Contents
p5
Welcome to our very first issue of Whisky Magazine. We have been working on this launch issue for many months now, and hope you have as much fun reading it as we had putting it together. We haven’t ma...
By Charles MacLean in the section
From the Editor
p7
Michael Jackson refutes the belief that new devotees of whisky want blandness in thei drams
Where does one start with malts? This has to be the question I am most often asked. Normally I would say: start with something relatively mild in flavour, perhaps a Lowlander like Auchentoshan or Glen...
By Michael Jackson in the section
The Gospel According to Michael Jackson
p8
Jim Murray describes the horror of being offered plastic tasting glasses too tiny and too primitive even for wine, never mind whisky
It has happened three times so far this year. As we enter the run-up to Christmas it will doubtless happen again. What we are talking about here is something so horrific, so utterly contemptible and b...
By Jim Murray in the section
The Gospel According to Jim Murray
p20
Jens Tholstrup describes being taxed to the hilt in his native country, and deprived of a decent choice of malts into the bargain
Denmark is not the cheapest place to live. Any normal taxpayer will be relieved of 50 per cent of his salary before he even bothers the bank with what is left. Above a certain income this rises to 70 ...
By James Tholstrup in the section
Whisky Politics
p27
Damian Riley-Smith talks to Scottish rugby star Rob Wainwright about winning matches, losing salmon and the contents of his hip flask, Photographs by Will Boxall.
Rob Wainwright sounds much more Scottish than he used to. The soft Scottish lilt he had during his time in England (six years studying medicine at Cambridge University) became staunchly Scottish overn...
By Damian Riley-Smith in the section
Whisky Interview
p34
Charles Maclean takes a midnight tour of spectural distillery dogs ghostly maltmen and spirit footsteps that are silenced by the burning of boots. So draw the curtains and gather round the fire
Soon after the 1978 centenary of Glenrothes the stillman on duty noticed a silent presence in the stillhouse. He recognized the visitor by his dark complexion and long white hair – it was ‘Bye-way’, w...
By Charles MacLean in the section
Distillery Focus
p38
The peat-reek and iodine fullness of Laphroaig is the epitome of Islay; and it has changed little since the distillery was founded in the early nineteenth century, says Neil Wilson
Laphroaig's situation , on Islay's rugged south coast, cna only impress. Bracken-clad greenstone outcrops shield the distillery from the worst of the weather coming off the bay; beyond them, on a stil...
By Neil Wilson in the section
Distillery Focus
p43
In a new series on whisky in rock music,Lew Guthrie III looks at American alternative country rock band Richmond Fontaine
Nashville is the home of country, the place that has done more to sully the genre’s reputation than anywhere else. Conservative, reactionary, predominantly white and male, the country scene has long b...
By Lew Guthrie III in the section
Whisky and Music
p47
There's nothing safe about our single malt. We offer no money back guarantee if you're not totally satisfied. We're well aware that the uncompomising taste of Laphroaig (La-froyg) leads to extemes. Its pungent, earthy aroma and sweet, heathery smokiness are just as likely to dissuade as they are to delight. It's a gammble. But as they 'nothing ventured...same again?'
Beef fillet with caramelized onions, mushrooms and
whisky and chive sauce
(Serves 4)
1 150g/6oz Aberdeen Angus fillet per person
2 medium onions, thinly sliced
150g/6 oz chestnut mushrooms, quartered...
By Nick Nairn in the section
Whisky and Food
p52
The character of Speyside malts has been forged by geography and geology. Dave Broom looks at how remote glens and freezing water combined to produce consistent quality moonshine.
Speyside is familiar territory. The names of the distilleries trip off the tongue with ease; we think of Dufftown, Rothes and Keith as if they were just up the road. The mind’s image is one not just o...
By Dave Broom in the section
Whisky Production
p56
Tucked under the roof of Balvnie is a brand new and entirely separate distillery. Jim Murray charts the progress of Kininvie, currently 8 years old and maturing nicely
This would be called the forgotten distillery, had anyone heard of it in the first place. Kininvie is that rarest of beasts, a new working distillery that goes about its daily routine almost entirely ...
By Jim Murray in the section
Distillery Focus
p60
The nose has it: Charles Maclean on how to tast whisky, and exactly what your nose can tell you.
A sure sign of over-zealous indulgence is (of course) drinking alone. Another is (of course) drinking in the morning.This should concern me, I suppose. Solitary drinking is part of my job, and the bes...
By Charles MacLean in the section
Whisky Tasting
p62
Every issue of whisky magazine will review whiskies new fot the market tasted by regular contributor Michael Jackson and Jim Murray. Here Michael prepares the way by explaining the criteria he uses when assessing a whisky and what he considers when marking out of ten
How does one unravel the flavours of whisky? How does one pin down in mere words (and worse, marks out of ten) the flavours and aromas, from ginger to cedar to hay; lavender to juniper; marzipan to pe...
By Michael Jackson in the section
Whisky Tasting
p74
To prove that Whisky magazine has its ear well and truly to the ground, we would like to introduce our fly-on-the-wall, worm's-eye-view of the Scotch whisky industry. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is entirely coincidental as, indeed, is any resemblance to the Scotch whisky industry.
Let me introduce myself. I’m Andrew McVie. Or McCV, as the manager of our visitor centre, Ruth, so wittily put it this morning. ‘Don’t remind me,’ I said.
She said, ‘I will remind you. You have a pac...
By Andrew Mcvie in the section
The Last Word
