The Revival of Glenglassaugh!!

Highlands Region – 46%ABV – US price forthcoming but you can pre-order it at Singlemaltsdirect.com for just shy of £36

“Revival” is fitting name for Glenglassaugh’s initial offering of whisky from the newly re-opened distillery.  Many of the details of the make up of this whisky could not be shared.  I do know, however, that there is a mixture of 1st and 2nd fill casks that were then married up in 1st fill sherry butts for 6 months (which adds to the beautiful color that you see to the right and to the flavor of course).  Bottled at 46% ABV, this is a non-chill filtered whisky with zero caramel coloring added.

After many different spirit offerings from Glenglassaugh (on top of Glenglassaugh’s older whisky offerings), Glenglassaugh – under it’s new management – has finally released a 3yo whisky.

Congrats to Stuart, Ronnie and the rest of the team at GlenG!!

Thanks, too, to Ronnie R for both the preview and official samples!!

I’m not sure why but when I hear about a distillery re-opening I imagine those reopening to talk much like this (I know if I were them, I would!):

Glenglassaugh Revival Preview Sample:

On the nose –  Fruity pear jam spread over well buttered crumpets.

Salty brine-like quality.

Baked pears.  The youth of this almost-whisky is apparent but so is the cask influence.

There’s a Rose-ness to this – a semi-dry Rose on a summer day.

There’s a vanilla/creme brulle essence that most certainly came from some bourbon barrels.

On the mouth – Like fresh pear flesh however, this is quite peppery as well.

Warmed butter and unripened stone fruits.

A touch drying along the sides of the tongue.

Finish – Peppery and a bit winey (again, that Rose-like flavor).

Much longer than you’d think given its age.

Glenglassaugh Revival Retail Sample:

On the nose –  Very similar to the pre-release but with less of a salty element to it and more of a fruit element.

More of the Rose-ness here.  However, something I didn’t get on the pre-release are notes of cracked black pepper and some stone fruits like apricot and white flesh peach.

On the mouth – More “present” than the pre-release.  Full of pears and dried apricot.

Peppery and effervescent but also, and this can not be overlooked, VERY sweet with an underlying salty quality and a touch of brown spices that offer up what I find to be a very balanced little dram!

The beauty of the Glenglassaugh spirit and choice of casks really seem to compliment each other.

Finish – Drying and full of dried fruits and fresh, unripened ones.  A lasting peppery finish.

In sum – I’m am very impressed with both of the preview spirit sample and the full-fledged WHISKY sample.  I plan on keeping a bottle of this on the shelf.  It’s a no-brainer whisky that is both challenging (there is a lot to tease out of here) but also, just a nice-nice summer dram.  Kudos to Mr. Stuart Nickerson.  Well done, good sir!

In case you’ve not seen it, I had the good opportunity to interview Stuart Nickerson of Glenglassaugh a while back.  Here’s part one, here’s part two – I greatly enjoyed this interview and I hope you do, too!

A new one for the US market – A peated Bunnahabhain by the moniker of “Toiteach”

Islay region – 46% ABV – $75-$80 |  £50

Today, along with the next few days as I catch up with my whisky reviews, I’m going to have to keep some of the preamble short and try to get right to the whisky review.

A few weeks back I got an email from Jeff K with Burns Stewart asking if I’d be interested in reviewing a new Bunnahabhain to the US market – a peated ex-bourbon Bunny.  Quite a stretch from their more standard, sherried, lightly (if at all) peated whisky.

My response to Jeff?  “Yes,” and “Thank you!”

So Jeff, thanks for the official sample!

This whisky is set to be launched in the US on April 1st (or there abouts).  No, this is not an April Fools Joke.

One more thing before I get to the review – I have to say kudos to Bunnahabhain, once again, for releasing their whiskies now at 46%+ ABV and non-chill filtered!  I hope other major distilleries follow you (yes, I’m looking at you GlenWhisky!!)

On the nose –  Wow, not what you’d expect from a Bunnahabhain – Pungent, briny, high tide, seaweed.

Good bits of toffee and floating about is a touch of lavender.

Sand buckets filled with wet sand from your trip to the beach with the kids last week.

Cigarette tray from a ’70’s Chevy Nova (with hints of Naugahyde in the background).

On the mouth – Welcome to the industrial age.  Jackhammer smoke and contraction sites.

Fantastic mouthfeel, quite oily.

Bursts of Dragonfruit slide down the back of the tongue.  Pears and apples quite browned but minus and and all brown spices – just the baked fruit.

Strip all I said away, bring it down to brass tacks and this is a solid, solid peat monster – and a bit peppery one at that!

Finish – Sweet and smoky with a fair amount of laminated cardboard candy boxes.  Medium length to the finish.

In sum – This 14yo whisky is one kick ass peat monster.  To be used as a really enjoyable way to warm the bones.  Good one, you little Bunnies!  Very nice to see that Islay’s more gentle whisky can hang with the other Islay peat monsters with head held high!

The 2012 Drammy Awards are upon us!!

By way of Doug Stone from forwhiskeylovers.com– the 2012 Drammies:

(Feel free, but not obligated, to nominate this blog (jewishsinglemaltwhiskysociety.com) as the top whisky related website — category # 8 — Cheers!!)

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The 2012 Drammie Awards

Announcing the

2012 Drammie Awards 
Call for Nominations

It’s with great excitement that ForWhiskeyLovers announces the Call For Nominations for the 2012 Drammie Awards.

The mission of the Drammie Awards is to put the power of “recognition” in the hands of the whiskey consumer.

The 2012 competition commences with a nominating process where WhiskeyLovers can submit their own nomination(s) for any number of 15 total award categories.

The fifteen nominating categories are:

1.    Best Whiskey Packaging
2.    Best Whiskey Marketing Campaign
3.    Worst Whiskey Marketing Campaign
4.    Best Whiskey Distillery Tour
5.    Whiskey Innovator of the Year/ Innovative New Whiskey
6.    Best Whiskey Information Source (Blog, Podcast, Magazine/ other)
7.    Best Whiskey Bar
8.    Best New Whiskey Related Product (book, resource, web site, etc)
9.    Whiskey Blender of the Year
10.  Independent Whiskey Bottler of the Year
11.  Whiskey  Distillery of the Year
12.  Most Underrated Whiskey
13.  Best Whiskey Value/ Bang for the Buck
14.  Best New Whiskey of 2012
15.  Best Whiskey of 2012

Nominations will be accepted for three weeks, or until midnight on Friday, March 30th 2012.  You can enter your nominations here.

After nominations are closed, ForWhiskeyLovers will post the top five (5) nominations (those receiving the  most nominating votes) for each category on ForWhiskeyLovers.com, and voting will commence to select the category winners.  Voting will be conducted for another two weeks, until Friday April 13th 2012.

The 2012 Drammie Award Winners will be announced on Monday April 16th.

Managing Director of Impex Beverages, Ed Kohl, to join The Keepers of the Quaich Society

A rarity here at the JSMWS blog — a press release.  I thought this one was well worth posting as Ed Kohl is one of THE names in Scotch whisky.

Congrats, Ed – a well deserved honor, my friend!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Ed Kohl invited to join The Keepers of the Quaich Society

Ed Kohl, Managing Director of ImpEx Beverages, Inc. has been invited to enter the esteemed Keepers of the Quaich Society. The induction ceremony will take place on April 23, 2012, during the next Keeper’s banquet at Blair Castle of Atholl Estates in the Highland region of Scotland. The Keepers of the Quaich is a Scotch Whisky society with membership by invitation only, founded to acknowledge those who have contributed to the Scotch Whisky industry. This prestigious honor was given to Ed Kohl in recognition of 17+ years of contributions to the industry. Kohl was chosen specifically for his ability to blend the old with the new. He has enhanced scotch awareness with his non-stop national tasting seminars, sharing his palate with connoisseurs and recently discovered scotch lovers. He uses modern social media venues such as Facebook and Twitter to keep regular fans posted on announcements and upcoming events. His use of social media venues also serves to attract a different demographic from the “traditional” scotch lovers and cultivates passion for whisky in a variety of age groups.

A leading whisky expert and spirit specialist, Kohl conducts more than 100 educational seminar tastings every year. He travels the United States promoting the ImpEx portfolio of products while maintaining close relationships with manufacturers, distributors, retailers and consumers.  He is passionate about single malt Scotch whisky and has a niche focus in understanding the needs of independent bottlers and how to successfully bring new products to market.  ImpEx Beverages, Inc. is the exclusive USA importer of a variety of products including the Ian MacLeod brands: Chieftain’s, Isle of Skye, and SMOKEHEAD. Prior to founding ImpEx Beverages, Inc., Ed spent 15 years as North American Marketing Manager for Signatory Vintage Scotch Whisky Co.

It’s that time of the month again!! The Whisky Round Table reconvenes!

This time around, the question is posed by the fine chaps at Edinburgh Whisky Blog.  Before I get to their question though, I wanted to let you know that there is a bit of a line up change at the Whisky Round Table.

Some of our valiant knights fell to the sword (in other words, had to drop out for various reasons) and some new knights have been selected to join.

The newly added knights are:

Steffen Bräuner @ Danish Whisky Blog

James Saxon @ Scotch Odyssey Blog

Chris @ Whisky Wall

Marc Pendlebury @ Whisky Brother SA

Welcome Knights!!

And sadly, we say goodbye to Keith from Whisky Emporium, Ruben from Whiskynotes.be & Joel and Neil from Caskstrength.net.  Guys. it’s been great having you as part of the discussions – I hope you’ll chime in from time to time in blog comments…

Without further ado, here is EWB’s question:

In recent years we’ve seen a good few releases of not-quite-whisky-yet or spirit-that-dares-to-command-a-price. Whether kissed by Quercus Robur tannins for 4 months or just plain clearac, do you think this is something new distilleries or ones with severely depleted stocks should be doing?

Here is the link to our answers – enjoy!!