whisky tasting

"Universal Whisky Experience" Set For Wynn Las Vegas March 18

The Wynn Las Vegas on March 18-19 will host The "Nth" Universal Whisky Experience, a weekend long fandango of tasting some of the best and rarest whiskies in the world, and mixing with master blenders and mixologists.

The event is organized by Atlanta-based entrepreneur and whisky collector Mahesh Patel. "The purpose of this weekend is to gather the country's most passionate whisky lovers for tasting experiences they would not normally have access to," says Patel. "Our guests will be wowed from the minute they check into their suites at Encore at Wynn Las Vegas," said Patel.

Tags: glenfarclas 1966, highand park, the dalmore, the dalmore astrum, whiskies, whisky, whisky tasting, wynn encore, wynn las vegas

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New Spirit: The Balvenie 17 Year Peated Cask

by David Kiley (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Spirits

Speyside Scotch distillery The Balvenie has released a new limited edition expression, a 17-year old that is finished in a peated Islay cask. This is not the first time that the Balvenie have dabbled in peat. A previous limited edition, Islay Cask, sold out fast and is considered a collectible, selling well North of $200 in the secondary market.

Balvenie Peated Cask, $130.00, is comprised of a marriage of 17-year old Balvenie finished in new oak and 17-year old finished in casks that had previously held an unreleased experimental heavily-peated Balvenie distilled in 2001.

The nose on this expression is honeyed malt, which is The Balvenie's signature, soft oak dried apricots, orange liqueur, with some wood smoke notes chasing the fruit. The smoke is more pronounced on the tongue: indeed it overshadows the fruit. There is a saltiness in the finish typical of Laphroaig.

As Islay malts have grown in popularity, some of the Speyside and Highland distilleries, that generally do not malt their barley with peat, have been playing around with peat finishing to broaden their portfolios.

The Balvenie 17 is interesting, but not as pleasing, I think, as its core expressions. If you want peat, buy an Islay malt I say.

Tags: alcohol, Islay malts, Laphroaig, peated whisky, The Balvenie, The Balvenie 17 year-old peated cask, whiskey, whisky, whisky tasting

The Macallan Master Class Whisky Tastings

by Noah Joseph (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Spirits, Events, Charity

The Macallan is one of a handful of distilleries whose single malts consistently rank above the rest. Tasting one is always a treat and a lesson in delicacy. Now the Macallan is coming to a city near you to hold Master Class Whisky Tastings.

Master classes present a unique opportunity to learn about whiskies and their intricacies. This fall Macallan will be hitting Chicago (Oct 15), Denver (Oct 22), San Francisco (Oct 30), Los Angeles (Nov 5), New York (Dec 4) and Boston (Dec 10).

Over the course of the two-hour event, participants will sample a broad range of Macallan expressions, including the Sherry Oak 12, Fine Oak 15, Fine Oak 17 and Sherry Oak 18, as well as the Fine Oak 21, Sherry Oak 25, Fine Oak 30 and a surprise cask strength bottling as well. Visit celebratethemacallan.com for information and tickets, proceeds from which will go towards the Charity:Water foundation.

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Tags: celebrate the macallan, charity:water, macallan, master class, the macallan, whisky tasting

Drinks by the Dram Offers Sample-Size Whiskies

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Spirits

We've seen the tiny bottles concept take off for wine sampling, now online retailer and independent bottler, Master of Malt, have launched a similar service for whisky. Drinks by the Dram offers 3cl (30ml) samples of a rapidly growing range of Scotch whisky and other spirits from across the globe. The UK company offers small bottles from distilleries including Glenfarclas, Bruichladdich, Edradour, Macallan and more as well as a selection of port and dessert wine samples. The drams are labeled with handmade paper, and each bottle individually wax dipped to seal it. A full list of samples is available at: http://www.masterofmalt.com/drinks-by-the-dram.

Tags: drugs, samples, scotch whisky, tinybottles, whisky, whisky sampling, whisky tasting

Luxist Samples The Dalmore Mackenzie

by Jonathon Ramsey (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Spirits

When it comes to scotch we are always-eager drinkers, yet we know our palate for the ochre-hued beverage has a few years of finesse left to develop before we can lay claim to a scotch maturity. Yet if we are known for anything, it is our willingness to do what it takes to hone those finer points of our humanity. It was the brand's parent, Whyte & Mackay, who flew us to Edinburgh to take the next step in our whiskey learning, and that is how we found ourselves seated in a table at the Scottish National Gallery in Edinburgh, set before Benjamin West's 12-foot-wide, 17-foot-tall painting from 1786, Alexander III of Scotland Rescued from the Fury of a Stag by the Intrepidity of Colin Fitzgerald, about to taste The Dalmore Mackenzie. Our hosts provided us a powerful and delicious education.

Gallery: Luxist Tastes The Dalmore Mackenzie

Tags: scotch, scotch whiskey, scotch whisky, the dalmore, the dalmore mackenzie, whiskey, whisky, whisky tasting

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Whisky's Next Stop: Tasmania

by Alison Wellner (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels, Spirits

Lark Distillery, Whisky Makers in Tasmania, Australia

On the day I arrived in Hobart, Tasmania's harbor-side capital, I was not expecting to hear much about Scotland and whisky.

After all, I'd just traveled about 10,000 miles from New York to Australia, and Scotland is just about the same distance in the other direction; if anything, I was prepared to hear about France because Tasmania has vineyards, and as every luxury traveler knows, wherever grapes grow, conversations about France flourish. But that evening, I gamely battled jet-lag to visit Lark Distillery's cozy downtown bar, and had a chat with owner Bill Lark, it was Scotland that we discussed the most.

Lark, a former land surveyor who bears an eerie resemblance to Kris Kringle, is Australia's patron saint of whisky. A decade or so ago, he realized that Tasmania had what it needed for whisky -- pure water, barley, even its own peat bogs. (If you're Australian, you'd giggle at this, since "bog" is slang for a toilet.) Anyway, the only trouble Lark faced was the law: a 1901 distillery law mandated very large stills, and he didn't want to run a giant whisky operation. So he successfully lobbied the Australian legislature to change its 1901 distillery law, and when he opened in 1996, became the first to open a licensed whisky distillery in 153 years. After that, Lark traveled to Scotland to learn the craft, returned to Tasmania, found a still-maker who could make one small enough for his purposes, and got cranking.

It all worked: the whisky's award-winning (more on that in a moment), Lark now runs a distillery school and is a distillery consultant. There are now five other whisky makers who have opened in Lark's wake, and another two getting started in Tasmania, which would very much like to be known as "Australia's Whisky Isle".

In an example of things going full circle, Lark's now a consultant to and an investor in a Kingsbarns Farm Distillery in Scotland, in the beginning phases of start up, just a few miles from St. Andrew's . "I can't teach the Scots how to make whisky, they taught me," Lark says. But Scotch tends to be brewed on a large scale, and Lark's developed expertise in distilling on a smaller scale. In fact, Kingsbarns is buying its stills from Lark's Tasmanian supplier. More on Lark and Scotland here.

Want to taste Lark's whisky for yourself?

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Tags: australia, scotch, scotch whisky, ScotchWhisky, scotland, tasmania, whisky, whisky tasting, Whisky Tours, WhiskyPeats

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World's Oldest Whisky Bottled and Tasted

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Spirits

Bottles of the oldest single-malt whisky in the world were unveiled this month at a tasting hosted at Edinburgh Castle. The Scottish 70-Year-Old Mortlach from Gordon and MacPhail has been aging in a Spanish oak cask since 1938 and was described by one taster at the event as "a delicate, fresh, vital, fruity whisky, with unusual attributes of waxiness and smokiness". The limited edition whisky is available in hand-blown, tear-shaped crystal decanters with silver stoppers. There are 54 full-sized bottles and 162 smaller ones available for £10,000 and £2,000 respectively.

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Tags: 70-year-old mortlach, decanter, edinburgh castle, gordon and Macphail, mortlach, oldest single malt whisky, single malt whisky, whisky, whisky tasting