Glenfiddich Charity Countdown
Glenfiddich will auction bottle no 2 of its Janet Sheed Roberts Reserve in aid of Walking with the Wounded this Friday.
Burns Night 2012
Burns Night. That phenomenal night on the whisky calendar when people from all corners of the globe get together to eat sheep’s intestines, listen to strange Scottish warblings and dance the night away!
This year I attended my very first (aww) PROPER Burns Night. But, due to being rather swamped off my whisky-loving feet of late, I’ve had hardly any time to send out the massive thank-yous that should be given to those who made sure I was no-longer a Burns Night virgin.
So, before it gets far too belated, I must thank the chaps at The Whisky Exchange for putting on a darn good show over at Vinopolis – 200 people filled the cavernous stone hall and reveled in the fantastic musical accompaniment from License to Ceilidh, chatty banter of Simon & Franchi from Simply Whisky and whisky sponsored by the fabulous folks over at Chivas Brothers. Thanks also goes to photographer Simon Hanna for capturing it all!
The evening began with a bit of particularly good piping and a feisty cocktail of apple, cinnamon and Chivas Regal 12 to get us warmed up. Once settled in the opulent halls, we sat back and listened to (or tried to – I’m still not British enough to fully comprehend thick Scottish accents) Simon & Franchi’s energetic poem reading and speech making in honour of Mr Robbie Burns.
Then came the food and whisky! We started with a lovely Cock-a-Leekie soup, partnered with the delicious Scapa 16. I had not tried either and was delighted with the whisky. Its saltiness and citrussy hints married well with the creamy soup and was a perfect way to begin.
During more incomprehensible (though I’m sure very funny) toasts from the hosts, we moved [...]
Whiskies for Beginners (in time for Burns Night)
If you've not tried whisky before, what better time than tomorrow, in honour of Robbie Burns!
Speyside’s Spirit Comes Alive
The Spirit of Speyside festival attracts thousands of visitors and will run from 3-7 May, 2012
Louisa Young
Louisa Young, Regional Sales Manager, Tullibardine Distillery
The Balvenie’s New Debut
The Balvenie's new release debuted at the Boisdale of Belgravia recently and will only be available to Warehouse 24 members.
Soho Whisky Club
It seems to me – and to many others I speak with – that the popularity of whisky is definitely in the ascendent. More and more, I find people are talking about it, bars are making exciting cocktails with it and restaurants are pairing foods with it – and this is not just since I started writing about whisky on an increasingly frequent basis either. Exports were up more than 20% over the first half of 2011 while final year totals put sales (just of Scotch) somewhere around the £3 billion mark.
So, with all this interest in whisky – and hopefully a continuing trend in the number of people drinking it – I was glad to see the opening of a new private member’s club in Soho, located above the Vintage House on Old Compton Street.
According to owner Malcolm Mullin (who has run the downstairs Vintage House for decades) the Club has been in the works for five years, so it is with much excitement that the launch has finally come. He told me the Club will be doing regular tastings and offer a choice of 350 whiskies – at least. These will also rotate so members will have a varying choice from time to time.
“It would be boring to keep the same stock,” said Mullin.
The drams range from those directly behind the bar (priced from £3.95 to £5.95) all the way to extremely rare finds such as the 70-year 1940 Glenlivet, which will set you back an eye-watering £999.95 per shot. I have a feeling that one won’t be going anywhere too quickly.
Mullin told me he also hopes to have the opportunity to offer part shots – whereby members will be able to [...]
Susan Morrison
Susan Morrison, Director & General Manager, The Scotch Whisky Experience
Sláinte to the new year!
No matter how many new years I see come into being, I still cannot help but get a wee bit misty-eyed whenever it happens. Like a good single malt, it melts my heart…
And so, I begin this new year with a whole lot of excited butterflies flitting around in my belly about the new whiskies I hope to try and events I hope to cover, and a heart of thanks to all those who have helped me get this site started and supported me these past months.
You see, the whisky industry is made up of one of the most welcoming groups of people I have come across in a long time. Maybe, in fact, ever. Since I started muttering back in March at a women’s only whisky tasting at the Albannach Bar & Restaurant to people like Cat Spencer (from the Albannach) and Penderyn’s Gillian Macdonald about my plans to start this site, to when I headed out to meet people trying to do something different (such as the chaps from Connsr who organised the Pure Festival and Mark Thomson who heads up the Dramatic Whisky tastings or restaurants such as Benares which are trying to show the scope of whisky’s food and drink matching possibilities), to when I tried some incredible drams at this year’s TWE Whisky Fest, I have only met incredibly inviting and kind people who have helped me on my way. You’ve shared contacts, put me on the right track to finding great profile subjects, taught me a load more about whisky I didn’t yet know and read my work.
So, to all of you I say a big thank you. I cannot wait to keep learning about this ever-changing, ever-exciting [...]
Tweeddale Blend Batch 2
Back at the end of August, I had the opportunity to meet a rather charming and enthusiastic chap named Alasdair Day at the Pure Festival in London, which I wrote about here.
I was very intrigued to meet Alasdair because he has a rather lovely story about rediscovering his great grandfather’s exploits in whisky making from over 70 years ago.
As the story goes, from about 1895 Richard Day worked at a licensed grocers owned by J & A Davidson in Coldstream (near the Scottish/English borders) which made the Tweeddale Blend (as many grocers did at the time). He took it over and continued to blend the whisky up until the start of the Second World War, when production ceased.
However, this was not to be the finale after all. Alasdair inherited Richard’s “Cellar Book” which contained the accounts for the old store and the original recipe for the blend. So, rather than allow this chapter to close on the Tweeddale Blend, he decided instead to recreate it: seven decades after it disappeared. In 2009, he formed Stonedean Ltd which is the company that produces the spirit.
Recently, Alasdair very kindly sent me a sample of the Tweeddale Blend, Batch 2 – a 12-year-old, 46% non-chill filtered, half grain, half malt whisky. The single grain half is 15-years-old and originates from a sherry butt, while the malts come from eight different casks and range from 12 to 21 years of age.
As this was released in June, many of you may have given it a go. But if you have not had the chance yet, here are my thoughts on the latest addition to this great little company steeped in history.
On first nosing, I get hit with an overwhelming [...]