Inbox - June 29, 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.  There is plenty of news to get through this week, so grab a dram and put your feet up ...

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Dewar's - Get experimental 
The popular blended Scotch brand of Dewar's have announced the creation of a bespoke blend.  The new limited edition is inspired by the innovative work of Tommy Dewar, the son of the brand's founder John Dewar Snr, who progressed the brand and built the company's London base Dewar House.  The Dewar House Experimental Batch 39 has been developed using a cask of regular Dewar's 12 years old, which has then been finished in an ex-sherry cask for the last five years.  Only 30 bottles will be initially produced.  Check out the short video below where Stephen Marshall, the Global Brand ambassador for Dewar's, explains about their new creation ...

Glen Garioch - Joins the jet set
The cult Highland distillery of Glen Garioch have teamed up with a major airline to celebrate the airline's continued success.  Air France KLM are one of the biggest airlines serving Scotland (five airports in total - Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow & Inverness) and decided to celebrate their extended Scottish programme of 38 flights a day by selecting a single cask of whisky. Air France KLM staff visited the Glen Garioch distillery earlier this year and selected an ex-bourbon cask, which has been maturing since 1998. It was chosen for its sweet roasted almond notes mixed with intense dark chocolate and wood spice, finished with smooth and creamy hints of vanilla and coconut. Bottles of the single malt will be distributed to Air France KLM's staff, plus business and leisure customers.

Glenrothes - Makers make Vintage
Last year we reported on the second Glenrothes Vintage Makers competition, which offered the chance to take part in every aspect of the whisky making process at the Speyside distillery. The winners included four from Americans, one from Canada and one from Taiwan, and they have just returned from Scotland after laying to rest the 2012 Vintage of Glenrothes single malt whisky.

A balance of first-fill American ex-bourbon and Spanish ex-sherry casks, as well as refill casks from The Glenrothes, were filled with new make spirit from 2012. Bill Kiel from Wisconsin, one of the Glenrothes Vintage Makers commented, “the group decided that the 2012 Vintage should have a ‘conversational’ style about it. However, we cannot be certain of the flavor profile or the quantity that will be selected. What we can be sure of is that the maturity will be there, no matter what the age”.

Macallan (pt.1) - New UK range
The famous Speyside distillery of Macallan have unveiled details of a new range of whiskies which will initially be exclusive to the UK market later in the year - The 1824 Series.  The first three whiskies will be named Gold, Sienna and Ruby and will not carry any age statements.  All are 100% ex-sherry cask matured in the classic Macallan style.  Price points  and exact release dates are yet to be announced.

Ken Grier, the Director of Malts for the Edrington Group (Macallan's owners) comments, “The 1824 Series will introduce a new approach to The Macallan in the UK market for single malt drinkers to enjoy and underlines our ongoing commitment to leading innovation. The move represents a major step in the evolution of The Macallan and we are extremely excited to be introducing this into the UK market first.”

Please note - There are two heavy rumours circulating around the whisky world following the news. 1) the three new whiskies will be replacing the current 10, 12 and 15 years old expressions in the range, and 2) that the new direction will lead to the phasing out of the Fine Oak series in the core range.  If true, the debates are bound to rage with both Macallan and whisky fans around the world, and we will keep you up to date when we hear anything further on this.

Macallan (pt.2) - Pop art box
Also this week, Macallan have announced a special release to celebrate the 80th birthday of renowned British pop artist Sir Peter Blake.  The release comes in the form of a bespoke box named The Macallan and Sir Peter Blake celebrate eight decades.  It consists of an oak box, divided in to eight sections with each section marking a decade of Blake's life.

Each decade has a backdrop and artefact designed, inspired and chosen by Sir Peter Blake, plus a miniature of The Macallan distilled in that decade (1930 through to 2000’s).  The bottle labels are designed by Blake and there is also a small book of illustrations and text about his life. There are only 250 boxes for sale, with a small number available from the website www.themacallan.com and the rest allocated to key markets around the world. The guide price is £4,500 each.

Malt Mill - A rare discovery
The legendary whisky that is Malt Mill has put in an unexpected appearance that has got whisky lovers very excited. Malt Mill was made at a small distillery on the Lagavulin site on Islay from 1908 with production ceasing in 1962 and this bottle is from the last fill in June 1962.

It was discovered by current Lagavulin distillery manager Georgie Crawford after watching the new movie The Angel's Share, which has an imaginary cask of Malt Mill as a central part of the story line.  The bottle will be displayed in the Lagavulin visitor centre for all to see and the unveiling was attended by cast members of the movie and Lagavulin workers past and present, including Donnie MacKinnon - the worker who filled the bottle in 1962 (pictured, above).

Charles Maclean, one of the world’s leading whisky writers (who also appears in The Angel's Share movie) comments, “This bottle is priceless. Malt Mill is legendary, and is viewed by many as the holy grail.” Dr Nick Morgan, Head of Whisky Heritage at Diageo, adds, “In my twenty years as an historian and archivist, I’ve always wanted to see this unique bottle of Malt Mill go on display. We are thrilled to share this precious artefact with those who visit Lagavulin every year.”

Tomatin - Visitor centre facelift
The Highland distillery of Tomatin have completed some upgrading work on its visitor centre in time for the Summer rush.  The £150,000 investment has seen the visitor centre extensively refurbished, improvements to the visitor tours (including more viewing of the production areas) and a new facility where visitors can bottle their own whisky from one of two selected casks.  The new facilities have already been awarded a 4* rating by VisitScotland and Tomatin are expecting figures to rise to over 20,000 visitors this year, for the first time.  Details of the visitor centre opening times and information about the tours can be found at www.tomatin.com.

New release - Cutty Sark Storm

The legendary blended whisky brand of Cutty Sark have just launched a new expression in to their core range - the Cutty Sark Storm.  The new permanent fixture to the range will take its place in a slimmed down new range, which now includes the regular Cutty Sark, the Storm, plus two age statements - the 12 and 18 years old.  Out go the old Cutty Sark Black, the Blended Malt and the 15 years old.  This range will be supported by other limited releases, such as the recent Tam o'Shanter 25 years old.

The Clan Speyburn & The Clan Cask

The Speyburn distillery have just launched a new members club for fans of its single malt brands - The Clan Speyburn.  The club has its own members area on the new Speyburn website and membership is free.  You can sign up via the same website ... oooh, and it's free to join! 

Benefits of membership include a welcome pack including a Clan Speyburn pin badge complete with the brand's salmon motif (- we just received our pack and it looks pretty good), a regular newsletter about all things Speyburn and special offers including exclusive Speyburn bottlings for Clan Speyburn members.

We were delighted to receive a sneak preview of the first such bottling in the post recently and have included our tasting notes below.  The Clan Cask was distilled in 1975 and is one of the oldest expressions of Speyburn ever released.  The whisky is from a single specially selected ex-Pedro Ximinez sherry cask.  It will be bottled at the natural cask strength of 55.8% ABV and will be available exclusively to members in the late Summer.  Details of the number of bottles and the price have yet to be released.

The Speyburn distillery is located in the town of Rothes, in the heart of the Speyside whisky region of Scotland.  It was founded in 1897 by two brothers, John and Edward Hopkin, and their cousin Edward Broughton.  The current annual production capacity is two million litres and the single malt range is small.  Speyburn whisky is particularly popular in the America market and is growing in others such as the UK and Europe.

The core range contains a 10 years old (pictured) and the youthful Bradan Orach (which translates as 'golden salmon' from Gaelic), and is starting to pick up a good collection of awards from whisky shows and competitions around the world.  Speyburn is one of the five Scottish distilleries owned by Inver House Distillers, who took control in 1991.  They are now part of the larger Thai Bev Group, which has other brands such as Chang Beer.

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Our tasting notes - The Clan Cask
The colour is a dark golden amber and the nose is rich and full of lovely aromas - burnt caramel, brown sugar, dark chocolate, coffee, golden syrup and plenty of dry wood spices (think especially of cinnamon and nutmeg).  Underneath are further developing notes of dark dried fruits - imagine prunes, figs, dates and raisins, plus a hint of dried orange peel.

On the palate, this feels rich, thick and spicy.  It coats the inside of the mouth wonderfully and there is an immediate battle between the sweeter notes and the spicier ones.  The sweeter notes include distinct notes of butterscotch and maple syrup, while the spicier notes counteract these and add a lovely dryness - think of the cinnamon and nutmeg again, plus hints of clove and sandalwood.  Depth and complexity is added with an array of further notes including orange oil (or possibly marmalade), burnt caramel, bitter chocolate and the dark dried fruits from the nose.  The prunes are particularly prominent towards the end.

The finish is long and particularly drying and spicy after a sugary hit to begin with.  The bitter chocolate and dark dried fruits combine with intense and gripping notes of cinnamon and nutmeg, along with some delicious spiced orange.

Grant's Stand Fast - Part 2

Earlier this week, I reported on my recent visit to the new Grant's Family Home and blending facility, which is located at the Speyside distillery of Glenfiddich.  I will not bore you with all of the details again - click here to read my full report of the day - but the premise was simple.  An old book belonging to the brand's owners William Grant & Sons was discovered and it contained the first ever recipe for the Grant's blend, named Stand Fast, which was written by William Grant himself.

The first entry was logged in the book on 11 June 1912 and 100 years later, the Grant's Master Blender (Brian Kinsman) and the Grant's Global Brand Ambassador (Ludo Ducrocq) were going to try and recreate that original blend as closely as possible, with the help of a select group of whisky bloggers and journalists.  I was one of that group and it was a fantastic day and experience.  The guys at Grant's have now put together a short film which charts the progress of the blending session and tells a bit of the background story.  Enjoy ...



In addition, Grant's also interviewed each of the participating group about our thoughts on the day and the recreation of the Grant's Stand Fast blend. Below is my interview where I talk briefly about my experiences of the blending processes, what I learnt and the day in general. Thanks to Liz Yeo from Grant's for allowing me to use these videos here.

- Matt

Inbox - June 22, 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.  Things seem a little quiet this week, but here are a couple of things that caught our eye ...

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Compass Box - They made it!
Last Friday (15 June) saw an extraordinary world record attempt by artisan whisky blenders Compass Box, in conjunction with The Whisky Shop chain.  The attempt involved Compass Box founder John Glaser, along with whisky writer Dominic Roskrow, hosting a whisky tasting in eight of The Whisky Shop's stores in a 24 hour period.

We can report that they achieved their goal, although they are still waiting to hear from The Guinness Book of Records to find out if it will be an official world record.  The trek from one end of the UK to the other started with a tasting at the Inverness store at 00.01 and finished at 23.30 in Brighton.  In the 683 miles in between, the highlights included a breakfast tasting of whisky, haggis and kippers in the Newcastle store and Compass Box cocktails in the London store during the England v Sweden match (interspersed with cheers from the pub opposite).  Well done to John, Dominic and The Whisky Shop team for completing their epic mission!

Glengoyne - 'Ideal' tastings
The single malt brand from the southern Highlands teamed up with Olly Smith, one of the UK's most charismatic wine and spirits experts, at the recent Ideal Home Show Scotland.  Glengoyne and Olly hosted a series of entertaining master classes at the show, with the aim of bringing the whisky brand to a wider audience.  In preparation, Olly was also shown around the Glengoyne distillery by manager Robbie Hughes.

Olly Smith commented, "The Glengoyne range has a vibrant fruity character with delightful purity in every sip, whether it’s light and refreshing or deep and rich. The casks impart complexity and depth as the whiskies gently develop with age. I loved visiting the intimate Glengoyne distillery and it was a great opportunity to share these brilliant drinks with visitors at The Ideal Home Show Scotland too.”

Laphroaig - Cáirdeas 2012 available
The famous Islay distillery have made a limited amount of their annual Cáirdeas whisky (an annual bottling for the Islay Festival) available for purchase to Friends of Laphroaig members.  The Friends of Laphroaig is a members club for fans of the Islay malt - you can sign up for free at www.laphroaig.com.  This year's release celebrates the 18th anniversary of the Friends of Laphroaig.

The 2012 version of Cáirdeas is created from a mix of different styles of Laphroaig - 50% is made up of whisky aged between 13 and 21 years of age, and the other 50% is whisky which has been specially maturing in quarter casks for seven years.  It has been bottled at 51.2% ABV and is available on a first come first served basis for £45 a bottle + postage.  Another cause for celebration for the Friends of Laphroaig is that the membership recently passed the 500,000 mark!

New release - Ardbeg Day

The Ardbeg Day whisky is the cult distillery's contribution to Islay Festival, or Feis Isle as it is sometimes known.  Each year at the Festival each of the famous whisky island's eight distilleries, plus Jura across the water, release a special collectors bottling on their individual open days.  The Ardbeg open day is traditionally on the last Saturday of the Festival and this year was no different.  Therefore on Saturday 2 June the Ardbeg Day single malt was released.

The Ardbeg distillery produces some of the peatiest and smokiest whiskies in the world.  It is located on the south eastern coast of the famous Scottish whisky producing island of Islay, which is famous for producing the smoky, peaty style of whisky.  Ardbeg was founded in 1815 by John MacDougall, although records show a distillery operating on the site as far back as 1794. The current owners are drinks company Moet Hennessey, who took over in 1997.  The distillery is small with a capacity of just one million litres per year.  The range of single malt whiskies from Ardbeg has built up a cult following of whisky drinkers across the world.

The Ardbeg Day whisky is a limited edition of 12,000 bottles and is a marriage of two different styles of Ardbeg, which have been re-racked in ex-sherry casks for the last six months.  It has been bottled at 56.7% ABV and is priced at £65 a bottle. The special bottling follows the tradition of previous years having been released to the Ardbeg Committee members first.  It is also on sale in the network of Ardbeg Embassies (of which there are now over 100 worldwide).  If you haven't joined the Committee yet, then you can do for free by visiting www.ardbeg.com - you can also find out the location of your nearest Ardbeg Embassy on the same website.

Our tasting notes
The colour is a pale golden yellow and the nose is pungent and full of vibrancy.  There are plenty of honey and vanilla aromas, but the stand out feature is the heavy earthy peat smoke.  This tends towards coal tar soap and petrol fumes with extra time in the glass.  There are also hints of ginger biscuits, oat cakes, cinnamon, candied peel and raisins.

On the palate this feels clean and fresh, while initially being quite fiery and a little oily.  This oily feeling coats the mouth with heavy notes of robust malted cereals (think of oat cakes especially) and rich, thick earthy phenolic peat smoke (imagine damp moss).  This smoke becomes more reminiscent of hot tar as it develops, moving away from the earthiness.  It is only once these prominent notes begin to fade that other more subtle notes appear - honey, vanilla, dried apple, raisins, toasted nuts and hints of dark chocolate and bitter orange.  Further depth and complexity is added by some drier and spicy notes - think of earthy ginger root, cinnamon and oak.

The finish is very long with the slightly bitter smokiness hanging around the longest.  It is wonderfully dry, spicy (think of those wood spices again) and mouthwatering after some initial honey and vanilla sweetness fades.  There is also some chilli-like heat.

The high alcohol level lends itself to adding some water.  With a small splash the whisky becomes creamier on the palate with the chilli heat and bitter smoke softening, and the vanilla in particular becoming more prominent.  The nose also changes in a very interesting way by exhibiting some yeasty/doughy and green apple aromas, along with a slightly floral perfume.

What's the verdict?
This is an intense single malt that is big, smoky and feisty.  Fans of this style of whisky will undoubtedly love it as it exhibits everything that you would expect from it.  The high ABV cask strength aspect exaggerates these aromas and flavours, making Ardbeg Day extremely expressive. 

Most will probably need a drop or two of water to be added, especially those new to cask strength or very peaty whiskies. A lovely honeyed sweetness compliments the spicy and smoky notes almost perfectly.  A fine effort from Ardbeg and more balanced than some of their other recent limited edition releases ... we have enjoyed our belated celebration of Ardbeg Day.

New releases - Johnnie Walker Gold Label Reserve & Platinum Label

The world famous Johnnie Walker blended whisky range has just seen a big change in it's line up.  Two new expressions - the Gold Label Reserve and the Platinum Label - have appeared to replace the outgoing Green Label and Gold Label 18 years old respectively.  This change follows research in to consumer buying trends, which are seeing more people trade up to premium blended whiskies than ever before. The change has been overseen by Jim Beveridge, the Johnnie Walker Master Blender, who has created the two new whiskies so that there is now more natural progression through the range.

Grant's Stand Fast - A Recreation of History

It is not often that you get invited to be a part of a historic event so I didn't have to think twice before accepting the recent chance to go up to the Glenfiddich distillery in Dufftown, the whisky capital of the Speyside region.  The invite came from Ludo Ducrocq, the Global Brand Ambassador for the Grant's whisky brand, and what was being offered sounded amazing on paper - the chance to help Brian Kinsman, the Grant's Master Blender, put together a modern day recreation of the first ever version of Grant's blended whisky named Stand Fast.

Inbox - June 15, 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.  Things seem to be warming up in PR-land following the Queen's Diamond Jubilee long weekend here in the UK, and this week includes a couple of bits of news for all of you keen photographers out there ...

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Famous Grouse - Win a cask
The Famous Grouse Experience, which is housed at the Highland distillery of Glenturret, has announced the latest competition to help celebrate the 10th anniversary of visitor centre's opening - a once in a lifetime chance to win a cask of Glenturret whisky worth £7,000.  Visitors taking a tour at the Famous Grouse Experience in Creiff will each be given a scratch card offering various prizes, including one for the grand prize of the winning cask.

The cask will be filled with Glenturret single malt and matured for 10 years  Scratch cards will be given to anyone taking the tour that is both over 18 years of age and a UK resident.  The closing date is 31 December this year.  For further information on the Famous Grouse Experience, the tours and the competition terms and conditions - visit www.thefamousgrouse.com.

Jura - Photo competition No.1

The Jura single malt whisky brand has teamed up with leading camera maufacturer Olympus to launch an online photography competition with the aim to find images from across the world that capture the theme of ‘community spirit’.

Three amateur photographers will win a trip to the island of Jura, which is famed for its small, close-knit community and united by the island they love and the warmth of its people. Each of the three winners and their partners will enjoy a week’s stay in the exclusive Jura Lodge and a VIP tour of the Jura distillery and island. The winners will also receive an Olympus PEN E-PL3 camera (pictured and worth £370) and a photography workshop from photographer David Nightingale.

To enter, applicants must upload a photo via the special page on the Jura website that captures 'community spirit' with a description in 50 words or less. There will be one winner from North America, one from the UK and one from the rest of the world. The competition closes on Friday 3 August.

Macallan - Photo comp No.2
Following the recent launch of the third part in their Masters of Photography series, the famous Speyside whisky brand of Macallan have announced a consumer photo competition.  This year's work is produced by world renowned portrait photographer Annie Leibovitz and the subject of consumers entries is to be portraits conveying 'The Last Word'.  The competition can be entered via the special website www.themastersofphotography.com.

Once submitted, each portrait will be live on the website and can be voted for by viewers.  Last year's competition pulled in 7,000 entries and this year sees the brand embracing social media for the first time with photos being used on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.  Each week, the most popular portrait will be 'The Last Word of the Week' and be Macallan's Facebook profile picture for that week.  There are also to be monthly prizes and the overall winner will receive a photographic VIP trip to the Macallan distillery in Speyside.  The closing date is 5pm GMT on 23 October.

Tomatin - New release announced

The Highland distillery of Tomatin have announced a new limited edition whisky. The whisky is released at 15 years of age and will be available shortly in specialist whisky retailers worldwide. The majority of the maturation was in ex-bourbon casks, before being transferred to ex-Tempranillo red wine casks for the final three years. It has been bottled at a strength of 52% ABV and there are just 3,150 bottles in the release. The recommended price is £49.99.

Graham Eunson, the Distillery Manager at Tomatin, explains, "The intensity of the wine casks is gently softened by the use of second fill ex-bourbons to achieve a perfect balance. The combination of flavours and aromas achieved by the use of these differing casks is fantastic. There’s always a sense of anticipation and excitement when you experience a potential new whisky for the first time and in this case, those emotions were well justified.”

Inbox - June 8, 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.  With the Queen's Diamond Jubilee long weekend here in the UK last week, there is not much activity in PR-land since then.  Here goes with what we have ...

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Glendronach - On the road
The independently owned distillery and single malt brand of Glendronach have announced that they are going on a 'road trip' around Belgium.  It is the fourth year that they have staged such an event in what is one of their largest markets.

The Glendronach Van (pictured, above) is starting in the town of Zolder on 11 June and ending up in Beveren-Waas on 16 June. On tour will be the newly appointed Brand Ambassador Stuart Buchanan, who will be sampling the core range of Glendronach whiskies plus a specially selected single cask chosen by himself.  This whisky was distilled in 2002 and has been matured in an ex-Pedro Ximinez sherry cask (cask no. 2024, if you're in to that sort of information).  It has a strength of 55.5% ABV.  Consumers will have the opportunity to fill their own bottle from this cask during the tour.  Lucky Belgians, we say!

Whisky Round Table - June 2012
The latest sitting of the Whisky Round Table is now available for you to read.  The May edition is hosted by one of the remaining original members of the group - Peter Lemon, who runs the excellent blog The Casks.  Peter has set a question on the subject of distillery visits, and what makes a good or bad experience.  To read this month's debate - click here.

The Whisky Shop - New TV ad for Father's Day
The UK's largest whisky retail chain, The Whisky Shop, have launched a new version of their TV advert for the forthcoming Father's Day activity.  The advert shows two characteristics of each featured whisky being visually brought together.  It will air during the next 10 days in Scotland only.  For those of you not in Scotland, here is the advert ...