Summer Arrives and Some Special Birthdays.

June  2010

Great weather this afternoon after a cloudy start with the temperature still at 22 degrees Celsius when I left around 6pm. Forecast is for a few more days like this and we are hoping that it will extend into the weekend as it is the Scottish Traditional Boat Festival, an annual event held in Portsoy.

Last year at this event we launched “The Spirit Drink that blushes to speak its name” and this year we will be selling pre-launch 200ml bottles of the extended Spirit Drink range including “Peated” and Fledgling XB” as well as “Clearac” and “Blushes” We will also be taking orders for the new book which will be here week commencing the 5th July (after a couple of delays) and which can be ordered through the website.

Unfortunately we also had a production problem this week with our condenser supply water pipe bursting underneath the still-house floor. This will result in a new supply line being installed across the still-house tomorrow and as we have two washbacks fermenting then we need this urgently.

Today is also the first birthday of the first 17 octaves which we sold. These casks were sampled today  and the samples will be sent to the cask owners. As the owner of cask number 1 I can tell you that 12 months maturation has resulted in a very fine drink, light straw in colour; nose of grass, pears and some grapes;  very sweet taste with buttery notes and spices in the after taste. It is good now and will, I am sure, improve even more.

If you have any questions or comments on any of the above or anything else then please let me know.

Slange

Stuart

Visit Glenglassaugh Distillery at www.glenglassaugh.com

BALLANTINE’S BRAND AMBASSADOR MCDOWELL CELEBRATES FIRST MAJOR WIN IN STYLE WITH RARE, LIMITED EDITION SCOTCH

Ballantine’s, the world’s No 2 Scotch whisky, is raising a toast to golfer Graeme McDowell today following his impressive win at the US Open at Pebble Beach this weekend.  McDowell, who also won his fifth European Tour title at Celtic Manor in Wales earlier this month, held off some of the sport’s biggest names including Tiger Woods, Phil Mickleson and Ernie Els.

A global brand ambassador for Ballantine’s 17, 21 and 30 year old whiskies, McDowell left an impression on the golfing world by becoming Europe’s first US Open champion for 40 years.  He will now be celebrating his success in style by opening a very rare bottle of Ballantine’s Championship Blend, which he co-created with Ballantine’s Master Blender Sandy Hyslop.

Reacting to his win McDowell said, “Ballantine’s has always been a lucky charm for me and since my 2008 Ballantine’s Championship win in Korea I’ve played some of the best golf of my life.  I said I would open my very special bottle of The Ballantine’s Championship Blend either on the birth of my first child, or my first major win – Pebble Beach came first!”

Peter Moore, Global Brand Director for Ballantine’s said, “On behalf of everyone at Ballantine’s I’d like to express our warmest congratulations to Graeme and look forward to celebrating with him over a glass of Ballantine’s.  Graeme is an extremely talented player who we are proud to support and he thoroughly deserves all of his success.”

While McDowell wears the Ballantine’s logo on his left sleeve, he has also represented Ballantine’s at numerous events since winning The Ballantine’s Championship title in Korea in 2008.  These include becoming the first person ever to collaborate with a Ballantine’s Master Blender on the creation of the 2009 Championship Blend and the launch of the 2010 Championship Blend, which celebrated 50 years since Ballantine’s was first involved with international golf.

McDowell won the US Open by one shot from France’s Gregory Havret with Ernie Els two behind in third and Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods tied fourth.  He is now almost certain to secure a Ryder Cup place this October.

Notes:

The Ballantine’s Championship

The Ballantine’s Championship is Asia’s fourth biggest golf tournament and the largest sporting event in Korea. It is now an established platform which drives Ballantine’s long-term relationship with the iconic sport.  The 2010 Ballantine’s Championship was won by Australia’s Marcus Fraser.

The Ballantine’s Championship Blend 2010

The creation of an exclusive, limited edition blend has become an annual tradition of the Ballantine’s Championship.  The 2010 Championship Blend is a limited edition Scotch whisky combining extremely rare grains and malts taken from the time of the first Ballantine’s golf tournament fifty years ago. The inaugural tournament, held at Wentworth Club in 1960, introduced the ‘big ball’ to the game and attracted some of the most well respected players of the day.

The Ballantine’s Championship Blend 2009

This unique 35 Year Old Scotch represented the first time in history that anyone outside the company’s expert team collaborated with a Master Blender. Only 15 limited edition bottles were been made due to the scarcity of the whiskies within the blend and following tradition, one precious bottle was presented to the winner of the tournament.

About Ballantine’s:

Ballantine’s is the world’s No 2 range of blended Scotch whisky and has won over 60 trophies and medals at international competitions in the past 10 years for quality as a result of its unique richness of character and perfect balance. The range, from Ballantine’s Finest to the iconic 30 Year Old, is the most extensive in the world of Scotch and is maintained by the latest in a tradition of master blenders that dates back to 1827.

• Ballantine’s has been title sponsor of the Ballantine’s Championship since 2008 and has committed to the event until 2013

• Ballantine’s is an official sponsor of the Barclay’s Scottish Open, held every July at the exclusive Loch Lomond Golf Club

• Ballantine’s was also sponsor of The Omega Mission Hills World Cup, held in China in 2009

• The first Ballantine’s sponsored golf tournament was played in 1960 at Wentworth Golf Club, England

About Chivas Brothers:

Chivas Brothers is the Scotch whisky and premium gin business of Pernod Ricard – the world’s co-leader in wine and spirits.  Chivas Brothers is the global leader in luxury Scotch whisky and premium gin. Its portfolio includes Chivas Regal, Ballantine’s, Beefeater Gin, The Glenlivet, Royal Salute, Aberlour, Plymouth Gin, Longmorn, Scapa, 100 Pipers, Clan Campbell, Something Special and Passport.

Maltstock – Newsletter 4

Book your free tastings now

Fellow whisky enthusiasts, 

At Maltstock we will be offering several free tastings again.  Due to the limited availability of each tasting (max. 30 persons) is it advised to book in advance. The tastings are bookable online now at www.maltstockcom.

This years tatsings are:

New make tasting – Ap Dijksterhuis
A chance to compare about 15 different new makes. Ap Dijksterhuis wrote an article for a Dutch whisky magazine (Whisky Passion) about a new make tasting in which we compared 40 different new makes. Very interesting to do.

Four Roses – white dog and…? – Hans Offringa
This will be a very unique tasting. At Four Roses they produce ten different white dog (new make). No other distillery in the world does this. We have all ten available. And something extra (which we will announce as soon as it is confirmed). Believe me, it will be something special. Never done before in the world.
Hans Offringa is a very active whisky writer. Internationally known for (amongst others) “the Legend of Laphroaig” and “Whisky and Jazz”. His new book “Bourbon and Blues” will be coming out later this year. Hans spends a lot of time in the US and knows a lot about Bourbon.

BenRiach – Stewart Buchannan
The operational manager, Stewart Buchannan, will be at Maltstock to tell you all about BenRiach. He will bring some interesting samples for you to taste. BenRiach distillery is well known for its great many and many great bottlings.

Amrut – Ashok Chokalingam
Amrut distillery from India has been a very pleasant surprise to many whisky enthusiasts over the last few years. They do know how to make quality whisky in India, which can compete with the great Scottish whiskies. Ashok Chokalingam, the European sales and marketing manager will prove it to you.

Glenglassaugh – Stuart Nickerson
Last year he had to cancel at the very last minute, but this year he will definitely be at Maltstock, the managing director of Glenglassaugh himself, Stuart Nickerson. Who better to tell you all about the resurrection of this great distillery of which we dare without blushing to speak it’s name: Glenglassaugh

Tomatin – Douglas Campbell
We are honored that Douglas Campbell, the managing director of Tomatin distillery is coming over himself. He has been with Tomatin for 49 years. So no one can tell you more about Tomatin than Douglas.

Balvenie – Tony van Rooijen
Brand ambassador Tony van Rooijen will take you through the excellent range of Balvenie distillery.

Blending with Whisky Passion
During the day Saturday everybody will have an opportunity to create their own blend. Whisky Passion will have a competition to see which whisky club is best at blending whisky. Come and try yourself, and find out how difficult it is. An independent jury will judge the blends. There will be a nice price for the best blend.

Maltstock program

The full Maltstock program is also online. We have some great independent bottlers present, like Adelphi, Berry Brothers, Dewar Rattray, Daily Dram, David Stirk’s excellent exclusive Malts, Douglas Laing, Single Malts of Scotland and more. Almost all the whisky will be available without extra charge. Except for the collection of old and rare whisky from the Dutch Whisky collectors “Full Proof”. Another highlight is the big campfire, as well as the BBQ, the whisky quiz and much more. There’s the bottle share table where all the guests can put the bottle they brought to share with the other guests. We also will be having a raffle this year. Your chance to win some great prizes.

Maltstock starts Friday afternoon and ends Sunday afternoon. We eat, drink, sleep (small dorms with bunk beds) and have a great time on the same location. So unlike the many whisky fairs, at Maltstock there is plenty of time to enjoy a great whisky in a very relaxed setting with great company.

Costs

Maltstock costs just 150,- euro’s for a whole weekend. A lot of money, but not expensive, because almost everything is included. Two nights accommodation, BBQ, whisky quiz, free tastings, plenty of whisky, campfire en a real Scottish breakfast. We are very proud the people from the Highlander Inn in Craigellachie will travel from Scotland to Maltstock to prepare a real Scottish breakfast for us. What better way to start the day.
Maltstock is 3 to 5 September just south of Nijmegen in Overasselt, the Netherlands. There’s a bus stop right in front of Maltstock. For directions, please check our website.

We can tell you so much more about Maltstock. But who better to hear from than the people who were there last year? On our website you can read their comments and reviews. We also have a lot of pictures online.

We hope to meet a lot of you at Maltstock. If there are any questions at all, please don’t hesitate to contact the organisation through: info@maltstock.com

Hope to see you at Maltstock!

Arthur, Bob, Eline,Rogier and Teun

www.maltstock.com
The relaxed whisky weekend

We are proud to announce that the first episode in our series of videos about our new Master Distiller, Alan Winchester is is now online.   
      
The first episode features an interview with Alan Winchester, showing you our newly expanded distillery and talking through the distillation process, from malting to maturation. Covered in the interview, he answers some of the technical questions that The Guardians of the Glenlivet recently asked him on his web page.

Click here to view the video http://www.theglenlivet.com/
      
Once the series of films is complete, we will have answered all your questions, from the technical ones about the complex process of making The Glenlivet, to those about his life, his career and his views on our award-winning single malts.    
      
Thanks to everyone who sent a question and remember to come back to the site to be sure to catch the whole series.    
      
Kindest Regards,   
The Glenlivet

www.mcleanscotland.com

The Scottish Whisky Tour Specialist

JUNE 2010.

MCLEANSCOTLAND have just ended a superb Scottish whisky tour with a very special guest from Russia. Paul McLean arranged, booked and acted as driver guide for Timofei Prokopov, Moscow. Working closely with Tim, Paul set about to design and arrange this unique (never to be repeated, but may be imitaed) whisky tour of Scotland.  Starting on Islay and visiting the Highlands, Speyside, Perthshire and Glasgow area, the tour was exhaustive and included the following distilleries;

Bruichladdich, Ardbeg, Laphroaig with shopping at Bowmore, Port Ellen and Lagavulin. This part of the tour was taken by Paul’s friend Lamont who lives on the island. Meeting Tim at the ferry terminal at Kennacriag, they then visited Oban, Ben Nevis, Tomatin, Benromach, dallas Dhu, Glen Moray (tour taken by distillery manager),  Glen Grant, Aberlour, Mortlach and Dufftown (closed to public), Glenfiddich special tour, Cragganmore, Strathisla, Dalwhinnie, Edradour (taken by special tour and samples with Andrew), Bell’s, Glenturret special tour, Dewars extra special tour (Paul knows people here to arrange these), Glengoyne (the top of the line tour) and Auchentoshan.  All this in 8 days! Tim was extremely expert on his whisky and it was a real pleasure for Paul to show him his country. Throughout the trip, Tim was buying superb whiskies and between them (Paul and Tim) they mailed them back to Russia, including a nice wee Glencairn decanter. Many of the distillery tours were taken by distillery managers and knowledgably distillery workers.

Tim was also very generous and has booked another tour in May 2011. Once again Paul will be driving. Says paul; “It was an absolute pleasure working with Tim, he is not a client nor a guest, he is a friend! Apart from all these brilliant distilleries, we spent time at castles, standing stones and Scottish sightseeing locations all over Scotland”

MCLEANSCOTLAND are recognised as one of the best (if not the best) whisky tour companies in Scotland. With vast experience and untold knowledge of the whisky industry, they design whisky tours to suit the client and then add a wee bit more fun into the blend! Knowing many people in the industry really helps, maybe even arranging a meeting with namesake Charles Maclean next time. A Clan Maclean member as is Paul.

From John Campbell at Laphroaig;

I am aware I have not written to you for a while (I have been very busy, but I know that’s a poor excuse. However it is true!)

We have just completed our biggest and best Feis Ile. This is the week long festival of “Malt and Music” that our island of Islay puts on every year. During the festivities we held two big events.

The first was our first ever Friends of Laphroaig “Gathering”. Hundreds of “Friends” from all over the World donned their special Wellington Boots and joined us on their plots for a toast to “The Friends”. Later that evening we held a “Ceildh” (Party) in our barrel filling store. We shot a small film of it if you would like to get a flavour of the event: http://www.laphroaig.com/tv/channel2_prog8.asp.

A parallel “Gathering” was also held in Korea! Indeed so popular was it that I have had many requests for regional “Gatherings” to be organised. We will now be holding one in New York later in the year – more to come soon!

Two days later was our “Open Day” which was our biggest and best yet, with special tastings, games, cooking with Laphroaig demonstrations, boat trips and much more. We were also privileged to have two musical friends play in our courtyard Bridgid and Butch from America who entertained us with some beautiful “Blue Grass” music. Again we filmed all the activities, so if you would like to see what went on and hear the music you can watch it on Laphroaig TV.

I blogged live during the event with some fun competitions on our new Facebook site www.facebook.com/laphroaig. We now have over 24,000 members on our page making it very active, so if you have a Facebook account and have not joined our Laphroaig page yet I would love to meet you there. It does allow you to keep up with everything that’s going on.

As you may know we do film local islanders who have a special connection with Laphroaig and we have two new ones to show you. The RNLI is the UK’s Lifeboat rescue operation which of course is so important to us as islanders, and a strong fishing community. The RNLI is extraordinary as it is entirely run via charitable donations from the public. Indeed it is our permanent Friends of Laphroaig charity. As such I thought you would like to meet the skipper and his boat. Simon Brooking (our US Ambassador) took time off from his open day duties to meet him and his beautiful boat. Again, you can view it on Laphroaig TV.

And keeping with our nautical theme we also interviewed our local Lobster fisherman Kevin Campbell – notice his surname – yes it’s my younger brother! Of course there are some fantastic sauces that go with our local dishes of Scallops, crabs and Lobster so as you can guess Kevin and I have has some wonderful meals in the past. If you would like to meet Kevin and watch as I going lobster fishing on film then you can see us on Laphroaig TV.

I will write to you in a month or so to tell you about this year’s Laphroaig Live event. But for now I am going to keep it a secret!

Sláinte,

John Campbell

Visit Laphroaig Distillery at www.laphroaig.com

Laphroaig 10yo (43%, OB, +/-2009) versus Laphroaig 10yo (40%, OB, +/-2007)

The 10yo as available in the USA and bottled at 43% ABV (in many markets the standard 10 year old is bottled at 40%). What does a few more percentage points reveal? Is it the 7% solution? (This last bit was a Sherlock Holmes reference).

The 43% nose is deeply peated and backed by some really good unsweetened cocoa followed by some heather and brine notes.

A quick nose of the 2007 40% bottling for comparison shows the aromas to be much more vegetal and sharper; perhaps with even a little green thrown in (think of barley & cut grass). These notes settle down after a while in the glass however the aromas of the two are distinctively different.

Additionally the nose of the 2009 43% is sweeter, shows more assertive peat smoke and a bit more cocoa and brine. It is bigger and more appealing.

The taste on the 43% is filled with delicious peat smoke, malt, cocoa, brine and hints of peanut butter.

The 2007 40% is evidently weaker in the mouth, still very good, thinner mouth feel but still show lots of flavour; the peat smoke and malt.

The 2009 43% finish is warming, full, smokey and long. Again brine, some really good sweetness and more peat characteristics; coal smoke and seaweed.

The 2007 40% finish is very much less but still shows a good finish with the vegetal creeping in towards the end.

Conclusion.The 2009 43% is the better single malt by a point or two. It would be instructive to review a 40% and a 43% from the same year. The 40% sample was purchased in Canada.

WI understands batch variation may be playing a part however experience gained over many years has shown the 43% to be slightly better.

Visit Laphroaig Distillery at www.laphroaig.com

Loch Fyne Whiskies has stocked a new item, ‘Managers’ Choice’

The final release of Diageo’s Managers’ Choice is now available

You may Visit Loch Fyne Whiskies at https://www.lfw.co.uk/

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

Ardbeg Supernova S.N.2010
DON’T MISS OUT!

We’re about to get a small allocation of the 2010 Release of Supernova. There won’t be very much please order early as to not be left out. This edition has the highest Ardbeg peat count ever, at over 100 ppm. more than double normal barley peating. The 2010 has been rated better than the first release, and is one of the hardest to find.

Distillery Tasting Notes:

Big and powerful with peaty, earthy and deep herbal notes.
With first sniff, encounter deep earthy peat oils and crushed black pepper embedded in the darkest chocolate. Swirl the glass and dip your nose into herbal infusions of juniper, elderflower and agave. Tarry ropes and creosote-soaked elm with flowering currants, olives and hot chili peppers.

Swirl water into the glass, and voyage into the unknown with smokey coal tar, an open box of rolling tobacco, peat moss and roasted malt. A barbeque of smokey charcoal rises above the peat moss, softened by camomile, ceder and heather bloom. A blast of brine, white pepper and smokey asparagus escapes into the atmosphere with a spritely display of gooseberries and greengages.

Taste: Ardbeg challenges the palate with a smoke and salt explosion – hot, sizzling and gristy sensations effervesce and explode on the tongue with a powerful peaty punch. Black and white crushed pepper pop with chili and chocolate . Chewy sweet rolling tobacco, linseed oil and newley tanned leatherroll backwards on a wave of brininess and burst of lime marmalade. Cigar smoke builds up to a crescendo before drying out to bring dark roast earthy coffee, toasted almonds and liquorice root.
Finish: Long, deep and powerful, refusing to fade away – remaining warm and drying with tarry peat, cacoa and chili.

Ardbeg Supernova (SN2010) $134.99 Very Limited!!!!

Coming:

Dalmore Masterclass July 20th. Richard Paterson Master Blender
Full Details next week

Please pass this on to any friends who are scotch enthusiasts.

Joe Howell
Federal Wine & Spirits

——————————————————————————–

Email: joe@federalwine.com
Phone: 617-367-8605
Web: http://www.federalwine.com/

From Tim Forbes at the Whisky Exchange Blog;

I’ve been lucky enough to be present at five really excellent whisky tastings during the last four weeks.  I’ve ticked off quite a few drams I hadn’t previously tried and a couple of forthcoming treats as well.  So, to catch up, I’m going to do a whisky blog post every (working) day until next Wednesday – one for each of the five great tastings I went to in the last month.

See for yourself at http://blog.thewhiskyexchange.com/