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.
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.”
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.
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.
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:
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 [...]
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, [...]
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 [...]
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