Have just tried - White Owl

The White Owl whisky is a filtered, clear rye whisky made by Highwood Distillers in Alberta.  It has taken the cocktail world by storm and took first prize in the Canadian Whisky Innovations category at the second annual Canadian Whisky Awards earlier this year. The awards were held in Victoria, British Columbia and are the brainchild of our good friend Davin de Kergommeaux - the world authority on Canadian whisky and writer of the must-read website canadianwhisky.org.

Highwood Distillers is an independently owned company which is based in the Rocky Mountains of the Canadian province of Alberta. The distillery is in the town of High River, while the company offices are in the city of Calgary.  Highwood Distillers was founded in 1974 and the distillery was originally called Sunnyvale.  This was changed to Highwood in 1984 and the company is still going strong after nearly 40 years.  They also make other spirits including gin, vodka, rum and liqueurs.  For more information on Highwood and their products - visit www.highwood-distillers.com.

We don't get to taste many Canadian whiskies as they are still relatively scarce in the UK market, and it is an area of the whisky industry that we want to learn more about.  Therefore we were excited when a sample pack from Highwood dropped through our letterbox recently.

On initial inspection, the White Owl appeared to be a product similar to the 'white dog' whiskies being released in America or the new make spirits being released by some Scottish single malt distilleries.  These products have little or no maturation before bottling.  However, the story with the White Owl could not be more different ...

The White Owl is produced in small batches and is made up of rye whiskies that have been matured between three years (the Canadian legal minimum age for whisky) and 10 years of age.  The proportion of older whisky is high and the whiskies are then married together, before being filtered through charcoal to remove the colour.  Therefore, it has all the characteristics of an aged rye whisky but with no colour - this has made it extremely popular with bar tenders across north America.  The White Owl is bottled at 40% ABV and is currently available only in Canada.  A bottle will cost $40 CAD (that's about £25).

Our tasting notes
This whisky is completely clear and the nose is fresh, clean and vibrant.  There is an instant zesty citrus aroma which is reminiscent of lemons and limes.  This is supported by some robust cereal aromas that give an impression of vanilla and a slight earthy quality.  In addition there is something uplifting and fresh (think of crisp green apple) and a hint of cinnamon and liquorice.

On the palate, this has an initial hot spicy feel but once it settles in your mouth it feels quite delicate and a little creamy.  There is an initial hit of sugary sweetness (imagine a pleasant mix of icing sugar and honey) which is added to by some notes of butterscotch and toffee.  These sweet characteristics are tempered by some delicious and slight feisty cereals, which add a spiciness to the palate - think of cinnamon, nutmeg, liquorice and a hint of ginseng.  The zesty citrus notes evident in the nose are also present (especially the limes) and these seem to grow with time.  It is not the most complicated of palates, but there is plenty of interest going on.

The finish seems short-ish and begins with the lovely butterscotch sweetness.  This then gives way to the zesty and spicy notes, which give the finish a refreshing tang and dryness.  Imagine limes, cinnamon and a hint of red chilli.  It is the chilli-like heat that lasts longest.

What's the verdict?
The White Owl is impressive.  It may be clear but what it lacks in colour, it more than makes up for in aroma, flavour and quality.  The evidence of whiskies of a decent age gives it a depth and quality and it is easy to see why it has become so popular with bar tenders and cocktail mixologists.  The White Owl will add a depth and quality to a drink that a new make or 'white dog' spirit simply cannot.  A delightful discovery and one that confirms that we have to learn about and try more Canadian whiskies.

Distillery visit - Balvenie

The Balvenie distillery is located in the famous Scottish whisky town of Dufftown in the heart of the Speyside region. It is still owned by the original founders, William Grant & Sons, and was built in 1892 to help their other overworked distillery at Glenfiddich, which is next door. It was named after the nearby Balvenie Castle, which was built in the 13th century.  Balvenie has grown to be one of the largest and most well known distilleries in Scotland. It is also one that we have always wanted to visit, as it was a Balvenie (the Doublewood 12 years old) whisky that was one of the first products to get us interested in whisky.

Balvenie is almost unique in distillery terms - it has its own floor maltings (the room used for the germination of the barley), a cooperage where they construct casks and they even grow some of the barley used for production on land very close to the distillery. The modern whisky industry sees the majority of these processes being completed by external companies. This uniqueness and heritage helps Balvenie sell 1.5 million bottles of whisky across the world, putting it well inside the top 10 for total sales of single malt.

To get a tour at Balvenie, you have to book in advance.  The tours operate at 10am and 2pm each day for Monday-Thursday, and at 10am only on Fridays.  There are no tours at weekends.  It costs £25 per person and includes a detailed tour around the distillery and cooperage, plus a tasting of the Balvenie single malt range at the end.  It also offers the unique opportunity to fill your own bottle of Balvenie straight from the cask for an additional fee.  For more information and to book - visit www.thebalvenie.com.

On our recent visit to Dufftown we were lucky enough to be shown around Balvenie by Jamie Milne, the UK brand ambassador for its sister single malt of Glenfiddich.  A huge thanks to Jamie for that.  To get to Balvenie, you have to walk through the huge Glenfiddich distillery complex and this is where we began.  Across the road from here is where some of the barley for Balvenie is grown (pictured, left).  It is still early in the year and the young green shoots are just poking through the soil.

After a 10 minute walk that flirted with the sights and sounds of Glenfiddich and took us under the disused railway line that separates the two distilleries, we end up on the approach to Balvenie. It was a bracing walk, thanks to a biting cold wind, and it was threatening to snow (in May!?).  The distillery looked good, combining original stonework on some buildings with a slightly gentrified pink paint job on others.  Smoke was drifting out of the triangular pagoda.

The first stop was to see the malting facilities.  From memory, this is the first distillery that we have visited that have this in full operation.  The malting barn (on the left of the above picture) has two floors.  Upstairs is where the barley is stored and prepared for malting.  It was cool and dimly lit - the barley is steeped in water in one of two huge tanks for a couple of days, before the water is drained and the barley is transported by a chute downstairs.

The ground floor is where the barley is laid out to germinate.  The damp barley is laid out across the floor to a depth of about eight inches.  This then starts to germinate, which turns the starch in to the sugar which is essential for creating alcohol.  The barley has to be turned regularly to prevent a build up of heat and to stop the growing roots and shoots from becoming entangled.  There are very few distilleries in Scotland with floor maltings in full operation and Balvenie's produces around 30 tonnes of malt per week - this is about 10% of what the distillery requires, with the rest coming from commercial malt suppliers.

After a few days, the germination needs to be stopped as the barley will then start to use the sugars created to begin full growth.  This process is completed in the traditional way at Balvenie by drying it in a kiln. Again, we had never seen a kiln in action at a distillery.  Each batch of malted barley is loaded in to the pyramid shaped pagoda above the kiln, and then the kiln is lit.  The smoke permeates through the grain and dries it out, therefore stopping the germination.  Interestingly at Balvenie they begin the process by burning peat for around five hours, before switching to coal for the remaining 40 hours or so.  The resulting smoke was what we had seen on our approach to the distillery.

Our next stop was the mashing room.  This contained two huge mash tuns - these are the steel vessels where warm water is added to the milled malted barley and the soluble sugars in the barley are extracted.  The final liquid is called wort. It turned out that only one of these mash tuns was used for the production of Balvenie whisky, with the other being used for Balvenie's sister distillery of Kininvie (more on Kininvie later ...).  Both can hold nearly 11 tonnes of malted barley at a time and have a capacity to run up to 28 mashes a week.

We moved quickly on to the adjoining room which housed a number of wooden washbacks (nine from memory ...).  These are the massive tanks where the wort has yeast added to it, and subsequently the fermentation takes place to turn the soluble sugars in to the required alcohol.  The resulting liquid is now called wash and has a rough alcoholic strength of about 7-8% ABV.  Balvenie also uses some stainless steel washbacks which are housed in another room, but we did not get to see these.  We were also briefly shown a neighbouring room next door which housed some of the wooden washbacks used for the production of wash for Kininvie.

Next was the still room, well one of them anyway.  Balvenie has two - there are a total of five wash stills (where the first distillation takes place) and six spirit stills (where the second distillation that produces the final spirit takes place).  Between them they produce around 5.5 million litres of spirit in a year.  The stills seemed tall, large and imposing, even from the raised level that we viewed them from.  Sadly, then it is time to head out from the lovely heat of the still room back out to the freezing, bracing Scottish weather.

Jamie decided to show us the cooperage, which is another of Balvenie's traditional features.  Historically, most distilleries would have had a cooperage to make their casks but now very few do.  In fact Balvenie are the only distillery to still have their own coppersmith tending to the stills as well, and he has been doing that job for over 50 years!  The cooperage was closed, which was a shame as it was something else that we had never seen in full operation before. However, we spent some time dodging the icy snowflakes and wandering around amongst the thousands of different sized casks that were waiting to be either reconditioned by the coopers or filled with new make spirit.

The cooperage is tucked away at the far end of William Grant's facility.  It is only when you are walking to it from Balvenie that you begin to understand the sheer enormity of the place.  There is a staggering total of nearly 50 warehouses on the site, which house whisky produced at Balvenie, Glenfiddich and Kininvie.  There are three types of warehouse - traditional dunnage (stone walls, low roof, earth floors), racked (casks are stacked on racks) and palletised (casks are stacked from floor to ceiling on pallets).  All of the warehouses, plus the trees and any other static objects (including the fire hydrants!) are covered in a black coating.  This is caused by tiny organisms which feed on the alcohol vapours that are released as the whisky matures in its cask.

As we head back, we catch a glimpse of the mysterious distillery that is Kininvie.  Not much is known about it and the single malt produced there is rarely released in its own right.  Kininvie (pictured, below) was built in 1990 and produces large quantities of single malt (nearly five million litres per year) that are used heavily in the Grant's range of blends and William Grant's popular Monkey Shoulder.  As mentioned earlier, the mash tun and fermentation washbacks are housed within the Balvenie buildings but are maintained and operated separately.  Kininvie's still house is functional rather than attractive, being made out of corrugated metal, and is home to three wash stills and six spirit stills.

The regular tour of Balvenie is completed with a whisky tasting of the Balvenie range, but ours is sadly cut short by having to rush off to another engagement.  It is easy to look at the £25 price tag for the Balvenie tour and think that it is expensive, but what this distillery offers you is worth it.  As mentioned, the distillery is almost unique and gives you the chance to see parts of the production process that can rarely be seen elsewhere - barley growing, plus a full working malting barn and cooperage. In addition to all of this, the Balvenie single malt range is excellent and the tour experience backs up the 'traditional feel' that the brand promotes.

New release - An Cnoc Peter Arkle 1st Edition

Highland distillery An Cnoc have recently added a new limited expression to their range with the release of the Peter Arkle 1st Edition. The distillery, based near Huntly on the border of the Speyside region, has collaborated with artist and illustrator Peter Arkle, and this bottling represents the first of a range of Peter Arkle bottlings; each one packaged using the illustrator’s unique and distinctive designs.

Peter Arkle is a Scotsman who lives and works in New York city. On one visit home, he took a trip up to the highlands where he came across Knockdhu distillery (the name of the distillery that produces An Cnoc single malt). During his tour of the distillery, he fell in love with the place and also the whisky and as a consequence offered to work with the An Cnoc brand. On seeing Peter Arkle’s work and his list of clients (Apple, The Big Issue, Converse, Microsoft, and Scouting Magazine, amongst other equally prestigious organisations), Inverhouse, An Cnoc’s owners, agreed. Check out Peter Arkle’s website if you fancy seeing some of his work. I think it’s pretty cool myself http://www.peterarkle.com/.

The inspiration for each of Peter Arkle’s designs comes from the distillery itself and the processes that go into making single malt whisky. This 1st Edition highlights the different ingredients and forces that go into producing An Cnoc. Each symbol on the bottle represents a different element, namely – barley, water, yeast, heat, time and of course er.. magic! This is all explained in moving pictures by the man himself here if you’re bored of reading stuff.

The 1st Edition is the first An Cnoc released that consists of whisky wholly matured in ex Spanish oak sherry casks and so represents quite a departure from the usual An Cnoc style. Most An Cnoc whiskies are either wholly matured in Bourbon casks or have had only a small proportion of their constituent whisky coming from ex sherry casks. It bares no age statement but it consists of whiskies around 10 years old. It is limited to 6000 bottles in only a handful of territories and is exclusive to Royal Mile Whiskies in the UK, costing £47.50.

Our tasting notes
The nose starts off with aromas of raisins, sultanas and figs which are quickly followed by bittersweet hints of caramel, burnt sugar, burnt toast, malt loaf, stewed apples and ginger. Some lovely nutty aromas present themselves as well, such as brazil nuts and pecans. After a while it becomes a tad more like your typical An Cnoc style with fresh and candied notes of lemon sherbet and white chocolate. With water the sherry aromas take more of a back seat. There are burnt toffee and caramel notes and a tiny sulphur note in the background with floral and herbaceous notes such as lemon verbena, parsley, water cress and mint up front. After a while the nose progressively gets sweeter with aromas of sherbet, fudge and milk-bottle sweets.

Up front, on the palate there’s chocolate and toffee but this soon gives way to some dryer, spicier, bitter flavours such as ginger, burnt sugar and oak. The initial hit of the bitter tannins soon die down and add a nice firm bitterness towards and throughout the lovely long nutty finish, reminiscent of brazils, hazelnuts and pecans. With water the palate is still initially on the sweet side, again with chocolate and toffee but soon becomes very sherry like with flavours of raisins, nuts and flor mould. The spicy tannins are much more restrained, gently coasting across the palate throughout.

What’s the verdict?
It’s great to try something different from the usual An Cnoc range and it’s really interesting to see how the spirit has interacted with the Spanish oak sherry casks to produce a classy, restrained, sherried malt. Although sherry monsters can be popular, the people at Inverhouse should be applauded for releasing a whisky that hasn’t been totally consumed by the sherry cask and still had some balance between oak and spirit; just a different sort of balance than what we’re used to from An Cnoc.

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.