Whiskeria Summer 2019

Class Act Summer 2019

Behind the Scenes with Shauna Macdonald + The House of Suntory Mixing It Up + Kingsbarns Distillery Visit + eteaket My Craft + Edinburgh Tour Guide Travel + Get It Before It’s Gone New Releases

The Magazine of

DRE AMS. MADE HERE.

Welcome to Ardnahoe Distillery.

One family’s dream made real on the renowned Whisky Isle of Islay.

Visit us, now.

01496 840 777 | shop@ardnahoedstillery.com

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Whisky Whisky Works is a boutique blending and bottling house, run as an independent arm of one of Scotland’s oldest whisky firms. We find out more about the passion involved in creating this unique concept with Whisky Maker Gregg Glass.

As the Whisky Maker for Whisky Works, tell us about your passion for whisky and how this developed.

I began my journey in the industry, aged 18, as a tour guide at my local Highland distillery.

I knew immediately that this was the industry I wanted to be in, and it was where I first started exploring the various aspects of flavour notes and whisky making.

In the following years I worked in different areas of whisky, including working at The Whisky Shop in Inverness with the immensely knowledgeable team there, and beginning to taste and understand all the different styles of whisky.

In 2005 I started working at The Dalmore Distillery visitor centre. I remember seeing Richard Paterson sampling in the warehouse.

Little did I know that, 15 years later, I would be working alongside him! The next major step for me was the opportunity to work with a start-up company called Compass Box. I focussed on cask selection, quality control, and whisky creation, becoming their Whisky Maker in 2005. Working at Compass Box was great, and I have a huge amount of respect for what they’ve achieved, and pride in the role I played in that growth.

Where did the idea for The Whisky Works come from?

I have always wanted to build a whisky business with full creative freedom. One that not only respects the traditions of the whisky industry, but also embraces innovation and craft. I wanted to use

innovative whisky-making practices and highlight the importance of the people involved in the processes, celebrating the hard-working, passionate people behind the scenes.

flavour qualities.

Some of these releases may have been aged in a single cask from a single tree, or even a one-off experimental spirit or wine cask. The potential combinations are endless.

Where does your inspiration for pioneering maturation practices come from?

Inspiration for maturation trials and experiments comes from everywhere. I am fortunate to travel extensively and I use this opportunity to meet, learn, and take inspiration from other drinks creators, and naturally Richard Paterson and I share a passion for sourcing the best quality oak and casks.

The ideas and some of the specific concepts for The Whisky Works have been in progress since my early 20s. One such is the sustainable and responsible use of Scottish oak.

I see myself as a ‘hands-on’ whisky maker.

To truly understand a craft you need both knowledge and first-hand experience of the processes you manage. One of my favourite quotes is “Chop your own wood, it will warm you twice”.

What does a typical day look like for you?

A typical day is really difficult to describe, but perhaps a typical week when I’m in Scotland will involve working in my sample room nosing and tasting, and meeting visitors and giving them an insight into the creation of our whiskies.

I also visit our production sites on a regular basis – distilleries, bottling, and vatting facilities.

And selecting casks – ones already maturing, and assessing new casks ahead of filling.

Whilst traveling, I try to tie in meetings with local sawmills, forest owners, and drinks makers.

There are some weird and wonderful places I go to that might not normally be associated with whisky making, but they offer great possibilities for collaborations and always spark new ideas.

What makes whiskies from The Whisky Works so unique?

The whiskies we make will each be unique.

All our expressions will be non chill-filtered, numbered, and genuine small batch production or bottlings. Every cask has been personally selected, and the whiskies themselves will be interesting experiments or will play on rare

What does the future hold for The Whisky Works?

I’m excited about the collaborations we have underway with other drinks creators and innovators. Many of these are in development, and I’m not going to give away any details just yet! But suffice to say we’re as excited about our future offerings as we are with our two launch whiskies. Watch this space.

The Whisky Works is now available from The Whisky Shop

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I see myself as a ‘hands-on’ whisky maker. To truly understand a craft you need both knowledge and firsthand experience of the processes you manage.

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Whiskeria

Summer 2019

As I see it…

A new site for your collection The Whisky Shop Chairman, Ian Bankier, introduces the company’s latest exciting venture…

— Illustration: Francesca Waddell

❛ Single malts are beautifully made and fascinating to collect The Whisky Shop Auctions 30

The big news at The Whisky Shop this summer is the opening of our new online auction house. It can be found on our main website by clicking whiskyshop.com/auctions.

We have been monitoring the auctions phenomenon for a little while and we believe that it is a natural add-on to what we do for our customers. When you think about it, The Whisky Shop has been at the heart of the specialist whisky sector for 25 years and is the ‘go-to’ retailer for millions of customers around the globe. Our allocations of limited edition whiskies are highly sought-after and we completely understand that there are customers who want to build and trade a collection. So why not do it with us?

I don’t think anyone quite anticipated the full extent of the recent surge of interest in rare whiskies, especially Scotch malts. But it’s here, and it’s here to stay. Whilst I worry a little about a market that becomes too effervescent, the overall trend is a good thing for Scotch.

Essentially, the product has experienced a comprehensive re-evaluation by collectors and drinkers alike. It gives me particular pleasure to witness this, as I endured more than a decade in the industry where you could hardly give

Scotch away. This came about through two very negative influences. First, there were unfounded concerns that the distillers had over-produced and that there was a veritable ‘lake’ of Scotch whisky with insufficient demand. And, second, supermarkets across the UK and Europe deployed a private label strategy for spirits and, being able to exercise dominant buying power, drove the price of Scotch – blends in particular – down to unsustainable levels. The damage caused by the latter influence lives with us today, as the British consumer still believes that a blend is somehow inferior to a single malt.

Thankfully, single malts avoided the same calamity as blends and they now enjoy soaring consumer interest. And, as I see it, deservedly so. They are wonderful things to have and to drink. They are beautifully made and fascinating to collect.

Slàinte Ian P Bankier, Executive Chairman,

Whiskeria

Summer 2019

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Competition

Win! A 6-month subscription to eteaket’s newly launched Tea Club.

We’re giving one lucky reader the chance to win a 6-month subscription to the eteaket Tea Club, which has relaunched this May as a completely plastic free initiative! Plus, four lucky runners up can look forward to a special tea bundle from the Edinburgh leaf tea experts.

The 6-month Tea Club subscription winner can enjoy a selection of awesome teas delivered to their door every month, plus an infuser mug, tea bag tote & 15% off the eteaket online store for the duration of their membership.

Runners up will be gifted a canister each of three loose leaf teas: Harris Gin Tea, Tomatin Whisky Tea, and Nettle & Petal, plus a pack of plastic free self-fill tea bags.

To enter for your chance to win, simply tell us: What type of seaweed is used in eteaket’s new limited edition Matcha blend? (hint: See My Craft for the answer!)

Ends 31st August Answers should be emailed to: competition@whiskyshop.com Please include your full name and your answer.

Terms & Conditions The winners will be selected from all entries via the email address stated above by midnight on 31st August 2019. The judge’s decision will be final. The competition is not open to employees of The Whisky Shop Ltd. All normal competition rules apply. UK entrantsmust be 18 years old or over to apply. International entrants must be of legal drinking age in their country of residence.

My Craft eteaket 46

–– 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

–– feature writers Brian Wilson Charles MacLean Gavin D Smith –– product photography Subliminal Creative 01236 734923

The Magazine of

–– creative direction a visual agency emlyn@avisualagency.com –– feature photography Brian Sweeney Christina Kernohan –– photo assistants Cat Thomson Jess Shurte –– stylists Meredith Wilkie Vixy Rae –– illustration Francesca Waddell Hrafnhildur Halldorsdottir Sean Mulvenna

–– 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 30 April 2019.

All prices in this edition of Whiskeria are subject to change.

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Whiskeria

Summer 2019

Contributors Charles MacLean —

Charles has published fourteen 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).

New Releases Summer 2019 13 Expert Tasting Glenlivet / Port Ellen 96

Brian Wilson —

Formerly an MP, Brian 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.

A Time in History Grassmarket 34

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. He is also responsible for editing and releasing the latest version of Michael Jackson’s seminal whisky publication, The Malt Whisky Companion.

Distillery Visit Kingsbarns 52

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Contents

Summer 2019 13 30 32 34 39 46 52 56 64 73 96

New Releases | Summer 2019 In The Know | The Whisky Shop Auctions Industry Top-Up | Whisky News Digest A Time in History | Ghosts of The Grassmarket Travel – Tour Guide | Edinburgh My Craft | eteaket Distillery Visit | Kingsbarns Mixing It Up | The House of Suntory My Whiskeria | Shauna Macdonald The Whisky Shop Section Expert Tasting | The Glenlivet / Port Ellen

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HAVE YOU TRIED THE SPIRIT OF THE OPEN? LIMITED EDITION Loch Lomond Open Course Collection 19 Year Old Royal Portrush.

Created in partnership with Darren Clarke.

LOCH LOMOND WHISKIES GOLF AMBASSADOR.

@lochlomondmalts

@lochlomondwhiskies

WWW.LOCHLOMONDWHISKIES.COM

Summer 2019

New Releases

Reviewed by Charles MacLean 001 002 003 004 005 006 007 008 009 010 011 012 013 014 015 016 017 018 019 020 021

The GlenDronach 1992 The Whisky Shop Exclusive The BenRiach 2005 The Whisky Shop Exclusive Old Pulteney 2007 The Whisky Shop Exclusive Highland Park Twisted Tattoo UK Exclusive Retailer Mortlach 20 Year Old Loch Lomond: The Open Course Collection 19 Year Old Royal Portrush The Open Special Edition 25 Year Old Colin Montgomerie Balblair 12 Year Old Balblair 15 Year Old The Whisky Works The Experiment: King of Trees The Whisky Works The Classic: 29 Year Old Glaswegian The First Editions Authors’ Series: Springbank 1997 Oscar Wilde Tullibardine 1993 William Thackeray Tormore 1988 Charles Baudelaire Speyside’s Finest 1967 Nathaniel Hawthorne The Old Malt Cask: Mortlach 11 Year Old 21st Anniversary Bottling Longmorn 15 Year Old Glenburgie 19 Year Old Glencadam 14 Year Old Ben Nevis 22 Year Old 21st Anniversary Bottling The Loch Fyne The Living Cask Batch 7

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Whiskeria

Summer 2019

New Releases

The GlenDronach 1992 The Whisky Shop Exclusive Highland Single Malt Age: 26 Year Old

70CL Vol: 50%

£239

Deep bronze with magenta lights; good beading and thick legs.

A profound nose, with light prickle, presenting dry Xmas cake moistened with Oloroso sherry, damson jam and cigar leaf, on a dry base of fresh sack-cloth and polished leather. The texture is mouth-filling, the taste sweet to start, with bitter cherry liqueur chocolate in mid-palate, finishing long and dry, with liqueur chocolate in the aftertaste.

Many consider The GlenDronach to be the benchmark ‘sherry-matured’ malt. The policy of filling into casks seasoned with Pedro Ximénez and Oloroso sherry was begun by the distillery’s former owner and master blender, Billy Walker, who also inherited a substantial stock of long-aged sherried whisky with which to build the brand.

He bought Glendronach in 2008, changed the brand name to The GlenDronach, and sold the distillery to the Brown-Forman Corporation of America (owner of Jack Daniels) in April 2016, along with its sister distilleries, Benriach and Glenglassaugh. The custodian of The GlenDronach’s quality and consistency today is the company’s Master (or should it be Mistress?) Blender, Dr. Rachel Barrie.

The distillery was founded in 1826 by a group of farmers led by James Allardice, who has been described as an “inventor, pioneer and entrepreneur; exuberant and extroverted”. The story goes that, soon after he commenced production he travelled to Edinburgh with a small cask of his whisky with a view to taking cask orders from the city’s taverns and spirits merchants.

Alas, nobody was interested. Returning to his lodging in the Canongate one evening he fell in with a couple of ‘ladies of the night’ and, over a few drams of ‘guid Glendronach’, explained his predicament.

Impressed by the whisky and by his generosity, the ladies spread the word to their colleagues who were not slow to join the merry tasting. Next day all the taverns on the High Street were ringing with demands for Glendronach from this motley crew… and, as Allardice recorded in his memoirs, “orders were swiftly forthcoming.”

Dr. Barrie said of another GlenDronach 1992 released last year, Grandeur Batch 10, that it was “an intense Sherry expression… with layers of damson plum, Morello cherries in dark chocolate, black walnut and truffle on a bed of antique leather and old-fashioned treacle gingerbread, Batch 10 celebrates the robust, full-bodied style of The GlenDronach distillery.”

Her words might well be applied to this expression as well.

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damson jam and cigar leaf, on a dry base of fresh sack-cloth and polished leather.

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The BenRiach 2005

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Whiskeria

The Whisky Shop Exclusive Speyside Single Malt Age: 12 Year Old

70CL Vol: 56%

£85

Rich gold in hue, with amber lights. Good beading. A rich and fruity nose, juicy at first then with notes of apple pie and rhubarb crumble, together with vanilla custard, on a lightly spicy, faintly minty and oaky base – the last two increased by a drop of water. A creamy texture and a sweet taste, finishing peppery, with a mouth-cooling aftertaste.

Benriach Distillery was bought by the American giant, Brown-Forman (owner of Jack Daniel’s) in 2016, from a company headed by an industry legend, Billy Walker, which had bought Benriach in 2004. They went on to buy Glendronach and Glenglassaugh Distilleries, in 2008 and 2013 respectively, both of which went to BrownForman with Benriach – or The BenRiach, as the name is now rendered.

Billy was a chemist and a master blender before he became an entrepreneurial businessman, and it shows. He put both The BenRiach and The GlenDronach (see opposite) on the malt map, and won a high reputation for both.

Benriach’s story is interesting, if somewhat sad.

The distillery was commissioned by John Duff , a local hotelier, and designed by the leading distillery architect, Charles Doig. It opened in 1898, not an auspicious time for distillery openings. Duff had already built Longmorn Distillery close by in 1893 – connected to Benriach by railway line – and Glenlossie Distillery, a quarter of a mile away, in 1876. He emigrated to South Africa in 1888 with his family, opened a distillery there (which failed), then moved on to the USA where he founded yet another unsuccessful distillery.

He had retained ownership of Benriach but, in 1899 following the collapse of Pattisons of Leith, one of his principal customers, he was obliged to sell 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 who re-opened it. 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 to Billy Walker and his colleagues.

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 The BenRiach as a premium, high-quality Speyside malt, while exploring wood finishes and peated variants, of which this is an example, only available from The Whisky Shop.

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apple pie and rhubarb crumble, together with vanilla custard

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Summer 2019

New Releases

Old Pulteney 2007 Cask #1471

The Whisky Shop Exclusive Highland Single Malt Age: 12 Year Old

70CL Vol: 50.2%

£110

Bright amber with scarlet lights – sherry cask matured.

Excellent beading. A mild and drying nose-feel. A somewhat closed nose initially, with fresh sack-cloth immediately apparent, then fig rolls and fly cemeteries, and later a hint of candle wax and cloves. The latter emerges in the finish after a lightly sweet then dry taste. An unusual and intriguing Old Pulteney.

In March 2009 I arrived at the legendary Mackay’s Hotel in Wick, situated on ‘the world’s shortest street’ according to the Guinness Book of Records, to discover that its owner had arranged to bottle a hogshead of 37YO Old Pulteney, laid down by his father in 1972, at the distillery that night.

I was immediately recruited to help him and Malcolm Waring, Pulteney’s long-standing manager, bottle the cask – by hand. We started around 7 p.m. and it was after 11 p.m. when we finished and went to the only restaurant open in Wick at that time, which was Indian.

So far as Malcolm and I could tell from the spillage we managed to lick from our hands, the whisky was magnificent (we were only offered a small dram at the hotel later), but I was asked to write a tasting note, which concluded: “This is one of the finest whiskies I have ever tasted… Beyond price!”. I never discovered what happened to the 250-odd bottles from that cask…

This expression, a single cask unique to The Whisky Shop, while not being as exotic as the 37YO I mention above, is nevertheless an unusual and highly rewarding example of the make. It has clearly been drawn from a sherry-seasoned cask – I would guess American oak – but is quite unlike the core expressions of the make, richer and more layered in flavour.

Old Pulteney describes itself as ‘The Maritime Malt’ and was once known as ‘The Manzanilla of the North’, on account of its key-note salty taste. It is a perfect aperitif.

This 2007 expression is not so obviously salty; it is also slightly fuller bodied and more silky in texture. In short, it is more complex and rewards closer attention.

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…fig rolls and fly cemeteries, and later a hint of candle wax and cloves.

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Highland Park Twisted Tattoo

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UK Exclusive Retailer Island Single Malt Age: 16 Year Old

70CL Vol: 46.7%

£80

Natural colour – full gold, with a roseate blush. A mild nose-feel, with light prickle. The top notes are fruity (peach and pear), with a hint of wine and sandalwood in the middle on a base of dry peat, with a thread of smoke.

The taste echoes the aroma: a sweetish, fruity start, followed by sour red wine and some light smoke in the lengthy finish and a spicy aftertaste.

This 16-year-old single malt from Highland Park is a mix of Spanish Rioja wine seasoned casks (153 such casks in all) and 70 first-fill ex-bourbon casks.

This is a first for the Orkney distillery. The result is a rich, full-bodied malt.

Readers of Whiskeria will know that, in 2017, the brand adopted the slogan ‘The Malt with Viking Soul’ and introduced new packaging featuring designs inspired

by Norse legends, often in collaboration with leading Danish designers. In this case the collaboration was with the Danish tattoo artist, Colin Dale, who says of his work: “Tattoos are a vital part of our cultural heritage today.

They tell the world who we are, without saying a word… I twist my designs to fit peoples’ bodies, so they become a part of the body, not a badge; tattoo becomes [a] piece of you, just as your culture is a piece of you – it is a mark of both standing apart and being part of a tribe, just like Highland Park.”

Highland Park’s Global Brand Ambassador, Martin Markvardsen, is himself a heavily tattooed latter-day Viking, and I have no doubt that he was involved in the collaboration (see both of them on YouTube).

The inspiration for the complex design is the legend of the Midgard Serpent, Jörmungandr, which grew so large it twisted itself round the Earth to grasp its own tail. The Norse believed that when it released its tail the world as they knew it would come to an end with the great battle of Ragnarök, the death of most of the gods, numerous natural disasters, and the submersion of the world in water. Happily, they also believed that following the catastrophe the world would be born anew, populated by two surviving humans and the remaining gods.

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a sweetish, fruity start, followed by sour red wine and some light smoke in the lengthy finish and a spicy aftertaste.

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Whiskeria

Summer 2019

Mortlach 20 Year Old Speyside Single Malt Age: 20 Year Old

New Releases

70CL Vol: 43.4%

£200

Deep amber with oily viscosity; sherry-wood maturation.

A mild nose-feel, dry over all, with light prickle. The aroma is dense: top notes are a combination of light olive oil and crystalline sugar, with some dried fruits below, on an ashy base.

The texture is mouth-filling, the taste sweet with a suggestion of bitter chilli-chocolate in the finish. A drop of water softens and sweetens the aroma and taste.

In July 1918, Diageo launched a new core range of Mortlach expressions, at 12, 16 and 20-years-old to replace the existing range, which had only been introduced in 2014, but which did not find favour with the malt’s many devotees.

Rich Walker, Global Head of Whisky Marketing, stated at the time: “Whilst every whisky we have launched from Mortlach has always been welcomed and indeed won awards, it was felt that we needed to listen and review our position. We have now rethought the range and this is our response to that feedback. We are confident that this outstanding new liquid, which is bold in flavour, will deliver success for the brand moving forwards.”

Bold indeed. Mortlach is known locally as ‘The Beast of Dufftown’ and is famously rich in character – the new make spirit character is ‘meaty’ and smells a bit like a roasting tin, and as a result the spirit benefits mightily from maturation in ex-sherry casks.

Cowie’s Blue Seal has been wholly matured in such casks and is bottled at the unusual strength of 43.4%Vol [75° Proof] , which was the original bottling strength in the early 1900s. It takes its name from the men who established the distillery’s high reputation in the late nineteenth century: George Cowie and his son Dr. Alexander Cowie. The former was an engineer and railway surveyor before he took over the distillery in 1853; his son, who succeeded him in 1895, was responsible for the extraordinarily complex distilling regime – still employed today – which gives Mortlach its rich character.

Dr. Cowie’s only son was killed during the First World War, and in 1923 he sold the distillery to John Walker & Sons, a key customer for his whisky, which remains at the heart of many of the Walker blends.

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light olive oil and crystalline sugar, with some dried fruits

Summer 2019

New Releases

Highland Single Malt Age: 19 Year Old

Vol: 50.3%

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Loch Lomond Royal Portrush 19 Year Old

Loch Lomond Colin Montgomerie 25 Year Old

70CL

Highland Single Malt

£160

Age: 25 Year Old

The colour of Provencal rosé – finished in ‘claret wood’.

Good legs; some nose-prickle. A delicate aroma of fresh fruit – peach, pear, grapes – with a light oakiness beneath.

A summer garden party comes to mind. The taste is lightly sweet then acidic. Clean and fresh. A drop of water introduces a subtle hint of peat and some spice in the finish.

Last year the Loch Lomond Group signed a fiveyear agreement with the Royal & Ancient Golf Club to become the official spirit of The Open golf championships. In July this year the 148th Open will be played at Royal Portrush, on the Antrim coast of Northern Ireland – an extremely testing course, ranked “fourth best golf course outside America” by Golf Digest in 2007. The last time The Open was held here was in 1951.

The Loch Lomond Royal Portrush and Colin Montgomerie editions are part of the company’s Open Course Collection, and, as previously, Loch Lomond Distillers has partnered with leading golfers to promote its whiskies.

This year’s ambassadors are Darren Clarke and Colin Montgomerie. The former won The Open in 2011 and his career has so far included 14 European Tour wins, 3 PGA Tour wins and five consecutive Ryder Cup appearances for Europe between 1997 and 2006. He hails from Northern Ireland and has commented: “The release of my own signature edition single malt marks an incredibly proud summer for me. To be able to tee up alongside the world’s best golfers at a course that I call home is incredibly special.”

The Colin Montgomerie Edition celebrates the legendary golfer’s 30-year career, during which he has won more than fifty tournaments and been European Number One for seven years.

Both men have been working with Loch Lomond’s talented Master Blender, Michael Henry, to create these special whiskies. Michael says: “Personally, these releases mean a great deal to me. Hailing originally form Northern Ireland, it is highly rewarding to be showcasing Scotch whisky to my home country and to have the opportunity to celebrate Royal Portrush.”

70CL Vol: 46.3%

£TBC

Deep gold with bright orange lights. The top notes are fruity and lightly waxy (baked apple skins, suet apple pudding), on a faintly vinous base (sweet white wine). A mouth-filling, oily texture and a taste which starts sweet and finishes sour and warming, with a return of the suet pudding and apricot in the aftertaste

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A summer garden party comes to mind

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baked apple skins, suet apple pudding

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Summer 2019

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Balblair 12 Year Old Highland Single Malt Age: 12 Year Old

Vol: 46%

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Balblair 15 Year Old

70CL

Highland Single Malt

£52

Age: 15 Year Old

Deep gold in hue, low autumn sunlight. A mellow nose, the first impression is slightly mineralic, soon developing faint notes of ground cooking spices (allspice, ginger). At full strength the texture is creamy and the taste sweet, with a return of light spices in the finish. Easy drinking.

Vol: 46%

£80

Pale gold, white wine. A closed nose to start, mellow and delicate, gradually exhibiting faint fruity notes (white grapes, lychees) on a chalky base. At full strength the texture is smooth, the taste sweet with a lightly spicy finish. Mellow, reserved and elegant.

One of Scotland’s prettiest distilleries, Balblair stands in Edderton, ‘The Parish of Peats’, near Tain, Ross-Shire, overlooking the Dornoch Firth and reputed to have the cleanest air in Scotland.

Edderton takes its name from an ancient Pictish settlement, Eadar Dun, meaning ‘between the forts’, where stands the ‘Clach Biorach’, the ‘Sharp Stone’, erected around 500AD and decorated with mysterious symbols – a leaping salmon and a ‘double disc and z-rod’ – which have been adopted by Balblair in its iconography.

The indomitable ‘distillery-bagger’, Alfred Barnard, wrote in 1887: “In former days the whole neighbourhood abounded in smuggling bothies, and was the scene of many a struggle between revenue officers and smugglers.”

The present distillery was built around 1872 and expanded in 1894 to take advantage of the newly built railway between Inverness and Wick. An earlier distillery stood on a nearby site, founded in 1790, which makes Balblair one of our earliest. This was founded by one John Ross and managed by his descendants for just over a century.

Members of the family also leased Brora and Pollo Distilleries from the Duke of Sutherland, and it was to the latter, situated south of Tain, that Andrew Ross moved in 1896, when Balblair reverted to the estate. Currently, four out of the distillery’s nine employees bear the name Ross.

Closed between 1911 and 1947, the distillery was then bought by Robert Cumming, a Banff solicitor who also owned Pulteney distillery. He expanded the site in 1964.

John Macdonald, Balblair’s manager, says of his spirit: “Balblair single malt Scotch whisky is intriguingly complex and satisfying. We capture the intense esters at the start of the spirit cut to give our whisky the core characteristics of apricots, oranges, spices, floral notes and green apples. The heavier oils and lipids at the end of the cut are also captured, giving leathery, nutty and full-bodied characteristics.”

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70CL

slightly mineralic, soon developing faint notes of ground cooking spices

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faint fruity notes (white grapes, lychees) on a chalky base

Summer 2019

New Releases

Highland Blended Malt Age: –

Vol:46.5%

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The Whisky Works The Experiment: King of Trees

The Whisky Works The Classic: Glaswegian

70CL

Single Grain Scotch

£75

Age: 29 Year Old

A natural pale gold colour, the nose-feel is mellow and the aroma subtle and well integrated, initially closed. It gradually opens to reveal honeysuckle and green banana, on a light pastry base (with toasted edges). A drop of water freshens it. A smooth texture and sweet taste and a lightly spicy finish at full strength.

Founded in 2017, The Whisky Works is a boutique blending and bottling house, operating as an independent arm of ‘one of Scotland’s oldest whisky firms, founded in 1844’ – i.e. Whyte & Mackay.

The founder was Greg Glass, an innovative whiskymaker, whose stated ambition is “pioneering new practices and investigating new taste experiences, but always respecting the traditions and history of Scotch. We want to share our love of whisky – old or new; single malt, grain or blend – through genuine small-batch bottlings accessible to anyone curious about the best drinks.”

The firm plans to release two whiskies each year, in April and September. Each batch will contain one classic whisky and one whisky experiment. These two expressions are their first releases.

The experimental whisky, King of Trees, is named on account of a proportion of the whisky having been finished in a Scottish oak cask, made from the timber of two 200-year old Highland oaks felled by a storm, having been matured in first-fill and refill American Standard Barrels. It is bottled at natural colour without chillfiltration, and the edition is limited to 2,157 bottles.

The classic whisky, Glaswegian, is from Port Dundas Distillery which closed in 2009 and has been demolished.

I guess this from clues they have provided; out of respect for their supplier they do not mention it on the label.

Port Dundas was the Glasgow terminus of the Forth and Clyde Canal, named for Sir Lawrence Dundas, President of the Canal Company.

The whisky has been matured in American white oak casks in traditional dunnage warehouses. Although the influence of the wood on this light, sweet spirit is very apparent, I was surprised that so light a whisky was not over-influenced by obvious wood flavours. It has been bottled at natural strength and colour, without chill-filtration, and the out-turn is 1,642 individually numbered bottles.

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honeysuckle and green banana, on a light pastry base

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New Releases

010

Whiskeria

70CL Vol: 54.2%

£130

Old polished brass in hue. A mellow nose-feel, somewhat drying.

The first impression on the nose (at full strength) is of warm candle wax; this fades into baked apple (and its waxy skin, lightly caramelised), then apple pie. The texture is smooth, the taste deliciously tart after a lightly sweet start, finishing lightly spicy and faintly smoky. Old fashioned and intriguing.

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deliciously tart after a lightly sweet start

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Whiskeria

Summer 2019

New Releases

The First Editions Authorsʼ Series Wilde / Thackeray / Baudelaire / Hawthorne

Campbeltown / Speyside / Highland / Single Cask Malts

70CL

Age: various

£various

Vol: various%

Hunter Laing has released a further four single cask bottlings of long-aged malt whisky in their Authors’ Series, exclusively available from The Whisky Shop.

All are bottled at natural strength, without chillfiltration or artificial colouring. Each bottle is sealed with wax and presented in an elegant brown leather box, embossed with gold lettering. As well as being first rate drinking malts, the Authors’ Series should also be attractive to collectors on account of their extreme rarity. As the website says: “they would look perfectly at home in the grandest of libraries”.

In relation to the first Authors’ Series, released in late 2015, director Scott Laing explained: “My brother and I both enjoy reading and old books: in the United States we have a First Editions range of single cask malts, and our Authors’ Series might be seen as an extension of this, just as Old & Rare is an extension of our Old Malt Cask range. We want to create a brand that is a tribute to great authors of the past; quite masculine in style – reminiscent of an oak panelled library, or a gentleman’s club”.

It would be interesting to know how the brothers decided which author to pair with each malt. Here are my speculations…

Oscar Wilde once remarked: “I can resist everything except temptation”. He would undoubtedly have been tempted by this classic expression of Springbank.

Nevertheless he is an unusual choice for pairing with Campbeltown’s most famous whisky. He was an aesthete, a dandy, a romantic, an outstanding classical scholar, a renowned wit and conversationalist, a metropolitan – none of which descriptions sits comfortably with Springbank…

Perhaps the Laing brothers drew their inspiration from other Oscar sayings. “I have the simplest tastes. I am always satisfied with the best” might well be applied to Springbank. The whisky’s complex character is summed up by “The truth is never pure and rarely simple” and “Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative”.

Although I have yet to discover whether Oscar enjoyed whisky, we all agree with his famous aphorism: “Work is the curse of the drinking classes”.

Might Tullibardine be described as a “loose baggy monster”? Henry James once described William Makepeace Thackeray’s long later novels as such.

More likely the connection was inspired by the author’s most famous work, Vanity Fair (published serially 184748), which derives its title from John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress where the perpetual fair in the town of Vanity symbolises worldly frivolity and idle pleasure.

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012

Springbank 1997 Oscar Wilde Campbeltwon Single Malt

015

01 4

013

Age: 21 Year Old

70CL Vol: 52.9%

£625

Deep amber in hue – sherry cask matured – with good beading.

A mild nose-feel and a rich toffee top note, accompanied by dried fruits (figs, dates, raisins). A smooth texture and a savoury taste, slightly smoky, finishing dry, with an aftertaste of hessian.

Classic Springbank.

Of course, this begs the question whether enjoying a dram of Tullibardine might be described as ‘a frivolous, idle pleasure’… More likely the choice of pairing was The First Editions | Authorsʼ Series inspired by a comment in On the Art of Thackeray which noted that the author “set the fashion for a type of light accomplished society verse which was remarkable for its vigour, daintiness and sense of rhythm.”

Highland Single Malt 70CL Like Oscar Wilde, Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867) was a dandy who died young, but his highly original style of Age: 25 Year Old Vol: 53.3% £395 prose-poetry influenced a generation of French poets. His Wikipedia entry reminds us that: “He is credited with coining The colour of Sauvignan Blanc, drawn from a refill American the term ‘modernity’ (modernité) to designate the fleeting, oak cask. The first impression on the nose is of a dusty grain ephemeral experience of life in an urban metropolis, and the store and crumbled digestive biscuits. Beneath this are suggesresponsibility of artistic expression to capture that experience.” tions of baked apple and an occasional whiff of honey. The taste This might explain the link with Tormore, for is sweet throughout, finishing lightly spicy. although the distillery is situated a long way from any urban metropolis, it was designed by no less a person The First Editions | Authorsʼ Series than Sir Albert Richardson, past President of the Royal Academy, to be supremely ‘modern’; when it opened in 1960 a contemporary described it as “a masterpiece of distillery architecture”. One might even claim that the enjoyment of its product is ‘fleeting and ephemeral’.

Speyside Single Malt 70CL ‘Speyside’s Finest’ cannot be named since the owner Age: 30 Year Old Vol: 43% £425 of the distillery has consistently and successfully sued any independent bottler who names the make. Maybe this explains the link with Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804Pale sunlight in the glass; drawn from a refill American oak 1864), whose darkly romantic novels often feature the cask. The initial top note is oily and this soon reveals itself to wickedness of humanity – such as those individuals who be coconut oil (whin bushes on a hot summer’s day), beneath reveal things they shouldn’t – and whose influential novels this are suggestions of sweet white wine and dry marzipan. and short stories often have “moral messages and deep A creamy texture and a sweet taste, drying towards the finish psychological complexity.” with traces of coconut in mid-palate.

A leading clue to the association of Hawthorne with this distillery is that Nathaniel was a transcendentalist, a follower of Immanuel Kant and Emanual Swedenborg, The First Editions | Authorsʼ Series part of whose core belief was that people are at their best when truly self-reliant and independent [my italics].

Tuilibardine 1993 William Thackeray

Tormore 1998 Charles Baudelaire

Speyside’s Finest 1967 Nathaniel Hawthorne Speyside Single Malt Age: 50 Year Old

70CL Vol: 50.2%

£2750

Deep amber, Amontillado sherry – sherry wood maturation – excellent beading and thick legs. A mild nose-feel, dry overall with light prickle. The aroma is rich, fruity and complex: dried fruits (Xmas cake decorated with glacé angelica), madeira, walnuts, maraschino cherries, kirsch. A smooth, mouth-filling, texture and a sweet taste, drying towards the long, lightly spicy finish. An exemplary whisky.

New Releases

The First Editions | Authorsʼ Series

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Whiskeria

Summer 2019

New Releases

The Old Malt Cask

Mortlach / Longmorn / Glenburgie / Glencadam / Ben Nevis Highland / Speysid Single Cask Single Malts

70CL

Age: various

£various

Vol: 50%

Hunter Laing’s long experience and extensive stock of old whiskies makes it possible for the company to release a number of collections, including Old Malt Cask.

Every malt whisky distillery is unique, but some are more unique than others – and none more so than Mortlach.

Known locally as ‘The Beast of Dufftown’ it is famously rich in flavour. The key to this is in the odd distilling regime: Mortlach’s has six stills, three wash stills and three spirit stills, all of different shapes and sizes, and they are operated in such a way as to produce three distinct styles of spirit which, when mixed together, gives Mortlach its rich character.

The unique process was invented by Dr. Alexander Cowie, who owned the distillery in the 1890s. Crucial to the equation is the tiny No. 1 spirit still, known as ‘The Wee Witchie’– and the fact that the regime distils 2.81 times, rather than the customary double distillation!

This example has been drawn for a sherry seasoned cask.

Longmorn is also a rich malt, much loved by blenders – indeed it has been described as ‘the Master Blenders’ second choice’, the first choice being his own malt. It is owned by Chivas Brothers and is a key filling for their blended whiskies.

The distillery stands just to the south of Elgin, and when it opened in 1893, a local newspaper began its report: “Still another distillery! Evidently the latest one announced for Longmorn is not the last the district will see … When is all this going to end?” This might have been written today!

However, four years later The National Guardian reported that the make had “jumped into favour with buyers from the earliest day on which it was offered.” It is ranked Top Class by blenders.

Glenburgie Distillery, near Forres, is also owned by Chivas Brothers and has long been associated with their Ballantine’s blends, the global success of which make the whisky uncommon as a single malt. A tiny distillery was established on the present site in 1829, known as ‘Kilnflat’, becoming ‘Glenburgie’ in 1871, when a larger distillery was raised nearby. This was demolished in 2004, replaced by a spanking new, modern distillery.

Remarkably the original 1829 distillery still stands forlornly in the car park, tastefully refurbished as a sample room. It is a mere cottage, 80 feet by 30, with an outside stair leading to a single room and a low-ceilinged cellar beneath – a fascinating reminder of how small some distilleries were in the 1820s.

There is no more discreet company in Scotch whisky than Angus Dundee Ltd., the owner of Glencadam Distillery, which stands near Brechin in Angus. The company’s story begins in 1948, when Sidney Hillman founded Burn Stewart as a whisky broker. In time he

Age: 11 Year Old

Vol: 50%

70CL

Highland Single Cask Malt

£95

Age: 22 Year Old

01 7

Deep amber in colour, with orange lights; American oak ex-sherry cask; excellent beading. A profound aroma, but so well integrated it is difficult to describe: candied fruits, but also soft leather. A thick and oily, mouth-filling, texture and pleasantly sweet taste, drying slightly in the long finish.

Classic Mortlach.

The Old Malt Cask Longmorn 15 Year Old Speyside Single Cask Malt Age: 15 Year Old

70CL Vol: 50%

£105

01 8

Very pale in colour; fino sherry; good beading. A soft nose-feel and a shy aroma, faintly fruity overall, with an elusive scent of filo pastry, on a base of freshly laundered linen. Slightly mineralic at reduced strength. A soft texture and a sweet taste, with light acidity and a pinch of white pepper in the finish.

The Old Malt Cask Glenburgie 19 Year Old Highland Single Malt Age: 14 Year Old

70CL Vol: 50%

£99

019

9 CT gold, pale straw; very good beading. A mellow nose, and a faintly grassy and floral aroma, lightly perfumed (talcum powder). The taste is predominantly sweet and fruity, with a mdeium length, warming finish. An aperitif style malt.

The Old Malt Cask Glencadam 14 Year Old Highland Single Cask Malt Age: 14 Year Old

70CL Vol: 50%

02 0

016

Speyside Single Cask Malt

The Old Malt Cask Ben Nevis 22 Year Old 21st Anniversary

£99

Very pale in colour, vin gris; moderate beading. The nose is light, fresh and estery (green apples, acetone), with traces of lemon zest. The taste echoes the aroma, sweet overall, with a hint of spun honey, finishing lightly spicy. A satisfying aperitif.

70CL Vol: 50%

£160

Copper coloured with scarlet lights, amontillado sherry; American oak ex-sherry cask; very good beading. A mild nose-feel, dry over all, and a complex aroma which emerges only gradually: faintly fruity top notes (pears in syrup), with a hint of fudge on a dry, planed oak base with traces of coconut. The taste is sweet and dry, with coconut in mid-palate and milk chocolate in the aftertaste. was joined by his son, Terry, who founded Angus Dundee in 1988, when Burn Stewart underwent a management buy-out.

Now in his mid-eighties, Terry still sits on the board, although the company is controlled by his children, Aaron and Tania.

Angus Dundee became a distiller in 2000 with the purchase of Tomintoul Distillery and acquired Glencadam in 2003 from Allied Distillers. The bulk of the whisky from both distilleries go for blending.

The large Japanese distiller, Nikka, owns Ben Nevis Distillery and ships 75% of its spirit to Japan to be used in its own blends. This may sound extraordinary, but by its current legal definition, ‘Japanese blended whisky’ may contain large amounts of Scotch and American whiskies.

Now much neglected, Ben Nevis has a long and colourful history. It was founded by the ‘Long John’ Macdonald in 1825, on the invitation of a group of Lochaber lairds. He was a man who attracted tales. In one, reported by the Dundee Advertiser, he saved his brother from being gored by a bull by seizing the bull’s horns, wrestling it to the ground and dislocating its neck. In another, he routed a band of smugglers who ambushed him, resentful of his having ‘gone legal’, armed with nothing but a stout cromach (crook).

The impression made by Long John was well summed up by an English tourist, Alexander Smith, who met him in 1856, the last year of Macdonald’s life: “When a man goes to Caprera he, as a matter of course, brings a letter of introduction to Garibaldi. When I went to Fort William I, equally as a matter of course, brought a letter of introduction to Long John… I presented my letter and was received with the hospitality and courteous grace so characteristic of the Old Gael”.

This 22YO expression has been drawn from a cask seasoned with sherry.

New Releases

The Old Malt Cask Mortlach 11 Year Old 21st Anniversary

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Whiskeria

Summer 2019

New Releases

The Loch Fyne The Living Cask Batch 7 Blended Malt Age: –

50CL Vol: 43.6%

£45

Bright gold in colour. The first aroma reminded me of freshly baked fruit loaf, indicating European oak influence, beneath this is a whiff of peat smoke. At full strength, the taste is sweet and salty, with charcoal in the peppery finish; water softens the texture but does not change the taste.

The Loch Fyne The 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 CellarBook, 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.

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 The Loch Fyne would do in the future”. Each batch is subtly different, building on the flavour of the depleted stock of the previous batch.

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The first aroma reminded me of freshly baked fruit loaf, indicating European oak influence, beneath this is a whiff of peat smoke.

THE LIVING CASKÂŽ will never die and will always be an evolution of its Islay origins. Every batch we craft is different, meaning each intriguing expression is a limited edition release, and part of an ongoing series that is as collectable as it is delicious.

Inveraray Main St. | Inveraray | Argyll | PA32 8UD | +44 (0)149 930 2219 | EDINBURGH 36 Cockburn St. | EH1 1PB | +44 (0)131 226 2134 e: info@lochfynewhiskies.com | www.lochfynewhiskies.com | also available at The Whisky Shop

Give your father the world’s most awarded single malt

RAISED IN SCOTLAND

receive TWO complimentary glasses with every bottle purchased *

*Whilst Stocks Last. Skilfully crafted, enjoy responsibly.

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BUY ANY ONE OF THE TALISKER RANGE, RECEIVE A FREE TALISKER MUG

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Whiskeria

Summer 2019

In The Know

The Whisky Shop Auctions Everything you need to know about our new online auction house, designed for whisky enthusiasts by whisky experts

Our online auction service got under way in early May, with a projected 400 lots in the first four weeks. Unlike other online auctions it is continuous, allowing sellers to list items for as little as three or as many as 10 days. This means that for buyers there is always something on the close horizon and for sellers, especially those that are active, they can sell quickly and be in a position to buy something else.

Global interest in whisky auctions has never been greater and, for The Whisky Shop, this is a natural extension of what we do for our customers all around the world. We have played a leading part in the specialist whisky sector for 25 years and have a team of people with unparalleled experience. Uniquely, with our national network of 20 shops, we offer a valuable drop-off and pick-up service at every branch.

Not only is this convenient and secure but, importantly, it means no seller need endure the hassle, and stress, of wrapping, packing, and then posting a valuable bottle.

The Whisky Shop Auctions is headed up

by Christöffer Hällström, a Swedish expat to Scotland, and an avid collector of whiskies with previous experience in the online auction sector.

Commenting on this new venture Chris said:

“We did not want to become just another online auction business. Our approach has been to be innovative, adopting best practice and new ideas.

We have taken time and care to set this up and I am confident that we can set ourselves apart from the rest. We’ve adopted the best available technology for our website. For example, when products are displayed online and viewed, the image can be spun through 360º degrees, allowing ultimate inspection.

We also provide what we call a ‘virtual wallet’. Our online account service allows sellers and buyers

to keep a virtual wallet in which they can hold the proceeds of any sales and use them for forward purchases. This saves the costs and effort of moving funds in and out, and keeps track of transactions.”

The auction house itself is located in Glasgow, adjacent to The Whisky Shop offices.

The location is central, easily accessible by public transport – nearest subway station Ibrox – and close to Glasgow’s main motorway system.

Online, the Auctions site is fully integrated with The Whisky Shop’s main website, via whiskyshop.com/auctions We asked Christöffer: who should be interested in using this service? He replied: “Essentially there are three types of Whisky Shop or auctions users. First, there are the active traders of collectable whiskies. They buy and sell regularly and will be particularly interested in the rolling auction program, because they will be able to receive the proceeds of sale more quickly in order to buy again. Secondly, there are what I would describe as the inheritors. Typically, they will have received a collection of bottles from a relative, perhaps in the course of a house clearance. They will be delighted to know that they can drop off their bottles at their nearest branch of The Whisky Shop and we will take care of it from there – no packing, no wrapping, no waiting in for courier pick up. And third, there are the collectors – and this includes many who want to drink in order to discover the taste of old and vintage whiskies. For them, it is about the availability of items they want to buy and achieving the best result for items they want to sell. Fundamentally, it’s about credibility. Our standing in the specialist sector is second to none. We have a team of experts who collectively possess more than 100 years’ experience in rare whiskies. And, finally, I would say that the combination of an established specialist chain with

an online auction service is unique in the world.

We believe it offers special benefits not available with any other auction provider.”

To get involved, the registration process is simple – visit whiskyshop.com/auctions to get started.

Happy buying and selling!

There are other on-line whisky auction sites on the market.

Here is a guide to comparing The Whisky Shop Auctions with others.

SERVICE

OTHERS

Drop off at local shops Drop off at our Paris store Local experts Search filters 360 spin photography A rolling auction Anti-sniper software Our virtual wallet Cash out option Private client service

GET INVOLVED WHISKYSHOP.COM /AUCTIONS

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CONTACT US

auctions@whiskyshop.com

telephone: +44 (0) 141 427 2950

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Whiskeria

Summer 2019

Industry Top-Up

Whisky News Summer 2019

Noteworthy Auction Results

9,100

The Royal Lochnagar 30 Year Old Bottle Number 1 has sold for £9,100. This bottle is the first drawn from a 1988 cask originally gifted to HRH Prince Charles, Duke of Rothesay, to honour his ancestors’ first visit to the distillery 140 years before, which he subsequently donated to The Prince’s Foundation charity. It was bottled in 2018 to mark his own 70th birthday.

1,600

A bottle of Yamazaki 1989 The Owner’s Cask #9W70469 has sold for £1600, showing a huge 73% growth in value since it was last auctioned just one year previously.

9,000 Springbank continues to attract increasing interest at auction, with a bottle of the Springbank 1966 24 Year Old Cask #443 selling in January 2019 for £9,000, having been purchased for £5,500 at the same auction house 12 months before.

13,550

Demand for whiskies from Japan’s closed Karuizawa Distillery shows no sign of slowing. 1967 Single Cask #6426 was bottled on 17th August 2009 exclusively for The Whisky Exchange’s 10th Anniversary. It sold two years later at auction for £640 (2011) and again on 4/3/19 for a staggering £13,550.

3,500

A Karuizawa 1984 single cask #3663, released in 2014 for £325, has also considerably appreciated in value, selling for a UK record-breaking £3,500 in April.

975

Japan’s Chichibu Distillery is one to watch.

Their 2012 Ichiro's Malt Single Cask #1700, released exclusively for the Swedish market, has sold for £975, more than doubling in value just one month after its release, when it was priced at £400.

2,300

The GlenDronach 1971 43 Year Old Single Cask #2920, originally sold via The Whisky Shop for £890, has sold at Scotch Whisky Auctions for £2,300.

Distillery News The Isle of Mull’s Tobermory Distillery has reopened following an extensive two-year refurbishment under owners Distell. To mark the occasion, a new Tobermory 12 Year Old signature bottling in vibrant new packaging has been released. This was marked with ‘gallery events’ in both London and Glasgow.

Visitors to the new distillery will also have chance to view works by Catherine Ross, who took up the first ‘Artist in Residence’ position at Tobermory Distillery last year.

Approval has been granted for a second plant at Welsh distillery, Penderyn. The plans for a second distillery, first revealed by the brand in 2016, will be realised within the historic Hafod Morfa Copperworks building, which will be extensively redeveloped thanks to £3.5 million in funding from the National Lottery.

A €10 million new distillery opened in Dublin’s Liberties district on 20th February 2019, followed by the opening of its visitor centre five days later. The Dublin Liberties Distillery is the third Irish whiskey distillery and fourth visitor experience to operate in the country’s capital.

Diageo has revealed plans to revamp the distillery visitor centres at both Cardhu and Clynelish as part of their wider £150 million investment in whisky tourism facilities. This follows the release of similar plans for Islay’s Caol Ila and Lowland distillery Glenkinchie revealed last year, with Diaego intending to represent the ‘regional flavour varieties crucial to the art of whisky blending’ via four key components of the Johnnie Walker blends.

A new maltings have been proposed at Bruichladdich in a bid to reduce their carbon footprint. The innovative Islay distillery has submitted plans for the new maltings and four additional warehouses to be built in 2023, although these are still subject to approval. Watch this space.

Industry Insights

2018 was a strong year for Scotch.

According to reports from HMRC, exports reached record highs, with shipments of Scotch worth £4.7 billion in 2018 representing a 7.8% increase on the previous year. America became the first billion-pound market for Scotch exports (up 7.7%), although European Union countries retained their title as the biggest consumers by both value and volume, at 30% and 36% respectively.

Exports of American whiskey to the UK more than doubled in the decade from 2008 to 2018, with the WSTA reporting more than 27.6 million bottles coming from the US in 2018. The growing popularity is despite a 25% tariff on American exports imposed by The European Commission in 2018 in response to President Trump’s tax hikes, although the wider impact of this may be more evident in the 2019 report.

The Kentucky Bourbon Industry is reportedly now worth $8.6 billion, representing a staggering 60% growth since 2009. Distilleries in the area have tripled to 68, in turn generating circa 20,100 jobs, showing an increase of 104% in one decade.

The House Bill 445, passed in 2014 following protests against previous tax increases seems to be a key motivation behind the growth.

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The Macallan has announced a new Managing Director, Igor Boyadjian, replacing former MD Scott McCroskie, who is now the new CEO of Edrington.

Igor joined the company in 2017 to lead the travel retail division, and is currently MD of Asia, Pacific & India.

Pernod Ricard has reported strong growth in brands in its H1 2019 report, prompting a revision of its three-year strategy plan to increase growth margins in light of the higher-than-expected profits. This includes organic sales of The Glenlivet up by 11% and Royal Salute organic growth up 15%.

Hunter Laing has also enjoyed impressive growth, with pre-tax profit reported at £2.36 million at year-end on 30th April 2018 representing around double that reported in 2017. This news arrives as they open their first distillery, Ardnahoe, where they have vowed to only release spirit ‘when it is ready’, which could indicate a long wait of more than eight years if necessary.

Beam Suntory officially welcomed their new CEO, Albert Baladi, on 1st April 2019.

Albert joined Beam Suntory in 2008 as Chief Operating Officer and President of the North American Region. He takes over from Matt Shattock, who held the position for 10 years.

Meanwhile, following Beam Suntory’s takeover of ABV Brands in April 2018, after their original purchase of 50% shares in 2015, the newly named Beam Suntory Africa has reported strong growth in both whisky and cognac in the area.

Big Releases A charity auction of Royal Lochnagar has raised a whopping £225,400 for The Prince’s Foundation. Kicking off with the sale of Bottle Number 1 (see Auction Results), bottles numbered 2-20 and also number 2006 were subsequently auctioned off from the remainder of the cask, donated to Prince Charles in 1988.

Littlemill 40 Year Old Celestial Edition, released in February this year, is the distillery’s oldest original bottling to date. Created using liquid distilled in 1977, the expression has been crafted by current master blender Michael Henry in honour of Littlemill’s pioneering former distillery manager, Duncan Thomas.

The highly collectable release is priced at £6,000 and presented with a separate 5cl for those buyers who wish to taste the liquid.

Four Roses has released the first new permanent addition to its core range in 12 years. The new bourbon, Four Roses Small Batch Select, is bottled at 52%VOL and comprises a blend of the distillery’s ten other bourbons. It will initially be released throughout selected American locations, with further regions to follow.

Berry Bros & Rudd (BBR) released a new line of blended Scotch in collaboration with Scottish photographer Lindsay Robertson in March. Named The Perspective Series, each limited edition blend features a Scottish landscape on the bottled to provide ‘a visual metaphor of the flavour of the whisky’. The four initial releases are aged from 21–40 years.

Mortlach 47 Year Old – the Diageo-owned distillery’s oldest original bottling to date – was released on 9th April at £10,000. A very limited edition at just 94 bottles, sales of the Speyside single malt were allocated via an online registration process open for two weeks from the date of release. Bottle number 8 will be auctioned for charity by Bonhams.

Certain to become an immediately desirable collector’s item.

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Whiskeria

Summer 2019

A Time in History

Ghosts of the Grassmarket From rebels to revellers, Edinburgh’s Grassmarket has witnessed a wicked variety of scandalous activity over the centuries. Brian Wilson traverses the intriguing history of the city centre landmark…

— Illustration: Sean Mulvenna Knowledge Bar Grassmarket Pass Notes One of Edinburgh’s main markets for horse and cattle from 1477–1911 Public executions held there until 1868 Historically a scene of public riots, including the 1736 Porteous Riot Home to the White Hart Inn, where William and Dorothy Wordsworth stayed in 1803, and Robert Burns is reputed to have spent his final Edinburgh visit in 1791 Featured in Sir Walter Scott’s The Heart of Midlothian, published in 1818 Associated with infamous murderers Burke and Hare, who operated there in 1828 and sold the dead to Robert Knox for anatomy lectures Subject to a street-scape improvement in 2009/10 at a cost of £5 million

It’s an early summer Saturday evening and the Grassmarket is Edinburgh’s party central. Irish rugby fans, hen party revellers, backpackers from around the globe, students from surrounding residences… it’s a natural amphitheatre of fun.

If you know the history, there is irony in all that, since no square mile of Scotland has seen more misery in the name of retribution, religion and poverty. Now it’s time for the forces of conviviality to strike back. Just to confirm the point, the latest addition to the Grassmarket’s attractions is a micro brewery with very large bars in the converted Robertson Memorial Church.

Victoria Street, home to The Whisky Shop, is the main link with the Royal Mile and it connects two very different Edinburgh ambiances. Escapees from the tourist throng, seeking refuge from the offers of tartan trinketry, descend via this elegant curved street into a very different atmosphere of sophisticated retailing, edgy bars and street entertainment.

The Whisky Shop chairman, Ian Bankier, says that the “eclectic mix of independent shops” makes it “one of the most attractive streets in Edinburgh”. He likes the idea of it being

en route to the Grassmarket with its own wide selection of watering holes and restaurants – just the place to become an instant expert in the wine of the country!

The oblong Grassmarket started life in the 13th century as the hub where livestock were bought and sold. They were driven from the north and west of Scotland via the great Trysts (or markets) at Crieff and Falkirk and onwards, via the West Port, into the Grassmarket while, to the east, they came and went through the Cowgate.

Like all markets, full of passing trade, it became a hive of taverns and lodging houses while industry evolved in the streets and closes that fed into it. Within these warrens, living conditions were over-crowded and squalid. It took until the 21st century for gentrification to creep into the Grassmarket, though not to such an extent that its character has been lost.

Ben Tindall is an architect – and founding member of The Malt Whisky Society – who has studied the evolution of the Grassmarket and its surroundings through the prism of the building he works from. One of its walls appears to be part of the Murus Castri, dating back to the 15th century, when it formed a defence around Edinburgh

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A Time in History

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In his The History of the Working Classes of Scotland, Tom Johnston wrote that while witch-burnings happened elsewhere in Europe… “in Scotland, the mania grew to dimensions and raged with a ferocity elsewhere unequalled”

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Ben Tindall elaborates: “The Grassmarket is the historic arrivals lounge for Edinburgh… It’s where cattle and other livestock and all sorts of products arrived from the west – and it’s also a good place for a riot”.

Castle and the small burgh that then existed.

The Castle dominates the skyline to the north.

As Edinburgh expanded, the Grassmarket became central to the developing Old Town.

From the top floor of Ben’s building, there are splendid south-facing views of landmarks like Greyfriars Kirk, the old Royal Infirmary, and Heriot’s School.

The Grassmarket itself, he says, was “completely redeveloped in the 19th century” so only fragments of older buildings remain.

One of the most significant is, to this day, a lively public house – The White Hart Inn – which proclaims itself to have been “established 1516”.

Only the cellarage remains from that vintage, but the building above ground dates to 1740.

Ben Tindall elaborates:“The Grassmarket is the historic arrivals lounge for Edinburgh. The coaches from London deposited their passengers at The White Hart Inn and the news arrived with them four times a day. It’s where cattle and other livestock and all sorts of products arrived from the west – and it’s also a good place for a riot”.

The best-remembered of these – thanks largely to Sir Walter Scott – was the Porteous Riot which kicked off in the Grassmarket in 1736 when three convicted smugglers were publicly hanged. When the mob demonstrated their hostility to these proceedings, placing the hangman’s life in jeopardy, the Lord Provost called out the City Guard under Captain Jock Porteous. Six people were killed when they opened fire.

Porteous was convicted of murder and himself condemned to death. The case had become a cause célèbre among the lower orders who were enjoying the rare spectacle of authority paying the price for its crimes.

When the Government tried to have the sentence commuted, the mob attacked Tolbooth prison, seized Porteous, and bore him to the Grassmarket where he was lynched

on an improvised scaffold. A plaque marks the spot and Scott’s novel, The Heart of Midlothian, tells the tale.

The Grassmarket witnessed thousands of public executions right up until 1868. Its even more gruesome role was as venue for burning alive women deemed to be ‘witches’. For a century and a half, Scotland was the undisputed witch-burning capital of Europe and, according to one account, “the Castlehill of Edinburgh and the heights in the vicinity blazed with the dry carcasses of the miserable victims”. It is not a story dwelt upon in Scotland’s history text-books.

This barbarity was prompted by the Reformation of 1560 which turned most of Scotland towards Protestantism. An awful power was given to Kirk Sessions to hunt down ‘witches’ on the merest whisper of unorthodoxy or sign of physical defect. In his The History of the Working Classes of Scotland, Tom Johnston wrote that while witch-burnings happened elsewhere in Europe… “in Scotland, the mania grew to dimensions and raged with a ferocity elsewhere unequalled”. It took until 1735 for the practice to be outlawed – and, even then, the Church of Scotland opposed this interference with the right to burn women alive.

The offences leading to death in the Grassmarket were many and varied. One pub which survives to the present day bears the name of Maggie Dickson who was sentenced to death under the Concealment of Pregnancy Act in 1732. Having been dispatched in the usual way, she was on her way to burial when knocking was heard to come from her coffin and Maggie proved to be very much alive. This was interpreted as the will of God; she was reprieved and lived for another 40 years.

A route down from the Castle, the Patrick Geddes Steps, commemorates one of the more positive influences on the area’s evolution.

Geddes was a visionary town planner (and polymath) of the late 19th century who believed in the organic growth of cities. As T.C. Smout wrote in his A Century of the Scottish People, Geddes “saw ancient communities as rooted in history, organisms to be revived rather than replaced”. His influence helped to keep population around the Grassmarket, with vacant space used to create play areas and gardens which survive to this day.

Once the hangings and markets had stopped, the Grassmarket and its environs struggled to find a purpose and, for many decades, was an impoverished area which had become home to much of the Irish immigrant community. It was only in the 1990s that recovery began. One of the trail-blazers was the tweed and tailoring firm, Walker Slater, which saw the potential of Victoria Street and has steadily expanded there ever since.

Its managing director, Paul Walker, says that proximity to the Grassmarket, the Castle, and the Royal Mile, creates an ideal location which had been overlooked for far too long.

Edinburgh City Council finally came to grips with Grassmarket ‘public realm’ redevelopment a decade ago and that, says Paul, has made “a huge difference”. Much of the space was reclaimed for pedestrians, markets and outdoor events. While the ancient streets and passages have survived, the work has breathed new life into them.

Just for old times’ sake, a hundred yards along the Cowgate, the headquarters of the Scottish Reformation Society, pledged to “defend and promote the work of the Protestant Reformation in Scotland” – though not, one hopes, its more deranged excesses. Saturday night in the Grassmarket suggests that it might be an uphill struggle.

Architect and founding member of The Malt Whisky Society, Ben Tindall

THE PALETTE OF BENRIACH. We source our eclectic cask collection from all over the world. From this colourful palette our master blender Rachel Barrie artfully combines bourbon, Oloroso sherry and virgin oak casks to create BenRiach 10 Year-Old, a rich Speyside single malt with an abundance of orchard fruits, luscious sweetness and toasted oak spice.

BenRiach. Exploring flavour since 1898.

Savour with time, drink responsibly.

The BenRiach is a registered trademark Š2019 BenRiach

Proud Partner of Edinburgh Rugby

Our range is comprised of exceptional single malts that best encapsulate quality and the demonstration of our expertise: the elegant 12 year old—soft, sweet & balanced; the satisfying 15 year old—complex & rich; and the decadent 18 year old—intense & spicy.

❁ Tour Guide | Edinburgh

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Travel

Capital Gains

48 hours in ̒Auld Reekie̓ + Brilliant Bars + Radical Restaurants + Sensational Shops

Drink: Nauticus

6

142 Duke St, Edinburgh EH6 8HR | nauticusbar.co.uk

— Co-proprietor of Nauticus, Kyle Jamieson

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Travel

New Favourites in Auld Reekie

As with all capital cities, you could spend a lifetime compiling a complete visitor’s guide to Edinburgh. Add to that the fact that this particular capital transforms with a host of new, exciting, and ephemeral attractions every summer for its world-famous festivals and Auld Reekie remains something of an enigma even for those who live there.

So, for this issue of Whiskeria, we’re not going to attempt the impossible, because the exhaustive would be, well, exhausting. Instead we’ve picked the brains of our favourite locals for their newest local favourites, and the old reliables they keep going back to.

❀✿❀✿❀✿❀✿❀ Drink It In ➘ ——————————————————— 1 Roseleaf 23–24 Sandport Pl, EH6 6EW | roseleaf.co.uk

A perennial favourite of Leith residents, Edinburgh natives and visitors alike. In fact, our features photographer Christina Kernohan loved it so much she used to live in the same block – what better endorsement?

——————————————————— 2 The Star Bar 1 Northumberland Pl, EH3 6LQ | starbar.business.site

One of the city’s friendliest pubs, where the only thing better than the secluded beer garden is the great vibe.

——————————————————— 3 Kay’s Bar 39 Jamaica St, EH3 6HF | kaysbar.co.uk

A bona fide Edinburgh institution, this cosy bar was originally a Georgian coachhouse. Today it is known as one of the city’s best cask ale houses.

——————————————————— 4 Old Dr Bells

——————————————————— 12 Bennets Bar

Formerly the Leith Victorian Swimming Pool, closed in the early noughties. It’s now been beautifully reimagined as a venue space which, amongst other events, holds a regular craft beer festival.

——————————————————— 5 The Last Word Saloon

Old school charm doesn’t get any more real than this.

Unchanged since 1906, the classic Victorian bar is home to an excellent array of real ales and single malt whiskies. Being next to the King’s Theatre, it does attract its fair share of festival goers, so we recommend visiting this one ‘off-season’.

——————————————————— 13 The Chaumer

121 Great Junction Street

44 St Stephen St, EH3 5AL | lastwordsaloon.com

Some Edinburgh cocktail bars hold almost mythical status across the city, and beyond. The Last Word Saloon in Stockbridge is one of these – their Gunslinger cocktail is a must-try.

——————————————————— 6 Bramble 16A Queen St, EH2 1JE | bramblebar.co.uk

A short walk from Princes Street is Bramble, another legendary Scottish cocktail bar. Understated, unforgettable and undeniably cool, this über-intimate subterranean speakeasy plays classic hip hop. You might have to wait for a seat, but it’ll be worth it.

——————————————————— 7 The Queen’s Arms 49 Frederick St, EH2 1EP | queensarmsedinburgh.com

This impossibly welcoming traditional pub boasts an excellent selection of interesting whiskies, plus a regular quiz-team comprised of The Whisky Shop staff!

——————————————————— 8 The Lucky Liquor Co. 39A Queen St, EH2 3NH | luckyliquorco.com

A place where fortune definitely favours the brave, this cosy cocktail venue changes its menu every month to feature a new variety of weird and wonderful ingredients like cider vinegar, sencha tea, tonka bean liqueur, and even a very tasty smoky Islay…

——————————————————— 9 The Bow Bar 80 W Bow, EH1 2HH | thebowbar.co.uk

Located near the popular Victoria Street, this isn’t exactly a hidden gem. What it is, is a really great classic pub that specialises in whisky. It's unpretentious, well-stocked, and a favourite amongst The Whisky Shop staff.

——————————————————— 10 Brauhaus 105 Lauriston Pl, EH3 9JG

Just off the tourist trail, this unpretentious bar is is a Mecca for beer boffins. Bursting with rustic charm, the intimate pub also serves an expertly chosen range of whiskies ——————————————————— 11 Hectors 47-49 Deanhaugh St, Edinburgh EH4 1LR | hectorsstockbridge.co.uk

Locals claim this to be ‘the best dog pub in Edinburgh’. It’s a great pit-stop for pints, pooches, and people watching.

8 Leven St, EH3 9LG | bennetsbaredinburgh.co.uk

61 Queen St, EH2 4NA | thechaumer.com

A new and utterly charming tea house and bar, situated next to, and run by, the team behind Stewart Christie & Co, Scotland’s oldest tailor. Expect a menu of the finest locally sourced food and drink to take you from breakfast to bedtime.

❀✿❀✿❀✿❀✿❀ Eat Your Way Around ➘

——————————————————— 1 Broughton Delicatessen 7 Barony St, EH3 6PD | broughton-deli.co.uk

Specialising in fresh, local ingredients and a refreshing approach, this scarlet-fronted deli is a favourite amongst locals, one of whom describes it as having “the best sandwiches, salads and crepes in the world”.

Enough said!

——————————————————— 2 The Barony 81-85 Broughton St, EH1 3RJ | thebarony.co.uk

One of Broughton Street’s most established residents, this truly traditional Victorian pub now has a new kitchen team. So, in addition to charming surroundings and a host of real ales, they now boast a menu of delicious homemade pub grub too.

——————————————————— 3 The Pitt Market 125 Pitt St, EH6 4DE | thepitt.co.uk

Edinburgh’s award-winning outdoor eatery is now open on both Saturday and Sunday, promising a selection of the city’s streetfood vending elite each week, with some live music and cracking cocktails thrown in for good measure.

——————————————————— 4 Desi Pakwan 61 Leith Walk, Edinburgh EH6 8LS | desipakwanonline.com

Touted by many as serving the best curry in the city, Desi Pakwan is a real insiders’ secret: proper North Indian food served in a no-frills setting, with free BYOB offered too.

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Travel

Eat: The Lookout

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Calton Hill, Edinburgh EH7 5AA | thelookoutedinburgh.co

The idiom ‘location, location, location’ could’ve been made to describe this new venture by Edinburgh favourite Gardner’s Cottage. Perched atop the famous Calton Hill, with two walls of floor-to-ceiling windows affording diners some of the finest views Edinburgh has to offer, you could say of The Lookout is something a crowning glory.

Just like the location, the food, drinks and service elevate traditional Scottish fare to fine dining heights.

Appetisers consist of options including rustic wedges of homemade sourdough with heavenly whipped butter, East Coast Cured charcuterie, plump salty olives, and crab with tapioca to whet the palate and complement the yummy Scottish cocktails on offer – we chose the Aelder Bramble and North Sea Power infused with a shot of Auchentoshan.

For starters, we went for oozing Egg Yolk Raviolo, Tunworth [cheese], Crow Garlic, plus a delicate Rabbit Consommé, Wild Leek, Mushroom that is testament to the precision of The Lookout chefs.

Mains here are certain to become a source of pilgrimage for tourists seeking a special ‘taste of Scotland’ – we opted for Venison, Braised Red Cabbage, Parsnip and Beef, Dauphinoise, Wild Garlic. In both instances, the meat was supremely tender, and presented with the lightest of touches. To finish, two desserts from opposite ends of the spectrum: tangy and light Rhubarb, Rosemary, Yesterday’s Bread, opposite Salted Caramel, Clotted Cream, Chocolate Soil which prompted the response “I’m not a dessert person, but…” – praise very rarely given.

❁ Mains here are certain to become a source of pilgrimage for tourists seeking a special ‘taste of Scotland’ — Clockwise: Outside The Lookout’s unique premises; The Aelder Bramble cocktail; Egg Yolk Raviolo

Drink: Nauticus

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142 Duke St, Edinburgh EH6 8HR | nauticusbar.co.uk

❁ Searching for a quintessentially Edinburgh cocktail experience?

Set course for Nauticus —

Clockwise: Porridge Colada; Outside Nauticus; Locally sourced bar snacks; Expert cocktail creation

Searching for a quintessentially Edinburgh cocktail experience? Set course for Nauticus, one of the newest additions to the Scottish capital’s burgeoning bar scene, located in up-and-coming Leith.

Nauticus feels like its always been there thanks to welcoming vintage-style interiors, cheery staff, and menus of imaginative cocktails and delicious bar snacks that show a deep respect for the heritage of the surrounding area.

We munch on amazingly tasty pork pies from local producer Pie Dolly, East Coast Cured Merguez, enormous homemade pickles, chutney from That’s Jammy, Twelve Triangles bakery bread, and a trio of I.J.Mellis cheese.

Cocktails take you on magical history tour of the area, with a more-than-generous helping of whisky options, including a House Whisky Mac (Glenfiddich Project XX & Nauticus ginger wine), Porridge Colada (Coconut washed Aberfeldy, local honey, homemade oat milk & pinapple), and Coastal Brew (Talisker 10, Lucky creme de cacao, Cross Brew coffee liqueur & bitters).

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——————————————————— 5 Pizza Posto

——————————————————— 13 Lucky Yu Canteen

——————————————————— 6 Kestin Hare

If you’re visiting Festival Theatre, make sure to pop across the road for a taste of award-winning, authentic Neapolitan pizza that’s very wallet-friendly.

——————————————————— 6 Ada

Tucked away at the top of Leith Walk is a little Asian-inspired canteen where freshly prepared gyoza, bao and small plates are the order of the day – the Dirty Burger Gyoza are unmissable.

Functional, beautiful menswear from Edinburgh native, Kestin Hare. Expect a colour palette inspired

by Scottish landscapes, and quality that’s evident in every stitch.

——————————————————— 7 The Fruitmarket Gallery

16 Nicolson St, EH8 9DH | pizzaposto.co.uk

9/3 Antigua St, EH1 3NH | adarestaurant.co.uk

Don’t be put off by Ada’s takeaway-like exterior – there’s a full sit down restaurant serving traditional Turkish delicacies concealed inside.

——————————————————— 7 Spitaki 133–135 E Claremont St, EH7 4JA | spitaki.co.uk

Casual dining doesn’t get better than this great wee Greek taverna, which is always bursting with laid-back summery vibes.

——————————————————— 8 Café St Honore 34 Thistle St N W Ln, EH2 1EA | cafesthonore.com

Hidden down one of Edinburgh’s quintessential cobbled lanes, this award-winning French-style bistro serves a new menu daily, focusing on perfectly presented food with strong local provenance.

——————————————————— 9 Shebeen 250 Morrison St, EH3 8DT | shebeenbar.co.uk

One exclusively for the carnivores amongst you: Shebeen is a South African eatery serving steaks as big as your head. A great shout after working up an appetite traversing the city’s steep streets.

——————————————————— 10 Chop House 102 Constitution St, EH6 6AW / + various locations | chophousesteak.co.uk

Competing for the title of ‘best steaks in the city’, Chop House has quickly captured the hearts of residents across Edinburgh, with a branch each in the Old Town, Leith and Bruntsfield.

——————————————————— 11 La Locanda 61 Cockburn St, EH1 1BS | lalocandaedinburgh.co.uk

The phrase ‘family run Italian restaurant’ causes expectations to soar – and in this case, the reality delivers. Located centrally on Cockburn Street, the wee bar serves an impressive selection of whiskies alongside fantastic wines.

——————————————————— 12 Gurkha Cafe & Restaurant 27 Cockburn St, EH1 1BP | gurkhacafe.co.uk

Also nestled on Cockburn Street, this authentic Nepalese and Indian restaurant comes highly recommended due to both the excellent food and welcoming atmosphere.

62 Elm Row, EH7 4AQ

❀✿❀✿❀✿❀✿❀ See, Do, Stay & Discover ➘ ——————————————————— 1 The Chaumer Abide 61 Queen St, EH2 4NA | thechaumer.com

Tucked behind the teahouse of the same name lies something wonderful: a decadently decorated, beautifully appointed bedroom, replete with original Georgian features. Book your stay well in advance to avoid disappointment, and look forward to a host of delicious local delicacies available via room service.

——————————————————— 2 Hotel Du Vin Edinburgh 11 Bristo Pl, EH1 1EZ | hotelduvin.com

Representing the luxury boutique hotel chain, this sumptuous residence sits in the heart of the city. The building dates back to 1743, since when it has housed a poorhouse, science lab, and asylum, which counted famous Scots poet Robert Fergusson as a patient. As well as plush rooms, Hotel Du Vin also boasts a great bistro, fantastic whisky selection and even cigars.

——————————————————— 3 Georgian Antiques 10 Pattison St, EH6 7HF | georgianantiques.net

Customs Wharf, EH6 6PL | kestinhare.com

45 Market St, EH1 1DF | fruitmarket.co.uk

A bright, contemporary arts space with a regular rotation of local and international exhibitors, plus an excellent collection of books and a café showcasing great local ingredients.

——————————————————— 8 Stills Gallery 23 Cockburn St, EH1 1BP | stills.org

Dubbed ‘Scotland’s centre for photography’, Stills exhibits intriguing photographic works and also offers production facilities and courses for keen amateur photographers.

——————————————————— 9 I.J. Mellis A, 30 Victoria St, EH1 2JW | mellischeese.net

Say ‘cheese’! Something of a Scottish institution, I.J. Mellis cheese shop may be small, but its mighty reputation is well deserved. Drop in for a taste of premium Scottish produce.

——————————————————— 10 Armchair Books 72-74 West Port, EH1 2LE | armchairbooks.co.uk

A second hand book store packed to the rafters with old and modern books, Armchair is the place for bookworms to sit back and relax surrounded by never-ending possibilities.

——————————————————— 11 Collective City Observatory, 38 Calton Hill, EH7 5AA | collective-edinburgh.art

Begun in 1978 and with 50,000 square feet of treasures to explore, this is one of the biggest antiques collections in Scotland. A fantastic place to find an unusual souvenir.

——————————————————— 4 Curious and Curiouser

Established in 1984, Collective contemporary arts centre relocated to a new, stunningly situated home at the top of Calton Hill, featuring the restored City Observatory and adjacent to The Lookout restaurant.

——————————————————— 12 eteaket tearooms /

A great wee gallery and gift shop on Broughton Street, where British artists and makers prevail.

——————————————————— 5 Golden Hare Books

41 Frederick St, EH2 1EP / 111 Rose St, EH2 3DT | eteaket.co.uk

93 Broughton St, EH1 3RZ | curiouserandcuriouser.com

68 St Stephen St, EH3 5AQ | goldenharebooks.com

A magical wee bookshop in Stockbridge, where the knowledgable staff will be more than happy to recommend their favourite local authors.

eteaket Concept Store

Sit and sip your way through the delicious range from Edinburgh’s resident leaf tea experts at the tearooms, or stock up and explore at their nearby Concept Store.

My Craft eteaket 46

6

Stay: The Chaumer Abide

1

Drink: Roseleaf

1

61 Queen St, EH2 4NA | thechaumer.com

23–24 Sandport Pl, EH6 6EW | roseleaf.co.uk

❁ A decadently decorated, beautifully appointed bedroom, replete with original Georgian features.

—

❁ A perennial favourite of Leith residents, Edinburgh natives and visitors alike —

❁ Functional, beautiful menswear from Edinburgh native, Kestin Hare — Below: Founder Kestin Hare

Eat: 83 Hanover

15

83 Hanover St, Edinburgh EH2 1EE | 83hanoverstreet.com

‘Presenting a unique culinary blend of Scottish produce with Chilean flavours’ immediately sets 83 Hanover apart from its rivals, but everything from the beautiful sunshine-yellow interiors to the staff (themselves rays of sunshine incarnate) will ensure diners return to bask in the glow of 83 Hanover.

The menu, devised by chef Juan, who opened the restaurant with his wife (and our waitress) Vanessa, consists of flavourpacked small plates complemented by an expertly selected range of wines (try the organically sourced, bagged Vin Naturo), and zesty cocktails.

We tuck into Sopaipillas, Pebres, cloud-like pumpkin cakes the shape and weight of flying saucer sweets, served with bravely-spiced salsa. Next arrive densely sweet Pork Collar Croquette with a delicate panko crumb on a smooth apple and chilli jam, plus a bowl of impossibly light Fried Calamari that come sprinkled with a handful of sliced red chilli. The Halloumi Fries refreshingly buck the norm by being neither greasy nor stodgy, while the Ceviche, Chilli, Lime, Coriander acts as a perfect palate cleanser, with a surprise of salty, crunchy fish skin to add texture. The star of the show is, undoubtedly, Beef Cheeks, Corn Puree, Ensalada Chilean – a dish that boasts complexly balanced rich and zesty flavours, and meltingly slow-cooked meat.

The grand finale comes in the form of two desserts that make no pretence of being grown up; the Tres Leches Donuts and Half Baked Cookie, Manjar Ice Cream are designed to elicit childlike demands for more, and do just that. Rain or shine, 83 Hanover is guaranteed to brighten up your day.

An absolute must-visit for tourists and locals alike.

❁ Rain or shine, 83 Hanover is guaranteed to brighten up your day.

— Clockwise: Sunshine yellow interiors; co-owner Vanessa; Tres Leches Donuts; Halloumi Fries

Travel

Shop: Kestin Hare

Customs Wharf, EH6 6PL | kestinhare.com

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Summer 2019

Tour Guide | Edinburgh Directory

——————————————————— EH1 – Old Town ——————————————————— 9 The Bow Bar

80 W Bow, EH1 2HH | thebowbar.co.uk

Locanda 61LaCockburn

St, EH1 1BS | lalocandaedinburgh.co.uk 12 Gurkha Cafe & Restaurant

27 Cockburn St, EH1 1BP | gurkhacafe.co.uk 2 Hotel Du Vin Edinburgh

11 Bristo Pl, EH1 1EZ | hotelduvin.com 4 Curious and Curiouser

93 Broughton St, EH1 3RZ | curiouserandcuriouser.com 7 The Fruitmarket Gallery

45 Market St, EH1 1DF | fruitmarket.co.uk 8 Stills Gallery

23 Cockburn St, EH1 1BP | stills.org 9 I.J. Mellis

A, 30 Victoria St, EH1 2JW | mellischeese.net 10 Armchair Books

72-74 West Port, EH1 2LE | armchairbooks.co.uk The Whisky Shop Unit U23, 3 Princes St, Waverley Mall, Edinburgh EH1 1BQ Whisky Shop 28TheVictoria St, Edinburgh EH1 2JW 11

——————————————————— EH2 – New Town ——————————————————— 6 Bramble

16A Queen St, EH2 1JE | bramblebar.co.uk

Queen’s Arms 49TheFrederick

St, EH2 1EP | queensarmsedinburgh.com 8 The Lucky Liquor Co.

39A Queen St, EH2 3NH | luckyliquorco.com 8 Café St Honore

34 Thistle St N W Ln, EH2 1EA | cafesthonore.com 15 83 Hanover

83 Hanover St, Edinburgh EH2 1EE | 83hanoverstreet.com 1 The Chaumer Abide

61 Queen St, EH2 4NA | thechaumer.com 12 eteaket tearooms / eteaket Concept Store

41 Frederick St, EH2 1EP / 111 Rose St, EH2 3DT | eteaket.co.uk 7

——————————————————— EH3 ——————————————————— 2 The Star Bar

1 Northumberland Pl, EH3 6LQ | starbar.business.site

Bar 39Kay’s

Jamaica St, EH3 6HF | kaysbar.co.uk 5 The Last Word Saloon

44 St Stephen St, EH3 5AL | lastwordsaloon.com 10 Brauhaus

105 Lauriston Pl, EH3 9JG 12 Bennets Bar

8 Leven St, EH3 9LG | bennetsbaredinburgh.co.uk 1 Broughton Delicatessen

7 Barony St, EH3 6PD | broughton-deli.co.uk 9 Shebeen

250 Morrison St, EH3 8DT | shebeenbar.co.uk 5 Golden Hare Books

68 St Stephen St, EH3 5AQ | goldenharebooks.com 3

——————————————————— EH6 – Leith ——————————————————— 1 Roseleaf

23–24 Sandport Pl, EH6 6EW | roseleaf.co.uk

Old Dr Bells 121

Great Junction Stree, EH6 5LD 13 Nauticus

142 Duke St, Edinburgh EH6 8HR | nauticusbar.co.uk 3 The Pitt Market

125 Pitt St, EH6 4DE | thepitt.co.uk 4 Desi Pakwan

61 Leith Walk, Edinburgh EH6 8LS | desipakwanonline.com 10 Chop House

102 Constitution St, EH6 6AW | chophousesteak.co.uk 3 Georgian Antiques

10 Pattison St, EH6 7HF | georgianantiques.net 6 Kestin Hare

Customs Wharf, EH6 6PL | kestinhare.com 4

——————————————————— EH7 / EH8 ——————————————————— 5 Pizza Posto

16 Nicolson St, EH8 9DH | pizzaposto.co.uk

Yu 62Lucky

Elm Row, EH7 4AQ 14 The Lookout

Calton Hill, Edinburgh EH7 5AA | thelookoutedinburgh.co 13

11

Collective

City Observatory, 38 Calton Hill, EH7 5AA | collective-edinburgh.art

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Summer 2019

My Craft

Time for Tea

Move over coffee, tea is having a renaissance. Angela Lyons of Edinburgh leaf tea experts, eteaket, took us for a cuppa (or five) to discuss why we should all make time for tea…

— Photography: Brian Sweeney

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My Craft

eteaket General Manager, Angela Lyons in their Rose Street Concept Store

48

Whiskeria

Summer 2019

How did eteaket first come about? eteaket has been established for 10 years. Erica Moore is the owner and founder. She had one of those life’s too short moments when she was working as a litigation lawyer down in London; she drank good quality whole leaf tea for the first time, and thought “this is ridiculous, we should all be drinking this”, so started eteaket.

Tell us about your role at eteaket.

I’ve been with the company for almost five years, and I’m general manager here now. eteaket has always been quite innovative by keeping on top of trends and stuff. Part of my job is to make sure we keep up with what’s going on and share that with our customers. So, we do food pairings, tea cocktails, our tea lattes (the beautiful designs are by the ‘Barista Queen’ Anna) and stuff like that. We’re constantly experimenting, and we have the ability to do market research here in our tearoom all the time.

We’re also creating new blends all the time, which adds another layer of excitement to the role. We’ve just brought out our own matcha tea which is a collaboration we’ve done with another local business called Mara Seaweed.

Erica was over in Japan not that long ago, and she sourced this ceremonial grade Matcha, which is incredibly good. Mara use a seaweed called Kombu, which they hand-harvest off the coast of Scotland. So we’ve collaborated and mixed the ceremonial grade Matcha with the Kombu kelp to create our ‘Celtic Kombu Matcha’.

The health benefits of Matcha and Kombu are widely reported as being amazing so we can only imagine how our blend supercharges you!

What makes the eteaket tea room experience unique?

Normally, wherever you go, ‘tea’ lattes are made with a syrup – ours is all made with tea.

So you’re getting all the health benefits attached to that tea. 70% of each of our lattes is tea, and then it’s just mixed with milk – there are no syrups at all. The quality of the tea is so good that it actually lends itself to being used in a latte, because the flavour really comes through.

You mentioned that Erica was in Japan…

One of the reasons she was there was to source the ceremonial grade matcha, which we now use across the board. In addition to sourcing tea, Erica also took across some of our own blends because, bizarrely enough, although we obviously buy some tea from Japan, a lot of what they have there is still very traditional.

One of the blends she took was our Isle of Harris Gin Tea, which we made in collaboration with the Harris Distillery. We’ve now made a tea from all the botanicals they use in their gin, including the sugar sea kelp which they dive off the coast of the Isle of Harris for! I actually went out on the boat with Lewis, who is their diver, and it was so cool just eating the seaweed out of the sea.

Our Sea Buckthorn and Tomatin Whisky Tea were also very popular with the Japanese.

Erica was a keynote speaker at the Kyoto Infused with Tea Expo organised by the Kyoto Prefectural Government.

How did the whisky tea come about?

There was quite a lot involved in creating it, not least because every time I called a whisky company they pretty much hung up the phone on me! Then I saw Tomatin. If you’ve ever seen the website, you’ll know it’s a Highland cow with four red wellies on, standing in a stream, and I thought “Well, that’s the company for me!”.

And they were! They totally entertained it.

There was a lot of synergy, and we had to do a lot of experimentation with them. I hand blended three different types of black tea, which we had to test out and age in their casks.

How long did it take to age the tea in a whisky cask?

That’s what we had to experiment with!

I first had to figure out the right blend of tea, which took bit of time, because you don’t want it to be overpowering but you also want it to be strong enough to be aged.

So, we had to test all the different blends of tea over different ageing times. Tomatin worked really well with me on that and it was really fun. We started off with it in a muslin sock through just a hole in the side of the cask, and I was sending up different blends to them to age for different lengths of time until we eventually got it right.

Is it a full cask you use, or an empty one?

It’s an empty cask because the tea needs to stay dry. Eventually we found what worked – the right blend and the right amount of time – and they then customised a couple of their casks for us. So now I have the Tomatin casks, and I wash them out with their whisky regularly to maintain the flavour.

How does flavouring tea leaves work?

In this instance, we are ageing the tea, so it’s infusing it with flavour over time. Tea has the ability to absorb aroma, which is why you always keep tea in a closed container. All the jars we have here are Kilner jars, and we have to make sure we close them properly, because the tea will absorb stuff! If you left coffee beside the opened tea, say, the tea will absorb that coffee smell and flavour.

We’ve got such a high quality tea, you can’t just do something for the sake of it, regardless of if it’s a good idea or not. The way we’re flavouring this tea, by ageing it inside a cask, means you can’t just dump a load of tea in because the density wouldn’t allow the infusion; the tea in the middle wouldn’t take the flavour, and some would be more highly flavoured than the rest.

I had to get a guy to fabricate these things like flat sieves. I can fit about 20KG in a cask. I got this guy to make a device with three metal prongs and a base, so I can put in five layers and it’s aerated all the way through. And I wash out the casks with Tomatin – the one that originally came down was fresh, but after time and the tea absorbing some of that aroma, the casks will dry out, which we soon discovered! So we’ll wash the casks out with every batch – it’s been a brilliant collaboration.

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My Craft

Knowledge Bar Top Tea Tips

Some people get funny about re-brewing tea, but if you have a really good quality tea, it’s totally fine.

It’s true that you shouldn’t reboil water. eteaket has a ‘Periodic Teable’, which tells you how to prepare our various teas and blends.

There are various recipes for the teas, and different ways we think they can work, which you can find on the eteaket website.

Top to bottom, L-R: Brewing Purple Rain Loose Leaf Tea; Angela uses the high-tech tea siphon; Outside the Edinburgh Concept Store; Tomatin Whisky Aged Tea; Creating a new blend; Adding lemon to ‘activate’ the Purple Rain tea; Rose flower blossom tea;

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We do a lot of cocktails with our teas. A recent one that we really liked was our Espresso Tea Martini, which we made with Earl Grey to honour our 10th birthday You also mentioned a sea buckthorn tea – tell us more about that ingredient.

Sea buckthorn grows wild all around Scotland, and we were actually part of a Queen Margaret University focus programme to try and see if we could get it commercially grown in Scotland. It’s considered a super berry in Europe and America because it’s apparently so high in nutritional value!

A lot of Michelin starred restaurants now use it, except you’ll find it in a jus and they’ll get it foraged, whereas I need 10KG of it at a time, which you can’t really forage! I go walking on the beaches of East Lothian with my dog all the time, and it grows all over that area. If you ever taste it off the bush itself, apart from the fact you’ll rip your hands off because it’s really thorny, it’s also really bitter. It is so tart.

So we created a blend which is 50% sea buckthorn, then I put in cranberry, apple and a bit of hibiscus to balance it. There’s a tartness left in it which is really nice. We make cold brews with all our teas too, and the sea buckthorn is great for that.

So the gin tea, whisky tea and sea buckthorn teas, Erica took over to Japan, and they went absolutely nuts for them (and our Royal Earl Grey of course)!

We didn’t realise the eteaket influence was so far spread…!

Well, the brand is global, and we like to think we’re keeping on top of trends. The demographic is changing; tea is coming out of granny’s kitchen. It’s because it’s so healthy and good for you in comparison to coffee, and there’s such a variety. We get a lot of students and young people visiting our tea room and Concept Store. It’s a very versatile crowd.

And, as I said, we do a lot of cocktails with our teas. A recent one that we really liked was our Espresso Tea Martini, which we made with Earl Grey to honour our 10th birthday. It was really really good.

Anytime I’m trying out new blends, as well as the fact that we have our staff who are also our best brand ambassadors to try them, we also have the tea room customers.

Where do you source your tea leaves from?

Our teas mainly come from China, India, Sri Lanka and Japan… Erica has gone out to visit tea gardens since starting the company.

We’re part of the Ethical Tea Partnership, which is really important for us. They monitor the gardens, the wages, the living conditions. We’ve chosen to go that way rather than Fair Trade for numerous reasons. There’s a huge amount of female workers out in the gardens, so it’s really important for us to be active in that way.

How did you end up joining the eteaket team?

I have been in the hospitality industry for a very long time. I’ve lived all over, in America, then back over to Europe, and I’m Irish by birth.

Tea was a big thing for us at home; teabags came out and our mother was like “Oh my god, that must be the stuff they’ve swept off the floor!”.

So we always had leaf tea, I grew up with it.

I think the teabag was the start of convenience food in a way, and what I understand now is that it’s a tea that’s chopped much smaller and finer to fit in your traditional teabags. Whereas we have pyramid teabags, so it’s exactly the same tea in our loose leaf as in our teabag. We couldn’t fit it in anything smaller or we’d have to crush it, and it would become a different grade.

In what other ways are the eteaket values put into practice?

All of our retail products now are plastic free. So all our packaging is either home compostable, biodegradable or recyclable, which is something we’ve just achieved for our retail side in the last year. It’s a good thing, and it’s funny because Erica’s tagline is about having ‘an eteaket moment’. It’s about stopping and taking time – life is so busy, and it’s about living life on purpose rather than by accident. If you drink proper tea, and you leave it for the

brewing time, you stop and take time.

They do tea so nicely in Japan. They do stop, it’s quite ceremonious. And that’s what we try and do in the tea room, we make it an event as well. We have the tea timer and tell people how to use it. It’s really nice because it makes you stop, and that’s what we’re all about. Hopefully by spreading the joy of whole leaf tea we can encourage each other to pause and live life on purpose.

How do your tea and food pairings work?

Do you research what goes well with the elements in your teas?

With the Celtic Kombu Matcha, because it’s so unique, I asked a chef I know to help us with the food pairing. I gave him the tea, asked him to taste it and see if he could come up with some canapés. So he went down a Japanese sea theme.

He used Scottish fish on the canapés, creating something similar to a tartare with salmon and the matcha through it.

Did you learn about the more scientific side of tea after you took on your role at eteaket, or did you know much about it before?

Once I got into the role with eteaket you can’t not be curious, and I’m quite curious by nature anyway. The idea of the new product development, and having an idea, getting the chance to see it through, and see it successful, is really exciting.

At the store, I’m currently working on a blend. We know what it is – I have the ingredients, and I know why I’m using each of them: we really wanted to create a nettle tea. We listen to our customers, and if more than one person asks for a particular tea we haven’t got, we take an interest. So that’s what led us to looking at the benefits of a nettle tea.

We also bring out limited editions for our wholesale customers all the time; African Sunset is the newest of these.

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What’re your favourite discoveries since joining eteaket?

Do you ever find a particular product and you think “why have I not come up with this? Why is this not my product?”. I go hillwalking all the time, and I use the loose leaf travel flask. I put the boiling water in, but I don’t like tea that’s too strong and over-brewed, so when I’m wanting to have my tea the leaf is at the top, and I just turn the flask upside down.

A really interesting tea we have is made with the butterfly blue pea flower [also known as Asian pigeonwings]. It’s another flower apparently steeped in health benefits, but it’s really interesting too. We call this herbal infusion Purple Rain, and it’s a blend of butterfly pea flower with some lemongrass and ginger. If you tasted the blue pea on its own, there really isn’t much flavour to it at all but it has a purpose…

There’s a bit of theatre to it (we won’t spoil the surprise here)!

Do you anticipate ‘craft tea’ following in the footsteps of craft beer and spirits in terms of popularity?

Absolutely. Tea is most definitely on the rise in popularity. There used to be a situation where a place had really good coffee, but was still serving generic teabags, whereas that’s not the case anymore. You now need to be able to match the quality of your coffee with the quality of the tea.

Are the health benefits contributing to that rise in popularity?

Absolutely, the health benefits are a definite factor. And the demographic is changing too.

It always surprises me that a young or an old person will come in and ask specifically for an Oolong, or a white tea.

Some of the choices don’t surprise me, with the older crowd, but when they go for things like the rooibos it’s interesting. Rooibos has definitely had a rise in popularity because it’s naturally decaffeinated. It’s not actually a tea at all, it comes from a bush in South Africa.

All proper tea actually comes from the same plant. Your black tea, your green tea, your white tea. It’s all down to how it’s processed. So, white tea would be your least processed. But its all from the Camellia Sinensis plant, which I think is mad!

But tea is very likened to wine. You need your tea master, and your elevation and your moisture and where it’s grown – that will determine the quality. It’s a really interesting product.

How have you embraced the new ‘healthy’ perception of tea as a company?

To acknowledge the rise in popularity due to the health benefits of tea, we did a series of health and wellbeing events in the store last year. We brought in people who were masters in their field – be it yoga or mindfulness – and we paired teas to go along with each of the events. They were free events, because we’re all about sharing the knowledge. Life is so busy, everybody’s plugged in, so it was about allowing people to get away from that. Even if they walked away with just a couple of tips on how to make their day slightly better, and practice a little self care, then it was

Knowledge Bar Top Tea Tips

We visited the eteaket concept store to watch Angela blend their new nettle tea…

You need to think of the flavours separately, then think about how they would go together. The thing I like about these is that they don’t clash. I was surprised by the flavour coming from the nettle, but pleasantly surprised!

You can see, in the camomile, there are whole flowers in there.

It’s a different quality to what most people drink, because you couldn’t put those in a normal teabag.

You couldn’t have one of these flavours that was too overpowering – the camomile is more sweet, and the nettle more earthy, so they lend themselves to one another and complement each other.

worth it. They were really good, it was a really nice series of events.

Do you have plans to expand beyond Edinburgh?

We wholesale our tea and teaware all over the UK, and also have a website, so our orders go all over the world – the orders today were from the Netherlands, Iceland, Japan, Germany, America, and Australia. In terms of expansion, we’re really concentrating on wholesale at the moment along with continuous innovation and new product development. We’re also hoping to expand our exports over the coming years to Japan and the Nordics. We’re lucky to have such a great team across the board. We couldn’t do it without them, its a real team effort.

Visit eteaket.co.uk to browse leaf teas, teaware, recipes and more

My Craft

How do you choose your teas?

Generally, I’ll bring out a temporary specials menu and we’ll test and see what people will like and what they’re not so keen on – only some make the grade.

I was actually going to take some off the menu recently, but then I’ll come into the tea room and the staff will tell me they sold lots over a weekend, so they stay!

We do tea hot chocolates as well, and the tea cocktails. With a mint hot chocolate say, we’ll just use our mint tea, instead of a flavouring.

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Summer 2019

Distillery Visit

From dream to reality Gavin Smith visits Kingsbarns Distillery in Fife, where realisation of a shared dream has helped transform the Lowland whisky landscape…

Once the least regarded of all official Scotch malt whisky production regions, the Lowland category has come back with a spectacular bang. Not so many years ago, there were just two operational malt distilleries in the Lowlands but that number now stands at 14, with several more in the pipeline.

‘Lowland’ embraces the area south of a line drawn between the Firth of Clyde in the west and the Firth of Tay in the east. It encompasses the county of Fife, where Kingsbarns distillery has been established in a formerly semi-derelict farm steading, located in the picturesque ‘East Neuk’ area, between the university town of St Andrews and the fishing village of Crail. kingsbarns and wemyss

The man who must be credited with having the vision and persistence to create Kingsbarns is Doug Clement, a professional caddy at Kingsbarns Golf Links and a whisky lover, who began to plan the project in 2009. 2012 saw his determination pay off with the award of a £670,000 grant from the Scottish Government, after which the Wemyss family, led by brother and sister William and Isabella, bought into the venture, officially taking control in January 2013.

The Wemyss family can trace its roots in Fife back to the 14th century, and during the 18th century it was one of the leading coal mining owners in the county, at one point shipping

6,000 tons of coal per year to the Netherlands, and helping to fuel the industrial revolution.

Wemyss connections to the Scotch whisky industry date back to 1824, when John Haig built a distillery – now Diageo’s vast Cameronbridge grain distillery – on land belonging to the family, close to its ancestral home of Wemyss Castle.

After the Second World War, the Wemyss’ family entered the wine industry, now owning the wine estate of Rimauresq Cru Classé in Côtes de Provence, and in 2005 William Wemyss set up the independent bottling company of Wemyss Malts, specialising in creating and retailing blended malts.

From the outset, the firm used descriptors as names for its whiskies, hence the core range now consisting of The Spice King, The Hive, and Peat Chimney. Additionally, batches of single cask bottlings are released from time to time.

Having established Wemyss Malts, owning a distillery seemed the next logical step, and with nothing suitable on the market, it was logical to link up with Doug Clement and an existing project, particularly as it was based in Fife. creating kingsbarns

The buildings destined for distillery development carried B-listed status and had been built in around 1800 as part of East Newhall Farm at the behest of Thomas Erskine, 9th Earl of Kellie, owner of

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Distillery Visit Kingsbarns ‘Dream to Dram’ signature Lowland single malt Scotch

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Left: The Kingsbarns and Darnley’s Gin Distillery Right: Inside the Kingsbarns Distillery; A tasting session; Dream to Dram

neighbouring Cambo House.

One of the most striking architectural features of the steading is its doocot – or dovecot – which has the appearance of a fortified tower.

Within it were 600 terracotta nesting boxes for the resident pigeons, which provided eggs and meat for the Cambo estate.

Restoration of the historic buildings and the creation of a new distilling production area began in June 2013, and lasted for three years, costing in excess of £3 million. According to a Wemyss spokesperson, “The doocot remains the iconic centrepiece of the former farm steading and a symbol for our whisky. It evokes our roots and heritage, and within its walls we celebrate the future of Kingsbarns distillery by displaying the first cask to be filled with our spirit.”

The distillery officially opened on St Andrew’s Day 2014, and that first cask was filled in March of the following year. The man tasked with leading the project from its infancy is Glasgow-born distillery manager Peter Holroyd.

He is a graduate of Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh, where he studied brewing and distilling, working in the brewing industry before landing the coveted post at Kingsbarns. making single malt

In terms of the distilling set-up and how it produces the desired style of spirit, Holroyd explains that “We have a semi-lauter mashtun,

made by Musk, a firm more usually associated with the brewing industry. We aim to produce clear wort in the mash tun, as this gives estery spirit, with lots of fruit character, which is what we are looking for.”

Fermentation takes place in four stainless steel vessels, and Holroyd emphasises that “We have three to five-day fermentations, which is quite long, and helps produce the fragrant, estery style we’re targeting. We use 50/50 two types of dried yeast, namely, Anchor, which has been in use for decades, and Fermentis, which is Belgian, and gives us our top fruity notes, especially pear drops, orchard fruits, and even red berry aromas.”

Kingsbarns is equipped with one pair of stills made by the renowned Forsyth of Rothes, on Speyside. “Our stills are lamp-glass style, and we would have liked them to be taller,” says Holroyd, “but it’s a listed building, so we could only go to a certain height. The lyne arms are relatively level and very long. We run the stills extremely slowly, and we give them a break between distillations to let the copper rejuvenate. All of this this helps to deliver a ‘clean’ spirit.”

He adds that “We take a high cut and a fine cut in the spirit still, targeting lighter congeners. We run eight minutes of ‘heads,’ then collect the ‘heart of the run’ – between 75% and 69%abv – then we go on to ‘tails,’ so it’s a fine, narrow middle cut. We end up with a complex and balanced new-make spirit, and we can produce 34 barrels per week, or up to 200,000 litres of spirit per year.”

Some 80 to 85 per cent of Kingsbarns newmake spirit is filled into first-fill ex-bourbon casks, all of which are sourced from Heaven Hill distillery in Kentucky to maintain consistency.

Additionally, a small number of sherry butts and port pipes are filled, and Peter Holroyd adds that “We also use shaved, toasted and re-charred 225-litres casks from Portugal that previously held red wine. They give quite a plummy, herbal, rich and slightly drying character to the spirit.”

Due to constraints of space, most of Kingsbarns new-make spirit is transported by road tanker to Inchdairnie distillery at Glenrothes, just over 20 miles from Kingsbarns, where it is filled to cask and stored. This allows Wemyss to boast that not only is the whisky distilled in Fife from locally-grown barley, but it is also matured in the county. dream to dram

So, what about that whisky? In January of this year, the first bottling to be released to the general public was launched under the name ‘Dream to Dram,’ and met with instant success.

It followed a limited release of ‘Founders Reserve’ for members of the Kingsbarns Distillery Founders Club, bottled the previous month.

Peter Holroyd says that “Dream to Dram is our house style. It comprises 90 per cent spirit matured in Bourbon casks and 10 per cent from

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Distillery Visit

Knowledge Bar Visiting Kingsbarns

Portuguese red wine casks. Our aim was to get an established style and make it accessible to consumers in terms of price. We use local barley which is quite costly, and running stills slowly uses more energy, so making Kingsbarns single malt is quite expensive.

All of it is reserved for single malt bottlings. The quality of the whisky speaks for itself. It’s light and fruity, and therefore fast-maturing.”

The launch of ‘Dream to Dram’ was followed by two cask strength single cask bottlings, matured only in first-fill bourbon barrels, one of which is exclusively available at the distillery shop, while the other sold its entire outturn of 204 bottles online within 72 hours of being released. More single casks bottlings will follow, but they will be limited in number. gin and lowlands

For those with a fondness for white spirits, Kingsbarns is also now home to Darnley’s Gin, made in a separate building adjacent to Kingsbarns production facilities. As Peter Holroyd explains, “Darnley’s Gin was previously distilled for Wemyss at Thames Distillery in London, but we wanted to bring its production up to Scotland.

We installed a 300-litre Frilli still, made in Italy, early in 2018. Having our own still here also gives us flexibility to experiment.”

Darnley’s Gin tours and tastings run parallel to Kingsbarns’ whisky tours, and it is also possible to participate in a ‘Distil

Your Own Experience’ at Darnley’s Gin School (see darnleysview.com).

Some distillers dislike their distilleries and single malts being labelled as ‘Lowland,’ as the term lacks the allure of ‘Highland’ or ‘Islay,’ for example, and presupposes that all Lowland whiskies will be of a certain character.

Peter Holroyd says that “The Lowland single malt style is traditionally light, floral and elegant, and it’s the region we’re in. When we started out, the region was very under-represented. I don’t mind the label ‘Lowland’ for Kingsbarns at all.”

If the high quality of Kingsbarns youthful single malt and the excellence of its visitor offerings are anything to go by, the ‘Whisky Lowlands’ surely have much to be proud of and much to look forward to in the future.

When it comes to visiting Kingsbarns distillery, there are a variety of tour options available, along with an excellent café and well-stocked shop, which boasts the full range of Wemyss Malts, as well as Dream to Dram single malt, and Darnley’s Gin. For timing of tours and to check availability visit: kingsbarnsdistillery.com Kingsbarns Tour 1 hour – £10.00 This tour includes a visit to the distillery exhibition space, followed by a guided tour of the production area, and then the chance to sample new make spirit, and Dream to Dram. The ticket price includes a £2 voucher per person redeemable in the shop against a 70cl bottle of whisky or gin.

Dream to Dram Tour 2 hours – £50.00 (2pm) The Dream to Dram Tour is ideal for smaller groups and is led by a senior guide. It includes an in-depth tutored tasting across a selection of Wemyss Malts whiskies, and a complementary Kingsbarns Glencairn whisky glass to keep. The ticket acts as a £5 voucher per person redeemable against a 70cl bottle of whisky or gin.

The 19th Hole Tour 1 hour - £22 (July - August: 5.30pm) An early evening summer tour designed for visitors who have spent the day enjoying some of Fife’s many other delights. A tasting session with three drams is included, and the ticket price includes a £2 voucher per person redeemable in the shop against a 70cl bottle of whisky or gin.

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Mixing It Up

Summer at The House of Suntory ✻

Edrington-Beam Suntory whisky specialist, Terri Brotherston, shows us how to add a taste of Japan to classic summer serves with The House of Suntory’s range of premium craft spirits.

— Photography: Christina Kernohan. Assistant: Jess Shurte. Styling Meredith Wilkie.

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Mixing It Up

Knowledge Bar Our line up from The House of Suntory 1 Haku Vodka This craft vodka is made with 100% Japanese white rice filtered through bamboo charcoal, and named after the Japanese for ‘white’ which can also be translated as ‘brilliant’.

2 The Chita Single Grain Whisky Hailing from the grain whisky distillery of the same name, The Chita is a combination of the three styles of grain whisky produced on the site (clean, medium, and heavy) typically used as the 'dashi' or broth in The House of Suntory blends.

3 Suntory Whisky Toki Toki means ’time’ in Japanese, and is inspired by the interplay between tradition and reinvention, with the spirit bringing together The House of Suntory’s proud heritage and innovative spirit.

4 Roku Gin ‘Roku’ means ’six’ in Japanese and this craft gin brings together six Japanese botanicals, including the iconic Sakura flower, representing the four seasons of the year.

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The release of Toki, the perfect whisky for cocktails, Roku, the first Japanese craft gin, and most recently, Haku, a premium Japanese vodka made from white rice, has opened up a new world of possibilities for Japanese-inspired cocktails ————————————————————————————————— I’m proud to have worked within the spirits industry for 13 years now, and I’m lucky that my job as a whisky specialist for Edrington-Beam Suntory allows me to experiment with lots of different spirits, creating new cocktails and unlocking new flavours.

Japan’s growth as a spirits producer has been huge in the last five years, with The House of Suntory firmly at the head of this surge.

They are obviously famous for their core range of whisky, including Yamazaki, Hakushu and Hibiki, but in the past 18 months have really started to make a name for themselves across the drinks world.

The release of Toki, the perfect whisky for cocktails, Roku, the first Japanese craft gin, and most recently, Haku, a premium Japanese vodka made from white rice, has opened up a new world of possibilities for Japanese-inspired cocktails — something we’ve seen amazing growth of just this year alone.

The trilogy of these three liquids –Toki, Roku, and Haku – make up a new category of Japanese Craft Spirits. All of these liquids combine the meticulous craftsmanship and attention to detail that has made The House of Suntory famous.

Working with the unique taste profiles of these craft spirits has allowed me to experiment with classic and modern serves that marry tradition with innovation in a way I hope cocktail drinkers will love, whilst staying true to the Japanese heritage of the liquids used.

The serves all have their own unique profile, but are essentially made from similar DNA in terms of drawing upon classic Japanese flavours, such as green tea.

These serves are ideal for when you get home after a stuffy commute having been at the office all day. All have been created to complement the spirit used and to enhance

the drinker’s experience without bombarding their palate. They should be enjoyed with a slice of sunshine — although, being from Scotland, I would probably settle for the warmth of the rain!

————————————————————————————————— ✻➊ | roku g & t 25ml Roku / 100ml Tonic / Ginger Slice / Garnish with Sakura flower ————————————————————————————————— The House of Suntory’s first premium gin, Roku, has truly gone down a storm amongst spirits fans. The name ‘Roku’ means six in Japanese and, true to its name, contains six quintessentially Japanese botanicals: sakura flower, sakura leaf, sencha tea, gyokuro tea, sansho pepper, and yuzu peel. This cocktail is all about showcasing Sakura, Japan’s springtime cherry blossom season, right down to the delicate flower garnish. On the nose, Roku brings a wonderful floral aroma, which the addition of tonic simply elevates to perfection. The finishing taste brings to the palate some spiciness from the sansho pepper, plus a hint of citrus fruit from the gin. The yuzu peel also works exceptionally well with the ginger slice garnish. As gin-lovers will know, it's the choice of tonic here that can often make all the difference between a good cocktail and a great one, so try Merchant’s Heart as the recommended tonic pairing for Roku.

————————————————————————————————— ✻➋ | toki green tea highball 50ml Toki / 50ml Green Tea (chilled)/ 50ml Soda / Orange Peel ————————————————————————————————— Personally, I’m currently having a bit of a fling with Toki whisky, as it’s delicate enough to serve with the addition of simple soda but has fantastic versatility for all types of cocktail. The light golden whisky showcases the quality and harmony of The House of Suntory blending, comprised of carefully selected liquids from Yamazaki, Hakushu and Chita distilleries. When creating this serve, I was inspired by the rising trend of whisky Highballs here in the UK. The Highball originated in Japan in the 1950s, and is very much still how the Japanese consume whisky today, so it’s great to see how this has inspired the UK cocktail scene. The House of Suntory has really played a significant role in reestablishing the Highball as a popular cocktail of choice for a new generation of whisky drinkers, especially since Toki was added to the portfolio, so it’s exciting to have been involved in this movement. For me, the beauty of a Highball lies in it being so refreshing, not to mention pairing excellently with Japanese cuisine. I added Green Tea into the mix for this serve to really bring out the apple and melon flavours for that extra kick of refreshment.

————————————————————————————————— ✻➌ | chita sour 50ml Chita / 10ml Green Tea Syrup /20ml Lemon Juice / 2 dashes Celery Bitters / 25ml Egg White (optional) / Sage leaf garnish. Shake and serve.

—————————————————————————————————

Whisky is an obvious choice for a winter drink but should be considered for the summer season in the form of an old favourite, the Whisky Sour. The subtle flavour from the green tea syrup combined with sweet vanilla and honey notes from The Chita whisky make it a smooth and refreshing serve. Not forgetting, of course, the essential addition of lemon juice to give it that sharp kick that makes it a ‘Sour’. If you fancy trying a spin on this, dry shake with egg white for another layer of flavour and texture.

————————————————————————————————— ✻➍ | chita old fashioned 50ml Chita Grain Whisky / 10ml Lapsang Maple water / Pine Shoot Garnish *please note Yew tree is poisonous.

Use a Douglas Fir or Spruce tree pine shoot only / Stir ingredients down for approx. 30 seconds and pour over block ice. Garnish.

————————————————————————————————— Chita is an incredibly versatile whisky, not to mention sublimely smooth. It provides a subtle sweetness that sets this cocktail off beautifully, especially when combined with the maple water.

Like all the serves, I selected the ingredients in this recipe to compliment the whisky and enhance the drinker’s experience. The pine shoot garnish is the perfect aromatic flourish, giving a lovely heady nose along with a nice bright visual contrast to the dark liquid itself.

————————————————————————————————— ✻➎ | haku spritz 50ml Haku / 50ml Matcha Tea (chilled) / 12.5ml Sugar Syrup / 2 Lime Wedges / Prosecco ————————————————————————————————— I’m personally not much of a vodka drinker (no judgement, just my preference), but was really taken with Haku. It has a rich and creamy texture which immediately made me go back for more after my first sip! The liquid is carefully crafted by Japanese artisans using pure white rice, which is milled and polished to bring out its mild and subtly sweet flavour. Once distilled, the vodka is filtered through bamboo charcoal for a smooth finish. This process results in a pleasant, lingering sweetness that matches well to the lightness of Prosecco, resulting in an excellent spritz. Plus, the aroma of rice from the vodka is a great pairing for Matcha tea, conjuring up a taste of Japan on your palate. This is a zesty, floral cocktail that is sure to keep you cool and refreshed on warm summer evenings.

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— 25ml Roku / 100ml Tonic / Ginger Slice / Garnish with Sakura flower

Mixing It Up

✻➊ ————— Roku G&T

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✻➋ ————— Toki Green Tea Highball — 50ml Toki / 50ml Green Tea (chilled)/ 50ml Soda / Orange Peel

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— 50ml Chita / 10ml Green Tea Syrup / 20ml Lemon Juice / 2 dashes Celery Bitters / 25ml Egg White (optional) / Sage leaf garnish.

Shake and serve.

Mixing It Up

✻➌ ————— Chita Sour

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✻➍ ————— Chita Old Fashioned — 50ml Chita Grain Whisky / 10ml Lapsang Maple water / Pine Shoot Garnish / Stir ingredients down for approx. 30 seconds and pour over block ice. Garnish.

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— 50ml Haku / 50ml Matcha Tea (chilled) / 12.5ml Sugar Syrup / 2 Lime Wedges / Prosecco

Mixing It Up

✻➎ ————— Haku Spritz

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My Whiskeria â?› The great challenge and fun of being an actor is trying to get inside of your character's head.

And the further away that character is from your own personality, the more exciting it is.Â

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Shauna

This summer we took a trip to the Edinburgh seaside to meet locallyraised star of film and TV, Shauna Macdonald. Undoubtedly one of Scotland’s most versatile acting talents (few can claim cult horror movie status and a role in cult cartoon Danger Mouse), she has also taken up the task of training the nation’s next generation of acting talent at Edinburgh Youth Theatre.

— Photography: Christina Kernohan. Assistant: Cat Thomson. Styling Vixy Rae. MUA Mairi Gordon

We spent the afternoon exploring Shauna’s native Portobello, finding out more about the down-to-earth, straighttalking chameleon behind a career of hugely diverse roles…

You were born in Malaysia but came back to Edinburgh as a child, then returned again to raise your own family in Portobello. What’s the importance of the area to you?

When I was younger all I wanted to do was leave Portobello and shake off the claustrophobic hold that a small place can have on a young teenager. I had a fantastic childhood beside the sea and had some great friends but by the time I hit 16 I really wanted to fly away and discover new horizons, meet new people, and possibly gain a new identity as an international film star!

I left at 18 to become an actor. However, the call for home was really strong when I knew I wanted to start a family. I wanted to be close to my mum, dad and sister. It has taken a bit of time to get back into the swing of things, but now I can't imagine ever leaving. Of course, Cal [MacAninch, Shauna’s husband] and I will go away to work and I would never turn down work because of a relocation issue, but Portobello will always be the home I come back to. It's only really been in the last 12 years of living here as an adult that I have realised just how magical it is. It's transformed. Unfortunately, house prices are insane now because people realise just how amazing it is to live by the sea. It's medicinal.

Do you feel that being Scottish is an important part of who you are, as an individual and as an actor?

I've always felt like I was Scottish as opposed to British. We have a great tradition of storytelling in Scotland and my life has become all about that art. The art of telling (or selling)

a good yarn. Whether I am in front of a camera or in front of 30 students, I’ll be using my storytelling skills, either by trying to convince an audience I am a character, or by trying to excite my students into making a story themselves.

One thing that the Scots are fantastic at is playing their achievements down. I find myself doing that, and it’s really unhelpful. Whenever I get a job I tend to put it down to ‘luck’ and when I don't it's because ‘I’m not good enough’ .

I think I need to harness that good old American confidence that so many of my friends have!

You’ve worked with Irvine Welsh on Wedding Belles and Filth, both set in your home city of Edinburgh. What’s it like taking on a very different persona to yourself in your native city? Is it liberating?

Although we shot Wedding Belles and Filth all over the place including Edinburgh, it was only the part of Rhona in Wedding Belles that I got to shoot in Edinburgh. Filth was filmed in London, Hamburg, Brussels, Sweden, Glasgow and only a couple of days in Edinburgh. However, I always love filming in Edinburgh and I think it’s such an incredibly filmic city. Danny Boyle showcased the city in Trainspotting 2 beautifully.

He got to do that because he could afford to!

Edinburgh is notoriously expensive to film in, hopefully this will change soon and we’ll get our much promised studio at last, and Cal and I can actually work in the city we live in more often!

I absolutely adored shooting Wedding Belles, playing a crack-smoking, grieving model bridesmaid, looking for drug hits and wrapped up in revenge killings around the streets of Edinburgh. I got to shoot in Pilton, the famous ‘Banana Flats’ in Leith, Leith Cemetery, and Leith docks, and every location looked totally stunning on film. I loved filming in the less glamorous places of Edinburgh because

this place has an edge and a groove that is the heartbeat and soul of the city. Tourists come to see the castle and the palace but stories don't live there, certainly not the Irvine Welsh stories, that's for sure. I was actually 10 weeks pregnant and felt and looked horrendous... thankfully that was perfect for the part!

You also studied at the RSAMD in Glasgow.

What was that experience like? How did it shape you as an actor?

My time at RSAMD was wonderful. I arrived as a fresh-faced 18 year old who was still in shock at having been accepted. I was given a very sound classical training and, upon graduation, I did feel that I had the ability to act. However acting for screen training was minimal and I learnt everything on the job. Luckily I had an agent, Anne Coulter, before I went to the RSAMD, who would put me up for work here and there, so I would sometimes take time off college to do a bit of filming. The college weren't overly thrilled about this, but did always support it as long as I kept up with any assignments that I missed.

I remember that in second year I took a term out of drama college to star in a film called The Rocket Post alongside Kevin McKidd and Eddie Marsan, and my college made me come back in the summer holidays to complete a voice and movement exam that I’d missed.

I had literally been shooting for six weeks, doing 12-hour days and starring in a movie, and I had to come back and devise a 15 minute voice and movement piece in order to pass that year. However, instead of feeling resentment I respected the tutors for their adamancy. I’d fought hard to get into that college, over a thousand apply and they pick 22, so why should I be let off with not completing an assignment just because I’d been shooting a movie?

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Is there a type of director you prefer to work with? What type of script is guaranteed to grab your attention?

Any script that has complicated and real women in it is primarily what I’m interested in now. I love working with directors who want to work with the actors on what is going on in the scene rather than where shall we put the camera and the lights. I’ve always been of the opinion that the camera should capture the action rather than the action being played for the camera.

John Cassavetes was a master at capturing the action between the actors. I’ve worked with some amazing directors, Neil Marshall, John S. Baird, Giuseppe Tornatore, and the late Birger Larsen. All of them were very different in their approach, but all had an interest in exploring what was going on between the characters and what was being left unsaid.

The Descent made you an icon of the horror-movie genre. How did the film change the trajectory of your career?

Does it still have an impact?

After The Descent I was no longer going up for the 'pretty little waif' parts. Thank god!

I displayed the ability to transform from soft, caring mother, to grief fuelled, revenge seeking fighter. It was incredibly exciting and liberating to do. I still travel the world because of that movie, attending various conventions. I’m respected within the horror film genre and, because my part was kick-ass, I get a level of respect that is reflected in the arms length distance people give me when meeting me for the first time! It's as if they think I am about to impale them with an ice pick at any given moment…

The Descent was extremely rare at the time as it had six female actors in the lead roles, and was recognised as being a feminist film. And guess what, we were all totally amazing and nobody missed the men!

The Descent is just one of many roles you’ve taken as a strong female character – is that an important criterion when you’re choosing a role?

As long as the role is interesting then I am interested. I don't feel that I have to play the strong woman all the time because I am just as interested in playing a person who chooses to be a victim. The great challenge and fun of being an actor is trying to get inside of your character's head. And the further away that character is from your own personality, the more exciting it is.

You won best actress in Paul Raschid’s White Chamber at the Scottish BAFTAs, congratulations! It looked like another mentally and physically gruelling role – how did you prepare for that?

I trained hard. I used to run marathons and take part in endurance triathlons. Those days are behind me, but I don't shy away from trying when I know it's necessary. I also visited my old voice teacher, Ros Steen, to perfect my cut glass English accent for the role. Paul says he's got some great clips in the blooper reel of me cussing and blinding in a thick Edinburgh accent when I’d forgotten a line, then jumping straight back into playing the extremely refined, elegant creature that Elle Chrysler (my character) was.

Did your experience as Sam Buxton in Spooks help with the part at all? Have any roles changed your perception of the real life scenarios they imitate?

I did learn a lot about espionage! Also, if there ever is a nuclear attack in the UK, the top brass of the government are going to be absolutely fine tucked up in their secret bunkers. Spooks was a great eduction in how many rebel organisations exist and just how angry the world is with itself. Religion causes a lot of wars and politics is all about keeping the truth a secret. Greed is fuelled by insecurity and revenge is fuelled by grief. In short, the world is in a bad state. My part in The White Chamber made me consider just how far a powerful person is allowed to go under the guise of patriotism ‘for the good of the country’.

You played a resistance pilot in Star Wars: The Last Jedi. What’s it like to have been part of something so hugely iconic?

It was totally bonkers but brilliant. I felt like I was at a convention, only the people I was speaking to were the real deal. I am very proud to have my name attached to that movie.

At the other end of the spectrum to your horror, sci-fi and drama roles, you voice professor Squawkencluck in Danger Mouse.

How did that come about?

I was shooting a horror film called Howl, and I heard from the writers that they made their bread and butter writing for CBeebies. I chatted to them for a bit and they told me about the Danger Mouse reboot. I begged them to put in a good word for me and, three weeks later, I was asked to go to London for a casting. I was so nervous as it was unlike anything I had ever done before. Professor Squawkencluck is one kick-ass dude. She is the brains of the operation, much like M in James Bond.

Has being a mother of three affected the type of roles you’ll go for?

I’m not too sure. It may be age and experience more than being a mother, but I'm just not interested in getting parts of my body out that don't need to be shown anymore.

It's not that I'm embarrassed or even self conscious, it's just that if it's not totally necessary for the growth of the character, then it's just not happening.

White Chamber wanted me in my underwear and I flatly refused. I knew that people would be looking at my body rather than my acting, and that was not going to serve the film. I managed to get away with shorts and a crop top and ensured that they looked as generic and androgynous as possible so that the audience would watch my face!

Tell us about The Brunton Youth Theatre you attended as a child, and about the youth theatre you now run in Portobello.

The Brunton was where I met James McAvoy and other brilliantly talented young people. I attended from the age of 13 and we would often take part in co-produciotns with Paisley Youth Theatre. It gave me such a sound grounding in acting and I still use what I learnt there. The people who ran it (Mhairi Gilbert and David Wallace) created an amazing safe place where young people could be creative.

It stuck with me for years and has always been in my mind as I’ve been developing my own youth theatre, Edinburgh Youth Theatre.

We now have over 160 kids enrolled in weekly classes. We teach kids fr0m 3–18 in all aspects of theatre and film, and we’re constantly taking on new and exciting projects with them. Whether it's devising theatre pieces, set make-up, standup comedy workshops, or making zombie movies, we try to excite them about all the possibilities the theatre and film industry have.

We are also very proud to have James McAvoy as our patron. Check us out at: eytheatre.com What does the future hold?

I have a couple of projects coming out: Balance Not Symmetry, a film by Jamie Graham, and I will also be appearing alongside John Cleese and the wonderful James Cosmo in the Hold The Sunset second series. I am currently writing my first feature film, so keep an eye out for that! In terms of the general future I intend to keep teaching, mothering, acting, writing, loving and laughing.

Cover: Shauna wears scarf by Karen Mabon, coat by Stewart Christie. Inside: Harris Tweed dress by Stewart Christie. Knitwear stylist's own.

Pink dress Shauna's own.

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❛ I’ve always been of the opinion that the camera should capture the action rather than the action being played for the camera.

Now available from Loch Lomond Single Malts...

THE LOCH LOMOND OPEN SPECIAL EDITION GIFT PACK

Created in partnership with Colin Montgomerie.

LOCH LOMOND WHISKIES GOLF AMBASSADOR.

LIMITED EDITION ‘THE OPEN SPECIAL EDITION’ SINGLE MALT SCOTCH WHISKY GIFT BOX. Contains a bottle of Loch Lomond ‘The Open Special Edition’ Single Malt Scotch Whisky with 2 Loch Lomond / The Open branded glasses.

@lochlomondmalts

@lochlomondwhiskies

WWW.LOCHLOMONDWHISKIES.COM

All you need for Father's Day Summer 2019

+ The Whisky Shop Exclusives + Father’s Day Gift Inspiration + Independence Day Drams + Great Summer Gins

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The Whisky Shop Exclusives We’re proud to stock a selection of whiskies exclusive to The Whisky Shop. From limited edition bottlings to old and rare whiskies, single cask single malts to singularly superb blends, these whiskies are for our customers only.

Old Pulteney 2007 70cl | 50.2% VOL | £110 Single cask #1471 was hand picked from the Wick distillery’s warehouses, where it matured by the sea in a carefully selected Spanish oak hogshead cask. Distilled in 2007, this cask produced a mere 408 bottles, each presented at a powerful 50.2%VOL so you can get a full-on taste of something special. Expect rich treacle toffee and dried fruit aromas, followed by dark chocolate, cinnamon and oak flavour.

∆ › Limited to just 408 bottles › Collectable single cask Highland single malt › Treacle toffee; dark chocolate; cinnamon

UNIQUE | DIFFERENT | INTERESTING | UNIQUE | DIFFERENT | INTERESTING | UNIQUE | DIFFERENT | INTERESTING | UNIQUE | DIFFERENT | INTERESTING | UNIQUE | DIFFERENT | INTERESTING

The GlenDronach 1992

The BenRiach 2005

Highland Park Twisted Tattoo (UK retailer exclusive)

70cl | 50% VOL | £239

70cl | 56% VOL | £85

70cl | 46.7% VOL | £80

This single cask from The GlenDronach has been selected and bottled exclusively for our customers. Distilled in 1992 and matured for 26 years in a single sherry cask, it has been bottled at a bold cask strength of 50%VOL, perfectly showcasing its punchy sherry-led character.

Hand chosen for you, The Whisky Shop customer, this Speyside single malt is packed with the fruity sweetness.

Matured in a Pedro Ximénez puncheon for 12 years, it is presented at a bold 56%VOL, and boasts a rich rhubarb crumble and toffee profile elevated by spearmint freshness.

∆ › Limited to just 469 bottles › Single cask Highland single malt › Dried fruit; sweet plum; toasted

∆ › Limited to just 553 bottles › Drawn from single cask #5279 › Spearmint; plum pudding; bitter chocolate

A 16-year-old single malt crafted with Spanish Riojaseasoned casks and first-fill bourbon casks – a first for the Orkney distillery. Twisted Tattoo takes its name from the bottle’s unique serpent design, created

by Danish tattoo artist Colin Dale to reflect the island’s Norse heritage and the Viking legend of the Midgard Serpent.

∆ › Available exclusively via The Whisky Shop in the UK › Unique bottle design › Bold; aromatic peat; sweet vanilla

Whiskeria

Father’s Day — Gift Packs With over two decades’ experience curating a selection of luxurious and longed-for gift items, we’re something of an expert authority when it comes to spoiling your dad on Father’s Day. Know your dad’s favourite whisky? Give him the ultimate gift set, picking from perfectly packaged miniatures selections or bottles with an extra gift included.

Compass Box Miniatures Pack 3x5cl | various% VOL | £25 This taster pack from Scotch whisky maker Compass Box brings together three 5cl bottles of blended malt expressions from the signature range: The Peat Monster, The Spice Tree and The Spaniard. The miniatures are presented with a unique take on the corresponding 70cl bottle's label, each renowned for their artistry.

∆ › 5cl bottles of The Peat Monster, The Spice Tree, and The Spaniard › Beautifully designed labels › Heavily peated / Rich and peppery / Bold sherry influence

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The Loch Fyne Whisky Taster Pack

Glen Scotia Miniatures Pack

Loch Lomond Miniatures Pack

3x5cl | various% VOL | £25

3x5cl | various% VOL | £24

3x5cl | various% VOL | £25

A chance to sample The Loch Fyne range of delicious whiskies, including the seminal Loch Fyne Blend, plus two expressions from the intriguing The Living Cask collection of whiskies, drawn from casks that are never emptied and instead topped up in a solera style process.

Take your tastebuds to Scotland's forgotten whiskymaking capital, Campbeltown, with the Glen Scotia gift pack, and experience three exceptional variations representing the distillery's signature single malt style combining sea spray, spicy aromatic fruits, vanilla and oak influence.

The whiskies released under the name 'Loch Lomond' represent Loch Lomond Distillery's unusual and diverse output, marrying the fruit-driven distillery style with subtle peat and smoke with delicious results. This collection assembles a 5cl bottle each of their three current Highland single malt offerings: Loch Lomond Original, 12 Year Old and 18 Year Old.

∆ › 5cl bottles of The Living Cask 1745, The Living Cask Batch No.4 and The ßLoch Fyne Blend › Award-winning whiskies › Smooth blended Scotch/Islay smoke/bourbon flavours

∆ › 5cl bottles of Glen Scotia 15 Year Old, Double Cask, and Victoriana › Exemplary Campbeltown expressions › Spiced fruit / aromatic and maritime/ Rich woody fruit

∆ › 5cl bottles of Loch Lomond Original, 12 Year Old, and 18 Year Old › Highland single malts › Subtly smoky caramel / peat and fruit / honey and tobacco

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Father’s Day — Gift Packs With over two decades’ experience curating a selection of luxurious and longed-for gift items, we’re something of an expert authority when it comes to spoiling your dad on Father’s Day. Know your dad’s favourite whisky? Give him the ultimate gift set, picking from perfectly packaged miniatures selections or bottles with an extra gift included.

UNIQUE | DIFFERENT | INTERESTING | UNIQUE | DIFFERENT | INTERESTING | UNIQUE | DIFFERENT | INTERESTING | UNIQUE | DIFFERENT | INTERESTING | UNIQUE | DIFFERENT | INTERESTING

Loch Lomond The Open Special Edition Gift Box with Glasses

Bowmore 12 Year Old Gift Pack with Glasses

The Dalmore 15 Year Old Gift Pack with Glasses

70cl | 46% VOL | £TBC

70cl | 40% VOL | £46

70cl | 40% VOL | £95

As official sponsors of The Open, Loch Lomond are in the unique position of having created a product that is a covetable, and collectable, for whisky and golf lovers alike in the form of this exceptional limited edition gift box containing a bottle of ‘The Open Special Edition’ Distiller’s Cut Single Malt Scotch and two glasses.

The Bowmore 12 year old has received much critical acclaim and reflects the raw essence of the distillery, which has stood on the shores of Loch Indaal since 1779. The perfect gift for any peat-lover, this gift set contains two Bowmore branded glasses, so you can share in a dram or two with your dad.

Just when you think The Dalmore 15 Year Old couldn’t get any better – it already boasts 12 years in ex-bourbon casks followed by three in a trio of sherry woods, not to mention Customer Favourite status – you discover it can be purchased along with two beautifully engraved tumblers, all presented in a luxurious gift box. Win.

∆ › Find Charles MacLean’s reviews of Loch Lomond’s other Open Special Editions in New Releases › Full size bottle plus two special edition tumblers › Distinct fruit; peat smoke; American oak influence

∆ › Full bottle plus two glasses › Islay single malt whisky › Citrus notes; honey; peat smoke

∆ › Customer Favourite at The Whisky Shop › Presented with two engraved whisky tumblers › Christmas pudding; rich marmalade; dark chocolate

Whiskeria

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The Bruichladdich Classic Laddie Gift Pack with Glasses

Aberfeldy 21 Year Old Gift Box

Glenfiddich 21 Year Old with Aspinal gift tag and personalisation voucher

Silent Pool Gift Pack with Glasses

70cl | 50% VOL | £52

70cl | 40% VOL | £130

70cl | 40% VOL | £135

70cl | 43% VOL | £67

The signature bottling from the distillery and the definitive Bruichladdich, made from 100% Scottish Barley, trickle distilled and matured for its entire life in premium American oak casks by the shores of Loch Indaal. This gift pack includes a full bottle plus two beautifully crafted whisky glass emblazoned with the Bruichladdich logo.

Distilled and matured at Aberfeldy distillery on the Pitilie Burn in Perthsire, this 21-year-old Highland single malt is presented in a limited edition black and gold gift pack. Nicknamed the 'Golden Dram', Aberfeldy 21 Year Old is a richly textured, with a quintessentially Speyside flavour.

Award-winning Glenfiddich 21 year old spends four months resting in selected Gran Reserva rum barrels, producing a finish that releases layers of intensity and really sets it apart from the crowd. Accompanied by a matching leather luggage tag as beautifully crafted as the whisky itself, plus a voucher entitling you to complementary personalisation.

A beautiful gift set from Silent Pool Distillers, featuring a full 70cl bottle of the awardwinning Silent Pool Gin and two copa style glasses, decorated with gold foil and a distinctive aquamarine coloured stem.

∆ › Full 70cl bottle › Includes two whisky tumblers › Malt biscuit; vanilla; honey

∆ › Limited edition presentation box › Nicknamed the ‘Golden Dram’ › Honey fruit; floral heather; toasted coconut

∆ › Luxury leather gift tag by Aspinal of London › Add a bespoke message to your tag at one of 11 Aspinal stores › Figs; banana; leather

∆ › Full bottle and two glasses › Award-winning gin › Fresh florals; earth citrus; honeyed finish

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Father’s Day — Glassware With over two decades’ experience curating a selection of luxurious and longed-for gift items, we’re something of an expert authority when it comes to spoiling your dad on Father’s Day. Treat your dad to a taste of the finer things with a gift he can treasure forever when you choose from our selection of luxury glassware from Glencairn Crystal and Stylish Whiskies.

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Blue Glencairn Glass

The Water of Life Glencairn Glass

Glencairn Iona Decanter and Glass Set

£7

£7

£120

Supplied to blending labs and distilleries around the world, The Glencairn glass is an innovation on the traditional sherry copita, with each and every one manufactured in lead free crystal and optimised for sensory analysis. The Blue edition was created for whisky enthusiasts who enjoy blind whisky tasting (and is also perfect for patriotic Scots!).

The classic Glencairn glass, inspired by the copitas used in sherry-tasting, was quite literally made for whisky by its Scottish creators. This glass pays tribute to its provenance and heritage with the Gaelic ‘Uisge Beatha’ and its translation, The Water of Life, beautifully etched into the glass.

A dream gift for minimalists, the uncut, hand polished, lead free crystal Iona decanter is a triumph of simple, elegant design. Perfectly holding up to 75CL of liquid, it is presented with four of the famous Glencairn tasting glasses.

Whiskeria

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Glencairn Travel Twin Pack

Crystal Cut Glencairn Glass

Glencairn Flight Tray with Jug

Stylish Whiskies Decanters

£35

£28

£45

from £79

Does your dad like a whisky on the go? Look no further: this handsome travel set of two classic Glencairn tasting glasses, snugly nestled in the plush interior of a black leather travel case, is the perfect blend of luxury and practicality for whisky explorers.

A smart way to elevate any whisky experience to the next level. These beautifully cut crystal glass in the classic Glencarin shape have been crafted so that the light interacts with the liquid, showing it at its very best. Presented in a sleek gift box.

One for the whisky connoisseur, this beautiful set of two Glencairn glasses and water jug – the preferred tasting glass of the Scotch Whisky Association – is presented on a polished wooden flight tray ideal for private tastings, or if you dad prefers, sharing with friends and (hopefully) family!

Stylish Whiskies are pros when it comes to the meticulously crafting impressive, imaginative and one-of-a-kind decanters.

Each comes pre-filled with 350ml of Highland malt whisky – once it's empty, simply pop the cork and refill! Available designs include a golf ball and tee, whisky barrel decanter with accompanying glasses, and pot still with glasses (not pictured).

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Father’s Day — Extras & Accessories With over two decades’ experience curating a selection of luxurious and longed-for gift items, we’re something of an expert authority when it comes to spoiling your dad on Father’s Day.Whether you’re looking for something out-of-the-ordinary, the ultimate whisky reference guide, or a little something extra to top-up your gifting, we’ve got you covered.

The Malt Whisky Yearbook 2019 £13.95 Eagerly anticipated by a global audience of whisky enthusiasts each autumn, The Malt Whisky Yearbook is now on its 14th edition. Its pages catalogue up-to-date information on over 400 whisky distilleries across the world, alongside exclusive contributions from noted whisky experts, and the details of all important retailers, websites, and new bottlings, and more than 250 tasting notes. An essential reference guide.

Glencairn Cufflinks £21 Now your dad can wear his passion for whisky on his sleeve with these Glencairn cufflinks! Delivered in a branded presentation box, the carefully enamelled accessories are fashioned in the shape of the iconic tasting glass.

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OvenBird Laphroaig Whisky Barrel Coffee Aged 10 Weeks

eteaket Tomatin Whisky Tea

Jim Murray’s 2019 Whisky Bible

£16

£9

£14.99

Enjoy the nuances of a great whisky any time of day thanks to this imaginative coffee from Ovenbird Roasters Co. in Glasgow. The Laphroaig Whisky Barrel Coffee is made using Columbian Rio Negro beans aged for 10 weeks in sherry casks that were previously used to mature Laphroaig Islay single malt Scotch whisky, producing a beverage imbued with peat, liquorice and barley.

Rich in heritage, tradition and craftsmanship, whisky and tea are time-honoured beverages that have both forged strong identities throughout the years. The UK's leading leaf tea experts, eteaket, have joined forces with renowned Tomatin Distillery to create the first ever tea to be barrel-aged in Europe.

A limited edition black tea blend of Assam, Ceylon and Fujian absorbs the complex smoky, fruity aromas. (See My Craft)

With more than half a million copies sold, Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible is without doubt the world’s leading whisky guide.

This latest edition, released in October 2018, contains more than 4,600 detailed, professionally analysed tasting notes on the world’s leading and lesser known whiskies. For this 15th Anniversary edition, Jim has tasted at least 1,200 new entries. As essential companion for any enthusiast.

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Father’s Day — Personalised Bottles With over two decades’ experience curating a selection of luxurious and longed-for gift items, we’re something of an expert authority when it comes to spoiling your dad on Father’s Day. Say something special with one of our personalised bottles – choose from a wide selection of styles to have beautifully engraved with your own bespoke message.

Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel Select 70cl | 45% VOL | £60 The highest standard is maintained when crafting and selecting Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel. Just one from every 100 barrels is set aside to mature in the highest reaches of the barrelhouses, where dramatic temperature changes cause the colour and caramelised vanilla oak taste to deepen further.

∆ › Matured in the unique Lynchburg climate › Only hand-selected barrels make the grade › Caramel; liquorice spice; vanilla

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The Loch Fyne The Living Cask Batch 7

Johnnie Walker Blue Label

Lagavulin 16 Year Old

50cl | 43.6% VOL | £55

70cl | 40% VOL | £160

70cl | 46% VOL | £68

The seventh edition in The Living Cask series of batched releases, this intriguing blended malt is built upon the original and award-winning The Living Cask 1745. It has been bottled at 43.6%VOL as a natural progression from the Batch 6, which was awarded a silver medal in the 2018 Scottish Field Whisky Challenge.

The rare casks used in the blending of Johnnie Walker Blue Label are drawn from the largest reserves of whisky in the world, and are hand selected and set aside for their exceptional quality, character and flavour. In fact, only 1 in 10,000 casks contains whisky of sufficient character to deliver its remarkably smooth signature taste.

This Islay single malt hails from one of Scotland's 'essential' distilleries, situated on a cramped, chaotic, wildly romantic site. Demand heavily exceeds supply, making each bottle all the more special.

∆ › Successor to award-winning Batch 6 › Part of collectable The Living Cask series › Sweet yet peppery; salty; honey fruit

∆ › Expertly blended Scotch › Inspired by Alexander Walker’s 1867 Old Highland Whisky › Deep richness; smoke; incredibly smooth

∆ › Lagavulin’s benchmark bottling › Slowest distillation of any Islay malt › Heavily peated; malt biscuits; briny

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Independence Day Held on 4th July each year, American Independence Day commemorates the nation’s declaration of Independence in 1776. Marked by a public holiday, plenty of fireworks and jubilation, it’s the ultimate excuse to get in the American spirit! Join in the celebrations with a sip of the State’s finest whiskeys…

The Whisky Shop Exclusive Maker’s Mark Private Select The Whisky Shop Batch 002 70cl | 55% VOL | £85 The second whisky created by The Whisky Shop staff in the UK’s first ever Maker’s Mark Private Select session, this expression is matured using a different and entirely unique combination of differently-treated oak staves, resulting in a highly desirable and intriguing bourbon.

∆ › The Whisky Shop exclusive › Bottled at 55%VOL › Oaky; sweet dried fruit; spice

109.9

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Michter’s Bourbon

Basil Hayden’s

F.E.W Bourbon

70cl | 45.7% VOL | £61

70cl | 40% VOL | £46

70cl | 46.5% VOL | £60

With a mashbill featuring the highest quality American corn, Michter's US*1 Bourbon is a truly small batch whiskey, composed of no more than two dozen barrels to ensure an excellence of spirit from each and every one.

The recipe for this Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey dates back to 1796, and as such it is made with a higher percentage of rye in the mash than other bourbons, resulting in a smooth and mild taste that is distinctly Basil Hayden's.

This small batch bourbon, hand-crafted in charred oak barrels, uses a three-grain spirit recipe that infuses southern tradition with the spiciness of northern rye and a touch of malt for smoothness.

∆ › Crafted in the Bluegrass state of Kentucky › Genuine small batch bourbon › Mellow earthiness; vanilla oak; rich caramel

∆ › Original recipe from 1796 › Aged for 8 years › Peppermint tea; white pepper; honey

∆ › Irreverently named after Frances Elizabeth Willard, co-founder of the Women’s Temperance Movement › From Evanston’s first post-prohibition distillery › Vanilla; caramel; cloves

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Gin Season What better accompaniment to long, hazy summer days than a delicious gin and tonic? We may be called The Whisky Shop, but don’t be fooled, our growing gin range is a refreshing addition to our shelves that shows no signs of slowing.

The Loch Fyne Botanical Gin 50cl | 42% VOL | £26 Another delightful hand-crafted product, devised at the workshop on the shores of Loch Fyne. Loch Fyne Whiskies possess an intimate understanding of what customers like. This gin stands out amongst an evergrowing population with a clever infusion of Scottish maritime botanicals. It's a classy, balanced and distinctive gin.

∆ › Created with Scottish maritime botanicals › Serve with tonic and a twist of orange › Aromatic; sweet; herbal

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Roku Gin

Poetic License Baked Apple & Salted Caramel Gin Liqeur

Goodwill Gin

70cl | 43% VOL | £35

50cl | 21% VOL | £24

70cl | 40% VOL | £39

This gin takes its name from the Japanese for 'six', representing the six uniquely Japanese botanicals that set this spirit apart: yuzu peel, sakura flower, sakura leaf, sencha tea, gyokuro tea and sansho pepper.

Harvested in accordance with 'shun', the moment of peak flavour, they’re then blended together with eight traditional gin botanicals.

A luscious gin liqueur, and one of the extensive range produced by the Poetic License distillery in North East England. Created with Old Tom Gin and infused with baked apple and salted caramel flavours, it is incredibly easy-drinking.

Created at GlenWyvis distillery in Dingwall, GoodWill Gin is made with nine premier botanicals, including locally hand-picked Hawthorn berries and exotic fruits. Bottled at 40%VOL, it has a smooth, full-bodied taste.

∆ › Find the Roku Perfect Serve in Mixing It Up › Six unique Japanese botanicals › Green tea; cherry blossom; black pepper

∆ › Created with Old Tom gin › Great over ice, with a mixer, or in cocktails › Baked apple; salted caramel; warming cinnamon

∆ › Premium Scottish gin › Distilled with local Hawthorn berries › Delicate spice; citrus; smooth and creamy

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Customer Favourites The whiskies our customers love provide a happy hunting ground for shoppers. From the smoky Islays to sumptuously sherried drams and everything in-between, there is something here for everyone.

We’ve grouped these whiskies by flavour profile, to help you find your favourites from the range.

L IGHT / FLO RA L New to Customer Favourites Bunnahabhain 12 Year Old 70cl | 46.3% VOL | £47 Bunnahabhain lies on the north-eastern tip of Islay and means 'mouth of the river'.

Whiskies made there are quite distinct from the other Islay single malts in that the majority are created using unpeated malted barley in a time-honoured distillation process. The isolated coastal sanctuary also takes advantage of the pure spring water that flows freely underground away from the peaty moorlands. This 12 Year Old expression showcases the signature ‘fruit and nut’ style of the distillery.

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anCnoc 12 Year Old

Balblair 12 Year Old

Balblair 15 Year Old

70cl | 40% VOL | £44

70cl | 46% VOL | £52

70cl | 46% VOL | £80

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!

Part of the new core range released in 2019, marking a move to expressions bottled by age rather than vintage.

Matured in American oak, ex-bourbon and double-fired American oak casks, this 12-year-old expression has an elegant complexity and warmth. The gentle charisma of the Highlands is encapsulated in the fine balance of fruit, spice and sweetness. Elegant and approachable, this is the defining expression of Balblair Distillery.

Another exciting release from Balblair’s new core range.The 15 Year Old is tropical and mature, with the texture of melted chocolate and one of the finest finishes a single malt can bring. Both round and velvety, well-developed and fresh, this whisky represents the perfect balance of unique distillery character and the smoothness of age.

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Bruichladdich The Classic Laddie

Glen Moray 12 Year Old Elgin Heritage

Loch Lomond 12 Year Old

Auchroisk 10 Year Old

70cl | 50% VOL | £52

70cl | 40% VOL | £43

70cl | 46% VOL | £45

70cl | 43% VOL | £48

A seminal single malt crafted by industry legend and Bruichladdich master distiller, Jim McEwan, using individually selected casks to showcase the classic, floral and elegant Bruichladdich house style. Unpeated, it is their signature bottling and the definitive Bruichladdich. Made from 100% Scottish barley, trickle distilled, then matured for its entire life by the shores of Lochindaal in premium American oak, it is a testament to the quality of the ingredients.

This Speyside single malt is aged in the finest American oak for 12 years, lending it a delicious toasty character.

Look forward to rich floral notes and vanilla toffee on the nose, with berry fruits and freshly cut herbs. The palate has toasted oak and more sublime summer fruits for a mellow sweetness, before a sweet, subtly oaky finish.

An eponymous whisky from the innovative distillery on the bonnie banks, where different stills are used to create a stunning variety of single malts.

This core range expression – bursting with orchard and citrus fruits, cereal and biscuit sweetness, then wood smoke and a peaty tang – has already enchanted the taste buds of Jim Murray, who claimed he’s “never seen spice quite like it, or such a sublime balance with the fruity malt”. High praise indeed.

The Auchroisk 10 year old is part of Diageo’s Flora & Fauna Series, which consists of 26 different Scotch single malt whiskies from their lesser known distilleries – typically those which predominantly supply liquid for blends, rather than single malt releases.

Auchroisk itself is a relatively young Speyside distillery, built in the 70s, and draws natural waters from Dorries Well to produce smooth, subtle whisky.

This 10 Year Old expression is pleasantly light, with a balance of delicate sweetness and fresh flavours before a short finish.

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Customer Favourites The whiskies our customers love provide a happy hunting ground for shoppers. From the smoky Islays to sumptuously sherried drams and everything in-between, there is something here for everyone.

We’ve grouped these whiskies by flavour profile, to help you find your favourites from the range.

R IC H / SW EET New to Customer Favourites The BenRiach 12 Year Old Sherry Oak 70cl | 46% VOL | £48 A Speyside single malt crafted using three facets of sherry cask maturation: 12 years of maturation in sherry casks, followed by finishing in Pedro Ximénez and Oloroso sherry casks to give unexpected layers of sweet fruits and toasted oak spice.

The nose is fruity and rich, with pear, figs, apricot, mandarin syrup, crème caramel and toasted vanilla. The palate has more sweet fruits with honeyed fig, baked pineapple, sultana, chocolate fondant and nutmeg, continuing to the long finish with a distinct sherry note.

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Arran 10 Year Old

The BenRiach 21 Year Old

Old Pulteney 15 Year Old

70cl | 46% VOL | £45

70cl | 46% VOL | £139

70cl | 46% VOL | £75

The classic expression of the Arran Malt, this 10 year old captures the fresh and unique island style of the western isle's eponymous distillery and is a multi-award winner, taking gold at both The China Wine & Spirits Best Value Awards 2014 and San Francisco World Spirits Competition 2012. Rich vanilla sweetness gives way to cinnamon on the nose, with a soft and sweet texture that takes on a spicy edge. The palate is sweet with apple and citrus against a background of oak.

This standout Speyside expression is created in a combination of bourbon barrels, virgin oak casks, red wine casks, and Pedro Ximénez sherry casks for a minimum of 21 years. Expect layers of spicy fruit and warming oak aromas spiked with zesty tropical fruits on the nose, followed by a sherry-driven palate with chocolate and raisin accompanied by lemon zest and shortbread. The finish is long with hints of rye and sweet caramel. Great for landmark birthdays!

This 15 year old is one of the most balanced single malts in Old Puletney’s new core range, released last year. Matured in American oak ex-bourbon casks and finished in Spanish oak, spice and sweetness combine with the refreshing coastal notes expected from the distillery. The nose has rich dried fruit, ripe apples and citrus, with honey sweetness and a generous chord of creamy vanilla. The palate brings fragrant spices and Christmas cake, before toffee and chocolate mingling with sea salt in the finish.

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Benrinnes 15 Year Old

Blair Athol 12 Year Old

The Dalmore 12 Year Old

The Dalmore 15 Year Old

70cl | 43% VOL | £52

70cl | 43% VOL | £52

70cl | 40% VOL | £50

70cl | 40% VOL | £70

Another expression from the Flora & Fauna series, this whisky hails from a long-established Speyside distillery with a tumultuous history. Despite fire, flood, world wars and financial issues, Benrinnes has survived to produce a style of ‘sultry’ Speyside whisky that is always well-rounded and intriguing. This fantastically sweet, smooth 15 year old example is packed with estery characteristics subsumed in its dark aromas.

Established in 1798 in picturesque Pitlochry, Blair Athol is one of Scotland’s oldest working distilleries, and produces the signature malt of the famous Bell's blend.

This is one of the only a few official bottlings ever produced from Blair Athol, and part of The Flora & Fauna series: a collection highlighting the diversity of Scotland's whisky regions. Walnuts and sherry on the nose lead to cinnamon and orange-citrus on the palate, with the richness of fruitcake completing this delightful dram.

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.

Matured for 15 years in a trio of ex-sherry casks, as well as ex-bourbon 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.

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Customer Favourites The whiskies our customers love provide a happy hunting ground for shoppers. From the smoky Islays to sumptuously sherried drams and everything in-between, there is something here for everyone.

We’ve grouped these whiskies by flavour profile, to help you find your favourites from the range.

R IC H / SW EET New to Customer Favourites Glenfiddich Project XX 70cl | 47% VOL | £50 The result of one of the most ambitious malt experiments undertaken by Glenfiddich, bringing together 20 whisky experts from 16 countries around the world. Project XX is a combination of each expert's selected cask from the Glenfiddich warehouse, carefully married together in a small batch vatting by Malt Master, Brian Kinsman. Deep gold with classic Glenfiddich fruitiness, apple blossom, pear, oak, creamy vanilla and subtle spice on the nose. The palate is refined, with candy floss, toasted almonds, cinnamon, vanilla oak and a long finish.

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Glen Moray 15 Year Old Elgin Heritage

Glen Scotia Victoriana

The GlenDronach 12 Year Old

70cl | 40% VOL | £55

70cl | 54.8% VOL | £84

70cl | 43% VOL | £46

Unquestionably Speyside in character, Glen Moray’s Elgin Heritage Collection showcases carefully matured, complex and well-rounded whiskies influenced by the unique Elgin climate. This 15-year-old single malt is aged in a combination of sherry and American oak casks, which impart hints of spice, heady dried fruits and dark chocolate flavours. Expect sherried oak and butter toffee on the nose, followed by an indulgent full-bodied palate with sweetly spiced dark chocolate and fine wine. The finish is long and rich.

This Campbeltown single malt has been relaunched from February 2019 at a slightly higher strength, better reflecting the whiskies created there in the Victorian era, and which have inspired this decadent dram. It is finished in deep charred oak before bottling straight from the cask, with subtle wood and vanilla combining beautifully with a full-bodied spicy fruit aroma.

The nose is elegant, with oak and crème brûlée leading to caramelised fruit and polished oak. The palate is sweet and concentrated with blackcurrant jam, subtle wood and vanilla, while the finish is clean and sweet with cocoa tones.

A signature single malt from the distillery famous for its richly sherried offering, and an award-winning expression at that; no wonder The GlenDronach 12 retains its status as a favourite amongst our customers!

Matured in both Pedro Ximénez and Oloroso sherry casks, it is imbued with an indulgent portfolio of flavours – stewed fruits, jam, marmalade, nuts and brown sugar all vie for attention – with a faint charcoal smokiness weaving through over time.

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The GlenDronach 18 Year Old Allardice

Highland Park 18 Year Old Viking Pride

Jura Seven Wood

Oban Distillers Edition

70cl | 46% VOL | £95

70cl | 43% VOL | £110

70cl | 42% VOL | £59

70cl | 43% VOL | £79

Created using waters from the Dronac Burn, 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 allspice.

One of the most awarded whiskies of all time, the Highland Park 18 year old demonstrates harmony, refinement and complexity.

Layers of honeyed sweetness and delicious hints of chocolate-coated cherries are joined by a subtle top-note of aromatic peat smoke. The beautifully balanced flavour is down to Highland Park’s five traditional keystones of production, and it is a real favourite amongst our staff!

Part of the new core range from Jura, Seven Wood was launched through The Whisky shop in March 2018. Crafted with a combination of seven cask types – American white oak exbourbon, Vosges, Jupilles, Les Bertranges, Allier, Traonçais, and Limousin barrels – it opens with light peach and a hint of smoke on the nose. The palate is balanced with a great depth of flavour; liquorice and candied orange emerge, before a subtle smoke descends in the finish.

A seriously complex whisky of the highest order. Each expression of Oban Distillers Edition undergoes 'double' maturation in casks that have previously held a fortified wine.

The distillery’s entrepreneurial founders – who specialised in importing ‘in demand’ goods – would’ve approved of the Spanish influence brought to bear in this Montilla Fino cask wood finish, which boasts a signature salty smokiness along with walnut, orange citrus and a identifiable, crowd-pleasing sherry character.

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Customer Favourites The whiskies our customers love provide a happy hunting ground for shoppers. From the smoky Islays to sumptuously sherried drams and everything in-between, there is something here for everyone.

We’ve grouped these whiskies by flavour profile, to help you find your favourites from the range.

SM OKY

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Talisker Port Ruighe

Caol Ila Distillers Edition

Ailsa Bay 1.2

70cl | 45.8% VOL | £55

70cl | 43% VOL | £75

70cl | 48.9% VOL | £60

The whisky gurus at Talisker Distillery have taken their seminal Isle of Skye malt and finished it in ruby port casks to create the fantastically rich and fruity Port Ruighe. The nose moves from sea-spray to waxy aromas with a little sweetness.

This is mirrored on the palate, with Talisker’s classic maritime character being rounded off and dramatically sweetened by the port finish. The finish includes cocoa and oak, with even a hint of citrus.

A stylish, richly flavoured and complex expression from Islay’s much-loved Caol Ila Distillery.

Following many years maturing in oak casks, this whisky has then been ‘double matured’ in Moscatel cask wood, handselected to complement the whisky’s sweetly fruity, smoky intensity. Expect cinnamon layered with orange and apple freshness, sweet malty biscuit flavours, and waves of classic Islay peat smoke.

Version number two of the unique single malt distilled at Girvan, overlooking Ailsa Craig in the Firth of Clyde. It’s the only Scotch to undergo a micromaturation with spirit first filled to small ex-bourbon casks for intense rapid maturation, before being transferred to virgin, first-fill and refill American oak for several years. The nose has wood smoke and heather with sweet vanilla oak and candied orange peel. The palate is a perfect balance of peat and vanilla sweetness, with fruit and toffee emerging. The finish has sweet oak balanced with drying peat.

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Bowmore 15 Year Old

Jura 18 Year Old

Port Charlotte 10 Year Old Heavily Peated

Inchmoan 12 Year Old

70cl | 48.9% VOL | £67

70cl | 44% VOL | £75

70cl | 44% VOL | £62

70cl | 46% VOL | £50

Matured in an inspired combination of both bourbon and sherry casks at the saltysea-air infused Bowmore warehouses, it's the final three years spent in Oloroso sherry casks that gives Bowmore 15 Years Old it’s sumptuously rich, deep colour. Exuding the aroma of delicious dark chocolate, sun-dried fruits and a characteristic wisp of Islay smoke, it is full bodied, rich and complex, and a no-brainer for Islay whisky fans.

The oldest new addition to Jura’s signature range, this 18 year old expression has been matured in American white oak ex-bourbon barrels and enriched by Premier Grand Cru Classé red wine barriques, and is bottled at 44% for optimal flavour. The nose boasts sweet toffee and cinnamon spice. The palate is rich and full-bodied with Black Forest fruits and some smoky notes, before a bitter chocolate aspect and fresh espresso to finish.

The flagship release in Bruichladdich's heavily peated range, is disstilled, matured and bottled on Islay, and is crafted using first-fill and second-fill American whiskey casks plus a proportion of second-fill French wine casks. The nose has characteristic Port Charlotte smoke, with sweeter caramel, fudge and vanilla custard alongside ginger, cloves and nutmeg. The palate is soft with a loose smoke and sweet coconut, vanilla, sherbet lemon and oak notes coming to the fore, with smoked oyster and sun-baked salty sand. The finish is smoky with banoffee pie, mango, apple and sweet malt.

Part of Loch Lomond Whiskies' peated Island Collection, born of a unique combination of spirit from a traditional swan neck pot still, and a straight neck pot still, resulting in an unconventional peat character marrying smoke and spice. Sweet vanilla from re-charred American oak and refill bourbon casks complement the soft peat style. The nose has smouldering peat with vanilla syrup and cracked black pepper, while the palate is sweet with medicinal peat, smoked bacon, roasted coffee beans, cloves and star anise, developing to fruity green apple and pear. The finish is long with waxy peat and gooseberry citrus.

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Customer Favourites Introducing a selection of The Whisky Shop customers’ top expressions from outside of Scotland! Hailing from across the globe, our International Customer Favourites not only represent an increased curiosity in non-Scotch drams, but also the growing trend for whisk(e)y distilling the world over.

INTERNATIONA L New to Customer Favourites Kavalan Concertmaster 70cl | 40% VOL | £55 One of the most awarded Asian whiskies of all time, presented in a 50cl bottle (ideal for those who like a little taste of something different). It is distilled in Yilan, North Eastern Taiwan, using the cold pure spring water that flows through the Snow Mountain, and matured in American oak before finishing in port barriques for fantastic smoothness. The exceptionally pure airs and a sub-tropical climate around the distillery contribute to this single malt’s uniquely light and fruity flavour – tropical notes mix with cinnamon spice, vanilla and cream, and finish on luscious dark fruits.

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Maker’s 46

Redbreast 12 Year Old

Green Spot

70cl | 47% VOL | £45

70cl | 40% VOL | £50

70cl | 40% VOL | £44

A ‘totally new kind of bourbon’, Maker’s 46 is crafted with seared French oak staves and matured in the coolest part of the beautifully situated Maker’s Mark Distillery, Kentucky.

Named after its origin as the 46th recipe explored by its creators, this exceptionally smooth bourbon is an evolution from the standard Maker’s Mark expression, and a masterpiece of natural caramel, vanilla and spice flavours.

The first official reference to the brand name 'Redbreast' appears in August 1912, when Gilbeys were selling "Redbreast" J.J. Liqueur Whiskey 12 Years Old. The name 'Redbreast' itself refers to the bird, Robin Redbreast, and is attributed to the then Chairman of Gilbey's, who was an avid bird-fancier.

This modern 12 Year Old expression is a single pot still whiskey full of aroma and flavour, benefitting from a strong contribution of distillates which have matured in Oloroso sherry casks, giving it its trademark Christmas cake character.

A non-age statement single pot still Irish whiskey comprised of pot still whiskies aged between seven and ten years old. It has been matured in a combination of new and refill bourbon casks as well as sherry casks. The nose is fresh with aromatic oils, spice and orchard fruits on a background of toasted wood.

The flavour is spicy and fullbodied, with a hint of cloves and the fresh fruity sweetness of green apples, along with further toasted oak leading to a lingering spicy, barley finish.

Whiskeria

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Bulleit Bourbon 10 Year Old

Roe & Co

The Chita

Tullamore D.E.W. 14 Year Old

70cl | 40% VOL | £49

70cl | 45% VOL | £35

70cl | 43% VOL | £58

70cl | 41.3% VOL | £57

Billed as ‘Tom Bulleit’s selected reserve’ this sublime whiskey was first aged in charred American white oak, before select Bulleit Bourbon barrels were set aside to age for a total of 10 years. The result is a very special expression that promises a rich, deep, incredibly smooth-sipping experience. Deep russet in colour with rich oaky aromas, you can expect a consistently smooth taste with vanilla and dried fruit, before a long, smoky finish.

A premium blended Irish whiskey marrying single malt and single grain liquid in American oak ex-bourbon casks, a high percentage of which are first-fill. Developed

by Master Blender, Caroline Martin, Prototype 106 was chosen to hold up in cocktails, as well as be enjoyed neat.

Fragrant and rounded with soft spice, mellow spun sugar and warm, woody vanilla, the balance is immediately evident on the palate, with a velvety texture and sweetness including spiced pears and vanilla, then creaminess lingering in the finish.

The result of 40 years’ excellence in distilling, this single grain whisky hails from Japan’s revered House of Suntory. Traditionally used as the ‘dashi’ or broth that enhances Suntory blends, Chita has finally achieved a level of sophistication that allows it to take centre stage. Expect crème brûlée, cardamom, acacia honey and rose blossoms on the nose.

The palate is mild and smooth with subtle mint amidst a deep honey character. Clean and clear spiced oak with subtle bittersweet notes complete the finish.

An Irish single malt triple distilled and matured in exbourbon casks for the majority of its life, before being finished in a selection of four specially chosen casks: bourbon, Oloroso sherry, port, and Madeira. The nose is fruity, with citrus, apple and mango atop rich honey and vanilla. The palate has fresh green fruits, toffee, cinnamon, nutmeg and a touch of ginger.

The finish brings malty notes with some milk chocolate and a touch of spice.

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Expert Tasting

The Glenlivet 50 Year Old Port Ellen Untold Stories: The Spirit Safe

Charles Maclean gives his expert opinion on two long-matured titans, The Glenlivet 50 Year Old and Port Ellen 39 Year Old

the glenlivet 50 year old This is the third edition of The Glenlivet’s prestigious Winchester Collection, released on 8th March and limited to 150 bottles. The single malt has been matured for at least 50 years in a mixture of American oak barrels, hogshead and butts. It is bottled at cask strength, at natural colour and without chill-filtration.

The Collection is named after Alan Winchester, The Glenlivet’s highly distinguished Master Distiller. A local man, he joined the company thirty-seven years ago and rose through the ranks. He is universally respected in the whisky industry, both for his skill and experience, and for his profound knowledge of the history of whisky, and of Speyside in particular.

“The launch of Vintage 1967 is a momentous occasion for The Glenlivet, and a particularly proud one for me personally,” he said, “to have my name associated with one of the finest single malts that money can buy is an honour, and a fantastic way to celebrate more than 40 years in the Scotch whisky industry.”

He once told me: “Although the position of ‘Master Distiller’ was only created in 1997, I am the heir to a long line of managers and owners stretching back to George Smith, who founded the distillery in 1824. As you know, I have a deep interest in the history of whisky, so it comes naturally to me to have an eye on the past – but my other eye is on the future”.

The gorgeous casket in which each bottle is presented was designed by Bethan Gray, in collaboration with Alan Winchester. Londonbased, but with Speyside family connections, Ms. Gray is one of our most celebrated furniture and homeware designers – the winner of four British Design Awards sponsored by Elle Decoration Magazine, including the coveted Best British Designer, and Best British Tableware Designer.

She writes: “Everything I design starts with a story – through collaborating with skilled craftsmen I bring those stories to life for contemporary audiences. So it was a real honour to work with Alan Winchester to create this incredibly special bottle of malt whisky.”

Her design was inspired by the landscape of the Cairgorms National Park, where her grandfather worked as a forester. The case is made from birds-eye maple, with curved overlays in solid copper to reflect the distillery’s charred barrels and copper stills. Each is also inlaid with mother-of-pearl to represent the rare freshwater pearls found in mussels indigenous to the River Spey.

Ms. Gray also designed the bottle in which the whisky is presented, engraved and handpainted with her ‘Dhow’ pattern, inspired by the billowing sails of traditional Omani sailing boats, but here used “to reflect the layers of mist that gather in the glens which surround The Glenlivet Distillery”.

Each bottle has been hand-made by glassblower Brodie Nairn, whose studio, Glasstorm, is in Tain, and whose company motto is: “Always strive for elegance and excellence”.

Glasstorm made the bottles for previous editions in the Winchester Collection; Mr. Nairn says, of the 1967 Vintage: “The glass has an ombré effect [i.e. a subtle graduation of colour] that mimics the ageing process of the liquid it contains.”

The Winchester Collection was launched in 2014 with a 1964 Vintage, followed by a 1966 Vintage in 2016, both bottled at 50 years old.

Alan consigned his personal bottle of Vintage 1966 to auction for charity, with proceeds going to the British Crafts Council to support ‘contemporary craft’ in the UK.

port ellen untold stories This is the first release of the new Port Ellen series 'Untold Stories', which will feature some of the remaining stocks of the distillery, which closed in 1983 and is currently being re-established. The series aims to explore Port Ellen’s 'pioneering' background. This release is titled ‘The Spirit Safe’.

Port Ellen Distillery was founded ‘shortly before the Excise Act of 1823’, which laid the foundations of the modern whisky industry and which specified the introduction of a spirit safe in all distilleries, but not before tests had been done to ensure that the safe had no harmful effects on the make. The tests were done at Port Ellen in 1824. The first safes were introduced the following year.

The safe had been invented by Septimus Fox in the early 1820s. It is a rectangular brass-bound box, with a glass front, secured with a stout brass bar with padlocks at each end – in days gone by the distillery manager kept the key for one and the resident exciseman the key for the other.

The low wines from the wash still and the spirit from the spirit still flow through the safe, which is fitted with three glass bowls and a chute, down which the distillate flows. The chute can be directed into the bowls by levers outside the safe, so the operator can direct the early and late runnings to the foreshots and feints receiver, and the heart of the run to the spirit receiver.

There are also hydrometers in the spirit safe and a small water tap, also operated from outside, so the spirit may be tested for purity and strength by the operator. The first robust and accurate hydrometer had been invented by Bartholemew Sikes in 1802, but only adopted by the Excise Board in 1817.

Limited to just 1,500 bottles globally, this 39-year-old Port Ellen is an outstanding example of the make. Remarkably lively for its 39 years, advanced age has lent texture and complexity, and has enhanced the spirit’s original character rather than mask it with flavours from the cask.

002

001

Port Ellen Untold Stories: The Spirit Safe

Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky

70CL

Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky

70CL

Age: 50 Year Old

£POA

Age: 39 Year Old

£POA

Vol: 46.8%

Long maturation in an American oak ex-bourbon cask has intensified the fruity signature notes of The Glenlivet: ripe pears, oranges and black cherries create an intriguing flavour, while smooth, creamy toffee notes give a rich, velvety texture. In the background, hints of caramelised sugar entice the taste buds and endure on the palate, creating the sort of whisky that legends are made of.

Vol: 45.7%

Deep gold. A mix of ex-bourbon and Spanish ex-sherry casks.

Excellent beading and oily viscosity. Light nose prickle; lightly nose-drying. A rich aroma with a maritime top-note, soon edging towards ‘artist’s studio’ (natural turpentine, linseed oil) and cordage. The expected base-note of peat-smoke is restrained. A big, oily texture and a centre palate, sweetthen-salty taste, with a warming, lightly peaty finish, slightly mouth-cooling (oil of cloves). With a drop of water, the texture is softened and the taste sweetened slightly; the mouth-cooling effect is enhanced, and there is an aftertaste of dry jute sacking.

Immensely satisfying.

Expert Tasting

The Glenlivet 50 Year Old

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In The Know

Coming soon‌

Our London Piccadilly store is moving to brand new premises at the end of May. Watch this space.

You’ll find our new shop, at 169 Piccadilly, just a short walk from our current location.

These visuals are from the design of our new The Whisky Shop, Piccadilly by gpstudio.

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TREASURE YOUR DAD FATHER'S DAY, 16TH JUNE

JOHNNIE WALKER BLUE LABEL GHOST & RARE PORT ELLEN Our rarest whiskies reawakened.

PLEASE DRINK RESPONSIBLY. JOHNNIE WALKER BLUE LABEL Blended Scotch Whisky.

43.8% Alc/Vol. ©2019 Imported by Diageo, Norwalk, CT