Hello everyone

First of all congratulations must go to David Stewart of Wm. Grant & Sons, now being feted for his 60 years in the industry. Such an achievement. I‘ve known of people doing 50 years or so in our industry before but not 60. Not even Jim McEwan! David is the longest serving Malt Master in Scotch Whisky history and the company is making it a year long celebration but no details as yet. Starting in 1962, he joined Wm. Grant‘s as a whisky stocks clerk and worked his way up to Master Blender over 12 years. He’s won numerous awards since then including his MBE from The Queen. These days he oversees all that is The Balvenie as well as overseeing and training the next generations. If you get the chance to go along anywhere and listen to the man, do take it up.

Ireland‘s Waterford Distillery has launched two new peated expressions using Irish barley grown on two farms, Ballybannon and Fenniscourt and dried using using peat from Ballyteige in Co. Kildare. The peating level of Fenniscourt is 38ppm amd Ballybannon is 47ppm. Both of these join Waterford‘s Arcadian Barley series which included Ireland‘s first organic whisky and a biodynamic whiskey, the first in the world, they say. There are 11,500 bottles of each one worldwide at a price of 85 – 95 euros/ £90/$95 per bottle. CEO Mark Reynier says,“To achieve this in Ireland with the same authenticity was going to be a much greater challenge, one that our maltsters, Minch Malt, readily agreed to accept. At Waterford we are fascinated by the natural flavours of whisky so I was curious to see what real Irish peat brings to the table, flavours that have been long lost, and ultimately whether terroir trumps peat in the flavour Olympics.
We selected two Single Farm Origin barleys – with distinctive terroirs – to see if those naturally occurring flavours shone through or were in fact dominated by peat. Finding the right quality Irish peat was achallenge but the greatest problem of all was there were no operational kilns left in Ireland; the knowledge had been forgotten. We needed Scottish help.” I‘m surprised to learn there are no operational kilns in Ireland, surely an opportunity for someone given the expansion if the Irish whiskey industry now. No samples but it should be worth a try to peat enthusiasts to explore the differences.

I‘ve been fortunate enough to be given a couple of samples from Isle of Tiree Whisky, one is new spirit and the other is 5 months old.There won‘t be any mature whisky for a couple of years yet but I wanted to nose the new spirit and chart its development towards maturity. The distillery is the brainchild of Alain Campbell and Ian Smith, Tiree natives who are also musicians. They produce award winning gins too so do look out for those. The gins are made in small batches so not in mass distribution quite yet. So let‘s look at the spirit which will become whisky.

New Make (supplied at 40.6% abv)

Nose: Water biscuits and cheese! Honestly, that was the first aroma. There‘s some fruit but more savoury at first with the noticeable grain notes of a fresh spirit. There is some spice, certainly ginger and a slightly spicy floral. Some sweet spices too. A slightly sweaty note. With water, there‘s soft candy and icing sugar then the spice/ginger come through again.

Palate: A slightly unctuous mouthfeel but with an attractive lightness. Spices and, oddly, a slight wood note.

I‘ll look forward to this one when it‘s mature if the wood is well chosen.

5 Months Matured (supplied at 49.7%abv)

As these two were supplied at different strengths I added enough water to try and taste both at the same level.

Nose: The crackers and cheese have faded. More fruity notes, spices and softer florals. Slightly tropical but also a bit flatter than the new make. Pear drops/juice.

With water, more tropical fruit top notes. Wine gums – a bit like a chenin blanc! Prominent grain aromas.

Palate: Still slightly unctuous and with a heavier mouthfeel. Quite spritzy on the tongue. Plenty of grain notes but pepper and other spices too. A touch of wax. Very slight wood tannins.

Some interesting changes over the new make. I‘d like to try this again at a year old from the same cask type to examine further development.

A new collection was recently announced from House of Hazelwood. And who are they? We are told, „The House of Hazelwood  is the once-private collection held by the Gordon Family, who are best known for owning William Grant & Sons. For almost one hundred years, generations of the Gordon family have carefully laid down stocks of whisky for special occasions and personal consumption. This rare collection has become known as House of Hazelwood, after the family’s Dufftown home – Hazelwood House. Spanning seven decades and every corner of Scotland, the diverse whiskies held in cask tell stories of remarkable places, lost ways of working, first casks, last casks, the ambitions and achievements of several lifetimes – none of which will be repeated again. 

The First Drop, a rare 1964 Single Grain Scotch Whisky from House of Hazelwood’s inaugural collection has sold out within weeks of launch. With just 71 bottles of this precious spirit available worldwide, The First Drop offered enthusiasts a unique opportunity to own the very ‘first drops’ of new make spirit filled to cask from the Girvan grain distillery on 8^th January 1964.

The First Drop is one of eight bottles that make up the House of Hazelwood’s inaugural collection which is split across The Charles Gordon Collection and The Legacy Collection. The four releases in the Charles Gordon Collection are all at least 50 years old starting from £3,000, while the Legacy Collection ranges between 33 and 46 years and are priced between £950 and £1,500.“ You can find more info and make a purchase at www.houseofhazelwood.com . You‘ll need deep pockets but the history and the whiskies may well be worth it. Do also bear in mind, you collectors out there, that these are for drinking, not merely for display.

At the end here, I‘m sneaking in a gin. Isle of Raasay has repackaged and I just love this bottle. It‘s inspired by Raasay’s „geological variety, its unique water source, island shores and state-of-the-art distillery.“ Moulds of real rocks were used to create the glass, as well as representations of fossils and Raasay juniper “to encapsulate the island“. A local botanist, Dr Stephen Bungard, helped the distillery pick Raasay juniper on the island and that influenced the recipe development. „The perfect balance of flavours is achieved by distilling juniper along with a select nine additional botanicals, including sweet orange peel, lemon peel, in its copper malt spirit still and vapour infusing the rest in a copper gin basket to retain their vibrancy.“ Yum!

Till mid-September, happy dramming.

Slainte,

Caroline

It seems the Green Party influence in Scottish government has expanded even further into Scotch Whisky. They already don‘t like peat use even though its application in Scotch Whisky accounts for a very, very tiny percentage of peat use/carbon release and some distillers are looking at peatland management anyway. As all of you will know, not all distilleries use peated barley in their process. No, this time they‘re going after the angels‘ share and the government is to review whether this aspect of maturation has health and environmental impacts. In fact the study is „commissioning a review into the impacts of non-methane volatile organic compound (NMVOC) emissions“ and that encompasses those from whisky maturation. The statement says, “Scotland’s whisky industry is extremely valuable to our economy and we recognise the sector’s commitment to good environmental practices.” It‘s not only extremely valuable but vital. The industry has already done much in several areas to improve environmental practices. Now, there have been complaints in recent years from homeowners near maturation sites complaining that black mould on their homes comes from whisky maturation. It also seems to affect buildings near cognac maturation as well as certain other spirits. There appears to be some evidence that it‘s less prevalent near salt water and that the wood used for maturation may also be a factor. An interesting paper on the matter can be found at https://pdf.sciencedirectassets.com/279953/1 (the full link is much longer but would take up loads of space here). There‘s another at https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/IJBPA-05-2021-0079/full/html and a good honours degree research paper by a student, H.J. Hearle Physiological Effect of Saltwater on the “Whisky Fungus”, Baudoinia sp. at The University of the West of Scotland in 2018. I was kind of torn between the „Oh, God, what will they interfere with next?“ response (and a concern for how this might affect the character of whisky if they insist on interfering with another production process that may have little impact, apart from some grubby looking buildings), versus a concern that it might really affect people‘s health.  Yet there is a statement from the Scotch Whisky Association pointing out that the wee pretendy government (Billy Connolly’s words) has previously stated it “is neither harmful to health nor impactful on the environment due to its rapid dispersal.” As  mentioned above, the main concern amongst the public seems to have been people complaining about the effect on the outside of their homes. I feel the government has far larger environmental targets to go after.

Those nice people at independent bottler, Cask 88, have set up the world‘s smallest whisky bar for the duration of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. It‘s in the city‘s West End of Princes Street not far from the Johnnie Walker Experience. Set in an old police box, there‘s just enough room for a bartender and one customer plus some bottles of their single cask whiskies, all limited editions. Also, the drinking cups are edible. The drams are free but you can book only one slot per day. If you like what you sample you can buy from their website. Fun promo idea. Do check it out if you‘re in Edinburgh as it‘s there until 28th August.

Now that one wasn‘t a finalist amongst the bars I saw last week. It was my pleasure to be a judge for certain bar awards which saw me in some great places all round Scotland. The whisky ranges, standards of service and training, their enthusiasm, creativity and ambition were all impressive. The results are announced later this year. This week I‘m out looking at licensed retailers for another award which I‘ve also judged before and am looking forward to seeing what those stores offer.

I was trepidatious recently when I read that one of my former brands as a marketer, The Glendronach, is to be expanded in a £30 million pound 3 year exercise, such is the demand for its delicious output. Of course, we need some certainty that the demand is still there by the time the whisky from this expanded production is ready for drinking as a single and for use in blending. Personally, I don‘t doubt that. Trepidatious? Yes, because it‘s such a lovely little distillery and location, I worry about how it will look once completed and how and where the still house will extend. I‘m intending to ask about that bit soon so hope to bring more info in due course. Having said that, years ago we tried to get company funds (it was a different owner then) to change the roof and frontage of the less-than-pretty 1960‘s still house to be more in keeping with the old stone buildings but were refused due to other priorities. I‘d hope the current owners will take a different view. We‘re told the expansion plan will preserve the historic site, including the restoration of the former maltings building (I’d love those to be restored as maltings) as a working production area and that all existing buildings and the courtyard will remain. If the visitor centre refurb is anything to go by all should be well, though.

A media release came in recently about the completion of the new brand home refurbishment at Talisker on Skye. I was on Skye not so long ago but sadly, it was a fleeting visit so no time to visit the new set-up. It‘s not a part of Scotland I‘m in very often though they have offered to arrange a look round for me in future. Meantime I and you, if you haven‘t already seen them, will have to make do with some official pics. There will be three new tour types including a multi-sensory Made by the Sea tour. If you haven‘t been to Skye then I do urge you to go though not in midgie (Skye‘s mosquitoes) season when it‘s warm and damp. The scenery on the island and on the way there from any direction is fabulous and it was really busy in some locations we drove through. We‘d just been commenting on how much quieter it seemed than we thought it would be and rounded a corner to see a large group of Japanese tourists taking photos of livestock and another cross-country pathway thronged with walkers. Lovely to see visitors back again and, of course, there is more than one distillery to see on Skye as well as some good bars and places to stay.

Nothing to include for nosing and tasting this time. Some new whisky expressions have been released but largely rare and expensive with very limited availability of samples. I do have one exclusive sample but have been asked not to publish the tasting note just yet. I will taste soon, though and await news of when I can publish.

Till end of this month, happy dramming.

Slainte,

Caroline