Japan Whisky Experiance - Story & Taste

I was lucky enough to to be able to attend this talk and tasting hosted by Dr Koichi Inatomi , a senior advisor for Suntory.

We covered the history of Suntory from building Yamazki Distillery in 1923 -it's first manager Masataka Taketsura was an apprentice at Hazelburn in Campbeltown- to a tasting of some of the modern expressions.

The presentation was very informative but still with a relaxed atmosphere that helped us all get a real feel for Japanese whisky.

What we tasted.....

Yamazaki-12 year-old, 43%abv: A light, soft malt that has a very Speyside freshness to it. It is drenched in tropical fruits and pineapples.

Hakushu-12 year-old, 43%abv: Still very fruity but more pronuced than the first whisky, this time the main fruits were more plums and raisons. On the palate more of the same fruit but with a very smokey edge - lovely.

Yamazaki-18 year-old, 43%abv: Not as quick to jump out the glass but a wonderfull well integrated malt. Lovely richness of raisins, cherries, coffee and chocolate. A sweet styled malt but worht it.

Hakushu Peated, 48%abv: Peated up to 25 p.p.m. for that Islay-styled whisky. I thought it was like a more fruit driven version of Laphroaig but with red currants and a dash of lime.


A huge thank you goes out to University of Glasgow's School of Education for putting this event on - Many Thanks.

We've have been busy.....

Hi folks...sorry its been so long since our last post - expect more to start popping up over the next few days.

So what have we been doing since the last time we blogged, more tastings, more sales and, even better, more stock.

Over the past few weeks we have increased the range that we carry in the shop by a factor of 10.

Pete was beside himself with excitment when the new German and Austrian wines came in - Siegal Reisling 2009, Louis Dry Reisling 2009, Dr Loosen Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett 2009, Karl H Johner Pinot Blanc/Chardonnay 2007 and the Pinot Noir 2007 from German and Little J Gruner Veltliner 2009 and Zweigelt 2007 from Austria. Expect a full report from Pete soon.

My excitment came in the form of the increase of the whiskies that we now stock. Our plan was to concentrate on the West Coast independants and increase the range when we can. In the past couple of weeks we added Arran-10 year-old, 14 year-old, the Amarone Cask and a small order of Machrie Moor. From Bruichladdich we concentrated on the First Growth range and brought in the Lafite, Margaux and Haut Brion ACE'd casks and from Springbank we were able to increase our range and get in the Hazelburn-8 year-old Sauternes Wood.

We were also able to get some old and new vintages of some of our top wines...

New vintages of Meerlust Red, Rodney Strong Charlotte's Home Sauvignon, Rusden Boundaries Cabernet and also the new La Nina Verdelho from Argentina.

Old friends that we have managed to rescue from the back of our warehouse include a large selection of Rhone wines including PJA Condrieu Les Cassines 2006, PJA Cote Rotie Les Jumelles 1998 and 1999, PJA Chateauneuf Du Pape Les Cedres 2006 and the excellent PJA Hermitage Le Taurobole 2001.

Next time your passing just stop in and we can show you everything else.

Andy

Dalmore: The King in his Castle

A very generous friend dropped off a wee sample of the new Dalmore Castle Leod for us to try and asked us for our thoughts..............

Andy: I've always been a large fan of Dalmore (even popped into to the Distillery on my honeymoon - thanks Gillian). The 12 year-old is a dark chocolate fruit filled delight and affordable enough to find its way into my drinks cupboard every now and again. I'm also very lucky to right now have a 20 year-old cask strength and a 21 year-old bottled for the American market - a report on them to follow.

Now Castle Leod.....its definitely a Dalmore! The nose is attractive, clean full powered with raspberries and fresh strawberries mixing with chocolate orange. On the palate its got a touch of spice and more dark chocolate with a red berry juice undercurrent. All in all it's another fantastic malt from up north.


Pete: Has yet to try his sample but we'll keep you updated.

Italy "That's Amore!"

We had long promised to put on an Italian Tasting and last Thursday I have to say that we knocked the ball out of the court, and the wines were great too.

We tried to cover as much of Italy as possible but you have to remember that the 1000 plus wines from Italy stretch from the Alps in the North to 'almost within sight' of Africa in the south.

To start we jumped into one of Itlay's most known wines Montepulciano d'Abruzzo BUT this one was a rose! It was a great introduction as all the soft, dark red berry fruits were there but in a much lighter style of the wine. The whites were typical Italian with fantastic aromatics and rounded white fruit bodies - the stand out for me was Soave Singat Adalia.

As great as the whites were the reds were outstanding. The Italian big boys of Barolo and Chanti were textbook examples of what the grapes can do. The Barolo could use a year or two on its side but if you like your wine as chunky as it is ethereal then the Patrizi is the one for you.

To finish we had Corte Sant' Alda Recioto - a wine so good I tried to run off with both bottles before we had tasted them. Recioto just means that the wine is from semi dried grapes and that the frementation was stopped early to give you a full bodied wine but still very sweet. If you've never tried a sweet red wine it can be a litte bit of a shock but it is a once in a lifetime wine, the red berry fruit is layered with bitter cherry and sweet raspberries.

From the crowd I could tell that they all had a great time and we'll be seeing a lot of you at future nights.

What we tasted in full

Gran Sasso Montepulciano d'Abruzzo Rose
Ponte Pietra Trebbiano-Garganega
Soave Singat Adalia
Fiano Di Avellino Mastrobardino
Lacrimarosa Mastroberadino
Ponte Pietra Merlot-Corvina
Valpolicella Allegrini
Barolo Patrizi
Chanti Classico Berardo Riserva Castello di Bossi
Recioto della Valpolicella Corte Sant' Alda

Keep watching this space as next up is the German and Austrian Night.

Old Firm Wine Part Two

As promised, here's a wine to balance our Vin de Pays de Gers from yesterday. It may not have Celtic in the title, or indeed a green and white striped label, but the Montepulciano Paradiso is a nod to Celtic park nicknamed Paradise by Celtic fans.

The wine is soft, juicy and fruity and is literally made to go with lasagne, or anything in a tomato based sauce. Ideal also, for sitting in front of the telly watching the match on Sunday. Enjoy :)

A Wine For Sundays Old Firm match(Part 1)

Okay its a big jump but we have just got in this Petite Gasconne(As in Paul) which is a Vin De Pays Du GERS!



The blend of grapes is very high in Colombard but includes a great a number of the regions other white grapes, and is a great example of what the region can do - it's South West France, under the Armagnac region.

The wine is a wee beauty at only 11.5% abv. On the nose it's quite full bodied but very refreshing, citrus and stone fruits mix together for ultimate enjoyment.

On the palate it's light, zesty, slightly fizzy, off-dry and just crying out for a warm summers day*


We got just over two cases in so jump at it before it's gone.


Don't worry we'll find a Celtic linked wine tomorrow.


*Warm summers day not included.

Whisky and Ginger

Sorry we've away for so long but with over 20 tastings in this month alone we're fighting through the back log......

Anyway the lovely folk at Fever Tree offered us a few samples of Ginger Ale and Ginger Beer for us to try with our own Blended whisky SO

Inverarity Blend with Ginger Ale: The ginger is quite strong with out dominating. It added a pleasant spicy kick that grows on you with every sip.

Inverarity Blend with Ginger Beer: A bit too strong for us and the cloudy haze dose not make for an attractive drink.

And just to add an Islay twist we had a little bit of Laphraoig Quarter Cask left so lets see what happens....

Laphroaig Quarter Cask with Ginger Ale: Beautifully balanced between smoky, ginger and a sweentness that came from nowhere and swept us away. Huge thumbs up from all three of us!

Laphroaig Quarter Cask and Ginger beer: Guess what we love the Laphroaig and Ginger Ale so much we're just going to have another one!

A great wee tasting for a Wednesday afternoon and a big thank you to the guys and girls from Fever Tree - they also do one of the best tonics on the market.