It was a wet and stormy winter’s night in the calendar season of spring when the note came. The wind swirled menacingly in the half-light. The atmosphere was tangibly foreboding. As I walked towards the front door of the building, the sense of dread built and a sudden, low and particularly long piano note could almost be heard. (The longer the note, the more dread.) I slowly opened the small black envelope that awaited me just inside the door, and the contents took me aback!
So… I guess we have to come clean about the simply astonishing work of Dr Brian Cocks and his coveted Scotch Eggs.
After our many years in the wonderful business of whisky purveyance, it’s not often that we come across something that really takes us aback. Today, however, we have the rare honour of announcing a distilling phenomenon hitherto unknown: A heady blend of spirit and science, seasoned with a shake of quackery and a dose of credulity…
It’s finally here. Yes, folks, Joel Harrison and Neil Ridley have raised the anchor and set sail to release the third instalment in their A-Z of whiskies series. This time, they took to the high seas (or high rails?) to celebrate their first crack at creating a blend. And what a blend it was! It stands up to water, cocktails, and rush-hour traffic on the London Circle Line.
Our journey began with an introduction by two salty dogs, dressed to the nines in seafaring garb and presenting us with a fractured history of the London tube. Were there sea shanties, you ask? But of course!
Hot on the heels of our success at the Off License News Drinks Retailing Awards, the World Whiskies Awards 2013 were presented last week at the Waldorf Hotel in London, and, erm, we cleaned up again*.
I’m not going to re-hash the recent blog post I wrote about our success at the OLN awards, but suffice it to say, there’s a reasonable-length post here about the innovations and initiatives we’ve launched in the past 12 months. It’s well worth a read if you’ve not already.
It’s an exciting one, this…
It’s not often that we get involved with Exclusive, Single-Cask bottlings direct from the distilleries themselves, as there’s generally much better value to be had from independent bottlings. We do lots of them instead. Lots and lots.
Every now and then though, something comes along that wouldn’t usually be available on the independent market.
This is one such bottling. A (very, very rare) Peated Balblair. Well, I say that – it’s actually a Balblair that’s been stored in a cask previously used to hold Peated Whisky. Sort of Peated through the medium of cheating. A Cheaty-Peaty whisky if you will.
That’s right, folks. Those crafty chaps from Caskstrength announced today their new bottling! Due to launch on 25 March 2013, the third instalment in the much-celebrated Alphabet Series is indeed a Cutty Sark, Neil and Joel undertook the herculean task of blending their own whisky, and the result is sure to be interesting!
Back in September, we began offering some pointers on blending your own whisky to help you get the most out of the marvellous Home Blending Kits we have bestowed upon the world (we’re good like that) as well as explaining a little about how whisky blending came about.
Now, we left that post on a bit of a cliff-hanger I’m afraid, but fear not! We didn’t forget about this, good heavens no! Time to re-cap/catch up on How To Blend Whisky Part I because herein lies… Part Deux!
Another month (well, nearly – it’s been over 3 weeks), another clutch of supremely awesome whiskies bottled by That Boutique-y Whisky Company. This time we’re bringing you whiskies from Brora, Arran, Tobermory, Tormore and Aberfeldy.
Sadly, one of these beauties has already sold out (no prizes for guessing which I’m afraid), but the rest are still available for your delectation:
For the past 5 years, drinks writers (and now whisky bottlers!) Joel Harrison and Neil Ridley have hosted an awards ceremony intended to turn the whisky judging world on its head—or at least put it poolside with a drink in its hand. Jeil (or Noel, as they are affectionately referred to at MoM HQ) designed their Best in Glass Awards to celebrate whiskies that are accessible, delicious, and newly released. The annual Best in Glass Awards were held on 12th December 2012 at the Scotch Malt Whisky Society in London. After a gruelling afternoon of a two-course luncheon (wink!) and blind tasting of ten whiskies, one whisky emerged victorious from the collection to be dubbed the champion of the Best in Glass Awards 2012!