Loch Fyne Whiskies Stocks ‘Bell’s Decanter – The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee’

Bell’s Decanter – The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee
40% abv
£79.90 inc vat
£66.58 ex vat

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

GLEN GARIOCH EYES UP TRAVEL RETAIL PUSH IN 2012

Artisan Single Malt Scotch Whisky Glen Garioch is investing in a year-long travel retail push in a bid to become a key player in the sector this year.

The small Highland distillery saw triple figure volume increases in the UK and Nordic travel markets in 2011 and has committed further investment throughout 2012.

Paul Hunnisett, Morrison Bowmore travel retail and duty free manager, said travel retail is a key market for a small brand like Glen Garioch and Morrison Bowmore will make a significant investment in attracting travel retail consumers looking for undiscovered quality malts.

Said Hunnisett: “Travel retail is the perfect environment for luxury spirits like single malt and Glen Garioch’s success in 2011 has cemented our intentions to become a serious player in the sector this year.

“As a small distiller it gives us the opportunity to shine the spotlight on the quality of liquid we are producing, tell its story, educate consumers and enable them to buy – there’s no other outlet quite like it for artisan producers.

“Glen Garioch is a punchy malt with a real robust Highland flavour and the brand benefits from the unique proposition that travel retail offers. Duty free consumers like finding a hidden gem or treasure and Glen Garioch’s handcrafted malts and small scale production combined with 200-year-old provenance appeals to those looking for something off the beaten track.”

The distillery will shortly launch an exclusive limited edition vintage for travel retail which will be available throughout World Duty Free and World of Whisky stores in the UK as well as a range of international airports, ferry operators and specialist terminal whisky stores.

A full sampling programme throughout the year will complement the push and bring the Highland brand to life in store.

Selected airport teams throughout the UK will also handpick their own vintage cask for exclusive distribution.

John Mullen, Glen Garioch brand manager, said: “We were thrilled with Glen Garioch’s performance in travel retail in 2011. The brand struck a real chord with operators and consumers alike who were clearly very appreciative of our small but special Highland Distillery”.

“We are excited about cementing Glen Garioch’s position as a hand-crafted artisanal producer distilling fine liquid year-on-year and offering something extra special to single malt enthusiasts.

“Our range will be sold and sampled through passionate and knowledgeable staff and will make an impactful and lasting impression throughout 2012.”

English Whisky at TWE Vinopolis

While we’re busy running around at HQ finishing up some SEKRIT PROJECTS (of which more will be heard shortly…) the folks down at our Vinopolis shop have been continuing running their series of rather excellent tastings, celebrating St George’s Day … Continue reading >>

BenRiach Maltings

We are really excited to officially announce that the BenRiach Distillery is going to start making its own malt again. We will be one of only a handful of distilleries in Scotland with our own maltings. An update from our distillery manager, Stewart Buchanan:

As you all may be aware we have been working hard since the Christmas shutdown getting the BenRiach maltings back up and running. We have been going through the whole system and apart from the odd belt, bearing and a bit of elbow grease, all the conveyers and elevators are now running smooth. Surprisingly, after being shut for the best part of 13 years, the machinery is all in great condition!

The next stage is to get some weight on the system to see how it runs under stress. I have 3 tonnes of barley sitting ready to go for a whirl round the floors, and it will be great to hear its blood pumping and the old place coming back to life.

The Kiln is working well: the compressor started at the first attempt and when the fire is stoked up the old baffles and fan maintain the heat perfectly. The slightly harder job is to erect a scaffold platform on the underside of the kiln floor to do some maintenance on the diffuser and the floor itself. The maintenance is the easy bit, getting the scaffold in through the hearth is a bit trickier! All going well, it should all be ready in around 10 days maximum.

We also have been very lucky with the running side of the plant; the 80’s brewer at BenRiach, Robert Fleming now the manager at Tomatin distillery, took a rummage through his loft and came up with some great information; old steep charts, floor times and temperature log books and kiln charts. Also BenRiach’s ex maltster Andrew Anderson has popped in and given us more personal knowledge of the building – the things that can’t be learnt from any book!

This is all invaluable hands-on knowledge and will make the learning curve not quite as steep as it could have been. The mild winter weather has been kind to us; all the boys have mucked in, giving up their weekends to cleaning and painting the place throughout. As a result, the place is looking great if I do say so myself!

We may also have been left some other things from yesteryear ……. As some of the boys worked late into the night painting around the steeps, footsteps and voices where heard over at the kiln area on the other side of the building. Thinking it was myself or Les, our engineer, they headed over for a blether, finding no one….They thought we had left and went back to the job in hand. On the second time they heard the noises they shouted over but no reply….On the third time, the paint brushes were dropped and a hasty exit was made! Was it the wind…..???

I shouldn’t be telling you this story, now I’ll never get anyone to turn the floor and stoke the kiln on night shift!!!

Until the next update, Slainte!

Stewart Buchanan, BenRiach Distillery Manager

Second Saturday Scotch Sipping at Six

2nd Saturday each month 6 – 9 p.m. no reservation required

Enjoy 5 half-ounce samples of single malt Scotch whisky: $20

♦ We feature 3 single malts, including a Malt of the Month *

♦ You roll a die then pick a whisky from one of the six Scotch regions

♦ You pick your Connoisseur’s Choice from our menu of single malt menu 

Peruse our whisky library. Learn about our single malts in our menu book: distillery info, tasting notes, & more. Enjoy light hors d’oeuvres. Non-whisky drinkers welcome.

2012 Features:

10% off bottles of the Malt of the Month * 

May 12 

Balblair 1997 *
Edradour 10 yo
Glenkinchie 12 yo 

June 9 

Kilkerran Work in Progress 3 (2011) *
Isle of Jura 16 yo
Deanston Virgin Oak 

Price goes to $25 July 14 

Balvenie Signature 12 yo Batch 4 *
Glenrothes Alba Reserve
Tullibardine 1993 

August 11 

Glengoyne 10 yo *
Ledaig 10 yo 46.3%
Tomatin 18 yo 

September 8 

Glen Grant 10 yo *
Bruichladdich Links –St. Andrews
Edradour 2003 Port Cask

October 13   

Strathisla 12 yo *
Benromach Peat Smoke # 4
Oban 14 yo

Bob at work….

Visit the Miner’s Delight Inn at http://www.minersdelightinn.com/

May Previews: the unkown is yonder

Ready yourself for an adventure into the unknown.  Make and meet Society friends among the 13 single cask single malt characters of May’s Outturn – surprising, new, curious and long in the tooth.       

 Too many tempting tipples, try our favourites

 High Street Pair: 35.66 & 76.89 for only £89
    Buy  

 High Street Visitor Trio: 35.66, 76.89 & 29.117 only £140
    Buy

 Shopaholic Case Offer: 35.66, 76.89, 4.159, 63.27, 64.34 & 3.187 only £255
    Buy

 Tasting Panel Favourite: 66.35 only £38.70
    Buy

The Scotch Malt Whisky Society,
The Vaults, 87 Giles Street, Leith EH6 6BZ
Contact: sales@smws.com or call 0131 555 2929 (Mon-Fri 9am-4.45pm).

Visit the Society at http://www.smws.co.uk/memberships for your chance to join and to take advantage of their great offers.

July has the Japanese feeling the heat so they cool down – with a Yamazaki Shousho or a Hakushu Taisho cocktail

London April 2012: What better than an ice cool cocktail to defeat the heat of summer. It’s a solution the Japanese come up with in July and it works. In fact they have an appropriate cocktail to mark each of their 24 seasons, created by Zoran Peric, Brand Ambassador, using the remarkable whiskies of Suntory. In July the seasons are named Shousho and Taisho and here’s how to cool down in the heat.

Yamazaki Shousho – Little heat (July 5)

Recipe:

50ml Yamazaki 12 year old single malt

75ml infused water: orange blossom, lemon zest, lemon grass

Pour over large chunks of ice, stir 24 times, add lemon zest

Serve in a chilled Highball glass, garnish with lemon grass and lemon twist

Hakushu Taisho – Big heat (July 21)

Recipe:

50ml Hakushu 12 year old single malt whisky

12.5ml Elderflower cordial

100ml soda water

Coat large chunks of ice with elderflower cordial

Pour in Hakushu and stir 5 times

Add soda water and stir 5 times

Finish with lemon zest, serve in chilled Highball glass

Garnish with elderflowers and berries and lemon

Yamazaki Shousho and Hakushu Taisho are just two of the delightful 24 seasonal cocktails created by Zoran Peric for Suntory and Japan’s 24 seasons.

With more than 60 international awards gained since 2003 the Yamazaki 25 Year Old single malt has just been voted the Best Malt Whisky in the World at Whisky Magazine’s 6th world whisky awards. Last year it was the Yamazaki 1984 that took this honour and for Suntory to win for two successive years against some formidable whiskies shows just how far the Japanese have come in mastering the art of producing great whisky.

Notes

Pronouncing Suntory names

Yamazaki – (Ya-ma-zarkee)

Hakushu – (Ha-koo-shoe)

Hibiki – (Hi-bi-kee)

Yamazaki single malt whisky and Hibiki blended whisky are available from: Selfridges, Harvey Nichols, The Whisky Exchange, independent specialist retailers and drinkon.com priced from:
Yamazaki 12 year old £40

Hakushu 12 year old £49

The Suntory range of Japanese whiskies is distributed in the UK by Cellar Trends. For all sales enquiries contact: sales@cellartrends.co.uk

On May 14th, 2012 The Gohan Society and Suntory Whisky are presenting a seminar/tasting entitled ‘The Art of Japanese Whisky’.  The invitation is above. Master Distiller Hiroyoshi ‘Mike’ Miyamoto will discuss the processes involved and elements that comprise Japanese whisky.  Acclaimed chef Lee Anne Wong will create tasting dishes and discuss the pairing of Japanese whisky with food. Tastings will include the Yamazaki family of Japanese Single Malt whiskies as well as the newly available Hakushu Single Malt. This seminar is open to culinary and beverage professionals and media only.  All attendees will receive a gift from Suntory at the conclusion of the seminar.

Buffalo Trace Distillery Releases Fifth Round of Single Oak Project Bourbon

One Year Into Experiment, Which Barrel is in the Lead?

FRANKFORT, Franklin County, Ky (May, 2012) – One year ago Buffalo Trace Distillery unveiled its Single Oak Project and its quest for the perfect bourbon. Now as the fifth round of Single Oak Project Bourbons are released, there has been much excitement and many reviews, but still many questions to be answered.

The fifth round of experiments will focus on three variables, the recipe, rye vs. wheat; the entry proof, 105 vs. 125 proof; and wood grain size, tight, average, or coarse. All of the other variables such as barrel stave seasoning, aging warehouse, char level, and tree cut (top or bottom) remain constant.

As with the other four releases, Buffalo Trace hopes whiskey enthusiasts can continue to rate each whiskey they taste online at www.singleoakproject.com. To date, more than 1700 accounts have been created online, and nearly 1,550 reviews have been given on the four various releases so far.

The whiskey reviews have been tallied and the leading barrel after one year is…. a three way tie!! Barrels #10, 106 and 184 are all tied for first place. With all three of those barrels having different variables, it seems the only thing the three have in common is that the oak was harvested from bottom half of the tree! The other six variables of the leading barrels vary.

“Quite a mixed bag so far,” said Kris Comstock, bourbon brand manager. “It seems the only thing people can agree on so far is that they like bourbon aged in barrels made from the bottom portion of oak trees, opposed to the top half. Good thing we have 3 more years, 144 more barrels, and thousands more reviews to come!”

After a consumer reviews a bottle online, they will be availed of all the aging details and provenance of the barrel. They can interact with others who’ve also reviewed the barrel, compare their reviews, and even learn for themselves which characteristics they enjoy most, in order to help them select future favorites. Participants online will earn points after each review and most importantly, help Buffalo Trace Distillery create the perfect bourbon!

The Single Oak Project is part of an intensive research project Buffalo Trace Distillery started conducting in 1999 by hand picking 96 trees with different wood grains and then dividing them into a top and bottom piece, yielding 192 unique sections. From there, staves were created from each section and were air dried for either 6 months or 12 months. After all the staves were air dried, a single barrel was created from each tree section, resulting in 192 total barrels. These barrels were given either a number three or a number four char and then filled with either wheat or rye recipe bourbon.

To further the variety of experiments, the barrels were filled at two different proofs, 105 and 125 proof. And if this wasn’t enough, two completely different warehouses were used, one with wooden floors and one with concrete floors. In total, seven different variables were employed in Buffalo Trace’s ultimate experiment.

For eight years the Distillery continued with its tracking process, creating intricate databases and coming up with a potential of 1,396 tasting combinations from these 192 barrels!

The Single Oak Project Bourbon is being released in a series every three months from 2011 through 2015 until all of the 192 barrels have been released. The first releases hit select stores in 2011. This fifth release will reach stores towards the end of May. Like all the other releases, the quantities are very limited. Every case will contain 12 bottles, each from a different barrel. The fifth release is made up of barrel numbers 1, 17, 33, 49, 65, 81, 97, 113, 129, 145, 161, 177. All releases will be packaged in a 375ml bottle. Suggested retail pricing per bottle is $46.35.

At the conclusion of the Single Oak Project, the Distillery plans to take the top rated barrel based on online consumer feedback, make more of that product and launch it under the Single Oak Project nameplate.

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.buffalotrace.com

www.ralfy.com takes you on a trip to Speyside with Whisky Review #269 – Cragganmore 12yo (Speyside Region) …. lovely stuff!