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KWM 2016 Whisky Advent Day 5 - Gordon Macphail Connoisseurs Choice Inchgower 2005

Posted on December 15, 2024

Gordon MacPhail whiskies tend to frequently crop up in our Whisky Advent Calendar for a couple of reasons. Firstly, the family owned firm has one of the broadest ranges of bottled whisky in the world. Then there is the issue of quality, they won't put their name on anything they don't believe in, and it shows. Finally, and perhaps most crucially is the fact that they bottle quite a number of whiskies in both full size (700ml) and Â 50ml formats.

In last year's Calendar we had a Gordon MacPhail Connoisseurs Choice Inchgower distilled in 2000. It was quite a different beast from tonight's malt. Although it to was matured in Ex-Sherry casks, I find the sherry notes more dominant, rounded and balanced in this younger bottling. Inchgower is a whisky we seldomly see bottled by its owners, Diageo, and even independent bottlings of it are infrequent. The distillery is about medium-sized by Scottish standards today, with an annual production of 3.2 million litres. Virtually all of this however goes into blends, principally Bell's, Johnny Walker

Inchgower was founded in 1871 in the Banffshire town of Buckie, on Scotland's Moray coast, near where the Spey River empties into the sea. The distillery was built by Alexander Wilson & Co., with equipment they had removed from their Tochineal Distillery (Est. 1825), shut down the same year. In 1936, Alexander Wilson & Co. went bankrupt, and the town of Buckie purchased the distillery £1,600. This seems like a ludicrously small sum by today's standards, but the town council was no doubt quite pleased to sell the distillery on to Arthur Bell & Sons for £3,000 just two years later. Quite a tidy profit.

The distillery's capacity was doubled in 1966 at the beginning of the 20th Century's first whisky boom. By the 1980s, boom had turned to bust, and in 1985, Guinness acquired Arthur Bell & Sons after nearly 50 years of operating the Inchgower distillery and several others. Arthur Bell & Sons was merged with Distilleries Company Ltd in 1987 to form United Distillers under the Guinness umbrella. In the nearly 30 years which Diageo (a later reorganization of Guinness and United Distillers) has run Inchgower, there have only been a handful of official releases. Inchgower has remained one of the most important components in the Bell's Blended Scotch whisky over the period. 26 million bottles of Bells were sold in 2015. The brand is the second best-selling blend in the UK, and #10 in the world.

I have always found Inchgower to be a meaty, and naturally sulphury whisky. A number f whiskies, like Mortlach and Dailuaine, are also made to have meaty-sulphury styles, which add weight and complexity to Blends. In the case of Inchgower, its style is largely influenced by its long middle cut. The distillery starts its spirit run, or hear...

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2016 KWM Whisky Calendar Day 4 - BenRiach Sherry Wood Matured 12 Year

Posted on December 11, 2022

Day 4 of KWM Whisky Advent 2016, and I spy a BenRiach 12 Year Sherry Matured!

Today's whisky has been a store favourite for years! This sherry matured 12 year old BenRiach is produced in the classic sherry cask style of some other notable whiskies like Macallan, Glenfarclas, Glengoyne, Glendronach and Aberlour. The whisky is matured in a mix of Oloroso and Pedro Ximenez sherry casks and bottled at 46%. But there is something curious about this whisky, the rumours are that it may be as much as 5 years older than advertised. While the laws prohibit advertising an age greater than the youngest whisky in the bottle, there is nothing preventing a distillery from putting a younger age on it. This curiosity is due to a closure of the distillery around the year 2000. As there was no production between 2000 and 2004, the whisky must be closer to 17-18 years. A combination of this fact and the style, has lead us to suggest this is the one of the best value whisky in the shop!

BenRiach has become an iconic and trend setting distillery over the last 12 years. In 2004 a group of South African investors and Scotch whisky industry veteran Billy Walker bought the distillery and its stocks from Pernod Ricard. Billy knew the distillery had potential, and that there was an opportunity to create a single malt brand from scratch. There had previously been a lackluster 10 Year old BenRiach on the market, but the distillery was largely unknown. What Billy and his team found when they opened their warehouses exceeded their expectations. BenRiach had produced both peated and unpeated whiskies and had even done some experimentation with triple distillation. The possibilities for the new brand were truly unlimited.

BenRiach is an interesting distillery from a historical perspective. The distillery was founded in 1898 just south of the City of Elgin, to capitalize on the first major boom in Scotch whisky production. It would not remain open long, the distillery along with a huge proportion of the industry was devastated in 1900 by the "Pattison whisky crash". Many of the distilleries that closed never reopened. BenRiach survived to reopen in 1965 at that start of the next whisky boom because its warehouses and malting floor were kept in use by its adjoining sister distillery Longmorn. At various times in the 20th Century BenRiach was referred to as Longmorn No.2. The fact is, the distillery has been closed more years than it has been in production.

BenRiach's reputation today due to a combination of legacy and innovation. The whisky produced by the distillery since the 1960s has been of excellent quality. Add to this the skillful oak management and blending done by Billy Walker and his team and you have a recipe for success. The distillery and its parent company, Â BenRiach Distillery Co., have even newer owners no...

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Whisky Advent Day 3 - The Macallan 1824 Gold

Posted on October 25, 2024

It is Whisky Advent Day 3, and today's malt, both bottle and box slid out of the advent calendar a fair bit more easily than yesterday's! I have to say this miniature is pretty impressive, you don't often see 50mls with actual corks... and this one even has an etchings of the distillery logo on cap! Someone in the marketing department at Macallan has an eye for detail.

Today's whisky is the Macallan Gold, is a part of the Macallan 1824 Series released by the distillery in Canada, in 2014. The series was the distillery's attempt to offer their customers good quality whiskies, at a range of price points, without being hamstrung by an age statement. Macallan like many whisky companies in Scotland and Japan, was trying to cope with sky rocketing demand which was outstripping their supply of mature stocks. The bottom line is, if you didn't lay down enough whisky 12, 15 or 18 years ago, for your current range of 12, 15 and 18 year old expressions, there is nothing you can do about it for another 12, 15 or 18 years!

So Macallan, controversially, but also bravely, took the step of doing away with their age statements in most markets and launching a whole new range of whiskies named for their natural colours, the 1824 Series. Named for their colours the 1824 range consists of Gold, Amber and Sienna, progressively older, darker and more expensive as you go up the range. Even though some people were not happy with the change, the reality is the range has been well received. So much so in fact that the Ruby, formerly at the top of the range, was so popular that they had to discontinue it.

Macallan is one of Scotland's most respected distillers. Established in 1824 on the bluffs above the Spey river in the heart of the Speyside, it was one of the first licensed distilleries in the area. The distillery has some of the smallest stills in Scotland and is very proud of the lengths it goes to to ensure its quality. It spends more on oak than any other distillery and its middle cut is one of the industry's smallest. Today Macallan is part of the Edrington Group along with Highland Park, Famous Grouse and Cutty Sark.

Macallan 1824 Gold - 40% - Matured in 100% Ex-Oloroso sherry, mostly 2nd fill with some 1st fill American Oak Sherry Casks - Andrew's Tasting Note: "Nose: honeyed with leather saddles, wet hay, musty earth and cracked nuts; milk chocolate and service station jelly beans (the kind you pay a quarter for a handful of); malty with goat cheese and lemon slices; Palate: big, round and and very chewy; loads of grassy malt, more hay, crystallized honey and wet horse saddles; becomes nuttier and drier as the Oloroso sherry notes kick in with crisp earthy spices; some dark fruits and more jelly beans with vanilla and loads of sweet citrus; Finish: medium long, clean and honeye...

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2016 KWM Whisky Calendar Day 2 - Kilchoman Sanaig

Posted on December 8, 2022

Day 2 of Whisky Advent features a new for 2016 expression from the Kilchoman Distillery. Kilchoman was the first new distillery to be built on Islay in more than a century when it opened in 2005. Eleven years on it is about to get company, with a 9th and possibly a 10th distillery set to open in the next few years. The brainchild of Anthony Wills, Kilchoman wanted to be a whisky distillery true to the historical roots of the industry. The distillery presently grows some of its own barley, about 15-20% of its production, which it then malts on site. Kilchoman is one of only 7 distilleries with its own floor maltings.

Kilchoman Sanaig was launched earlier this year and is an expression crafted to fit between the Machir Bay (mostly Ex-Bourbon) and Loch Gorm (Sherry) expressions. Sanaig has prominent sherry notes, but also has an American oak Ex-Bourbon component. Sanaig takes its name from "a small rocky inlet North West of the distillery." Bottled at 46% without added colouring or chill-filtering.

Kilchoman in its own words: "Established in 2005, Kilchoman (pronounced Kil-ho-man) is one of the smallest distilleries in Scotland. Based on a farm on the rugged west coast of Islay, Kilchoman was the first distillery to be built on the island for 125 years. Kilchoman displays all that is great about the grass-roots traditions of Scotch whisky distilling. As well as being one of only a handful of distilleries still practicing floor malting, barley is also grown on the farm, making Kilchoman the only distillery to complete all parts of the whisky making process on site. Kilchoman truly is Islayâ€™s farm distillery - from barley to bottling."

Kilchoman Sanaig - 46% - Created with Sherry Matured and Sherry Finished Kilchoman (so there is some Bourbon too) -

Andrew's Tasting Note

Nose: creamy with leather, clean smoke, doughy notes and chewy malt; drying orange slices, soft vanilla and honeydew melon; hints of dark fruits, Caramilk and medicinal peat;

Palate: big, creamy, medicinal and smoky with loads more chewy malt; some lavender perfume, big honey tones and soft leather; more Caramilk, dark fruits and spices develop with patience; oily and minty with more orange and melon;

Finish: big, coating, oily and fruity with creamy vanilla and medicinal peat smokes;

Comment: like many of its sister expressions this Kilchoman is both bold but elegant, brash but layered and it doesn't disappoint!

Stay tuned tomorrow, for KWM Whisky Calendar Day 3!
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New beers â€“ November 30th, 2016

Posted on December 2, 2016

Hey everyone!

It's time again for my product update!

Christmas is definitely fast approaching, and though I don't love all the festive repetitive music, I do love the dark and wintery and -sometimes- spicy beers. A lot of these are already on the shelf, and there are more coming in by the week! Thus far we have beers from Anchor and De Ranke in stock, along with gift packs featuring Tripel KarmelietÂ Rochefort 8, and Lindemans.

Also, as of right now, there are still a few more Advent calendars (both beer and whisky) available, and there is really no harm in starting late and playing catch-up, so make sure to come grab one so you can get started!

While you're in, you may as well take a look at the new beers arriving this week. Such as these guys.

Hoyne Brewing Co. is the latest in a long string of BC brewers to surge into the province since late last year. While being well known and loved throughout their home province, they are here to push through those that are well known to us, and hopefully become a favourite to many! Here's the selection thus far.

Dark Matter: Dark Matter rides the line between brown ale and porter. With a decently roasted character, filled with chocolate and nutty notes, but a body that just a little light for a true porter. Either way, it's comforting as heck. ($9.69 for a 650mL bottle)

Voltage Espresso Stout: This is a roasty stout that isn't too cloyingly heavy. Lighter body for a stout, with nice, but delicate coffee notes atop a generous roasted barley character. ($8.59 for a 650mL bottle)

Hoyner Pilsner: Light with a golden hue, and a cereal and grainy palate. Grassy, floral and lightly spicy hops. This is a wonderful example of a German style pilsner. ($7.59 for a 650mL bottle)

Devil's Dream IPA: A medium amberish IPA with light citrus and big sappy pine notes. Lighter body on the palate with a pretty pronounced bitterness. ($7.59 for a 650mL bottle)

Aside from all the Hoyne, I also received:

Halfway to Whangarei Grisette by 8-Wired/Modern Times: This is the first Modern times brew we've ever seen in the province, and maybe the third grisette? It's a collaboration between New Zealand's 8-wired and USA's Modern Times. A light, low alcohol, saison-like style that was meant for the working class. This one is dry and fruity, with mild brett character and a kiss of New Zealand hops. Don't miss this one!($14.60 for a 500mL bottle)

Gose by Collective Arts brewing: A simple take on a classic style! Light, bready and crackery malt. Soft wheat notes with a good, refreshing tartness. Mildly spicy with a hint of salinity on the finish. ($3.49 for a 473mL can)

Horizon Tokyo Black by Nogne 0 (and Brewdog and Mikkeller): A three-way collaboration? Yes please. These three brewers took some of the best parts of their bigge...

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