The Season One Finale... we talk to Calum Fraser, the Master Blender for The Famous Grouse and answer your questions as well as picking our whiskies of the week...

We will be back after the summer !

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This week we talk all things Dewar's, Craigellachie, Royal Brackla, hear the passion behind the team doing truly innovative things within their team, discuss the cocktail that Greg keeps posting on social that he has fallen in love with and delve into the news and Whisky of the Week.

Whiskies featured this week:

Dewar's Caribbean Smooth - https://shop.dewars.com/collections/blends/products/dewars-caribbean-smooth-whisky
Dewar's Portugese Smooth - https://shop.dewars.com/collections/blends/products/dewars-portuguese-smooth-whisky
Royal Brackla 12 Year Old - https://shop.dewars.com/collections/royal-brackla/products/royal-brackla-12-year-old
Royal Brackla 18 Year Old - https://shop.dewars.com/collections/royal-brackla/products/royal-brackla-18-year-old
Craigellachie 23 Year Old - https://shop.dewars.com/collections/craigellachie/products/craigellachie-23-exceptional-cask-cr0995

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This week we talk all things Father's Day, hear the passion behind the reawakening of the Brora Distillery, get our geek on about cask imparting flavour and delve into the new and Whisky of the Week.

Whiskies featured this week:

Brora Tryptic - https://www.brora-restored.com
Redbreast Dreamcask - https://www.redbreastwhiskey.com/en-EN/
Lakes Distillery Orange Wine Cask - https://www.lakesdistillery.com

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This week we talk all things Tequila... matured in ex-Scotch whisky casks... a Tequila for Scotch drinkers with Storywood founder Michael Ballantyne including a history of the brand and an in depth tasting of the entire range. 

More information on Storywood available here: https://storywoodtequila.com

This week we speak to the awesome Sandy Hyslop, Director of Blenders for Chivas Brothers, about the new Royal Salute 21 Year Old Polo Estancia Edition product and how he goes about creating these wonderful blends he presides over.

We also answer your questions and go through our whisky of the week.

Whiskies featured in this week's show:

Royal Salute 21 Year Old Polo Estancia Edition

Aberlour 20 Year Old Single Cask - https://www.aberlour.com/en/distillery-reserve-collection/

Ardbeg Scorch - https://shop.ardbeg.com/en-gb/ardbeg-scorch-committee-release-p-101461 

In this episode we go into a lot more detail about our DOUBLE GOLD MEDAL win at the San Fran Spirits Competition, and talk about the behind the scenes story of this whisky's creation. 

BENRINNES RARE CASK SINGLE MALT SCOTCH WHISKY
Available here: https://greatdrams.com/product/benrinnes-rare-cask-single-malt-scotch-whisky/ 
A rather meaty whisky this one, with a thick, creamy mouthfeel owing to the wormtubs used in the process decreasing the copper contact with the spirit. This was matured initially in a second fill Oloroso sherry cask for over eight years then finished for nine months in a first fill Pedro Ximénez cask to amp up the spiciness and the deep, dark winter fruity notes too.
Distillery: Benrinnes
Region: Speyside
Age: 9 Years Old
Distilled: January 2012
Bottled: February 2021
Cask type: 8 years in a second fill ex-Oloroso cask, 9 months finishing in a first fill ex-PX Sherry cask
ABV: 48.2%
Limited: 333 bottles globally

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In this episode we tell you about the awesome DOUBLE GOLD MEDAL our Benrinnes was awarded in the San Fran Spirits Competition, we also answer two of your questions in depth about the styles of Scotch whisky and talk about how we factor whisky into our holiday packing...  

So... Kirsty and I have sat on this news for a few days as we are totally blown away by it... our first time entering the San Fran Spirits Competition and our delightful took away DOUBLE GOLD ! HOLY WOW ! 

This is pretty much the highest award a whisky can get in global competitions...

To quantify that, in the competition's words that means the Double Gold our Benrinnes 9 Year Old PX Cask Finish has been “awarded to the entries that receive a Gold medal rating by all members of the judging panel; these are among the finest products in the world”.

Incredible. Could not be prouder, especially as we did the whole production of this one from personally selected the cask, having the PX cask made specifically for this whisky and sampling nervously throughout the finishing process until we felt it was perfect for bottling... and clearly the SFSC agreed ! 

Blown away. 

Whiskies talked about include:

BENRINNES RARE CASK SINGLE MALT SCOTCH WHISKY
Available here: https://greatdrams.com/product/benrinnes-rare-cask-single-malt-scotch-whisky/ 
A rather meaty whisky this one, with a thick, creamy mouthfeel owing to the wormtubs used in the process decreasing the copper contact with the spirit. This was matured initially in a second fill Oloroso sherry cask for over eight years then finished for nine months in a first fill Pedro Ximénez cask to amp up the spiciness and the deep, dark winter fruity notes too.
Distillery: Benrinnes
Region: Speyside
Age: 9 Years Old
Distilled: January 2012
Bottled: February 2021
Cask type: 8 years in a second fill ex-Oloroso cask, 9 months finishing in a first fill ex-PX Sherry cask
ABV: 48.2%
Limited: 333 bottles globally

Bimber Oloroso Cask Batch 4 - https://www.bimberdistillery.co.uk/w 

Hibiki Harmony - https://www.masterofmalt.com/whiskies/hibiki/hibiki-japanese-harmony-whisky/ 

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In this week's episode we talk to some whisky illuminati about that they are missing from pre-lockdowns and what they are looking forward to when we are all released. 

We also introduce the new news section and the new whisky of the week section as well as answering a couple of BIG whisky questions around adding water, ice and more... 

Make sure you follow our friends featured in this episode: 

Bushmills https://www.instagram.com/bushmillsuk/
IDL Master Distiller Kevin O'Gorman - https://www.instagram.com/kevin.ogorman/
IDL Master Blender Billy Leighton - https://www.instagram.com/leightonbilly/
IDL Blender Dave McCabe - tho he does not appear to have much social action... 
SMWS Ambassador John McCheyne - https://www.instagram.com/johnmccheyne/ 
Glenfiddich Brand Ambassador Mark Thomson - https://www.instagram.com/singlemaltmark/ 
Dewar's Brand Ambassador Fraser Campbell - https://www.instagram.com/dramble_on/ 

and our whiskies of the week which you must try were: 

Dewar's Double Double 32 Year Old - https://shop.dewars.com/collections/blends/products/dewars-double-double-32-year-old-whisky 
Teeling Margaux Cask Finish (good luck finding that!)