“Complexity In Whisky – Lost And Found / Why Whisky Had To Change Over The Past Decades” by Oliver Klimek

http://www.maltmaniacs.net/E-pistles/Malt-Maniacs-2012-04-Complexity-In-Whisky.pdf

It’s about the how the modernization of whisky making has affected the flavour and overall character of whisky.

Now offering new make spirit, filled into first fill bourbon barrels distilled at the following distilleries;

Non-Profit Organizations Raised More Than $150,000 with Help from the Buffalo Trace Millennium Barrel

FRANKFORT, Franklin County, Ky (May, 2012) – More than $150,000 was raised for various charities across the country with help from Buffalo Trace Distillery.

The Millennium Barrel Bourbon was the last bourbon barrel of the twentieth century filled on December 31, 1999 by Buffalo Trace Distillery and set to age in the Distillery’s warehouse V, the world’s only bonded single barrel aging warehouse.

In June of 2011, the company bottled this single barrel of whiskey, which yielded 174 handwritten and individually numbered bottles. Each Millennium Barrel bottle was packaged in a numbered hardwood showcase box that includes a piece of the historic barrel’s charred oak stave. Buffalo Trace Distillery then offered all 174 bottles to non-profit organizations wishing to raise funds for their charity.

Altogether, $152,557 dollars were raised for needy organizations all the way from New York to California. Organizations supporting child care, senior care, Red Cross, the Ronald McDonald House, Humane Societies, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Wildlife Centers, and many more were able to benefit from the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. A complete list of charities is available online at www.buffalotracemillennium.com

Some of the top fundraising organizations found resourceful ways to make the most of their piece of history. The Indiana State University Foundation, based in Terre Haute, was the top fundraiser with $7,000 raised. To do this, they got creative with a trip to Kentucky, tour of bourbon country, and visit to Buffalo Trace Distillery in Frankfort. At the end of their evening, their Buffalo Trace tour guide drew the winning name for the Millennium Barrel bottle. The group consisted of alumni and friends of Indiana State University. The cost per participant covered the travel and expenses and entry into the drawing for the Millennium Barrel bottle.

The Preble County Historical Society in Ohio raised $4,100 by offering an exclusive whiskey tasting, followed by a first-class dinner.

“We’re thrilled so many deserving organizations benefited from our Millennium Barrel,” said Kris Comstock, bourbon brand manager. “To help raise over $150,000 for worthwhile causes feels wonderful.”

About Buffalo Trace Distillery

Buffalo Trace Distillery is a family-owned company based in Frankfort, Franklin County, Kentucky. The Distillery’s rich distilling tradition dates back to 1787 and includes such legends as E.H. Taylor, Jr., George T. Stagg, Albert B. Blanton, Orville Schupp, and Elmer T. Lee. Buffalo Trace Distillery is a fully operational Distillery producing bourbon, rye and vodka on site and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Distillery has won seven distillery titles since 2000 from such notable publications as Whisky Magazine, Malt Advocate Magazine and Wine Enthusiast Magazine. It was named Whisky Magazine 2010 World Icons of Whisky “Whisky Visitor Attraction of the Year.” Buffalo Trace Distillery has also garnered more than 200 awards for its wide range of premium whiskies. To learn more about Buffalo Trace Distillery visit www.buffalotracedistillery.com.

It’s almost that time to bring out the sunscreen and fire up the grill as the official kick-off to start summer approaches. What better time of year to enjoy something quintessentially American like, Maker’s Mark, than the last weekend in May?

Whether grilling this Memorial Day or just taking some time to sit on the porch and enjoy the warm weather, Maker’s Mark has just the thing to delight and refresh. And, when entertaining lots of guests, try whipping up a batch of Maker’s Mark Fancy Bourbon Punch. It’s easy to make and pairs well with Maker’s Mark Kobe Beef Burgers created by Frites ‘N’ Meats, the acclaimed New York-based food truck, puts a gourmet twist on everyone’s favorite Memorial Day meal. Top off the weekend with the perfect amount of sweetness, a Blueberry Bourbon Cream Cheese Pie.

The caramel and vanilla notes of Maker’s Mark Bourbon (www.makersmark.com ) allow bourbon enthusiasts to enjoy neat, as a marinade or in a delicious cocktail. Please see below for a few delish suggestions.

Fancy Bourbon Punch Recipe by Matt Wallace, Mixologist, Seven Grand

1 liter Maker’s Mark® Bourbon
1 cup granulated sugar
Peels of 3 lemons and 1 orange
Juice of peeled fruit
1 liter of strong tea (preferably green tea)
250 ml champagne (club soda can be used for a less fancy version)
Freshly grated nutmeg

1.       Combine sugar and citrus peels in the bottom of a punch bowl. Muddle together until sugar starts to clump together. Let sit for about 2 hours, (while not necessary, this does add a little complexity).
2.       Brew the tea for about 30 minutes, remove loose tea or tea bags, and allow to cool.
3.       Add the juice of the peeled fruit, tea, and bourbon. Stir.
4.       Top with champagne just before serving and stir gently. Top with freshly grated nutmeg and serve.

Maker’s Mark® Kobe Beef Burger Recipe by Hiassam and Ali Beydoun, Owners and Chefs, Frites ‘N’ Meats

Prep Time: 4 hours.  Cook Time: 3 hours. Level: Easy. Serves 4
4 six-ounce Kobe beef hamburger patties (regular ground beef can be substituted)
½ cup plus 2 teaspoons Maker’s Mark® Bourbon
4 cloves garlic, finely minced
4 pieces plum tomatoes, cut in half lengthwise
2 teaspoons fresh thyme, minced
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 large onions, cut in half and thinly sliced with the grain
Salt and black pepper
Extra virgin olive oil
4 soft hamburger buns, brioche preferably

Marinate the burger patties; Place them in a shallow baking dish and pour a ½ cup of Maker’s Mark® Bourbon over the burgers. Sprinkle the patties with ¼ of the minced garlic. Refrigerate for two hours, then flip the patties; sprinkle with another ¼ of the garlic. Refrigerate another two hours.While the burgers are marinating, preheat the oven to 300°F. Place the cut tomato halves on a parchment lined sheet tray, cut side up. Brush the tomatoes lightly with olive oil and season with salt, pepper, the minced thyme, and the remaining minced garlic. Place in the oven and allow the tomatoes to slow roast for about 1½-2 hours until they are slightly dehydrated and begin to color. Once the tomatoes have cooled, sprinkle 1 teaspoon of Maker’s Mark® Bourbon over the tomatoes. Refrigerate until needed.  While the tomatoes are cooking, caramelize the onions. Heat a large sauté pan over medium-high heat and add the vegetable oil and onions to the pan. Season the onions with salt and cook until they begin to soften, stirring often, about 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium and cook for 15 minutes more until they begin to break down more and color slightly. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook the onions, stirring occasionally, for roughly 2 hours, or until the onions caramelize deep golden brown. Add water to the pan as necessary if the onions begin to stick to the pan. Once the onions are cooked, transfer to a small container and stir in 1 teaspoon of Maker’s Mark® Bourbon. Refrigerate until needed. Heat the grill, grill pan, or griddle to high heat. Remove the burgers from the marinade, lightly brush both sides with olive oil, and season well with salt and pepper. Cook your burgers to desired doneness. To assemble, lightly toast bun if desired. Add the burger patty and top with caramelized onions and two pieces of tomatoes. Enjoy!

*Note: The owners of the Frites N’Meats food truck in New York City, Hiassam and Ali Beydoun, developed this wonderful bourbon-marinated Kobe burger, which is not only delicious, but a leading example of how Maker’s Mark® Bourbon can be utilized in the most unexpected of places.

Blueberry Bourbon Cream Cheese Pie Recipe by Ian Knauer, Food Writer and Cookbook Author

Prep Time: 2 hours. Cook Time: 2½ hours. Level: Easy Serves 6-8
4 cups fresh blueberries
¾ cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
4 tablespoons Maker’s Mark® Bourbon
½ cup cream cheese, at room temperature
1 pre-baked Pie Shell*

Mash 2 cups of the blueberries with the sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice, and 2 tablespoons of Maker’s Mark® Bourbon. Place the berry mixture in a medium pan and place it over medium heat.  Bring the filling to a boil, stirring, and boil it until it is thickened and clear, about 3 minutes. Let the filling cool to room temperature.  Beat together the cream cheese and the remaining 2 tablespoons bourbon. Spread the cream cheese over the bottom of the pie crust.  Stir the remaining blueberries into the cooled berry filling. Spread the berry filling over the cream cheese layer. Chill the pie at least 2 hours, or until it is cold. Serve with lightly whipped cream.

*Note: Pre-bake the pie shell according to package directions at least two hours beforehand to allow time to cool.

Old Forester vintage-dated Birthday Bourbon

Old Forester, Louisville, Ky. releases its vintage-dated Birthday Bourbon in honour of George Garvin Brown, the founder of Louisville-based Brown-Forman and Old Forester, America’s First Bottled Bourbon. Launched in 2002 to commemorate Brown’s Birthday on September 2, Old Forester Birthday … Continue reading →

Glann ar Mor Distillery releases two Kornog Single Casks!

The artisan distillery from the Northern coast of Brittany is releasing the first 2012 bottlings of Kornog, its peated Single Malt, with two single cask.

The Sant Erwan 2012 has been specially bottled on the occasion of the yearly celebration of Saint Yves, known as Sant Erwan in Breton language, who is the emblematic saint of Brittany and is honoured every year on May the 19Th since his canonization in 1347.

The second bottling, the Sant Ivy 2012 is named after another saint from Brittany, who was born in Wales between 500 and 512 before eventually crossing the Channel to Christianize Brittany.

* Kornog Sant Ivy 2012 : from a first fill Bourbon barrel which delivered 260 bottles at the natural strength of 59,9%. The 2011 edition of the Sant Ivy was awarded a Liquid Gold Award in Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible 2012.

* Kornog Sant Erwan 2012 : from a first fill Bourbon barrel which delivered 306 bottles at 50% bearing a pewter and gold label.

Both casks being bottled without chill filtration nor caramel colouring as is always the case with the distillery.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Glann-ar-Mor-Distillery/111082218907723  

and

 http://www.tregorwhisky.com

Glann ar Mor Distillery : info@glannarmor.com

Laphroaig 18yo Jubilee Bottle Now Available to Pre Order – The highly anticipated Laphroaig 18 year old Jubilee…Link to full article:

Kind Regards

The Whisky Shop
www.whiskyshop.com

Malt Whisky Society of Finland on tour with MCLEANSCOTLAND

First day; meet everyone at Glasgow airport. Load up the coach and away we go! The group arrived back of 1.30pm so we didnee have too much time left – first call; Auchentoshan Distillery for a tour and drams. What does it mean to be the only Triple Distilled Single Malt In Scotland? Auchentoshan new spirit is the highest distillate of any single malt distillery in Scotland, strong notes of fruit and citrus are revealed, making Auchentoshan the smoothest, most delicate tasting single malt scotch whisky. And that is why Auchentoshan is highly acclaimed across the world since 1823. Och we did agree! A grand tour and a coupla tastes then back on board for scenic wonders to rival the drams, as we headed through the “rest and be thankful” mountain pass, next stop; Loch Fyne Whisky Shop in Inveraray. Richard did us proud, opening specially for our group and giving us a wee taste of Inveraray! One of the best whisky shops I know, and certainly THE best on the west coast. While the group enjoyed a dram or four, I called in on a friend in town for a cuppa tea! For a half hour stop, we lasted over an hour in the shop! Aye well … From Inveraray we then travelled to our hotel in Tarbert – a nice wee place on Loch Fyne. A good dinner and guess what? more drams!

Day 2; an early start as we headed doon to Campletoon to visit Springbank. A really good tour taken here which everyone enjoyed 100%. Followed of course by sampling. We took the 1pm ferry to Islay, landed, met Lindsay (chatted with Lammie) and caught another ferry to Jura. Local buses we had arranged, met us and took us directly to Jura Distillery for a special tour. And what a tour it was, the usual (but longer) distillery tour, followed by at least 6 cask tastings from Willie (manager) in the warehouse, hell that was good. Even then, as we went back to the shop, we had 4 more drams, a wee carry out each with a bottle in! Many thanks go to Willie Cochrane and Fiona for a brilliant – unforgettable tour and visit. A wee bit knackered we all set out for the ferry, where our coach was waiting on the other side and off to Bowmore for the night, dinner and drams followed. Can you see a pattern emerging here? I think Lindsay knew what was in store now for tomorrow!

Day 3; Caol Ila, Bruichladdich and Bowmore today – all starting with Bowmore, I (Paul) was a wee bit peeved here, as they would not allow us to start earlier than booked, even though it was a group private tour booked well in advance, and … they let us wait in the rain for ten minutes at the door, at the end of this after buying many product, no bar code for a jacket we wanted, not the best start. Caol Ila followed, much better! quick tour as requested and drams, great! Doon all the way to Ardbeg, och they were so busy we only stayed for photos (an unscheduled visit anyhow). Back to Bowmore and after a telephone call to our hotel, collected butties, water and crisps for the journey to Bruichladdich. Another excellent tour here, we were treated very well, I must say personally (Paul) I am no much for gin, tried it though, courtesy of Willie. A long stay then back to the hotel to rest, or thats what they all thought, we had arranged with Lindsay for her to play the pipes, it went down really well with everyone! More food and drinks followed, of course… will Lindsay ever be the same? I can honestly say, a good day had by everyone. I retired to my bed handy, well – I did have some work to do (thanks Liz, do I ever get a holiday?).

Day 4; taking the early ferry back to Kennacraig, time to relax (recover) on the 2 hour crossing. Back on dry land we headed to Glasgow, dinnae spare the horses Alistair! We had an appointment with Jan at Douglas Laing & Co. We split up into two groups, one did a quick city tour and the other a drams tasting tour! We then swapped aboot, er, I stayed with Liz (who had now arrived to join the fun complete with broken foot and on crutches), well, someone has to! Luggage in at the hotel, a quick change and shower before heading oot into wild Glasgow, the Mussell Inn actually for a pre planned whisky dinner. A pal of ours met up, brought some bottles and we sat doon to a grand dinner with a dram at each course, what a way to go! We all enjoyed great food, some beers and (thanks Don) 6 drams as our finale session.

Day 5; och well, time for all to head home, see you again for more drams! A late start for Liz and Paul, before the train back to Perth, with a thought; are those Fins as mad as the Swedes? We love em all. Mika, you and the society are welcome anytime, in fact we have booked Islay again for October.

This tour was planned, guided, managed and booked by mcleanscotland.

Angels; www.angelswhiskyclub.com

Paul & Liz; www.mcleanscotland.com

www.ralfy.com continues busy with Whisky Review 273 – Glen Scotia (Kintyre Region) … and we love it !

ARRAN MALT & MUSIC FESTIVAL 2012

(formerly known as Arran Distillery Open Day) Saturday 30th June 2012

£50 per member

We have 37 people booked so far for this trip with only 13 seats left so if you have yet to book for this then please do so before June 2nd as we have to confirm the size of bus required to get us to the ferry. We have spoken to Arran Distillery and everything has been confirmed. Last year the goodie bag contained a tasting glass and 3 vouchers for Arran whiskies which were redeemable in the beer tent. This year they are only doing one voucher, but as a Drambuster you will get two vouchers and a free miniature along with your tasting glass.

There will be two masterclasses laid on for us, the first at midday and the second at 2pm, both lasting approximately one hour. Brian will split the group into two for the master classes once we are on the bus. As well as all of last year’s entertainment, there will also be an area for cocktails, a smoked food area and they are also running a ‘man versus food’ competition. It all promises to be a great day out!

Contact us for more details if you wish to come along.

Our mailing address is:

T.B.Watson Ltd.
11/17 English Street
Dumfries, Scotland DG1 2BU
United Kingdom

info@tbwatson.co.uk