On behalf of all the members of TWAS, I’d like to put out a big thank you to Aren Springvleod, from Maxxium Australia.

Aren is the Brand Ambassador for Maxxium Australia, the Australian Distributors for Highland Park, and the Macallan fine scotch whiskies, and has graciously donated his valuable time and effort in to procuring some goodies for our next tasting in September (being the Highland Park vertical tasting).

Highland Park

Highland Park, founded in 1798, is the most northerly whisky distillery in the world. The distillery itself is located in the city of Kirkwall, the capital of the Orkney Islands. Water from a nearby stream and peat from Hobbister Moor a short distance away, give this single malt its unique character.

A genuine representative of the island style, Highland Park nevertheless combines in the most elegant fashion all the features of a classic single malt: smokiness (with a unique honey accent), maltiness, smoothness, depth, roundness, full finish and length on the palate.

Scotch Whisky, Announcements, Spotlight, News Items | 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

America’s most influential whisky taster has placed a 5 year old Islay whisky in the same league as single malts 7 times it’s age.

The Malt Advocate, published quarterly by John Hansell, rated PC5, the new peaty whisky from Bruichladdich as: “Outstanding! The best for it’s style. Distinctive”.

The highest scorer was a single cask bottling of the legendary 35 year old Springbank. At 93%, a single cask of 34 year old Glenfiddich followed at £300 a bottle.

3rd equal, with 92%, was the 5 year old Bruichladdich “PC5” along with a 36 year old Mortlach. 27 year old Bunnahabhain and 26 years old Highland Park followed.

The review highlighted:

If you like your smoky Islay whiskies young and masculine, this one is for you. Multi-dimensional and balanced. Youthful, but not immature.

The PC5 – Port Charlotte 5 year old - was the first whisky to be distilled under the new management at Bruichladdich Distillery (more…)

Scotch Whisky | Comments Off

Kentucky bourbon whiskey is commonly mixed with water or soda, but wine?

Brown-Forman Corp. has put a new twist on its premium Woodford Reserve bourbon with a limited edition variation distinct for spending a few months aging in the company’s Sonoma-Cutrer wine barrels.

The experiment blends California chardonnay with Kentucky whiskey culture.

The result is called Woodford Reserve’s Sonoma-Cutrer Finish, produced at the Woodford Reserve distillery in the heart of Bluegrass country near Versailles.

It’s the second time Brown-Forman has dabbled in a special whiskey that’s an offshoot of its small-batch Woodford Reserve brand. The goal is to build a bigger following for Woodford Reserve in the competitive super-premium bourbon category, and this time perhaps win crossover business from wine drinkers.

“We certainly believe this has a nice connection back to Woodford Reserve, and it would have interest to (more…)

American Whisk(e)y | Comments Off

An Orange liquor outlet in central western New South Wales has pleaded guilty to selling bogus Scotch whisky.

The New South Wales Food Authority found a company known as Fernbrew, trading as D’Aquino Bond Wholesalers, was selling Scotch whisky which was not made in Scotland.

It also had an alcohol content of 38.6 per cent instead of the required 40 per cent.

The food authority seized nearly 300 bottles of the Old McTavish Scotch Whisky from the D’Aquino outlet in Orange and ordered it to pay a $30,000 fine and $80,000 in costs.

Primary Industries Minister Ian Macdonald says the Government is putting retailers on notice.

“This is quite a serious bogus booze effort and scam and the Government was quite clear in its view that we won’t tolerate this type of rip-off,” he said.

^{(Orange is the name of the town, BTW)} 

Scotch Whisky, Australian Whisky, General, Quickies | Comments Off