Welcome to WhiskyIntelligence.com where we'll be gathering information on the whisky industry and scotch whisky news in the form of press releases, newsletters, events, tasting notes and comments.
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Gerry Tosh of Highland Park has been promoted from the position as Head Of Brand Education to the role of Global Marketing Manager.
Visit Highland Park at www.highlandpark.co.uk
A merry, fun Blended Scotch which does not take itself too seriously, and it can be found getting talked about at Ralfy’s – whisky review 221 – Grand Macnish blended Scotch
See for yourself at www.ralfy.com
Loch Fyne Whiskies has stocked a new item, ‘Bruichladdich 10yo OB the laddie’
Bruichladdich 10yo OB
46% abv
£31.50inc vat
£26.25ex vat
Best regards,
Loch Fyne Whiskies
david@lfw.co.uk
Welcome to the Aberdeen University Malt Whisky Society!
Whisky Wednesday!!
Come along to the St Machar Bar!!
10% off all drams!!!*
*with Whisky Society membership card!
Location: St Machar Bar (next to Blackwells bookshop!), High Street, Old Aberdeen
(click here for map)
Time and Date: 7pm – Wednesday 5th October 2011
What to Bring: Membership Card (for discount) + money + friends!!
University of Aberdeen Malt Whisky Society
The Butchart Centre
University Road
Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire AB24 3UT
aberdeenwhisky@googlemail.com
A. Smith Bowman Master Distiller Joe Dangler to Retire Oct. 1st
Fredericksburg, VA. (Sept. 2011) – Joe Dangler, a longtime fixture at A. Smith Bowman Distillery, will be retiring as Master Distiller effective Oct. 1st, 2011.
Dangler spent 33 years at A. Smith Bowman, starting as bottling plant superintendent in 1978 before being promoted to assistant plant superintendent and next plant superintendent. The A. Smith Bowman board of directors then elected Dangler vice president, production, where he remained until assuming the role of master distiller in 2003.
While training for the master distiller role, Dangler had the pleasure of learning under Tom Leahy, who had a wealth of knowledge gained from working at a distillery in Louisville, Ky. Leahy remained a mentor and close friend of Dangler until the end of his life.
Under Dangler’s reign, Virginia Gentleman Bourbon won a double gold and was named “Best American Whiskey” at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition in 2003, an honor of which he is most proud.
Another of Dangler’s career highlights as master distiller was the creation of the A. Smith Bowman collection, an assortment of six spirits, consisting of three whiskeys, one rum, one vodka and one gin.
Dangler has been very active in the community, serving as board member and eventually chairman of the Chamber of Commerce Education Foundation, served two three year terms on the Chamber of Commerce board, and was a co-founder of the Leadership Fredericksburg program where he currently serves as Chairman of the Advisory Board. He also was a member of the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (DISCUS) technical committee and was part of the early development of the George Washington Distillery.
Upon his retirement, Dangler plans to spend time with his wife Emily, travel, learn to play the mandolin, and buy a share of a race horse.
About A. Smith Bowman Distillery
A. Smith Bowman’s distilling roots date back to the years before Prohibition. In 1935, after the Repeal of Prohibition, Abram Smith Bowman and his sons continued the family tradition of the distillation of bourbon. The original distillery was located on the Bowman family homestead in Fairfax County, Virginia called Sunset Hills Farm. In response to the rapid growth of Northern Virginia, the distillery was moved in 1988 and is now nestled in Spotsylvania County near the city of Fredericksburg, 60 miles away from the original location.
As a small and privately owned company, A. Smith Bowman Distillery continues the time-honored traditions on which it was founded. Considered a micro-distillery by today’s standards, A. Smith Bowman produces an assortment of hand-crafted spirits distilled from only the finest natural ingredients and using the latest technology. This micro-distillery focuses on the production of premium spirits honoring the legacy of Virginia’s first settlers. For more information on A. Smith Bowman, please visit www.asmithbowman.com
(From John Campbell at Laphroaig in a message to the Friends of Laphroaig)
Just off to catch my plane to Australia for this year’s Laphroaig Live, along with a very special bottle of Laphroaig. Distilled back in the 50s, it is very rare indeed, so much so that if I had it my way, the bottle would have its own seat!
I’ll be opening the bottle live on the show, the first time this has ever happened, so don’t forget to put October 6th in your diaries so that you don’t miss this exciting moment. The show will start at 8pm in Sydney (AEST), to see what time this is in your own country you can view the countdown at www.laphroaig.com/live . Apologies to any of you who will be watching in the middle of the night, we will endeavour to make this the best show yet, so it will be worth the lack of sleep!
I have had a few emails this year from people who haven’t heard of the show before so are a little unsure what to do. The show will be streamed live on our website so all you need to do is go to www.laphroaig.com/live and the show can be watched right there. You will also be able to send in questions which will come through to us live. As a thank you for participating, anyone who has their question read out on the show will be sent a prize.
I wanted to say a quick thank you to you all for voting on the BBQ items. The top 5 dishes have been decided and will be barbequed live on the show, I’m looking forward to tasting them, especially the pork ribs that were by far the FOL favourite. If you’d like to find out the rest of the winning dishes, take a look at www.laphroaig.com/live .
We’ve had a huge number of requests for the barbeque sauce recipe, I do hope you all enjoy it and would love to hear your comments. Now that the chef is satisfied with his recipe I have made it available online, he has also developed a recipe for a Laphroaig butter sauce, which I’ll add to the website too.
I know many local bars and pubs are hosting their own tastings during the show, if you are attending one of these gatherings I’d love to hear about it. If you are having your own tasting on the night – as always, do upload a photo of yourselves to the photo section of our website and we will send the best one a prize.
The next time I speak to many of you will be live from Sydney, so until October 6th…
Slàinte,
John Campbell
Join the Friends of Laphroaig
Loch Fyne Whiskies Stocks ‘Bruichladdich DNA 1985 25yo’
Bruichladdich DNA 3 1985 25yo
50.1% abv
£222.00 inc vat
£185.00 ex vat
Limited to 1665 bottles.
Best regards,
Loch Fyne Whiskies
david@lfw.co.uk
NEW PRODUCTS
With us now gearing up for our first Whisky Festival and then Christmas we are now getting some exciting new products into stock! You may have heard about the newly released Bruichladdich ‘Laddie Ten’ 10yo which arrived through our doors this morning along with the new Port Charlotte PC9 (59.2%vol) . They will be selling fast and we have limited stocks at the moment, so get yours while you can! We are also awaiting the first release of the Bruichladdich Islay Barley which should be in our hands later in the month, but available to be preordered here.
Our mailing address is:
T.B.Watson Ltd.
11/17 English Street
Dumfries, Scotland DG1 2BU
Miner's Delight Inn
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 77 single malts
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.
Featured malts:
* 10% off bottles of the Malt of the Month
October 8, 2011
Benromach 10 yo *
GlenDronach 12 yo
Highland Park 12 yo
November 12 , 2011
Glen Grant 10 yo *
Longrow CV
Glenkinchie 12 yo
December 10, 2011
Glen Moray 12 yo *
Smokehead
Kilchoman Winter 2010
Visit the Miner’s Delight Inn at http://www.minersdelightinn.com/
Bob at work...
Amrut single malt unites two continents
Amrut Distilleries is doing its bit for international relations with the release of its latest limited edition single malt whisky.
Amrut has always been about uniting the traditions of Europe with the best ingredients of Asia. This approach has created the golden single malt which we now love. Throughout this international partnership, Amrut Distilleries has pushed the boundaries, introducing innovate – and imaginative – maturation techniques to produce award-winning malt whiskies. Now, Amrut has returned to one of its early successes and is issuing a second edition of the highly popular Amrut Two Continents Single Malt Whisky.
“The demand and appreciation from the consumers after the First Edition led us to go for the Second Edition,” says Ashok Chokalingam of Amrut Distilleries Ltd, which is releasing the new whisky in October 2011.
Using the finest barley from India’s fertile North West provinces, the single malt whisky is created at Amrut’s distillery in Bangalore, the vibrant city which sits at 3,000 feet above sea level in the tropical heat of Southern India. Four casks of Amrut Single Malt Whisky were shipped from Asia to a secret location in the temperate climate of Europe and matured for a further period of two years. Very much a product of the two continents, this whisky captures characteristics from the contrasting climates of both tropical Bangalore and the temperate European lands.
The Second Edition, however, is not just a replica of the first: different casks have been used for the maturation. Instead of ex-grain casks, second-fill bourbon casks have been used this time. The Amrut Two Continents Second Edition has also been bottled – in individually numbered bottles – at 50% abv, not 46% abv.
“The changes are immediately noticeable,” notes Dominic Roskrow, the Editor of International Spirits Magazine. “The nose is honeyed, with key lime pie and strawberries and cream. The taste is spikier, spicier and feistier than of old, with dark cherry, blood orange and unripe banana.” Danish whisky blogger Steffen Brauner agrees the Second Edition is “quite different”. He explains: “There’s a lot more of India than Europe in this. I would describe this as vanilla infused Amrut.”
Only 360 bottles of this limited edition Amrut Two Continents Second Edition will be released in the United States, while 900 bottles will go to Europe, Canada and rest of the world. “It is a slightly larger bottling than the first,” admits Ashok, but he underlines that already the feedback is that it will be highly sought-after. He also confirms that Amrut will return to the Two Continents theme in the future. “We will continue with this concept, introducing subtle variations from one bottling to the other. But it will only be released once every two or three years.” The good news is that in Bangalore, the next casks for Amrut Two Continents have already been earmarked for their voyage to a second continent.
Amrut Distilleries
Amrut Single Malt Whisky from India was launched officially in Glasgow in 2004. Since then its reputation has grown, with its range of innovative whiskies using Indian barley from the Punjab distilled in the tropical garden city of Bangalore at 3000ft.
Amrut Distilleries was named a Distiller of the Year in the Icons of Whisky 2011 and was crowned in the Rest of the World category by the independent judges of the prestigious awards, which are organised by Whisky Magazine. The award was made to Amrut “for raising the profile of Indian whisky across the globe and its innovations in the production process”. The Rest of the World title meant the Bangalore distillery was also one of the four contenders for the Icons of Whisky Distiller of the Year title.
In The Whisky Bible 2010, leading whisky expert, Jim Murray awarded Amrut Fusion Single Malt Whisky the title of World’s Third Best Whisky. Murray said Fusion “has to be one of the great whiskies found anywhere in the word this year”. Admitting his No 3 choice could come as a surprise to some people, he said: “The fact that it is Indian? Irrelevant, from distillation to maturation this is a genius whisky from whichever continent.”
Fusion – which brings together two barleys: Indian and Scottish, with the latter being peated – was named the Best Natural Cask Whisky in the Daily Drams Category at the Malt Maniacs Awards 2009. It picked up the award for the best whisky matured exclusively in “untreated”, regular cask(s) in the category for whiskies with an average street price of up to 50 euros. It was also awarded a silver medal.
One of the Amrut Single Malt Whisky bottlings by Blackadder International won “The Best Daily Dram” category of Malt Maniacs 2008 Awards. All the Amrut brands entered into the same competition won silver and bronze medals.
Amrut Peated Malt Cask Strength Whisky won Silver and Amrut Single Malt Cask Strength Whisky Bronze at the International Wine & Spirit Competition in 2008.
Amrut is now sold widely in Europe (UK, Netherlands, France, Germany, Belgium, Denmark, Switzerland, Finland, Sweden, Spain), Canada, South Africa, Australia and the United States.
