Whisky & Cognac Tasting
Christmas Whisky and Cognac Tasting will be held at the shop on Saturday the 28th November between 2 and 5pm and will be hosted by our spirits connoisseur, Scott Paine.
An ideal occasion to taste a range of whiskies from around the world and the perfect time to stock up for Christmas. The range brings to the connoisseur an opportunity to taste malts which are not frequently found in the general marketplace.
Casks of malts at different ages are selected from some of Scotland’s finest, but rarely bottled distilleries. They encompass all the varied tastes and flavours to be found from the Eastern coastline, to the Highland Valleys and all the way to the Western Isles.
Also a range of whiskies from the US, Japan and Sweden.
Mackmyra is the result of this dream and is the first Swedish malt whisky with a unique identity. The distillery in Mackmyra Bruk is not large, but they put a great deal of care into the production, maintaining traceability right down to the individual field of barley. Mackmyra ages in small, handmade casks made of Swedish oak. The selected casks are allowed to mature naturally in the quiet recesses of the cool underground warehouse. Founded shortly after the repeal of Prohibition in 1933, Heaven Hill became the largest independent, family-owned producer and marketer of distilled spirits in the United States. Heaven Hill‘s success is due to a mix of good business acumen, continuity, heritage and uncompromising craftsmanship. The company is still owned by descendants of the founding Shapira brothers and five generations of the famous Beam family have overseen the distillation. Located in Bardstown, Kentucky, Heaven Hill is the world’s second largest holder of bourbon whiskey with over 675,000 charred white oak barrels ageing in 42 open-rick warehouses.
Double-distillation takes place at the modern Bernheim facility where Craig and Parker Beam produce rye and wheat influenced bourbons as well as straight rye, corn and wheat whiskies, using their own family yeast strain—now in its fifth generation!
Onto Cognacs the Trijol history is one of measured achievement. The family originally settled as growers and distillers in St Martial Sur Né, in the heart of the Cognac region. Their first still was installed in November 1859, and since then they have built on their expertise as growers and distillers, becoming professional distillers in 1962. An independent family firm, Maxime Trijol has twenty 2,500 litre charentais pot stills and is now one of the largest distillers of cognac. The current head of the company, Jean-Jacques Trijol, is an artist, wielding his skilful palate through the process of distillation and blending, adapting— sometimes minutely—the spirit he collects from each still and varying his technique slightly depending on the harvest and the wine. In recent times the company has concentrated on releasing more of its own cognacs, which have been building a great reputation for quality.
Enjoy your afternoon!