Talisker

Talisker 10 Year Old Scotch Whisky  

Talisker is one of Scotland's remotest distilleries which produces a dram with trademark smoothness. Their 10 year old has a powerful peat and sea-salt nose; smoky sweetness with malt flavours and developing warmth with a huge, peppery finish. One of the six classic malts of Scotland, this Whisky is best enjoyed neat or with a slight dash of water. 

Talisker Skye Single Malt Scotch Whisky

Talisker "Skye" is a new addition to the range as of 2015, named after the beautiful island on which the distillery resides. It follows in the footsteps of an increasing number of distilleries now offering NAS (No Age Statement) bottlings. Matured in a combination of refill and toasted American oak, with a slightly higher proportion of the latter, by all reports, this is a toned down and highly accessible Talisker with a slightly sweet edge. 45.8%

Laphroaig

Laphroaig distillery

Laphroaig distillery is an Islay single malt Scotch whisky distillery. It is named for the area of land at the head of Loch Laphroaig on the south coast of the Isle of Islay. The name may be related to a placename on the east coast of Islay, "Pròaig", again suggested as meaning "broad bay". The distillery and brand are owned and operated by Beam Suntory, the American subsidiary of Japan'sSuntory Holdings.[3]

History

The Laphroaig distillery was established in 1815 by Donald and Alexander Johnston.The Johnstons who founded Laphroaig were from the Clan Donald and are likely to be from the MacIain of Ardnamurchan branch of the clan. The family anglicized their name to Johnston. The last member of the Johnston family to run the distillery was Ian Hunter, a nephew of Sandy Johnston, who died childless in 1954 and left the distillery to one of his managers, Bessie Williamson.

The distillery was sold to Long John International in the 1960s, and subsequently became part of Allied Domecq. The brand was in turn acquired by Fortune Brands in 2005, as one of the brands divested by Pernod Ricard in order to obtain regulatory approval for its takeover of Allied Domecq. Fortune Brands then split up its business product lines in 2011, forming its spirits business into Beam Inc. Beam was then purchased by Suntory Holdings in April 2014.

Laphroaig has been the only whisky to carry the Royal Warrant of the Prince of Wales, which was awarded in person during a visit to the distillery in 1994. The 15-year-old was reportedly the prince's favourite Scotch whisky.

Glenmorangie

Glenmorangie distillery

Glenmorangie (pronounced with the stress on the second syllable the distillery is owned by The Glenmorangie Company Ltd, whose main product is the range of Glenmorangie single malt whisky. Glenmorangie is categorised as a Highland distillery and boasts the tallest stills in Scotland.

History

Legends tell that alcoholic beverages of one kind or another were produced in and around Tain since the Middle Ages.

According to the Glenmorangie Company, the earliest record of the production of alcohol at Morangie Farm is dated 1703. In the 1730s a brewery was built on the site that shared the farm's water source, the Tarlogie Spring. A former distillery manager, William Matheson, acquired the farm in 1843 and converted the Morangie brewery to a distillery, equipped with two second hand gin stills. He later renamed the distillery Glenmorangie.

The distillery was purchased by its main customer, the Leith firm Macdonald and Muir, in 1918. The Macdonald family would retain control of the company for almost 90 years.

Glenmorangie, like all distilleries and breweries in Britain, suffered terribly between 1920 and 1950, with prohibition and then the Great Depression in the United States reducing whisky sales. The distillery was effectively mothballed between 1931 and 1936. The depression ended with World War II, but the war effort left fuel and barley in short supply and the distillery was again mothballed between 1941 and 1944. Exports of whisky were important during the war, but enemy action disrupted and destroyed deliveries to the United States and Canada.

Towards the end of the war and in the immediate post war period, the distillery increased production and was running at full capacity by 1948. The number of stills was increased from two to four during 1977. Water supply became a concern during the 1980s when development of the land around the Tarlogie Springs seemed likely. Development could have reduced the quality and quantity of water available to the distillery, so the decision was made to purchase around 600 acres (2.4 km2) of land around and including the Tarlogie Springs. The distillery once again engaged in expansion during 1990 when it added a further four stills, and two additional fermentation vessels (or washback’s) were added during 2002. Four new stills were added in 2009, bringing the total to twelve.

The Macdonald family retained ownership of 52% of the company through a complicated London stock exchange listing which saw the family hold the majority of the voting shares in the company. In 2004, the company was sold to the French drinks company Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton for around £300 million.

Production

The stills which stand 26 ft. (7.9 m) high

Glenmorangie's water source is the Tarlogie Springs, situated in the Tarlogie Hills above the distillery. Barley grain is supplied by Highland Grain Ltd, a co-operative of farmers in the area. The stills used, the tallest in Scotland at 26 ft. 3 in (8.00 m) tall, with 16 feet 10.25 inches (5.1372 m) necks, are claimed by the company to produce an extremely light taste. The distillation process was for decades undertaken by a staff of 16, known as The Sixteen Men of Tain, who worked year round, with the exceptions of Christmas and periods of maintenance. Expansion of production since 2008 has led to a larger staff of 24, who are now referred to on bottles in and promotional leaflets just as The Men of Tain.

Glenmorangie uses a number of different cask types, with all products being matured in white oak casks which are manufactured from trees growing in Glenmorangie's own forest in the Ozark Mountains of Missouri, United States. These new casks are left to air for two years before being leased to distillers Jack Daniel's and Heaven Hill for them to maturebourbon in for four years. Glenmorangie then uses the barrels to mature their spirit. The Original range will mature entirely in ex-bourbon casks, while the Extra Matured range of bottlings are transferred into casks that were previously used to mature other products such as wine, port or sherry in a process called finishing. These form part of the regular range of products Glenmorangie produces. Glenmorangie also obtains small batches of other casks for finishing and release limited edition bottlings from these. Following acquisition by LVMH, Glenmorangie produced a rare limited edition aged in casks previously used to mature Château Margaux; these bottlings are now (2011) extremely hard to find and are priced accordingly.

The warehouses in which the casks are stored are also believed to affect the taste of the whisky. Glenmorangie have released a special edition bottling, titled Cellar 13 which is from the warehouse closest to the sea, as the whisky is believed to have a distinctive flavor.

Bottling of the Glenmorangie and Ardbeg brands takes place at The Glenmorangie Company's purpose built bottling plant in The Alba Campus at Livingston, West Lothian, just outside Edinburgh, Scotland.Glenmorangie previously bottled Drambuie in a joint venture with the Drambuie Company; this arrangement ended in 2010

Overeem

Old Hobart Distillery is a boutique distillery located in Blackmans Bay Tasmania producing premium hand-crafted Single Malt Whisky. 

‘Overeem Single Malt Whisky’ is made from the finest ingredients Tasmania has to offer with barley to rival the finest in the world and water recognised as the cleanest. Old Hobart Distillery began as a family-owned business, with operations headed by Casey Overeem. Casey’s interest in the industry started back in the early 1980s when he had his first experience of distilling at a relative’s house in Norway. “Many people had micro-distilleries in their cellars and I really admired them, so I started experimenting when I got home” said Casey.

After much research, realisation dawned that Tasmania offers the perfect climate and ingredients for the production of single malt whisky. Following years of research and experimentation, Old Hobart Distillery secured a distiller’s licence in 2005.

A trip to Scotland, the spiritual home of all whiskies shortly followed with visits to around 15 distilleries to gain a better knowledge of the whole distillation process. Casey is thankful that everyone was open to offering advice and sharing information!

Old Hobart Distillery mature the majority of their whisky in ex-Port and ex-Sherry French Oak and ex-Bourbon American Oak barrels. These hand-selected barrels have been cut down to 100 litre (quarter cask) capacity. These quarter cask barrels produce an intense whisky of incredible character and flavour profile. Overeem

Lagavulin

Lagavulin Distillery

Lagavulin is one of the three Kildalton Distilleries in the south of Islay and sits comfortably in between Ardbeg and Laphroaig at the "Hollow by the Mill", translated from the Gaelic lag a'mhuilin. Lagavulin is pronounced asLa-ga-voolin

Lagavulin Distillery officially dates from 1816, though records show illicit distillation on the site as far back as 1742. Originally there were two distilleries operating on this site, the first established in 1816 believed to be named "Kildalton", and the second in 1817 named Lagavulin. There were also other small distilleries on the same site, Malt Mill Distillery and Ardmore Distillery.

By 1837 there was only the one distillery, "Lagavulin" occupied by Donald Johnston. The still house was rebuilt in 1962 and incorporated the stills of the Malt Mill Distillery and in 1996 a new mashtun was installed, and automated controls put in place. The visitor centre dates back to 1998 and was established in the buildings that once were the maltings and kiln of Malt Mill Distillery.

Lagavulin Single Malt Whisky is characterized by its strong peat flavour and iodine overtones. The iodine flavour tends to divide tasters into love it or hate it groups with no middle ground, and it may not be suitable for new Scotch drinkers. The standard Lagavulin single malt is 16 years old, though they have also released a 12 year old cask strength variety, as well as their Distiller's edition, finished in Pedro-Ximenez casks. Phenol levels running at 40 p.p.m.

Lagavulin is produced by White Horse Distillers which is owned by United Distillers & Vinters which in turn is owned by Diageo plc. Lagavulin was chosen to represent Islay Single Malts in UDV's Classic Malts of Scotland.

Kilchoman

Kilchoman Distillery

Kilchoman distillery is the latest of the famous Islay distilleries and is a so called farm distillery or micro distillery. Kilchoman is pronounced as kil-ho-man. Kilchoman distillery is located on the west side of Islay, close to the Atlantic Ocean and Loch Gorm. The distillery, which began production in June 2005, was the first to be built on the island of Islay in 124 years. Kilchoman's whisky is completely produced on site, from the own grown barley, the maltings, the distilling to the bottling in their own bottling hall.

In September 2009 the first single malt was released as a 3 year old. It's a rather peaty dram, much like the other whiskies from Kilchoman, and taste surprisingly well for a young whisky. In june 2011 the first single malt released from barley grown, malted, distilled, matured and bottled at the distillery called "100% Islay". February 2012 saw the release of "Machir Bay", the entry level whisky of Kilchoman. Later in April saw the 5 year old Shery Cask matured release.

Hakushu

From Suntory’s mountain forest distillery,
nestled deep in Mt. Kaikomagatake,
Hakushu is the fresh
and gently smoky single malt whisky with herbal notes
that is the revelation of Japanese single malts.

Straight from the untouched forests, mountains and pure waters of the Southern Japanese Alps, it is no wonder that Hakushu is a “green and fresh” whisky, praised by the most curious whisky connoisseurs and lovers of gastronomy.Its crisp and vibrant feel, unique in a single malt, enlivens and liberates your senses.

Yamazaki

Yamazaki's story
The story of Yamazaki is essentially the story of the whisky industry in Japan. Yamazaki is the country’s oldest and first whisky distillery. The idea of the industry’s pioneer and legendary father of Japanese whisky, Shinjiro Torri, was to found a distillery and corner the potential market for whisky sales in Japan in 1923. It is located in the rural village of Yamazaki, which lies between the cities of Osaka and Kyoto. The current distillery has a capacity of seven million litres per year, making it one of the largest whisky distilleries in the world and beating most in Scotland. It also has the busiest visitor centre of all Japanese distilleries and this includes a bar that contains over 120 different Yamazaki whiskies of differing ages and cask types.

The raw materials for their whisky production are sourced from all around the world. Barley is grown on a small scale in the local area but most is imported from the UK, Europe, North America or Australia. Peat used to be imported from Scotland but Yamazaki stopped malting their own barley in 1971, so now barley is imported already lightly peated, when needed. Casks are imported from the American bourbon industry and the Spanish sherry industry, although Yamazaki regularly part mature their whisky in Japanese oak casks called mizunara. The experimentation with mizunara casks began after the Second World War, when there was a shortage of sherry casks. They discovered that the wood contained more natural oils and these were then imparted in to the whisky giving unique oriental flavours and characteristics. However, mizunara is very porous and as a result more whisky is lost through evaporation or leakage. Therefore, whisky is now only part matured in mizunara to minimise any losses and is seen as an integral part of the maturation process for Yamazaki malts and Hibiki blends, which are also produced by Suntory.

Yamazaki's history
When Shinjiro Torri announced that he was to open a whisky distillery in the 1920s, most people in Japan thought that he was mad. He was already imported European wines, primarily Spanish, into Japan and owned a company that produced plum based dessert wines and liqueurs. Torri sent one of his workers, Masetaka Taketsuru, to Scotland to learn about the production of whisky, the traditional methods and to generally immerse himself in the whisky trade. What the Scots thought of Taketsuru turning up just after the end of the First World War, can only be imagined!  Taketsuru spent nearly three years working at various distilleries around Scotland and married a Scottish woman during that time. He then reported back to Torri and plans were started to build the first Japanese whisky distillery.

Both men went around Japan to research the location, with Taketsuru selecting a site on the northern island of Hokkaido and Torri choosing the site at Yamazaki. The final decision was the Yamazaki site, as Torri considered three main factors – the exceptionally high quality of the local spring water, the unique climate and humidity created by the convergence of three rivers in the area and the fact that it lay close to the best transport link in Japan at the time, between Osaka and Kyoto. The decision cost Torri the services of Taketsuru, who after opening and working at Yamazaki for a number of years went to start his own distillery. This became Yoichi and was located at Taketsuru’s original choice of site on Hokkaido, as he felt this had the most Scottish-like conditions.

The Kotobukiya Company, that was owned by Shinjiro Torri, funded the building of Yamazaki and production started in 1924, with Masetaka Taketsuru as distillery manager. Kotobukiya changed its name to Suntory in 1929, with the new name being derived from Torri-san, the Japanese title of Shinjiro Torri. The first whisky, a blend of their single malt and grain whiskies, was released in 1932. Interestingly, this blend also included some imported single malt from Scotland. Shortly afterwards, Taketsuru left to start Yoichi, which started production in 1934. The first pure single malt (Yamazaki 12 years old) was not released until 1984 and was followed by the 18 years old in 1994.

Caol lla

Caol Ila Distillery

Caol Ila (Gaelic for Sound of Islay) which is pronounced as col eela. The name relates directly to its location, directly on the shore of the Sound of Islay less than a mile north from Port Askaig. Caol Ila Distillery was founded in 1846 by Hector Henderson. The distillery did not fare well, and changed hands in 1854 when Norman Buchanan, owner of the Isle of Jura Distillery, took over.

In 1863 the business was acquired by Bulloch Lade & Co, of Glasgow, traders in whisky stocks. By the 1880s over 147,000 gallons of whisky were produced there each year. In 1920 Bulloch Lade went into voluntary liquidation, and a consortium of businessmen formed the Caol Ila Distillery Company Ltd. In 1927 the Distillers Company Limited acquired a controlling interest in Caol Ila, and in 1930 Scottish Malt Distillers Ltd obtained ownership of all the shares. The company eventually became part of Diageo.

The distillery closed during World War II, from 1941 - 1945, because of wartime restrictions on the supply of barley to distillers. From then, production continued until 1972, when the entire structure of the distillery was demolished. A larger distillery was built in the same original architectural style, and production resumed in 1974. Today Caol Ila is the distillery with the largest production on the island. What Kilchoman produces in a year takes Caol Ila distillery only one week. The distillery is often referred to as a whisky factory and the peaty liquid is often used, for almost 90%, in blend whiskies such as Chivas Regal and others.