Have just tried > Glenfarclas 'Movember 2011'

It’s getting towards the end of November and you may have seen increasing numbers of people sporting dodgy facial hair around your town or city - we certainly have in London!  So far, we have seen a decent variety of moustaches - our personal favourites to date include 'The Porn Star', 'The Charlie Chaplin', 'The Squadron Leader' and 'The YMCA Village People Special'.  Some look better than others, but what is it all about?  What has caused this spate of boycotting the razor?

The reason is a charity group called Movember, which was started in Australia a number of years ago. Movember aims to raise awareness and money for a series of male health issues, primarily The Prostate Cancer Charity and testicular cancer charities, and raises money during November through people growing moustaches (or a 'mo' - get it?) for the whole month. For further details or to donate to Movember, then check out www.movember.com.

Part of this large charity organisation is a UK division named Whisky For Movember.  The group is made up of people from across the whisky industry - writers, bloggers, retailers and drinkers and they grow a variety of facial hair for the cause. For more details, updates on this year's moustaches or to donate, please visit the official website or follow them on Twitter. We are sure that the participant's girlfriends, wives, kids and pets will all be relieved when the 1st of December arrives and these fashion abominations get shaved off, but it is all for a great cause.

Each year there is a special whisky bottled for Whisky For Movember.  This year's offering sees the Speyside distillery of Glenfarclas team up with online retailer Master of Malt.  The single malt was distilled in September 2002 and has been bottled at nine years of age.  It has been made from just two ex-Oloroso sherry casks and has been bottled at the cask strength of 53% ABV.  Each bottle will cost £39.95 and can be purchased from the Master of Malt website.  £10 from each sale will be donated to Movember.

Glenfarclas is a distillery located in the Speyside region, close to the small town of Ballindalloch. It is owned by J&G Grant and is the second oldest family owned distillery in Scotland - the Grant’s have owned it since 1865 and are currently on their 7th generation of whisky makers. The distillery was founded in 1836 and was originally named Rechlerich. The name was changed to Glenfarclas when the distillery was completely rebuilt by the Grant family in 1896.  Glenfarclas translates as ‘the valley of green grass’ from Gaelic. The distillery has an annual production capacity of three million litres and boasts the largest stills in Speyside.

Our tasting notes
The colour of this special Movember 2011 bottling is dark amber, almost brown.  The nose is clean and rich, sweet and deliciously heavy.  There are obvious initial aromas of caramel, spiced orange and crumbly brown sugar.  Underneath, other aromas begin to come through - think of milk chocolate, espresso coffee, baking spices (cinnamon and nutmeg), almonds, treacle and vanilla.  On the palate, this is again rich and sweet and feels very velvety, almost treacly.  It sticks to your taste buds and has a sumptuous warming spiciness.  The obvious caramel and spiced orange notes are joined by raisins, dried apple, toasted almonds and hints of chocolate and coffee.  Some drying wood spices develop with time (think of cinnamon and nutmeg again, plus oak) and these carry through to the finish.  There is also a bit of heat from the cask strength ABV and this manifests itself as a white peppery note.  The finish is again intense and becomes increasing dry and tannic, gripping to your taste buds and not wanting to let go.  Plenty of barley comes through with delicious treacly caramel notes adding balance and sweetness.

What's the verdict?
This is a delicious whisky but one that packs a punch.  The 53% ABV gives great intensity which can be lacking in the regular core range of Glenfarclas - it reminds us a little more of the 105 bottling, which is the cask strength offering from this range.  It is also good with the addition of water, which bring out the brown sugar and orange zesty elements in particular.  This whisky offers great value for money at £39.95, especially when considering that £10 goes to the Movember charity.  You still have time to purchase a bottle if you wish but they don't have many bottles left, so hurry!

Inbox > November 4, 2011

Welcome to Inbox - our weekly round up of whisky news and PR type material that has recently 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 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 we go with this week's whisky news ...

Bespoke Post > Launches with a whisky theme

Bespoke Post is a new venture hat has just been launched in New York.  The company is aimed at the discerning gentleman who want to learn about some of the finer things in life and discover about innovative products.  You can sign up to be part of this and for a small fee will receive a monthly 'Box of Awesome' - a specially selected box of awesome products that relate to the monthly theme.  The theme will change each month and the first theme is whisky.  We have teamed up with Bespoke Post to write a 'Whisky 101' beginners guide to go in this month's package, which includes two hand blown whisky glasses, a set of whisky stones (these are chilled in the freezer and replace ice in your drink) and a couple of other cool surprises. 

In return, Bespoke Post have offered our readers a special discount code if you sign up for the first three months of boxes.  The whisky 'Box of Awesome' retails at $45, as do the other two, and our discount code gets you $10 off each one.  Go to the Bespoke Post website, click on 'Join Now' and enter your details.  When you get prompted for the discount code enter WHISKYFOREVERYONE and you will automatically save $30.  Simple.

Glenmorangie > New Nectar D'Or released

Going for gold

The famous Highland distillery of Glenmorangie has announced that its popular Nectar D'Or single malt has been increased in age. The decision sees the whisky still matured in ex-bourbon American oak casks for 10 years before being moved to ex-Sauternes dessert wine barriques for five years - an addition of three years to the previous 12 years old release. The new version is non-chill filtered, bottled at 46% ABV and should cost around £45 - it will be available in specialist whisky retailers and larger supermarkets. According to Dr Bill Lumsden, the whisky's creator, “The result of extra-maturing for an additional three years has improved an already outstandingly voluptuous whisky; Nectar D’Òr 15 Years Old is characterised by rich flavours of luscious desserts and spicy oak tannins". 

Jameson > Special bottling for the USA

Black is back

The best selling Irish whiskey in the world has announced the launch of a new exclusive bottling for the USA.  The new whiskey is part of the Jameson Select Reserve series and is named Black Barrel.  The new expression is made from specially selected grain whiskies which have been produced in small batches - this happens only once a year at the Midleton distillery (where Jameson is made) and then only for a very short time.  The name Black Barrel refers to the fact that these special whiskies have then been matured solely in heavily flame charred ex-bourbon oak casks, before being blended in to the final product.  This creates a rich and luxurious taste experience.  The product was launched in Brooklyn last weekend.

Talisker > Sponsor the the world's 'most difficult' race

The famous single malt from the Isle of Skye on Scotland's west coast has continued its recent nautical theme but announcing a sponsorship deal for what is regarded as the 'world's most difficult' race.  The Woodvale Atlantic Challenge is a biennial event and the sponsorship covers this years race, which starts on 4 December, and the one in 2013.  The race begins in the Canary Islands and finishes in Barbados, following the mid-Atlantic route taken by Christopher Columbus.  The route is 2,933 miles (4,720 km) long and is expected to take around six weeks to complete. Teams from Canada, Denmark, France, Norway, Sweden, the UK and the USA are entered for this year's race, named The Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge.

Whisky 4 Movember > Glenfarclas & Master of Malt join in

It’s November, so that means it's time for Whisky For Movember - the official and fun UK charity that raises money during November through people growing moustaches (or a 'mo' - get it?) for the whole month. The group is made up of people from across the whisky industry - writers, bloggers and drinkers. For more details or to donate can be found at the official website or on Twitter.

Whisky For Movember is part of the larger Movember charity group, which was started in Australia. Movember aims to raise awareness and money for a series of male health issues, primarily The Prostate Cancer Charity and testicular cancer charities. For further details or to donate to Movember, then check out www.movember.com.

Each year there is a special whisky bottled for the cause.  This year's offering sees the Speyside distillery of Glenfarclas team up with online retailer Master of Malt.  The single malt was distilled in Spetember 2002 and has been bottled at nine years of age.  It has been made from just two ex-Oloroso sherry casks and has been bottled at the cask strength of 53% ABV.  Each bottle will cost £39.95 and can be purchased from the Master of Malt website. £10 from each sale will be donated to Movember.

Whisky 4 Movember

Have you been wondering why some of the whisky fraternity are looking a little shabby lately? Are they just lazy? Is designer stubble and the 5 o'clock shadow coming back in to fashion? Are they paying some sort of strange homage to Freddie Mercury or George Michael? The answer may be 'yes' to some of these but the majority be a 'no'. The answer is called Whisky 4 Movember.

Whisky 4 Movember is an official UK charity that is raising money during the course of November by growing moustaches (or a 'mo' - get it?) for the whole month. The group is made up of people from across the whisky industry - writers, bloggers, drinkers and general moustache afficianados! If the progress that some are making is anything to go by, then some of the final results will be hilarious. Ultimately, it is a fun way to raise money for charity and more details (and progress photos of those taking part) and the chance to donate can be found at www.whisky4movember.com. You can also follow progress on Twitter @whisky4movember.

Whisky 4 Movember is part of the larger Movember charity group. Movember's aim is to raise awareness and money for a series of male health issues, with the primary cause being The Prostate Cancer Charity. The idea for Movember originated in Australia and the charity was set up in 2004. Only 30 people took part and grew moustaches in November 2004 but its popularity has grown massively since.

Last year 173,000 men across the world joined in and grew their facial hair, raising a staggering £14 million for Movember's mens health partner charities. To date Movember has helped raise over £30 million and going forward they hope to continue growing (no pun intended!) and raising money to help men with the early detection of health issues such as depression and prostate cancer, diagnosis, effective treatment and emotional backup. For further details or to donate to Movember then check out www.movember.com.

To commemorate the event, Whisky 4 Movember have released an 11 years old vatted whisky called the M'Orkney. We were lucky enough to try a sample of this whisky and our review can be found below. The M'Orkney is released with five different labels, each named after a classic style of moustache - The Handlebar, The Dali, The Chevron (modelled on whisky writer Dave Broom's mo apparently!), The Walrus (modelled on Serge Valentin of WhiskyFun's mo) and The Pencil. There are only 984 bottles in total and they are available at the bargain price of £29.95 plus £6.95 for postage within the UK. They can be ordered from www.masterofmalt.com with all proceeds going directly to Movember UK.

The M'Orkney 11 years old
This whisky is made up from the two distilleries on the Orkney islands, that are located of the north Highland coast of Scotland - Highland Park and Scapa. The minimum age of whisky within it is 11 years of age, although much of the whisky is older than that.

This whisky is a caramel amber colour and the nose is enticing. There is a lovely mix of dried fruits (think of raisins and candied orange peel especially), malty cereal grains, sweet honey and nuts (imagine a creamy type of nut like an almond or hazelnut). Through this comes some soft, delicate smokiness that has the signature floral edge of Highland Park (this is achieved as they put heather from the surrounding moorland in with the peat when they are burning it to dry the barley). On the palate, this is viscous, creamy and slightly oily, yet it feels fresh, vibrant and juicy. There is lots of sweet malted barley and this is joined by the other elements from the nose – dried fruits, honey, nuts (although this is slightly more praline-like here) and that floral smokiness. Also, a touch of spiciness comes through that is reminiscent of cinnamon or nutmeg. The finish is long and rich, starting off sweet, malty and fruity before slightly dry, smoky and woody at the end.

This is a lovely whisky and offers exceptional value for money for £29.95 a bottle. It certainly tastes older than the stated 11 years of age and offers a complex, balanced and very enjoyable dram. As stated previously, it can only be ordered from www.masterofmalts.com with all the money going to the Movember charity and the mens health groups that they support.