Whiskeria Autumn 2016 by The Whisky Shop

WE BELIEVE TERROIR MATTERS.

THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE MEN OF BRUICHLADDICH BRUICHLADDICH DISTILLERY ISLE OF ISLAY, SCOTLAND

DRINK RESPONSIBLY BRUICHLADDICH.COM



The

Sherry Cask connoisseurs

www.glendronachdistillery.co.uk

WE ONLY PUT OUR NAME ON THE WORLD’S FINEST SHERRY CASKS.

The GlenDronach - Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky Pioneers of sherry cask maturation since 1826 www.glendronachdistillery.co.uk

Nearly 70% of the flavour in whisky is derived from the cask it has been matured in. Wood’s important, which is why we adopt a ‘no compromise’ approach when choosing our world renowned Sherry casks to enrich our whisky.

As I see it… Ian P Bankier —

Illustration: Fran Waddell

J This summer we re-launch our customer club, THE W CLUB. Whilst in its previous format it has been popular and successful, we felt the need for a re-think and so we suspended membership earlier this year in order to do that. Quite a number of whisky clubs exist, but none can be supported by the nationwide reach and resource of THE WHISKY SHOP. The scale of our operation gives us the chance to create something that is world leading – a club that is innovative and interesting, and that will provide excellent value to its members. The original W CLUB was born out of a perception that customers respond positively if they feel a sense of belonging to a brand or an organisation. In advance of our recent re-launch, we put out a focus document and asked for opinions. We suggested that one of the founding principles of THE W CLUB should be that our members enjoy a sense of community and belonging and feel part of the club. The response to this was overwhelmingly positive. Whilst we are not going to change the world, we certainly aim to respond to this stimulus. An obvious challenge for us is the fact that the greatest dynamic in retailing today is the growth of online shopping. As a method of shopping it is convenient, fast and flexible, but, equally, it is cold, clinical and not exactly sociable. It is an unavoidable fact that online shopping is self-limiting in terms of any relationship with the product or brand that is being acquired and, of course, the person

selling it. An ambition for THE W CLUB is to break down that barrier. Another dynamic in whisky retailing today is the consumer appetite for variety. Because each single malt whisky is individual, the industry has created a natural desire for exploration. Consumers are eager to move onto the next expression and this can make it a challenge if the only bottle size available is the full 70cl. That is why our stores are populated with 50cl, 20cl, 10cl and 5cl sizes. All the evidence available suggests that this trend is increasing not diminishing. With that in mind, a new facet of THE W CLUB is to provide an exploration facility for members. With the re-launch, comes a subscription service that delivers to the door small sizes of different whiskies on a regular basis. The offering starts with our ‘Dram-aMonth’. We send to each subscriber a 5cl bottle of a different whisky every month. The recipient does not know what is coming and so there is a surprise element to the package, followed by an excellent dram. We will also have a range of ‘Explorer Safaris’ that cover different styles and geographies of whiskies. These come in 10cl bottles allowing the recipient to share, or not; or indeed to collect. It will be fun to see what tickles the fancy of our subscription customers. Ian P Bankier, Executive Chairman, THE WHISKY SHOP

“ A new facet of THE W CLUB is to provide an exploration facility for members. With the re-launch, comes a subscription service that delivers to the door small sizes of different whiskies on a regular basis.”

Competition —

Win!

A year's free membership of The W Club

This autumn we're celebrating the re-launch of THE W CLUB with an exclusive prize for Whiskeria readers… We'll be giving away A YEAR'S FREE W CLUB MEMBERSHIP to no fewer than 20 lucky winners. Our reincarnated W CLUB promises a whole host of benefits – such as money off at THE WHISKY SHOP, a subscription to Whiskeria, exclusive limited edition bottlings and so much more – all strictly for members only! Find out more on p.44. To enter, simply tell us: How much does an annual subscription THE W CLUB now cost?

Answers should be be emailed to: competition@whiskyshop.com Please include your full name and answer. Terms & Conditions The winner will be selected from all entries received via the email address stated above by midnight on 30th October 2016. The judge’s decision will be final. This competition is not open to employees of THE WHISKY SHOP Ltd. All normal competition rules apply. UK entrants must be 18 years old or over to apply. International entrants must be of legal drinking age in their country of residence.

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–– produced by Ascot Publishing Limited PO Box 7415 Glasgow G51 9BR –– contact enquiries@whiskyshop.com

–– commissioning editor GlenKeir Whiskies Limited –– executive producer Claire Daisley claire@whiskyshop.com 0141 427 2919 –– executive chairman Ian P Bankier ipb@whiskyshop.com –– product photography Subliminal Creative 01236 734923

–– creative direction a visual agency emlyn@avisualagency.com –– feature writers Brian Wilson; Charles MacLean; Gavin D Smith; Claire Bell; Blair Bowman –– feature photography Brian Sweeney Christina Kernohan –– illustration Francesca Waddell Kate Timney Calum MacGillivray 5

–– Glenkeir Whiskies Limited trades as THE WHISKY SHOP. Opinions expressed in WHISKERIA are not necessarily those of Glenkeir Whiskies Limited. Statements made and opinions expressed are done so in good faith, but shall not be relied upon by the reader. This publication is the copyright of the publisher, ASCOT PUBLISHING LIMITED, and no part of it may be reproduced without their prior consent in writing. No responsibility is taken for the advertising material contained herein. © ASCOT PUBLISHING LIMITED.

–– Prices effective July 2016. All prices in this edition of Whiskeria are subject to change.

Contributors Autumn 2016 —

Illustration: Fran Waddell

Brian Wilson

— Brian Wilson, formerly an MP, held several Government Ministerial posts during his political career. He lives on the Isle of Lewis from where he pursues various business interests, notably in the energy sector. He also led the regeneration of the Harris Tweed industry and is currently Chairman of Harris Tweed Hebrides Ltd. His first love was writing and he continues to write books as well as opinion pieces for national newspapers.

Claire Bell

— Claire Bell has written on travel for Time magazine, The Herald, The Times, The Guardian and Wanderlust. She lives in Glasgow where she runs The Old Barn Bookery, a book charity that helps build libraries within disadvantaged schools in her native South Africa. Her adventures have taken her from her across the globe, from exploring her new home in the west of Scotland, to uncovering hidden gems in her South African homeland.

Gavin D. Smith

— Gavin is one of the world’s most prolific and respected whisky writers. He’s regularly published in a range of top magazines and has written more than a dozen books on whisky, while co-authoring many more. Most recently he has prepared a new version of Michael Jackson’s seminal whisky publication, The Malt Whisky Companion.

Charles MacLean

— Charles has published ten Scotch whisky books to date, including the standard work on whisky brands, Scotch Whisky, and the leading book on its subject, Malt Whisky, both of which were short-listed for Glenfiddich awards. He was also script advisor for Ken Loach’s 2012 film The Angels’ Share and subsequently played the part of the whisky expert in the film (which he claims to be his biggest career highlight to date).

T H E 1 5 Y E A R O L D B L E N D E D M A LT W H I S K Y

JOHNNIE WALKER GREEN LABEL IS BACK ®

THE JOHNNIE WALKER WORDS AND ASSOCIATED LOGOS ARE TRADE MARKS. © DIAGEO 2016.

J O H N N I E WA L K E R . C O M

Contents Autumn 2016

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12 My Craft Paulin Watches 18 Distillery Visit Glasgow Distillery Company 23 New Releases Autumn 2016 44 The W Club Reincarnated 46 My Whiskeria Nina Conti 54 Travel South Africa 59 THE WHISKY SHOP Section 82 A Time In History Whisky Galore! 86 Mixing It Up The Voodoo Rooms 94 Expert Tasting Caperdonich / Invergordon 96 Curb Your Enthusiasm Pretentious Tasting Notes

12 12

86 96

PATIENCE ISN’T JUST A VIRTUE, IT’S AN INGREDIENT TIME HONOURED

SINGLE MALT SCOTCH WHISKY DISTILLED AND M AT U R E D I N C A M P B E LTOW N , T H E ‘ V I CTO R I A N ’ W H I S K Y C A P I TA L O F T H E WO R L D. GLEN SCOTIA DOUBLE CASK

GOLD MEDAL WINNER San Francisco World Spirits Competition

www.glenscotia.com

GLEN SCOTIA 15 YEAR OLD

GLEN SCOTIA VICTORIANA

DOUBLE GOLD MEDAL WINNER San Francisco World Spirits Competition

@Glenscotia5

DOUBLE GOLD MEDAL WINNER San Francisco World Spirits Competition

/Glenscotiawhisky

THE ONLY SINGLE MALT WITH A FIVE RED WINE CASK FINISH

| Whiskeria Autumn 2016 |

My Craft

Whisky and time are inherently linked. And, much like the whisky industry, watchmaking is witnessing a new generation of exciting innovators who are blending traditional techniques and age-old wisdom with a thoroughly modern approach, right here on Scottish soil. For this issue of My Craft we met with Eleanor, one of the sisters behind Paulin, whose beautifully crafted timepieces are spearheading a British watchmaking revival. â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

Photography: Brian Sweeney

W“ What we loved about

watches wasn’t a feature of smart watches, it was about simplicity, craftsmanship, quality of materials, and about design.”

My Craft

| Whiskeria Autumn 2016 |

W“ Custom straps

are very time consuming, entirely uneconomical, but very gratifying for us to make!”

W Give us the elevator pitch for Paulin – who are you, what do you do, what makes you unique? We are a young Scottish watch company specialising in high quality, design-led quartz watches. Based in Glasgow’s Merchant City, we work out of our office / shop / studio / leather workshop. It’s great being able to show the public what we do in a bricks-and-mortar setting and get feedback from them, rather than everything being online. W What was the catalyst for founding Paulin? Where did the concept originate from, and whose idea was it? Like so many businesses, it came out of looking for something and realising it wasn’t available on the market. Today there are a lot of brands doing the minimal design thing, but back then there weren’t any affordable, simple, well-designed watches out there. Also, the job market wasn’t crying out for art school graduates (both Charlotte – my sister who started the company – and myself studied at the Edinburgh College of Arts), so it seemed a good option.

W Why watches? They involve elements of fashion design, precision engineering and luxury – as a nation, we’ve got a great reputation in all those fields, so it felt like a natural choice for starting a business in Scotland. W Once you had the idea for Paulin, how did you make the business a reality – what were the first steps? A lot of research to start with. We visited Basel World, a big watch show in Switzerland, and talked to as many people as possible. We tried to get a feel for all sides of the industry, then came back to Scotland and started planning. W What is your vision for Paulin – is it still the same as the vision you started out with? Do you have a set of company values that form the foundation of the brand? That’s a very good question. Initially we had one single, overarching purpose – we wanted to make watches in the UK. The industry had gone years ago and we wanted to restart it.

Eleanor uses traditional leatherworking techniques including skiving before fitting and sealing a bespoke watchstrap; Dial-maker Adam creates prototype watch faces in the Glasgow workshop.

My Craft

| Whiskeria Autumn 2016 |

Between then and now, we’ve travelled the world and visited countless manufacturers, and the big realisation has been that ‘who’ is more important than ‘where’ when it comes to manufacturing. We work with suppliers in the UK, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Portugal and Switzerland. They’re all individually the best at doing what they do for us, and in the end that’s what matters most. We spent several years trying to get every part made here, and it was frustrating. There are some great manufacturers in the UK, but I can also see why we’ve lost so much industry. We are working on making more parts of the watch here, but it’s purely about control and creativity rather than patriotism.

W“ We’ve travelled

the world and visited countless manufacturers, and the big realisation has been that ‘who’ is more important than ‘where’ when it comes to manufacturing.”

W Tell us about your grandfather and how his legacy has inspired and shaped Paulin. George Henry Paulin was a well-known Scottish sculptor in the early 20th Century. Growing up, every inch of our family home in the Highlands is filled with his pieces; from 8ft teak carvings to paintings, maquettes, busts and photographs, and now we’ve moved to Glasgow, his sculptures are dotted around the city (the one most people have seen is the ‘King of Sicily’ in the entrance to Kibble Palace in the Botanics). So his influence has always been there and is probably responsible for Charlotte and I going to art school. As far as I know he wasn’t a watch enthusiast, but as a designer who lived and worked in Glasgow 100 years before us, he’s certainly an inspiration. W What’s your favourite part of that process? Designing new watches is always enjoyable, but leatherworking – making customers bespoke straps – can be therapeutic. W Tell us more about the materials you use. We know you favour British manufacturers and have strong eco credentials. The watch cases are all stainless steel; it’s the toughest material for a case, and we use a high grade which is pretty much un-markable. The leather for the straps is largely sourced from the UK, we’ve got some great tanneries like Claytons and Sedgewicks – the bridle leather they make is the best in the world for durability and longevity. It also develops a lovely patina with wear, and really improves with age.

We also work with a German strap maker who supplies many of the high-end Swiss brands, and they use a lot of Italian and German leathers including stingray, which is a truly remarkable material. When people talk about materials, they think of the case and strap, but when it comes to the environment and local sourcing, the packaging is a huge part. All of ours is made either in the UK, Italy or Portugal (we’ve replaced foam inserts with sustainably sourced Portuguese cork). W Your watches blend the historic and contemporary beautifully – tell us more about balancing of historic techniques, materials and influences with timeless design and meeting contemporary demands. Thank you! We started out under the cloud of rumours preceding Apple announcing their watch, and it seemed like the impending end of the quartz watch might be a bad time to start out in the business. But, what we loved about watches wasn’t a feature of smart watches, it was about simplicity, craftsmanship, quality of materials, and about design. W Tell us more about offering a custom watch strap service – where did this idea originate from, and how does it work in practice? A few of us spent some time learning leatherwork with a great saddle-maker up in Arisaig on the West Coast. Custom straps are very time consuming, entirely uneconomical, but very gratifying for us to make! We’ve got a range of leathers in the studio from goat to nubuck, and having a strap with one or two holes which fits you perfectly is something our customers really enjoy. We’re the only watch company I know of to do that. W What are your favourite moments, anecdotes and highlights since setting up shop in 2015? The customers! Glaswegians love to chat and we’ve been entertained and informed since opening our doors. The feedback on the products has also been really motivating and useful; it informs our new work a lot. W Finally – what’s on the horizon for Paulin? Quite a lot! But I’m afraid you’ll need to wait and see…

Knowledge Bar

Paulin Watches Location: Merchany City, Glasgow Established: 2015

a Founded by the three Paulin sisters in 2014 a The brand is inspired by the sisters’ grandfather, eminent sculptor George Henry Paulin a Both the workshop and shop are located on Parnie Street in Glasgow’s historic Merchant City a You can order a bespoke strap for your watch, hand-crafted to perfectly fit your wrist a Paulin’s in-house dial maker Adam Henderson joined the team in 2016 a You can pop in to see the magic happen and buy a Paulin watch Monday–Saturday, 9:30am–5:30pm

From digital designing to crafting each individual customer's perfect analogue watch, it all happens in the Parnie Street worskhop

Distillery Visit

| Whiskeria Autumn 2016 |

Scotland’s cities are no longer famed for their whisky — but that could all be about to change. Gavin Smith visits the West Coast’s revived urban whisky producer, Glasgow Distillery Co, to witness poetry in motion…

Knowledge Bar

Glasgow Distillery Location: Hillington, Glasgow Established: 1770 / 2013

The original Glasgow Distillery was built at Dundashill in the 1770s, and provided inspiration for the current ‘Founding Partners’ of the Glasgow Distillery Company

a The rejuvenation of metropolitan distilling in Glasgow was motivated by a boom in American craft distilling in 2011 a The University of Glasgow’s Professor Michael Moss helped rediscover the Glasgow Distillery Company’s history from the city’s Mitchell Library archives a The Glasgow Distillery Company as we now know it was officially reborn in 2013 – it is the city’s first distillery in over a century a Makar Glasgow Gin – named after a Scottish poet or bard – is the first product officially launched by the distillery, and can be bought

at www.whiskyshop.com

W“ In charge of day

to day distillation is Head Distiller Jack Mayo, whose background is somewhat unorthodox, to say the least. “Prior to becoming a distiller, I did a PhD in Astrophysics” he declares.” Distiller Jack Mayo; the founding partners of The Glasgow Distillery Co.

J glasgow distillery Glasgow has long been a ‘whisky city,’ with casks of malt spirit from distilleries in the Highlands and Islands once arriving in profusion by boat at the Broomielaw quays on the River Clyde, while many blending and bottling operations grew up around the area. To this day, companies such as Whyte & Mackay retain a Glasgow head office, while a number of large-scale blending and bottling facilities are located in the city’s environs. Until a few years ago, Glasgow also boasted two grain distilleries, namely Port Dundas, founded in 1811, and Strathclyde, located in the Gorbals district and owned by Chivas Brothers. 2011 saw the closure of Diageo’s Port Dundas distillery, however, with malt whisky having last being distilled in Glasgow during the early years of the 20th century. Then, in 2013, drinks industry veteran Liam Hughes and a group of business associates revived the old Glasgow Distillery Company, which had owned and operated the Dundashill Distillery, before its closure in 1903. Their original intention was to distil only gin, and Glasgow’s first gin still – named Annie – was duly installed in the new distillery. This is an anonymous former wine warehouse and decanting building leased from transport and logistics company, The Russell Group at Hillington, just off the M8.

The gin is named Makar – an old Scots word for poet– and Liam Hughes says that “It has greatly exceeded our expectations. It is stocked by Fortnum & Mason in London and in The Whisky Shop chain and Majestic Wines’ Scottish branches. It’s also now in the USA, Dubai and right across Europe.” Having begun to make gin, Liam Hughes and his colleagues thought that it would be interesting to restore malt whisky production to Glasgow, and former Macallan Master Distiller and whisky investment specialist David Robertson was called upon for advice. “David helped set up the distillery and acts as consultant,” explains Hughes. The stills and associated whisky-making plant were sourced from the Stuttgart family firm of Carl, which specialises in fabricating artisan distilling and brewing equipment. Carl supplied a full lauter mashtun, four stainless steel washbacks and a single pair of stills. “The wash still is called Tara after my daughter,” says Hughes, “and the spirit still is named Mhairi, after the daughter of one of our directors.” In charge of day to day distillation is Head Distiller Jack Mayo, whose background is somewhat unorthodox, to say the least. “Prior to becoming a distiller, I did a PhD in Astrophysics,” he declares. “I've had a long love of cooking, and a newer found passion for all things distilled. The combination of cooking and science seemed like the perfect match 19

and after heading back to university to undertake a MSc in Brewing and Distilling, I started making gin and subsequently whisky at Glasgow Distillery straight afterwards.” Noting that production for 2016 is likely to be around the 750,000 litres mark, Mayo adds that, “We're making two styles of spirit. Our unpeated spirit is a robust and heavy-bodied new-make with tropical fruits and a sweet malty body, and with an extraordinarily creamy mouthfeel. We've also recently embarked on peated spirit production (peated up to 50ppm), which is also characteristically heavybodied, fruity and malty, but with an earthy, tobacco smoke nose, due to the mainland peat being used. This harks back to the spirit that the original Glasgow Distillery was famed for producing.” To date, some 400 casks have been filled, and most spirit is being filled into ex-Bourbon casks, along with some port pipes, plus a number of 50-litre and 100-litre ex-sherry casks, though the distillery recently took delivery of a consignment of former sherry butts. “We will mostly release single cask expressions or eight to 10 casks vatted together at most,” says Liam Hughes, and it seems unlikely that the distillery will offer ‘work in progress’ bottlings along the way. “We're more than likely going to wait until the spirit is ready,” adds Mayo. “We'll legally have whisky in March 2018, but alas only a few casks, so we’re really looking at later in 2018, perhaps.”

| Whiskeria Autumn 2016 |

Distillery Visit

W“ We've also recently embarked on peated spirit production… This harks back to the spirit that the original Glasgow Distillery was famed for producing…”

When it comes to actually making that whisky Mayo notes that, “We're aiming for a spirit that is not your traditional Lowland style, but something much more robust and fitting for its metropolitan surroundings. We have slow fermentations of up to 100 hours, allowing for complexity to develop, we take broad spirit cuts, which add our fruity notes and mouthfeel, but our spirit is also extraordinarily smooth, and deceptively so as a new make spirit.” All distillers like the idea of innovation, of stamping their mark on the product they create, and Jack Mayo is no exception. “We have a few 'experiments' on the back burner at the moment,” he says, “some of which are highly guarded, others of which not so. We're experimenting with different woods, we've done comprehensive experiments with a range of yeast strains, as is to be expected for a new distillery - we're just trying the push our spirit to see what it's capable off! “Given the chance there are a million and one ideas that I'd love to try out - most of them economically unviable I'll admit - but I'd definitely be keen to keen to experiment with wild yeast strains and pushing the boundaries of what can be produced before the spirit has even seen the inside of a cask.” For anyone who feels like owning their personal cask of Glasgow whisky, the Glasgow Distillery Company has established a ‘1770 Club’ membership programme, which enables club members to purchase from a range of cask

sizes, principally 50, 100 or 200-litres, though port, sherry and sauterne wine casks are also available. While everyone is eagerly awaiting their first taste of whisky from Glasgow Distillery Co, Makar Gin has been joined by Prometheus single malt whisky – 26 years of age and sourced from an unspecified Speyside distillery. 3,000 bottles of 26-year-old Prometheus are available, but there are plans to bottle more of it when it reaches 30 years of age. Obviously sales of Prometheus help to generate income for the overall venture, but also, as Liam Hughes explains, “It’s very important we get the name of Glasgow Distillery out there – on the Prometheus label and box. The emphasis is on bringing high quality products to the market under our name. It also allows us to establish a distribution route which we can use for our own whisky in time.” According to Jack Mayo, “The thing I enjoy most about my job is the knowledge that what we're producing right now is going to be enjoyed by somebody 10,15 or20 years down the line - putting your name to something that you're proud of!” Having sampled the excellent new-make spirit being produced by Jack Mayo and his colleagues, this writer for one is eagerly awaiting its eventual coming of age. — www.glasgowdistillery.com

ENJOYED TODAY

Glenglassaugh Distillery, standing on the Moray Firth Coast at the edge of Sandend Bay, is a distillery which lay silent and forgotten for over two decades. Its heritage stretches back to 1875 and the distinctive fruity character of its whisky is loved by all who discover it. After being mothballed for over 20 years, production was restarted in 2008. The first whisky from this refurbished distillery is now available to single malt Scotch whisky lovers everywhere.

WWW.GLENGLASSAUGH.COM

New Releases Autumn 2016 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Illustration: Calum McGillivary

The Living Cask Batch 4 BLENDED MALT 43.6% VOL | 50CL | £45

Pale gold, with light beading and moderate legs. The first aroma reminded me of warm fruit loaf, sea salt and charred sweet potato on an extinguished barbeque. At full strength, the taste is sweet and slightly salty, with charcoal in the spicy finish; water introduces a hint of carbolic to the mx . A worthy successor to previous batches.

J the loch fyne Living Cask (to give its full name) is a continually changing blended malt, inspired by the renowned oenophile Professor George Saintsbury, who wrote in his Notes on a Cellar Book (1920): “… The more excellent way – formerly practised by all persons of some sense and some means north of the Tweed – is to establish a cask… fill it up with good and drinkable whisky… stand it up on end, tap it half way down or even a little higher, and, when you get to or near the tap, fill it up again with whisky fit to drink, but not too old. “You thus establish what is called in the case of sherry a ‘solera’, in which the constantly changing character of the old constituents doctors the new accessions, and in which these in turn freshen and strengthen the old.” George Saintsbury, a Gandalf look-alike, was a formidable authority. After a spell as headmaster of the Elgin Educational Institute in the 1870s, where he first encountered malt whisky, he returned to England, then was appointed Professor of English Literature and Rhetoric in the University of Edinburgh in 1895, a position he held until 1915. Although best known as a scholar during his lifetime, Saintsbury’s most famous work was Notes on a Cellar-Book, described as “one of the great testimonials to drink and drinking in wine literature” – and the first book I know of which explored the flavour of malt whisky. When he was close to death, the wine writer André Simon arranged a dinner in his honour. Although Saintsbury did not attend, this was the start of the Saintsbury Club, a

distinguished group of men of letters and members of the wine trade who continue to have dinners to this day. The ‘Living Cask’ idea was taken up by Richard Joynson, the founder of Loch Fyne Whiskies in Inveraray, in 1999. When John Beard (a former Managing Director of Whyte & Mackay) took over the business, he continued and expanded the concept, indeed, he resolved to “put The Living Cask at the heart of everything Loch Fyne would do in the future”. Believing there was room for two expressions, he created a new living cask to go alongside the original one. He placed them In Loch Fyne’s workshop (which is now part of the shop itself) and it is here all Living Cask bottles are filled, by hand. John Beard also created a new vatting of Islay malts, some with considerable age, and named it The Living Cask 1745 – the date of the foundation of Inveraray, as well the Forty-five Jacobite Rising. The original Living Cask still held some whisky from the original 1999 vatting. Into this John first introduced a goodly portion of the 1745, then additional malts from regions other than Islay, in keeping with the ‘solera system’ recommended by Professor Saintsbury. When he was happy with the result, he labelled the product Batch 1. As it was depleted, more malts were added and given a batch number – Batch 4 has just been released - so enthusiasts can assess the changes and even collect the series. Those who visit the Loch Fyne workshop in Inveraray can taste each batch and write their notes in a tasting ledger kept there for the purpose.

Kilchoman Sanaig SINGLE ISLAY MALT 46% VOL | 70CL | £TBC

Deep gold, with amber lights. The first impression is maritime and smoky – salt and seaweed with a distant bonfire of autumn leaves. Becomes more medicinal (dentists’ mouthwash), but with a trace of caramelised baked apple. The taste is sweet, mineralic (even chalky) and elegantly peaty in the short finish. Water sweetens it but supresses the overall favour.

J kilchoman At the outset, I must declare an interest in Kilchoman: I officiated at the distillery’s opening in 2005. Happily it and its whiskies have gone from strength to strength. It was the brain-child of Anthony Wills, who came from the wine trade and managed a small independent whisky bottling company before establishing one of the smallest distilleries in Scotland within some disused buildings on Rockside Farm on the west side of Islay. Sanaig takes its name from a rocky cove with a fine beach due north of Kilchoman. It proudly describes itself as ‘Islay’s Farm Distillery – from barley to bottle’. Since last year, when Anthony managed to buy the farm, he has been able to grow a proportion of his barley requirement. It is malted on site (the rest comes from Port Ellen Maltings); all stages of production and maturation take place in the converted farm buildings, and the whisky is bottled there as well. Kilchoman is very much a family concern. Anthony’s wife, Cathy, was raised on Islay and looks after the distillery’s excellent café; their sons Peter, James and George are familiar faces at whisky shows in Europe, promoting the Kilchoman malts. Until his untimely death last year, the distillery was managed by John MacLellan, who worked at Bunnahabhain for twenty years. The site was chosen on account of the excellence of the barley grown on Rockside Farm – reckoned to be the best on Islay – but the parish of Kilchoman may have been the cradle of whisky distilling in Scotland. The lands were granted by the Lords of the Isles to their hereditary physicians, a family named MacBeatha (Anglicised to Beaton),

the first members of which arrived on Islay in 1300 from Ireland, in the marriage train of Agnes O’Cahan who was betrothed to Angus Og, Lord of the Isles. Even by the time the MacBeathas arrived, they were known as ‘Mac an Ollamh’, ‘Sons of the Physician’ and familiar with the works of the Arab ‘Fathers of Medicine’, which included instructions for distilling, and which they translated into Gaelic. Angus Og leant Patrick MacBeatha to his friend Robert I (The Bruce), when the king was sick with an unknown ailment. He and his descendants subsequently became ‘principal physicians to the king’. The first written reference to distilling from malted barley dates from 1494 in a royal accounts book. That year the king, James IV, was campaigning against the Lord of the Isles on Islay, and it may well have been here that he encountered aqua vitae, ‘the water of life’, uisge beatha in Gaelic. It is likely that King James – a Renaissance Prince in every way, whose interests embraced medicine, alchemy and gunpowder, as well as the arts, and who could speak “the language of the savages” (ie Gaelic) – was introduced to uisge by the Hereditary Physician of the day, Fergus Fionn MacBeatha. At the height of the Lordship, the Beatons had been granted lands at Kilchoman and there is a beautifully carved high cross, in the West Highland style, dating from the 16th century in the kirkyard there. When a later representative, Fergus MacVey, was confirmed in these lands in 1609 as “chief physician of the islands of Scotland”, the charter went on to say that his predecessors had held the same lands from the Lords of the Isles “beyond all memory of men”.

Jura Tastival SINGLE ISLAND MALT 52% VOL | 70CL | £95

Deep gold in colour, with ‘crémant’ beading and slow-running legs (both suggesting good texture). The initial aroma brings to mind apricot jam on buttered toast, with ripe peaches after a while and an elusive trace of candlewax. There is some nose prickle and the liquid welcomes a drop of water, which introduces a maritime note. It has a soft texture, mouthfilling; the taste is sweet to start, drying slightly and finishing warm and spicy.

J jura This limited edition bottling was created for the Feis Ile, the Islay (and Jura) Whisky Festival 2016, and is a limited edition release. It describes itself as being ‘Triple Sherry Finished’ and when I enquired what this meant, a marketing person at Whyte & Mackay, which owns Jura Distillery, explained: “Our Jura Tastival bottlings are always a little more experimental as we strive to push the boundaries for our annual celebration of taste. For 2016, our Tastival expression has a triple sherry finish to give a sweet and intense taste. “Specifically, the three sherry casks we used to finish the whisky were: a 11 year old ‘Palomino Fino’ cask, a 15 year old Oloroso ‘Amoroso’ sherry cask and a 30 year old Oloroso ‘Apostoles’ sherry cask.” Shortly before he retired last year, I had an interesting conversation with Willie Cochrane, Jura’s Manager. I told him I thought the overall quality of Jura had improved beyond recognition in recent years, and he explained: “Around 95% of the casks we use today are first-fill American oak ex-Bourbon barrels from Jim Beam and Heaven Hill Distilleries in Kentucky. The remainder are a combination of Limousin oak barriques and Spanish oak ex-sherry butts. In the past we filled a lot more butts – and there are still a few lurking in the warehouses, ear-marked by Richard Paterson, our Master Blender, for future special bottlings! “We began to use first-fill barrels about 10 years ago - especially for single malt bottlings. Previously we were using mainly refill hogsheads, and since then we have been re-racking these older casks into the first-fill

barrels – currently at the rate of 150-175 per week. This has made a huge difference to the quality of our single malt.” Although a small licensed distillery was established on Jura in 1810 and struggled on with several periods of closure until 1901, the present distillery was built from scratch on the same site as the previous one and incorporating some of the original buildings between 1960-63. The project was planned by the principal local landowners, with the backing of Mackinlay McPherson & Co, and the architect was William Delmé Evans, who had built Tullibardine Distillery in Perthshire and would go on to design Glanallachie Distillery in 1967-68, also for Mackinlay McPherson. In an interview in 2004, shortly before he died, Bill Delmé Evans said: “It was our intention to produce a Highland-type malt differing from the peaty stuff last produced in 1900. I therefore designed stills to give spirit of a Highland character, and we ordered malt which was only lightly peated.” At 7.7 metres, the stills are the second tallest in Scotland (the tallest being Glenmorangie). They are ‘lantern’ shaped with pinched waists, like old-fashioned paraffin-lamp glasses, and the pots are very broad – all making for increased copper contact and a purer, lighter spirit. The reason for this was that the Jura spirit all went for blending, until first being released as a single malt in 1974. Today, the distillery also produces a peated spirit, first bottled as Superstition in 2002. Tastival is unpeated.

The Dalmore Quintessence SINGLE HIGHLAND MALT 45% VOL | 70CL | £1000

Burnished copper, with blood-orange lights; unusually slow legs. The nosefeel is mild and luscious with gravid fruit – cling peaches, ripe mango, table grapes – on a sandalwood base, developing hints of rich fruitcake. It does not require reduction. As expected it has a creamy texture; the taste nobly balances sweet and dry, with a medium length finish, leaving a winey aftertaste.

J dalmore Dalmore's Master Blender, the legendary Richard Paterson, has been driving back the boundaries of taste again! This might be named ‘The Californian Cépage Finish’. The whisky was matured for fifteen years in the usual way – refill hogsheads, to preserve the distillery character – then re-racked into an ‘assemblage’ (Richard’s word, borrowed from the wine industry) of American oak wine barriques filled with five grape varieties from the Sonoma and Napa Valley, California: Syrah, Zinfandel, Pinot Noir, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignan. ‘Assemblage’ – cuvée in French – is “the mixing of selected barrels to create a larger homogeneous quantity of wine. It can also refer to wine made from several grape varieties”. In truth, most wines are blends. Bordeaux from the Medoc typically uses up to four grape varieties; non-vintage Champagne blends wine from several vintages. So the term is appropriate for Dalmore Quintessence. The mature whisky was left to finish in the wine casks for 5 years then blended and returned to wood to marry for nine months. As with much of Richard’s work, this has never been done before. He writes: “This unique 'assemblage of flavours' from two continents has been forged together by pure dedicated passion and pride. Therefore you must give this noble spirit all the reverence it richly deserves by holding it long in the mouth to tease out these memorable flavours.

“At first an avalanche of awesome flavours takes hold of your taste buds; totally chic and sophisticated! Classic elegance that only age can bring as long silky tones engulf the palate. Complex and compelling – a barrage of mouth coating flavours of tropical fruits, crystallised ginger, sun dried raisins and lemon verbena quickly rewards the palate. “Another consummate balance of cassis, spicy tannins, orange rind and fresh baked banana completes this liquid tapestry of talent – this ’Masterpiece of Malts’ – to a faultless finish. Aweinspiring with every drop!” One of the leading characters in the Scotch whisky industry – and one of its most respected members – this year Richard celebrates fifty years in the trade. He joined the Glasgow blenders, Gillies & Company, in 1966 and moved to Whyte & Mackay four years later, becoming their Master Blender in 1975. In recent years, he has created some remarkable – and at times remarkably expensive – expressions of Dalmore, including The Dalmore Constellation Collection, comprising twenty-one whiskies distilled between 1964 and 1992, and Dalmore Trinitas. Only three bottles of Trinitas were released, each containing spirit dating from 1868, 1878, 1926 and 1939: one sold at Harrods in 2011 for £120,000. In 2013, a single 12-bottle set named The Dalmore Paterson Collection was offered for sale in Harrods for £987,500.

Deanston 18 Years Old SINGLE HIGHLAND MALT 46.3% VOL | 70CL | £TBC

Old, highly polished brass. A fragrant top note of dried mixed herbs, wallflowers and gewurztraminer grapes on a tarte Tatin base. A drop of water adds a mossy note, with boiled sweets (orange flavoured) and some elusive dried herbs. Full-bodied in the mouth, with a sweet start and a dry, spicy/herbal taste in the lingering finish. More-ish!

J deanston Deanston Distillery stands on the bank of the River Teith, a mile west of Doune in Perthshire. It was built as a cotton mill in 1785, designed by (Sir) Richard Arkwright, the pioneer of steam powered spinning and one of the leading figures in the Industrial Revolution. It is a listed building, with many original features still intact, including vaulted maturation cellars. My Imperial Gazeteer of Scotland (1854) gushes with praise: “For, though contrasting totally to the natural lineaments of the beauteous, brilliant, romantic scenery of the valley of the Teith, it [i.e. Deanston Mill] is altogether as handsome a thing among seats of manufacturing as that valley is among landscapes, even including the valley’s gorgeous head-gear of Loch Katrine and the Trossachs”. The writer goes on to mention that “the works are driven by a series of stupendous over-shot wheels, each 36 feet in diameter” – one of these wheels, named ‘Hercules’, was the largest waterwheel in Europe, generating 300 horse power. The constant supply of pure water from the River Teith contributed to the decision to convert the mill (which ceased production in 1965) into a distillery and Deanston is now the only distillery in Scotland to be self-sufficient in electricity, with power generated by an on-site hydro-energy facility. The conversion was done by Brodie Hepburn Ltd., a whisky brokers in Glasgow, owners of Tullibardine Distillery and founders of Macduff Distillery in 1963. Brodie Hepburn himself – a well known figure in the whisky industry – was

the driving force behind the idea and approached the mill’s owners, James Finlay & Co soon after they closed Deanston Mill. Negotiations were protracted – in the end Finlay’s Finlay & Co took two-thirds of the equity in the venture; conversion of the mill required the removal of four very solid interior floors and the installation of two wash stills and two spirit stills. The new distillery went into production in 1969. Plans were laid to launch a major brand of blended Scotch, to be named Old Bannockburn, but these came to nothing; Finlay’s sold their shares to Invergordon Distillers in 1972, and this company also acquired all Brodie Hepburn’s assets. The distillery was silent from 1982 to 1990, then sold to Burn Stewart Distillers for £2.1 million and brought back into production the following year. The malt from Deanston mostly went into Burn Stewart’s successful export blend, Scottish Leader, which is especially popular in South Africa. It was this that persuaded the Distell Group – Africa’s leading spirits, wines and ready-to-drink company – to buy Burn Stewart, its brands and distilleries in 2013 for £160 million. Small amounts of Deanston single malt were released by Invergordon (at 8 years old, although without an age statement on the label) during the late 1970s, and Burn Stewart began to bottle at 12 years old soon after they acquired the distillery. This 18 years old joined the core range in May 2015, matured in refill hogsheads and finished in first-fill ex-bourbon barrels, which account for its bright golden colour.

Ledaig 18 Year Old SINGLE ISLAND MALT 46.3% VOL | 70CL | £TBC

Deep burnished gold; oily texture. The first nose is of mixed dried fruits and toasted malt with light but distinct peaty notes, on a vegetable oil base. Lurking behind this is seaweed and neoprene, but also rose petal scents which come and go (very odd!). Full-bodied texture and a sweet, salty taste with white pepper in the lengthy finish.

J ledaig Ledaig – pronounced Laycheck – is the peated expression of the malt whisky made at Tobermory Distillery on the Isle of Mull. Although founded as ‘Tobermory Distillery’, during the 1970s and ‘80s the owning company was Ledaig Distillery (Tobermory) Ltd and to confuse matters further, Tobermory was bottled as both a blended whisky and a blended malt, and Ledaig (in very small amounts) as a single malt. Burn Stewart Distillers, who bought the site in 1993, rationalised the branding, so Tobermory became unpeated and Ledaig peated. In 2013 Burn Stewart, with its brands and distilleries, was sold to the Distell Group – Africa’s leading wines and spirits producer. Tobermory is a model village planned in the late 1780s to be a ‘fishing station’ by the landlord, the Fifth Duke of Argyll, with the support of the British Fisheries Society (BFS), of which distinguished body he happened to be Governor. The principal contractors on the job were Hugh and John Stevenson, who also built Oban Distillery. Another Stevenson, Robert – Robert Lewis Stevenson’s grandfather and Chief Engineer to the Northern Lighthouse Board – was critical of the choice of the site. Although the bay was a perfect harbour, the village was too far from the fishing grounds. He was proved correct, and Tobermory never took off as a fishing port. It did become an important trading port, however, especially after the Crinan Canal opened in 1801, and later the Caledonian Canal, and the ‘enormous increase in the kelp trade from the Inner and Outer Hebrides’. Among those whose fortunes were founded on kelp was one John Sinclair from Loch Etive,

who set up first as a ‘merchant’ then, in April 1797, applied to the BFS to lease of 57 acres at Ledaig, to the south of the harbour front, on which he wished to build houses and a distillery. He built his distillery the following year, as well as a pier known as ‘Sinclair’s Quay’ and a substantial four-storey rubble warehouse which was used to mature whisky until the 1980s, when it was sold and converted into flats. The subsequent history of Tobermory Distillery is patchy, with several owners and even more years of closure. It did not really stabilise until Burn Stewart bought it. In 1996, Ian MacMillan, the company’s Director of Production, began to distil Ledaig regularly for the first time, allocating six months to the production of the peated expression. He claims to have been “inspired by the traditional style of single malt Scotch whisky that would have been originally distilled on the island of Mull”. Although Ledaig 18YO is a relatively small batch release (3,500 6 bottle cases per annum), it will form part of the brand’s core range, with annual releases. Now is your chance to buy the first edition! The malt is peated to around 35 parts per million phenols, supplied by Port Ellen Maltings on Islay. The spirit is matured mainly in refill American oak casks, but is then finished in fresh Spanish oak ex-Oloroso sherry butts (the pattern on the lower part of the label comments on this Spanish influence). It is bottled at the unusual strength of 46.3%ABV, without chill-filtration or tinting with spirit caramel.

Glenkier Treasures The Secret Speyside SINGLE SPEYSIDE MALT FROM GLENKEIR TREASURES 40% VOL | 50CL | £60 Pale amber in colour, implying maturation in an active cask, probably European oak. The nose is dry overall; closed to start with, then opens into fly cemetery biscuits (pastry with currants and raisins). The texture is smooth, the taste very sweet, with fruit loaf and a hint of ginger. Easy to drink, with not a trace of immaturity.

J glenkier treasures the secret speyside The proprietors of malt distilleries have long been uneasy – to say the least! – about independent bottlers revealing the name of their whiskies, for the understandable reason that they, the brand owners, do not have control of the quality of the indy bottlings. They can prevent this in three ways: 1) By ‘tea-spooning’ a drop of another malt into their own malt, so that it legally becomes a blended malt not a single malt. Thus, William Grant & Sons become Wardhead (Glenfiddich), Burnside (Balvenie) and Aldunie (Kininvie) and cannot be sold under the distilleries’ names. 2) By cutting off supplies to customers – blenders, brokers and independent bottlers – who persistently sell on or bottle casks which they do not feel meet their quality approval. 3) By threatening – and taking – court action for breach of trademark. Yet the Scotch Whisky Association, the industry’s trade body, would prefer ‘that the name of the distillery where the single malt or single grain whisky was actually distilled be clearly stated on the label and packaging’. Although this advice was specifically in relation to the potential for consumer confusion if the brand name of a whisky implies that it is the name of the distillery which produced the whisky, when it is not - examples are Glen Deveron, made at Macduff Distillery, or Port Charlotte (made at Bruichladdich Distillery) – it fits with the SWA’s general desire for clarity and transparency, embodied by The Scotch Whisky Regulations 2009. In spite of all the forgoing, most distillery owners will not take dramatic action against independent bottlers who reveal the name of the distillery – except one… This ‘distillery which cannot be named’ has

consistently jumped on anyone who breaches their trademark, and is the only one to my knowledge to have done so. Some years ago, the owners waged a long and expensive legal battle with a bottler who challenged them, and won. However, I am sure they won’t mind me giving you some clues: 1) The distillery is proudly independent and owned by the same family since 1865. 2) Succeeding generations of the family have all born the name John or George. 3) The family firm was nearly brought down by the dramatic collapse of the blenders, Pattisons of Leith, in 1900, and took thirty years to recover. 4) The distillery’s name in Gaelic translates the same as Dailuaine (see entry), although it is spelled entirely differently. 30

Glenkier Treasures Dailuaine 6 Years Old SPEYSIDE SINGLE MALT FROM GLENKEIR TREASURES 40% VOL | 50CL | £40 Very pale gold in colour, although I think it may come from a much refilled European oak butt. A clean, fresh, youthful nose, with digestive biscuits on a sweet, jammy base (apricot jam?), and a suggestion of the meaty character (roasting tin) which reflects the required new make spirit character. Very sweet to taste, with good body, and a warming finish.

J dailuaine (pronounced ‘Dal-Ewan’) means ‘the green valley or dale’, and the dale in question is on the south bank of the River Spey, created by the Carron Burn and not far from Carron village itself, just across the river. A small distillery was established here in 1851 by a local farmer, William Mackenzie, but it was only after a bridge was built across the river in 1863, the same year that the Strathspey Railway reached Carron, that it was possible to expand the distillery. This was done by Mackenzie’s son, Thomas, who took over the site in 1884 and employed Charles Cree Doig of Elgin to design a brand new distillery, one of the largest in the Highlands at the time. Doig would soon be recognised as the leading distillery architect of the day and it was at Dailuaine that his signature ‘Doig Ventillator’ – what we know as the ‘pagoda roof’ – first appeared. Now the distinguishing architectural feature of a malt whisky distillery, this novel style of kiln was designed to draw heat and smoke through the bed of green malt more rapidly than previous kilns were capable of. The purpose of this was to produce spirit with as little smokiness as possible, for by the time Dailuaine went into production the demand from the burgeoning number of blending houses – the key customers – was for unpeated malt. Thomas Mackenzie went on to build Imperial Distillery at Carron in 1897, which was demolished in 2013 and replaced on a more modern and larger scale by the stylish Dalmunach Distillery, which opened last year. In 1898 Mackenzie amalgamated with Talisker Distillery on the Isle of Skye to form DailuaineTalisker Distilleries Ltd, with himself as chairman and managing director. When he died without heirs in 1915, Dailuaine-Talisker was bought by its principal customers, John Walker & Sons, James

Buchanan & Co., John Dewar & Sons and the Distillers Company Limited. Ownership passed to the DCL following the Big Amalgamation of 1925, when the other three blending houses combined together under the DCL umbrella. Ranked ‘First Class’ by blenders, Dailuaine has always been a blending whisky – it was not bottled by its owners, United Distillers (successor to the DCL, now named Diageo) until 1991, in their Flora & Fauna series, and is still uncommon. It is famously full-bodied, rich and meaty, and takes sherrywood maturation in European oak ex-sherry casks well. Which makes this independent bottling from Glenkier a curiosity. Although it is a young whisky, and its pale colour indicates maturation in a much refilled cask (and I think it may be from a European oak, ex-sherry butt, which should have given even more colour), it has lost any immature characteristics, and these features allow the distillery character to shine through. 31

The Macallan Double Cask SINGLE SPEYSIDE MALT 40% VOL | 70CL | £TBC

Deep gold with amber lights. The first impression is of fruit loaf, then a light vanilla toffee note emerges (toffee apple?) and deep down a suggestion of baking spices. The taste is sweet overall; complex – caramelised tarte Tatin, light spices, finishing with vanilla sponge, leaving a pleasant toffee aftertaste. Best enjoyed straight.

J the macallan This is combination of 12YO spirit matured in American and Spanish oak ex-sherry casks. The carton describes the result as being: “A beautiful partnership. As sunshine and rain create a spectacular rainbow, so the pairing of sherry seasoned European and American oak casks combine in a perfect harmony of flavours and natural colour. The delicate flavour of American oak – vanilla, citrus and light oak – takes centre stage as the traditional Macallan character of rich fruit, sherry and wood spice affords a familiar backdrop”. How can you resist! The Macallan built its high reputation on European oak ex-sherry casks. As demand grew, particularly in Taiwan, a parallel range in a lighter style named Fine Oak, drawn from American oak ex-sherry casks, was introduced to mirror the Traditional bottlings. The former replaced the latter in some markets so as to meet demand. More recently, as readers of Whiskeria will know, Macallan have abandoned age statements and released The 1824 Series, named after the date of the distillery’s foundation and comprising Gold, Amber, Sienna and Ruby – all drawn from sherry seasoned casks, both American and European oak, and bottled without tinting with spirit caramel. Macallan has always eschewed colouring their malts. This makes Bob Delgarno’s task even more difficult. As Whisky Maker, he is responsible not only for keeping the flavour of each expression consistent batch by batch, but its colour as well. I have known Bob for nearly twenty years

and have a very high regard for his skills, and his candidness. He was ‘born to the trade’, at Glenallachie Distillery not far away, where his father worked, and started at Macallan in 1984 as a warehouseman. After passing through every stage of whisky making – mashman, brewer, stillman, warehouse supervisor, operations manager – in 1994 he joined the panel which selects casks for bottling. Three years ago, when we were chatting about the 1824 Series he said: “A great single malt is not determined by age, and since these bottlings do not bear age statements, I have greater liberty in balancing flavours from various ages and from different kinds of sherry cask – European oak and American oak, first fill and refill. “Macallan is a rich, smooth Speyside malt. For our own bottlings we always favoured European oak, ex-sherry butts, which make for a dark colour and a full-bodied flavour. For the 1824 Series I have balanced these traditional casks with American oak ex-sherry casks. The latter add sweetness and vanilla notes, and balance the tannic dryness of European oak.” What he said then applies equally to this 12 Years Old Double Cask, except that the age statement has been restored, which I am happy to see. Although I agree with Bob that age is not everything, it is a good general guide to quality, and, frankly, some NAS (No Age Statement) bottlings strike me as being inferior, no doubt on account of using younger whiskies.

Bowmore 9 Years Old SINGLE ISLAY MALT 40% VOL | 70CL | £32

Deep amber in hue; old polished mahogany. The nose is mild and oily to start with (linseed oil), with buttered artisanal white bread becoming fruit loaf. An oily texture and a surprisingly sweet taste, with rolling tobacco, a trace of Bowmore perfume and for the first time a hint of smoke in the finish.

J bowmore I have always maintained that if you like your Islay malts peaty/smoky/medicinal – buy young! Age lends greater sophistication but diminished peatiness (see Lagavulin 25 p.40, a divine dram!). Although highly phenolic – the chemical term for smoky/medicinal – young Islays can sometimes be thin, rough and ill mannered, but not this 9YO Bowmore. Surprisingly rich and mellow for its age – in a blind tasting, I would have judged it as at least 12 years old – and identifiable an Islay malt, it makes very little phenolic impact: it is an Islay for those who are not fond of peat. Bowmore has long operated a complex wood policy, combining well-seasoned (4 years) Spanish oak sherry butts with first fill and refill American oak barrels and hogsheads, and the combination works very well here. Bowmore is the oldest distillery on Islay, said to have been founded in 1779 by a local farmer, David Simpson of Bridgend. It is my belief, however, that the actual date of foundation was a decade before this when the ‘model village’ of Bowmore was laid out by Daniel Campbell of Shawfield, the local laird. The make has long had a high reputation. As early as 1841, Walter Frederick Campbell of Islay received an order from the Royal Household for “a cask of your best Islay Mountain Dew [cash size and price of no concern] but the very best that can be had”. The order was renewed two years later.

The malt was being sold, usually by the cask or ceramic jar, as a ‘self whisky’ (i.e. a single malt) as early as 1850, “in both England and overseas”, according to Ian Buxton’s excellent history of the distillery and its owners, But the Distilleries Went On (2014). Occasionally it was sold by the bottle: one of the 1850 bottles, known as a ‘Mutter bottle’, after the owners of Bowmore at the time, William and James Mutter, achieved £29,000 at auction in Glasgow in 2007. By the 1870s it was generally available in bottles, by the case “One Dozen Quarts Proof Strength - 16/-” [i.e. twelve 1.136cl bottles @ 57% ABV for 80p!], and in bulk at “Per Gallon @ 11° Over Proof -4/6d” [i.e. 4.5 litres @ 63% ABV for 23p!]. Happy days! By the 1880s Bowmore Pure Islay Malt Whisky was being sold throughout the United Kingdom, and in Ireland and Canada. It was very unusual for malt whisky to be bottled by distillery owners until the 1890s. Such as was released as single malt – even the term was unknown – was bottled by wine & spirits merchants. The vast majority of the make was sold to the blending houses. So one might say with hindsight that Bowmore was ahead of the game!

First Editions Allt-à-Bhainne 1993 22 YEAR OLD SINGLE SPEYSIDE MALT 51.4% VOL | 70CL | £160 The colour of Golden Syrup, with ginger lights – American oak – good beading and slow legs. A mild nosefeel, and an aroma redolent of whin bushes in flower on a warm summer’s day, on a base of tablet. Water introduces a hint of strawberry jam. The taste is sweet, with fondant in the middle and coconut oil in the finish and an aftertaste of coconut; water supresses these tastes and is not advised.

J allt-à-bhainne Why do some distillers choose such difficult names for their distilleries? When I worked as an advertising copywriter in the 1980s, we had the Bunnahabhain account. My business partner came up with the ingenious headline for the campaign – small ads which were placed beside the crossword puzzles in broadsheet newspapers – Great Unpronounceables of Our Time, each one featuring a difficult word and the dictionary guidance on how to say it… Allt à Bhainne is correctly pronounced ‘Allta-Vanya’, but even the (non-Gaelic speaking) locals refer to it as ‘Alta Bane’, which is correct if the spelling is ‘Allt -à- Bainne’ (which my Gaelic dictionary gives as the correct spelling!). Anyway, it translates as ‘River of Milk’. The distillery was built by Chivas Brothers/ Seagram in 1975, five miles south-west of Dufftown, crouching in the shadow of Ben Rinnes and looking out over Corryhabbie Hill at the head of Glenlivet, a hot-bed of illicit distilling in the early 19th Century. Their whisky had a high reputation and was known as ‘Leprach’ after another hill in the district. Architecturally, the distillery is very 1970s: six building blocks cleverly heaped together, each with a different roof line, and the front one clad in local stone, re-cycled from an orphanage in Aberlour. Strikingly modern, inside as well as outside, the buildings were designed by William Nimmo, a well-known architect of the day, and the whole unit is pleasing to the eye. The distillery originally had one pair of stills and was designed to be operated by one man. Two years before Allt -à- Bainne went into production Seagram had built Braeval – originally

named ‘Braes of Glenlivet’ – in Glenlivet itself. Both were production units to supply fillings for Chivas Regal and 100 Pipers, in response to the demand for Scotch in the early 1970s. Alas, this would decline dramatically by the early 1980s and both distilleries suffered periods of closure. Two more stills were added to Allt -à- Bainne in 1989, reflecting a recovery in sales of Scotch, and of 100 Pipers in particular – at its peak in 2005, 42 million bottles were sold, with Thailand as its leading market. This has since declined, but the distillery continues to operate seven days a week, producing 4 million litres of pure alcohol a year. This bottling of Allt -à- Bainne is released under Hunter Laing’s First Editions label – originally designed to supply North America and packaged by SevenFive Creative in Glasgow. Although Hunter Laing is a relatively new independent bottler, the company has a long history, since it was previously part of the illustrious Douglas Laing blenders and bottlers, first founded in 1949 by Fred Douglas Laing. The first fifty years of the company’s history were devoted to blending whiskies, then in 1999, they began to bottle single malts, drawing from the huge stock of casks that had be laid down over the decades. In 2013, the sons of the founder split the stocks, with Hunter Laing continuing to release single malts and unique casks under a range of labels, while Douglas Laing & Company (as it remained) focused more on blends, with some high quality single cask releases too.

Douglas of Drumlanrig Longmorn 12 Years Old SINGLE SPEYSIDE MALT 46% VOL | 70CL | £78

Natural, mid-gold in colour (American oak refill). A sweet aroma of vanilla sponge filled with cream, with a sprinkling of pistachio nuts. A smooth, creamy texture and a very sweet taste, with a scented note emerging in mid palate (Parma violets?) and a finish dusted with white pepper. A drop of water merely enhances these flavours.

J longmorn Longmorn is highly regarded by blenders, who rank it Top Class. The distillery was founded in 1897, and the local newspaper began its report: “Still another distillery! Evidently the latest one announced for Longmorn is not the last in this district… When is this going to end?” In spite of this initial scepticism, The National Guardian, a drinks trade paper, reported later that year that the make had “jumped into favour with buyers [i.e. blenders] from the earliest day on which it was offered”. ‘The district’ referred to above was Elgin: Longmorn stands two and a half miles south of the Royal Burgh. ‘Longmorn’ is Brythonic (‘British’ or Welsh) – an example of how the early races mingled in the ancient Pictish Kingdom of Moray. Some say the name comes from Lhanmorgund, ‘the Place of the Holy Man’; some attribute it to St. Marnoch (or Maernog), who died in 625, and some claim the name comes from the 7th Century British saint, Eran or Earnain, to whom Longmorn church is dedicated. Supporters of the latter say the name was originally Lann M’earnain, ‘the enclosure of beloved [St] Earnain’. Because of its popularity as a blending whisky, it was not released as a single by its owners until 1993 when a 15 Years Old was released (it won gold medals at the International Wine & Spirits Competition that year and in 1994). This was replaced by a 16 Years Old in 2007 – still the only proprietary bottling available, except at the distillery. The distillery joined The Glenlivet and Glen Grant Distillers in 1970, and when this company was taken over by the Canadian giant, Seagram,

eight years later, it became a key constituent of Chivas Regal 18YO and Royal Salute 21YO, which it remains. The popularity of these whiskies (Chivas is the third most popular Scotch in the world) is another reason for Longmorn’s rarity as a single malt. Richard Montagu Douglas Scott, 10th Duke of Buccleuch and 12th Duke of Queensberry, is the largest private landowner in the United Kingdom. The family seats are Drumlanrig Castle (Dumfries & Galloway) representing the Douglas line, Bowhill House (near Sekirk) representing the Scott line and Boughton House (Northamptonshire) representing the Montagu line. The Buccleuch Dukedom was created in 1663 when Charles II’s eldest illegitimate son, James, Duke of Monmouth, married Ann Scott, 4th Countess of Buccleuch, and it merged with that of Queensberry by inheritance in 1810, along with ownership of Drumlanrig Castle which had been built between 1679 and 1689 for William Douglas, First Duke of Queensberry. The ‘Douglas of Drumlanrig’ range of single cask bottlings, personally endorsed by the Duke of Buccleuch with his signature, are usually released at 46%ABV and aged between ten and twenty years. They are drawn from the extensive stock of whiskies owned by Hunter Laing & Co, a company formed in 2013 following the break up of the long-established family firm, Douglas Laing & Co (founded 1948), and owned by Stewart Laing and his sons, Scott and Andrew.

Old Mast Cask Bunnahabhain 26 Years Old SINGLE ISLAY MALT 50% VOL | 70CL | £200

Pale amber with khaki lights; moderate beading. A mild nosefeel for its strength, lightly nose drying, and a soft, maritime aroma to start, becoming more fragrant (floral air freshener, a suggestion of coconut, beach towels). The texture is mouth-coating and oily; the taste surprisingly smoky after a sweet, slightly salty start. A superb example of the make. Drinks well straight.

J bunnahabhain Bunnahabhain is very lightly peated – although trials with heavily peated malt from Port Ellen Maltings were done in 1997 and since 2003 the distillery’s owners have been producing peated spirit for a couple of months every year, and bottling the whisky as Moine (Gaelic for ‘peat’). When I tasted this example – which has no trace of peat-reek on the nose, but plenty in the mouth – I thought it must be ‘transitional’: made during the weeks between un-peated and heavily peated. Then I noticed the age: distilled around 1990 – well before peated malt was introduced at Bunna – which makes this expression unusual and particularly interesting. Bunnahabhain Distillery was built between 1881 and 1883 by William Robertson of the Glasgow firm of blenders and brokers, Robertson & Baxter, in partnership with Greenlees Brothers of Campbeltown, who owned Hazelburn Distillery and the best-selling blended Scotch of the day, Lorne, and also the now better known Old Parr and Claymore blends. Not surprisingly, given its owners, the distillery was designed to produce whisky for blending, which meant using unpeated or lightly peated malt. The owners went so far as to draw their process water from a spring in the Margadale Hills to the south of the distillery and pipe it down so as to avoid contact with peat. By the 1880s popular taste was moving away from the robust malts of Campbeltown and the pungent Islays, and a very small amount of either will dominate a blend. Non-Scots Scotch drinkers looked for a brandy substitute – remember, thanks to the aphid Phylloxera devastating the vineyards

of France, Cognac was not available, and brandy (with soda) was the drink of the English middle classes. Scotch-and-soda was poised to replace it. Bunnahabhain is the most remote and most northern distillery on Islay. Its construction was not without difficulties: two large boilers were blown off the beach where they were waiting to be fitted during the first winter of building, and as well as a village of cottages, with a school and other facilities, a mile-long road had to be laid up a steep cliff to connect the site with the road to Port Askaig, the nearest village. But once completed it was much admired. Alfred Barnard, the original ‘distillery-bagger’, visited the distillery five years after it went into production and described it as: “A fine pile of buildings in the form of a square and quite enclosed. Entering by the noble gateway one forms an immediate sense of the compactness and symmetrical construction of the work.” William Robertson went on to buy Glen Rothes-Glenlivet Distillery (in 1887) and merge it with Bunnahabhain to form Highland Distilleries, which, with Robertson and Baxter, was re-named The Edrington Group in 1999. Somewhat surprisingly, Bunnahabain Distillery was sold to Burn Stewart Distillers in 2003 for £10 million and is accordingly now owned by the Distell Group of South Africa, owners of Burn Stewart since 2013. This expression is bottled by Hunter Laing in their Old Malt Cask range – limited edition bottlings at 50%ABV, without chill-filtration. Both these factors play an important part in retaining the flavour and texture of the whisky.

Old Mast Cask Craigellachie 20 Years Old SINGLE SPEYSIDE MALT 50% VOL | 70CL | £120

Deep amber in colour – sherrywood maturation (unusual for Craigellachie) – with good beading and thick legs. The first aroma is gently sherried (dry Oloroso), with varnished wood and polished leather in the middle and a thread of smoke in the back (a key-note of this malt). Mouthfilling; a taste of sweet fondant, drying with a suggestion of smoke in the finish.

J craigellachie Craigellachie Distillery was built by two remarkable men: Peter Mackie (see Lagavulin, p.40 for detail about him) and Alexander Edward, the son of a local farmer and distiller who had acquired the lease of Benrinnes Distillery from his father in 1888, when Alexander was 23 years old. The site was chosen on account of its proximity to the Strathspey Railway line, connecting Craigellachie – a hamlet at the time – to Elgin in the north and Aviemore in the south, while a branch line led to Dufftown. Building commenced in 1890, under the direction of Charles Doig of Elgin, the leading distillery designer of the day (and the inventor of the pagoda roofed malt-kiln, known as the ‘Doig Ventillator’) and Craigellachie went into production a year later. That year, Alexander Edward took over and expanded the brick and tile works in Craigellachie village, then went on to take an interest in the Craigellachie Building Company and began to build ‘new villas’, which could be rented out to summer visitors. In 1895 – he was still under thirty years old – he embarked on an even grander scheme: the construction of a substantial hotel which would transform the village from a railway hub into a tourist destination. After some years of decline, I am happy to report that the Craigellachie Hotel – known locally simply as ‘The Craig’ – has recently been completely (and superbly) refurbished under new ownership. Its legendary ‘Quaich Bar’ has also been

greatly expanded and now offers over 700 expressions of malt whisky, some of them very rare. I can recommend it whole-heartedly to readers of Whiskeria! The Banffshire Herald of 31 January 1896, noted: “Mr Edward’s success in having amassed an independent fortune before he was barely entered in his 30s is regarded as a perfect marvel. He is not contented to make his pile by the thousand, but by his potent tact and skill can accomplish this by tens of thousands… Mr Edward is endowed with a most warm and generous heart, showing constant kindness and attention to those under him…” His obituary in The Elgin Courant and Courier of March 5th 1946 states: “Mr Alexander Edward, one of the oldest [he was 80] and best-known distillers in Scotland, died at his home in Morayshire on Monday… A keen sportsman, Mr Edward was passionately fond both of rod and gun, and was noted as a salmon angler and deer stalker. He owned some of the finest beats on the River Spey, and few could throw a line more expertly [Among his friends was Field-Marshal Montgomery, whom he entertained on a fishing holiday prior to the invasion of Europe]….He was also a pioneer of motoring in the North of Scotland and owned one of the first motor cars in Morayshire…” Another newspaper reported in 1905: “Alexander Edwards [sic], described as a gentleman, residing at Sanquhar, Forres, was found guilty of having driven a motor car at an excessive speed on the Perth and Kingussie Road. A fine of £1, with £1 3s of expenses were imposed.”

The Last Drop 50 Year Old ‘Double Matured’ BLENDED SCOTCH WHISKY 51.8% VOL | 70CL + 5CL £3000 The colour of old Madeira, with astonishing beading and viscosity. The nosefeel is mellow, the overall impression luscious; a top note of dried fruits (dates, figs, sultanas), with cherry liqueur chocolate in the middle and a base of wax furniture polish. A thick, oily texture; a rich, sweet taste overall, with marvellous complexity, a very long finish, leaving traces of Friars’ Balsam (ancient cold remedy) and coal smoke, with a tingling sensation, in the aftertaste. A truly phenomenal whisky!

J the last drop The Last Drop Distillers was founded in 2008 by three leading figures in the spirits industry. James Espey O.B.E., the company’s Chairman, was responsible for the launch of The Classic Malts when he was deputy Managing Director of United Distillers, among many other pioneering achievements. Tom Jago created Bailey’s Irish Cream and Johnny Walker Blue Label. Peter Fleck, was responsible for the phenomenal growth of such brands as Chivas Regal and Smirnoff vodka in South Africa. Together the three of them invented Malibu. Some track record! They had been friends and colleagues for years and after retiring from full-time employment, decided to pool their knowledge of fine spirits and contacts in the spirits industry to seek out extremely rare casks of whisky and cognac. Last year the founders were joined by two of their daughters, Beanie Espey (Sales & Marketing Director) and Rebecca Jago (Creative Director), and by Andrew Rankin, former Director of Production at Morrison Bowmore, Mike Keillor, formerly CEO of Morrison Bowmore, and Ben Hawkins, a member of the Royal Household Wine Committee with over 40 years experience in the wine trade. A formidable team! No wonder they describe themselves as ‘The World’s Most Exclusive Spirits Company’! So far the company has released a blended Scotch from 1960, a cognac from 1950, a 50 YO blend, a 48YO blend and a 1967 single malt from Glengarioch Distillery. This, the company’s sixth release, was blended from more than fifty malt and grain whiskies in 1995 – the youngest distilled in 1965 – and filled into

ex-bourbon casks to marry. A batch was bottled at 30YO and sold in Asia, but a relatively small amount was re-racked into seven Spanish oak exsherry hogsheads – and forgotten in a warehouse in Lowland Scotland for a further twenty years. After fifty years maturation, these seven casks have yielded only 898 70cl bottles, all filled by hand at natural strength, without chill-filtration or colour adjustment and presented in a dark green leather case, together with a 5cl miniature (for those who want to taste the whisky, but also want to save the bottle as an investment) and a leatherbound book for tasting notes. Andrew Rankin’s assessment of this rare and ancient blend notes: “A warm aroma of baked orchard fruits, chocolate cherries and rich sherry, with a hint of wood spice and roasted coffee. On the palate the whisky is rich and smooth, with generous dark raisin, star anise and baked plums. The finish is luscious and lingering; red grape and blackcurrant with a subtle overtone of liquorice”. Although I privately score whiskies (out of ten), and encourage any panel I am chairing to do the same, I never go public on my scores. Although I assess around 1,000 samples a year and can be highly critical in my tasting notes, I do not think an individual – even someone as experienced as Robert Parker or Jim Murray – should express their view in such a simplistic way. My scoring tends to be parsimonious. Most samples fall into the 5/6 bracket; 7 is good, 8 excellent. In any years I find only a handful of 9s; 10s are only found in Heaven. This is a 9.5. The best whisky I have tasted this year – so far! 38

Jack Daniel’s 150th TENNESSEE WHISKEY 40% VOL | 70CL | £TBC

Deep amber, thick legs. Mild nosefeel to start, but becomes more spiky; a fragrant top note (night-scented stock, almond oil, hand cream), becoming more oaky, on an ashy/pencil box base. A smooth texture and a sweet taste, with banana, coconut and oak shavings, and vanilla custard in the aftertaste. Water flattens the aroma somewhat; the taste is more fragrant.

J jack daniel's The label tells us this is “A special 86° Proof Old No.7 Tennessee Whisky” and elsewhere, “The year 2016 marks 150 years of the Jack Daniel Distillery, the oldest registered distillery in the United States of America… A tribute to the legacy of whiskey craftsmanship and the birthplace of an American classic”. Let me deconstruct this. First: ‘Proof’. Before hydrometers were invented, the commonest method of ‘proving’ the alcoholic strength of a spirit was to mix it with gunpowder and putting a match to it: the mixture was deemed to be ‘proved’ when it ignited, if it did not do so it was ‘under-proof’. In time, British (Imperial) and American proof came to vary: American proof is simply double the Alcohol by Volume (ABV) present in the liquid – so 100% Vol is 200° US Proof, 43% Vol is 86° Proof, etc – while the Imperial system makes 100%Vol 175° Proof, 43% Vol is 75° Proof. In the United States spirits are still labelled with their proof strength; since 1st January 1980, proof was replaced throughout Europe by ABV. Second: ‘Tennessee Whiskey’. Tennessee whiskey, of which Jack Daniel’s is the leading example, is a bourbon which has been filtered – ‘mellowed’ – through a bed of sugar maple charcoal ten foot deep, known as the ‘Lincoln County Process’. Lynchburg, where the Jack Daniel Distillery is located was in Lincoln County when the eponymous Jack invented the process. The distillery’s master distiller, Jeff Arnett, says: “If you taste the white dog coming off the still [i.e. new make spirit] it’s astringent. After mellowing there’s a different mouthfeel. It’s clean and light”. But the 39

process is expensive and time consuming. Third: ‘Old No. 7’. It is not known for certain how JD Old No. 7 – until recently, the company’s only brand – got its name. One story has it that seven barrels of Jack’s whisky were mislaid, and on their recovery the number seven had been chalked on their sides. The retailer who received the barrels forever asked for ‘that number seven whiskey’, and the name stuck. What is certain is that Jack Daniel’s No.7 whiskey won a gold medal at the Wold Fair at St. Louis, Missouri in 1907, and the brand soon began to be marketed overseas. Jack himself died the following year, from septicaemia contracted when he injured his toe kicking a safe which refused to open. Fourth, ‘150th Anniversary’: Jack Daniel registered his distillery in 1866, the year after the conclusion of the American Civil War, when he was aged twenty. He had learned his trade as a boy when he was staying with a farmer-distiller and Baptist minister, from a slave with the charming name, Nearest Green, who was also the farm’s master distiller, and bought the still in 1860 (when he was fourteen!). It is said that he did a good trade selling his ‘firewater’ to the local populace during the Civil War – although excise duties were reintroduced by President Lincoln in 1862, they were not enforced until the war ended. Jack had just expanded his operation and moved it to Lincoln County, near Lynchburg, in 1866, naming it after himself and applying for a license. It thus became the first registered distillery in the U.S.A. after the Civil War.

Lagavulin 25 Years Old SINGLE ISLAY MALT (NATURAL CASK STRENGTH) 70CL | £799.99 Very deep amber in colour: polished mahogany. A mild nosefeel and an aroma which I can only describe as ‘profound’: mellow, complex – scented wax furniture polish, rosemary, sandalwood, hard toffee – changing all the time. Smooth texture and a sweet and salty taste, with cedarwood elements and a finish of fragrant smoke. Miraculous!

J lagavulin Lagavulin Distillery celebrates the 200th anniversary of its foundation this year, although there were a clutch of unlicensed stills around Lagavulin Bay from the mid-18th century. The bay itself is guarded by Dunyveg Castle, ruinous today, but once the key fortress of the Lords of the Isles, whose fleet of nyvaigs (small galleys of war) was based there. ‘Dunyveg’ means ‘the Fort of the Small Ships’: the sea gate which allowed them to be dragged up within the walls of the castle is still there. ‘Lagavulin’ means ‘the Hollow of the Mill’. After his visit to the distillery in the 1880s, Alfred Barnard wrote in his Whisky Distilleries of the United Kingdom (1887): “There are only a few of the Scotch distilleries that can turn out spirit for use as single whiskies and that made at Lagavulin can claim to be one of the most prominent”. Indeed, it used to be referred to as ‘The Prince of Islays’. Small amounts were bottled at 12 years old by the owner, the Distillers Company Limited (DCL), during the 1970s, but the malt only became legendary after it was chosen by the DCL’s successor, United Distillers (now Diageo) to represent Islay in their ground-breaking Classic Malts collection in 1989, bottled at 16 years. The first 25 years old expression was released in 2002. Demand for this magnificent malt, at any age, far exceeds supply. At the time of Barnard’s visit the distillery was owned by J.L.Mackie & Co, whisky brokers and blenders in Glasgow. In 1890 he was succeeded

as senior partner by his nephew Peter, who had trained at Lagavulin. Described by a contemporary as “one-third genius, one-third megalomaniac, onethird eccentric”, Peter Mackie was one of the leading characters of the whisky industry. He was known as ‘Restless Peter’ and countered all counsels for caution with the words: “Nothing is impossible”. Mackie & Co were the agents for Laphroaig Distillery, next door to Lagavulin, and when, in 1908, Laphroaig wanted to change distributors, Mackie was furious and set about interfering with Laphroaig’s water supply. When it was pointed out to him that this was against the law, he resolved to build another distillery within Lagavulin which would make the same style of malt whisky as their neighbour and damage their market (but see Caperdonich, p.94!). This little distillery was named Malt Mill. It went into production in 1908 and continued until 1962, but never made a whisky to equal Laphroaig. Its make went into blends and the few bottles in existence purporting to be Malt Mill are probably fakes. A (fictional) cask of Malt Mill achieved over £1 million in Ken Loach’s award winning film, The Angels’ Share (2012). Peter Mackie was made a baronet in 1920 and died in 1924, after which Mackie & Co changed its name to White Horse Distillers Ltd., after Sir Peter’s most famous creation. Three years later the company joined DCL.

Ben Riach Peated Quarter Casks

Ben Riach 17 Years Old

SINGLE ISLAY MALT 50% VOL | 70CL | £60

SINGLE SPEYSIDE MALT 50% VOL | 70CL | £TBC PEDRO XIMENEZ SHERRY WOOD FINISH

Full gold with green lights; natural hue. Immediate phenols on the nose – both smoky (smouldering heather) and medicinal (carbolic) – backed by an elusive fruitiness. Mineralic overall. A fine balance of sweet Speyside (ripe pears and nectarines) and peaty tastes which don’t overcome the distillery character. Surprisingly salty, which would confound one in a blind tasting!

A deep natural colour of polished mahogany, the nose-feel is rich, spicy and slightly cooling. Bread and butter pudding, with sultanas and cream, a trace of cedarwood and flaked almonds. The sweet start (dates and figs) is balanced by a lightly tannic and spicy finish, with ash in the warming aftertaste. A little water raises fruit cake and enhances the sweet taste.

J ben riach Benriach Distillery – or BenRiach, as the present owners prefer – was commissioned by John Duff and designed by the leading distillery architect of the day, Charles Doig of Elgin, in 1897. Duff had already built Longmorn Distillery close by in 1893, connected to Benriach by a railway line, and Glenlossie Distillery a quarter of a mile away in 1876. He emigrated to South Africa in 1888, opened a distillery there (which failed), then moved on to the USA where he founded yet another unsuccessful distillery. Alas, his bad luck dogged him. A year after Benriach was commissioned (1898) he was again in financial difficulties, owing to the collapse of the major blending house Pattisons of Leith, and sold the distillery to his partners at Longmorn, who mothballed it, except for its maltings. It remained closed until 1965, at which time it was owned by The Glenlivet Distillers Ltd. The latter was acquired by Seagram of Canada in 1977 and Seagram’s whisky interests passed to Pernod Ricard/Chivas Brothers in 2001. They closed Benriach again, then sold it, in 2004, to a small consortium of three entrepreneurs, led by Billy Walker an extremely able and experienced

distiller who has built a considerable reputation for the brand. Upon acquiring the distillery, the new owners inherited an inventory of almost uninterrupted stock, with the oldest casks dating back to 1965. The vision was to establish BenRiach as a premium, high-quality Speyside malt, while exploring wood finishes and peated variants, of which these are two excellent examples. The BenRiach 17 Years Old, finished in Spainish oak casks which have been seasoned with Perdo Ximenez wine is modestly described on its carton as “an excellent example of the additional qualities ‘finishing’ can bring to a malt whisky”. Indeed it is. Also known simply as PX (and many other variations), Pedro Ximénez is a Spanish white wine grape variety grown in several Spanish wine regions but most notably in the Denominación de Origen (DO) of Montilla-Moriles, in the province of Cordoba, Andalucia, where it has been grown since at least the early 1600s. It is used to produce an intensely sweet, dark, dessert sherry, made by drying the grapes under the hot Southern sun, 41

then making a thick, black liquid, intensely sweet, with a strong taste of raisins. Often this is then fortified and aged in a solera, the same as sherry. Much of it is used to blend with dry Oloroso sherries to create the ‘cream sherries’ so popular with our grandmothers. The casks used by BenRiach have been sourced from Jerez de la Frontera also in Andalucia, the home of sherry, which indeed takes its name from the place. The BenRiach Peated Quarter Cask has been distilled from peated malt and fully matured in quarter casks – i.e. casks holding a quarter of a butt (around 125 litres). Smaller casks have a greater wood-to-liquid ratio, so mature their contents more rapidly. As the bottle label helpfully says: “A smaller cask allows for more interaction between the wood and the spirit which gives the whisky a greater depth of flavor and aroma in a shorter period of time”.

Clan Brewing Golden Ale

Clan Brewing Spruce Ale

CRAFT BEER FINISHED CRAFT BEER FINISHED IN HIGHLAND WHISKY CASKS IN ISLAY WHISKY CASKS 8% VOL | 330ML | £5 8% VOL | 330ML | £5 Bright pale amber; good head. Wax, hops, toffee and over-ripe fruit on the nose. Medium bodied, with a fresh, sweet fruity taste , and a thread of smoke in the finish – a subtle whisky signature – and a fruity aftertaste.

Chestnut, with cherry lights; crémant head. A rich aroma of baked apple, treacle toffee, bitter coffee and dry peat. The Islay influence comes through conspicuously in the taste as peat smoke and salt after a rich sweet start.

Clan Brewing Red Rye Ale

Clan Brewing Imperial Stout

CRAFT BEER FINISHED IN SPEYSIDE WHISKY CASKS 8% VOL | 330ML | £5

CRAFT BEER FINISHED IN LOWLAND WHISKY CASKS 8% VOL | 330ML | £5

Mid amber; fizzy in appearance and mouthfeel. The nose is fresh and rural – grass and leaves, faintly citric (waxy lemon) on a caramel base. Generously hopped, the taste is fresh, sweet and bitter; the whisky influence is not discernable.

Profound black, with a moderate head. The aroma starts with espresso coffee and burnt toast, sweetened by a trace of lemon curd and (over-baked) fruit cake. The texture is lighter than expected, with sweet sherry tastes (derived from the casks) balancing the chocolate malt.

J clan brewing Founded last year, Clan Brewing Company is an off-shoot of The Craft Beer Clan of Scotland, a company which exists to support Scottish brewers taking their products to international markets, starting with Asia, where the directors have outstanding contacts – three of them formerly held senior management positions in Diageo Asia. Currently the Craft Beer Clan is collaborating with forty Scottish breweries, mainly smaller-scale operations, and has formed distribution partnerships in China, Hong Kong, Japan and UAE. The intention is to extend this to the rest of Asia, Europe and South America in the near future. The Clan’s proposition is all about provenance, heritage and flavour – elements which Scotland and its beers are not short of! The current global enthusiasm for craft beers, combined with the high reputation of Scotch whisky, has worked mightily in the company’s favour. Many craft beer enthusiasts – in Asia and elsewhere – are also fond of malt whisky, so it was logical to combine the two and offer a range of premium beers which had been finished in whisky casks. One of the Clan’s directors is Chris Miller,

who has over 20 years experience and was formerly Managing Director of Harvieston Brewery, where he launched the first ever whisky-finished beer, Ola Dubh, in partnership with Highland Park Distillery. The Clan Brewing Company beers have been carefully crafted by Scott Williams of Williams Bros, who is a partner in the CBC venture. After discussion with Chris, Scott devised the recipes for the Clan Brewing Company beers and supervised their production. I was then asked to help source casks from different regions, with varying characteristics. I was looking for vessels which had been well-used – in other words, ‘exhausted’, so they were thoroughly seasoned with whisky – but freshly dis-gorged, so they were not dried out. My friends in the whisky industry have been very supportive, and we are pleased with this first batch of beers. We wanted the whisky influence to be subtle, not intrusive, rounding off the character of the beer and adding depth. The Spruce Ale, finished in ex-Islay casks, shows the most obvious influence: those of you wanting more might think about adding a nip of the appropriate malt whisky. 42

Clan Brewing has adopted the ‘Clanshake’ as its logo (see the bottles’ neck labels). David Moore, one of the Directors, tells me: “Shaking hands is a relic of our ancient past, tracing back to the Roman era. Whenever Celts met under friendly conditions, they would hold their arms out with their palms exposed to show that no weapons were being held or concealed. It is thought that the practice of carrying a concealed dagger of antler in the sleeve was common, so for protection they developed the Lower-Arm-Grasp as a greeting. We adopted this friendly ritual as a gesture of friendship and unity. Our Asian customers love it!”

The W Club – Refreshed At the time of writing, we’re busy putting the final touches to our new incarnation of The WClub… — Money Off at The Whisky Shop —

J the w club As many of you know, THE WHISKY SHOP has been running THE W CLUB successfully for a number of years. And while the maxim “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” certainly applies, we believe that we can create something world leading through improving and expanding on what we already offer. With this in mind we set up some founding principals upon which to relaunch THE W CLUB. We want you to feel a sense of community and belonging. We want you to feel that THE W CLUB offers excellent value. We want to convey how interesting and diverse whisky is via our refreshed services and new products. And lastly (but by no means least) we want THE W CLUB to be universally entertaining for our members, so that whisky fans from all backgrounds can enjoy being a part of it.

Your W Club membership card will also function as an exclusive discount card, offering money off gifts and whiskies both online and in store. Our special offers will be ever-changing, and always exciting, so that THE W CLUB members can discover and enjoy a variety of different whiskies for a little less.

— Whiskeria Magazine —

From this issue onwards Whiskeria is a subscription only magazine. As a W CLUB member you will have a free subscription (cover price £3.49) posted to your home/business address.

— Join A Safari! —

the w club – a new package for members Membership of The W Club will be issue via an annual subscription of £20, which can be purchased at any branch of The Whisky Shop, or at www.whiskyshop.com. There’s also the option to buy membership as a gift – we’ve created a beautiful gift pack that includes a Glencairn whisky tasting glass, Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible, a free dram and the all important Club membership card.

We’ll send you regular invitations to upgrade to our Dram-a-Month subscription and THE W CLUB Safaris. Sign up for the Dram-a-Month subscription and look forward to a 5cl sample of whisky through the post each month. The essence of this subscription is the element of surprise! THE W CLUB Safaris will introduce you to some famous whiskies, some that are lesser known, and a few truly rare beasts too. Safaris will vary in length, theme, and region, letting you find the perfect option to complement your tastes and lifestyle – or the perfect gift for a fellow whisky enthusiast. We’ll be adding more options to the range over time, so there’ll always be something new to discover!

the benefits of the w club membership will include:

— Whisky Tastings —

For those who prefer their whisky drinking experience to be more social – or anyone interested in learning more about our favourite spirit – you’ll be pleased to hear that The W Club members will continue to receive regular invitations to free whisky tastings from their local branch of THE WHISKY SHOP.

— Members Only Whiskies —

As THE W CLUB grows in size, we'll release whiskies available only to members. From barrel to bottle, and from first sip to the first reviews, these whiskies will be true exclusives. Bottlings will be decided by a tasting panel, which you may very well be invited to join!

— Share Your W Club Experience —

Our brand new members-only website will provide a forum for you to exchange opinions and engage with THE W CLUB community. Or, if you simply want to sit back, pour yourself a dram and enjoy the latest copy of Whiskeria – uninterrupted – then you can do that too! Visit www.thewclub.co.uk, or connect with @mywclub on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to get involved!

— What else? —

We’ve not even touched on the exclusive members only competitions, or priority notice on selected limited edition releases!

To find out everything you need to know and sign up to THE W CLUB for just £20 a year, visit: www.thewclub.co.uk

My Whiskeria

| Whiskeria Autumn 2016 |

Nina Conti — In her own words

Ahead of her highly anticipated Edinburgh Festival Fringe residency this year, we caught up with the UK’s foremost ventriloquist and multi award-winning comedian to find out what makes her, and her lewd companion Monkey, tick. —

Photography: Brian Sweeney Assistant: Jonni MUA: Suzanne Smith Shot on location at Hornsey Town Hall Arts Centre, Crouch End, London With thanks to Nina's publicist Madelaine Bennett

My Whiskeria

| Whiskeria Autumn 2016 |

W“I think I can make

things that are funny, but in terms of being funny… I only would think I am because everyone is, in some ways, funny… …I did clown courses and it’s all about forgetting who I am… That's what liberates you”

being an exalted thought – a projected thought without much conscience. Then the effacement follows it. So you throw a thought out, then then you wonder if there's any truth in it. Or you pick it apart. I guess that is very much what I'm doing with Monkey; he's throwing out something that I haven’t thought through, and it's up to me to make sense of it. Having said that, I never heard the words ekstasis and effacement the whole time I was studying philosophy… So, Nina, dod you feel like you ‘belonged’ on When I arrived to read history they gave the stage from a young age? me a bunch of books that just seemed so heavy I thought [the stage] was where I belonged, going. The biggest opposite to a page turner! but I think I was wrong…for the longest time. Then I visited a lecture of a philosopher who I have a traumatic memory of singing a song had his shoes off, his trousers rolled up to his from my dad's musical at school assembly. I was knees, and he was talking about moral choices probably about 7 – I don't know how I did it! I having absolutely no ground in anything factual, can't sing in public now… I can sing through the and how everything was totally arbitrary. monkey, but I'm ashamed to sing with my own Everything was up for question. And he was face. You'll never catch me doing karaoke. so funny! I just thought, "this is a far more When I was younger I was following in the exciting way of thinking". [Philosophy] makes footsteps without any sort of self-awareness. you objective to a point of wit really, I think. So I left school and went to university, because I thought [drama school] was just a bit too The Times recently called you “devastatingly unoriginal. witty”. Was it around that time in uni that you realised you’re funny? You’ve described your dad’s style of acting as God, I still don't think I'm funny. I mean, I ‘contained’. Do you think that influenced your know I can make people laugh. I think I can decision to project characters onto something, make things that are funny, but in terms of or someone, else? being funny… I only would think I am because My dad has always talked about being real, everyone is, in some ways, funny. and acting as pretending. He's got rather a reductive view of it. Perhaps your dad’s theory of ‘real’ and So I guess I've used that idea of the ‘real’ and ‘pretend’ comes in there? ‘pretend’ in my ventriloquism to make it more When I met Ken Campbell [theatrical icon, palatable. There's already so much to ask people Nina’s long-time mentor and former lover] I to believe in – a talking, fluffy toy – so you don't realised, yes, I could be funny. I could be funny want to be hoking it up on top of that. Then it in character. But as me? No, not really that becomes alienating. much. I’m not really bold enough to be a clown in my own right. You took a degree in philosophy rather than I did clown courses and it’s all about going to drama school – did that experience forgetting who I am… That's what liberates influence you? you; everything I do has been linked into that. I think so. I recently went to get an honour That's why I'm so excited by improvising, and from my university, and the philosophy using other people on the stage, narrating from department gave a speech before that was their experience. trying to bash those two ideas together – why Those constraints have led to all this other the ventriloquism came from philosophy. They creativity elsewhere – creativity I wouldn't spoke about ekstasis and effacement; ekstasis Daughter of Academy and Tony Award-winning Scottish actor Tom Conti, and Scottish actor Kara Wilson, it’s fair to say performance is in Nina’s blood. But that’s not to say she’s fallen into a family tradition. With (quite literally) a handful of wellloved characters regularly joining her on stage and TV, plus forays into the world of improv, and unique shows that put her audience firmly on the spotlight, Nina has proven herself a distinctively different performer in her own right.

have if I didn't have my own shyness and peccadillos to thank. Do you feel like Edinburgh is a second home? You're a bit of a festival veteran… I've been going to comedy shows there since I was 11. Really only ever as a punter – never with it in mind that I would join that group of people. It's where my grandparents lived, so I really like it. We also have Scottish roots, and have to ask: what's your favourite dram…? I like Laphroaig because it makes your mouth feel like it's on fire. It's very cosy. Jura I like too. And I have family on Arran – I like the whisky they make there. What about Monkey – is he partial to a drink, or even allowed one? The only time Monkey could ever be under the influence is if I'm doing a gig – like in Edinburgh – where there's a few in a row, and you kind of think, “Oh I'll start having a drink before the last one”. He does get very relaxed, vicariously, and I probably get more giggly than usual. He's loose tongued anyway though! That's the whole point of him. Your upcoming show is all about audience participation, giving randomly chosen people masks that you control. Where did that evolve from? It evolved from a short act that I was doing, initially with a stooge; I would pretended I'd just met him. He couldn't come one night and I thought it would probably be alright if I used a ‘real’ person. And it turned out to be far, far funnier. This real person was doing things I wasn't expecting, and making me say things I wasn't expecting! The masks are great – so imaginative! The masks are are fantastic. We're just getting ten really exciting new ones made by Jonathan Saville at the Trestle Theatre Company who did the Spitting Image puppets.

| Whiskeria Autumn 2016 |

My Whiskeria

W“I can't sing in public now…

I can sing through the monkey, but I'm ashamed to sing with my own face… … I guess that is very much what I'm doing with Monkey; he's throwing out something that I haven’t thought through, and it's up to me to make sense of it.”

Do you have a big part in the design? I really like to rely on happenstance. I don't like to ask for something very specific then have it made bespoke for me, because I might think, “I've made a bad thing I don't want to use!”. When something is a surprise or a lucky accident, then I'm really grateful!

What about outside of work – are your puppets part of the family? Monkey is very much a playmate and kind of imaginary friend of my son. He likes to invite Monkey into the game. And Monkey – like any grown up – is different with kids! It's really sweet how much Drummond [my son] likes Monkey, and I have to honour that relationship What about Monkey, where did he come from? as something slightly separate. He's an accident – just a Woolworth's toy I remember we were in New York in the that was discontinued in the 90s… I was living back of a hot taxi once and Drummond was with an actor and his mum had bought him it. screaming; I just started doing Monkey's voice I picked him up and the first thing I ever did and it stopped. It's a very useful parenting tool, with Monkey was make him hump something. the puppet. This was before I even became a ventriloquist. I started learning ventriloquism and Are your kids getting into ventriloquism too? then I found the monkey again. It was like, Drummond does it – he's hilarious! I've got “Ah, it's that hilarious monkey that does the some funny videos of him mouthing and I have humping thing! Oh my God, I can make to fit the words in. That's now our party piece; him talk!”. All accidental. we made a speech at my mum's birthday like that. He just loves it! Does that mean there are people up and down And he's learnt how to do ventriloquism, the country who have Monkey's siblings? too. He's very sweet. He talks like that [strains Yes there are – they come to my shows mouth] and when he does it he puts his hand sometimes! They sit on someone's lap in like he's doing a duck face. And he puts it right the front row. up in your face! So you can't really see if his mouth is moving or not… You’ve come a long way since accidentally discovering your primate companion, You’ll be back at Edinburgh’s Pleasance and have won a lot of awards in that time. Courtyard this August. When you’re not on Was there one that made you think, stage, where will we find you? “I've made it!”? I like The Witchery and I like Spoon. I I don't know – they're silly things in a way. take a while to get out of the Courtyard if I'm They are nice to get, but also it comes with a playing there, but once I do I like the circus bar sort of agonising of whether you should've got it that's there for the festival. – because it's not something you've been trying to build for. Catch Nina Conti: In Your Face at: One award I liked getting was the BBC O The Grand – Pleasance Courtyard – Edinburgh New Comedy Award. I did a 7-minute act of Festival Fringe from 3rd–29th August Monkey humping a pint glass. Because I had O London Criterion Theatre been through heats, when I won it felt like, "Oh from 7th–17th September, wow, that was fulfilling!". I remember making O On her subsequent national tour which such a boring speech immediately after. I was runs until the end of November absolutely sure I was not going to win, so I O Find your local show at hadn't thought of anything to say! http://www.ninaconti.net/live

Knowledge Bar

Edinburgh Festival Whisky for Dummies a The Whisky Bar in The Bunker at The Pleasance Courtyard – the best place to sip a single malt before Nina's show. a Gilded Balloon Teviot – home to a brand new whisky bar for the 2016 Festival season a Whiski Rooms – 300+ single malts to tickle your taste buds after your funny bone’s been tickled! a The Voodoo Rooms – crackin’ whisky cocktails and much more to discover in a genuine old gin palace (see p.86) a The Bow Bar – in their words ‘pies, pints and malts in a calm cosy pub’. Just the ticket for Fringe escapism a Usquabae – sip the water of life beneath the hustle and bustle of Edinburgh at this underground specialist whisky bar a Teuchters Landing – lose the crowd and head to the shore for a dram overlooking the famous Water of Leith a Kilderkin – handily located at the foot of the Royal Mile, this is the spot for local blether and local booze! a Visit tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on to discover a whole programme of whisky- themed Fringe shows to satisfy your thirst

| Whiskeria Autumn 2016 |

My Whiskeria

Wâ&#x20AC;&#x153;When something is a surprise or a lucky accident, then I'm really grateful!â&#x20AC;?

Wellington Distilleries — Claire Bell explores South Africa’s vibrant craft distilling scene, where Gallic and Gaelic influences abound. —

Travel

| Whiskeria Autumn 2016 |

Photography: Claire Bell

J Island whisky fans might notice something familiar about the copper stills under the pagoda roof at Africa’s only commercial whisky distillery. “I fell in love with Islay, the people and the place,” says Andy Watts, master distiller at the James Sedgwick Distillery, which makes both blended Bains Cape Mountain whisky and the Three Ships blends and single malts. Until 1989, the South African distillery produced its uisghe beatha in brandy stills on a small Stellenbosch farm. But when they moved to a new site in Wellington in the heart of the Cape winelands, Watts took over as master distiller and used the opportunity to commission the stills of his dreams – replicas of those at Morrison’s Bowmore on the Scottish island of Islay. It was at Bowmore, under the tutelage of the legendary Jim McEwan that Watts learned his craft, and in 1992, in a nod to his inspiration, Watts released his first smoky whisky, the Three Ships 5-year-old, “best served with blue cheese” he advises from the distillery tasting room, which will be open to the public, by appointment, from early 2017. Watts himself is a cultural import. A Yorkshireman by birth, he played cricket professionally for Derbyshire before coming to South Africa to coach the sport in 1982. It was in South Africa that he fell in love with an Afrikaans woman and the Scottish dram. Thirty-four years later, he is still enamoured with both, and in 2016 was voted Master Distiller/Blender of the Year

in the ‘Rest of World’ category by Whisky Magazine, Wellington is a bustling farming town, where you are just as likely to get stuck behind a tractor as a tourist. Flanked on the east by the silent jagged sentinels of the Hawequa Mountains and to the north by the Bainskloof Pass, it is a town that has had a long association with Scotland. In 1854, Scottish engineer Andrew Geddes Bain used convict labour to build this 30-kilometre mountain pass – now a national monument – which connects the wine-growing valleys to the fruit valleys of the north. This narrow road, full of bends and overhangs, cuts through honeyscented fynbos and craggy limestone rocks where baboons, klipspringer deer, dassies, mongoose, porcupine and the

Wâ&#x20AC;&#x153;Whisky has now overtaken brandy as the biggest selling spirit in South Africa.â&#x20AC;?

Travel

| Whiskeria Autumn 2016 |

W“We are in an era

where style, not age matters. We might not have a 50-year-tradition of whisky making, but that doesn’t hold us back.”

rare caracal hold court. The land up high is designated as nature reserves, and to pass through feels as if you have gone back in time to when ox wagons creaked their way into the hinterlands. Back in the Bovlei valley, life is just as seductive. Cut through by the Berg River – the source of the distillery’s water – it is here that almost 90% of the country’s vines are grown in vine-cutting nurseries, before being transported to neighbouring valleys for planting. Beautiful Cape Dutch farmhouses, with their fanciful white gables, dapple the dense green vinelands. Summers here are hot and dry with daily temperatures of up to 35°C, which for whisky making, brings its own challenges and advantages. Whereas the angels’ share in Scotland averages 1–2% a year, in Wellington, the winged creatures soak up 4–5% of annual production. “It means our whiskies are smoother than their years,” says Watts. “The heat accelerates the maturation process so it gives them a sense of being older at a younger age.” Smooth and sweet whiskies are the favourite of the South African palate. When the country opened up to the world in 1994 with the dawn of democracy, Watts noted that the two most popular whiskies were “smooth Jameson’s” and “sweet and oily Jack Daniels”. “The new whisky drinkers are black, young and female. They prefer smooth and sweet whiskies. They have a different palate to the older white male,” says Watts. Whisky has now overtaken brandy as the

biggest selling spirit in South Africa. As a master distiller, Watts views this growing market with its constantly evolving palate as an opportunity and an inspiration. “People ask me how I can stay in the same job for 25 years, but every year is different. We are in an era where the whisky drinking public is not afraid to try different drams from different countries. We are in an era where style, not age matters. We might not have a 50-year-tradition of whisky making, but that doesn’t hold us back. Rather because we are not tied to a past, it means we can innovate” he says. While Watts might be the most famous distiller in the Wellington valley, he is not the only local with a passion for distillation. Working out of a cobwebbed wooden shed in the grounds of Versailles, one of the area’s oldest farms, is Roger Jorgensen, the self-described “granddaddy of the artisan spirit revolution”. During the 1960s, the apartheid government outlawed independent pot stills and revoked all independent distillation licenses. Distillation became the sole right of the government-owned KWV which produced vats of sugary sweet brandy which the nation learnt to drink with Coke. “The monopoly meant that South Africa missed out on having a diverse, rich brandy industry,” says Jorgensen. When democracy came in 1994, Jorgensen and wine-maker Sydney Back challenged the out-dated legislation, arguing that it was their

Knowledge Bar

Wellington Distillery a Wellington is 45 minutes drive from Cape Town. a Rooms at Oude Wellington start from £45 per night, www.kapwein.com, booking at the restaurant is advised (+27 21 873 1008). a Visits to James Sedgwick Distillery, The Still Man (+27 21 864 1777) and Fisantekuil (+27 21 864 1184) are all by appointment.

constitutional right to distil. They won. “We paved the way for the artisanal revolution in spirit making. I’m the alchemist” winks Jorgensen, inviting me into his dusty shed where, surrounded by piles of African juniper berries, oris root, wild sage, angelica, liquorice and coriander, he conjures up boutique batches of gin, brandy and vodka, which he sells online (www.jd7.co.za) and out of his kitchen, under the label ‘The Still Man’. “I don’t have aspirations to be a big brand. When I go to your village, I want to taste what you make. I don’t want my gins in every store” he says. From his shaded veranda, overlooking rolling fields of vines, Jorgensen welcomes visitors, by appointment, to taste his artisanal concoctions. He is most proud of his Brandy Savingnac, which uses wine as its base spirit, and the Rooibos gin liqueur, made from the tea bush which is unique to the Western Cape, refusing to grow anywhere else on the planet. On the opposite side of the Bovlei valley is a fellow spiritual concocter. Out of an 18th century stone outbuilding at the Fisantekuil Organic Farm, Edmund Oettle makes artisanal brandy in a handbuilt 800-litre copper still. “I taught myself to weld so I could build the still. In 1998 I couldn’t afford a R100,000 (£5,000) for an imported still from France, so I built this one for a tenth of the price.”

Oettle’s distillation is unique in South Africa in that he uses the cognac method of continuing to distil the head and the tail during the double distillation. “It’s not an easy recipe to crack, it takes a lot of power and a lot of time, but it means you get the flavour” says Oettle who admits that it took him years to learn the secrets of brandy making. “The cognac industry is a closed book. The secrets that have been leaked out, have leaked out by accident” he says, commenting that he gets a thrill whenever French visitors taste his caskstrength brandy – the only one of its kind in South Africa – and look at him with a mixture of disbelief and amazement, demanding to know how he worked out the secret. Oettle only bottles 5–15 barrels each year, and in a dusty warehouse at the back of the farm, thousands more litres of brandy wait their turn. “We have to pay R50 in excise for every bottle, before we sell it. As a small producer, I can’t afford to bottle more than 2000 a year. I see making brandy like planting trees. I might never realise the value from this stock, it might be my grandchildren, it doesn’t matter. I do things that are good for the community, for the planet, and for our health and wellbeing.” At the foot of the Bain’s Kloof Pass, are a few more souls inspired by the potential of artisanal spirits. John and Susanna are the chef team at Oude Wellington, a wine and brandy estate. 57

“Brandy gives flavour upliftment” says Susanna of their menu which includes brandy ice-cream, brandy-infused creamy lobster, and their piece de resistance, a beef fillet rolled in cracked black pepper and flambéd with the 3-year-old Schumacher artisanal brandy, made by Oude Wellington’s owner, Rolf Schumacher. A former dentist, Schumacher retired from Germany to South Africa in 1995 with the dream of owning a wine farm. When he bought Oude Wellington, it was a ruin, which he lovingly restored over many years, filling it with antiques and treasures from his life and past experiences. Schumacher began making brandy when, in the late Nineties, the demand for the Claret Blanc and Chenin Blanc grapes that grew on his land dropped, and he had to find something else to do with his annual crop. “It was born out of necessity, but it has become a passion. As a small producer you have the freedom to produce what you like. Here you can find your soul.”

Autumn 2016 Whisky Shop Exclusives / 60 Jura / 62 The Dalmore / 63 Hunter Laing / 64 Glen Scotia / 66 Togouchi / 67 Bruichladdich / 68 THE LOCH FYNE / 69 Glenkeir Treasures / 70 Customer Favourites / 71 Gift Sets / 78 THE WHISKY SHOP Directory / 80

Whisky Shop Exclusives

Ladyburn 1974

We’re proud to stock a selection of whiskies you simply can’t buy anywhere else. From limited edition bottlings, to old and rare whiskies, single malts to singularly superb blends, these are the whiskies that only THE WHISKY SHOP customers can buy.

What is it? Ladyburn was one of Scotland’s shortest-lived distilleries, having produced malt whisky for less than a decade between 1966 and 1975 – that means its whiskies are incredibly rare and very sought after! Fortunately for you, we acquired one of the last remaining Ladyburn casks; filled in 1974 and aged in the warehouses at Girvan until its 40th birthday on 21st November 2014, Cask 89/199 No.74 has produced only 157 bottles.

– 48.6% VOL | 70CL | £2,500

Glenfiddich Rare Collection 1992 Single Cask

– 56.3% VOL | 70CL | £1,200

What’s it like? Hailing from one of the most technologically advanced distilleries that Scotland – and indeed the world – has ever seen, comes a whisky that does bold flavour in truly elegant style. Despite its high-tech origins and thorough purification, Ladyburn whisky is characterized by an oily texture. This is complemented by rich prune, bold oak, leather and orange, with a floral element reminiscent of carnations present too. Truly exceptional.

What is it? Single cask bottlings don’t crop up that often from this famous distillery – and that makes them even more desirable! Selected by The Whisky Shop team and one lucky customer alongside Glenfiddich Malt Master Brian Kinsman, this whisky comes from a refill bourbon cask filled on 13th March 1992, the year that THE WHISKY SHOP was founded. The very first cask to be released from the Glenfiddich Rare Collection, it is limited to just 200 bottles.making it very desirable indeed! What’s it like? The Rare Collection whiskies are from casks specially chosen for displaying the seductive aromas and characteristics typical of older Glenfiddich single malts. Bottled at 55.6% ABV, this whisky certainly shows off the distillery character, boastings lots of orchard fruits including apples, pears, plums and even a little citrus, with just a hint of oak and spice.

Glen Garioch 1978

– 51.7% VOL | 70CL | £485

What is it? This whisky hails from Glen Garioch’s glory days, when it was just as famous for its tasty tomatoes as its delicious whisky thanks to an innovative greenhouse project that gained BBC Scotland coverage ingeniously recycling distillery energy. Non-chill filtered and bottled at cask strength, this expression comes from North American Oak, Cask No. 11000, quietly matured at Glen Garioch Distillery from 1978 until we hand selected it in 2011. What’s it like? An extremely sophisticated dram with a distinct Speyside character and moreish nature. Lashings of juicy fresh fruit are joined by depth of flavour from a handful of dried fruits too, all married with vanilla thanks to the long maturation in American oak. A thoroughly enjoyable dram that collectors may not be able to resist opening!

Glenfarclas 1994 THE WHISKY SHOP Exclusive – 43% VOL | 70CL | £84

What is it? A Liquid Gold Award-winning powerhouse from Glenfarclas Distillery’s highly coveted collection! Bottled exclusively for The Whisky Shop and limited to just 12000 bottles, we’re now down to our last few. Because of its extremely reduced availability, we’re rationing this expression to one per-customer. That way, we can distribute the utter joy of drinking it as best we can! What’s it like? Official tasting notes from Jim Murray’s 2016 Whisky Bible, distilled into bite-size form: (nose) an intense layering of rich sultanas and dessert-type wine; the cleanest, juiciest grape on the vine; waves of toasty oak; a few sharper sauternes and marmalade notes. (palate) dries and bitters; spices move in… while the cocoa and vanilla mops up the rest; not far off God’s gift to present day sherried malt whisky…

Jura With its diverse landscapes, wealth of local legend and a curiously tightknit community (there’s just one pub, one road and one distillery on the whole island), Jura is a truly unique location despite its proximity to Islay. Resurrected in 1963 on the site of the original 1810 building, Jura Distillery uses blessed waters to create an unconventional portfolio of whiskies as diverse as the wild Western Isle they originate from.

Jura Tastival 2016 – 52% VOL | 70CL | £85

What is it? Inspired by Islay’s annual festival of music and malt, Jura decided to introduce its own simultaneous celebration, Jura Tastival, in 2014. Each year since they’ve produced a special bottling to mark the occasion. This limited edition from the Jura Distillery is non chill-filtered, bottled at a natural strength of 51% ABV, and presented in a distinctive carton featuring a design chosen by Jura fans themselves. What’s it like? An Island Single Malt created in a special triple sherry assemblage. Marrying liquid from an 11 year old Palomino Fino cask, a 15 year old Oloroso Amoroso sherry cask, and a 30 year old Oloroso Apostoles sherry cask, it promises luscious toffee apple, vanilla and warming ginger.

Jura 16 Diaurach’s Own

Jura 21

What is it? Jura in Gaelic is Diùrai, and its residents Diùrach. Jura’s 16 year takes the name Diùrach’s Own in honour of the locals – and just like them it is full of character! With the Diùrach’s stamp of approval, this dram has been matured in both American white oak and exAmoroso Oloroso sherry casks; it certainly deserves the honour.

What is it? Complete with presentation box and even its own display plinth, this Jura single malt whisky was bottled in honour of the distillery’s 200th anniversary in 2010. Long maturation in vintage casks – 21 years to be precise – gives this now-discontinued whisky a fantastic quality.

– 40% VOL | 70CL | £56

What’s it like? Following 14 years in American white oak followed by two in exAmoroso Oloroso sherry casks, this full-bodied malt boasts an abundance of rich dried fruits, candied peel and lashings of dark chocolate accompanied by a touch of Christmas spice. The intense cocoa flavour lingers on the finish, accompanied by hints of toasted oak.

– 43% VOL | 70CL | £140

What’s it like? Well-aged, this dram is pleasingly fragrant on the nose and full toffee, vanilla and fudge notes. There are honeyed tones too, and upon tasting Christmas cake and stewed fruits with winter spices really shine through. The finish is of medium-length with a touch of dry oak.

The Dalmore Established around the best natural resources in 1839 by pioneer Alexander Matheson, The Dalmore has forged its own path from the very beginning. Its unmistakable stag emblem is house crest of Clan Mackenzie, who bestowed it upon the distillery along with an unwavering passion for courageous distilling when they took control in 1867. Since then, generations of distillers have upheld the tradition; most recently with legend Richard Paterson at the creative helm.

The Dalmore 15 Year Old

The Dalmore 12 Year Old

The Dalmore Cigar Malt

What is it? Launched in 2007, The Dalmore’s 15 year old single malt is one of the most popular expressions in their core range. It spends 12 years maturing in American white oak ex-bourbon casks, then a further three finishing in a trio of different sherry woods – Amoroso, Apostoles and Matusalem Oloroso.

What is it? Previously The Whisky Shop malt of the year, The Dalmore12 Year Old is an all-time favourite of ours, and of whisky drinkers across the globe. A classic, muscular Highland single malt in style, this whisky shows clear evidence of its sherry-wood maturation and is a cornerstone of The Dalmore’s core range.

What’s it like? Robust yet elegant in spirit, The Dalmore 15 Year Old has a terrific chocolate orange nose with some winter spices and the merest hint of sherry. Orange zest and chocolate develop on the palate, and a gentle spice is detectable too. The finish is equally as rich with malt and coffee flavours.

What’s it like? The attractively perfumed nose proffers sweet malt, thick cut orange marmalade, sherry and a hint of leather. Put simply, it is a brilliant dram; full-bodied, with sweetening sherry and spice on the palate balanced by delicate citrus notes. The finish is lusciously long and warming, with spice, ginger, lingering Seville oranges and the merest suggestion of vanilla.

What is it? Characterful and beautifully structured, this whisky was designed as the perfect accompaniment to a fine cigar. A full-bodied single malt, it’s the impressive result of a judicious selection of aged stocks, drawn from casks of three types: American white oak ex-bourbon casks, 30 year old Matusalem Oloroso sherry butts and Premier Cru Cabernet Sauvignon wine barriques.

– 40% VOL | 70CL | £85

– 40% VOL | 70CL | £50

– 44% VOL | 70CL | £80

What’s it like? Indulgent from the outset, rich caramel and shortcake biscuits come through on the nose. These develop into a caramel explosion on the palate, with hints of charred orange peel, chocolate and even a touch of cigar leaf with perfectly balanced sherry tones. The moreish finish is clean, rich and as memorable as an exquisite cigar.

Hunter Laing

The Sovereign Invergordon 50 Year Old

Douglas of Drumlanrig Dailuaine 9 Year Old

What is it? Aged for an astonishing 50 years and bottled at 50% ABV cask strength, this addition to The Sovereign range is a whisky to take your time over. Aged in a refilled hogshead for half a century, this single grain Scotch is as pure as it gets: non-chill filtered and with no artificial colouring.

What is it? A single malt whisky from Speyside’s Dailuaine distillery (pronounced Dall-YEWan), belonging to the range given a superior seal of approval by the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry. Distilled in 2004, it has matured in an ex-sherry butt for 9 years before being bottled in July 2014. Only 773 of this rare Speyside expression exist, so at this price you’d be a fool to miss out on one!

– 50% VOL | 70CL | £845

Hunter Laing define themselves as blenders and bottlers of the finest Scotch whiskies and we couldn’t agree more. From their Old Malt Cask range of single cask bottlings, to the Platinum Old & Rare range of the most remarkable single malts on the market, and the Douglas of Drumlanrig collection personally endorsed by the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry, it’s evident that three generations of sourcing the finest Scottish liquid has furnished them with unparalleled expertise.

What’s it like? The nose is sweet and mellow with notes of vanilla, sherbet and buttery shortbread. Aspects of dark chocolate and vanilla are brought to life on the palate with effervescent fruit flavours. The finish is long and dry with sweet fruits and a hint of oak. Read more about this expression in the Expert Tasting section on page 94.

– 46% VOL | 70CL | £57

What’s it like? A relatively youthful and fresh whisky, the Dailuaine 9 Year Old offers up butterscotch lifted by citrus on the nose. The palate develops to vanilla sweetness from the liquid’s time in sherry casks, and this is lent a degree of complexity by an assortment of cereal flavours. Off-dry on the finish, this expression offers a pleasingly nutty aftertaste.

The Old Malt Cask Craigellachie 20 Year Old

First Editions Allt-à-Bhainne 1993

Douglas of Drumlanrig The Old Malt Cask Longmorn Bunnahabhain 12 Year Old 26 Year Old – 46% VOL | 70CL | £78

– 50% VOL | 70CL | £200

What is it? This 20 year old expression was distilled in 1995 and matured in a top-quality sherry butt at Speyside’s curiously old-fashioned Craigellachie Distillery. This has imparted a rich and complex flavour profile to the liquid, further enhanced by bottling at 50% ABV for real impact. Only 543 bottles were created – we highly recommend snapping one up before they’re all gone!

What is it? Drawn from a single bourbon barrel following a 22 year maturation, this whisky was bottled in 2015 at a bold 51.4% ABV. It’s an incredibly rare expression from Allt-à-Bhainne distillery, which draws its waters from the towering Ben Rinnes mountain range and is a major contributor to the famed Chivas blends. So rare, in fact, that only 177 bottles have, and will ever, exist.

What is it? Longmorn Distillery was founded in 1893 by the former Glendronach manager, and endured a tumultuous history before joining the Pernod Ricard family in recent times. Thankfully, the past hasn’t impacted Longmorn’s ability to create truly excellent whiskies such as this delicious 20 year old, drawn from a refill barrel and bottled at 46% ABV in 2016. Like many Hunter Laing whiskies, it’s a limited release with only 376 bottles ever produced.

What is it? A single cask expression of Bunnahabhain Islay single malt from Hunter Laing's Old Malt Cask range. This whisky has been aged for an impressive 26 years in a refill hogshead, and bottled at a preferred strength of 50% ABV. Non chill-filtered and with no artificial colouring, it’s a superb example of whisky from Islay’s convention-defying distillery.

– 50% VOL | 70CL | £120

What’s it like? A powerful dram with a distinctly sweet-yet-spicy character following a couple of decades in ex-sherry wood. The richness of ripe fruits and sticky caramel is balanced by a distinctly spicy layer, and there’s also a hint of highlighting citrus peel.

– 51.4% VOL | 70CL | £160

What’s it like? Think of Speyside in spring, and you’re about there; vanilla from the bourbon cask marries perfectly with juicy stewed apples and a suggestion of newly-blossoming flowers. The soft and creamy mouthfeel is complemented by a definite suggestion of stewed rhubarb, with liquorice and oak coming through after time.

What’s it like? A rich and complex whisky with an abundance of fresh fruit flavour including distinctive lemon zest. The citrus and juiciness is optimally balanced by a gentle yet unmissable spiciness, all building towards a satisfyingly sweet finish with a lick of caramel to leave you wanting more.

What’s it like? Not your typical Islay whisky; this Bunnahabhain promises a surprising cacophony of indulgently delicate characteristics for its age. The nose is sweet with sticky toffee, green apples and vanilla. On the palate, there’s unctuous caramel shortbread and rich chocolate orange. The finish is long and lingering with a lasting oak influence.

Glen Scotia Distilling in the Kintyre Peninsula dates back to 1609, but Campbeltown as we know it – along with the Glen Scotia Distillery – wasn’t founded until 1832. Still retaining the original 1830’s fermenters, dunnage warehouse and still room, the distillery helped define the famous Campbeltown style with its peated and unpeated whiskies.

Glen Scotia 15 Year Old

Glen Scotia Double Cask

Glen Scotia Victoriana

What is it? Glen Scotia’s 15 year old expression is part of the distillery’s core range and a classic Campbeltown single malt – complex and satisfyingly intense. Matured for 15 years in the finest hand-chosen American oak barrels, this whisky has been non-chill filtered, allowing you to experience its bold Campbeltown character to full effect.

What is it? Glen Scotia whiskies are known for displaying a curious combination of vanilla-oak and drying sea spray notes. Matured in both first-fill bourbon barrels and Pedro Ximenez casks, this powerful Campbeltown creation brings new depth to the distillery’s signature flavour profile, with bold fruit and spice added to the mix. A truly outstanding single malt.

What’s it like? Rich in colour with corresponding sweetness and depth on the nose, this whisky promises a broad portfolio of aromas including citrus peel, ginger snaps, apricots, and fruit salad. As these mellow, the woody notes gradually come to the fore. The palate surprises with an initial dryness that plumps-out as the nose fades. Add water to enhance caramel notes and balance the distinct woody flavour.

What’s it like? Amber-coloured, Glen Scotia Double Cask begins with lashings of crème caramel, sweet fruit, wood sugar, toffee and fudge on the nose with orchard fruit highlights. Charred bourbon and a pleasing dusty dryness develop over time. Likewise, the palate is sweet to start with a tongue-tingling sensation and the characteristic Glen Scotia saltydryness giving it a wee lift before a deep, dark finish.

What is it? This expression pays homage to Glen Scotia’s halcyon days in the Victorian era, when Campbeltown was regarded as the whisky producing capital of the world. Designed to reflect traditional Victorian values, this whisky is bottled un-filtered at 51.5% cask strength from barrels chosen for their rare character and exceptional maturity. The liquid is finished in charred oak to produce a magnificently nostalgic dram.

– 46% VOL | 70CL | £60

– 46% VOL | 70CL | £43

– 51.5% VOL | 70CL | £80

What’s it like? Dark and moody, the Victoriana is elegant on the nose, which is primarily oak-driven with crème brûlée, caramelized fruits and freshly-polished wood coming through. Full-bodied (just like Queen Vic herself…) it is sweet and concentrated to start with a jammy, blackcurrant-lead fruitiness. The finish is mildly smoky and clean, with green bean notes and cocoa.

Togouchi Named after the town where it is made, Togouchi whisky lays claim to some of the most unusual, and technical, origins in the distilling industry. Matured in a never-used railway tunnel kept at a precise 14ºC and 80% humidity, these whiskies use Canadian grain and Scottish malt for a truly individual finish.

Togouchi 12 Year Old

Togouchi 18 Year Old

What is it? Togouchi’s 12 year old expression is a celebration of Japanese spirit in every respect. The liquids blended in this whisky undergo a truly unique maturation process in oak barrels, which are stored in the distillery’s 361 metre, environmentally monitored tunnel. The final product is an ode to Japanese precision: a blend rich in peaty single malts.

What is it? This slightly older bottling from Hiroshima-based distiller Chugoku Jozo is another carefully crafted blend. It combines cereal notes with a rounded texture and subtle complexity, reminiscent of a typical Lowland Scotch. Like Togouchi’s other whiskies, it’s matured in a specially controlled environment for optimum precision.

– 40% VOL | 70CL | £98

What’s it like? As one would hope, the nose is complexly detailed with layers of citrus, smoke and green apple. The palate is dry and fresh; spice, citrus and orchard fruits are all evident in equal measure. Delicate, sweet and smooth on the finish, Togouchi12 promises a parting gift of vanilla spiked with lemon.

– 46% VOL | 70CL | £160

What’s it like? The nose is smooth with hints of lush peaches and pear drops amongst nutty cereal aromas. The palate is powerful – notes of white pepper balance rich malted cereals and a wash of violet. The finish is pleasingly dry and lingering, revealing harvest tones of pine nuts and sunflower seeds as it draws on.

Bruichladdich

Bruichladdich The Classic Laddie – 50% VOL | 70CL | £50

Bruichladdich was established in 1881 by the Harvey brothers as a revolutionary Islay distillery; Robert designed it, John brought distilling experience to the table, and brother William provided the capital. Thanks to their modern thinking, Bruichladdich still uses much of the original equipment today to produce its progressive Islay spirit.

What is it? The Classic Laddie is a true child of Islay originally crafted by distilling legend Jim McEwan. To this day it is made to his original recipe which uses 100% Scottish barley trickle distilled and matured for the entirety of its life on the shores of the island’s Loch Indaal. A classic, multi-vintage cuvee, each vatting is crafted from a selection of casks. What’s it like? Bruichladdich describes its flagship whisky as being “smooth as pebbles in a pool”. The nose is a bountiful bouquet of barley sugar with subtle mint that develops to freshly cut meadow scents. Brilliantly clean, the palate is refreshing and refined; barley and oak come to the fore on an Atlantic breeze, followed by a gust of ripe green fruit, sweet malt, brown sugar and a warm finish.

Bruichladdich The Laddie Twenty Two Year Old – 46% VOL | 70CL | £155

What is it? Matured over two decades in the distillery’s loch-side warehouse, this mature Islay malt is the big brother to the Bruichladdich’s other core single-malt expressions – the ‘Laddie’ 10 and 16. Each whisky in the range shares a genealogy, lineage and philosophy that represents the essence of Bruichladdich, and this American oak matured number promises oodles of Islay maritime character. What’s it like? Sweet yellow fruit, honey and crushed almonds begin an indulgent aromatic experience that marries summer flowers with custard creams, toasted barley, banana bread and vanilla fudge. You might just detect oak, malt, citrus and the classic Islay maritime tang in there too. Vanilla oak, lemon and honey – trailed by a yoghurt-like creaminess – build to a marine citrus, biscuit and meringue climax, and an impossibly long finish.

Loch Fyne Whiskies We consider ourselves very lucky to currently enjoy exclusive access to THE LOCH FYNE range of whiskies. Bottled (and in some cases, created) in the tiny Loch Fyne Whiskies workshop, Inverary, the collection includes blends, liqueurs, rare single cask releases and of course, The Living Cask series.

THE LOCH FYNE The Living Cask Batch 4

THE LOCH FYNE Bunnahabhain 14 Year Old

What is it? The fourth batched bottling in Loch Fyne Whiskies’ Living Cask range is made up primarily from Speyside and Islay malts. Different every time it’s bottled, The Living Cask is an evolving vatting of specially chosen malts. Stocks are topped up after each batch is drawn, with new flavours marrying into the existing liquid in a process also called solera batch ageing.

What is it? This single cask Bunnahabhain was chosen by Loch FyneWhiskies for its outstanding quality and Islay provenance, as the island sits just across the water from the wee Inverary whisky workshop! Distilled in 2001 and matured in a topquality sherry butt, it has been bottled at 48% ABV, which the team believe shows the liquid at its best. It is limited to only 960 bottles.

– 43.6% VOL | 50CL | £45

What’s it like? The resulting whisky is fresh-yetcreamy with vanilla aromas and a dry citrus burst, complemented by pine and lovely bright oak. It opens out to reveal fresh apple, pear and rhubarb with a sweet heather bouquet. The creamy mouth-feel and waxy texture carry an abundance of autumn fruits, wood spice, and a touch of cinnamon towards a sweet, wood-smoke finish. Read more in New Releases on p.24.

– 48% VOL | 50CL | £95

What’s it like? Rich, complex and unconventionally ‘Islay’. Stewed stone fruits, warm blueberry pie and marzipan are followed by liquorice and treacle on the nose. Fittingly, water brings out some island character: seaweed, coal tar and sweet tobacco. The stewed fruit persists on the palate accompanied by cinnamon spice and zesty bursts, before settling on soft and gently smoked heather with white pepper warmth. Peat, liquorice and a drying charred oak conclude.

Glenkier Treasures Our Glenkeir Treasures are exclusive to THE WHISKY SHOP, and particular to this moment in time. From the special, and unusual single malt releases you can buy direct from the barrel in our stores, to one-off single cask bottlings, these are whiskies our team have chosen for their covetable character and fantastic flavour.

Glenkeir Treasures The Secret Speyside 2002

Glenkeir Treasures Craigellachie 6 Year Old

Glenkeir Treasures Fettercairn 6 Year Old

What is it? Born from an ex-sherry cask our Secret Speyside hails from one of the most famous distilleries in the world, but we're not giving anything away. This mysterious single malt is a limited release that’s exclusively available at The Whisky Shop; it’s been handpicked by our team as an exceptionally special dram. It was filled to cask on 5th April 2002… And that’s all we’re telling you!

What is it? Available from the barrel in one of our 20 UK stores, or pre-bottled both online and instore, the Craigellachie 6 Year Old is currently part of our ever-changing Glenkeir Treasures range – and that means it won’t be about forever! Carefully chosen for its delightful, easy-drinking character, this expression was distilled in February 2008.

What is it? Distilled in February 2008, the Fettercairn 6 Year Old is another sprightly and youthful whisky from our unique Glenkeir Treasures range that is available ‘on tap’ in our stores, or to buy pre-bottled both on and offline. And, just like all of our ‘treasures’, you’ll need to snap up a bottle fast before it runs out forever!

– 40% VOL | 50CL | £60

What’s it like? This single malt is all about big red jelly and burnt sugar flavours – just as you would expect from a classic Speyside single malt drawn from an ex-sherry cask! Undeniably sweet at every stage of enjoyment, intense dried fruit balance the taste to create a wonderfully satisfying dram with a big warming finish.

– 40% VOL | 50CL | £35

What’s it like? A surprisingly smooth, easydrinking young whisky! Customers tell us that citrus comes to the forefront on the nose. The palate promises a profusion of soft fruit and subtly sweet flavours: buttercandy, vanilla and coconut are all evident. It is a pleasingly rich and tasty expression with lots of character despite its tender years.

– 40% VOL | 50CL | £35

What’s it like? A fantastic introduction to Highland whiskies, this bottling has received a string of five-star reviews from our customers due to its beautifully layered taste and smooth nature. Nutty cereal notes with a particular almondcreaminess are joined by sweet caramel, all given a tasty edge by a hint of black pepper. 70

Customer Favourites Hunting for something a little different to your usual tipple, or want to gift a whisky that’s certain to impress? Look no further than our customer favourites! These are the bottles THE WHISKY SHOP customers simply can’t get enough of – and we suspect you’ll share their sentiments.

BenRiach 10 Year Old

BenRiach 20 Year Old

A seminal release from BenRiach Distillery, which was taken over by Billy Walker in 2004, this core range expression was predominantly distilled under the new ownership. Tawny amber from time in American and European oak casks, it’s a triumph of fruity top notes and vanilla sponge on both the nose and palate. Sweet overall with a light acidity, this is a creamy dram with a long warming finish – it’s no wonder our customers love it!

A classic single malt from BenRiach, aged for 20 years in ex-bourbon casks for a gloriously elegant, smooth finish. Full-bodied, it boasts a multifaceted aroma layering spice, nuts, honey, floral and fruity notes. The palate is beautifully round and rich with everything from sweet honey and vanilla, to herbal complexity, woody spice and freshness from mint and green apple. The finish is just as complex and lingering.

– 43% VOL | 70CL | £40

– 43% VOL | 70CL | £88

GlenDronach 12 Year Old

– 43% VOL | 70CL | £45

A signature single malt from the distillery famous for its richly sherried offering. Matured in both Pedro Ximenez and Oloroso sherry casks, it is imbued with an indulgent portfolio of flavours – beginning with aromas of stewed fruits, rhubarb and bramble jam, plus hints of hazel and brown sugar. There’s even a faint charcoal smokiness. The palate follows with rich sherried fruit, Turkish delight, and aniseed complexity. The finish is rich yet clean; spicy yet perfectly balanced.

GlenDronach 18 Year Old Allardice

– 46% VOL | 70CL | £90 Created using waters from the Dronac Burn – which has lent its name to the GlenDronach Distillery – this a superbly complex single malt made in the characteristic big sherry style. An ode to James Allardice, who founded the distillery and produced the very first drops of ‘guid Glendronach’, this expression has been matured in the finest Oloroso sherry casks. Rich and dark, it promises remarkable depth of flavour with stewed fruits and all-spice.

Bunnahabhain 18 Year Old

– 46.3% VOL | 70CL | £100

Originating from Islay’s north tip, and the distillery whose names translates to mean ‘mouth of the river’, comes a single malt that’s a wee bit different to its island contemporaries. Created using unpeated malted barley and pure spring waters that flow away from the peaty moorlands, Bunnahabhain is known for its unique fruit and nut style. This 18 year old expression adds extra sweet and spice to the mix thanks to a little longer in the cask.

anCnoc 12 Year Old

– 40% VOL | 70CL | £42

A whisky whose name isn’t taken directly from its home distillery, anCnoc comes from the Highland Knockdhu Distillery. Established in 1894 as the perfect embodiment of a modern distillery, Knockdhu lies on the border of Speyside and produces light, intriguing, forward-thinking whisky. Matured in a combination of ex-bourbon, sherry and second fill American oak casks, this expression is delicate yet complex, smooth yet challenging, and universally loved for it!

anCnoc 18 Year Old

– 46% VOL | 70CL | £84

Like it’s younger sibling, the anCnoc 18 Year Old has been matured in a combination of both ex-sherry Spanish oak casks and ex-bourbon American oak barrels. Unlike the anCnoc 12 Year Old, this older expression has been bottled non-chill filtered in its natural form, giving it the characteristic haze found in all whiskies of this ilk. More full-bodied than younger expressions from the unusual Highland distillery, the anCnoc 18 Year Old is all about big fruit notes.

Jura 16 Year Old Diurach's Own

– 40% VOL | 70CL | £56 Named for the people of Jura (read more on p.62) this whisky gives you a true taste of the unique Hebridean isle, as defined by those who know it best! To recap: Jura’s dram of the people has been treated to double wood maturation in American white oak ex-bourbon and ex-Amoroso Oloroso sherry casks; combined, they’ve lent the whisky a curiously bold character. You’ll detect flavours of Christmas cake, dark chocolate and dried fruit from nose to toasty finish.

Glenfarclas 10 Year Old

Glenfarclas 105

One of Speyside’s most famous whisky producers also happens to be one of the last remaining family owned distilleries in Scotland. With a huge range of much-loved whisky, Glenfarclas is somewhat fabled amongst Scotch drinkers, and this 10 year old is a perennial favourite. The nose is rich with Christmas cake, sherry, raisins, nuts and spice plus a hint of smoke. The palate surprisingly dry, before sweetening to a full body. The finish is long, nutty and also dry – a real classic.

A bold cask strength whisky from the legendary Speyside distillers at Glenfarclas, bottled at a mind-blowing 60% ABV and all the better for it! Powerful sherry with a distinct sweetness balanced against burnt coffee tones is evident on the nose. Astonishingly smooth to taste considering its high ABV, the palate promises spice, nuts and thick sweetness with a long peppery finish. Matured for 10 years, it’s fantastic with a drop of water to really bring it to life.

– 40% VOL | 70CL | £45

– 60% VOL | 70CL | £66

The Dalmore 12 Year Old

The Dalmore 15 Year Old

It’s not surprising that our former Whisky of The Year retains its status as a firm favourite amongst THE WHISKY SHOP customers. To recap for those who haven’t yet dipped a toe into The Dalmore portfolio, this single malt is a Highland triumph displaying signs of sherry wood maturation: full-bodied, thick, sweet and ‘muscular’. Leathery notes and a long spicy finish add finesse and make this popular dram an absolute must-try. Read more on p.63.

Matured for 15 years in a trio of ex-sherry casks, as well as exbourbon barrels, The Dalmore’s 15 Year Old is another core range whisky for your bucket list. A stylistic evolution from The Dalmore’s famous 12 year old and just as popular, you can expect a similarly varied profile of chocolate orange sweetness, gentle spice and rich warmth. It’s a true testament to the distillery’s creative and ambitious approach. Read more on p.63.

– 40% VOL | 70CL | £50

– 40% VOL | 70CL | £85

Balblair 1999

Balblair 2005

A full-bodied Highland single malt created at one of Scotland’s oldest and prettiest distilleries. Truly representative of the Balblair house style, the initial aromas are of brown bread and butter that later develop to light vanilla and ground almonds. The palate also takes a journey from sweet to spicy thanks to time in Spanish oak ex-sherry butts. Salty flavours are present at full strength, and water enhances the maritime character with a faint oiliness, creating a softer dram overall.

The first release of the 2005 expression from Balblair, who mark themselves out by bottling by year, rather than vintage. Matured in ex-Bourbon casks, there’s definite honey and vanilla present in this predominantly sweet dram. The nose is all oaky vanilla and citrus with a suggestion of fragrant cut flowers. The palate is reminiscent of citrus and orchard fruits that lift the intense sweetness and lead to a delectably long, spicy finish.

– 46% VOL | 70CL | £85

– 46% VOL | 70CL | £56

Glen Scotia 15 Year Old

– 46% VOL | 70CL | £60

This confident Campbeltown single malt originates from a distillery that’s been going strong since 1832. A new addition to our Customer Favourites, it perfectly represents a region that many Scotch drinkers have overlooked in recent decades, but is finally experiencing something of a resurgence in popularity! Non-chill filtered and aged in American oak, it’s a triumph of flavour with everything from citrus to oak, ginger snaps to apricots, and a hint of caramel. Read more on p.66.

Glen Scotia Double Cask

– 46% VOL | 70CL | £43

Another cracking Cambeltown dram with plenty of ‘oomph’! This double cask-matured whisky balances vanilla infused oak with salty sea-air tones in an ode to the distillery’s coastal location, and its time in first-fill bourbon barrels as well as Pedro Ximenez casks. The latter have lent bold fruit and spice to the mix, creating a whisky of wonderful depth and character. Read more on p.66.

The Whisky Shop Gift Sets

The Old Malt Cask The Old Malt Cask Fettercairn 7 Year Old Auchentoshan 12 Year with Glass Old with Glass

We’ve created a selection of gifts to inspire and enthuse customers, whatever the occasion, and whatever your budget. From miniature tours, to bottle and glass sets, this is just a selection of our beautifully presented gift options, available both online and in store at THE WHISKY SHOP.

– 50% VOL | 20CL | £39

A limited edition single cask bottling from Hunter Laing & Co., and a UK exclusive for THE WHISKY SHOP. Distilled in 2008, the Fettercairn 7 Year Old has been matured in refill hogsheads and bottled cask strength – 50% ABV. It promises sweet cereal notes given an exotic edge by dark chocolate, ginger and coconut, and is presented in a stylish black box with classic Glencairn glass.

Another UK exclusive bottling for us from Hunter Laing & Co, in the form of mild and lightly fragranced Lowland single malt. Triple distillation ensures an exceptionally smooth whisky, with an oily texture and fragrant citrus flavour, plus hints of chocolate and almond. Distilled in September 2002 and matured for 12 years in a refill hogshead until October 2014, it comes in our own branded box with a Glencairn glass.

Tour of Scotland Gift Set

Customer Favourites Gift Set

Take a miniature tour of Scotland, and get a taste for the defining characteristics of whiskies from each region. We’ve chosen the finest examples from four corners of the land: sweet Speysider BenRiach 10, the peatiest of Islay malts Ardbeg 10, sumptuously smooth Lowland liquid Auchentoshan 12, and a big maritime Highland dram – Old Pulteney 12. All presented in a luxurious black THE WHISKY SHOP box.

We’ve brought together four of the whiskies that customers come back for, time and time again. A testament to their fantastic taste, this tasting set showcases a variety of the most popular single malt whisky styles hailing from across Scotland – Bunnahabhain 12 from Islay, gloriously sherried GlenDronach 12, salty-andmalty Old Pulteney 12, and a classic Speyside single malt from BenRiach. Presented in a handsome black gift box, we hope they become your favourites too!

– 4x5CL | £35

– 4x5CL | £33

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I S L AY S I N G L E M A LT SCOTCH WHISKY A G E D

Y E A R S

2016 continues to be a year of celebration for Lagavulin as the Iconic Islay distillery marks its 200th anniversary with a limited edition release. This 25 Year Old release is a recognition of the contribution the distillery managers have made in crafting Lagavulin across the years. Lagavulin is treasured around the world as one of the most special Single Malt Scotch Whiskies and this is the first 25 Year Old release to be matured exclusively in sherry casks giving it a smooth, sweetly honeyed finish, with slowly rising fragrant wood smoke and cooling eucalyptus.

AS 81 THIS IS NATURAL CASK STRENGTH WE CANNOT DECLARE THE OFFICIAL ABV FOR THE LIQUID UNTIL THE BOTTLING THE LAGAVULIN WORD AND ASSOCIATED LOGOS ARE TRADE MARKS. Â©DIAGEO BRANDS B.V.2016.

With a wealth of Compton Mackenzie material to choose from, Brian Wilson questions whether the recent remake of Whisky Galore! went a little overboard… —

A Time in History

| Whiskeria Autumn 2016 |

Illustration: Kate Timney

J A new version of the classic Ealing comedy, Whisky Galore!, had its premiere at the recent Edinburgh International Film Festival to what might kindly be described as mixed reviews. The project has been long in the making and I wish it well. But it is one of these re-makes where it is tempting to wonder why anyone would bother, given the remote prospect of improving upon the original. Whisky Galore! is, of course, based loosely on the true story of the SS Politician running aground on the island of Eriskay in February 1941. She was sailing from Liverpool to the West Indies with a cargo which included 50,000 cases of whisky. Having realised what was in the hold, the islanders were not slow to engage in some unofficial salvage activity. Long-undrinkable bottles rescued from the wreck can today fetch thousands of pounds at auction. There’s a maxim that “news happens where the reporter is” and the translation of this episode into the stuff of legend was entirely due to the fortuitous presence of one man in the general vicinity. The difference between a wartime event surviving merely as local lore, and it being bequeathed to posterity for the entertainment of a global audience was wholly attributable to the fact that Compton Mackenzie, author and only begetter of Whisky Galore, was resident on the neighbouring island of Barra. Mackenzie was a truly extraordinary polymath with particular penchants for island living and his distant Scottish heritage. It was these two factors which brought him to Barra in the 1930s. He built a house, Suidheachan, which still overlooks the vast cockle strand that serves as the world’s only beach runway for scheduled air services. From Barra, Mackenzie presided over a kind of Bloomsbury Set

in exile. A previous island retreat had been Capri and he also frequented the Greek islands, until he was thrown out for liberal political activism. Wherever he went, Mackenzie wrote copiously, producing 50 novels and 30 works of non-fiction as well as a ten volume memoir. Curiously, out of all the exotic places in which he lived and worked, it was Barra which provided Compton Mackenzie with his most enduring claim to fame. In many ways, Mackenzie was an Establishment figure. He had worked for British Intelligence in the Eastern Mediterranean. Even in the war years, he was forever catching the steamer to Oban en route to London, to deliver talks for the BBC. His high level contacts in Whitehall were on the receiving end of regular missives about the inefficiencies of wartime administration, both local and national. He served as President of the Siamese Cat Society and of the Croquet Association. Even his elevation to Commanding Officer of the Barra platoon of the Home Guard was bestowed by Cameron of Locheil, the grandest of landed Highland grandees. Yet Mackenzie also reveled in what he perceived as the ultimate democracy of a Gaelic-speaking island community where people were materially poor, closely interdependent and instinctively wary of authority. His Hebridean-based novels, most famously Whisky Galore published in 1947, put him firmly on the side of the wily islanders in their struggles against multiple branches of remote bureaucracy and stupidities of government. Straddling the divide between egalitarian and toff is never easy, but Mackenzie seems to have pulled it off during the decade he lived on Barra. In February 1941, Tom Johnston became

W“Curiously, out of

all the exotic places in which he lived and worked, it was Barra which provided Compton Mackenzie with his most enduring claim to fame.”

| Whiskeria Autumn 2016 |

A Time in History

Secretary of State for Scotland – a role he would fill with great distinction. Mackenzie wrote in his memoirs: “In spite of being a passionate teetotaler, he realized how much depended on the export of our whisky to the United States and after two distilleries had been destroyed by the enemy, he decided to send as much whisky as possible across the Atlantic. A ship which was loading in the Mersey for the West Indies was chartered …”. Fatefully, this was the SS Politician and “by what the islanders were entitled to believe had been a benign Act of Providence, (she) took the wrong turning on the way out of the Minch to the Atlantic and struck on a rock in the little harbour of Eriskay”. Shipwrecks in the Hebrides were all too common and it was at first merely noted that the crew had left Barra for Oban the very next day. Then Mackenzie, in his Home Guard capacity, received a letter from the Eriskay headmaster to say there were six pianos on board the SS Politician and could he obtain permission to unload one of them for use by the school. Mackenzie wrote: “Then word went round Barra that the people of Eriskay were accumulating case upon case of whisky.” It was agreed that his driver should lead an expedition from the north end of Barra. “He came back in the morning as black as a crow and exhausted by the night’s work down among the cases in the hold. In a bag he was carrying about six dozen bottles of whisky. Of the various brands, there was one called Grant’s Standfast which particularly appealed to me…”. The rest, as they say, is history. Whisky Galore, the novel, was published in 1947 and quickly picked up by Ealing Studios with Alexander Mackendrick as the director. It was filmed on Barra in 1949 and featured the great Scottish character actors of the era – Gordon Jackson, James Robertson Justice and Duncan MacRae among them. Mackenzie awarded himself a cameo role as captain of the MacBrayne steamer. However, the character who proved to have an afterlife was Captain Waggett, the officious Home Guard commander superbly played by Basil Radford. There is plentiful evidence that Waggett became the prototype for Captain Mainwaring in Dad’s Army. Waggett was himself a thinly-disguised lampoon of the local GP, by all other accounts a decent and conscientious man, who did not take kindly to being turned into a figure of fun and whose family never forgave Mackenzie for what they saw as malice dressed up as humour.

I had my own postscript to Compton Mackenzie’s association with Barra. He died in 1972, having asked to be buried on the island. By coincidence, I was making my own first visit there. A storm closed in and the only plane to land for days was the one bearing the coffin and Mackenzie’s widow. As the only journalist who had made it to Barra, I found myself making my debut as a BBC radio reporter! Poignant drama ensued. In the teeth of the gale, Mackenzie’s old friend, the piper Calum Johnston, wailed his pipes up the steep slope of Eoligarry cemetery to the graveside. When the burial was completed and the mourners descended, Calum promptly dropped dead. If I was making a movie about Compton Mackenzie’s time on Barra, I would look elsewhere. For example, he wrote in his memoir about another shipwreck which washed bodies onto the shore in front of his home. They were from the Arandora Star, loaded with innocent Italian internees and sent to Canada, under Churchill’s infamous edict to “collar the lot”. The ship was torpedoed west of the Hebrides. Mackenzie, a great Italophile, was incensed. One of the bodies bore the card of an Italian tenor who had been in London to sing for the BBC when he was arrested. Enrico Muzio is buried on Barra. Somewhere in that tale, I think, there is potential for an original movie!

Knowledge Bar

Whisky Galore! a The ‘!’ doesn’t feature in the book’s title – it was only added for the big screen! a The original film was released as Tight Little Island in America and Whisky a Go-Go in France a The original filmmakers hired Barra locals as extras for a fee of £1 per day a The SS Politician was also carrying a large amount of hard cash – 290,000 10 Shilling notes (several million by today’s standards) a Unusually for an Ealing Comedy, the original film was shot entirely on location a The 2016 remake of Whisky Galore! Cost approximately 45 times as much to make as the original

W“Straddling the

divide between egalitarian and toff is never easy, but Mackenzie seems to have pulled it off during the decade he lived on Barra.”

| Whiskeria Autumn 2016 |

Mixing It Up

The Voodoo Rooms is an awardwinning bar hidden in the heart of Edinburgh. Housed in a former gin palace, replete with original furnishings and even genuine Victorian graffiti, it’s a labyrinth of speakeasy-style bars, impressive dining spaces and a twinkling ballroom. Today it serves some of the most innovative and impressive drinks in the Scottish capital. We met with cocktail conjurer Lachlan to discover exactly what alchemy is afoot for festival season this August… —

Photography: Christina Kernohan Assistant: Sandra Franco

| Whiskeria Autumn 2016 |

Mixing It Up

Opulence, curios and old-school grafitti â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a peek inside The Voodoo Rooms

Rye Tai 20ml Rittenhouse Rye 25ml Bols Genever 25ml lime juice 10ml Blue Curaรงao 10ml orgeat syrup a Garnish with an orange wedge

| Whiskeria Autumn 2016 |

Mixing It Up

I Carried A Watermelon 37.5ml Evan Williams Bourbon 12.5ml plum sakĂŠ 12.5 ml sugar syrup 2 dashes of Angostura Bitters 50ml watermelon juice 5â&#x20AC;&#x201C;6 mint leaves a Garnish with a wheel of fresh plum and some mint sprigs

Be All, End All 50ml Absolut Vodka 50ml green tea 50ml pineapple juice 25ml apricot brandy 25ml honey syrup 25ml ginger syrup 3 dashes of Angostura Bitters a Garnish with mint sprigs

| Whiskeria Autumn 2016 |

Mixing It Up

The Millionaire's Shortbread 25ml Laphroaig 12.5ml chestnut liqueur 12.5ml caramel syrup Double shot espresso a Garnish with a blend of brown sugar and crushed biscuit plus dark chocolate shavings

The Sips Don't Lie 50ml La Hechicera rum 25ml tropical juice 25ml pineapple juice 12.5ml apple liqueur 12.5ml vanilla gomme 10ml egg white 5ml Pimento Dram a Serve in a coupe, garnished with pineapple leaves and 3 drops of Peychauds Bitters

Expert Charles Tasting MacLean —

Expert Tasting

| Whiskeria Autumn 2016 |

Illustration: Fran Waddell

J caperdonich I am sure readers of Whiskeria will be aware that, even with the advances in the scientific understanding of where flavour is created during distillation, it has so far been impossible to replicate the make from one distillery on another site. Caperdonich is the classic example of this. During the Whisky Boom of the 1890s the demand for Glen Grant malt was such that the distillery’s owner, Major James Grant, resolved to build a replica distillery next door – well, across the road – which he imaginatively named ‘Glen Grant No. 2’. It would use the same malt, share the same water supply, have identical stills and employ the same production regime. It was even connected to its sister distillery by a pipe, so the new make spirit could be pumped across to Glen Grant for filling into cask. Mysteriously, the pipe often sprung leaks… No. 2 opened in 1898, but from the outset the spirit it produced was different to that of the original. It closed in 1902, following the general down-turn in demand for Scotch whisky after 1900, and remained closed until 1965 when it was revived by The Glenlivet and Glen Grant Distilleries Ltd. Re-named ‘Caperdonich’ (after the ‘secret well’ from which it drew its process water), its two original stills were retained, then expanded to four stills in 1967. Its make was went entirely for blending, except for a tiny amount bottled by

independents. It ceased production in 2002 and was bought by Forsyth of Rothes in 2012. A family-owned company founded in the 1890s, Forsyths are the leading coppersmiths in Scotland and are responsible for fabricating most of the stills, receiver vessels and pipe work installed in the many new distilleries which have been established, not only in Scotland but around the world. They demolished Caperdonich in 2010 and used the site as a storage yard for their fabrication business nearby. As a result of this chequered history, Caperdonich is rare as a single malt. This 21 year old expression comes from Hunter Laing’s distinguished Platinum Old & Rare range, whichtheir website defines as “the rarest and most remarkable single malts available today… So remarkable that they deserve a little extra recognition”. Each expression is bottled from a single cask – so is by definition a limited edition at natural/cask strength and without tinting or chill-filtration. All are presented in distinctive squat bottles and in wooden boxes. Since the series was launched it has included some magnificent whiskies, all of which are today sought by collectors.

Caperdonich 21 Year Old SINGLE SPEYSIDE MALT

The Sovereign Invergordon 50 Years Old

59.6%VOL

SINGLE GRAIN SCOTCH WHISKY

Deep amber, with copper lights and good beading. Spanish oak ex-sherry cask. A mellow nose-feel with toasted malt, walnuts and macerated dried fruits in the foreground, backed by faint maritime notes and a hint of dried lavender. The taste starts sweet, infused with lavender, and dries considerably in the slightly smoky finish, with a warming aftertaste.

50%VOL

J invergordon The Invergordon 50 Year Old has been released as part of Hunter Laing’s Sovereign series of rare old grain whiskies. The port of Invergordon stands on the north shore of the Cromarty Firth, “a place of considerable mark”, according to the Imperial Gazeteer (1854), “substantially built, well-situated for traffic and of growing importance for the shipment of farm produce from the surrounding country”. At the time it had a population of nearly 1,000. The port was named after its eighteenth century owner, Sir William Gordon. The Defence of the Realm (Liquor Control) Regulations 1915 nationalised the pubs around the Cromarty Firth, including those in Invergordon, to prevent the many thousands of sailors and soldiers based in the district from indulging too much. It was promoted by the Prime Minister, David Lloyd George, a teetotaller and prohibitionist who famously said that, “drink is doing more damage to the war effort than all the German submarines put together”. From the early twentieth century is was an important naval base, and came to public attention in 1931 when 1,000 sailors mutinied in

The colour of Golden Syrup; thin legs (indicating light spirit). The first impression on the nose is etheric (vaporous) and prickly; the top note is of soft brown sugar, with bourbon-esque scents of oak shavings, vanilla and coconut. It asks for water, but when you add a drop the oak moves towards pine and the other scents disappear. The texture is light, the taste sweet and sharp, the finish short, with an aftertaste of white chocolate.

protest against a 10% cut in their pay, imposed by a government desperately trying to cope with public spending during the Great Depression. The excellence of Invergordon’s harbour, combined with good rail and road communications and the site’s proximity to a notable barley-growing region, were key reasons for the port being identified in the late 1950s as a good site for a grain whisky distillery. The plan was vigorously supported by the Provost of Inverness. Since the end of the Second World War, several attempts had been made to encourage industrial activity north of Inverness, and in 1958 all government restrictions on whisky distilling were finally lifted. There was a chronic shortage of capacity, in both malt and grain distilling, to meet the burgeoning demand for whisky. The Invergordon Distillers Ltd. was incorporated in March 1959 to build the first (and only) grain distillery in the Highlands. Production commenced in July 1961, with one Coffey still producing 10,000 gallons of pure alcohol a week. Two further Coffey stills were added in 1963, and another in 1978. Between 1965 and 1972 a malt whisky distillery named

Ben Wyvis also operated on the site. In 1985 Invergordon Distillers bought the long established blending house, Charles Mackinlay & Company for £7.8 million, and three years later four of the directors led a management buy-out. Independence did not last long: Whyte & Mackay, who owned 41% of the company, acquired a majority shareholding in 1993 and took over ownership after a prolonged, bitter and expensive battle. Invergordon Distillery’s subsequent history follows the ups and downs of Whyte & Mackay’s fortunes, the company now being owned by the Phillipines-based brandy distiller, Emperador. Invergordon began to be released as a single grain whisky in 1990, but the whisky is no longer bottled by its owner. This 50 Years Old expression was distilled in November 1964 and matured in an ex-Bourbon barrel, yielding only 252 bottles.

When pretention leaves nothing but a bad taste in your mouthâ&#x20AC;Ś give it to us straight, says Blair Bowman â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

Curb Your Enthusiasm

| Whiskeria Autumn 2016 |

Illustration: Kate Timney

Then there’s acknowledging what impact their worthy words are having on Joe Public; someone who is perhaps coming to the subject for the first time. The same thing happens all the time at whisky tastings; if someone says “this whisky tastes of cooked pears”, then the whole room will inevitably taste and smell cooked pears. Unless the notion has taken someone to rustle up a pear tart Tatin in the corner, this collective sense is likely attributable to a genuine psychological phenomenon called ‘groupthink’. Because God forbid we seem to be the odd one out. The beauty of taste is that it is personal, there are no right and wrong answers and that’s kinda the way I like to keep it. So fellas, from me, for now, curb your enthusiasm!

The Return Of… Whiskeria’s Pretentious Tasting Notes

J Personally, I try to avoid reading tasting notes. I like to do that bit myself, thank you very much! And when I do occasionally read them, I have mixed feelings. I take my hat off to ‘greats’ like Charlie Maclean for his powers of perception and his silky prose, but more often that not, I cringe. Don’t get me wrong, whisky is fantastic stuff. It more than deserves a heap of hyperbole. I will never accept that any parallel can be made with the likes of gin – oh so popular now – vodka, tequila and all. What separates whisky from the rest is the complexity of its aroma and taste, and its incredibly long finish. I just think that when people get into the subject, they ‘lose it’. Like with any hobby enthusiasts become exceedingly passionate and, shall we say, geeky about their chosen subject. Great! What’s wrong with that? What’s wrong for me is when they cross the line, decide to appoint themselves as experts, and start to write about it. I can take only so much mashed banana, burnt marmalade and Christmas cake. And when it comes to hints of yesterday’s snuffed candle wax? I’m afraid I sense I may be about to taste breakfast for a second time…! Actually, I love and admire people who are boundlessly enthusiastic. They are uplifting and good to be with, and you never leave their company feeling anything other that better. And surely, when you boil it down, whisky is just a bit of fun. All valid, but what gets me is the elitism. That is the ugly bit that makes me cringe. The smugness of declaring that you can detect no less than God-knows-how-many obscure aromas and flavours from a nice dram. Oh, come on! And I get just a little suspicious when the ‘expert’ declares that a dram is undeserving of high esteem.

W The palate seemed almost disappointingly cosy, but the wildness of Islay was recalled in the finish. “Oh darling! This is cosy. Yah, but it’s so disappointing.” W The calm of maturity permits all the nuances to be experienced. “Keep calm every one and we will all nuance together!” W It's a young sherry monster, which could have come from anywhere. “It just appeared from nowhere, officer! We just didn’t see it coming.” W Leaves the taste of a handful of Jelly Belly jelly beans in the mouth. “Well you shouldn’t have put them in there I the first place.” W Had a suspicion at first nose. Then it seemed to open on rich aromas. But the palate unfortunately confirmed my apprehension. Can't see the point in drinking wood! “Yes Mr. Holmes, I see exactly what you mean!” W The distillery character is buried far below the wood. One can hardly detect even a light puff of smoke. Water does not help. “Are you sure we are digging in the right spot old man?” W More typical of the unusual hot, dry, cleansing character of this distinctive whisky. “That’s the toilet cleaner you have there, let me pour you a malt!”

Maturation within a unique setting.

DISCOVER TOGOUCHI, new blended Japanese whiskies launched in the UK in 2016. A range that embodies the reﬁnement and accuracy of Japan. Close to Hiroshima, Chugoku Jozo has been producing a range of liquors, sakes and shochus for almost a century but ﬁnally decided to release their own blended whisky in 1990. Chugoku Jozo’s master blender actually sources the distillates (malt and grain) himself with great attention to detail. He then personally takes care of the maturation and blending processes, adding a special Japanese touch!

CHUGOKU JOZO TOGOUCHI

TOGOUCHI PREMIUM

70cl • 40% • Unaged Units of Alcohol per 25ml: Togouchi Premium: 1.0 • Togouchi 18: 1.10

HIROSHIMA

TOGOUCHI 18

70cl • 43.8% • 18 years old

A 361 metre long tunnel dating back to 1970 and offering perfect ageing conditions (constant temperature of 14ºC and 80% humidity).