Party Like It's 1985

An Orville Piñata, shortly before his celebratory new year thrashing 

Hello one and all. We're back from our relaxed Christmas breaks now, heading into all manner of excitement in the new year. 

We look back fondly on 2014. It was a year that bought some truly exceptional spirits, many many journeys and friendships:  From Baijiu in China, Cachaca in Brazil, Armagnac in France and some wondrous drinks in-between, both of us can definitely say it was an enlightening year.  

2014 also saw us bring out Distilled, our first book together which is shaping up really nicely for 2015. Expect to see us popping up in a few unusual locations next year, as we travel around, hopefully continuing our spirits exploration around the globe. 

However, there is a new year and a new dawn coming (keep your eyes peeled here folks...) so let’s kick off with our predictions for 2015: 

Joel:

The Continued Growth of Grain 

We already tipped grain as a new category in its own right back in 2012 and 2014 saw the launch of Haig Club, a single grain Scotch whisky developed in partnership with major drinks producer Diageo and megastar ex-footballer David Beckham. There aren’t many other single grain whiskies on the market, with just one other official global release, three expressions from the Girvan distillery in the Lowlands of Scotland. However, grain whisky has always been highly sought after by connoisseurs and experts, who know that the lightness of the spirit gives excellent flavours of vanilla and lemongrass, making it ideal for mixing or sipping with acouple of blocks of ice. With only Haig Club and Girvan available around the world at the moment, and the considerable weight that a celebrity such as David Beckham adds to this category, expect to see others jumping in and wanting to be part of the grain whisky party. 

High Value Brands Offering Experiences:

 
As we see more and more highly valued single malts and blends, such as The Macallan and Johnnie Walker pushing their prices up with rarer, older and more extravagantly packaged items, the focus will shift onto 'experiences'. They could be high-end, exclusive trips to the distilleries, more branded ‘houses’ (like The House of Johnnie Walker) or shops. Either way, we think the immersive experience of taking consumers on a literal journey will become more of a focus in 2015. Look out for more bespoke blends from big whisky companies too, for those who can afford it. 


My Top Tipple From 2014: The Glenlivet Nadurra Oloroso

We haven’t got around to reviewing this one, yet but the new Nadurra Oloroso offering from The Glenlivet at 60.7% is stunning and priced at a bonkers £45. Take Aberlour’s A'bunadh and soften it slightly and you’ve got this. It packs a punch and is worth every penny.  




Neil: 

Craft: This Party Is Getting A Little Crowded... 

The term ‘craft’ has taken over in the world of spirits, particularly in whisky. In the USA, ‘craft’ distilling is a huge movement with small producers making tiny amounts of their own rye, bourbon and single malt. As these distillers gain more sales, they’ll be able to afford to export their products and see them (if they are good) take hold in markets far from where they are made. 

But there won't be room for everyone. It feels like 'Craft' is a term that is thrown around without prejudice now, with some distillers -  be it big or small, exhibiting little or no craft. There are some genuinely brilliant well-crafted products out there: be it well-known Scotch blends (hey -  blending is the original craft, when you really start to think about it) or tiny distillers with equally small spirit batches. But when corporate boardroom decisions interfere with the distillation process (i'm looking at you, Balcones) you kind of get the feeling that the money-making-machine and the sound of the cash registers are the predominant sounds echoing around a few distilleries, whose reputations are now damaged as a result.  In 2015 and beyond, we think craft will become less about being handmade, more about using technology in new and innovative ways to create or 'craft' new products.  Think less wicker chair, more MacLaren F1.  

Other Spirits Stealing Whisky Drinkers:

The idea of ‘occasion’ is going to be focused on more and more in 2015. Why drink a fairly boring vodka, when you can enjoy a grain whisky before the party really kicks off?  Similarly, do you really need to be paying  through the nose for super premium aged single malts, when you could be getting the same after dinner experience with an extraordinary Armagnac, vintage Tequila or rum for a fraction of the price? Whisky still has an enormous cache internationally, but there are signs that other spirits -  particularly Armagnac and Mezcal are beginning to draw a few connoisseurs away from whisky.  

My Top Tipple from 2014:  Chateau Laubade 1983 Vintage Armagnac

As I mentioned above, Armagnac is perhaps the most underrated and unexplored spirits category in the world at the moment, (aside to that of Cachaca and mezcal) with some exceptional expressions available for a fraction of their equivalent Scotch vintages. Having explored the Gers region in November during La Flamme De l'Armagnac (an amazing experience when all the distillers light their stills to mark the start of the distillation season) it reminded me of the Feis Ile experience on Islay, before it became a too overcrowded and commercialised. It was here at the Laubade estate where I discovered their 1983 bottling: a rich, resinous and spicy beast-of-an-Armagnac, full of tannic oak, liquorice and anise, alongside some sweeter vanilla notes and juicy citrus fruit.  All this complexity for around £75.  

We're very much looking forward to tackling 2015 and all the intriguing spirits on offer.  Expect to see a fair few changes here over the coming months-  we'll be focusing on a much broader scale of drinks, rather than just whisky, so here's to a cracking vintage year! 

Don't forget to follow us at @WorldOfSpirits on Twitter.

Neil & Joel

2014: The Year of the Hipflask

Greetings all and welcome to 2014. We’re safely into the year now and I’m sure that many of you will have made resolutions for yourselves in 2014.

Every year I have a set of resolutions which are wheeled out, only to be broken, unused or utterly ignored before the first month comes to an end. Such is their frequency that I’m tempted to have a print out of them laminated, just to hand to people on an annual basis, during the first week of each new year, to answer to the same question I’ve posed above about the ways in which I plan on improving my life over the coming twelve months.

And that is what a resolution should be: a form of improvement to one’s health and wellbeing. I can’t imagine that there are many people out there who have decided to eat more chocolate, take less exercise or do fewer good deeds.

As for my own ‘self-improvements’, the 2013 list started with the annual desire to lose weight, linked in with a greater level of exercise, and to ingest fewer foods (and drinks) which may reverse the process of me losing weight.

Second on my 2013 list was to become properly fluent in Norwegian; I carry the damn passport, so I should probably learn to hold a conversation in the mother-tongue for longer that few, erm, words...

Third on last year’s list was start a yearly trend of producing photo albums, proper printed ones, from pictures I’d taken throughout the year. In the pursuit of all drinks great, Neil and I often find ourselves in interesting and unusual places. Add to this all that goes on in one’s personal life with holiday, travel and family... then it makes sense to document it and with the ease of digital photography these days, a photo book seemed like the best option.

The World's Worst Boyband

So, how did I do in 2013? 

Well, when it comes to my health and fitness, then I think I’m around the same BMI as this time last year, but I did manage to run the Islay Half Marathon and finish in a time of 2 hours 22 seconds... something I’m very proud of given the unforgiving nature of the course and the weather.

This year, I’m openly throwing the gauntlet down to Ridley to run it. I can see him dressed up as a 118 118 character: part young Steve Ovett, part John Cleese in Clockwise taking on the hills and wind of the Inner Hebrides.

I’m gonna start the #RunRidleyRun to get him committed...

As a result of the ‘big run’, I think I’ll put a tick against that particular resolution. The same is true for my photo album. Oddly ordered from Jessops the day it went bust (I was still sent it by the company that printed their books for them, which was nice) it is something I have looked at on a regular basis over the past 12 months as a remind of the fun times which 2012 offered.

The major fail, and this happens each year, is the lack of improvement in my Norwegian. No great shakes, really but I’m desperate to not let my fellow countrymen down, especially as I’d love to host a tasting in the motherland sometime soon and have the appropriate vocabulary in order to do a proper job!

But here we are in 2014 and my main resolution remains the same: live a more healthy life.

Having recently moved out of Central London to an area which has cleaner air and bigger green spaces, I found myself on my first proper walk of the year yesterday. Seven miles took me from my front door, up to Windsor Castle, down the aptly-named Long Walk and back home again. 

Weighing in at just under two hours, it was an ideal way to start the working week, blowing out (almost literally with the weather we’ve been having in the UK this last week) the cobwebs of the Christmas break and reinvigorating myself before sitting down to a pile of emails, articles and other work.

The walk was thoroughly enjoyable, but the morning is no time to be taking a stroll at a leisurely pace. It is ‘exercise time’ and eventually the same route shall be turned into a jog. For now, I’m happy with a fast-paced wander, my ankles still somewhat weight-down by excess Xmas fare.

But as the evenings start to elongate and the light lingers for just that little bit longer, my local park will become somewhere to spend the twilight hours, either with friends on a dusky weekend summers evening or walking off the rigours of a day’s work during the week.

Either of these activities allows me to bring into play something I’ve been meaning to properly utilise for a while now: my hipflask. Or, more correctly, hipflasks.

Over the years I have been gifted a few nice hipflasks as well as picking the odd one up either at a distillery (the Lagavulin green leather one which comes with four cups, is particularly nice, if not a little large to be classed a hipflask) or in vintage/charity shops and I have learned a few things:

If you have a hipflask, I would suggest that you DON’T keep any liquid stored in them for much longer than a few days, maximum. Many hipflasks (unless glass) will eventually taint the liquid inside and leave you with a slightly odd colour as well as something which probably doesn’t taste quite like the initial product you first filled into your pocket-sized pouch. This means that if you don’t finish the contents, you should decant it back into the bottle it came from as soon as possible, when returning home, washing your flask out thoroughly before it is ready of duty once again.

Therefore, I find that it is good order to have two hipflasks in rotation at any one time; one for peated whisky and one for unpeated whisky. This makes the washing process rather less laborious, as you can still leave one flask with a whisper of peat smoke in it, safe in the knowledge that it won’t taint your 1960’s single cask Speyside for your walk the following week.

At the same time, if you are out walking with friends, it allows you to have two whiskies of differing flavour profiles depending on your mood/the weather/your friend’s love (or otherwise) or peated Scotch.

The walking and connected hipflasks, in turn, justify owning a good selection of whisky; providing a peated and an unpeated offering to takeaway, plus allowing you, as a whisky drinker, to experience a wider range of your bottles in a more visceral environment, out in the open.

It only remains to ask what the ideal whisky would be for my upcoming, late evening strolls around Windsor Great Park. The obvious answer: Johnnie Walker, surely...

Happy New Year, all and a very hearty ‘good luck’ with your own resolutions.

3D WHISKY. 3D-DAY IS COMING... AND THE 3RD DIMENSION... IS FLAVOUR

So here we are folks, one again poised before another exciting time for whisky releases.  And we're extra specially proud, as November 11th is the official release of our 4th bottling in the series of the Caskstrength & Carry On 'A-Z of Whiskies' -  and this one is a biggie.  

We've come some way with our last bottlings: From the Arran first fill single cask, to a spice-laden BenRiach to the Cutty Sark we launched in March this year to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the brand, Caskstrength have always tried to bring you something exciting, vibrant and above all else superbly drinkable.  This time round, we've gone even further... into the 3rd dimension of flavour to be precise.

Ladies and gentlemen, we bring you 3D Whisky! 

3D has been our most ambitious project yet and brings together a partnership between three distinctly different distilleries:  Dailuaine, Dalwhinnie and Dufftown 

Working with Dr Matthew Crow, one of the master blenders for Johnnie Walker, we've come up with a brand new recipe blending these three great distilleries together, to produce something that literally takes whisky to another dimension.  

3D Whisky is bottled at 56.4% and will be limited to 504 hand signed, individually numbered bottles. 

In addition, the label harks back to a golden age of 3D, printed in true 'StereoScopic' effect and every bottle comes with a pair of 3D glasses to enhance your viewing (and possibly drinking) experience.  

Print-Your-Own 3D presentation case (if you have a 3D printer)
If not, we'll tell you where you can get one printed

But that's not all.  On the back is where it gets really cool. Bringing together both Old and New Schools is what Caskstrength is all about and on the back label you'll find a QR Code that enables you to download the plans for the very first 'Print-Your-Own' presentation case in the drinks business for your bottle of 3D, using the latest, most high tech 3D printing capabilities.    

We've also had a lot of fun during the project and have made a short feature film (which is partially shot in 3D) charting the thrilling time we had constructing such a monstrous whisky.  You can see the trailer for the film here:  http://youtu.be/evhklEgMMXY

The premier of the full film will take place at 7.30pm on the release date '3D Day': 

Monday 11th November. 

As with our previous releases, the chaps at Master Of Malt will be retailing 3D whisky and a bottle will set you back just £49.99 

This is whisky, Jim... But not as we know it...

Joel & Neil

The Path to Gold: Johnnie Walker Explorers' Club Gold Route

Like that regular visit to the doctor, every year, Scotch whisky gets a bit of a health check from the folks at the SWA: assessing its international performance, growth, uncharacteristic hotspots and areas of concern.

And like a thoroughbred race horse, (but not 'Seabass', judging by my crumpled betting slip from Saturday's Grand National) Scotch appears to be in an even ruder health than it was this time last year.  Exports are up once again with the 2012 figures showing the the Scotch whisky business worth a staggering £4.3 billion, an increase of 87% over the last decade.  New markets such as South America have seen increases as much as 14% since last year's figures and the USA sits at the top of the whisky fountain with imports breaking through the £700 million mark for the first time.

Despite this, the volume of Scotch whisky exports actually declined by 5%, demonstrating that consumers are looking more towards higher end, luxury and premium products amongst their blends and single malts.

Hot off the back of such positivity comes the news from Diageo, that they are investing substantially in building a brand new (as yet un-named) distillery in Teaninich with the capacity to produce up to 13 million litres of spirit, alongside expansion of the existing Teaninich and Mortlach distilleries to practically double capacity. Heady days indeed. This is a clear indication that we are living in an era where Scotch (TM) is as industrious and as bankable a commodity as one is likely to find.

Of course, some people have a hard time with the fact that whisky has been taken out of the hands of the privileged few and pushed outwards to the masses, which is of course an absurd sentiment.  Yes, we're no longer going to find 1970's single cask Ardbegs for the price of KFC Bargain Bucket, but travel virtually anywhere around the globe and you'll find a decent whisky behind the bar.  To be a continued global success, whisky needs to keep looking forward, not reminiscing about the 'good old days', with wizened hands clawing onto a single cask Port Ellen, bottle number 1 of 12.  

As Oliver Klimek recently wrote on his excellent Dramming blog, the whisky business does not exist simply to provide whisky geeks with single cask bottlings. To be frank, without the likes of internationally renowned blends, it would simply cease to exist at all.  

So onto one of those blends.  Johnnie Walker is perhaps the most ubiquitous whisky, if not brand name in the world.  The recent activity in the Walker camp - from the introduction of Platinum, to the extra smoky Double Black, alongside the Director's Blends have demonstrated that the brand continues to walk at a particularly spritely pace.  Now more recently, the Striding Man has decided to take a sojourn abroad with the release of the Explorers' Club Collection; a trio of bottlings launched exclusively into Global Travel Retail, now a lucrative market all of its own right.  We reviewed the inaugural bottling, Spice Road, at Christmas and at a shade under £30 were hugely impressed by its balance of spice, seasoned oak, dried fruit and classic Walker smoke.   So when the next bottling, Gold Route hit the shelves we were intrigued.  Would the thread of Walker excellence remain? The price is approximately twice that of the Spice Route at around £60 or $95, so expectations are high, all things considered. 

Johnnie Walker - Gold Route - 40% - 1 Litre

Nose: Soft fudge, freshly sliced ginger, a lighter sooty note coupled with a touch of medicinal peat,  vanilla sponge cake and fondant icing.  With a little water, a more creamy coconut note emerges, alongside a welcoming gentle woodsmoke and some very subtle orchard fruit notes, tinned pineapple and condensed milk. Very good indeed. 

Palate:  Sooty and a little grainy at first, with some tingling liquorice notes, a malted cereal sweetness a vanilla fudge creaminess, some mint humbugs and zesty lemons.  In fact, the mouthfeel is quite sharp and zesty, the further in you travel.  Some lingering smoke on the death rounds out a feisty palate indeed. With water, the fruitiness starts to come to the fore, with icing sugar-dusted red apple, a touch of  Juicy Fruit chewing gum and an aniseed ball, thrown in for good measure.  

Finish: Lemon zest, a touch of anise and a lingering mintiness nestle alongside something slightly grainy. 

Overall:  Whilst this isn't lacking in stature, in my opinion it perhaps lacks some the more direct notes offered by the Spice Road.  It has some subtle spice of its own, which sits alongside the creaminess and definitely benefits from a few drops of water to really coax the beast of complexity from its cave.   The question is, would one buy a bottle of this, over two bottles of Spice Road?   I'm not sold yet, but one suspects that like life's more challenging constitutionals, there is more to this walk than first meets the eye...

18 Under 30 Part 10: Johnnie Walker Spice Road

Ok then... continuing our odyssey into the reasonably priced tipples you should consider trying this Christmas, we bring you a new little ditty from the world of Travel Retail.  As more people head homewards this weekend for family festivities, the number of folks passing through our airports escalates - meaning that there's usually plenty of offers on and interesting drams to try at the friendly neighbourhood 'duty free' whisky retailers the other side of the security gates.

As we fly fairly regularly from either Gatwick or Heathrow airport, we're no strangers to the World Of Whiskies shop. In fact, as whisky retailers go, they're fairly hard to resist.  Last month we bought you news and tasting notes of a brand new peated Glenfiddich, which was released as a World Of Whiskies exclusive.  Next up, as part of our 18 Under 30, it seems that Johnnie Walker have entered the fray of Travel Retail exclusives with the launch of their new Spice Road blend.



Part one (The Explorers' Club Collection) of three different blends, Spice Road, has (unsurprisingly) aimed to draw together an altogether spicier blend, paying homage to the Walker family's travels across the globe, including the Spice Road of Europe and Asia, the Royal Route between Europe and Persia and the Gold Route of the Americas and the Caribbean.   Expect the latter two 'routes' to be released later next year, with varying price points. But for now, Spice Road is available here for £29.99 

Johnnie Walker - Spice Road - Blended Whisky - 40%  - 1 Litre

Nose: Classic Walker notes of waxy floral aromas, some furniture polish, swathes of smoke, but something altogether spicier. Dried mixed citrus peel, a hint of anise, a some cinnamon and a rich dark demerara sugar.  Inviting, rich and very seasonal. 

Palate:  The smoke is very pronounced and up front, with a burnt bonfire note mixing smoothly with a dry, oaky mouthfeel.  The anise, liquorice and cinnamon all present themselves alongside some tart green apple peel.   An extremely bold palate and perhaps one of the darkest, woodiest Walker blends we've tried.  

Finish:  Lingering sherry steeped oak, malt extract, charcoal/soot and dry cassia bark coat the palate.  Very lengthy indeed.

Overall: For a premium blend coming in under £30, this is almost certainly extremely good value, considering you get a litre for your money.  The balance is drier and richer than other Walker blends and as a result we can see this being ideally suited for sinking over ice next to a roaring open fire. And if it happens to snow wherever your are, even better...

Best In Glass Award 2012 : The Winning Whisky

The world of whisky is littered with awards, medals and trophies. As professionals in the drinks industry, we are honoured and privileged to be judges on a few of these excellent ventures. Indeed, as we type there is an ominously large box of samples waiting for us to ready our noses and palates for the judgement which awaits.

Scoring whisky is not something which we have every felt fully comfortable with. When we started this website, our ethos was (and indeed still is) about bringing you, our readers, entertaining and informative articles with tasting notes woven into the general fabric and architecture of the piece. These tasting notes provide guidance as to the flavour profile of the liquid, with some advice as to the quality of those elements. Thus helping you to make a decision if you'll like it or not. Ergo, not simply telling you if we like it. For example, you may love the light, youthful, peat smoke which is found in the Ardbeg Still Young. If so, then buy that whisky from the tasting notes we provide. If, however, you find that "young", "youthful", "spirit" turns you off and you like "heavy, rich, sherried, peat" then simply don't buy the whisky described.

Within these tasting notes, we'll add an overall section with our thoughts in it which is where we allow ourselves a little more freedom to place the liquid against others in the same category or price point. It's all pretty simple, really.

And keeping things simple really is our motto; we're all about keeping whisky inclusive, not making it exclusive, ring-fencing it for the geek and the wealthy.  If we were were a club, we  wouldn't have a dress code. You're as welcome here in a pair of Nike Air Stabs as you are in a pair of Church's Brogues.

The idea of inclusivity and simplicity was the driver for our yearly Best in Glass Award. Bored of the idea that a whisky, which sold out nine months ago could win a gold medal, or that a trophy was awarded to a whisky issued in a run of just 45 bottles, exclusively for the  ('Insert-typically-cryptic-but-predictably-gaelic-named') Whisky Club and something which the average man in the street will never even see, let alone have a chance to purchase, seemed totally ludicrous and alien to us. Worse still, it seems to enhance the alienation which can preclude so many new, young drinkers in to the category.

As a result, five years ago, we developed our own system. Paying homage the highly successful Mercury Music Prize in the UK, we chose our top ten drams from the year, got a bunch of like-minded drinks professionals together and chose one overall winner. 
The criteria for entry is simple:

-the whisky must be a new release in the calendar year

- the whisky must be commercially available to buy from a retailer (no festival bottlings, no one-off club bottles etc)

- the final ten whiskies are chosen by us at Caskstrength from reviews we've done and other whisky features we've penned, then judged by an independent panel. There is no entry fee as we chose the finalists from the whiskies we've had throughout the year. Often the liquid is provided free by the distilleries for the judging, but often we purchase many of the bottles used.

Once the ten nominations have been chosen by us, we sit in a room, have some lunch and then start the judging, with all the drams tried blind. Every year there is a mix of old and young whisky; peated and unpeated; single malts and blends; world whiskeys and Scotch. If we thought it hit our top ten and meets the criteria above, then it's in.

So this this year, our fifth awards ceremony rolled into town and it turned out to be the most surprising yet. Gathering at the London home of the Scotch Malt Whisky Society, the 2012 panel was made up of the following:

Lucy Britner - Freelance Drinks Journalist

Ryan Chetiyawardana - Cocktail and Bar Consultant 

Ben Ellefsen - Director, Master of Malt

John Glaser - Compass Box Whisky Company

Alex Huskinson - Manager, The Whisky Exchange Shop, London

Alice Lascelles - Spirits Editor of Imbibe and The Sunday Times Drinks Columnist

Simone Sacco - Bar Manager, Hakkasan

Cat Spencer - Marketing Manager, Master of Malt

Marcin Miller - Number One Drinks Co.

Joe McGirr - Manager, SMWS London

Richard Woodard - Freelance Drinks Journalist and former Editor of The Spirits Business

The ten whiskies which made our finals this year were the following:

Balcones Texas Single Malt

The Balvenie Doublewood 17 Year Old Single Malt 

Cutty Sark Tam 'o Shanter Blended Whisky

Glenmorangie Artein Single Malt 

Johnnie Walker Platinum 18 Year Old Blended Whisky

Kilchoman Machir Bay Single Malt 

The Macallan Gold Single Malt

 

Nikka Coffey Grain Japanese Whisky

Springbank Rundlets & Kilderkins Single Malt

 

Teelings Hybrid Blended Irish / Scotch Whiskey

After much discussion, the panel whittled down the shortlist to three. From these those, an overall Best in Glass winner was chosen.

The two 'Highly Commended' whiskies were:

• Teelings Hybrid Blended Irish / Scotch Whiskey

• Cutty Sark Tam 'o Shanter Blended Whisky

So without further ado, it gives us great pleasure to announce that the overall winner - and this year's Best in Glass goes to:

Balcones Texas Single Malt - 53% - 75cl

Nose: Light orchard fruit notes, with apricot, stewed pears, plums and vanilla and a touch of dessert wine.  With water, the aromas start to really intensify, with more floral notes coming to the fore with a deliciously sweet red apple and hint of anise.  

Palate: Sweet and light, with vanilla, more dried apricot, chopped green apples, a hint of lightly toasted oak and milk chocolate.  The small casks used to mature this (mostly yard seasoned 20 litre American oak casks) have had a huge, but appealing influence to the palate. 

Finish: Short, with lighter fruit notes and a touch of liquorice. 

Overall: A mighty whisky and a triumph for independent distilling.  One thing's for sure, we very much look forward to trying the next few batches of this unique single malt in the years to come. 

So congratulations to the good people at Balcones for their excellent liquid, which the panel agreed stood up very well against some seriously stiff opposition. The panel were surprised and delighted by the Balcones bold flavour profile and balance of maturity.

Join us this time next year for the 6th annual Best in Glass award... who knows what will take the top prize...!

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Barley & Water & Yeast & Time.

Just an additional note to mention that our new sister site, WhiskyMerch.com, is now up selling our own designs of whisky-related t-shirts, bags and... baby grows. Yes, that's right, Daddy's Wee Dram can enjoy whisky too! With international shipping, these items are all woven from high quality cotton with the chosen design in deep flock print.

The most popular tee so far has been our Barley & Water & Yeast & Time edition (as seen above), echoing the three ingredients which go into single malt whisky and the magical final piece of the jigsaw: time. 

Check it out here: http://www.whiskymerch.com

Casks Of Glory

A few weeks ago, we bought you news of a brace of brand new Johnnie Walker bottlings which have now hit the shelves across the globe.  Gone now is the old style 18 year-old Centenary Gold Label (although retailers still have stocks available, so grab a bottle whilst you can) replaced by the un-aged Gold Label and the spanking new Platinum Label, which introduces the same age statement of 18 years to this differently formulated blend.   Both new releases fair extremely well in our opinion, especially the Platinum, which could very easily slake our thirst for the dearly departed Centenary edition (you'll be sorely missed...)  

Now it seems the Striding Man has been furiously pacing about again and rather than resting on his laurels, has been at it again with yet another new release -  this time an addition to the Blue Label family.

The Casks Edition is a duty free only release, hitting airports across Asia, Europe, South America, the Middle East and Australia.  Bottled at 55.8% the blend is another Jim Beveridge special, which aims to highlight a more powerful, robust nuances in whisky making that individual casks can bring to the party. Released in small batches (although we don't know of what size)  the price is not that far off the price of the regular Blue Label, ($300 for a litre bottle) so for those Blue Label fans with that hung-ho holiday spirit passing through a major airport, this looks like an attractive bottle to take to one's poolside retreat. 

So what is it like?  Where does it sit next to the new releases and indeed- the regular edition of Blue Label??

Not the official bottle shot

Johnnie Walker Blue Label - The Casks Edition - 55.8%

Nose: Ooh. Big, bold and quite mossy on the first nosing. Very spicy, with notes of garam masala, peppers, dried ginger, a hint of smoke (less than I expected), then moist fruit cake, with a vanilla cream butter icing. Given some long lingering wafts, notes of spiced apple come to the fore, alongside sponge fingers dipped in Oloroso sherry.  With water, white pepper and some toffee apple notes develop, alongside a weighty dry sherry.  As a JW, this is certainly a big meaty fellow, like the striding man has been in training for a forthcoming athletic spectacle perhaps? 

Palate: Undiluted, the palate is fiery and untamed at first, as one would expect with a cask strength whisky, but soon the heat dies away to reveal a gingery, spicy side, steeped in touches of classic JW golden syrup, sponge cake, cinnamon apple strudel and a touch of vanilla pipe tobacco.  With water, the stewed apple, golden syrup and spice (liquorice this time) develop.  As July days go, it's a bit nippy around the drinking halls of Caskstrength towers and this is working through from within to revivify me. 

Finish: Lingering dry spice notes, with just the faintest smoke and sweetness in cake form.

Overall: For fans of JW in general it won't come as a surprise that this whisky is exquisitely put together.  Less smoke than the Gold and Black Labels, with a heavier slant towards sherry casks,  whatever Mr Beveridge has to play with in his blending rooms is clearly superb and this JW edition just highlights why his understanding of the striding man is becoming almost like a 6th sense.  

Seven Nation Army

To say that India is a big whisky market would be, well, an understatement. Last year I had the pleasure of sharing a dram with Dr. Vijay Mallya, the ‘King of Goodtimes’ and Indian drinks Barron.

During our ‘session’, the facts came thick and fast; from the huge (and I mean huge) amount of liquor sold in the country, through to the current number of potential consumers reaching drinking age every day (more than 50% of the population is under the age of 25) and onwards through to the complex taxation system within each Indian state which seems to be holding the industry back there.

The whole affair was fascinating, not least as I have a monthly column writing about whisky (real whisky, not Indian Made Foreign Liquor) in a major Indian daily newspaper, so I’m like a dry sponge thrown into the Playboy mansion pool when it comes to facts and figures for this particular market.

One of the biggest challenges facing brands operating in the spirits category, especially in the luxury spirits category, in India is how to upscale their offerings. With assaults on the marketing from the likes of Johnnie Walker and Royal Salute, proper ‘Ultra Premium Scotch whiskies’, it’s a tough old game when you’re churning out molasses based spirit all day long.

However one company, one major player in the market, has seen an opportunity to build a luxury brand for the Indian market dealing with high-end Scotch whisky. Seven Islands is a new label on the block, acting somewhere between an independent bottler and a diffusion brand (to steal a fashion term) started by Tilaknagar Industries Limited, one of the biggest drinks brand owners in India. As I rifle through my reams of notes on liquor sales in India (seriously) I see they own Indian whisky brands such as Shot, Classic and Mansion House, so they know their stuff. (Note to anyone starting an Indie band: look to Indian liquors for band names. Here are some examples: Red Knight, Special Appointment, Black Stallion, G.S. Genius, Silver Peg... the list is almost endless)

It seems from the launch of this brand, that the idea is to create a ‘cool’ independent bottling and then take it back to India once the brand value has been properly built in places such as the UK and Spain. Well, it is a shame they didn’t take the time to mention either the ABV or the age statement of the liquid in their literature, giving their text over pretty much solely to the idea behind the brand. Personally, I  feel it is always dangerous to focus on the brand building at the expense of the liquid. Or not even at the expense of the liquid. I mean, they don’t give any details about the liquid what-so-ever in their press release. A bad sign.

What we do know is that the hooch in the bottle is from BenRiach and subsequent research has shown up that it’s been bottled at 42.8% abv. Oh, and it is going to be £90. So let’s have a try of the liquid and see if they’ve got solid rock on which to build their house, or if they’ve just gone down the beach and chosen some sandy land...

Seven Islands Vintage – NAS – 42.8% abv

Nose: Apples and pears are the most notable aromas to jump from the glass and the longer one enjoys these notes, the more prominent the flavours of clear apple juice become, backed with a hint of furniture polish and some cinnamon. It’s actually very inviting.

Palate: Apple strudel, short flurries of whipped cream, rich honey and heather. The palate is soft and smooth.  Very drinkable.

Finish: Medium in length, the finish has elements again of apple sauce, spiced rum and some hint of vanilla.

Overall: Hugely inoffensive, this whisky is dangerously drinkable but for a luxury product, I was expecting something richer, thicker and a whole lot more sherried. I’m not sure I’d be happy to part with £90 for what appears to be a perfectly drinkable No Age Statement, no-name (unless you’ve got a press release) Scotch whisky.

I’m kinda left confused by this release. Scant details on the liquid always makes me shudder;  like when I’m at a football match and order a ‘meat pie’. “What is this mystery meat you’re serving me up?” I’m left to wonder. I guess Pukka Pies have built a very good business on that, but then they’re not pretending to be Mark Hix are they?