Following on from Competition 1, it’s time to offer a little more detail on the second competition we’re running whilst on Islay. Let me introduce you to ‘Peaty’, our bold and feisty little friend. He’s also a toy dog.

Peaty’s hero is Shortie, the Ardbeg distillery dog, but he loves all Islay whisky equally and when we take him to visit the distilleries he often doesn’t want to leave! If you find him on your travels between 24th May and 2nd June, we’re offering a reward for his safe return to the Malt Mobile – a full 50cl bottle of our brand new That Boutique-y Whisky Company Caol Ila, worth £54.95! One good deed deserves another, after all.

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In just 7 days time a crack team of MoMers (MoMists? MoMians? Something that sounds less like a cult?) will be setting off in the direction of the Fèis Ìle whisky festival on Islay!

Excitingly, as mentioned in our earlier Islay blog post, we will be running 3 Competitions while we are out there! The time has now come to break it down even further with a little more detail on each competition starting with numero uno...

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Something this way mysterious came…and went! If you’ve been paying attention to whisky news, you’ll have heard about The Glenlivet’s new release: The Glenlivet Alpha.

This Single Malt Scotch Whisky was bottled with the minimum legal information allowed in order to encourage whisky drinkers to “master their senses” and not be influenced by age statements, the colour of the whisky, or any other characteristics.

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Hot on the heels of Talisker Storm comes another no age statement whisky from the very same distillery: Talisker Port Ruighe.

So, what’s the story with Port Ruighe? Wouldn’t you like to know? Well, it’s pronounced Portree, as in the largest town on the Isle of Skye, with ‘Port Ruighe’ being an old Gaelic spelling. The town is based around a large natural harbour, which has been key for business and trade for centuries and latterly has featured some of them there brightly coloured buildings made infamous by a certain children’s television programme. The other thing you need to know is that they have their own top flight (see what I did there) Quidditch team, the Prides, that compete in the British and Irish Quidditch League.

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Rolling on with our recent trend of bringing new brands to the UK market (and beyond), we are pleased to introduce you to the Spirits of Hven. A Swedish whisky distillery which produces gin and vodka in a most nontraditional way (most gin does not take 2 years to produce), Hven is located on a tiny island that was home to astronomer Tycho Brahe in the 16th Century.

When I imagined the journey to an island off the coast of Sweden in early March, I pictured snow, ice, and travelling in a boat exactly like like the one below.

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The second World Whisky Day^™, organised by Aberdeen University student Blair Bowman, is just around the corner. A new date of Saturday 18th May has been chosen for this year’s celebrations, a date that Blair hopes one day could even become a national holiday in Scotland.

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The London Distillery Company, founded in 2011, that’s 2011, have recently released their first full product, created at their rather nifty Battersea distillery. Their plan, ultimately, is to produce whisky in London for the first time in over a century, but in the meantime we have an exciting new gin brand: Dodd’s Gin.

TLDC’s Darren Rook has often pointed to London’s whisky distilling heritage, with as many as six distilleries operating back in the 1800s. Other cities, such as Liverpool, can make similar claims, and whilst English whisky may still be an unusual concept for some, the revival is already well underway. Indeed, we could soon have 5 English whisky distilleries. London’s gin heritage meanwhile, is “too well known to require a dissertation”, to steal a Dodd phrase.

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You may have already heard the exciting news that The Glenlivet have launched a brand new expression without revealing any tasting notes or cask details – even the bottle is blacked out so that you can’t see the whisky until you first pour some out into your chosen glass! It’s a totally blind release, the first of its kind and it will take a chap of steel to unravel its mysteries.

The Glenlivet Alpha is available now from Master of Malt, and with only 3,350 available worldwide (600 in the UK), make sure to grab one before it’s too late – we expect these to sell at a colossal velocity. Once you have your bottle you can begin The Glenlivet’s interactive sensory journey to discover its secrets, testing yourself or learning more about Single Malt Scotch Whisky along the way.

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Ben:

We make a lot of cool stuff. This has been proven. As of a couple of weeks ago, we’ve got someone who’s going to be responsible for getting all this cool stuff into bars, retailers and your house (specifically you) throughout the UK, and worldwide.

We also really like exciting, cool whiskies and spirits distilled all over the world. Given that we’re reasonably decent-sized now, it sort of makes sense for us to start importing some of the cooler brands out there. We’ve also got someone who’s going to be responsible for bringing all those awesome products into the UK and getting them into the self-same bars, retailers and also into your house.

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Feis Ile is almost upon us once again and to celebrate our third visit to The Islay Whisky Festival, we will be running 3 Competitions (count ‘em) for all those souls lucky enough to be joining us on the Hebridean island between 24th May and 2nd June 2013!

We will also be releasing a brand new bottling from That Boutique-y Whisky Company: a Caol Ila! Schwiing! This new release will be up for grabs on Islay as well as other prizes. To see how you can get in on the action, read on...

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