In New South Wales, sitting to northern side of the Murray River just over the boarder with Victoria, is Corowa Whisky & Chocolate. About eight and a half years ago Corowa decided it wanted to make whisky, but it was not until the day before Father’s day 2018 that it launched two single malts: First Drop and Bosque Verde. Continue reading “Introducing two new Australian single malts by the Corowa Distilling Co: First Drop and Bosque Verde”
Eddie Russell nostalgically recalls his first taste of bourbon straight from the barrel at the Wild Turkey distillery in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky. It was a few decades ago, and he jokes that the sensation of the bourbon shooting through his veins made him realise that he should never leave the place.
He never did.
In 1981 Eddie started working at the distillery, and in 2015 he became its Master Distiller thus following in his Dad Jimmy Russell’s footsteps (Jimmy has been making Wild Turkey whiskey for over 60 years!). About 35 years after Eddie started work at Wild Turkey, he would enter into an unlikely collaboration with Matthew McConaughey to create a new expression of Wild Turkey: Longbranch. Continue reading “Wild Turkey Longbranch: alright alright alright!”
Whilst each spirit category has an interesting history, the history of gin is probably the darkest and most morbid. Gin, with its core ingredients being juniper and alcohol, can trace its roots back to the Dutch drink genever. The story goes that English soldiers stationed in continental Europe during the 80 Years War liked the juniper flavoured Dutch alcoholic elixir so much that they brought it back to England and they anglicised its name to “gin”. In the late 1600’s William III imposed tariffs and reduced taxes on local spirit production, resulting in a strange situation where pints of gin were cheaper than pints of ale and beer. And so started one of the craziest booze fueled stages in history, aptly called the “gin craze”. Continue reading “Edinburgh Gin Distillery”
On Tuesday 12 June 2018 I woke up to a delicious Scottish breakfast of haggis, black pudding, eggs, mushrooms and bacon; much needed sustinance to fuel my final day in Speyside. With the packing done, we said our farewells to the friendly proprietor of our fabulous B&B, the Cardhu Country House, and drove our Mini Cooper up the road to Rothes for a private tour of the Glen Grant distillery with Dennis Malcolm.
Continue reading “Private tour of the Glen Grant distillery with Dennis Malcolm”
After travelling past Loch Lomond, Ben Nevis, Glencoe and Loch Ness, with a short pit stop in the seaside village of Lossiemouth, I thought I had seen the best of mainland Scotland. That was until my visit to a few beautiful distilleries, namely Strathisla, Glen Grant and Glenfiddich.
Continue reading “Private tour of Glenfiddich distillery and tasting at The Balvenie distillery”
On the afternoon of Sunday 10 June 2018 I arrived at The Glenlivet distillery having indulged in an extravagant tasting of cask strength whisky at the Strathisla distillery that morning. The skies were grey and a mild chill started to make it ways through Scotland after over a week of clear blue skies, warm afternoons and sunshine. Thankfully, I was in Speyside so there was no shortage of whisky to warm me up.
With a belly full of Scottish breakfast, I was physically and mentally prepared for a full day of sampling cask strength whisky straight from casks at a couple of Scottish distilleries.
The first stop of my cask strength extravaganza was the picturesque Strathisla distillery, the home of the blended whisky Chivas Regal.
Continue reading “Strathisla Distillery Tour: Chivas Cellar Tasting”
Scotland is not known for its good weather, but our first few days in Scotland have been very warm with clear blue skies and plenty of sunshine.
On 6 June 2018, a day after arriving in Glasgow from Australia, I woke up early at 4.00am with a sense of excitement like a little kid on Christmas Day. I was super excited about my upcoming tour that day of the Glengoyne distillery. But this would not just be any old tour. This would be Glengoyne’s Warehouse No . 1 tour.
Continue reading “Glengoyne Distillery VIP Tour: No. 1 Warehouse Tour”
Chivas Regal 18 year old will have a fresh new look. Coinciding with a new global campaign announced by Chivas, bottles of Chivas Regal will have a new label and box design. Continue reading “News flash: Chivas Regal 18 year old’s fresh new look”
Sherry lovers, take heed. The Glengoyne distillery has released batch No. 6 of its Cask Strength series, and it is the first ever in the series to be 100% matured in sherry oak casks. Continue reading “News flash: Glengoyne launches batch No. 6 of its Cask Strength series, the first ever to be 100% matured in sherry oak casks”
Malt Mileage Whisky & Spirit Reviews 