Dear Friends of Laphroaig, Eighteen years ago in May, the first ever Friend of Laphroaig stood proudly on his very own square foot of Islay. Since then, over half a million of you have claimed your land and joined him as Friends of Laphroaig. During that time we have shared some momentous moments with our FOLs – we’ve witnessed wedding ceremonies on the plots, ashes scattered on them and we’ve even met some FOLs with Laphroaig tattoos.  It really has been a magical eighteen years. The Friends of Laphroaig tartan To mark such a momentous occasion, we thought it was about time that we created an official Friends of Laphroaig tartan. Your help has been invaluable to us over the years, from shaping the new website and designing the FOL crest logo, to the creation of the much loved Quarter Cask expression. It was only natural, therefore, that you would be our first port of call when it came to designing this tartan. Who better to design the FOL tartan than an actual FOL? We’ve created a simple and fun tartan making app to help you generate your designs. It’s quick and easy to use, you just pick your colours and band sizes and we generate the design for you right there and then. Once your tartan has been submitted it will appear in our gallery along with all of the other submissions and FOLs will be encouraged to vote for their favourite designs.   The top 20 designs will be judged by the distillery team and the overall winner will become the official FOL tartan. The winner will receive a luxurious kilt produced to their design by Gordon Covell of the Islay Woolen Mill. You may recognise Gordon’s name from our website, where we have a short video of him in action. He is also known for creating the tartans worn in films such as Braveheart, Forrest Gump and Rob Roy, so you can be assured of the finest craftsmanship. If designing your own tartan doesn’t appeal, you can still help to determine the winner by voting for your favourite in our gallery. This will be known as our official tartan for many years to come so it is important to us that you all play a part in its creation. You have until 31st May to submit your tartan or to vote on a winner. I’ll be raising a dram to the Friends of Laphroaig as often as I can during this birthday month; I hope that you can join me wherever you may be in the World! To another eighteen years of FOL! Slàinte John Campbell Distillery Manager, Laphroaig

For more information about becoming a Friend of Laphroaig visit www.laphroaig.com

Loch Fyne Whiskies Stocks, ‘Bruichladdich Black Art 3’

Bruichladdich Black Art 3 1989 22yo
48.7% abv
£91.50 inc vat
£76.25 ex vat

Best regards,
Loch Fyne Whiskies
david@lfw.co.uk

Bunnahabhain 1990 Sherry Cask #18

The latest dark sherry butt bottled by fine wine & spirit merchants Berry Bros & Rudd. Distilled 1990 and bottled 2012 from a refill sherry butt. The nose is brimming with sweet sherry, dried fruits and marzipan while the taste is an intense malt leaving no doubt of its sherry cask origins.

£84.99 (£70.82 ex VAT)

Why many lucky Dads will get this unique Fathers’ Day surprise!

London May 2012: “Suntory Japanese whiskies are riding a wave of popularity among top bar managers, high class retailers and whisky connoisseurs”, says Kazuyuki Takayama, Suntory Whisky Marketing Manager. “These whiskies are in demand for trade and consumer sampling as word gets around and consumers are putting them high up on the Father’s Day gift list. Whether it is the Hibiki 17 year old blended whisky, a Yamazaki or Hakushu 12 year old single malt, lucky dads will be soon be enjoying one of the world’s great whiskies on Father’s Day.

Hibiki 17 Year Old Blended Japanese Whisky

Yamazaki 12 Year Old Single Malt Japanese Whisky

Suntory is a distiller of international renown having won more than 60 international gold, silver and bronze medals and awards for the excellence of its whiskies. These include Best Malt Whisky in the World, Best Blended Whisky in the World and Distiller of the Year.

The Suntory reputation is such that whisky lovers go that extra distance to track down their favourite Suntory single malt or blended whisky. They know Japanese whisky has its own unique tastes and flavours and is very different from Scottish whisky. Many non-whisky drinkers also find Suntory whiskies a great introduction to whisky because it deliver tastes and flavours which they really enjoy.

Hakushu 12 Year Old Single Malt Japanese Whisky

Managers of many leading lifestyle bars have been praising the values of these whiskies and say once their customers try a Suntory whisky they usually come back for more. They will be found in bars like China Tang at The Dorchester, 45 Park Lane, and Le Meridien.

In the shops they will be found in retail outlets like Harrods, Selfridges, Harvey Nichols, the Whisky Shop, Whisky Mile, Milroys, Gerry’s of Soho, and leading independent off-trade outlets. Available also online at outlets like the Whisky Exchange (www.thewhiskyexchange.com) and Master of Malts.

In case of difficulty in locating Suntory whiskies simply contact the UK distributor Cellar Trends – on Tel: 01283 217703 email sales@cellartrends.co.uk  www.cellartrends.co.uk

Hi all, 

A Taste from the Past – Grant’s Royal 12 Years Old (bottled in the 1970s)

Good afternoon all,

Frequent readers of this blog will be familiar with Grant’s Royal after I reviewed two versions of this old blend (one from the 80s and one from the 90s). This week I’m going even further back in time with this bottle of Grant’s Royal from the early 1970s.

After doing a bit of research, I…(please click on the link below to read the remainder of the article)…

THE LINK

Kind regards,
Ludo

BenRiach Distillery Whisky Tasting – Wednesday 20th June 2012

For our June tasting we will be joined by Stewart Buchanan, Distillery Manager at BenRiach – a Speyside distillery that has gone from strength to strength since it’s takeover by an independent consortium in 2004. Their excellent range of whiskies include both unpeated and peated whiskies, and with their close attention to detail they manage to successfully mix innovation with tradition to produce a wide variety of styles without sacrificing quality.

This will be an excellent opportunity to sample seven whiskies from Benriach (see below for the line up) plus to hear from Stewart the inside story of day to day life at the distillery which, by the time of Stewart’s visit, will be one of the few distilleries in Scotland to have it’s own working maltings.

Please note, that there will only be one night of tasting for this particular event so you will need to be quick buying your tickets.

See below for all the details and if you have any queries just contact us.

Sláinte!
Fran and Ken
Arkwrights Whisky and Wines
www.whiskyandwines.com

Name BenRiach Distillery Whisky Tasting
Wednesday 20th June 2012

Time 7pm for 7.30pm
Venue Stanton House Hotel, Stanton Fitzwarren

Stewart will be presenting a fabulous line up of whiskies that includes new additions to the BenRiach peated range and the limited editon Solstice 17 year old. The full Line up is:

Unpeated
12 year old
16 year old
15 year old PX finish
16 year old Sauternes finish

Peated
Septendecim 17 year old
Solstice 17 year old Port finish
Authenticas 25 year old

Tickets are £12.50 per person, and this also entitles you to a discount of £3 against a bottle of one of the featured whiskies if bought or ordered on the night of the tasting. Tickets are very strictly limited, and allocated on a ‘first come, first served’ basis and as there is only one night of tasting available for this particular event it is best to book ASAP. To buy tickets just log on to www.whiskyandwines.com and place an order for the number you require, or telephone us with your payment details on (01793) 765071, or call in and see us at Arkwrights, The Dormers, Highworth, Wiltshire.

Admission to the tasting is by ticket only, and the whiskies tasted will be available to purchase on the night so come prepared.

N.B. We have negotiated special rates at the hotel for anyone who wants to stay overnight after the tasting – contact us for further details of rates.

Hello Fellow WhiskeyLovers – 

I hope you all had a wonderful day of festivities celebrating the Celtic holiday Beltane this past weekend (who was paying attention to last weeks email?), and that this Hump-Day finds you already pondering this weekends mischief. 

As you may recall about a year ago I had the pleasure of spending an afternoon with my now good friend Ben Ellefson, one of the fantastic chaps who run MasterofMalt, the “other winner” of the Whisky Magazine Icons of Whisky award Online Retailer in the UK. We spent most of the afternoon talking and wrangling and passionately negotiating…and finally shaking strong hands on a way we all could work together on our Whiskey Explorers club. 

In celebration of our coming to terms, Ben excused himself from the room we were meeting in for a few moments, then returned with a wooden box, and a smile on his face that threatened to crack his head wide open if it got any wider. 

He placed the box on the table, then opened it to reveal what appeared to be shredded packing paper, and a very old looking bottle… 

YIKES….THIS WAS IT!!! I’d heard about this…on the news…everywhere. But here it was in front of me…and Ben was opening the bottle for me to have a dram…. 

In 2006 a team from the New Zealand Antarctic Heritage Trust was restoring the hut used by Ernest Shackleton during his 1907-1909 South Pole expedition. The expedition came to an abrupt halt when, due to rather unpleasant conditions and the onset of winter, the Shackleton team was forced to hurriedly abandon the expedition…leaving behind many of their possessions thought to be unnecessary for the return journey. 

The restoration team discovered several cases of spirits lodged in ice under the hut. Three of these cases were found to contain Mackinlay’s Rare Old Highland Malt Whisky, but they could not immediately dislodge them because they were too deeply embedded in the ice. So Whyte & Mackay, who now own the Mackinlay’s brand, launched a bid to recover the whisky for samples to test, and potentially use to relaunch the once popular Mackinlay’s Scotch whisky brand. 

In 2010 the New Zealand Antarctic Heritage Trust used special cutting tools to carefully remove the cases of spirits from the ice. Then in January 2011 three bottles of the Mackinlay’s “Shackelton” whisky were returned to Whyte & Mackay for analysis. 

The liquid was considered so rare and valuable that the Antarctic Heritage Trust and New Zealand authorities refused to let it travel to Scotland unaccompanied and in the hold of any plane. So Whyte & Mackay owner and renowned Indian business mogul Dr Vijay Mallya stepped in to personally collect and fly the bottles back to Scotland on his private jet. 

Whyte & Mackay’s master blender Richard Paterson then spent a painstaking eight weeks marrying and blending a range of malts to get an exact replica of this 100 year old rare taste of whisky history. Whyte & Mackay then the released exactly 50,000 bottles of the whiskey worldwide. 

Which brings me to this weeks Whisky Wednesday featured whiskey (and 2012 Drammie Award Winner for Best Packing Design: Mackinlay’s “Shackleton” Rare Old Highland Whisky. 

The replica Mackinlay’s “Shackleton” Rare Old Highland Malt is a blended malt containing whisky from a range of Highland malts, including Glen Mhor, which was the original Mackinlay’s distillery before it closed in 1983. It was bottled at 47.3% ABV, is non chill-filtered and has had no added caramel coloring. 

And it comes in the coolest replica bottle and wooden box.  

According to renowned whisky writer and independent expert Dave Broom, the only other person in the world to taste both the original whisky and Whyte & Mackay’s new liquid, Patterson got the copy exactly right. He said: “The Shackleton whisky is not what I expected at all, and not what anyone would have expected. It’s so light, so fresh, so delicate and still in one piece – it’s a gorgeous whisky.” 

And so, with the help of our man Nicky “The Neck” – himself no stranger to making “things disappear in the ice ” – we’re able to offer you the opportunity to acquire a limited quantity of Mackinlay’s “Shackleton” Rare Old Highland Malt Whisky for $159.95/ bottle (limit 3 bottles per customer please). 

I urge you to move quickly on this if you are interested. This is a once in a lifetime chance to acquire a bottle of truly historic whiskey…but then hide it when you get it. Because once it’s gone… 

And until next week…have fun!

Doug StoneFounder

ForWhiskeyLovers.com 

Tomatin Double-Decker On Tour in Japan

As part of their 300 year anniversary celebrations, the Japanese distributor of Tomatin Single Malt Scotch Whisky is taking the brand on tour around Japan in a Tomatin-branded traditional red London-style double-decker bus.

Kokubu & Co Ltd., established in 1712, is one of the largest food and drink distributors in Japan. They have carried the Tomatin brand since 2005, which is now the 6th best-selling single malt Scotch Whisky in Japan. This bus tour is the first time they have attempted such a campaign, and is one of several events marking the company’s anniversary.

The tour will start on 9th May in Tokyo, travelling to Sapporo, Yokohama, Fukuoka, Hiroshima, Osaka and Nagoya, finishing in Sendai on 3rd July. During its stay in each city, the bus will host a special bar for people to sample and enjoy Tomatin whisky.

Graham Nicolson, Regional Sales Manager, commented: “This is an exciting and innovative campaign and we are thrilled to be associated with Kokubu on this momentous anniversary. Our partnership has gone from strength to strength since 2005 and we look forward to continuing this into the foreseeable future with further brand growth in the Japanese market.”

May 2012, Edinburgh: Glengoyne Highland Single Malt Whisky is encouraging people to tee off for England or Scotland in the Glengoyne Auld Enemy Diamond Jubilee Golf Day and Black Tie Gala Dinner on 24th August 2012, to help raise money for Help for Heroes.*

The Gala Dinner will be hosted by Andrew Cotter, the rising star of the BBC’s sports commentary team, who will conduct a special charity auction.

Twenty corporate or individual teams can enter and compete for the “Glengoyne Trophy” either in pairs or four balls at the five-star Fairmont St Andrew’s to replicate some of the famous sporting battles between Scotland and England.

Groups will join the Lord Lieutenant Fife, Colonel Mark Steed and former Scotland rugby star, Gavin Hastings, on the world famous 18-hole Torrance Course at The Fairmont St Andrews.

The TaylorMade Tour Experience Team will also be on hand to add a unique professional ‘tour’ experience to the special charity event. The leading club manufacturer is bringing its state-of-the-art tour truck along for a once-in-a-lifetime chance to experience the same service world stars like Sergio Garcia, Justin Rose and Retief Goosen receive on Tour.

As well as sponsoring the special event, Glengoyne will be offering competitors warming samples of their limited edition ‘Auld Enemy Dram’, a Glengoyne 1990 Single Cask bottling. Proceeds from which will go to their chosen charity – Help for Heroes.

Neil Boyd, Commercial Director at Ian Macleod Distillers, commented: ‘‘Glengoyne Highland Single Malt Whisky is proud to be the official sponsor of the first Glengoyne Auld Enemy Diamond Jubilee Golf Day. Glengoyne recognises and celebrates the passion that is synonymous with the great Auld Enemy rivalry, which lends itself to this sporting charity event.

“Glengoyne is equally proud to support Help for Heroes through sales of our limited edition ‘Auld Enemy Dram’. Help for Heroes is an excellent charity, which supports injured members of Her Majesty’s Armed Forces, so is the perfect partner for this great occasion. We at Glengoyne look forward to a long association with the Auld Enemy Golf Day in years to come.”

The cost to enter the Glengoyne Auld Enemy Diamond Jubilee Golf Day is £900 per four ball, including the golf tournament, coffee and breakfast upon arrival, TaylorMade & Glengoyne goodie bags and the Black Tie Gala Dinner in the evening.

Discounted rates at The Fairmont St Andrews are available by quoting “Glengoyne Auld Enemy Diamond Jubilee Golf Day” when booking. Entrants are politely reminded to ensure that their partner can join the event for the day as well as the evening’s entertainment.

Earlier this year, Glengoyne hosted a new sporting dinner: The Glengoyne Auld Enemy Dinner at The Balmoral Hotel in Edinburgh, bringing together rugby legends and supporters to celebrate the history of the Calcutta Cup and raised over £18,000 for Help for Heroes and The Bill McClaren Foundation. Held on the eve of the world’s oldest international rugby fixture, the new event will also become an annual occurrence taking place in Edinburgh and London respectively.

The Auld Enemy Dram has a rich mahogany colour with a heavy and robust nose of hazelnut, prunes, cocoa powder, and liquorice with BBQ spice. The palate is powerful with good balance of red apple, raisins, wafer cone and subtle citrus. The finish maintains strength with increased fruits and dry spice.

Retailing at £175 per bottle, The Limited Edition Glengoyne ‘Auld Enemy Dram’ is currently available to buy at Vino’s Edinburgh stores and online at vinowines.co.uk or at www.glengonye.com

Award-winning Glengoyne Highland Single Malt is one of the leading malt whiskies in the world and has been distilled at Glengoyne since 1833. Using methods passed down for generations, Glengoyne is made with knowledge, passion and craftsmanship.

For more information on the Glengoyne Auld Enemy Diamond Jubilee Golf Day visit www.1879eventsltd.com  or email info1879@btinternet.com

For more information on Glengoyne Highland Single Malt Whisky visit www.glengoyne.com

Notes

Photocaptions:

· Picture 1: Rhodri Price (R&A), Alan Lawson (former Scotland scrum-half), Sergeant Craig Williamson (1 Scots), Neil Boyd (Glengoyne) and Gavin Hastings (former Scotland full-back) launch The Glengoyne Auld Enemy Diamond Jubilee Golf Day at Fairmont St Andrews

· Picture 2: Limited edition Glengoyne 1990 Single Cask bottling ‘Auld Enemy Dram’

Auld Enemy Dram tasting notes

Colour: Rich mahogany.

Nose: Heavy and robust; hazelnut, prunes, cocoa powder, liquorice with BBQ spice.

Palate: Powerful with good balance, red apple, raisins, wafer cone and subtle citrus.

Finish: Maintains strength with increased fruits and dry spice.

Glengoyne

The Glengoyne portfolio consists of the 10 Years Old, 12 Years Old Cask Strength, 12 Years Old at 43%, 17 Years Old , 21 Years Old and Vintage 1972 as well as special limited edition bottlings released every year. To buy online visit www.glengoyne.com.

Glengoyne is one of Scotland’s most accessible distilleries, located just 30 minutes north of Glasgow in a beautiful wooded glen overlooking the breath-taking West Highland Way. Tours start from just £6.50, call 01360 550 254 or visit www.glengoyne.com for more details and to book.

* Help for Heroes

Help for Heroes is a charity that does exactly what it says on the tin. Help for Heroes strives towards 100% effectiveness, so that for every £1 donated, £1 will go directly to helping wounded servicemen and women with grants that aim to provide practical, direct support.

*The Bill McLaren Foundation

The Bill McLaren Foundation was set up to raise funds to support the development of rugby and its values and also to recognise the contribution Bill McLaren made to rugby through education and the development of an interpretative centre.