The Whisky Exchange BLOG

In the interests of full disclosure, and to give any conspiracy theorists out there more grist for their mills, I will begin this blog by revealing that I and several other lucky whisky-lovers will be going to watch a cricket match on Monday as the guest of Richard Paterson and Whyte & Mackay -  Lucky me!  However, the below review has been in the works for the last fortnight and has not been influenced in any way by W&M’s largesse - I promise.

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Well well, what’s this? 

How exciting! Kilchoman 3yo

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What with setting up ‘The Whisky Exchange & Friends’ Facebook group (use the button in the sidebar or click here to join), I haven’t had time to do much with the blog this week, but I’m just about caught up now, so here goes: 

I haven’t talked much, if at all, about Irish Whiskey on the blog yet.  This is more by accident than design: I’m from Ireland myself and I love Irish whiskey (although I never drank it while I was growing up there).  I just haven’t got around to talking about it here, so I’m putting that right today.  Look out next week for a few tasting notes on some of my favourite Irish drams.

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This just in from Mark Reynier’s Bruichladdich blog:

New Octomore - same bottle, new box

Apparently this year’s release was peated to 140ppm before distillation.  Yikes!

Octomore bottling line

Sukhinder sent me over a brochure for a new Swedish whisky, so I thought I’d share.  The company is called Ådalen Destilleri AB and their single malt will be made in a converted power station (interestingly, they plan to be a green distillery, using organic barley and building a biogas facility on-site with the aim of becoming self-sufficient for steam and heat).  The single malt will be called Box, after an old sawmill on the old power station site.  Projected capacity is pretty small at 140,000 litres per annum.

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This just arrived from the ‘Couldn’t-Make-It-Up’ department.  I assumed it was a joke, but there is in fact a website as well, so if it is a joke it’s been pretty thoroughly done:

“We would like to offer Your company a news products, ALCOHOL-FREE WHISKY “Black Zero” & ALCOHOL-FREE VODKA “Blue Zero”, 0.0 per cent ABV. This is a completely news products which is produced using only natural materials; it is matured and bottled taking into regard the strictest quality requirements.

[Editor's Note:  readers of a nervous disposition should look away now]

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Day 10:  A Kick In The Ballochs…

Aftermath: Hannibal before his Calmac fry-up

Bang on 7am and our alarm clock blasts into action, as welcoming a sound as a prize festival bottling smashing on a stone floor and the accompanying ‘yelp’ of despair.   Last night was our ‘big night out’ and boy, we were all paying for it this morning.  As the memories started returning to our hazy heads, it became apparent that both Murdoch and Hannibal had found temporary ‘accommodation’ on, respectively, the bathroom floor and the green of the local golf course.

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The Malty-Millionaires….

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A bunch of prize tossers

Kilchoman Wash Still

It was another early start on Friday as we had a lot of ground to cover.  First up was a 9.30am tasting at Islay’s newest distillery, Kilchoman, where we were shown around by deputy manager Gavin Douglas who was filling in at short notice for Jim Swan who had been injured in an accident at home – our best wishes and hopes for a speedy recovery.

We hadn’t realised just how small Kilchoman was – it really is tiny.  Small but perfectly-formed, I suppose.  Gavin told us that the small stills produce only enough 45ppm spirit to fill three casks per day (a mix of fresh and refill bourbon plus some fresh sherry, although we also saw some French wine casks in the warehouse).

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Day Seven

“Can I throw my apple-core in the sea?”

Joel and Neil got overly excited considering that they're English

Ahhh! A rare lie-in for the bloggers with just an 11am start to our day. Bliss! Today was another day of tastings and we were very much focused on Laphroaig, kicking off with an “Old vs New” tasting, which lined up the now discontinued 15 Year Old vs. the new 18 Year Old and the Old Cask Strength 10 Year Old vs the new Cask Strength 10 Year Old, Batch 001 (Feb 2009).

Presented by Simon Brooking, Brand Ambassador for Laphroaig for North America and Vicky Stephens, the Visitor Centre Manager, this tasting was a great way to compare the out-going product with the newer replacements.

Old vs. New Laphroaig

Especially nice is the Cask Strength 10 Year Old (Batch 001). Apparently, according to new laws, when bottling a cask strength vatting, distilleries must now publish a batch number and a year of bottling. This “first edition”, they said, would sell out extra fast as a result. They also said that there’d be 6000 cases, though, so probably no need to panic just yet.

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