Salud! TequilaFEST Is Coming To London - Win Tickets!

Wow, what a month for spirits November is turning out to be...

This week has seen us already attend the launch of a brand new gin from French masters G'Vine, (more on this next week) as well as the expansion of Sipsmith, one of London's finest craft gin distillers.  

In addition we had our whisky hats on for the launch of Diageo's Special Releases (which you can read about here) and Neil was in action on the BBC's International News programme, discussing the state of world whisky making today. You can watch the broadcast below if you haven't already seen it. 

Neil Discussing World Whisky On BBC World News from Caskstrength Creative on Vimeo.

We're also especially pleased to announce that later this month we're partnering with the organisers of TequilaFEST for what is the UK's very first expo of Mexican spirits. TequilaFEST will be running over two days on the 22nd and 23rd of November at the Grange Tower Bridge Hotel in London and promises to be a great way to explore the changing face of Tequila, as well as lean more about the rustic brilliance of Tequila's brother-in-arms, mezcal.  

For both of us, Tequila and mezcal have been flying high on our spirits radars over the past year and feature heavily in our new book, Distilled, which has plenty of suggestions for great expressions to try, alongside interviews with a number of highly passionate spirits producers. Tequila and mezcal are truly vibrant spirits and TequilaFEST will be a unique opportunity for anyone passionate about spirits to begin to understand their different personalities and try some exceptional examples of both. 

Alongside the line up of leading brands, food pairings and cocktails there will be seminars and masterclasses on both spirits and we'll be hosting a discussion each day with renowned bartenders and brand ambassadors on the main differences of Tequila and mezcal, so keep an eye out for more details on the complete programme, by clicking here: 

But that's not all! We're giving away three pairs of tickets to the event.  

All you need to do is simply send us a Tweet to @weheartwhisky with the hashtag #tequilafest and we'll enter you into a prize draw to win a pair. The competition will close at 8pm UK time on Wednesday 19th November and we'll be notifying the winners shortly afterwards. If you haven't got a Twitter account, you can simply email us your details (name, age and location, plus contact details) to Tequilafest@Caskstrength.net

Usual rules apply: Only enter if you're over 18 and can definitely attend on the 22nd and (or) the 23rd November. Also, UK residents only please. You'll need to make your own way to the event too...

For more info about TequilaFEST, visit the website www.tequilafest.co.uk and hope to see you there!

Follow TequilaFEST on Twitter:  @tequilafestuk On Facebook On Instagram: TFUK2014

Cargo-ago-go

Howdy! Apologies for our apparent absence for the last week, but clearly B.B.F or ('Breaking Bad Fever') has taken over the Caskstrength office and we simply couldn't do anything else in the meantime in the run up to the grand finale...  

In fact, now it's all over, a light seems to have gone out in our world... Fortunately soon to be filled by the announcement of our very exciting new whisky release in the A-Z Caskstrength & Carry On series.   

Think 'D'... 

Think 3D...

Then be afraid... Be very afraid. Stay tuned to www.3DWhisky.com for more updates and announcements and remember: 

7/11/13 is 3D Day... @3DWhisky

But back to business. September has proven to be a terrific month for whisky events and new releases and fortunately, we've been hanging around a few of them (Breaking Bad permitting)

First up was the wonderful Cutty Sark Cargo event on the 12th September, held in Shoreditch, an area hipper and a Hip Hop Hippo in expensive sneakers and a chunky gold chain.   

Cutty Cargo was the first of its kind and a breakthrough moment for this highly regarded blended whisky;  Build a giant cargo crate in a cool location, fill it with very cool stuff: soulful dance artist Jessie Ware, DJ Duke Dumont, performance theatre, a secret speakeasy room guarded by a spiv, cocktails from 69 Colebrooke Row, a burlesque show and sliders, courtesy of hip London restaurant Meat Liquor.  

Oh, all this and 200 happy people, lashings of Cutty Sark over ice and mixers, shots with craft beers and suddenly, you have a blended whisky that's playing in a very different space to most others.  

Cutty has never professed to follow the pack and resort to Scottish traditions, heather and weather and a lingering walk from a lone piper. It was innovative, groundbreaking and contemporary back in 1923 and in its current guise, is still by far the best at breaking down the barriers to blended Scotch whisky that exist in the minds of younger people, which are easily pole vaulted by the white spirits category... 

Cutty Cargo was a test event and we hope to see this coming to many other cities globally in future.  The future's bright. The future's yellow and ship-shaped. 

Last week saw another pivotal moment in the rise of single potstill Irish whiskey, with the release of Redbreast 21 year old, the oldest expression in the Redbreast family and certainly the whiskey that puts aged Irish whiskey firmly in the hearts and minds of those who have criminally overlooked the spirit. 

The 21 year old is the 9th edition to the Single Pot Still range that Irish Distillers have created (which includes, Green and Yellow Spots, Powers John's Lane and Barry Crockett Legacy) and we were lucky enough to be hosted by master blender for Irish Distillers Billy Leighton, who demonstrated the considerable delights of the new whiskey next to the 12 year old and classic 15 year old. The 21 year old is again a mixture of malted and unmated barley, matured in both American oak and first fill oloroso sherry casks.  

Redbreast - 21 year Old -  46% 

Nose: Stupendously fruity on the first nosing, with notes of fresh vanilla, mango, passion fruit, kiwi, ripe bananas and coconut. Dig a little deeper and you'll find some drier spices, some subtle oak tones and a richer, darker caramel.  

Palate: The fruit and vanilla dominate here, with the tropical notes from above leading a trio of orchard fruits (plums, green apples and wine stewed conference pear)  The mouthfeel is fat and buttery, with a superb golden syrup note coating the tongue, before the woody spice of clove and cinnamon get their wicked way with you.

Finish: Lingering and dry, with lighter fruit notes on the death.

Overall: We've featured Irish whiskey a lot over the last month, with the Midleton Housewarming event, a truly terrific Teeling Silver Series 21 year old (which has more fruit than Carmen Miranda's head dress) and this just adds to the tally of greatness coming from the emerald isle.  

Competition Time: Win A Pair Of Tickets to Jam & Dram 19th May

With a wonderful weekend of relaxing in the garden under our belts (with lashings of Bains Cape Mountain Whisky and ice) the weather shows no sign of abating today either, so whilst we're in a good mood, we've decided to give away TWO pairs of tickets (that's two lucky winners, innit) for the splendid whisky event Jam & Dram on Sunday 19th May run by our friends at The Whisky Lounge. Caskstrength will be compering the day, alongside hosting a series of blending workshops.  

On top of this, you'll also get chance to see Neil's brand new band, Prince Adewale & The Endeavours rockin' the Casbah with their debut gig, The Whisky Lounge Blues Band (featuring none other than The Whisky Lounge's Eddie Ludlow) and an unmissable, all-star performance from a beat combo, The Copper Dogs featuring our good friends and whisky cohorts: Sam Simmons (aka Dr Whisky), Cat Spencer from Master Of Malt, Whisky Magazine's Editor, Rob Allanson and Simon Roser from Simply Whisky. What's not to like about that!

To win a pair of tickets worth £50, all you need to do is email us at info@Caskstrength.net with your name, location, contact details and age. Entry for the competition closes at 12pm on the 13th May.  Please note that you'll need to make your own way to the event at London's Village Underground in Shoreditch, so if you're planning to enter from overseas, don't expect a pair of complimentary airline tickets too... ;-)

We'll be choosing the winning two entries at random on the 15th May.  

Good luck!

Neil & Joel x