Glenfiddich Distillery
The 2010 season started off as usual
with a Glenfiddich event on the 30th June when Fergus Simpson, Senior Tour Guide, gave an amusing and interesting talk on a range of William Grants whiskies. The audience were given drams of Glenfiddich 12yo, 14yo Rich Oak, GF 15yo and 18yo. In addition Fergus brought with him a 1999 Cask Strength Kininvie. The lucky winner of the nosing competition, Matti Ahola from Finland, is seen here being presented with a bottle of 14year old Glenfiddich Rich Oak by Fergus.
Duncan Taylor
A very entertaining evening was had when Mark Watt of Duncan Taylor, Independent Bottlers of Huntly, brought along a selection of their whiskies through the regions of Scotland. They included Whisky Galore Auchentoshan, NC2 Imperial, Black Bull 12yo, Rare Auld Glen Grant Sherry Cask and NC2 Craigellachie 1997. The Rare Auld was the favourite of the evening.
Winner of the Nosing Competition was Johann Kappacher from Austria who is seen here being presented with a bottle of Black Bull 12yo by Mark.
Tomatin Distillery
Our third nosing was sponsord by Tomatin Distillery and presented by Distillery Manager, Douglas Campbell. It was a great nosing and tasting, giving overseas visitors a broad spectrum of the Tomatin range of single malts and it was enjoyed by all. Douglas brought with him the 12yo, 15yo, 18yo, 21yo and 25yo. After a 'nose-off' the winner this week was Simon Landolt from Switserland, seen here being given a bottle of Tomatin 15yo by Douglas.
Tomintoul Distillery
Our Nosing & Tasting Evening on 21st July was sponsored by Angus Dundee Distillers. Tom Gerrie production manager at Tomintoul gave the audience drams from the two distilleries. He brought Tomintoul 12yo Olroso, 14yo and the 16yo. In addition we sampled Glencadam Port wood finish and Old Ballantruan 50% peated malt. The winner of the nosing competition was John Mack from the UK here being given a bottle of 16yo Tomintoul by Tom Gerrie.
Glen Moray Distillery
The 5th nosing & tasting took place on 28th July when Iain Allan, Visitor Centre Manager at Glen Moray Distillery, invited the whisky enthusiasts to taste a selection of great single malts. He let us sample Glen Moray Classic, 16yo, 30yo, Mountain Oak CS and 1995 Port Wood finish, with the last edition of Moutain Oak being the star of the evening. There was another "nose-off" at the nosing competition which resulted in two winners. Iain donated a bottle of 16yo and a Glen Moray Classic. The winners had to choose from two bagged bottles and Vittoria Rosapane from Italy picked the Glen Moray Classic and Kristian Fridh from Sweden the 16yo. The audiance gave Iain and Glen Moray a big hand for a great evening and the product supplied.
BenRiach Distillery
Another wonderful evening was enjoyed by the crowd as René introduced Stewart Buchanan, Production Manager from BenRiach Distillery. Stewart gave an informative talk about his company's history and future plans. He then went on to guide us through the great selection he had brought along that evening, which included 2 malts from the Core Range; Curiositas 10yo peated and the 16yo non-peated. In addition we had 3 peated expressions; 1984 Oloroso Butt, 1972 Hogshead, 1976 Port Pipe. Furthermore we sampled 1979 3rd fill Bourbon, 1976 non-peated Hogshead, 1975 3rd fill Sherry Butt which was the star of the evening. The winner of the nosing competition was Sandro Battiston from Italy who nosed all 5 samples correctly. He is seen here receiving a bottle of 20yo BenRiach from Stewart.
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Glenfarclas Distillery
Kate Wright, Sales Manager, from Glenfarclas gave an interesting talk about the history of the distillery and the Grant family. She then went on to do a great nosing and tasting of a selection of Glenfaclas's single malts ~ 10yo, 15yo, 21yo and 105 which all present enjoyed very much. In addition she brought along a sample of 40yo for the audience to nose and taste. The nosing competition was won by Meagan Goodbridge from Canada who received a bottle of 105 plus a small sample of 40yo.
Knockdhu Distillery
Gordon Bruce, manager at Knockdhu distillery entertained the audiance with a great selection of Inverhouse Distillers & An Cnoc malt whiskies. There was a good attendance and all enjoyed the tastings. The lucky winner of the nosing competition who received a bottle of An Cnoc 1994 was Rasmus Moller from Denmark, seen here being congratulated by Gordon Bruce.
Balvenie Distillery
The last nosing & tasting in August was promoted by Balvenie Distillery. The Visitor Manager, Brian Robinson gave a talk about the William Grant Family and the uniqueness of Balvenie for having a barley malting on-site. The full house of visitors enjoyed the drams and the competition afterwards. Seen here on the left with Brian is Daniel Kroll from Germany who won a bottle of brand-new Peated Balvenie 17yo.
Adelphi Distillery
On 1st September we had another wonderful evening which was enjoyed by a near capacity crowd as Gordon introduced Antonia Bruce from Adelphi Distillers, who gave an informative talk about her company. Antonia explained where they got their barrels from and why they supply them at cask strength to the public. She then went on to guide us through the selection she had brought along that evening, which included Fascadale 2, Liddesdale, Bowmore 2000, Maccalan 96 and we finnished with a Glen Grant 1985 which everyone thought was superb! Winner of the nosing competition was Mikael Broas from Finland. Mikael is seen here receiving a bottle of Breath of Speyside from Antonia.
Gordon & MacPhail
The second last Nosing & Tasting of 2010 was sponsord by Gordon & MacPhail, owners of the Benromach Disillery. Their sale manager Mike Patterson offered the new Benromach 10yo and a selection of G & M's own bottlings. The winner of the competition was Mischa Coenen from The Netherlands here presented a bottle of Benromach by Mike.
Chivas Bros.
The final Nosing & Tasting evening was had when Chris Brousseau of Chivas Bros. Ltd. delighted the audience with a range of whiskies. There was Aberlour "new-make", Glenlivet 12yo First Fill for Duty-Free shops, Glenlivet 18yo, Strathisla 12yo, Aberlour 16yo and Aberlour a'bunach cask strength at 59.9%.
The winner of the nosing competition was Mariette Vogelaar from the Netherlands who is seen here being presented with her prize by Chris.
Again Dufftown 2000 Ltd. would like to say a big thank you to all the Distilleries and Independent Bottlers for their support in sponsoring the Nosings & Tastings during the summer months. A big thanks also to their staff for giving up their time and supplying samples of their malts to give visitors to the Whisky Capital such great evening's of entertainment.
Reports of past nosings and a gallery of winners may be found on the menu to the left. All photographs are courtesy of René Ramón, Gordon Houghton and Andy Cameron. If you would like a larger copy of any of these emailed to you please request it here. |
