INTRODUCING WHITE OWL WHISKY Ultra Premium CLEAR Canadian Rye Whisky

Highwood Distillers Ltd. of Calgary, Alberta has introduced “White Owl Whisky” to the Canadian Market.  This new Clear Rye Whisky will be sold in the premium segment through the Century Distillers Family of brands.  This is a new concept to the alcohol beverages industry.  The initial response from all liquor boards in Canada has been excellent.  White Owl Whisky will create a new sense of enthusiasm and excitement to the Canadian Whisky category, which has been lacking in recent years.Canadian Whisky must be aged a minimum of 3 years and must contain no more than 9.09% of further flavor additives.  White Owl Whisky exceeds these standards and offers all of the traditional Rye Whisky flavor and a Clear appearance. Clear spirits have been a growth category for many years based on the ability to form part of many fashionable cocktails.  White Owl Whisky will offer the same benefit.  It is also hoped the demographics of Whisky consumers will change with the smoothness White Owl offers. Be creative in using this new whisky in your favorite cocktail including our Caesar which we appropriately call “Clam WOW” (White Owl Whisky), or WOW & Energy drink – The Night Owl.For additional information on the WOW please contact us or visit our website at www.highwood-distisillers.com Highwood Distillers was established in 1974 and is privately owned. Please Enjoy!

There is a review posted at http://www.canadianwhisky.org/reviews/white-owl-whisky-40-alc-vol.html

Thomas Kuuttanen has an update on the Stolen G&M Mortlach 70yo…

“The show ended at midnight Sunday, and exhibitors were escorted out of the hall about 12:30 by security. Symposion only had a few minutes to secure 300 bottles of whisky until they could return in the morning to tear down the booth. They hid the Mortlach package inside their bar surrounded by dozens of other bottles. In the morning, the Mortlach and what he described as a normal bottle (a 25-30 year old Macallan!) were missing. The thief took the bottle, but left the box and documentation behind, which will make it difficult to sell to a collector. The bottle was #53 in the series, and that’s engraved on the bottle.

Stockholm police took a report, but did not interview any of the security guards on duty overnight or anyone else in connection with the theft, and plans no investigation unless someone comes forward with information! Thomas says that if the bottle is returned (I know, not a chance in hell that it would happen), that he would drop the police report with no questions asked.”

Many thanks to Mark at www.whiskycast.com for this update.

October Treats: Go on, spoil yourself
This isn’t a trick, these fine brews are still available to buy in our online shop. Treat youself this October…

33.90 Cocktails in a chimney
Islay
£57.30 inc. Free P&P
Coconut, elderflower and lime aromas suggested exotic cocktails, but the Malt-meister was in a malt kiln; certainly there was peat smoke, chimneys, coal-dust, charcoal, tar and liquorice

33.91 Barbecue on the beach at sundown
Islay
£57.30 inc. Free P&P
We imagined a barbecue at sundown with hickory smoked bacon and pork ribs garnished with hot chilli peppers and lime juice; oyster sauce and French onion soup; the kick of earthy tequila 

35.41 Sweet and savoury in a double oven
Speyside Lossie
£139 inc. Free P&P
The nose was of warm baking; lemon juice and baking soda before toasted vanilla pods and honey were added to the mix. Syrup sponge pudding melded with orange blossom and maple syrup

Oct TREAT TRIO:
Trio Offer: 125.40, 35.42 & 123.5
for only £136 (save £18.40)

SMWS Whisky Tasting & Events
Chocolate Indulgence Dinner – Mon 18 Oct
Chocolate Ecstasy – Queen Street, Fri 22 Oct
Sherried Whisky with Willie Phillips – The Vaults, Tue 26 Oct
Oxford Preview Tasting – Thu 28 October, Malmaison Oxford
Sheffield Preview Tasting – Fri 29 Oct, Leopold Hotel
Melrose Preview Tasting – Fri 29 Oct, Townhouse Hotel
Chester-le-Street Halloween Tasting – Fri 29 Oct, The Cricket Club
Pan-Asian Curry Experience – London, Sat 30 Oct
Penderyn Distillery Experience – London, Sun 31 Oct

Visit the Society today at www.smws.co.uk for an opportunity to join!

Compass Box marks 10 years in the whisky business this week, and John Glaser is celebrating with retrospective tastings in New York and Edinburgh. We’ll have highlights of the New York tasting on this week’s episode. In the news, a rare bottle of Mortlach 70 is stolen at the Stockholm Beer & Whisky Festival, and two bottles of 64-year-old Dalmore have sold for about $160,000…each! We’ll also remember Ronnie Eddins, the longtime Buffalo Trace warehouse manager who passed away this past week.

Visit WhiskyCast at www.whiskycast.com and listen for yourself.

This month

Finally, a quick news letter for you all. We promised we wouldn’t bombard you, but I am beginning to feel that if we sent any less, you may have us up for dereliction of duty.

As you have requested, I am giving you a heads up that Chapter 7 and 10 are now in our shop and on the website. Both Chapter 7 & 10 will come in our lovely ibisco decanters once again and will be limited in numbers for the 2010 release.

New Launches

Chapter 7 has been finished in rum casks. Below are the professional tasting notes done by David , our head distiller. My own amateur notes are: Imagine eating Rum & Raisin Ice cream whilst having a glass of whisky. We are selling these for £49.99

Nose: Sweet, soft & slightly spicy. A mixture of vanilla and rum and raisin ice cream, fresh and citrusy with a hint of tropical fruits. Slightly nutty with a hint of marzipan.

Taste: Very soft again with citrus notes. Slight peppery spice with a hint of raisins. Malty with a hint of fresh wood. Salty and dry on the finish. Slightly nutty.

Chapter 10 this is our whisky that has been fully matured in Olorossa casks. It has an amazingly deep colour and such a traditional rich taste. If you are a traditionalist and struggle to find a decent sherry whisky these days – then this is the one for you. We are selling these for £49.99

Nose: Quite heavy with raisins and dried fruit. Rich fruit cake, Christmas pudding with wine gums, dates with a hint of marzipan. A delicate waft of aniseed breezes in after a while.

Taste: Again very fruity, rosehip syrup. Citrus fruits. Full bodied and quite chewy with a long, fruity finish. Very dry.

Other news:

 Some of you may be aware and others won’t be that when we bottle a limited run, we have to guess the amount of liquid in a cask, then print the labels accordingly ready for bottling. Invariably we have a little left over. This applies to Chapter 5 & Chapter 8. Obviously there will be no more numbered decanters but we have decided to put these last few drops into 200ml bottles as I am aware that some of you have missed out on the odd chapter and would like to complete your collections. Therefore if any of you need a small bottle of CH5 or CH8 please let us know. This is limited to one bottle per person, and only to those of you who didn’t manage to get a full bottle in the first place. These will be £20 each and won’t be on our website until you have all had a chance to respond.

 We have started delivering our baby 30ltr casks full of 3yr old whisky at 59.2% approx to those of you who have purchased. We have quite a few of these, so if anyone else feels having their own cask of whisky at home would be fun, please give us a ring or email and we will let you know any details. These are £1200 all in. Come and collect one or we can get it to you.

 Finally we have launched a new wooden gift box, that holds a 20cl bottle and 2 glasses, or 2 bottles and 2 glasses or even 3 bottles. Lots of options and different prices. If you are stuck for Christmas presents – look no further!

Some technical info:

For those of you that participate we have a new Facebook page. Could I ask existing English Whisky Society members to sign up to the new page, so we can get the old one shut down. We would be delighted if the remainder of you signed up as well as this is a great way to keep you informed of what we are up to. The new link is English Whisky Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Roudham-United-Kingdom/English-Whisky-Co/160291333996827?ref=search

As usual, if you are bored by my ramblings please email Sarah on office@englishwhisky.co.uk and tell her you don’t want to receive any more emails from us. Alternatively you could always email her and tell her who else would like to hear from us.

Kind Regards

Andrew

Visit the English Whisky Company at www.englishwhisky.co.uk
 
 

DIAGEO LAUNCHES JOHNNIE WALKER® DOUBLE BLACK™  BLENDED SCOTCH WHISKY

Diageo is today announcing that following a successful test, Johnnie Walker® Double Black™ will be launched in global travel retail outlets.

Johnnie Walker Double Black is a new deluxe variant of Johnnie Walker® Black Label™ Blended Scotch Whisky and was launched as an exclusive test in global travel retail in January of this year at six key airport locations (New York JFK, Dubai, Beirut, Sydney, Singapore and Bangkok). The product is an extension to the existing brands in the Johnnie Walker® range of Scotch Whiskies, and it is aimed at drinkers who already appreciate the character of Johnnie Walker Scotch whiskies and are keen to explore that character in more depth. The blend is created using peaty West Coast whiskies to particularly emphasise the smoky elements that have made Johnnie Walker Scotch whiskies famous.

With roll–out from 1 July 2010 onwards, Johnnie Walker Double Black Blended Scotch Whisky will be on shelf in the majority of Travel Retail outlets before the end of November.

Kenton Elliot, Diageo GTME Marketing Manager Scotch, Reserve Brands & Single Malts, said: “We are delighted to be launching Johnnie Walker Double Black Blended Scotch Whisky in travel retail outlets. The blend has already achieved the highly coveted Masters award in the ‘Best Super Premium Blends’ category of the 2010 World Whisky Masters Awards, delivered exceptionally strong sales performance and achieved great feedback from whisky consumers.

Throughout the test period, Johnnie Walker Double Black went through extensive consumer testing. Taste sampling of the liquid drove high levels of purchase and shopper interest and the research also confirmed that Johnnie Walker Double Black performs extremely well as a gifting option, with almost half (47 per cent) of purchases being for this purpose. Nine out of 10 shoppers had a ‘very positive’ or ‘quite positive’ overall opinion of the whisky, and three quarters of those (74 per cent) said that the taste of the liquid actually exceeded their expectations.

As ever with Johnnie Walker, both the brand equity and packaging of the whisky rated extremely highly within the category.

Douglas Taylor, GTME Innovation Manager, said: “We’ve been tracking Johnnie Walker Double Black Blended Scotch Whisky on every step of its first journey and we’ve been delighted by our findings. The Master Blender has delivered a great whisky and with our partners in travel retail, we have given the shopper an extraordinary new experience.”

Additional shopper insights revealed that 89 per cent intended to make a repeat purchase of Johnnie Walker Double Black , the whisky scored particularly high across a range of criteria, including ‘proud to gift’, ‘better quality’ and ‘intense taste’. The design of the bottle and carton were rated particularly strongly too. Johnnie Walker Double Black is not only delivering a strong shopper proposition and realising significant sales but is also contributing an overwhelmingly positive effect on the Johnnie Walker Brand equity.

Notes:

The JOHNNIE WALKER, BLACK LABEL and DOUBLE BLACK words and all associated logos are trade marks.

About Diageo

Diageo is the world’s leading premium drinks business. With its global vision, and local marketing focus, Diageo brings to consumers an outstanding collection of beverage alcohol brands across the spirits, wine and beer categories including Smirnoff, Guinness, Johnnie Walker, Baileys®, J&B, Cuervo, Captain Morgan and Tanqueray, and Beaulieu Vineyard and Sterling Vineyards wines.    

Diageo trades in some 180 countries around the world and is listed on both the New York Stock Exchange (DEO) and the London Stock Exchange (DGE).  For more information about Diageo, its people, brands and performance, visit us at www.diageo.com.

Diageo is committed to responsible drinking through: setting world-class standards in responsible marketing, promotion and innovation; promoting a shared understanding of what responsible drinking means, and working with others to combat alcohol misuse.

Balblair 1989 & FREE Glass        
 £51.00 inc VAT     £43.40 exc VAT 

Balblair 1997  & FREE Glass
£34.19 inc VAT £29.10 exc VAT

Balblair 2000  & FREE Glass
£35.49 inc VAT  £30.20 exc VAT

Visit Single Malts Direct at www.singlemaltsdirect.com

Lebanon Offers Runners A Unique Kentucky Bourbon Experience

The Bourbon Chase relay passes through the Heart of Kentucky Oct. 22

LEBANON, Ky. (Oct. 14, 2010) – Runners from across the country will pass through Lebanon, Ky. for Legs 6, 7, 8 and 9 of the The Bourbon Chase Fri., Oct. 22. This 200-mile overnight adventure features 3,000 participants from 44 states and covers scenic roads along the Kentucky Bourbon Trail through Sat., Oct. 23.

Just 7 miles from world-famous Maker’s Mark Distillery and home to Kentucky Cooperage (a bourbon-barrel-making factory), Lebanon is nestled in the Heart of Bourbon Country, making it one of the most significant stops on the Chase.

Runners will begin passing through Lebanon around 1 p.m. where they can enjoy a true bourbon experience. There are quaint shops, mom ‘n’ pop restaurants, grab-and-go delis and plenty of entertainment for runners and spectators to enjoy.

The Leg 8 exchange features the local farmers market, live cooper (bourbon-barrel-making) demonstrations, live entertainment, plenty of eclectic dining opportunities and an opportunity to enter a free drawing for rare Maker’s Mark collector bottles and other prizes.

Kentucky Cooperage is also giving free tours at 9:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. to demonstrate how the oak barrels critical for the production of bourbon are charred and made leak proof without manmade sealers. No open-toed shoes are allowed.

The relay concludes at the finish line in downtown Lexington, Ky. at Triangle Park.

Heart of Kentucky Bourbon & Barrels Getaway packages are available for a true The Bourbon Chase experience. They include lodging, meals, Maker’s Mark rocks glasses and mementos.

For more information about The Bourbon Chase and Lebanon or to book a getaway package online, go to www.VisitLebanonKy.com.

…. from the busy Bothy of www.ralfy.com, Whisky Review #154 – Dalwhinnie 15yo … the ‘honeyed’ Malt Scotch from the highest Distillery in Scotland, which gives this chappie a coastal character !!!

Say Hello, How are you to the £100,000 Dalmore 64, Trinitas, the world’s most expensive whisky. Introducing the Dalmore 64, Trinitas, which has been valued at £100,000. Further details can be seen here http://multivu.prnewswire.com/mnr/prne/dalmore/46291/

Some tasting notes from Richard Paterson himself ; The initial bouquet is highly complex. Powerful notes of sweet raisins, rich Colombian coffee, crushed walnuts and bitter orange casts are what hit you first followed by grapefruit, sandalwood, white musk and Indonesian patchouli.

This is one whisky that really needs more than a second for each year to appreciate the hidden depths – there’s sweet sultanas, figs, a caramelised topping of Seville oranges, apples, mangos and dates, followed by a wave of lingering sensations of vino dulce muscatel, marzipan, treacle toffee, soft liquorice and roasted coffee. A soft caress of truffles, walnuts and muscovado sugar on your palate brings this unforgettable fanfare to a flawless finish.

As you can see, I’ve put a lot into it! But that’s what you would expect from a £100,000 whisky.

At some point Whisky Intelligence will reveal even more detail….