1793, is one of the world’s largest auctioneers of fine art and antiques. The present company was formed by the merger in November 2001 of Bonhams & Brooks and Phillips Son & Neale. In August 2002, the company acquired Butterfields, the principal firm of auctioneers on the West Coast of America. Today, Bonhams offers more sales than any of its rivals, through two major salerooms in London: New Bond Street and Knightsbridge; and a further three in the UK regions and Scotland. Sales are also held in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Carmel, New York and Connecticut in the USA; and Germany, France, Monaco, Hong Kong and Australia. Bonhams has a worldwide network of offices and regional representatives in 25 countries offering sales advice and valuation services in 60 specialist areas. For a full listing of upcoming sales, plus details of Bonhams specialist departments go to www.bonhams.com

The Bowmore 1985

Laid down in 1985, this limited release of just 747 bottles has been awakened after 26 long years of quiet slumber for you to enjoy.

Hand crafted to perfection by our distillery Manager and his specialist team, this unique spirit has been nurtured in hand-selected sherry and bourbon casks during its long maturation in the legendary Bowmore No 1 Vaults – the warehouse below sea-level.

From thrashing waves and Atlantic gusts to the purest water and finest peat, the ancient elements have also helped in shaping this single malt.

One the eye deep chestnut, Breath in the trademark Bowmore Peat smoke with fragrant summer berries encased in dark chocolate and lashings of cream. Sip blood orange and grapefruit notes together with dark chocolate, salted honeycomb and hints of lemony-rose Turkish delight. Savour the complex finish with sweet cherries, dark chocolate and leathery smoke.

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The Whisky Shop Tel 0141 440 0600 info@whiskyshop.com www.whiskyshop.com