Glenfarclas launches their new website
Posted on April 30, 2008
Filed Under Speyside, Whisky websites | Leave a Comment
Glenfarclas has launched a new website to promote Glenfarclas Single Highland Malt Scotch Whisky.
As well as giving a history of the family owned and managed distillery, and a virtual tour of the distillery, the new site includes tasting notes for the full range of Glenfarclas, and the distillery’s new collection of single cask whiskies, The Family Casks.
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Stuart picks his next vintage for Balblair
Posted on March 25, 2008
Filed Under For the collector, Highlands, WhiskyBuzz | Leave a Comment
Balblair 1975 is the latest hand-picked choice of Master Distiller, Stuart Harvey and follows the success of its vintage predecessor, Balblair 1979.
Only 3000 bottles of the spirit, which has been wholly matured in oak sherry casks, will be made available internationally in specially selected whisky stores.
With a rich depth of colour and subtle sweetness in flavour, Balblair 1975 is the most limited of the whisky’s vintages to date and joins existing malts, Balblair 1989 and Balblair 1997. It is a carefully balanced malt, complete with warm spicy aromas and hints of raisins and toffee. On the palate, it is rich and creamy with traces of chocolate that leads to a long, lingering finish.
“Without a doubt, Balblair 1975 is one of the finest vintages we have discovered to date” says Margaret Mary Clarke, Balblair Brand Manager
Balblair 1975 is couched in a stylish and unusual keepsake box that shows an atmospheric image of the Dornoch Firth, towards Balblair distillery – a picture taken by local photographer Finn McRae.
Balblair 1975 will retail at £149.49.
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Knob Creek lovers should plan for some serious lounging at Lexington Bluegrass Airport
Posted on March 24, 2008
Filed Under Bourbon, Travel, WhiskyBuzz | 1 Comment
Knob Creek Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, the world’s No. 1 selling super-premium bourbon, invites travelers to grab a seat and a glass of Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey at the new Knob Creek Bourbon Lounge in the main concourse of the Lexington Bluegrass Airport.
The Knob Creek Bourbon Lounge menu will feature signature Knob Creek Bourbon cocktails along with a selection of alcoholic, non-alcoholic beverages and menu options. The 836-square foot fully-branded bar officially opened on March 21, 2008.
The new venue is part of a larger airport renovation offering travelers an authentic Kentucky experience and hand-crafted Kentucky bourbons.
“The new Knob Creek Bourbon Lounge allows bourbon aficionados to take their time to explore life deeper and enjoy the rich flavor of Knob Creek while they escape from the stress of travel,” said Paige Guzman, brand manager, Knob Creek. “The Bluegrass Airport renovation celebrates the best of Kentucky, and Knob Creek is excited to lend its rich heritage to this destination.”
For more information on Knob Creek, visit www.knobcreek.com.
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Smoke your audience with a Lagavulin single malt guitar
Posted on March 14, 2008
Filed Under Islay, Whisky Advertising, Whisky Fun, WhiskyBuzz | Leave a Comment
This special edition guitar has been built by a long-established Italian bass and guitar maker and whisky lover, Andrea Ballarin, whose firm Manne Guitars was founded in 1987 in Schio, in north-eastern Italy.
The weight and rigidity of the cask oak, so different from the standard guitar materials, posed several technical challenges for Andrea and his team.
The flat round ends of the cask were carefully dried, treated and sanded and became the backs of the guitar bodies, preserving much of the distinctive distillery identification markings.
The curved staves, which originally formed the sides of the cask, were flattened and glued together to form the tops and bodies of the guitars. Andrea was careful to preserve some of the distinctive charring marks from the inside surface of the staves: all whisky barrels are toasted and charred on the inside before being filled with whisky.
Three instruments have been built from the one whisky cask: two Guitars and one Bass. The two Guitars incorporate the cask heads, while the Bass is made entirely from the oak staves.
The guitars have been finished with an oxidised patina and typical rust marks from the hoops of the barrel, and the wood was finally treated with a preparation containing some Lagavulin Distillers Edition from 2007, which won the ultimate Whisky Trophy at last year’s International Wine and Spirit Competition. This ensures that the guitars will always preserve some of their native Lagavulin fragrance.
The guitars has been unveiled at this week’s Frankfurt Music Fair.
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A vote for Boston, Portland, Maine or Louisville might send you to Ireland while a comment could get you geared up
Posted on March 13, 2008
Filed Under Whisky Advertising, Whisky Fun, WhiskyBuzz | Leave a Comment
Irish Whiskey Bushmill has set to select a Twin City to Bushmills in America, in celebration of the anniversary of the original license to distill whiskey.
The finalist cities were selected based on an application outlining why they embody the four quintessential values of Bushmills—pride of place, hospitality, craftsmanship, humor and wit. People of legal purchase age across the U.S. can vote online at Bushmills400years.com until March 17, 2008. The winning city receives a $40,000 grant–$20,000 for the preservation/advancement of local culture and $20,000 for local responsible drinking programs– while each voter is eligible for an expenses-paid trip for two to Ireland.
The search has been narrowed down to three cities: Boston, MA; Portland, Maine; and Louisville, KY. Now the readers of WhiskyGrotto.com can take part in the final decision. To place your vote, head over to the voting page and get right to it.
There is more to win!
To spice things up they’ve handed WhiskyGrotto.com a set of T-shirts and Hats and asked us to perform some kind of competition. And we’ve decided to host a comment
competition. The idea is both to promote discussions on WhiskyGrotto.com and to reward great comments. Here’s how it’ll work…
1. To “enter”, all you need to do is write a comment on a this Bushmill post (you’ll need a valid email address, but that won’t be published). Alternatively you can leave a trackback instead of a comment, if you prefer to extend the conversation that way. We will consider both comments and trackbacks for the daily prize.
2. Before Friday 20th March, the WhiskyGrotto.com team will select the best comment of the month — and we’ll award that person with a gift pack from Bushmill.
3. Not only will the best comment win a prize, but (in a further effort to extend the conversation), we’ll publish it as a separate new post on WhiskyGrotto.com. So you’ll enhance your profile too.
Leave a comment or trackback on this Bushmill post and be in to win one of 5 Bushmill gift packages - courtesy of our competition sponsors Bushmill.
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Forget the drugs in Amsterdam! Get high on Whisky!
Posted on March 8, 2008
Filed Under WhiskyBuzz | 1 Comment
Got a mail the other day from Aleid van Kooten and Léon Elshoff. These guys run the Whiskycafé in central Amsterdam.
A couple of month I was in Amsterdam over the day on business and had the privilege of visiting the café. WOW. This place rocks.
When you enter the café (I would actually call it a bar) you’re overwhelmed with the fact that the place is completely covered with Whisky bottles. And then you open the menu. Oh, it makes your mouth water…drip drop drip drop. I only had time to stay for 30 minutes last time. But I’m back in Amsterdam next thursday again. This time I’ll make the stay longer and I’ll probably shoot a couple of photos.
Apart from the visiting the café you should also check out their website for information on tastings etc.
Finally. Here’s a Google map that shows you the location of the place:
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Six weeks of hammering comes to and end and WHAM, there goes the roof of the Glenkinchie distillery
Posted on March 8, 2008
Filed Under Lowlands, Whisky Fun, WhiskyBuzz | Leave a Comment
If you’re a fan of the “Edinburgh Malt”…Glenkinchie. They you will be happy to know that you will be able to enjoy the Lowland malt also in the future.
After six weeks of hammering an exact replica of its predecessors a new copper still was yesterday carefully lowered through the roof of Glenkinchie Distillery in East Lothian.
Copper stills typically have a lifespan of 10-15 years depending on the process and type of spirit made in them.
The craftsmanship behind the creation of the stills is akin to sculpture work, according to Charles King, Operations Manager of Diageo’s Abercrombie coppersmiths.
Mr King, who heads up 25 coppersmiths including six apprentices, said his team take huge pride in what they do. “The stills play a very important role in the flavour of our whisky and we put a great deal of time and effort into ensuring every replacement still is as near identical to its predecessor as possible. Even tiny changes in the angle of the lye pipe through which the vaporized spirit leaves the still can impact on flavour.”
If you wanna find out more on how the stills were made Brian Westcott, writer of Brian’s Beer Blog, got a great post on how to make one of those stills.
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Ardmore Single Malt Whisky now available in the United States.
Posted on March 6, 2008
Filed Under Highlands, Whisky Advertising, WhiskyBuzz | 2 Comments
Beam Global Spirits & Wine, Inc. has announced the U.S. launch of Ardmore™ Traditional Cask, the first ever widely available single malt whisky from the Ardmore distillery.
Ardmore claims this is the only Highland malt whisky to be 100% peated since its inception in 1898, Ardmore Traditional Cask offers Highland malt flavor with a twist, and will be available on shelves nationwide beginning in March 2008. This new expression was crafted in direct response to 15 years of consumer demand for a quality single malt from the Ardmore distillery.
Only 3,000 cases of Ardmore will be initially introduced into the U.S. The single malt is available in 750ml bottles and will retail for a suggested price of $45 - $50(varies by market).
The U.S. launch of Ardmore will be supported by select tasting events led by Ardmore brand ambassador Simon Brooking. A number of on- and off-premise point of sale items will be available including postcards, banners, shelf-talkers, and branded apparel. Advertising will run in key spirits trade publications including Whisky Magazine and Malt Advocate.
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Glenglassaugh distillery woken up from 22 years of sleep
Posted on March 5, 2008
Filed Under Speyside, WhiskyBuzz | Leave a Comment
Glenglassaugh distillery - which has been mothballed since 1986 - has been sold by The Edrington Group to a new company, Glenglassaugh Distillery Co Ltd.
The new owners have bought the distillery and warehouses and various trademarks. It is their intention to re-open the plant as a working distillery, after a major refurbishment programme, and the good news is that the investment could create up to 20 new jobs in the Portsoy area on the Banffshire coast.
Edrington has been using the site in more recent times as a warehousing facility to store casks for maturing whiskies, mainly for blended products. Under the sale agreement, Edrington will continue to store casks at the distillery for the next few years, until the whisky is used in bottling.
Glenglassaugh was founded in 1875 and acquired by Highland Distillers in 1892 before ceasing production for the first time in 1908. The distillery was rebuilt in 1959 and continued to be operational until 1986, when it was mothballed a second time due to overcapacity in the Scotch whisky industry.
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Do it the Bowmore Way
Posted on February 26, 2008
Filed Under Islay, Whisky Advertising, Whisky Fun, Whisky websites, WhiskyBuzz | Leave a Comment
Bowmore is inviting consumers to discover premium experiences with the launch of an extension to their website – The Bowmore Way.
A series of films illustrating the perfect way to make the most of experiences will feature on www.thebowmoreway.com, with an expert providing a step-by-step guide.
Grandmaster Jacob Aagaard, British Chess Champion shows the Bowmore way to checkmate in just four moves while Maria Soep, the World’s Champion Porridge Maker from the Roineabhal Guesthouse in Kilchrenan in the far north of Scotland advises how to cook porridge to perfection.
Glen Moore, Bowmore brand director, said: “This unique online development allows Bowmore to drive awareness across domestic and international markets”
Other advice includes: how to tie a bow tie; lighting a cigar; shucking an oyster as well as extending consumers whisky knowledge by showing how to cut peat; turn barley and nose whisky.
What’s extra cool is that this is the first campaign I’ve seen coming out from a Whisky brand that utilizes the blog as a content management tool. Good work Bowmore!
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The 2007 Drammies winners announced
Posted on February 20, 2008
Filed Under Awards, For the collector, Whisky Blogs, Whisky Fun, Whisky websites, WhiskyBuzz | Leave a Comment
Kevin Erskine, the writer behind The Scotch blog announced the winners of the 2007 Drammies today.
The Scotch blog, always ‘tongue in cheek’ delivers a competition to match that reputation. The Drammies isn’t for the brands that pay up the big cash it’s for the brands of the peoples (even though they of course match sometimes).
As Kevin puts it: “The Drammies were created to be, above all, a “People’s Choice” award and to try to disregard the influence that the industry has over the spirits writers and periodicals that generally grant the awards that get touted.”
Among the Winners my personal favorites are:
Distiller/Blender/Independent Bottler of the Year - Bruichladdich.
These guys does hell of a work when it comes to deliver a great product. The fact that they’re Islay and still manages to not get caught in the fire…or shall we say the smoke after the fire…shows that they got a style of their own. My closet is filled with 3 bottles from the links series, a The XVII and another The Fifteen.
Most Innovative New Product - Compass Box Canto Series
Oh how I love the Canto. Apart from that I’ve had 7 different Compass Box’es flown over. (They are hard to get hold of in Sweden). Among the other ones the Peat Monster and Hedonism (Nailed best new product) are my personal favorites.
Best New Product (Non-whisky i.e., book, resource, web site, etc) - Dr Whisky
Congratulations Dr Whisky! You deserve it. Damn your site rocks. I wish I had the time and ehh…body to do what you do.
The one I don’t agree with among the winners is the ‘Glenmorangie Brand overhaul’. At first I did though. Then I bought The Original, a bottle of Lasanta and a Nectar Do’r at Heathrow a couple of weeks ago. And even though I’ve only popped the Nectar I must say my point of view turned 180° (funny…they’re the agency behind the rebranding) after sipping some of that juice.
Visit The Scotch Blog for all the information!
Thanks for a great competition Kevin!
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- And the winners are…
- Yet another “Whisky / Heritage / Distillery / Email / Design” Whisky brand site
Ernest Hemingway knew how to enjoy life
Posted on February 18, 2008
Filed Under Whisky Fun, WhiskyBuzz | Leave a Comment
Found this quote while I was surfing the net for Whisky news. It pretty much summarizes my point of view as well.
Slainte Mr Hemingway!
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