VELVET FIG

Velvet Fig is a small-batch, hand crafted malt whisky that is full of deep rich fruit flavours, a velvety smooth mouthfeel and complex wood character. Aged in 9 first fill ex-sherry hogshead European oak casks of single malt and 6 first fill ex-sherry butt European oak casks of single malt, Velvet Fig gives notes of ripe figs, sultanas, milk chocolate, walnut and nutmeg.

Approx. 45% – Six Oloroso sherry hogsheads casks of Scotch single malt

Approx. 55% – Four ex-Oloroso sherry butt casks of Scotch single malt

All are carefully blended to create a smooth malt whisky with deep flavours of rich fruits and complex wood character which is bottled without chill-filtering and at 46% ABV. 

TASTING NOTES

COLOUR Dark gold

NOSE The nose is vibrant with red and black berry fruits, figs coated in milk chocolate with hints of marzipan and walnuts coated in toffee sauce.

PALATE Luscious fruit flavours such as ripe figs, Medjool dates, apricots and deeper fruit notes like raisin and sultanas. Milk chocolate spiced with nutmeg and ginger and yielding sweet chestnut and toasted walnuts in the finale.

FINISH Luxurious and complex wood flavours appear as cinnamon and pipe tobacco envelops the palate with endless subtle spice.

70cl | 46% ABV | £43.95

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Don’t Miss a Collectible Trophy Coveted Among Rye Fanatics
Wolves in Collaboration With Willett Family Estate “Batch 2” Cask Strength A Blend Of Straight Rye Whiskeys (750ml) ($289.99)
“…it easily delivers a similar quality experience to the coveted Willett single barrels I’ve tried.” — David Othenin-Girard, K&L Spirits Buyer

In the realm of luxury, collectible rye whiskey, Willett sits at the absolute pinnacle of the pyramid as one of the most coveted (and expensive) names in the market. What’s a rye fanatic to do when a bottle of Willett single barrel will often cost you up to four figures? You turn to the remarkable collaborative bottlings from Wolves, a California-based distiller that first came to our attention with their inaugural release of this jaw-dropping blend of 6- and 7-year-old rye casks from the iconic Kentucky distillery. With a touch of older stocks from Indiana’s MGP distillery blended in, Batch 2 of the collaboration is a quintessential, cask-strength Willett expression that has already seen intense action from trophy hunters across the U.S. market. As a result, it’s now almost impossible to find, but we’ve secured enough supply to offer it out to our most committed rye collectors. K&L spirits buyer David Othenin-Girard declares, “it might just be better than any single cask on the market today,” and we’ve already moved through our allocation at quite a clip, which means anyone seeking the very best collectible treasures should act fast to add this to their stash while they can.

Wolves in Collaboration With Willett Family Estate “Batch 2” Cask Strength A Blend Of Straight Rye Whiskeys (750ml) ($289.99)

K&L Notes: The Wolves is a creative collaboration based in California. They’ve released several single malts with Marko Karakasevic of Charbay Distillery, but it’s this project with the Willett Family Estate that put them on the map. This is the second batch of this smash hit, which is similar to the first but older and bottled at cask strength. This whisky is made up of 6- and 7-year-old rye hand-selected by Willett Master Distiller, Drew Kulsveen. Using the 74% rye mashbill from Willett House A, South Rick 14, and House H, South Rick 6, the team deftly blends the exceptionally rare and well-regarded whiskey with older stocks distilled at MGP in Indiana. A bottle of single barrel Willett Rye in the 7-year range easily commands close to four figures, and this wonderful blend highlights the very best of these two special distilleries. Extremely limited and already sold out throughout the country, we’re very lucky to have received a significant allocation, but we’ve already sold most of it so don’t wait any longer if you’re on the fence.

David Othenin-Girard | K&L Spirits Buyer | Review Date: July 27, 2022

The craziest thing about Willett is how consistently unavailable it is. People go absolutely nuts for their single casks, but we haven’t seen a single cask in years. So, to get high-proof, aged Willett, you’ve got to pay secondary market prices, which in this day and age will run you a truly outrageous mark-up. Of course, this is neither single barrel nor all Willett, but it might just be better than any single cask on the market today. They’ve put a lot of thought into making this special dram. Let’s taste. The color is a vibrant tawny. The nose is full-on Willett rye, offering a gorgeous mixture of powerful pine sap, lacquer box, burnt orange peel, candied pecans, cinnamon apple candy, and earthy mineral character. On the palate, big, rich, toasted cinnamon, dense minty rye, sweet caramel-covered apples. This is a big boy and needs plenty of time in the glass. I think it easily delivers a similar quality experience to the coveted Willett single barrels I’ve tried and adds nuance through blending, which gives balance and character. Obviously this one is very expensive, but it will nonetheless be gone very soon. Enjoy it while you can.

New Irish whiskey

TEELING WHISKEY GINGER BEER CASK

A sweet and spicy Teeling single malt that has been finished in ex-ginger beer casks from Umbrella London. Master distiller Alex Chasko sent Teeling ex-bourbon casks to Umbrella to hold its feiry ginger beer for two years. Teeling’s whiskey was then finished in the casks for six months to create a rich dram led by notes of fresh ginger, rich molasses and sweet malt.

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GET READY FOR THE GATHERING

Assemble your whisky loving friends, your flavour enthusiasts or anyone you’d like to share a dram with. It’s time to celebrate the Gathering once again. Some events that you will not want to miss are now online. Make sure you book your tickets now to share a dram, all together now.

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The Scotch Malt Whisky Society, The Vaults, 87 Giles Street, Leith EH6 6BZ

Contact: sales@smws.com or call 0131 555 2929 (Mon-Fri 9am-4.45pm). Visit the Society at here for membership information

This is your chance to join and to take advantage of their great offers!

Spot the SMWS bottles in this amusing You Tube video

ralfy review 938 Extras – ‘Navigating’ a single cask integrity malt.

U.S. Distilleries Applaud Federal Ruling to Designate American Single Malt Category 

LOVINGSTON, Va. (July 29, 2022) – Virginia Distillery Company and members of the American Single Malt Whiskey Commission (ASMWC), an organization designed to define, establish, promote and protect the category of American Single Malts, are celebrating a new ruling based on the notice of rulemaking process by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) that will formally define American Single Malt whisky. 

The rule ensures that any spirit labeled American Single Malt must be made from 100% malted barley, mashed, distilled and matured in one distillery, produced entirely in the U.S., distilled to a proof not exceeding 160, matured in oak casks not exceeding 700 liters and bottled at a minimum of 40% ABV.   

Today, the TTB issued the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in the Federal Register and will enter a 60-day comment period for the public and industry to suggest changes to the proposed rules.  

“Announcing American Single Malts as a formal category by the TTB is a historic moment for the industry, as it has been decades since a new whisky category of this magnitude has been added to the Beverage Alcohol Manual,” said Virginia Distillery Company CEO Gareth H. Moore and ASMWC Treasurer. “The American whisky category was synonymous with bourbon just 15 years ago, but the resurgence of rye diversified that view. The American Single Malt category will further broaden the view of the American whisky consumer and fuel innovation and premiumization across domestic products.”   

Virginia Distillery Company, the largest independently owned American Single Malt distillery in the U.S. and one of the co-founding members of the ASMWC has been highly active in advocacy efforts leading up to the recent announcement. The distillery has worked in close alignment for several years with advocates at Westland, Balcones and Copperworks distilleries to push for the designation.   

Moore added: “Formally defining American Single Malt will enable retailers and ultimately consumers to recognize the growing category that might otherwise be lost in the broad array of spirits on the market.”  

Producers anticipate that the designation will accelerate U.S. Trade association efforts for American Single Malts to be recognized as a category by other countries and expect growth in both export as well as competitors small and large.   

In 2020, Virginia Distillery Company launched Courage & Conviction, its signature American Single Malt whisky, and in 2021 added three new whiskies to the Courage & Conviction lineup featuring individual bottlings of the core trio of casks – bourbon, sherry and cuvée – that make up Courage & Conviction. Last fall, the distillery released its inaugural cask strength whisky, Courage & Conviction Cuvée Single Cask and in 2022 began rolling out Courage & Conviction PX Sherry Single Cask and Courage & Conviction Bourbon Single Cask.   

The Courage & Conviction line is the most awarded American Single Malt with more than 100 accolades earned over the last five years, including a 98-point rating – the highest awarded in 2022 – and #12 in the Top 100 in the 2022 Ultimate Spirits Challenge, Best American Single Malt in the 2022 International Whisky Competition, and a best of class gold medal at the 2022 LA International Spirits Competition. The line was produced to meet the standards that the ASMWC proposed in anticipation for the category designation. Coinciding with the rollout of Courage & Conviction, the distillery launched a complete guide to American Single Malt whisky.   

For more information about the American Single Malt Whiskey Commission, visit https://www.americansinglemaltwhiskey.org/. 

For more information about Virginia Distillery Company, visit https://vadistillery.com.  

About Virginia Distillery Company   

Staffed by a local Virginia team mentored by Scottish consultants with decades of experience, Virginia Distillery Company is the largest dedicated American Single Malt whisky distillery in the U.S. The distillery has a current annual production volume of 80,000 4.5L cases and growing. At full capacity, the distillery can produce over 8,000 casks yielding 350,000 4.5L cases annually. The distillery produces award-winning Courage & Conviction American Single Malt on-site using malted barley from North America and water from Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains. In addition, the distillery offers the award-winning VHW series, made with 100% malted barley. Showcasing both Old and New World whisky-making, the line marries whisky made on-site in Virginia with whisky from Scotland.  

Although July is traditionally rather quiet with many Scottish people away on their holidays, this corner of Fife has been very busy!

The 150th Golf Open was held at nearby St Andrews, and was a fantastically busy period for us. The visitors book is filled with wonderful, enthusiastic and complimentary comments from guests from all over the US and the world who were visiting Fife for the Open.

We also held a series of lunches, dinners, tastings and highland games throughout the week for sponsor companies and their guests and the feedback for all these events has been, to a tee (sorry) nothing short of outstanding.

Even though we are in the midst of the silent season, the distillery team have been far from quiet as maintenance is undertaken, the boiler has its five year big service and there are lots of other annual jobs to take on during this time. The bottling line continues to be the busiest small facility in Scotland and we praise everybody working on it during the soaring temperatures.

We have been joined this month by Thomas Debing who is working as an intern for six weeks. He will be studying the generation of biogas using draff, pot ale and spent lees. He will also spend time learning how a distillery functions and getting hands-on with the process.  He has come from Chateau Pabus in Belgium and we are delighted to be passing on our knowledge to another generation.

Finally, we found themselves back in the gorgeous village of Thiron Gardais hosting a group of journalists and suppliers at the launch of a new Thiron virgin oak bottling. In association with our distributors in France, L’Explorateur du Gout they took guests on a guided tour of the ancient abbey and its gorgeous gardens. We planted an oak tree with our cask suppliers NAO Oak, before hosting a tasting and delicious lunch on the sunny terrace overlooking the abbey. None of this would have been possible if it hadn’t been for the help of our friend Victor, the mayor of Thiron, the staff of the abbey and Simon, owner of the local hotel.

Stay safe and stay well, from our corner of Fife

Slàinte

Drew & Helen McKenzie Smith
Custodians of Lindores Abbey Distillery

Tamdhu Batch Strength Batch 7

Batch Strength 007 is bottled un-chill filtered at 57.5% ABV, and has a rich, natural copper hue crafted by the finest Oloroso sherry seasoned casks from the bodegas of Jerez, Spain.

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Batch Strength 007 is bottled un-chillfiltered at 57.5% ABV, and has a rich, natural copper hue crafted by the finest Oloroso sherry seasoned casks from the bodegas of Jerez, Spain. On the nose you’re met with a subtle waft of vanilla sponge, followed by spicy cinnamon and roasted praline. The luxurious, thick mouthfeel is complimented by a decadent pavlova filled with luscious raspberries. A drop of water unveils caramel apricots with a wave of oak spice, and a zingy lemon punch. On the lengthy and lingering finish, warm oak spices give way to baked figs and evident sherry flavours, which ascend to meet the freshly peeled clementine.

Tasting notes:

Nose: Cinnamon oak, then a praline and vanilla sponge.

Palate: Raspberry pavlova. Water brings apricot, lemon, and a fresh wave of oak.

Finish: Oak spice gives way to baked figs and freshly peeled clementine.

Kavalan “Solist” Amontillado Sherry Cask Strength 56.3% ABV Single Barrel Taiwanese Single Malt Whisky (750ml) (Previously $600) $249.99 View

From the producer, “Amontillado is a dry sherry that is darker than Fino, but lighter than Oloroso, maturing under a cap of flor and then exposed to the air for further oxidation. Toasted almond and hazelnut are the classic aromas for Amontillado-seasoned casks.”

Kavalan “Solist” Amontillado Sherry Cask Strength 57.8% ABV Single Barrel Taiwanese Single Malt Whisky (750ml) (Previously $600) $249.99 View

From the producer, “Amontillado is a dry sherry that is darker than Fino, but lighter than Oloroso, maturing under a cap of flor and then exposed to the air for further oxidation. Toasted almond and hazelnut are the classic aromas for Amontillado-seasoned casks.”

Kavalan “Solist” Manzanilla Sherry Cask Strength 58.6% ABV Single Barrel Taiwanese Single Malt Whisky (750ml) (Previously $600) $249.99 View

From the producer, “Manzanilla is much like Fino sherry, which is produced by the sea where the conditions are even more suitable for the growing of flor. Though the maturation is the same as for the Kavalan Fino, the texture is lighter and more delicate with a touch of saltiness together with mineral flavours, which are all the consequences of a stable and thick layer of flor, sea breezes and brine.”

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Gordon & MacPhail releases historic Single Malt Whisky

Gordon & MacPhail is releasing its last cask laid down in the 1940s from Milton Distillery, today known as Strathisla. This is the oldest and last ever single malt to be released by Gordon & MacPhail to carry the Milton Distillery name.

Matured in a cask filled for Gordon & MacPhail, the 72-Year-Old Gordon & MacPhail 1949 from Milton Distillery is exceptionally rare, with only 180 bottles available worldwide. The distillery’s original name was given by founder George Taylor, and this single malt represents one of very few releases ever to carry the Milton name.

It was thanks to close ties with Milton that the precious spirit was entrusted to Gordon & MacPhail to mature in a first-fill Sherry puncheon, where it would gently slumber for 72 years, finally bottled at a remarkable ABV of 48.6%.

Renowned whisky writer Gavin D Smith said of this 72 years old whisky, “Once again, Gordon & MacPhail has delved into the darkest recesses of their Elgin warehouse and come up with a unique chapter in Scotland’s liquid history. This is the first time in my career that I’ve sampled a whisky distilled at Milton Distillery – prior to it becoming known as Strathisla – which illustrates just how truly precious and important this release is.”

Ewen Mackintosh, managing director at Gordon & MacPhail adds: “Milton, or Strathisla as it is known today, has small copper stills with a distinctive shape that helps to give the spirit its rich, fruity and full-bodied character. Decades of experience led us to fill the spirit into a first fill Sherry puncheon for long-term maturation. Having carefully assessed its progress down the decades, we feel now is finally the right moment to reveal this landmark single malt to enthusiasts and collectors. In terms of rarity, this deserves true ‘icon’ status. A whisky of this age bearing the Milton name has never – and will never – be seen again. Its long maturation has seen the cask gift the spirit notes of toffee, spice and a hint of smoke not traditionally found in more modern Speyside releases.”

“Whether it was produced under the name Milton or Strathisla, greatly aged single malts from the site have always been met with anticipation. Given that so few releases have ever carried the Milton name – and that this bottling represents the oldest and our last – we expect demand for the 180 decanters to be extremely high.”

Matured in cask 383, a first-fill Sherry puncheon, and bottled at 48.6% ABV, this whisky will be available to pre-order from selected whisky specialists from 25^th July 2022.

To discover more about this one-of-a-kind whisky and to see Gordon & MacPhail’s latest feature films starring industry titans including – Christopher Coates, Becky Paskin, Alice Lascelles and Charlie Maclean click below.

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