The Whisky Exchange BLOG

Elements of Islay Pe2: Tasting Notes

Tim F — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 11:27:12 +0000

Yes, it’s finally here! Elements of Islay Pe2 has arrived, and, well, not to blow our own trumpet or anything – but it’s a monster! I tasted this over an hour ago and I can still taste the last of my second watered-down sample (in my world, that’s a good thing). Anyway, here’s what I (with my admittedly [...]

Whisky Tasting Pentathlon Pt.5: Arran

Tim F — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 10:02:47 +0000

Welcome to the final part of this Whisky Tasting Pentathlon – a mini-marathon of whisky blogs on my recent tasting odyessy. I was in St. James’s last week for one of Eddie Ludlow’s Whisky Lounge tastings – a run-through of several recent releases from Arran, in the delightful company of brand ambassador Céline Têtu, who came [...]

Whisky Tasting Pentathlon Pt.4: Old Pulteney

Tim F — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 11:35:23 +0000

The next tasting in what was turning out to be a mammoth month was back in Vinopolis again: Old Pulteney, conducted by affable distillery manager Malcolm Waring, who gave a very interesting presentation on the history of Scotland’s most northerly mainland distillery. Old Pulteney is well-known for its great value 12 and 17 year-olds, which [...]

Whisky Tasting Pentathlon Pt.3: Isle of Jura

Tim F — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 15:37:06 +0000

We’re all about fun and enjoyment (and whisky) here on the TWE Blog, so I’m going to try not to mention the ‘F’ word (F**tb*ll) too much, out of consideration for the poor England fans who now have at least another three years and 51 weeks to wait before they see their team playing W*rld C*p [...]

Whisky Tasting Pentathlon Pt.2: Glenlivet

Tim F — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 16:23:38 +0000

Welcome to day two of my summaries of the last month’s tasting adventures, and it’s straight on with the show. Next up in this Whisky Tasting Pentathlon is a highlight from Ian Logan’s tasting at Glenlivet during our press jolly. Unfortunately we missed the first part of this tasting as we were busy interviewing Master Distiller [...]

Whisky Tasting Pentathlon Pt.1: Aberlour

Tim F — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 17:01:59 +0000

Lord, it’s been hectic. After a holiday in Bruges (3 days, 28 different beers and Lagavulin 16 at four euros for a double during happy hour at the hotel – nice), swiftly followed by our Glenlivet trip (and then trying to catch up on the resultant double backlog of work in the middle of the [...]

The Glenlivet Expansion: Interview with Alan Winchester

Tim F — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 11:10:21 +0000

Last week a party from The Whisky Exchange was invited up to The Glenlivet to view the £10 million new facility that has been added as the main thrust of Pernod Ricard’s bid to propel The Glenlivet past Glenfiddich into the global No.1 spot for single malt. It was a splendid event, complete with a [...]

The Whisky Lounge hits London this Saturday!

Tim F — Wed, 12 May 2010 13:22:35 +0000

Just a quick plug for this Saturday’s Whisky Lounge event in London, which is taking place at the Hilton in Tower Hill, just round the corner from London Bridge station. Former Glenmorangie ambassador Eddie Ludlow has been organising top quality tasting events in regional hotspots like York, Newcastle and Brighton for a while now, and is bringing his [...]

One for the Road: Port Ellen Signatory Tasting Notes

Tim F — Fri, 07 May 2010 18:29:46 +0000

It’s getting late on Friday, and suddenly three more samples are sitting on my desk. Nothing new there, but these are from Signatory – I think this is the first time I’ve seen a sample from them. My main feelings for Signatory are largely warm and fuzzy thanks to a jaw-droppping quartet of cask strength Benriach 1975s that [...]

Bourbon Competition Closed

Tim F — Wed, 05 May 2010 11:50:33 +0000

Yes, folks – the bourbon competition is now closed, so please don’t send in any more entries! It’s fair to say that SBL have been overwhelmed by the response to the competition. With over 2000 entries, whittling the wheat from the chaff has been a long process, but they now have a shortlist with which to work. The next stage [...]

TWE 10th Anniversary Clynelish

Tim F — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 15:30:08 +0000

First up, an update on the Name That Bourbon competition: we’ve had well over a thousand suggestions so far, but still no winner - I did tell you that SDL are pretty picky! Thank you all for your entries, especially the heroic Angus and Mike F who have contributed literally hundreds of names. You’re all still in with [...]

St. Patrick’s Day Cooley Irish Whiskey Tasting

Tim F — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 10:37:00 +0000

We were privileged to have Cooley distillery’s Noel Sweeney conduct a St. Patrick’s Day tasting for us at The Whisky Exchange in Vinopolis, showing off a range of their fine products. We started off with three examples of the new spirit from the recently-revived Kilbeggan distillery, which began distilling operations again in March 2007, meaning that [...]

Bourbon Competition: Keep ‘Em Coming!

Tim F — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 18:05:50 +0000

Well, I have to say a big thank you for all your entries into our Bourbon Competition! We’ve been inundated with suggestions over the last week. I stopped counting after the first couple of hundred, but the Word document that I carefully cut and paste the names into is on its 17th page - by my guess, that makes something [...]

Bourbon Competition: Win £500 credit at TWE!

Tim F — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 13:12:39 +0000

Yes, it’s competition time again – and this time we’re upping the stakes with a truly fantastic prize: £500 credit at The Whisky Exchange!! Our sister company Speciality Drinks Ltd are going to launch a new premium bourbon soon – and they want YOUR help. They’ve been racking their brains for something to call this precious liquid- [...]

Ardbeg Rollercoaster & TWE 10th Anniversary

Tim F — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 18:21:04 +0000

Time for some more tasting notes now, but first a quick check on the predictions… Well, the Ardbeg debate has definitely kicked off on the forums, with the news that the official website have raised their price of Ardbeg 10yo to £36.99 and the other two major online whisky sites selling out (or at least declaring [...]

Secrets from Sukhinder’s Stash: Pride of Strathspey 1938

Tim F — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 17:37:20 +0000

People assume that those of us privileged to work in the drinks trade spend our working hours constantly swigging free cocktails at trendy nitespots, before going home with supermodels, and only emerging from our dens of iniquity at two in the afternoon to sign the delivery forms for the next heaving batch of free samples to [...]

TWE Blog Whisky Predictions for 2010 – Pt. 2

Tim F — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 18:15:05 +0000

Okay, so it’s been a while getting these down – apologies if anyone was waiting (joke). Right, firstly I need to apologise to Rob and Dave from Whisky Mag for something I said in the last blog. For the record, I am happy to clarify that my speculation about Whisky Mag relying on Diageo sponsorship was totally [...]

TWE Blog Whisky Predictions for 2010 Pt.1

Tim F — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 15:58:45 +0000

Okay, so the London transport network is f@cked, there’s more snow due this afternoon and I live too far away from work to risk trying to get in and find myself stuck in Park Royal when I try to get home – nearly three hours it took me yesterday. I’ve also managed to get myself temporarily [...]

Octomore 2.2 – Pictures and (Official) Tasting Notes

Tim F — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 15:17:25 +0000

First things first. Open a new window and listen to this while you’re reading the blog. It’ll put you in a good mood, and this might be the last you see of me before Christmas, so I want you to be happy. Anyway, what recession?!! It’s been so mind-bendingly busy here at TWE Towers that I’ve not [...]

Another Whisky Show Ticket Prize Draw!!

Tim F — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:13:09 +0000

Well, after the success of the last prize draw for The Whisky Show, I felt kind of bad for all the unlucky applicants – so I asked for more tickets and they said Yes! This time the tickets are for SATURDAY 7TH NOVEMBER and the Show is on from 12pm-7pm: Now, it’s pretty much the same rules as [...]

Whisky Show Prize Draw Winners!

Tim F — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 14:38:03 +0000

Thank you all for entering the prize draw for The Whisky Show tickets! I was shocked with the number of entries received. More importantly, I only had two numpties who couldn’t follow the instructions, so my faith in your intelligence is largely restored! Anyway, the lucky winners are: Richey Featherstone Donna Griffiths Michael Orson Boyd Johnson Lavinia Turnbull Michael Oh Tomas Karlsson Sebastiaan Jens Samantha [...]

The Whisky Show Tickets Prize Draw !

Tim F — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 17:02:06 +0000

Yes indeed, I’ve got TEN PAIRS of tickets for The Whisky Show to give away!! This is what you get – the tickets are for FRIDAY 6TH NOVEMBER and the Show is on from 4pm-10pm: To enter, all you have to do is send me an email with the message title/subject ‘TWS Prize Draw’. But here’s the catch - This draw [...]

Diageo Special Releases 2009 – The Verdict

Tim F — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 17:10:22 +0000

Okay, so last night I was lucky enough to attend the press tasting of this year’s special Release from Diageo, the details of all of which are in my last post. It was a fairly merry affair, although I wasn’t socialising much – firstly because on paper we only had an hour and a half to [...]

Diageo Special Releases 2009 Announced

Tim F — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 09:45:53 +0000

Just received the following stuff on the Diageo Special Releases for this year, so thought I’d better share. I’m going to a tasting of these tomorrow night, so will post my own impressions later in the week. The full line-up has already been revealed on various sites, so I won’t publish much of the bumf - just the [...]

My Take On This Whole Ratings Hoo-Hah

Tim F — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 17:13:46 +0000

Right, a quick disclaimer first: I’m stuck at home with a rotten cold (that won’t go away, curse it) and a slightly light head after our triumph at last night’s International Spirits Challenge awards bash – where we picked up Best Spirits Retailer (Huzzah!). The trophy is very cool – it’s a massive Glencairn. Anyway, I’ve [...]