Exploring The Balvenie

David Stewart

The focus has well and truly been on The Balvenie this week.  On the 3rd of September David Stewart, the legendary Balvenie Malt Master responsible for the quality and consistency of every bottle of Balvenie, celebrated his 50th anniversary at the distillery.  He began as a 17 year old apprentice back in 1962 and, as reported in this week's Inbox, commemorated the special day by announcing the release of a Balvenie 50 years old single malt that has been maturing at the distillery as long as David has been there.

Inbox - May 4, 2012

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 that we receive. It features items from around the world of whisky and is published by us each Friday.

Within Inbox we 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.

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Weisberger and a couple of birdies

Ballantine's - Championship Blend

A couple of weeks ago we reported in Inbox about a very limited edition expression of the popular Ballantine's whisky brand that had been produced.  The Championship Blend was specially created to celebrate the Ballantine's Championship golf tournament in Korea.

It was created by the Ballantine's Master Blender Sandy Hyslop with the help of the 2011 winner Lee Westwood.  A bottle was presented to the winner of this year's tournament as part of his prize. Bernd Weisberger from Austria (pictured, above) won by five shots and bagged a cheque for $487,000, plus the first of only 10 bottles of the Championship Blend ever produced to celebrate his victory.

Balvenie - Masters of Craft

The famous Speyside distillery of Balvenie have announced that they are to run their successful Masters of Craft competition again this year.  The initiative, which launched for the first time last year, is designed to highlight the quality and variety of handcrafted skills that are currently thriving in the UK.

This ethos mirrors the handcrafted nature of the production of Balvenie single malt whisky.  Categories include Stone, Wood, Metal, Glass & Ceramics, Textiles and Leather, plus the new category of Artisan Food.  Other prizes include the Young Master of Craft (open to 21-30 year olds), the David Stewart Life Time Achievement Award (named after Balvenie's legendary Master Distiller) and the overall Master of Craft 2012.

An esteemed panel of judges have been assembled for the competition and they include David Stewart himself, TV presenter Kevin McCloud and Chairman of the Heritage Arts Council, Robin Wood. Nominations are now open and remain so until Friday 1 June - if you wish to nominate someone, please go to the Masters of Craft website.

Bulleit - Shake it up for the Kentucky Derby
The Bulleit American whiskey brand have created a couple of cocktails to enjoy over this coming weekend.  This is to celebrate the brand's association with the famous Kentucky Derby horse race which is run on Saturday 5 May. 

The first is exotically named the Ginger Julep '68 Fastback and is made using 1½oz of ginger infused Bulleit bourbon, ½oz of organic brown sugar, ¼oz of peeled minced fresh ginger, 1½oz of soda water and a lemon twist. To make it, muddle the ginger and brown sugar together until the sugar is nearly dissolved. Add a dash of soda to finish dissolving the sugar, stir in the Bulleit and finish with ice, soda to taste and a lemon twist.

The second is a Bulleit Rye Mint Julep and is made using 1½ oz of Bulleit Rye whiskey, 1 ½-2 oz of Stirrings Simple Syrup and fresh mint leaves. To make it, muddle mint leaves, Stirrings Simple Syrup and crushed ice. Then add Bulleit Rye, fill the glass with ice and pour into cocktail shaker, shake vigorously and serve in rocks glass with fresh mint garnish. Have fun and enjoy the race!

Dalmore - Goes stellar with new releases

The Highland distillery of Dalmore have announced a significant range of limited edition single malts to add to their seemingly ever expanding portfolio of whiskies.  The Constellation Collection is a selection of single cask bottlings ranging from between 1964 and 1992.  There are 21 casks in total and each has been bottled at its natural strength and colour.  This initial release consists of around 4,000 bottles.

The prices range from £20,000 a bottle for the 1964 Vintage to £2,000 for the 1992 Vintage.  There is  also the option to buy the entire set of 21 bottles for £158,000.  The whiskies are available for the first month exclusively through the World Duty Free Group's main shop in Terminal 5 at Heathrow airport.  They will then be available through other specialist retailers.

Now, a Dalmore release wouldn't be a Dalmore release without some 'Paterson-speak'.  The Master Blender had this to say about the Constellation Collection - "In selecting these casks, we have identified our brightest stars from our darkest warehouses. We’re very proud to share the shining lights of our distillery with whisky lovers the world over.” Classic stuff.

Inbox > June 3, 2011

Inbox is our weekly round up of whisky news and PR type material that has found its way in to our email inbox. Sadly, we cannot write full articles or do justice to every piece that we receive, so Inbox was born! It features items from around the world of whisky and is published by us each Friday. Within Inbox we will 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 if you want to. Here's the news that caught our attention this week ...
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Ardbeg > Alligator is released
The cult distillery on the famous whisky island of Islay have released their latest Ardbeg Committee bottling – the Alligator. It is so called as it has been matured in heavily charred American oak casks and the heavy charring/burning makes the inside of the cask look like blackened alligator skin (this is actually called an ‘alligator char’). The whisky is currently only available to Ardbeg Committee members (this is free to join via their website) and will get a limited general release in Europe, the UK, USA and selected Asian markets in September. The Committee version is bottled at 51.2% ABV and has a retail price of £55 plus postage. We have added a short clip from Ardbeg below, called ‘The Islay-gator’s Tale’ (get it?) …



Balvenie > Masters of Craft winners announced
The famous Speyside distillery of Balvenie, owned by William Grant & Sons, have announced the winners of their inaugural Masters of Craft competition. The Masters of Craft is an initiative that celebrates the often-forgotten crafts and trades that many people pursue. Balvenie decided to do this as the distillery itself is unique – it has been called the ‘complete distillery’ as they grow some of their own barley, maintain their floor maltings and still employ craftsmen such as coopers and a coppersmith, which almost no other distillery in Scotland do. Craftsmanship is deep rooted in everything that Balvenie does and they believe that this aids the quality of their whiskies.

The awards were given across a range of skills and materials and we have listed the winners below. The judging panel was made up of Balvenie’s legendary Malt Master Dave Stewart, TV presenter and designer Kevin McCloud, photographer Nick Hand, Robin Wood, the chairman of the Heritage Crafts Association and Anne Cuthbertson, the editor of the Sunday Telegraph Life magazine.

And the winners are ...
Wood > Christoph Gotting - violin maker
Glass & Ceramics > Stewart Hearn - glass blower
Textiles > Iain Finlay Macleod - weaver
Metal > Wayne Victor Meeton - precious metal worker
Stone > Jacqueline Cullen - jeweller
Leather > Deborah Carre - shoe maker
Young Master of Craft > Ruth Emily Davey - shoe maker
The Balvenie Master of Craft 2011 > Christoph Gotting

We were delighted to be invited to the awards ceremony at the posh Connaught Hotel in central London this week and would like to thank everyone at Balvenie for a wonderful evening.