Amongst Giants

A whisky company blog, by the intern. (function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){i['GoogleAnalyticsObject']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){ (i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o), m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m) })(window,document,'script','//www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js','ga'); ga('create', 'UA-44245837-1', 'tumblr.com'); ga('send', 'pageview');

[amongstgiants-blog]

Sneak peak of the next limited release

[amongstgiants-blog]

Hand labeling the next #compassbox limited release

[amongstgiants-blog]

[amongstgiants-blog]

Whisky Show 2013 London, and Trust Building with John

Here's an overview of the team's activity from the Whisky Show this past weekend. 

The Whisky Show is London's largest whisky showcase, hosted by the Whisky Exchange. 

In the famous and busy Borough Market

In the thick of it, the Famous Maybin and Lily show off the Signature Range. 

Meanwhile in the other wing, the Great King Street Range had a pairing for it's tasting. 

Our team knew meat and cheese was going to popular so we opted for something different, "a taste of the place". In addition to our Scottish address, our office in London paired with some local businesses and products.

GKS Artist Blend with a Joe & Sephs pop-corn collaboration. 

GKS Sherry (00-V4) Label with honey from Richmond Park.

And the new local brewery Weird Beard gave us a great Black IPA to match with the GKS Smoke (TR-06) Label.

The last experience visitors could engage in was a trust exercise with John.. 

John warmed up everyone with Delilah's and an Extra Pale Ale by the Odell Brewing Company. 

Fair enough, beer and shot. But this event was entitled extreme.

For his next pairing John had bloody mary oyster shot's made to pair with the Peat Monster 10th Anniversary chilled. 

This raised some eye brows but got people in the mood to get weird. 

Lastly to push the tasting over the top, the Experimental TR-06 Batch aka Experimental Smoke Label..

with a South African delicacy, Mopone Worms seasoned in a smoky seasoning of Worm Salt from Mexico. 

After the demo, loads of people smiling and maybe in a bit of shock kept asking us "Do you know what John just did in the there?"

Great whisky. Over the top stage acts. Whisky Show is a good time, so until next year.  

-Cheers

[amongstgiants-blog]

#peatmonster 10th anniversary limited release oh sweet sweet #delicious #compassbox

[distilleryrat-blog]

#compassbox #hedonism

[distilleryrat-blog]

New post on #tumblr #whiskyliveparis

[amongstgiants-blog]

Whisky Live Paris for a night

I started writing this post on the Eurostar train from London to Paris sailing at 300km/hour across the English channel.

My train pulled in to the station at Gare du Nord, armed an itinerary pack and map Céline printed I headed to the underground.

Céline aka Lily, is the Sales and Marketing manager for Compass Box. She's French, and know's that my little “Bonjour” and “Merci” wasn't going to be enough to get me through the French subway system. 

Emerging from the underground on Boulevard Saint-Germain, I spotted a kilt sporting Scotsman and knew we we're heading for the same place...

..Whisky Live Paris.

Whisky Live is an international traveling showcase of whisky and spirits from all over the world. Whisky Live Paris this year had 120 exhibitors and theme was "Beyond Tasting". It was an over the top experience for the whisky lovers and exhibitors in attendance. 

Our team's exhibit was in a split room on the third floor in the experiential series. We had a film feature, a Joe & Sephs collaborative pop-corn pairing, and a blind tasting of our Great King Street Experimental Batches. It was madness of the best kind.

The next part of the story can only best be described with some images I managed to snap during the international affair. 

The international stage of spirits, the people, Paris, it all made the scene feel electric and it was over before I knew it. 

There was a large rendezvous for the exhibitors afterward to eat and hang out. Gregg and I made some new friends and we all got on like a house on fire, I got to the hotel around 6:30am. 

The next afternoon we returned to the showcase to meet Céline and Chris, who cracked up laughing seeing Gregg and I walk in. 

The day flew by again and then I was back on the Eurostar to London.

Whisky Live Paris ends tonight, so keeping checking in here on our blog for more clips, pics, and stories.

-Cheers

[amongstgiants-blog]

It's Show Time & Virgin Chocolate

The office was quiet this morning, faint music and a constant light crackling of keyboards filled the air. 

Now the phones have erupted, tastings commenced, deliveries dropped and we're firing on all cylinders. 

With the Experimental Batches Launch, the upcoming festivals, and the day to day operations everyone's entrenched in their work.

Here's what you need to know. 

Boutique Bar Show - London tomorrow

Whisky Live Paris - Paris this weekend

Whisky Show - London 5th October

It's very hush hush and I am in no way allowed to divulge any more about what we've planned for each of them.

Now for our US friends, don't worry John will be in NYC October 11th at WhiskyFest.

We've teamed up with the Brooklyn based Raaka Chocolates for it and will pair our whisky and their Virgin Chocolate.

What's Virgin Chocolate? It's chocolate for fiends, the sick-in-the-head types who love Cocoa. It's un-roasted, stone ground, with big flavors. 

Who's Raaka? They're a Fair Trade business on a mission to source and produce the best chocolate possible. We're into at the office.

My personal favorite: 71% Dark with Sea Salt with the Peat Monster.

But I'm still at the office and have to run now. 

-Cheers

Recap of Events, come have a drink with us.

Boutique Bar Show - London tomorrow

Whisky Live Paris - Paris this weekend

Whisky Show - London 5th October

WhiskyFest - New York City 11th October 

[amongstgiants-blog]

Broken glass and tasting wine

This week John showed me how to express myself through art. Not really, but we had a bit of fun making a video for Whisky Live Paris. 

I feel like this week flew by in the blink of an eye, I usually make a plan for the weekend to make the most of my time over here. When John asked me if I had plans Saturday afternoon I said I hadn't given it any thought.

He said to better understand our approach to whisky making, a wine class would aggregate that. 

I found myself running a bit late for my first ever One-Day Wine School,  that feeling faintly reminded me of college. It was at the Berry Brothers & Rudd Ltd. store at 3 St. James Place, fortunately I made it before the introduction of the first glass. 

This place is almost inexplicably excellent on their selection and services. The educational component of their business is brilliant, they truly want you to leave with the fundamentals in understanding wine. Don't let the hundreds of years of heritage or the class exterior intimidate you, the people inside are sincere. 

For instance they want you as a student to learn to trust your senses. Tasting wine is all about associating sensory and memory. It doesn't have to be a logical association. If you smell or taste cookie dough, a sweet element in the glass is triggering a response that your palette interprets as cookie dough. There is no right or wrong. If you don't "get" a striking association at first, TASTE IT AGAIN, and again if you like. I enjoyed a Pinot Noir that reminded me of my old leather jacket. 

Also what was brilliant about the class was the blind pairing comparisons. The head of The Wine School, Rebecca Lamont would ask things like "Of numbers 5 and 6 which would you say older?" Now the wide misconception is that older wines taste better. Mistakenly some people, including me thought the more favorably compelling wines would be the oldest. They are not always the oldest, Rebecca was starting the process of developing our personal taste for wine.

Just to reassure you of their educating prowess in wine and spirits, these individuals manage the royal family reserves in their cellars. In fact, the royal family have been Berry Brothers & Rudd's client since 1703.

I wish I had taken more pictures, I was too enthralled.

They hosted a food pairing during the 5 hour class that was an over the top display of culinary perfection. Plus I was feeling pretty good at the point. 

In no particular order here are my two favorite wines from the class:

Claret (Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot): 1996 Chateau  Palmer, 3eme Cru Classe, Marguax, Bordeaux, France Retail £168.00 

Pinot Noir 2010 Dog Point Pinot Noir, Marlborough New Zealand  Retail £27.00 

So I found both of those wines to be equally amazing, the difference is £141.

One of the most successful and highly regarded men in the wine and spirits industry once told me "Anyone can buy an expensive bottle wine to purchase an air of class and quality, the truly savvy can do it for $30." 

And just to clarify that wasn't John Glaser.

Now that's not to say wines out there aren't worth loads of money, wine can be art in a time capsule. But especially since I'm an intern, if I'm on a date I've got to be savvy 100% of time. 

-Cheers

[distilleryrat-blog]

Shooting #whisky (at Compass Box)

[amongstgiants-blog]

The GKS #TR-06 and #00-V4 Experiments

Experimental Batches #TR-06 and #00-V4 are the latest limited releases from the Great King Street.

It’s an experiment in the sense that these blends were created solely to be judged in contrast to one another. John wants to add another label to the GKS line. To determine a direction in taste, he’s using the two vastly different tasting blends as a test.

The two subjects are named after their prototype reference numbers.

Depending on how either whisky is perceived and enjoyed, will influence the the next label added to Great King Street line.

Keep an eye out, buy both, and then go buy another one to sway the outcome.

^ See what I did there? Bit of salesmanship*

-Cheers

[amongstgiants-blog]

The people have spoken! Our whiskies and very own Chris Maybin ruled the day. 

[distilleryrat-blog]

New post on #tumblr

[amongstgiants-blog]

Post 3 The Highlander Inn and drinking Japanese

Putting the Balvenie Distillery in my rearview, I headed for the HIghlander Inn in the near by town of Craigellachie. 

While looking for Craigellachie I some how managed to drive through it without even realizing it. I did this a few times driving through the Highlands. 

Seeing cars parked out front I pulled my Korean compact in as close to the curb as possible. Some of these two lane streets are questionable but I hid behind a mid-size.

Then I grabbed my pack and headed straight to the bar. 

Once inside, I looked on the bar and around the room to an impressive collection of whiskies.

Then in walked Fraser, the owners son and my bartender for the evening. The young bearded Scotsman then asked me arguably the best question in the English language, "What'll ya have?" 

I ordered Haggis with Neeps and Tatties, and then proceeded on my tour of the shelf. After the soul warming dish and a dram, I got my keys and went to my room.

I've never made a reservation for a room and been given an entire house, but that's what happened.

I dropped and swapped my gear and headed back to the bar. There I ordered another dinner of sirloin steak. I believe I had subliminally been thinking about steak driving past field after field of cows. 

I went about selecting whiskies purely on referral basis, Fraser would tell me a story about one and I'd try it. For example look at the dates on the bottle featured below.

The Highlander bought a cask of SIngle Malt whisky they liked for bottle from BenRiach. To ensure it was ready to debut at a showcase; they rushed and had an oversight in the scheduling. Just 4 days shy of being labeled 25 year old, this fine whisky now has a funny label with a small story.

And in no particular order here some of the labels I was drinking.

You had to know this prime whisky bar's got our label on the shelf. 

About those last two. They were both interesting but where drams were £3, these were £15. The only outstanding thing about the whisky for me was that they were older the others, or me for that matter. Also I never thought I'd go to Scotland and drink Japanese whisky. 

The Japanese have had a booming interest in whisky and Fraser explained that he goes there a couple times a year to showcase some the regions whiskies to retailers. And while Fraser represents local Speyside labels there; he also comes back to introduce traveling Scotch enthusiasts to what the far east has to offer. 

*Might have to plan a trip to Japan*

I'd highly recommend the Highlander Inn to anyone traveling through Speyside. 

This was the first round with Scotland but by no means is the last.

-Cheers

[amongstgiants-blog]

Post 2 Driving into the highlands and the Balvenie Distillery

Rolling hillsides level out into sprawling meadows as I sit on the train from Edinburgh to Kings Cross back in London.

I began writing this post yesterday, until my computer ran out of power. So getting back to it…

Wednesday I jumped out my top bunk to throw boots on my feet and water on my face. The Backpackers Lodge in Pitlochry is an ideal hostel that rents rooms for 17 quid a night. My objective of the morning was to make it to the Balvenie Distillery by 10 o’clock.

At 9:57 I passed a modest sign; reversed and stumbled upon my destination. With such a globally recognizable label as the Balvenie, it’s a surprisingly subtle setting.

I was greeted by David Mair, who gave me coffee and a high vis vest. David is the Balvenie Distillery Ambassador.

He took us through each segment of the operation and explained that while the scale has grown significantly, the whisky is made the same way today, as it was when the distillery started.

They still grow and malt their own barley, with the addition to some outsourcing of grain. With the global demand for whisky production on the rise, they prioritize a focus on consistency and quality. To compliment that fact is that they have their own cooperage to maintain their barrels and casks.

Side note: Every distillery buys barrels, they usually purchase American Oak Bourbon barrels or Spanish Sherry Casks. This isn’t anything new, it’s been done since these distilleries were started.

We went into the famed Warehouse 24 and bought cask strength samples. To retrieve samples we used a "dog"; a tool of thieves used to steal and conceal whisky. But like I said, we BOUGHT our samples. Inside there's a sweet alcohol aroma known as the “Angels Share” which is potentially flammable so photography was prohibited.

If you sign up online, you can be a member of Warehouse 24 where your entitled to a special members only cask sampling. Fortunately for our group, we had David Alcock (@whiskyrepublic) who was gracious and shared his 20 cl with all of us.

The lasting impression I have of the Balvenie Distillery is how it’s growth sustained so many livelihoods and produced consistent whiskies we enjoy a lot of places around the world today.

Speaking of enjoying whiskies, I'll tell you about a little place called the Highlander Inn. But more on that tomorrow.

-Cheers

[distilleryrat-blog]

It would take a month to try all the different #whisky labels on their bar. (at The Highlander Inn)