Yes, the next TWAS tasting is here:

When: Monday, June 22nd 2009
Where: Lark Distillery
Time: 7pm
Prices: $70 on the night.

This time we have a showdown - Scotch Whisky vs Bourbon Whiskey.

This knockout battle will be fought at the Lark Distillery, and leading the battle for each side, will be two highly skilled warriors, battling to make their spirit the ultimate winner.

Our Ambassadors are:

Aren Springvloed - Scotch Whisky

The story behind our Single Malt Whisky Brand Ambassador starts with a family journey through the vineyards of the Barossa Valley. As animpressionable eight year old, Aren Springvloed was sampling the finest wines that Australia had to offer ­declaring sweet sticky dessert wines “yummy”.  Thankfully, over the intervening years his taste and vocabulary have expanded somewhat; as an adult, two years spent living in Scotland and Ireland touring through Whisky distilleries grew a passion for Whisky.

Having worked as a Bartender throughout University, Aren eventually discovered that an appreciation of flavour in spirits combined well with Cocktail bartending, leading to success in competition in the UK. Returning home to Australia, Aren joined the bar team at Luxe Bar in Perth, and started transferring his passion for all things whisky to whomever would listen, conducting training sessions and consulting.  After a highly successful stint as an Account Manager for Maxxium, Aren now finds himself as the Maxxium Brand Ambassador for some of the most prestigious Whiskies in the World ­ The Famous Grouse, The Macallan and Highland Park.  He is actively involved in education of consumers and industry staff Australia wide, communicating his passions for Whisky and good drinking.

Jared Plummer - Bourbon

Jared Plummer has travelled the world seeking inspiration for his passion – drinks and bartending. Jared has joined Beam Global as Brand Ambassador, representing their premier Premium Bourbon portfolio.

Jared started his career in Perth where he worked for three years co-managing Luxe Bar, one of Australia’s most awarded venues. He has always had a passion for spirits, creating cocktails and training and this passion saw him move to Sydney to work for the Hugo’s Group in an assistant management capacity.

Throughout his time behind the bar, Jared has won numerous awards including most recently Australian Liquor Industry Award - Bartender of the Year for 2007, Bar Team of the Year – 2007, Bar of the Year 2007 – Hugos. As a result of these and many other award’s Jared has had the opportunity to travel the world over the past years which has seen him travel to many distilleries developing his passion even further with the craft of spirits making.

Jared is the first premium bourbon ambassador in Australia and his portfolio includes Maker’s Mark, Jim Beam Black, Jim Beam Small Batch, Bakers, Booker Noe’s and Basil Haydens. Jared’s role will see him travel across Australia and New Zealand, training and educating the trade, sales teams and consumers of the virtues of the premium bourbon category.

…

So - who is up for it? It will be an awesome night…

Please get in quick, as seats are limited, and you don’t want to miss out.

–

^{RSVP So Far:}

^{Richard Stewart
Jim Woodward
Justin Plunkett
William Skinner
Steve Townsend + Guest
Todd Wheeler
Bill Lark
Tim Duckett
Patrick Maguire
John Burgess + 3 Guests
Jon Kudelka
Erik Wapstra
Darren Sheen
Daimon Hill
Mark Murton + 6 Guests
Phiip Millin
Brad Gunn}

^{27 Total}

Scotch Whisky, Gatherings, General, Other Whisky | Comments Off

England will have its first whisky release in December of this year, Harpers Wine and Spirit can reveal.

St. George’s Distillery - home of the English Whisky Company - is seeking to target the lucrative Japanese and Indian markets with its range of peated and unpeated single malt whiskies.

The family-owned, Norfolk based business is also hoping to cash in on the national pride surrounding the 2012 Olympics.

Managing Director, Andrew Nelstrop, said that interest in the spirit, which cannot be classified as whisky until December, is already high. Just 349 cases are being released for this Christmas. “We’re satisfied that we have made it this far,” Andrew Nelstrop said.

“The quality is excellent and this really is an English product. Our whisky is made through a slow and gentle process.”

St George’s Distillery will produce 150,000 bottles of whisky each year, but has the capacity to increase production significantly if required.

The whisky comes in four ‘chapters’ of new spirit, peated new spirit 18-month barrel aged peated and 18 month unpeated.

^{Article courtesy Harpers Wine & Spirit}

Other Whisky | Comments Off

England’s “only” malt whisky distillery is set to become Norfolk’s newest tourist attraction tomorrow .

Officials at St George’s Distillery at Roudham, near Thetford, spoke of their excitement yesterday as they prepared to open their doors to the paying public for the first time.

The English Whisky Company has been producing spirits since October, but will begin tours and tasting sessions from 10am tomorrow - despite its main tipple not being ready to drink for at least another two years.

Staff were yesterday making the finishing touches to the new £1m distillery building, which includes a café, conference room, tasting area, and shop featuring more than 150 different whiskies, bourbons, and liqueurs from around the world.

The new tourist destination, which employs about a dozen people, comes almost two years after father and son whisky enthusiasts James and Andrew Nelstrop came up with the concept of building a distillery on Breckland farmland. (more…)

Announcements, Other Whisky | Comments Off

Even the most diehard Scotch drinker will acknowledge that some pretty decent whiskies are made in Ireland, the USA and Japan, but few know that Sweden also distils good whisky.

Mackmyra distillery is the brainchild of Swedish engineer Magnus Dandanell and a group of friends, who had the idea of creating Sweden’s first whisky distillery in 1998. Dandanell is now Managing Director of Mackmyra Svensk Whisky AB, and he explains, “We love whisky and we wanted to create our own. We didn’t see the difficulties - only fields of billowing barley and the clean fresh air. We felt the clean, cold water and were convinced that we had all the conditions for creating a high-class malt whisky.”

Dandanell and co took Scotland and Scotch whisky as their inspiration, but were keen to produce a spirit that reflected its Swedish heritage and had a distinctive character all its own. They began by building their own still and conducting pilot distilling trials on an industrial estate in Mackmyra, some two hours drive north of Stockholm. This involved a considerable amount of trial and error, and Dandanell says “We modified the shapes, form and size proportions and the reflux functions of the pilot until we were satisfied with the resulting raw spirit. Then we enlarged the design and ordered our stills.” (more…)

Other Whisky, Spotlight | Comments Off

Canada’s only single-malt whisky distillery is free to keep selling its Glen Breton Rare whisky after Canadian trademark authorities struck down a complaint that the name was deceptively Scottish.

The Edinburgh-based Scotch Whisky Association had objected to use of the word “glen,” saying that Glenora Distillers International Ltd., based in Glenville, Nova Scotia, was misleading consumers into thinking the 10-year-old Canadian single malt was actually from Scotland.

In legal parlance, the 57-member association claimed the name was “deceptively misdescriptive,” as Canadian whisky drinkers would assume it was the Scottish variety.

But David Martin, the member of Canada’s Trade-Marks Opposition Board who threw out the complaint this month, ruled that “standard dictionary definitions indicate that the word glen has universal application.” He also noted that the Scotch Whisky Association presented no evidence from consumers that might indicate confusion.

“This appears to be a case of overreaching by the opponent,” Martin wrote. (more…)

American Whisk(e)y, Other Whisky | Comments Off