The five star Gleneagles resort in Perthshire (above) and Rocco Forte's The Balmoral in Edinburgh are teaming up to offer an incredible "Taste of Scotland" package this season, providing guests with a true Scottish gourmet experience in two legendary, luxurious and multi award-winning locations. At the historic Balmoral in Edinburgh, travelers will be welcomed into a complimentary upgraded Executive Room, complete with a bottle of Bollinger champagne on ice, and will enjoy dinner in the Michelin-starred number one restaurant. While at Gleneagles, set on 850 acres of Perthshire countryside, guests will relax in a sprawling Estate Room before sampling a Scotch whisky tasting for two in the bar and then dining at the Michelin-starred Andrew Fairlie restaurant. Gleneagles is also home to three of the top Scottish Championship golf courses, a wide range of exhilarating outdoor leisure activities and a spacious spa. The Taste of Scotland package costs £1,200, or about $1,985, for two people with two nights at each hotel.

[via JustLuxe]

It didn't set a new world record but it was pretty close. The Dalmore Oculus, a crystal decanter of a whisky blend using vintages as old as 1868 recently brought in £27,600 ($46,400) at an auction in Edinburgh. The Dalmore Oculus was selected from cask 1781, distilled in 1951, some 58 years old. Rare malts selected from vintages distilled in 1868, 1878, 1922, 1926 and 1939 as well as a bit of the 64 year old were also added.

Bonhams had put an estimate of £15,000 to 20,000 on the Oculus. Bonhams has seen a boom in whisky sales. Bloomberg News reports that the company has sold 98 percent of the lots at its whisky auctions this year. The sale also included the first section of the collection of WIllard Folsom, a collection of 3,000 bottles. The world record, £29,400 pounds was set two years ago at a sale in Glasgow for a bottle of Bowmore made by W&J Mutter's in about 1850.

Most of the world drinks blended whiskies and there are some good reasons for that. Blended whiskies are the work of master blenders who spend years perfecting their craft. They labor over their work combining single malts from various years to create the perfect taste and then maintain it, bottling after bottling. It is a symphony for the palette.

But there are times you don't want the whole symphony and that's where single malts come in. Single malts are used in the blending of whiskies and each hits a particular note that goes into the blending process. Some are fruity, some are smoky, some are grassy and each reflects its unique heritage. If you like a certain note in some whiskies you can pursue that interest through single malts. The Classic Malts Selection spans a wide range of tastes for whisky lovers who enjoy different tastes. For me, it's the smokies. There's something alchemical about an amber liquid that manages to contain the aroma and taste of smoke. In a recent tasting I attended they had us taste the Lagavulin 12 Year Old from Islay ($74.99) last because it's the one that sticks with you. One sip and you will be tasting smoke on your palate for hours. The sensation is not unpleasant. This is a strong whisky, one best opened up with a little water, but there's also an underlying gentleness beyond the immediate peaty char. The water helps the creamy sweetness underneath develop. It's a bit like a drinkable smoked Gouda. In my hastily-typed iPhone notes I called it a 'mac daddy whisky' not just for the taste but also for a certain sensation of swagger that comes with drinking a whisky so totally given over to the smoke. A less intense but still smoky option is the Talisker Distillers Edition ($79.99) it has a similar paneled library appeal, a nose of woodsmoke and leather and a taste that is smoky but a little more fruit-centered.

Old whisky can be found in some pretty amazing places. I've heard of it stashed in the walls of houses, buried under ground, and discovered in shipwrecks under the ocean. But the trove left by Antarctic explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton might be the most unusual. Shackelton and his crew left two cases of Scotch whisky stashed under the floorboard of a small wooden shack at Cape Royds.

The whisky was discovered by conservators in January 2006. They were unable to get the crates out but will be trying again in January during the Antarctic summer. It's not known what shape the bottles of Charles Mackinlay & Co. whisky will be in after one hundred years of freeze and thaw. The crates and bottles will remain in Antarctica unless they need to be taken off the continent for conservation reasons.

Richard Paterson, master blender at Whyte & Mackay, the company that now owns the Mackinlay label, would like to be able to taste the whisky. He has a 1907 letter from Shackleton along with a photograph of the bottles' label. He tells the Global Post he would like to extract some by sticking a needle through the cork and taking out liquid with a syringe. If the corks remained intact the whisky could taste much like it did in Shackleton's day but if the corks were dislodged and oxygen got in the taste may have been compromised. If a bottle were to make it out of Antarctica and onto the open market it could fetch over $1,00 a bottle not as much for the taste but for the provenance.

On Nov. 14 Christie's will auction fine spirits in New York for only the second time since Prohibition began in 1920, headlined by the first U.S. offering of the extremely rare 1964 Bowmore Trilogy of single malts estimated at up to $24,000. Some $2 million worth of wines and spirits will cross the auction block, including over 40 lots of carefully-curated whisky, bourbon, cognac, armagnac, and rum, plus a fine crop of champagne. The Bowmore Trilogy, comprised of White, Black and Gold Bowmore, was matured below sea level for 42 - 44 years at the famed distillery on Islay in Scotland. Other lots include the Ardbeg Double Barrel, a two-bottle lot sourced from two 1974 whisky barrels in a bespoke leather shotgun case with eight solid silver cups, estimated at $15,000 - $20,000, and a 100 year old armagnac from Baron de Sigognac, est. at $2,000 - $3,000.

[via Duncan Quinn]

The latest release from Scotland's famed Speyside distillery The Balvenie is a limited edition 17 year old single malt finished in Madeira casks. Matured in traditional oak and finished in casks previously used to make fortified Madeira wine, the whisky is rich and aromatic with flavors of spice and dried fruit.

Each year The Balvenie Malt Master David Stewart uses different cask types and mature spirit to create a new expression of The Balvenie's uniquely honeyed character for limited release. The Madeira Cask 17 Year Old (right), which sells for $120 a bottle, is the latest in a series of six 17 Year Old limited editions bottled by Balvenie.

"Each bottling is its own alchemy of spirit, wood and time, but knowing how well port and Oloroso sherry cask maturation complements The Balvenie's honeyed sweetness we were sure that a Madeira cask would produce interesting results," Stewart notes."The 17 year old whisky extracted some wonderful rich spice and distinct raisin flavours from the Madeira cask, which we hope malt enthusiasts will enjoy discovering in the glass."

John Ramsay has been with The Glenrothes since 1991, and if you've bought a bottle of the single malt Speyside whiskey since 1994 you'll find his name on it. The Malt Master retired this summer, and to celebrate his tenure The Glenrothes has produced a limited edition bottle not only bearing his name, but also his blending genius.

Ramsay selected 30 casks -- second-fill American oak sherry casks from vintages ranging from 1973 to 1987 -- to create a single malt. After blending, but without being chill-filtered, the result is a whiskey with flavors of spice, mango, blood orange, vanilla, and dark chocolate, and a long, oak finish.

Only 1,400 of the 70cl, non-vintage Legacy bottles are being released worldwide. Each bottle is numbered and comes in a glass-fronted oak box, and a secret drawer at the base of the box hides a booklet by Ramsay with tasting notes. It is available now in the UK and at The Glenrothes for £699.

[Source: Lussorian]

Here's an online timewaster that might net you a pretty interesting prize. Scotch whisky brand the Glenlivet has joined with online golf destination World Golf Tour (WGT) to host The Glenlivet Whisky Season Open. The 3D online golf experience is free to enter and available for play on any computer with an Internet connection, The Glenlivet Whisky Season Open is on the virtual version of The Old Course at St. Andrews Links.

From now until November 30, you can register and play one nine-shot challenge on St Andrews Links at wgt.com. Once the challenge has been completed, eligible players will be entered into a sweepstakes to win a once-in-a-lifetime vacation for two to Scotland, which includes a round of golf at the legendary St Andrews Links and a private tour of the historic The Glenlivet distillery. Thirty other winners will receive The Glenlivet-themed golf bags or a whisky tasting instructional DVD along with branded whisky glasses. Players must be 21 or older to enter and prizes are eligible for U.S. residents only (excluding California).

The Royal Legacy of 1745 is a premium malt whisky liqueur offering recently unveiled by Drambuie. The product was created to celebrate the 100 years since the first commercial bottling of Drambuie in Edinburgh in 1909. The liqueur includes the "secret elixir" of herbs and spices in a recipe that has been unchanged for 260 years.The small batch product comes in an embossed decanter with a cork stopper and is presented in an individually authenticated presentation box with the bottling date, bottle number and signature of the Drambuie Master Blender. It has spice, citrus and toffee notes with subtle whisky flavors and sells for $229.

My colleague Jared Paul Stern already reported on the Johnnie Walker Black Centenary Edition but the company has other ways that they are celebrating 100 years of great whisky. Should you already have your bottle of the popular 12-year-old scotch, you can also pickup a complimentary, limited-edition anniversary rocks glass. Head to their website download a form, complete it and send it in to receive yours while supplies last.

The brand also held a series of unique blending events last month. Some bloggers received a package that contained several bottles of whisky, an empty bottle, a mixing flask, a glass funnel and a tasting glass to participate in the Johnnie Walker Black Label Centenary Journeyman Blending Event webcast on September 29. I got to have the in-person experience, taking part in a blending event held at the Montage Beverly Hills.

In my head I've always compared the difference between single malts and a blended scotch as the difference between an essential oil and a perfume. But while I've had the chance to dabble in blending essential oils to create a rudimentary scent (so much harder than it would seem), I hadn't, until recently had the chance to try my hand at blending whisky. But who could resist when the folks from Johnnie Walker fly in one of their master distillers, Andrew Ford, complete with swoonworthy Scottish accent and sit you down in front of an apothecary-like set of stoppered bottles?

Before the blending I talked with Ford a little about the challenges of predicting the future of whisky. He mentioned that the Johnnie Walker stocks span 7 million barrels which sounds like an awful lot. But because they Johnnie Walker Black is aged 12 years the challenges of guessing how much whisky you'll need 12 years in the future is no easy task. The whisky market has gone through a series of twists and turns in the past few years. First demand, spurred by the sudden rise in whisky drinking in Japan, India and other places, spiked to unprecedented levels. Then the global economic slowdown kicked in and pricey spirits took their licks along with other potent potables including champagne. Now what the future holds is anybody's guess. Another concern is climate change, not so much for the grains but with regards to water and the peat which grows in cooler and moist climates. The burning of peat is what gives some of the whiskies used in Johnnie Walker Black their distinctive smokiness.

How much would you be willing to spend on a bottle of whisky? A couple hundred? A couple of thousand, if you had the cash on hand? How about £10,000? That's the headline selling price for the latest release from The Dalmore distillery in Scotland.

The Sirius Vintage has been maturing since 1951, making it one of the rarest, oldest and finest malts available. But availability is a relative concept: Dalmore will only be producing 12 bottles of this most exclusive single malt scotch, available from a small selection of airport duty free concessionaires around the world.

With a cask strength of 45%, master distiller Richard Paterson describes the taste as "distinguished and elegant" with notes of "intense citrus and honeyed chocolate" followed by hints of "roasted coffee, crushed walnuts and liquorice spice". Sounds delightful, but at those prices and quantities, we'd better not get too attached.

After being absent from the U.S. market for the past few years, The GlenDronach, one of Scotland's first licensed distilleries, is returning with its luscious line of single malts.

The Highland distillery was recently acquired by the independently owned BenRiach Distillery Company Ltd. from Pernod Ricard, allowing it to stay focused on producing some of the world's best Scotch without compromise.

GlenDronach was founded by the legendary James Allardice in 1826, just three years after the Excise Act was passed in 1823. Arguably one of the most unspoiled distilleries in Scotland, they are proudly using the same production processes today as they did in 1826.

Many of the distillery's unique attributes offer a distinctive character that you will not find anywhere else, and they are still producing the original, richly sherried style of single malt Scotch whisky associated with the distillery in its early days.

Preiss Imports will handle the U.S. distribution for this historical distillery, alongside the existing distribution for BenRiach. Initially, the 12, 15, and 18 year old (right) expressions will be available in the U.S. this fall, and a 33 year old expression will be available in early 2010.

In this case the answer to the question is an extremely rare single malt in a limited edition decanter: The Macallan 57 Lalique "Finest Cut". Containing an exceptionally rare 57 year old single malt whisky from the famed Speyside distillery founded in 1824, the Finest Cut crystal decanter is valued at $15,000 and will be available by special order beginning in October. The precious bottling comes on the heels of the recent record-breaking £11,750 ($19,000) sale of one of The Macallan's 50th anniversary bottles at an auction in Scotland that my colleague Deirdre Woollard reported on.

The Finest Cut is inspired by the fraction of the new make spirit which is filled into casks for maturation. At The Macallan, this fraction is a mere 16%; the best of the best, it's delivered at a very slow rate of distillation to maximize flavor and produce a distinctively rich, fruity, viscous character. Designed exclusively for The Macallan by the legendary French crystal house Lalique, The Finest Cut decanters are individually numbered and produced in a very limited quantity - only 72 of the 400 launched worldwide will be available in the U.S.

"In homage to the beauty of Lalique's Finest Cut decanter, we chose a particularly rare 57 years old Macallan single malt whisky," says David Cox, Director of Fine & Rare Whiskies for The Macallan. "It is the second oldest The Macallan whisky ever released, only surpassed in age by the legendary 1926, a 60 year old bottled in 1986." The 57 follows in the footsteps of its two predecessors in the Six Pillars series, a 50 year old Macallan celebrating the exceptional oak casks and a 55 year old inspired by the distillery's insistence on natural color, both coveted collector's items.



The 57 year old has been vatted together from six casks made from two different species of oak; the first, a 1950 American oak sherry butt, and the second, a vatting of Macallan from first fill Spanish oak sherry butts originally filled in 1949, 1951 and 1952. The result is a sumptuous single malt, showing off the classic dried fruits, spice and hints of peat redolent of The Macallan house style of the early 1950's. The age statement of 57 years old is determined by the youngest cask which was filled in 1952.

The decanter features the 'stilligoutte' of a perfume bottle, the long piece of pure crystal flowing down to a point from the base of the bottle stopper. A portion of the stopper has been left completely clear and not "satinee," running from the top down to the point. This clear portion represents the 16% "finest cut". Crafted at Lalique's crystal making facility in Wingen-sur-Moder, Alsace, each piece was worked on by up to 15 craftsmen.

On Friday, Sept. 25, Islay single malt Scotch Laphroaig is hosting Distillery LIVE 2009, an interactive, online webcast tasting for whisky fans across the globe. The star of the show is their new limited edition 18-Year-Old (right).

The 18-year aging process results in a Scotch bright gold in color enhanced by soft, sweet and spicy Islay peat smoke with a hint of the sea. The full-bodied whisky tastes of a tang of smoke that fades into smooth floral scents, which blends seamlessly into an oaky nuttiness and a lasting smooth, sweet finish.

Hosted in the United States for the first time, Laphroaig Distillery Manager John Campbell is traveling to bourbon country to join Maker's Mark Master Distiller Kevin Smith for the live-broadcast event at the Maker's Mark Distillery in Loretto, Kentucky.

Together Campbell and Smith, along with Malt Advocate magazine's John Hansell, will celebrate the relationship between Laphroaig and Maker's Mark, specifically the maturation process of Laphroaig in former Maker's Mark bourbon barrels, while educating consumers on traditional Laphroaig expressions.

The webcast is taking place at 8 p.m. EST on the 25th, and is accessible at www.distillerylive.us.com.

A small Scotch whisky distillery has put itself on the map by producing the world's largest bottle of whisky. The bottle of single malt was filled by hand with nearly 28 gallons of 14-year-old Tomintoul Speyside Glenlivet Scotch. The five-foot-high bottle holds around 150 standard bottles and the cork had to be hammered in with a huge mallet. The bottle will be on permanent display at the Clockhouse in the village square at Tomintoul village in Scotland. Tomintoul is said to be the highest village in the Highlands of Scotland in the Speyside region. Tomintoul Distillery uses water from Ballantruan Spring, a nearby natural spring in their Tomintoul Speyside Glenlivet Single Malt which is billed as "the gentle dram" on their website.

[via Deadline Scotland]