The Whisky Exchange BLOG

A mere week or so after the story of scientists turning whisky by-products into biofuel broke, another recycling whisky-based story has turned up – this time from the Couldn’t-Make-It-Up department (aka the chaps at Vinopolis who clearly must have too much time on their hands):  it would appear that a diabetic biomedical researcher named James Gilpin is, literally, extracting the urine – and then making whisky out of it.

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All kinds of cloak-and-dagger skullduggery from Glenfiddich in the last few weeks, clearly designed to engage the whisky blog community:

Part 1 - A cryptic email on 19th July from a PR flunkey, enquiring about our address and promising a ‘rather valuable’ parcel to arrive on 26th July.

Part 2 – An apologetic email on 27th July, explaining that as not all the whisky bloggers to be involved in the ’surprise event’ had supplied their addresses on time (naughty bloggers!), the parcels were being delayed, but would be sent out on Friday 30th for arrival early this week

Part 3 – A notification email on Tuesday 3rd August explaining that the parcel was to be sent on Wednesday on a pre-noon delivery.  What a palaver!

Part 4 – The arrival this morning of a locked wooden box, with instructions to watch my inbox (presumably for the combination to the lock). 

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Welcome to the final part of this Whisky Tasting Pentathlon – a mini-marathon of whisky blogs on my recent tasting odyessy.

I was in St. James’s last week for one of Eddie Ludlow’s Whisky Lounge tastings – a run-through of several recent releases from Arran, in the delightful company of brand ambassador Céline Têtu, who came across very well despite the occasional interruptions of some noisy construction works outside the Red Lion pub in Crown Passage, where the tasting was held.  Friendly and informative, Céline’s cause was greatly helped by her fabulous Gallo-Celtic accent, which put me in mind, somehow, of the splendid Julio Geordio from the Fast Show (whose Youtube videos have all been taken down, boo). 

The compact, picturesque Arran distillery

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The next tasting in what was turning out to be a mammoth month was back in Vinopolis again: Old Pulteney, conducted by affable distillery manager Malcolm Waring, who gave a very interesting presentation on the history of Scotland’s most northerly mainland distillery.  Old Pulteney is well-known for its great value 12 and 17 year-olds, which both went down extremely well (the 17yo is terrific for around £40 on offer at present), but I hadn’t tried the 21yo or 30yo before – both were excellent, with lipsmacking spicy oak and chocolate / honeycomb notes. 

Malcolm Waring seeking divine inspiration

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We’re all about fun and enjoyment (and whisky) here on the TWE Blog, so I’m going to try not to mention the ‘F’ word (F**tb*ll) too much, out of consideration for the poor England fans who now have at least another three years and 51 weeks to wait before they see their team playing W*rld C*p footy again (that’s if they qualify, of course) and confine myself to wishing Holland and Spain the very best of luck and no injuries (particularly not to their Liverpool players). I’m also rooting for Japan because they’ve played very well and they make nice whisky.

A sorry collection of over-rated chokers, yesterday

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Welcome to day two of my summaries of the last month’s tasting adventures, and it’s straight on with the show.

Next up in this Whisky Tasting Pentathlon is a highlight from Ian Logan’s tasting at Glenlivet during our press jolly.  Unfortunately we missed the first part of this tasting as we were busy interviewing Master Distiller Alan Winchester at the time, but we managed to get back at just the right moment to try this little beauty, bottled to celebrate the distillery’s extension.

That yummy Glenlivet Founders Reserve - hands off, plebs

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Lord, it’s been hectic.  After a holiday in Bruges (3 days, 28 different beers and Lagavulin 16 at four euros for a double during happy hour at the hotel – nice), swiftly followed by our Glenlivet trip (and then trying to catch up on the resultant double backlog of work in the middle of the Father’s Day rush), my feet have hardly touched the ground this month. 

I’ve been lucky enough to be present at five really excellent whisky tastings during the last four weeks.  I’ve ticked off quite a few drams I hadn’t previously tried and a couple of forthcoming treats as well.  So, to catch up, I’m going to do a whisky blog post every (working) day until next Wednesday – one for each of the five great tastings I went to in the last month.

Happy punters at the Aberlour tasting

First up was an Aberlour tasting at TWE Vinopolis – follow the link and sign up for their newsletter if you fancy coming along to any of their splendid events.  The tasting was led by gregarious Pernod Ricard brand ambassador Phil Huckle, who was as charming and entertaining as ever, and supplied me with a great quote for my treasured stash: Churchill’s ‘Never trust a man with no redeeming vices’. 

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Last week a party from The Whisky Exchange was invited up to The Glenlivet to view the £10 million new facility that has been added as the main thrust of Pernod Ricard’s bid to propel The Glenlivet past Glenfiddich into the global No.1 spot for single malt.  It was a splendid event, complete with a fascinating trip to Forsyth’s in Rothes (where they make the stills), and a 15-minute jaunt in a helicopter around the brackish hilly environs of the distillery, where one could make out various smuggling trails and escape routes.  We were also presented with a bottle of The Glenlivet Founder’s Reserve, a special new sherried 21yo expression of 1824 bottles (see what they did there?) released in honour of the new facility.

The Glenlivet's shiny new Expansion

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