PLANS FOR A 9TH DISTILLERY ON ISLAY

Rumors of plans to build a 9th distillery on Islay has emerged. The name should be Gartbreck.

You can read more here

Source: Whisky Advocate Blog

NEW HIGHLAND PARKS FOR TRAVEL RETAIL AUTUMN 2013

As mentioned earlier on this blog, Highland Park distillery will expand their travel retail 'Warrior'-series this autumn. This will add the expressions 'Sigurd' 'Ragnvald' and 'Thorfinn' to their range.

Prices have taken a heft bump upwards, as have the packaging - see below (official notes):

Highland Park 'Sigurd' 43% - Price €150

Colour:
Autumnal gold, clear and bright

Nose:

Fresh hay bales, mango, golden syrup sponge, caramelised pineapple and a fragrant smokiness

Taste:

Sweet lemon peel, spicy cinnamon bark, oaky woodiness and hint of lavender

Finish:

Spicy smokiness with lingering dusty wood notes

Highland Park 'Ragnvald' 44,6% - Price €400

Colour:

Medium russet, clear and bright

Nose:
Ripe damsons, oriental spices, candied peel and night scented stock

Taste:
Well-balanced smoke and sweet, grated nutmeg, vanilla pods and high cocoa chocolate

Finish:
Complex lingering gingery spiciness and smoke

Highland Park 'Thorfinn' 45,1% - Price €1,000

Colour:
Dark russet, clear and bright

Nose:
Cedarwood, camphor, mango, coriander, spicy smokiness and vanilla pods

Taste:
Very complex, ginger root to the fore followed by smoked oak.

Finish:Complex lingering spiciness and smoke

The Thorfinn youtube video is for some reason hidden on youtube, but you can access it through this link... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9j6ZweEPL0

Official pictures by Highland Park

WHISKY MAGAZINE WORLD WHISKY AWARDS 2013

Here's a quick heads up for those interested in awards...

Whisky Magazine has released their awards for 2013. You can see the very long list here

eBAY TO BAN ALCHOHOL SALE ON THEIR AUCTION SITE

Its with the risk of getting flamed by US readers, I'm putting up this post...although some may be very keen on upholding the 21yo drinking rules...? (No, wait - I don't have any US readers not into spirits here)

 

It seems like the Puritans of America and press is lashing out at the alcohol business once again.
This time with the story how an American teenager easily can buy alcohol through the eBay auction site.

And this is all so bad... why? I really don't get it!
Let the kids get drunk - at least they wont do drugs then when they get their high from the booze. Or does the US just need to revise their legislation on alcohol? I mean, here in Denmark if kids want to drink, they'll drink... they will always find a way to get their hands on alcohol.

Anyway, its a pretty controversial decision for purchasers getting their stuff on eBay IMO... I wonder if this will only apply the eBay US or if other countries eBay sites will be affected as well

You can read more about the whole 'scandal' here and here.

UPDATE TO THE MALT DESK - LINKS TO OTHER BLOGS AND WEBSITES

Finally got around to doing a links section on the blog. This resulted in 2 new sections, actually... One that does other blogs with a feed that posts their recent activity. Its placed at the bottom of the right column.

The other one is a list of links without active feeds and can be found at the bottom of the left column. There's links to both established bloggers and websites and also room for a couple of more recent ones - just like myself... :-)

Please visit these websites too...

Thank you!

PRE-LAUNCH OF THE SCOTCH MALT WHISKY SOCIETY IN DENMARK

 

Thursday September 6th, saw the pre-launch of the Scotch Malt Whisky Society in Denmark.

The Society has been brought to Denmark by Terje Thesbjerg, co-owner and CEO of Select Hotels/Best Western 'Torvehallerne' in the city of Vejle, Denmark.

Vejle is centrally located for most people in Denmark as its close to the bridge connecting the island of Fionia and Zealand further on. Going north you find Aarhus, Denmark's 2nd largest city with a substantial number of whisky enthusiasts, to whom I'm sure the branch in Vejle will be a great addition. Only drawback is for the people up north (200km+) e.g. like me. Still, I ventured to this event in high hopes to see what face SMWS will have to show for themselves in Denmark.



The SMWS Bar in Vejle, Denmark


The venue as such is very much in touch with the Scandinavian style, as one might expect being in Denmark, though a few leather couches also have snug their way in.

John McCheyne, Ambassador for the SMWS, opened the evening with a short speech in Danish.
A pretty good effort for such a short rehearsal time.

After that John explained a bit about the Society in general and their goals and history.




John McCheyne from SMWS

The Dining area

Next up, Terje Thesbjerg & Co. served a 4 course meal accompanied by whisky, wine and beer.

We had:

• 64.33 'Antics of a Prankster' (Mannochmore)
• 26.87 'Passion-fruit scented candles' (Clynelish)
• 4.168 'Gunpowder, treason and plot' (Highland Park)
• 66.34 'Hornby Double 0' (Ardmore)
• 30.71 'Burnt Crumpet and Highland toffee' (Glenrothes)

These were enjoyed in the good company of John McCheyne, Chris+1, and a couple of Danish 'whisky regulars' at the table (you know, who you are).

Half way through the evening, we were also entertained by the pretty unique combination of a piper and stand up comedian Claus Reiss - a funny guy indeed - even the attending Scots had never seen that combination - read more about him here.

All very good drams this evening - and if SMWS DK keeps itself up to date and gets all the newest releases every time they show up it has a very good base setup for pleasing the otherwise spoiled Danish punters :-)

Finally, you can visit the Danish SMWS website here

Hint, Hint ;-)) Maybe that big shiny 'Carlsberg' sign in the bar should come down and be replaced with something more Scottish?

Best of luck to SMWS Denmark and thanks to Terje Thesbjerg for the invite to this event!

DENMARK NEWS: GLENGLASSAUGH TO SIGN WITH FC WHISKY

Some interesting news for my Danish readers:

Glenglassaugh Distillery in Portsoy, Aberdeenshire has signed with Danish importer 'FC Whisky'.
Glenglassaugh wanted to explore new territories and started negotiations with FC Whisky in Spring 2012 for them to take over the brand in Denmark.

FC Whisky is very happy about this since Glenglassaugh have older casks available, though at a significant price. Glenglassaugh has also just released the 'Revival' and though a young whisky its very good for its age and finally Glenglassaugh already has a good name with many Danish whisky drinkers, with many of them already owning a cask at the distillery.

'This relationship is one that FC Whisky would like to nurture and its always exiting to be a part of projects like relaunching a distillery' says Claus from FC Whisky who also thinks that being a part of something like this is one of FC Whisky's strong sides.

Right now FC Whisky imports the following Glenglassaugh to Denmark:

• Glenglassaugh 'Revival' 46% - finished in 1st fill sherry butts
• Glenglassaugh 26yo 46%
• Glenglassaugh over 30yo 43%
• Glenglassaugh Chosen Few 35yo 49,6% single cask chosen by Ronnie Routledge.

Later this year a young peated Glenglassaugh at 46% will find its way to the Danish Market.

Source: FC Whisky
http://www.glenglassaugh.com

NEW DISTILLERY - WOLFBURN 'ON TOP' OF SCOTLAND

Picture by Wolfburn

Rumors have been going for a while about this new venture just west of Thurso on the northern coast of Scotland... and now they've come as far as getting their planning permissions in order and a website is up telling they will start producing in early 2013....

Lets hope they succeed! Best of luck from this blogger!

Read a little more at the Wolfburn's website

SPIRIT OF SPEYSIDE AUTUMN FESTIVAL 2012

The Speyside Autumn Festival has put its events online to book this evening.

The festival runs from 27th September until 1st October 2012.

The Autumn Festival is only centered around the village of Dufftown, but still some very good events on - incl. some of the bus tours available.

Tastings can be booked from Mike and his Whiskyshop Dufftown team HERE

Out-and-about events can be booked from this site HERE

BRUICHLADDICH SALE NOW FINAL

BRUICHLADDICH SALE NOW FINAL

The sale of Bruichladdich Distillery on Islay to French drinks giant Rémy Cointreau is now a reality. The sale will put a good deal of money into shareholders pockets as the distillery is sold for more than predicted.

Rumors also says that Rémy Cointreau will increase production and create more jobs at Bruichladdich as well as securing the existing ones, which is good news for Islay.

More here

WHISKY AMBASSDOR MARK WATT LEAVES DUNCAN TAYLOR!

This is just fresh off (½ hour) Duncan Taylor's Facebook page:

"Thanks to Mark Watt for eight great years at Duncan Taylor. He's been a passionate fan of the brand, is a great whisky ambassador, great colleague and friend of everyone at the company. We will surely miss Mark and wish him lots of luck and success in his desire to pursue a new career."

Mark, its been a pleasure - hopefully you'll still be around the whisky business.
All the best wishes from here too...

DIAGEO EXPANDS ITS BUSINESS IN SCOTLAND

Diageo will invest more than £1 billion!! in a new Speyside or Highland distillery and possible in another as well if Scotch continues its global growth.

More here

A NEW WHISKY AUCTION SEES THE LIGHT OF DAY

Online UK retailer Whisky-Online has decided to move into the lucrative whisky auction market and have set up an auction site running an auction each month.

Terms and conditions can be found on their website whisky-onlineauctions.com