A Right Royal Rumpus

What a week it's been. In terms of keeping oneself busy, this week has been very easy indeed. We've just returned home from a fabulous visit to Islay, the details of which we'll be bringing you this coming Monday. But before slipping on the new Fleet Foxes record, drawing a bath and preparing for a much needed shave, we feel duty bound to bring you our tasting notes for a very special whisky, which was released a couple of days ago. You may or may not have seen our spoof Royal wedding bottling, (or to be precise, a monster of a bottling, released to celebrate the official stag do) but a sample of the real thing arrived whilst we were away... (the actual wedding invitation must still be at the Penge sorting office...)

As with the last great Royal bash back in 1981, The Macallan have beaten everyone else to the punch and released the official Royal Wedding bottling, which is a marriage of whisky taken from 2 casks, both filled on the 29th April - a 1996 and a 1999. The release is limited to 1000 bottles, priced at £150, available only from the distillery shop or at The Macallan website.

To come across the slight pessimist for a second- there is hardly a history of harmony surrounding the recent royal weddings but in the case of William and Kate we wish them every success for the future- a more handsome a couple you would struggle to find. One can only hope that they're given enough space by the often maliciously intrusive scum we call a popular press in this country, for they appear to be genuine and honest - attributes that some of the more senior royals could do with fine tuning.

Anyway, onto the whisky.

The Macallan - The Royal Marriage Commemorative Bottling - 1000 bottles - 46.8%

Nose: Highly resinous, with classic Macallan sherrywood dryness, leading into cinnamon bark, cocoa, crystalised orange slices, a deft hint of some butter candy (Werthers) and light sultanas.

With water, a much more noticeable fragrant plum/soft orchard fruit aroma makes itself known. Quite lovely in fact.

Palate: Quite dry on the palate, but not at all cloying- with more cinnamon, well balanced cocktail bitters (particularly elements of vanilla, cloves and dried orange peel) then into a creamy soft milky cereal note. It has a lot of similarities with the recent Albert Watson bottling, but perhaps without the bigger, more pronounced notes of all-spice or liquorice.

Adding water really brings out the sweetness, with more noticeable vanilla toffee coming through.

Finish: Dark chocolate covered raisins and plum jam lead the way for a nicely lingering finish.

Overall: Once again, The Macallan have proven themselves worthy of marrying a whisky fit for a king. Mr Grier - expect your knighthood in the post.

A Right Battle Royale

As the world whips itself into a frenzy concerning the impending marriage of William Windsor and Kate Middleton, the bods in marketing at some of our favourite distilleries are no doubt in an equal frenzy, trying to swiftly prepare/shamelessly cash in with their take on the Royal Wedding Dram.

First out the blocks was The English Whisky Company with a William & Kate Commemorative Decanter, a whisky 'married together' (see what they've done there...) by their master distiller. All very reasonably priced at £65 for the collectors and hoards of foreign tourists alike- in this day and age, probably cheaper than your average meal for 4 at one of London's world famous Aberdeen Angus Steakhouses.

Next up, come The Macallan with their take on the proceedings- a tad pricier at £150, but purportedly containing whisky from 1996 and 1999 and limited to 1000 bottles. As our friend Tim at the Whisky Exchange alludes to in his splendid post about the wedding, the build up to the big day may well be developing into a hawkers delight, but a very profitable one - especially for the collector with a keen eye for a cheeky investment.

Well here it is folks- we bring you news of another bottle to be released slightly before the actual wedding day, this one commemorating one of the other hugely important events in the royal wedding calendar!

Little-known distillers Highland Stagg are venturing into the 'having it large territory' by producing an (un)official limited bottling to commemorate what is likely to be the 'alternative' party of the year- Prince William's stag do.

Organised by brother Harry, chief mischief maker and legendary bon viveur, William's stag do is unlikely to feature the usual trappings of the traditional stag do; rubber breasts, incidents involving handcuffs, lamp posts and dubious interactions with four-legged beasts. It will undoubtedly be a rip-roaring success and will probably feature some cracking drams. And now you can recreate your own version of the event.

Highland Stagg claim to have produced the ultimate 'stag party whisky' housed in a monstrous 27 litre bottle.

The Bouji's legendary 'top shelf'

The liquid inside is a very specially 'thrown together' (not married) blend, from Stagg's chief whisky maker Gorden McFail, allegedly incorporating all the whiskies available at the Prince's favourite nightclub and celebrity hang out, Bouji's. In essence, it's the perfect (and convenient) way to grab yourself a 'Top Shelf' and will be the gift that keeps on giving, way into the night (and probably the morning after).

Perhaps some of the hilarious scenes that William has to look forward to.

Exact details on the bottling are still a little sketchy, but the RRP is going to be around £27 - absolutely stunning value for money at £1 per litre and with an outturn of only 500 bottles. It also includes a selection of drinking games, clip on antlers for party goers and a pack of jumbo straws for when the evening really starts to kick off. We predict this one to be an instant sellout and will find its way into the collector's hands very quickly.

Happy (stag) Hunting!!