Review / Cutty Sark Centenary Edition

The popular blended Scotch whisky brand of Cutty Sark is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year and has released a commemorative whisky - the Cutty Sark Centenary Edition. The whisky is bottled at 23 years of age and features a pocket of stock distilled in 1999 that was matured in ex-Port casks. These were selected and married by Master Blender Stephen Woodcock.

The Cutty Sark brand was created in March 1923, allegedly following a lunch between the owners of the famous London wine and spirits merchants Berry Brothers & Rudd (Francis Berry and Hugh Rudd) and Scottish artist James McBey. It was named after the Cutty Sark, the famous tea clipper, and legend has it that McBey started drawing the logo of the boat on a napkin.

Inbox / The Week's Whisky News (October 29, 2021)

Welcome to Inbox, our weekly round up of whisky news and PR material that has found its way in to our WFE email. It was created as we cannot write full articles or do justice to every piece received. It features items from around the world of whisky and is published by us each Friday. Within Inbox we aim to write a few lines detailing each press release/piece of news/PR event that we have received and provide links, where possible, for you to find out further information. 

Review / Glen Moray Barolo Finish

This whisky is the latest addition to the Speyside distillery of Glen Moray's limited edition Warehouse 1 Collection. The series is designed to show some of the experiments and hidden gems maturing in the Elgin distillery's premium warehouse. The new whisky is the oldest in the collection to date and follows Tokaji and Sauternes wine expressions. It was distilled and filled to ex-bourbon casks in 1998, before being finished for 18 months in ex-Barolo wine barrels sourced from the Piedmont region of Italy. There are just 863 bottles available and they will be exclusive to the UK market including specialist whisky retailers and the distillery shop.

Review / Glen Moray Sauternes Cask Matured

This whisky is a new limited edition single malt from the Speyside distillery of Glen Moray. The Glen Moray Sauternes Cask Matured launches their new Warehouse 1 Collection, which will showcase some of the innovation going on in the distillery's most well-known warehouse. This single malt is constructed of just five casks that had previously held sweet Sauternes dessert wine, which were sourced from France, before being filled with Glen Moray new make spirit in August 2006.

Review - The Glen Moray Distillery Editions 2020

These three new whiskies have been released to help fans and collectors who cannot visit the Glen Moray distillery in Elgin this year due to the worldwide coronavirus pandemic. The trio of Distillery Edition single cask single malts, which would usually have been visitor centre exclusives, have all been matured in ex-wine casks - Burgundy, Chardonnay and Chenin Blanc - and selected by Dr. Kirstie McCallum, the Head of Whisky Creation at Glen Moray. They are all released at their natural cask strengths and are non chill-filtered and of natural colour. All were distilled in either 2003 or 2004.

Review - Glen Moray Madeira Cask Project

This whisky is the third addition to the Elgin Curiosity Range of single malts from the Speyside distillery of Glen Moray. The Glen Moray Madeira Cask Project is bottled at 13 years and 10 months of age and features seven rare ex-Madeira sweet wine hogshead casks that were hand selected by Kirstie McCallum, the Head of Whisky Creation at Glen Moray. These were filled on 26 May 2006 and were then fully matured in Warehouse No.1 at the distillery, where many experimental casks are kept. Madeira casks are uncommon in the Scotch whisky industry and are often used for a short finishing period rather than full maturation. This third edition follows the Cider Cask and Rhum Agricole Cask Projects.

Review - Glen Moray 21 years old Portwood Finish

The Glen Moray 21 years old Portwood Finish is the new premium addition to the Speyside distillery's Elgin Heritage Collection. It joins the 12, 15 and 18 year olds in the range. The whisky is one of the final creations of Graham Coull, the Distillery Manager at Glen Moray, before he moves on to pastures new. This has seen the liquid matured in ex-bourbon casks before a final period in ex-Port pipes from Portugal.

Review - Glen Moray 'Fired Oak' 10 years old

The Glen Moray Fired Oak 10 years old continues a busy year of new and innovative releases from the popular Speyside distillery. The new whisky has been developed by Graham Coull, the Distillery Manager at Glen Moray, and is inspired by his increasing appreciation for American whiskey. Fired Oak has seen classic Glen Moray spirit matured in ex-bourbon casks for nearly a decade before being transferred to heavily charred virgin American oak casks for a 10 month finishing period.

Inbox - The Week's Whisky News (November 30, 2018)

Welcome to Inbox.  For those new to WFE, Inbox is our weekly round up of whisky news and PR material that has found its way in to our email inbox. It was created as we cannot write full articles or do justice to every piece received. It features items from around the world of whisky and is published by us each Friday.

Review - Glen Moray 12, 15 & 18 years old

These three whiskies form the premium Elgin Heritage Collection and were introduced by the Speyside distillery of Glen Moray last Summer. The whiskies are aimed at specialist whisky retailers and their customers, and all feature age statements. They join and sit above the non-age statement Elgin Classic Collection, which are available through supermarket and off license channels.

Review - Glen Moray Mastery

The Mastery is a special rare single malt from the Speyside distillery of Glen Moray. It has been released to commemorate the distillery's 120th anniversary, which is happening this year. The whisky has been created by Graham Coull, the Distillery Manager at Glen Moray, and with it he pays homage to his predecessors. There have only ever been five Distillery Managers in Glen Moray's 120 year history.

Review - Label 5 Gold Heritage

This is the newest addition to the core range of the popular Label 5 blended Scotch whisky brand.  The Gold Heritage is designed to be a premium blend and has been created by Graham Coull, the Master Blender for Label 5.  It includes a complex mix of whiskies including single malts up to the age of 20 years old.  The Label 5 brand is owned by French drinks company La Martiniquaise. They also own the Glen Moray single malt distillery, which is located in Elgin in the Speyside region of Scotland.

New release - Glen Moray Classic 'Port Cask Finish'

The Port Cask Finish is a new expression to be launched by Glen Moray, the popular Speyside single malt distillery.  It sees the regular Classic matured in Tawny Port casks for an additional eight months.  This new release is designed to sit alongside the best selling Classic, the distillery's flagship malt, the 10 years old Chardonnay Cask and the 12 and 16 year olds in the core range.  This is bottled at 40% ABV and is of natural colour.  It will be widely available in both specialist retailers and supermarkets.  A bottle has a recommended price of £25.

Have just tried - Label 5 'Classic Black'

The Label 5 is a blended Scotch whisky brand, which is owned by French company La Martiniquaise. It is one of the biggest selling Scotch brands in the world - according to figures in the latest Malt Whisky Yearbook 2014* it was in 10th position for total sales, after shifting an impressive 28 million bottles last year.  It has also picked numerous major awards, including a prestigious gold medal at this year's San Francisco World Spirits Competition.

Have just tried – Glen Moray Peated Spirit Batch #1

Glen Moray is a distillery with a history of experimentation with different cask and since 2010 they has also been some experimentation with peated malt (compared to their standard un-peated malts). The recent limited release, Peated Spirit Batch #1, was from a single cask from the first batch of peated malt to be run through the distillery in January 2010. This release is a bit of a sneak preview into some of the exciting things to come.

Have just tried – Glen Moray 10 years old Chardonnay Cask and 8 years old Chenin Blanc Cask

Glen Moray distillery is located in the Speyside region of Scotland, sitting on the outskirts of the town of Elgin on the banks of the River Lossie. The distillery started life as a brewery, founded in 1828, which was later converted to become the Glen Moray whisky distillery in 1897.

It is currently owned by French drinks company La Martiniquaise, who took control in 2008 after buying the distillery from Moet Hennessey. Whisky produced and matured at Glen Moray is used for a number of La Martiniquaise's own blended and vatted whiskies that are popular in France, namely Label 5 and Glen Turner, as well as an expanding range of single malts. The main market for Glen Moray single malts is the UK as one of the top 5 for total UK single malt sales in 2010.

For more information on Glen Moray, have a look at the blog post about our visits to the distillery in 2009 and in 2011.

Part of Glen Moray's expanding range includes some rather interesting experiments with maturation of their whisky in wine casks. Back in the late 90s, Ed Dodson, the distillery manager at that time, undertook a program of experiments using non-conventional casks to mature his spirit. The resulting flavour (of the now suitably matured whisky) has impressed the current distillery manager, Graham Coull, so much that he has chosen to bottle these whiskies as limited releases. Have a look at our tasting notes of previous examples of wine cask from Glen Moray - the 8 years old Red Wine Cask and the 13 years old Port Wood finished.

We have been lucky enough to get our hands on samples of two of the latest unique whiskies matured in different white wine casks. The first we shall look at is the 10 years old French Chardonnay Cask matured, the second is the 8 years old Chenin Blanc Cask. The Chardonnay Cask was released in July 2011 and the Chenin Blanc in April 2012.

Our tasting notes - 10 years old Chardonnay Cask 
This 40% ABV whisky is golden yellow with a sweet nose of white fruit (pears and apples), toffee, sultana grapes and buttery yeastiness mixed with some warm nutmeg-type spice which makes us think of biscuits. On the palate the sweetness comes through with velvety and creamy softness that coats your mouth. The fruitiness of apples, pears and grapes plus the sweetness of butterscotch and honey from the nose are also delivered upfront. The finish however turns drier and spicier with more woodiness and a touch of white pepper. This stops the whisky feeling to overly sweet, adds needed depth and complexity and lingers for long enough to leave your mouth watering.

Our tasting notes - 8 years old Chenin Blanc Cask
Available for around £60 only from the distillery shop. This limited release of 260 bottles has a hearty ABV of 60.7%. It is a rich auburn colour with a very feisty nose of that is obviously high ABV. Without water the nose shows spicy, pine/eucalypt oak, sweetness of caramel and citrus oil. With water the spiced apple and cinnamon caramel notes (reminiscent of mulled cider) show through. As for the palate, without water the high ABV hits with alcohol astringency on the palate and is quite overwhelming. The flavours that come through are of caramel, sultanas and honey, and remind us of glaced fruits. With a dash of water it remains the feisty edge but apple and grapefruit notes start to combine with the richer and sweeter fruits. With a hearty splash of water the spiciness pulls back and the whisky takes on a softer creamier feel with apple notes showing through to match with sweet toffee and vanilla oak notes (sweet Madeira wine). Throughout this whisky has a viscous and mouth-coating feel. Without water the finish is dominated by the heat of the alcohol but when water is added the finish is quite sweet and pleasant.

What's the verdict?
While both whiskies are matured in white wine casks, the remarkably different ABV strengths out of the bottle (the Chenin Blanc cask is 50% stronger in the bottle than the Chardonnay cask) lead to the two having characters that are really hard to compare. Adding after adding quite a splash of water to Chenin Blanc cask that you start to compare the two whiskies.

The Chardonnay cask delivers an tasting experience closer to what we expected from a wine cask whisky, while the Chenin Blanc cask reminds more of a sweet wine rather than a whisky. Of the two, for us the Chardonnay cask was the easier drinking of the two and we found that we would happily sit and enjoy a dram of this over a quiet and relaxed evening. The Chenin Blanc cask challenged our concept of what a whisky could offer and for us that made for an exciting experience. We have heard people say that wine finished whiskies are all the same and in this we have a whisky to prove them very wrong. It is good to see Glen Moray releasing these 'innovative and experimental' casks so that we can try, without restrictive expense, the effect that maturation (as well as finishing) in a wine cask provides.

The Chardonnay cask is available for around £25 from selected specialist retailers as well as the distillery shop. The Chenin Blanc cask is available for around £60 only the distillery shop. You will need to get in touch with the shop via phone or the distillery website to purchase either bottling.

Experience a tutored tasting of the 10 years old Chardonnay Cask with Graham Coull at the product launch held in the distillery's visitor centre.

A visit to Glen Moray distillery

Last week we were delighted to be invited the Glen Moray distillery, which is located in Elgin in the Speyside whisky region of Scotland.  The reason for the invite was to attend a product launch and dinner, which was held at the distillery, and an in-depth tour of the facilities.

The product in question was the new 10 years old Chardonnay Cask, a review of which will appear here shortly. The distillery is currently owned by French beverage company La Martiniquaise, who bottle the whisky produced at Glen Moray in a concise range of single malts as well as using it in their range of blended whiskies such as Label 5.  It may surprise a few people, but the Glen Moray is one of the biggest selling single malts in the UK market (beating well known heavyweights like Laphroaig and Macallan) and Label 5 is one of the best sellers in France.

We have been to Glen Moray before and it remains one of our favourite distilleries visited to date.  To read our full notes on that previous tour, please go to our Distillery Visit > Glen Moray post.  The thing that strikes you about the distillery is the relaxed and informal atmosphere that surrounds the place, which makes you feel instantly welcome and at home.  This feeling stems from a combination of the people that work there and the surroundings in which Glen Moray sits.  Everyone that we met over our two day stay was friendly and willing to impart an endless string of information and anecdotes about the distillery and their working life there. Some of these we have listed below. This, combined with the fact that it is located on the edge of the city of Elgin and sits tucked away on the bank of the River Lossie, makes it an idyllic place which spreads out naturally in to the surrounding countryside.

We were delighted to be able to talk to numerous interesting people from the distillery and thank them for their time and for making us feel so welcome.  These include Visitor Centre Manager Iain Allan, Visitor Centre Assistants Emma and Lois, Distillery Manager Graham Coull, former Distillery Manager Ed Dodson and Director of UK Operations for La Martiniquaise Ian Palmer. We learnt numerous interesting facts and figures from them (far too many to mention or remember!) and shared some lovely whiskies with them.

Did you know?
The distillery, which was formerly a brewery, was built on land known locally as Gallow's Hill.  This refers to the time when public hangings took place on the site.  The last hanging took place in the late 1600s and human remains were found when digging some of the foundations for the buildings.

Former owners LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessey) used the distillery as a centre for experimentation with different cask maturation.  This included the introduction of wine casks, instead of the traditional ex-bourbon or ex-sherry casks, and the new 10 years old Chardonnay Cask is a direct result of this experimentation.  La Martiniquaise and Graham Coull have continued and expanded this experimentation and innovation by exploring an even wider range of different casks for maturation.  In addition, they produced their first peaty spirit at the beginning of this year.

In November 2002, the nearby River Lossie burst its banks following a sustained period of heavy rain.  The subsequent flood was the worst in living memory and caused thousands of pounds of damage.  This included damage to some of the warehouses, which saw casks (both empty and full of whisky) floating off down the river!  On our video below, you can see the small marker that shows the level that the water reached.  It a small square black marker, which is seen just below a window about 27/28 seconds in to the clip  - click here to see some pictures of Elgin during the flood, including an image of the distillery submerged!

We have compiled a short film of our tour around Glen Moray, which we hope helps to bring you the sounds and sights of the distillery.  In the film you will see all aspects of the whisky making process - milling, mashing, fermentation, distilling and maturation.  We hope that you enjoy watching - if you do then check out our new channel on YouTube for further video clips.

Distillery visit - Glen Moray

Glen Moray is a distillery that is located in the Speyside region of Scotland, sitting on the outskirts of the town of Elgin and the banks of the River Lossie. The distillery started life as a brewery that was founded in 1828 and was converted to become the Glen Moray whisky distillery in 1897. It is currently owned by French drinks company La Martiniquaise, who took control in 2008 after buying the distillery from Moet Hennessey. They use the whisky made and matured at Glen Moray for a number of their own blended and vatted whiskies that are particularly popular in France, namely Label 5 and Glen Turner, as well as an expanding range of single malts. The main market for Glen Moray single malts is the UK, where it lies in fourth place for total sales last year, behind only Glenfiddich, Glenmorangie and Glenlivet.

The tour begins in the Visitor Centre and we are welcomed by our guide Emma. The first stop is the milling room where the three whisky making ingredients (barley, water and yeast) are explained, followed by how the barley is malted and then milled to the correct specification. This section is hands on as you can touch and smell barley from before and after malting, as well as the milled grist. It is then off to the mash tun, where the grist is added to warm water in order to extract the soluble natural sugars. We get to see this process in action before moving on to the washback room, where the yeast is added. Glen Moray has one mash tun and five washbacks. Each washback contains liquid at different stages of the fermentation cycle and it is interesting to see and compare the differences.

The tour continues in to the stillroom and this is the only area where we are instructed not to take photos (the photo to the left is of the stills but is taken from the stillroom doorway, in case you were wondering!). There are four stills - two wash and two spirit stills - and these operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week. They produce 2.1 million litres of spirit each year and this flows through the spirit safe. Emma explained the different types of alcohol that are produced during the distillation process, how they are separated in the spirit safe and how each is used. An interesting point is that you get to see the bottom of the stills (as pictured), which is something rarely seen on other tours or photos. It gives an idea of the scale and full size of the stills. The bases are covered in metal sheeting that protect the still by contracting and expanding with the heat.

After seeing the cask filling area, we move to the warehouse. Here it is explained how important the environment and constant temperature is for maturing whisky (thick stone walls, earth floor, low ceilings), the different types of casks used and the evaporation of the spirit over time (called the 'angel's share). They have a great way of showing the 'angel's share' by having two perspex ended casks set up so that you can see how much has has evaporated in the two years since they have been filled (pictured left). The casks are both ex-bourbon but the one on the left has been charred and the other is non charred to show how this can influence the colour. This is very innovative and we have never seen this before on a distillery tour. Glen Moray use mostly ex-bourbon casks and their 10 warehouses hold around 65,000 maturing casks.

Finally, we are returned to the Visitor Centre to sample some of Glen Moray's whiskies. The brief tasting notes for these are below. The Visitor Centre has a gift shop selling all styles of Glen Moray merchandise and a cafe serving refreshments. This tour is excellent and would be perfect for beginners, as the whole whisky making process is explained from start to finish in a clear, interactive and concise way. The distillery feels intimate and welcoming. Our guide Emma was friendly, informative and attentive, both during the tour and the whisky tasting afterwards.

Tasting notes
Glen Moray Classic - This whisky is popular in the UK, USA and Europe and is roughly eight years old. It has a pale lemon colour and a fresh, vibrant nose that has elements of sweet vanilla, cereal grains and dried grasses. On the palate, this is light, crisp and refreshing with some butterscotch and a citrus zing (imagine lemon zest) added to the elements of the nose. The finish is short, sweet and enjoyable. This would be ideal as an aperitif or on a hot day.

Glen Moray 12 years old - This is richer, sweeter and more rounded than the Classic. There is a cereal maltiness on the nose that is joined by vanilla and toffee notes. On the palate, it feels richer and more viscous with a warm spiciness (think of ginger) and a juicy fruitiness combining with the elements from the nose. The finish is of medium length with the toffee and cereals particularly prominent. A good, easy going and balanced dram.

Glen Moray 16 years old - Unlike the Classic and 12 years old, this has a small part of sherry cask maturation in addition to the bourbon. The colour is a golden amber and the nose is hotter, drier and spicier than the 12 years old. On the palate, this is sweet with lots of cereal grain, toffee and caramel. The spiciness from the nose is present (think of cinnamon and nutmeg), as is some dried fruit and a hint of something darker and bitter (imagine dark chocolate). The finish is long and enjoyable with just a whiff of peat smoke coming through.

Glen Moray 8 years old Red Wine Cask  - This bottling was released for WhiskyLive in Glasgow in September 2009 and is from a single French red wine cask. It is bottled at 59.7% ABV and only 270 bottles are available. The colour is amber with a reddish tinge and the nose is full of red fruit, demerara sugar and spice (think of nutmeg and clove). These are replicated on the palate which is rich, sweet and viscous. A bitter rich element comes through that is reminiscent of coffee beans or chocolate. A long, fruity finish rounds off a very good dram.

Tour details
Entry - £3 per person/ Tour duration - 1 hour 15 mins/ No. of drams - 4/ No. of people on tour - 2 (us! well it was 9.30am)/ Further details - www.glenmoray.com