Innholdsfortegnelse for Jan/Feb 2019 i Whisky Magazine

Whisky Live returns to London in 2019 with more exhibitors than ever before. Book your tickets now! The world’s premier whisky tasting show returns to the stunning surroundings of The Honourable Artillery Company on Friday 29 and Saturday 30 of March 2019. This historic 18th century mansion, set in a six acre garden yet just a stone’s throw from Moorgate and Liverpool Street stations, provides a truly memorable backdrop to a great whisky experience. With a brand new whisky-themed menu for 2019, masterclasses, the VIP Lounge and exclusive private VIP pourings, Whisky Live London 2019 welcomes visitors from across the globe. Producers from four corners of the globe gather to showcase their rare, unique and hard to find whiskies, as well as some of the more mainstream brands you would…

One meeting with Ken Grier is enough to tell you that he’s not the kind of guy who sits on an idea. Exuding a restless energy, he speaks with such a degree of knowledge and conviction that one can’t help but pay attention. Ken has a seemingly insatiable appetite for data, opinion, art, side projects and risk-taking. In the course of our short interview, he mentions attending two conferences in as many months, one on how AI will disrupt retail and another focussed on how to pitch luxury to millennials; how he casually read a copy of Annie Leibovitz’ 247-page Women, gifted to him by the author, in one night so he could talk to her about it the next morning; and how the Macallan M decanter was the result…

The design of whisky distilleries has evolved and changed over the years, from a few vessels in a spare farm building, to the distinctive pagoda-capped maltings of formal Victorian structures created by the likes of the prolific Charles Doig. Beyond that, increasing demand for Scotch whisky led to the construction and re-construction of many of Scotland’s distilleries during the 1960s and ’70s, often in what might best be termed neo-brutalist style. Today, as the total of whisky distilleries in Scotland reaches record numbers, design is of more importance than ever, with environmental considerations frequently to the fore. One firm flourishing in the sector is Organic Distilleries Ltd, a sister company to Organic Architects, which was established by Gareth Roberts in 2005. The practice is based in Helensburgh, Argyll and Bute,…

Now entering its third year on the London cocktail scene, The Vault Soho is nestled beneath the famous spirits retailer Milroy’s of Soho on Greek Street. Reached by way of a doorway hidden behind a bookcase to the rear of the store, this speakeasy-style bar regularly tops lists of the capital’s best watering holes – and for good reason. The Vault's intimate atmosphere is enhanced by a table-service-only policy, with guests allocated 90-minute slots, and a ‘if the bar is full, it’s full’ rule to maintain the relaxed ambiance. An outstanding drinks menu, combined with the whisky cachet of the shop upstairs, undoubtedly makes it one of the world’s best venues in which to enjoy a whisky cocktail. Behind the bar, the team is headed up by Chris Tanner, whose…

WHISKY MAGAZINE CRYPTIC CROSSWORD Complete the crossword correctly and then rearrange the letters in the shaded squares to spell out a whisky brand (10). ACROSS ACROSS 1 Predicts CCCC, we hear (8) 5 One bog turns into desert (4) 9 Strike on here in Mexican village (5) 10 Mad Hatter’s menaces (7) 11 Part of ship moving through wake elegantly (4) 12 On the level, following French border (8) 14 Medic has not quite isolated synthetic fabric (6) 15 Positive to hold steamy pictures (6) 18 Camouflaged clan hiding in tree top (8) 20 Smile from Ray? (4) 23 Lug each new listener’s complaint (7) 24 Mysterious small barrier beside drive (5) 25 Persian ruler gives two exclamations (4) 26 Not drinking at eighteen, of course (8) DOWN 1 Frothy…

John Quinn is Tullamore D.E.W.’s global brand ambassador and, having worked in the industry for close to 40 years, he knows a thing or two about Irish whiskey! Not just a pretty face, John has been recognised by both his peers and the industry for his knowledge and commitment to Irish whiskey. He was named ‘World Whiskey Brand Ambassador’ of the year by Whisky Magazine’s Icons of Whisky awards 2016. If that wasn’t enough to boost his ever expanding ego, John was also named one of the Top 10 most influential people in Irish whiskey by The Spirits Business in 2016. WHISKY #1 Tullamore Dew 12 Years Old Why, obviously I’m going to pick one of my own. This whiskey more than any, appeals to my sense of distinctive Irishness…

Now a regular feature in the whisky world’s diary the Icons of Whisky America Awards, held in New York, celebrated the nation’s top people, bars, producers and retailers. The winner of this regional heat will now go forward to the Global Icons event in London. In each category a winner and highly commended award was presented, following on from a combination of local votes and a judging panel from the Icons of Whisky team. Alongside the announcement of the winners, master distiller Dave Pickerell, and Chicago bar owner and whisky aficionado Mike Miller, were awarded with one of the whisky world’s top honours, induction into the Whisky Magazine Hall of Fame The full Icons of Whisky America winners are listed below: Distiller Brown-Forman Highly Commended Beam Suntory Craft Producer Kentucky…

This will be the only article about rye whiskey, maybe any kind of whiskey, that you will ever read that starts with a quote from The Bible. It comes from Ecclesiastes 1:9 and it reads: “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.” American rye whiskey has been with us from the very beginning. After his presidency, George Washington famously made the whiskey at his distillery at Mount Vernon. In a note to his nephew in 1799 he wrote, ‘Two hundred gallons of whiskey will be ready this day for your call, and the sooner it is taken the better, as the demand for this article (in these parts) is brisk.” Also, consider: it was the favoured…

Whisky lovers desiring a unique experience on the Scottish waters should definitely consider a sailing trip with The Flying Dutchman. This two-master, owned by captain Klaas van Twillert, undertakes one of its many spectacular journeys twice per season. At the end of April she crosses Scotland from east to west and mid-October the reverse. This fine ship conquers not only the Caledonian Canal but also visits the Isle of Mull and the shores of Ardnamurchan. The Whisky Couple took the trip from west to east and Hans kept a log for Whisky Magazine. DAY 1 On a pleasant Saturday afternoon in October an international assembly of German, Belgian, Dutch and American whisky lovers meet on the quay of the picturesque harbour town of Oban, on the Scottish west coast Next…

Grains are the recipe and yeast may be the soul, but all the magic of Bourbon happens in the barrel. I rave about big barrel notes in a Bourbon. The bold, earthy and oaky flavours are anything but shy and undoubtedly my preference. I will always applaud other flavour enhancers from the production process, but barrels receive an ovation. Admittedly, the appreciation for barrel notes was guided by personal selfish tastes until I dug in to the complexity of the barrel many years ago, unleashing the delicious and somewhat hidden speak regarding the depth of flavours that white oak brings to Bourbon. Informed and armed, I dare to pair our texturally rich and provocatively plush amber elixir as the barrel notes become the rave. The craft of the barrel is…

Price-off promotions and discounts are part and parcel of the global duty-free business. Yet the industry sees nothing quite like the scale of Dubai Duty Free’s three-day anniversary pre-Christmas sale each December. The promotion generated staggering sales of $54m (£42.6m) in 2017, so perhaps it’s not surprising that luxury goods suppliers are starting to develop exclusive products to sell for the big event. For the UAE airport retailer’s 35th anniversary celebrations from the 17-20 December 2018, a 25 per cent discount was applied to a wide range of goods and The Glenlivet produced a rare exclusive bottling to mark the occasion. The Glenlivet 35 Years Old Dubai Duty Free Exclusive was hand selected by master distiller Alan Winchester, who personally attended a VIP six-course dinner at Dubai’s One&Only Royal Mirage…

There was a time long ago when Wick harbour would play host to a thousand fishing boats during the annual herring season, and it was possible to cross from one side of the bay to the other by stepping from deck to deck of the vessels. As might be imagined, with such a glut of sailors and herring-curing women in town, things could get boisterous, and it has been claimed that at one time up to 500 gallons of whisky were being consumed in the port per day. Today, as with so many of Scotland’s once-great fishing harbours, activity in the Caithness port is much diminished, confined largely to small boats landing crabs and lobsters, along with shipments connected to the renewable energy sector Along with Scrabster, Wick is one…

Most new distilleries come with a compelling story – a gripping epiphany, a serendipitous meeting, a lifelong ambition finally realised, a seemingly impossible dream nurtured into reality, a dead past resurrected… anything to grab the attention of the market. When we arrive at Yuza Distillery, Japan’s latest addition to the whisky map, president Masaharu Sasaki tells us straight off the bat not to expect a fancy backstory. Savvy marketers advised him to invent one, but he’s a down-to-earth man. He likes to tell it like it is, and what it is is a simple case of ‘wake up and smell the coffee’. Kinryu, the company behind Yuza Distillery, was founded in 1950 in Sakata city, in Yamagata prefecture, located on the north west coast of the main island of Japan.…

As Bourbon producers can only use barrels once a constant supply is available, with purchasers either dealing direct with Bourbon distilleries, or ordering through American and Scottish cooperages; though details such as the charring level don’t always accompany a barrel to Scotland. But how important is this? “The level of information provided is hugely variable. With the majority of Bourbon barrels we know the distillery, and date stamps on the barrels state the filling date. Unless we’re working on a specific project we don’t really need detailed particulars of the cask. We focus on the physical quality of the barrels,” says Brian Kinsman, master blender, William Grant & Sons. This in turn depends on whether barrels are purchased as ‘distillery runs’ or ‘distillery select.’ The more expensive option is distillery…

Laboratory tests at the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre (SUERC) on 21 different bottles of rare Scotch whisky, potentially worth around £635,000, have confirmed them all as modern fakes. Based on these results, Rare Whisky 101 (RW101), one of the world’s leading experts in rare whisky, has estimated that around £41M worth of rare whisky currently circulating in the secondary market, and present in existing collections, is fake. That’s more than the entire UK auction market which RW101 has predicted to exceed £36M by the end of 2018. On the back of growing concern surrounding the proliferation of fake whisky in the secondary market, RW101 teamed up with geochemistry experts at SUERC, home to one of the UK’s only four radiocarbon accelerator units, to randomly sample, forensically test and analyse…