Hello Fellow Scotch Lovers – 

With the occurrence of the Summer Solstice yesterday, my quest for methods of summer whisky refreshment has now become a bit of an obsession.

In anticipation of the coming heat, a few weeks ago I turned to my dear friend and neighbor Viviane Bauquet Farre of FoodandStyle.com.  Viviane is one of those incredibly talented people who are able to piece together disparate yet complimentary flavors of different ingredients, and create flavorful masterpieces that delight the palate.  So much more than a chef, her creations range from salads to cocktails. So when I shared with Viviane that I was looking for some great summer time cocktails using single malt whisky as a foundation, she gave a moments pause, then said: Let’s make a mojito with Scotch!

And just like that, the “Scojito” was born.

So this weeks Whisky Wednesday feature is the platform for an amazing poolside cocktail: The Fresh Cherry Scojito with Glenmorangie The Lasanta.  An elegant and full-bodied single malt, Glenmorangie The Lasanta is whisky that has been extra matured in Spanish Oloroso Sherry casks after a minimum of ten years in ex-bourbon casks.

In Gaelic “Lasanta” means warmth and passion. Its luscious, soft, mouth filling texture, and its deep, enticing, sweet aromas and tastes appeal to those who like to experiment and whose confident choices inspire the mood of an occasion.

And as you’ve come to expect, Nicky The Neck has found a way to make this special offer even more special:  Order your bottle(s) of Glenmorangie The Lasanta from ForScotchLovers for $44.95 (normally $52.59), and receive a pair of Glenmorangie Rocks Glasses free with each bottle (as long as supplies last).

I hope you will try the Lasanta Fresh Cherry Scojito…your summer cocktailing will never be the same

Doug Stone
Founder
www.ForScotchLovers.com

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GLENMORANGIE THE LASANTA HIGHLAND SINGLE MALT WHISKY GLASS SET

 
GLENMORANGIE THE LASANTA – DISTILLERS TASTING NOTES   

Colour – Light russet

Aroma – Warm spices mix with smooth chocolate covered raisins, honeycomb and caramel toffee.

Taste – Deliciously sweet sherry flavoured sultanas, orange segments, walnuts and butterscotch combine to create complex warm spices.

Finish – Long and satisfying finish with spiced orange and chocolate covered hazelnuts.

THE LASANTA FRESH CHERRY SCOJITO

RECIPE – FRESH CHERRY SCOJITO – by Viviane Bauquet Farre of FoodandStyle.com   

Ingredients (serves 2)

1/2 lemon – cut in 1/4″ pieces

1/2 large lime – cut in 1/4″ pieces

4 large Bing cherries – pitted

8 large mint leaves – torn in 1/2″ pieces

8 large lemon-balm leaves (or lemon verbena) – torn in 1/2″ pieces

1 teaspoon organic sugar

3 oz Glenmorangie, Lasanta Sherry Cask Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky

3/4 oz Cherry Heering

club soda or sparkling water

fresh Bing cherries as garnish

Step 1: Place the lemon, lime, cherries, mint, lemon balm and sugar in a mixing glass. Using a muddler, crush until the sugar has dissolved and the fruits have released their juices. Top with ice cubes, Scotch whisky and Cherry Heering. Shake vigorously until very cold.

Step 2: Fill 2 tumblers with ice. Strain the mixture into the glasses. Top with a little club soda or sparkling water. Garnish with a cherry and serve immediately.

THE SINGLETON OF GLEN ORD HONOURED BY LEADING WHISKY EXPERTS

The Singleton of Glen Ord™ Single Malt Scotch Whisky  –   the fastest growing Single Malt in the Asia Pacific region  –  has added to its global prestige and long record of success with a major win in the prestigious Scotch Whisky Masters competition. The results were announced in London on 6 June 2011.

The Scotch Whisky Masters wins are decided by an expert judging panel after an extensive and rigorous blind tasting process. The panel included mixologists, managers of luxury hotels, bars and restaurants, global retailers, and leading whisky commentators including two former editors of Whisky Magazine.

They awarded The Singleton of Glen Ord 12 year old a ‘Master’  –  the highest award in the competition.

The Singleton of Glen Ord 12 year old has been extensively enjoyed by sophisticated drinkers in Asia since its launch in 2006. The 15 and 18 year old versions of The Singleton of Glen Ord have also attracted much praise and a growing number of devoted followers.

Asia’s fastest growing malt whisky
The Singleton of Glen Ord continues to display stunning growth in its Asian markets.

The recently released IWSR 2010 data shows that The Singleton of Glen Ord is the fastest growing Single Malt in the Asia Pacific region.  It has recently broken the 100,000 cases barrier and grew volumes at 40% in 2010, notably in Taiwan and South East Asian market, with triple digit growth in many markets

For Diageo’s Asia Pacific region, Mark Sandys, Category Director for Whisky, said:

“We were confident from the outset that The Singleton of Glen Ord would be very well received in this vibrant and fast-growing region.

“Our consumers tell us that it’s the taste of The Singleton that appeals strongly to them, plus the strikingly elegant style and presentation. We’re delighted with its success here and are thrilled that consumers’ enthusiasm for this wonderful single malt whisky has been confirmed by the expert judges in the prestigious Scotch Whisky Masters competition.”

The Singleton™ of Glen Ord™
Glen Ord is a famous and award-winning Highland distillery on the edge of the Black Isle west of Inverness in the north of Scotland. It continues to malt its own barley and use the long fermentation and slow distillation methods followed there for generations since Robert Johnstone established the distillery in 1838.

For The Singleton of Glen Ord, a high proportion of the liquid has been matured in European oak, delivering a rich, smooth-tasting, well-balanced and accessible style.

When it first appeared, many famous whisky commentators were quick to praise its smooth, sophisticated and fragrant taste.

KILCHOMAN LAUNCHES THE INAUGURAL 100% ISLAY SINGLE MALT  

Kilchoman, Islay’s Farm Distillery, is proud to announce the release of its first single malt produced from barley, grown, malted, distilled, matured and bottled at the distillery.

It has been matured for 3 years in first fill bourbon barrels from Buffalo Trace Distillery, Kentucky, USA and is lightly peated (10 to 20ppm of phenols) and bottled at 50% alcohol strength

Colour :         Light Golden

Nose:           Soft peaty aromas and a blend of citrus, lemon and pear drops

Palate:          An initial sweetness is followed by soft peat smoke and then the mixed fruits

Finish:           Long and clean with a lovely sweet aftertaste.

Kilchoman ‘100% Islay’ is available from twenty six specialist whisky retailers in the UK at a retail price of £69.00 per bottle and twenty nine markets worldwide. 11,300 bottles have been released worldwide.

There is also a special edition, available only at the distillery, of 1060 bottles at cask strength 61.3% ABV. Presented in a hand crafted American white oak presentation box, this edition at £149.00 is available only from the distillery.

For more information visit www.kilchomandistillery.com

Anthony Wills, Managing Director, commented:  “Being able to release a single malt produced from raw materials sourced locally was what the Kilchoman project was all about and I’m delighted to be able to share this exceptional young aged single malt with whisky enthusiasts around the world”.

Marc Pendlebury

Whisky in Lagos: Enter the Ninja by Marc Pendlebury

At the end of this month, after 8 months, my time in Lagos, Nigeria, will be over. Although trying at times, it’s been a great experience overall and one that I will remember fondly, and which I feel I’ve made the most of.  It’s a whole other world. The sheer size of the city and number of people, cars, taxis and motorcycles is astounding; not to mention the brazen corruption, manic streets, extensive poverty, unremitting noise and abundant pollution. (Imagine a post-apocalyptic New York City with 18 million people!).

There are entertainment options in Lagos but they aren’t plentiful, and so to break the monotony of work over the weekend, Saturday mornings I do a weekly shop. Although I usually end up buying a few food items, the purpose of my shopping is to find whisky. Now believe it or not, finding whisky isn’t too hard. There are no dedicated alcohol/liquor stores but most grocers, apart from the few that are strictly Halaal of course, stock a fairly decent range of alcohols. Wine and cognac seem to be most popular with great variety on offer, including more premium swanky cognac bottles than I care to count. Whisky stock however, although present, is erratic and usually restricted to only a few brands. But herein lies the fun.

No two stores are alike in their whisky stock, not even within the same supermarket chains. Visiting a store for the first time is like opening a lucky packet; you cannot anticipate what you’re going to find. Of course there are the usual cheap and premium blends from across America, Canada and Scotland, but more than that one can only guess. The only single malt brands that appear well distributed are Glenmorangie and Glenfiddich, but no surprise there really.

Some of my unexpected finds so far (all unavailable in SA):

• Lots of older Glenmorangie Wood Finishes: Madeira and Burgundy
• Glen Moray 8yo & 16yo Speyside single malt
• Three expressions of Castle Rock: NAS blend, 12yo blend and a 12yo “malt Scotch whisky”
• Two  expressions of William Peel:  8yo “pure malt” in numbered bottle and a 12yo Speyside single malt
• A bottle of Midleton Very Rare 2008
• Cameron Brig NAS pure single grain whisky
• Smokehead single Islay malt
• Glavya and American Honey whisky liqueurs

Out of all the oddities and lesser distributed bottles I’ve stumbled across, there is one that wins the unusual pageant without contest. Enter the Ninja! Ninja Whisky is “a fine blend of matured malts and premium grain spirits”, NAS whisky bottled and blended by Alcobrew Distilleries in India, for Sainov Spirits. When I came across this on a shelf for 800 Naira (≈ R36/£3) I had a hearty chuckle and had to buy a bottle. I intend keeping it closed for my whisky shelf as it’ll bring back my memories of Lagos and make for good story telling, but I am tempted to get another bottle to taste out of pure curiosity – I’m just scared of what it’ll taste like! Credit where it is due though: the packaging is very creative and honest; it isn’t masquerading as anything other than a blended and bottled Indian ninja! Although it is oddly void of place of distillation.

I’ll have two more weekends in Lagos, which means two more Saturdays for whisky hunting. Thereafter I just need to sneak my several bottles of whisky through SA customs in one piece. Hopefully the mystical cloaking skills of the Ninja will help…

Update: Ninja whisky product page that mentions ‘Oakwood’ maturation, and a TV ad. Seems there is a whole family of Ninja spirits including rum, brandy, vodka and gin. (That’s one deadly family!)

Visit Marc at http://whiskybrother.com

Send us your own ‘Vignettes – Moments in Whisky’. If you have a whisky moment please feel free to submit your moment and we’ll do our best to publish it.

Scotland – Single Malt Scotch

1982 Glenugie 25 year old, Old Malt Cask Single Malt Whisky 750ml – 1 available ($259.99)

Kilchoman 2011 Spring Release Islay Single Malt Whisky 750ml ($64.99)

BACK IN STOCK… (items we’ve carried in the past that have just arrived again)

Big Peat Islay Vatted Malt Scotch Whisky 750ml – 10 available ($59.99)

1998 Caol Ila 10 Year Old Madeira Finish, Gordon & MacPhail, Single Malt Whisky 750ml – 12 available ($79.99)

Springbank 12 Year Old Cask Strength Single Malt Whisky 750ml – 11 available ($59.99))

K&L Wine Merchants
http://www.klwines.com
Phone: 877-KLWines (toll free 877-559-4637)
Email: wine@klwines.com
San Francisco, Redwood City, Hollywood CA

It’s been an interesting month during which I’ve moved into a new house, got some new furniture, got a new wife and also got a few new casks…. (no particular importance should be attributed to my order of typing) Thanks to all for the good wishes to Jane and myself.

With demand strong for Cragganmore, I’ve taken delivery of another couple of 20 year old hogsheads. I’ve mentioned previously the delays and difficulties getting casks uplifted from some warehouses and occasional inaccuracies in the amounts gauged. I usually check the volume and strength within a day of arrival in our warehouse.

In the case of the recently delivered 12 year old Bowmore, some of the quantities were lower than they should have been but the quality is excellent.

I bottled one of the casks of 36 year old Inchgower and sold all of the bottles within a couple of days to trade customers. The demand spilled over for the second cask and any bottles remaining will be available on my online shop within the next week, price £50 per bottle at 53.4%. This is definitely a good value product and atthis price you can afford to buy two and keep one. Check out prices on other websites, you’ll find that a 36 yo Inchgower will usually sell at £90plus.

From the point of view of excellent value the pick of the bunch among the new arrivals has to be the hoggies of 14 year old Dalmore. These have matured beautifully and are ready for bottling immediately. Their exceptionally low price is unlikely to be repeated in the future.

Earlier in the year I attended Linkoping Whisky Festival in Sweden. I sold some casks, met some very nice people, was grateful to those enthusiasts among them who were particularly helpful to me and I got some useful experience. It was also apparent that I should have marketed not only casks but some of my bottlings. Even if I had only brought a few bottles for sampling, ensuing sales could have been posted out from Scotland. I am currently trying to decide which whisky festivals it might be worthwhile to visit during the next six months, so any advice or recommendations would be much appreciated!

Casks Currently Available:

Bottles Currently Available:

Distilled at Price (notincluding postage)

Caol Ila 27 yearold, 70cl, 53.1% £49

Cragganmore 20 yearold, 70cl, 54.2% £37

Glen Grant 17 yearold, 70cl, 55% £40

“Mystery Whisky”,20 year old, 70cl, 55.8% (label gives clues to distilleryname) £36

Inchgower 36 year old, 70cl, 53.4%COMING WITHIN THE NEXTWEEK £50

For trade prices please contact me.

If there is any cask you would particularly like to see available, please let me know and I’ll keep an eye open for it. Comments/suggestions can be made on the Guestbook of my website, especially if you have purchased a cask. Alternatively you can email me.

Looking forward to hearing from you soon!

Martin Armstrong

www.whiskybroker.co.uk
info@whiskybroker.co.uk

LIMITED EDITION THREE SHIPS CONQUERS INTERNATIONAL WATERS

The limited edition Three Ships 10-year old single malt recently returned home with a gold medal from the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles held in Luxembourg. A total 7 386 wines and spirits from 49 producer countries competed before a hand-picked selection of some of the world’s foremost judges.

The whisky was matured for the full 10 years in American oak casks of varying ages with the older small wood contributing to the exceptional smoothness of this whisky while also imparting a slight sweetness.  It’s a full-bodied and well-rounded whisky with a hint of peat and estery notes that add a slightly sweet fragrance hinting of dried fruit and fudge.

With only 8 000 bottles launched in October last year, it is highly unlikely that you would still find a bottle in liquor outlets but if you are lucky enough to spot one, make sure it becomes part of your whisky collection.

The Three Ships range of whiskies is produced by master distiller Andy Watts at The James Sedgwick Distillery, situated in Wellington under the shadow of the Cape’s Drakenstein Mountains. The distillery was established in 1886 and over the past two decades has undergone several upgrades transforming it into a state-of-the-art distillery. The Three Ships fleet consists of Three Ships Select, Three Ships 5-year-old Premium Select, Three Ships Bourbon Cask Finish and now the Three Ships 10-year-old Single Malt Whisky.

Laphroaig OB Triple Wood 48%alc.

More pleasure and richness for a peaty fan.

Initially ex-Bourbon matured (traditional Laphroaig cask), transferred to a small quarter cask (see “Quarter Cask” also here) to make it sweeter and then to a European oak (“sherry”) cask, which adds richness.

The result is clean and peaty, freshness (as celery) and then richness (Demerara), vanilla (emulsion paint) and tannic (tea).

To taste there is a shot of Laphroaig’s signature note which I still struggle to describe; dry – sewery – carbolicy whateverie stuff. Then the round, sherry-richness comes with peat lingering over the sour receptors on the side of the tongue. Definitely Laphroaig and an interesting if subtle variant. A finish that fades soon then returns and won’t go away. Water emphasises the Laphroaig stuff.

Flavour map reference G9.
on the Smoky side of Rich & Smoky

Laphroaig Triple Wood
Price excluding VAT: £32.42
£38.90 Including VAT at 20%

JOHN CAMPBELL INTRODUCES LAPHROAIG CAIRDEAS

Monday, June 27, 5:00-8:00pm

Meet Laphroaig master distiller John Campbell as he introduces his newest hand selected release. The new Laphroaig Cairdeas is a range of ages from fresh bourbon wood and bottled at cask strength.

Call 312-664-4394 for more information. Chicago – Lincoln Park Store 1720 N. Marcey St. | Chicago | 312-664-4394

Visit Binny’s at www.binnys.com

Rev that throttle bikers and malt-mates, Ralfy wheelies in with Whisky Review #208 – Dewars 12yo with biker-buddy Andy !

vroom vroom !

See for yourself at www.ralfy.com