MCLEANSCOTLAND the number one whisky tour operator in Scotland, have just returned from Northern Ireland, taking time to visit Bushmills.  As guests of the Irish Tourist Board, MCLEANSCOTLAND enjoyed a travel workshop in Belfast on the Thursday, followed by a civic reception and wee party! Friday saw them travelling north along the coast of Antrim in company with other travel agents from Europe and Australia.  As a special visit  Paul and Liz enjoyed their time at Bushmills guide by Niall, who was excellent.  Leaving with a much better understanding of Bushmills, a shirt and two bottles of the famous 1608 – distilled to commemorate 400 years of whiskey at the site!

 And ooo, what a dram it is, special indeed.

Notes of almond, saddle leather. Rich flavors of caramel cocoa and malted barley, honey and cream. Finish; malty butter and absolutely nice.”  Its a blend of three different whiskies – malt, grain whiskey and a third said to be a malt produced from crystal malt. 46% ABV  I am keeping the bottle for myself, sorry!  While at the distillery, they chatted to staff about tours coming in and what special treats and special tours could be arranged. So if you are looking for an Irish whiskey tour that includes the Bushmills range, with a special tasting, then contact Paul at info@mcleanscotland.com

Dear Customer

This just confirms that we are releasing one new PROVENANCE bottling this month whose tasting notes follow:

PRV0623 CLYNELISH 12 YEAR OLD

On the nose detect spicy citric notes with oak, grist and copious honey apparent. The palate also shows distinct honey, with an attractive backdrop of barley and soft buttery oak – all leading to a still sweet finish, which is spicy and trails smoke. (F)

We hope you like it and the current selection is proving attractive to you.

Thank you for your support which is appreciated.

Please accept our best wishes,

Fred H Laing
Managing Director

Visit Douglas Laing at http://www.douglaslaing.com/

10.6.10 Anonymous Islay/peaty malts 43% + Port Ellen £18/15*

The Ileach 12yo single malt

The Pibroch 12yo single malt

Smokehead single malt

Six Isles (Islay, Jura, Skye, Mull, Orkney and Arran)

The Peat Chimney Wemyss Vintage Malts blended malt

Special guest Port Ellen Gordon & MacPhail September 1982 – September 2009 refill sherry casks 43%

16.6.10 Wednesday £20/17* Port Charlotte

The peaty expression from Bruichladdich distillery which has been annually released for the last four years has proven popular with fans of the Islay style, for example it has more than once been awarded best dram at Royal Mile Whiskies’ ‘Whisky on the Fringe’. At this tasting there is the opportunity to try back-to-back all official examples of the malt as well as two independant examples. The tasting will be held at The Tolbooth Tavern, 167 Canongate, Royal Mile, Edinburgh at 7.30pm on Wednesdaqy 16th June at 7.30pm tickets are £18 which, if you do the maths is less than the cost of all these drams at the current bottle price.

PC5 6038 bottles 2001 – 2006 5yo 63.5% mix of bourbon and sherry casks
PC6 18000 bottles 2001 – 2007 6yo 61.6% “Madeira cask influence”
PC7 24000 bottles 2001 – 2008 7yo 61%
PC8 25650 bottles 2001 – 2009 8yo 60.5%
“Baffo” Forever Edition no. 5 256 bottles 12.6.01 – 27.3.09 7yo cask no. 48/2001 46% specially selected by Thomas Kruger.
Port Sgioba (Gaelic for Port Charlotte) 286 bottles 6.12.01 – 2.3.10 8yo cask no. 826/2001 66.0% refill sherry hogshead specially selected by FOAH

24.6.10 Old/Sherried/Peaty/Rare/Unusual t.b.c.

Diageo’s ‘Manager’s Choice’ Inchgower 16yo 61.9% ex-bodega sherry cask 564 bottles about £200 retail

Speyburn 09/77 – 12/07 43% refill sherry butt Gordon & MacPhail

8.7.10 Theme tbc

Bladnoch/Tomintoul/Bruichladdich/Arran/non-Scottish peaty whiskies/bottled at the distillery

22.7.10 Old/Sherried/Peaty/Rare/Unusual t.b.c.

‘Rare Ayrshire’ (Ladyburn) 21.02.1975  – 02.03.09 45.2% Bourbon barrel 166 bottles Signatory

Future tastings:-

Peaty blends 40% : date and price tbc

Islay Mist
Islay Hallmark 8yo
Black Bottle 10yo
Black Grouse
Black Bottle
plus a special guest (Brora or Port Ellen)

All whisky tastings take place on Thursday nights from 7:30pm until approximately 10pm at the Tolbooth Tavern, 167 Canongate, Royal Mile, Edinburgh, Scotchland. Tickets : £17*/20 or when a tasting’s theme requires buying more expensive bottles the increase will be reflected proportionally in the ticket price.

At least 5 drams, cask strength being the preferred option when a choice is available and affordable.

Refunds only possible if tasting not sold out or if ticket can be resold.

The tastings aim to inform and entertain. The relaxed approach is still structured and props are used so the tastes and smells of the various influences on production can be experienced first hand, for example there will be the opportunity to smell and/or taste both malted and un-malted barley, yeast and new make spirit.

The tasting usually ends with a raffle where every entrant wins a miniature’s worth of whisky left over from previous tastings, entry to the raffle is an additional £2 and any further donations being collected for World Vision’s ‘Sponsor a Child’ scheme (we’ve collected more than £1500 to date).

All tastings include oatcakes, shortbread and chocolates.

The Tollbooth offers meals up to the time of tasting.

ENTRY BY PREPAID TICKET ONLY – prices from £17*
*first timers & members discount, 13 month membership = £10
2nd year’s membership £5 then all subsequent years free.

Want to taste the whiskies but can’t attend? We can bottle them for you to take away. Empty minis always appreciated.

www.jollytopertastings.co.uk

Taste of Gold for Smokehead

Edinburgh, 02 June 2010: SMOKEHEAD, Ian Macleod Distillers’ Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky, has been awarded an International Review of Spirits’ Gold Medal by the highly respected Beverage Testing Institute (BTI).

Judged by an expert panel from BTI in the institution’s Chicago Tasting Room, Smokehead was awarded an ‘Exceptional’ rating of 91/100 for its explosive, peaty flavours. With the appearance of ‘bright old gold’, the panel commented on the Single Malt’s ‘aromas of honeyed raisin scone, dried peaches and medical tinctures with a hint of cedar and mesquite-like smokiness’. The BTI also enjoyed Smokehead’s ‘good depth and lingering body’ with ‘subtly complex and earthy smoked wood, leather and a prairie grass driven finish’.

Iain Weir, Marketing Director for Ian Macleod Distillers, commented; “We are delighted that Smokehead’s boisterous and peaty taste has been recognised by such an internationally respected institution as the BTI. Combining its high quality and unique flavours with the product’s standout designer packaging, Smokehead has proved a great success, especially in attracting the discerning and adventurous ‘modern drinker’.” 

The International Review of Spirits’ Gold Medal for Smokehead’s rich and complex flavours, follows two Gold Medals from BTI in the 2009 International Review of Spirits Packaging Competition. These recognised the brand’s innovative, bold and modern packaging in the Creativity and Graphic Design categories. 

Since launching in 2006, Smokehead Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky has won a number of awards for both its eye-catching packaging and balanced, seaweedy flavours, including the Scottish Field Whisky Challenge Gold Medal and Wine & Spirits Design Awards for Best Dark Spirit and the overall Trophy for Design of the Year.

Other products in the range include the Smokehead Extra Rare 1 litre bottle (Travel Retail Exclusive) and the premium 18 Years Old Smokehead Extra Black.

Founded in 1981, the BTI is one of the world’s foremost authorities on alcoholic beverages, independently reviewing thousands of wines, beers and spirits every year. With a mission to create fair and reliable reviews for consumers, its buying guides have appeared in many publications including The New Yorker Magazine, Wine & Spirits International, CNBC, BBC Radio International and The Chicago Tribune. 

Described as being like a cannonball, Smokehead is an explosive combination of peat, smoke and spice with some delicate sweetness. The single malt flavour is described as fresh, fruity and immense, with notes of sherry, iodine, toffee, smoke and sea salt.  The taste hits the palate at once with cocoa, peat and some honey sweetness, before exploding with peppery spice and more earthy peat.

Smokehead is available in the USA, Canada and worldwide. Details of some global stockists can be found on the website www.smokehead.co.uk

 Curious to discover more, visit www.smokehead.co.uk or visit www.tastings.com

Smokehead Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky encourages responsible drinking

www.drinkaware.co.uk www.scotch-whisky.org.uk
www.impexbev.com  for inquiries in the U.S

Notes
 
Tasting notes:

Nose:
Heavy smoke and peat.   Amazing richness.   Lemon, fresh ginger, plum jam.   Salty and spicy.  
 
Body:
Like a cannonball – hits the palate at once with cocoa, peat and some honey sweetness then explodes with peppery spice and more earthy peat.   Spreads to all the areas of your mouth with more peat and light sweetness.
 
Finish:
Even more peat, spice, mandarin – then dries up.   When you think it’s all over the peat comes back to hit you again.
 
Impression:
A rollercoaster of peat and spice with some delicate sweetness.

Dear Customer

We have caught up a little on our preferred schedule for the OLD MALT CASK offering 8 new selections (including an 18 year old Ardbeg) From the DOUBLE BARREL brand we have batch number 6 of the Macallan/Laphroaig and have filled 2 new PREMIER BARREL bottlings in their ceramic decanters – hoping for your and your valued clients ongoing interest.

Tasting Notes follow first for OLD MALT CASK

OMC1843 MORTLACH (SHERRY) 12 YEAR OLD
Nose: Opens spicy, with a Christmas pudding quality – runs to barley & toffee
Palate: Warming, mouth coating, still spicy – develops to a vanilla + oak style
Finish: Long & richly spiced, carries to a toffee on burnt toast character (J)

OMC 1839 DEANSTON 15 YEAR OLD
Nose: Fresh & flowery – runs to honey with a fruit Macedonia style
Palate: Warming, spicy + sweet barley + a stewed tropical fruit quality
Finish: Short and delicious, still fresh with an attractive fruit tang (J)

OMC1755 ARDBEG 18 YEAR OLD
Nose: Starts sweet, warms to barley, tails to peat.
Palate: Heavily and sweetly phenolic, now tarry/creosoted
Finish: Sweet with soft tar, plus light smoke ‘n’ spice (F)

OMC1842 GLEN SCOTIA (SHERRY FINISHED) 18 YEAR OLD
Nose: Toffee & shortbread, dried fruit + a buttery sweet character
Palate: Opens sweetly, then warmingly spiced + a dry oaky style
Finish: Long, dry, runs to a nutty/late herbal (camomile?) quality (J)

OMC1840 TAMNAVULIN 18 YEAR OLD
Nose: Opens with toffee and tobacco – runs to sweet spices + a ripe fruit style
Palate: Initially fresh & gristy, carries to a macerated fruit style + more toffee
Finish: Round and smooth, still sweet with more spices + a light smoky quality (J)

OMC1841 DALMORE (Amontillado SHERRY FINISHED) 20 YEAR OLD
Nose: Malty and spiced, smoothly oaked, fruit gums in style + chickory?
Palate: Massively dry, very spiced , and attractively “waxy”.
Finish: With a dry cough mixture style – distinctly Amontillado in character (F)

OMC1838 GLENBURGIE 20 YEAR OLD
Nose: Barley sweet + stewed raspberries + caramelised peaches
Palate: Still sweet + wine gums + orange liqueur + buttery vanilla
Finish: Medium long, with a gristy dryness + orange pith (J)

OMC1844 MORTLACH 21 YEAR OLD
Nose: Honey sweet initially – running drier and spicier.
Palate: Gentle till held – then Malt, honey and spices kick in.
Finish: Big on camphor, warmingly spiced, sweet then dry! (F)

The OLD & RARE Tasting Notes follow:

0AR0097 BOWMORE (SHERRY FINISH) 22 YEAR OLD
This is not your typical Bowmore. The nose is fresh and carries sweet spices, muscovado sugar and runs to spicy fruit boxes, polished wood and tobacco. The palate is mild, round and has different layers which interchange throughout between spicy toffee and honey, to ashes and a pipe smoke quality. The finish is long and well balanced between sweetness and smoke, spices and ashes (J)

Tasting Notes for PREMIER BARREL are as follows:

PBR0077 HIGHLAND PARK 11YEAR OLD
Watch out for the Parky! This one’s purview particularly provides a protégé’s package of dulcet purity and a pugnaciously palpable pedigree/prospectus of fabulous phenolic propensity and providence to partake. A pageant of peat! (F)

PBR0076 MACALLAN 12 YEAR OLD
AR OLDA highfalutin homily to a hugely harmonious harvest of honey – stimulated by a swanky splice of spice – specifically, a calculatedly cumulative current of curiously camouflaged camphor. The meritorious made manifest in the Macallan! (F)

DOUBLE BARREL

DBS0012 MACALLAN/LAPROAIG 10 YEAR OLD
The Laphroaig dominates yet allows waves of soft honey from the Macallan to roll ashore. We believe these are all of the correct quality we, and you look for in our bottlings and we hope that they will have your interest accordingly. We will look forward to hearing from you over the coming weeks and send you our best wishes from all – including BIG PEAT (on his 9th batch) – at Douglas Laing & Company.

Yours sincerely

Fred H Laing
Managing Director

Visit Douglas Laing at http://www.douglaslaing.com/

LA WineFest 2010
Raleigh Studios
5300 Melrose Avenue
Hollywood, CA 90038

Saturday June 5 & Sunday, June 6
2:00 pm to 6:30 pm
 
www.lawinefest.com
 
1. Auchentoshan 1999 10yr un-chillfiltered Signatory- lowland $64.99
2. Isle Of Skye 8yr blend- skye $29.99
3. Benrinnes  11yr Unchillfiltered Tokai Finish Single Cask Chieftains – Speyside $67.99
4. Edradour 10 yr Southern Highlands $65.99
5. Highland Park 8yr Orkney $39.99
6. Smokehead Single Malt- Islay $55.99
7. Caol Ila 1990 17yr Unchillfiltered Single Cask Chieftains- Islay $89.99
8. Glencadam 1985 22yr Unchillfiltered Single Cask Chieftains- Highlands $119.99
 
45-minute seminar on Scotch Whisky

Learn about the single malt making process including what separates single malts from blends as well as a scotch from other whiskies. This class will be hosted by Chris Uhde, Scotch Master for the USS Highland Games Costa Mesa and Brand Ambassador for Impex Beverages and Chieftain Single Cask Whiskies.

Dundee Dell June Scotch Tastings

June 6th (Sunday) Scotch Tasting 4:00 p.m.

June 10th  (Thursday) Scotch Tasting 7:00 p.m.

Single Malt Tasting

Single Malt Tasting featuring Senior Master of Whisky for Diageo
and the Classic Malts Marty Duffy.

$50 per person. Reservations are accepted but not required.
402.553.9501 or monique@dundeedell.com

The Summer 2010 edition of Whiskeria – 28 May 2010 Welcome to the Summer 2010 edition of Whiskeria – …(& past editions)

Link to full article: http://www.whiskyshop.com/News/?id=10039

The Whisky Shop
www.whiskyshop.com

HIGHLAND PARK HAILED AS NUMBER ONE SCOTCH

For the third consecutive time, Orcadian Highland Park single malt has been awarded top marks by leading US independent whisky expert Paul Pacult in his coveted list of best spirits in the Spirits Journal 2010.

Following its Best Spirit in the World accolades in 2005 and 2009*, Highland Park 18 year old single malt ranks as the number one Scotch this year, while Highland Park 25 year old comes in at number 14.  Highland Park 18 year old was also included in Pacult’s listing of “5 ‘Trapped-on-an-Island’ Spirits That Sue and I Could Not Live Without.” 

Paul Pacult commented on Highland Park’s number one rating: “This classic continues to be a stupendous work of distilling art that, I believe, is one of the greatest beverage alcohol liquids ever produced and is assuredly the finest of the last 20 years.  Graceful on the one hand; might and fathomless on the other. Delectably salty/peaty/maritime on the one hand; intensely malty on the other. If I could only select but one Scotch whisky, Highland Park 18 year old would remain that very special singular choice. A masterpiece to savour many times before one dies.”

Commenting on hitting the number one spot, Gerry Tosh, Head of Brand Education, said: “Paul Pacult’s continuous support is a tribute to the hard work and dedication of our team at the distillery. Highland Park 18 year old is the whisky we are most proud of and it has received the most plaudits from experts and enthusiasts alike. 

“The reason, we believe, it wins more awards than any of our other whiskies is down to the perfect balance of sweet and smoke. We use 45% first-filled sherry casks, predominantly European, which gives that rich sweetness and aromatic Orcadian peat and a subtle, gentle smoky aftertaste.

“When you nose Highland Park 18 year old, you will find big toffee notes, almonds and sherry and dark skinned fruit but more importantly when you drink it, you are rewarded with a unique dryness followed by a water sensation that leaves you with rich full flavour, hints of honey and peat with a soft, long rounded finish.” 

Highland Park 18 year old is available in Tesco, Oddbins, and specialist retailers or online at www.highlandpark.co.uk and at an RRP of £63.

*F. Paul Pacult, Spirit Journal, 2005 & 2009

NOTES

Established in 1798, Highland Park is one of the oldest Scotch whisky distilleries. More important than age though, is the combination of traditional whisky-making techniques with obsessive attention to detail that has made Highland Park arguably the most respected single malt in the world.

Five keystones contribute to making the Best Spirit in the World:

·        Hand-turned malt adds to the deliciously succulent, balanced layers of aromatic character found in Highland Park single malt Scotch whisky.

·        Aromatic peat gives a delectably seductive, luxuriant floral sweetness to Highland Park single malt Scotch whisky.

·        Cool maturation enhances the smooth character of Highland Park single malt Scotch whisky.

·        Sherry oak casks contribute to the distinctive richness and multi-dimensional complexity of Highland Park single malt Scotch whisky.

·        Cask harmonisation ensures consistency and balance in Highland Park single malt Scotch whisky.

 Awards and accolades

2010 Global Whisky Ambassador of the Year – Gerry Tosh, Icons of Whisky Awards, Whisky Magazine

2009 World’s Best New Release – Highland Park 40 year old, World Whisky Awards, Whisky Magazine

2009 Single Malt of the Year – Highland Park 21 year old, World Whisky Awards, Whisky Magazine

2005 & 2009 Best Spirit in the World – Highland Park 18 year old, F. Paul Pacult, Spirit Journal

2007 Distiller of the Year, San Francisco World Spirits Competition

Amsterdam, June 1, 2010  

Dear reader of these ‘broadcasted’ words,

I’m happy to report that the Malt Maniacs Awards are ‘ON’ again this year. Most producers, bottlers and traders that have participated in the Malt Maniacs Awards in the past will receive a personal invitation in the weeks to come. However, with the number of spirits competitions growing and growing, we wanted to make sure that potential participants would be aware of the fact that we will be organising the eighth edition of the Malt Maniacs Awards this year. As far as we know, our competition is still the only FREE international whisky competition that’s really 100% independent and non-commercial – and therefore widely respected by tens of thousands of (malt) whisky lovers around the world.

That’s it for now – expect more details about the Malt Maniacs Awards 2010 in the weeks to come…

Sweet drams,

Johannes van den Heuvel
Editor Malt Madness / Malt Maniacs
www.maltmadness.com
www.maltmaniacs.org