Contents
p5
Regular readers of this magazine are no doubt aware that, if they have the cash to hand, there are distilleries out there simply waiting for a decent offer.
This has manifested itself in several we...
By Marcin Miller in the section
From the Editor
p7
Michael Jackson faces the legacy of Beano and Dandy
The cigar appeared to be travelling under its own power as it entered the bar. It was a cigare volant as long as a freight train. I remembered waiting half an hour at a crossing in Billings, Montana, ...
By Michael Jackson in the section
Musings with Michael Jackson
p8
Dave Broom takes a deep breath and plunges headlong into the wonders of Islay
If you stand long enough in an Islay bar the whole world will eventually come and stand next to you. The thought strikes me one night (or was it one week) at the Lochindaal Hotel. Archie McAllister’s ...
By Dave Broom in the section
A dram with Dave Broom
p18
Brian Hennigan chuckles his way through a rich supply of Scottish whisky humour
Anyone offered one of the many recent “rare but authentic (honest!)” bottlings that the industry has been throwing at us will know that a sense of humour is an important commodity in the whisky world....
By Brian Hennigan in the section
Whisky Humour
p26
James Millard explains whyt the Speyside Whisky Festival is a mean contender in the whisky event stakes
The region of Speyside must certainly be a candidate for the best location in the world in which to hold a whisky festival. Home to nearly half of all distilleries in Scotland, the area between Invern...
By James Millard in the section
Speyside
p30
Dave Broom sticks up for the overlooked 'oddball' of the whisky world, with some expert help
It was halfway through the tasting for the last issue that it struck me that no-one really understands what a vatted malt is: it’s the poor relation of the whisky industry, not quite a blend, not quit...
By Dave Broom in the section
Vatted malts
p34
Dave Broom talks to John Glaser, the man exploring the boundaries of whisky
There's three things I look for when I make my whiskies," John Glaser is saying to me. "Flavour, creativity and pleasure: by which I mean moreishness and drinkability." There's 10 glasses in a circle ...
By Dave Broom in the section
Whisky Interview
p38
Happy days are here again, according to cigar guru James Leavey
Several months ago, I was invited to an exhibition in Paris to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the S.T. Dupont lighter. Arriving early, I nipped into a nearby café for a couple of espressos and Mont...
By James Leavey in the section
Whisky and Cigars
p44
With two wind farms proposed for Speyside, Charles Maclean asks: how will they affect this unspoiled area?
Speyside has a unique magic, as many readers of this magazine know. That’s why it’s one of Scotland’s leading visitor attractions; each year over a million people come to ski in the Cairngorms, watch...
By Charles MacLean in the section
Whisky landscapes
p48
John Lamond describes the miracles worked by Lennie Maguire proprietor of the St Andrew's Bar
The St Andrew's Bar is a real bar. It is what we Scots refer to as a "local", servicing the needs of the drinkers within the local community. Architecturally, it is very similar to many such hostelrie...
By John Lamond in the section
Great whisky bars
p52
Gavin Smith coaxes this hermit crab distillery out of its shell
Unlike some Speyside distilleries, Cragganmore has to be searched for. It is certainly worth the search, however, as it remains essentially a classic, whitewashed, ‘courtyard’ construction, occupying ...
By Gavin D. Smith in the section
Distillery Focus
p56
Martin Moodle conducts his annual survey on what's hot- and good value- in the duty free shops of the world
Duty free retailers have had a tough time lately. First, those laugh-a-minute bureaucrats of Brussels said “RIP duty free” (or at least between European Union countries) back in 1999. And over the pas...
By Abigail Bosanko in the section
Travel retail
p59
While oak ageing is an historic tradition, wood management is a far more recent discipline. The benefits of oak ageing have long been appreciated, rather than understood, but it’s only since the 1970s...
By in the section
Whisky Production
p77
Jefferson Chase guides us down through the murky and mysterious world of Japanese author Haruki Murakami
Haruki Murakami, born in 1949 in Kyoto, is Japan's answer to David Lynch and Don DeLillo, a novelist who takes readers into a fantastic world behind the humdrum surface of everyday reality. His 1995 n...
By Jefferson Chase in the section
Whisky Literature
p82
Brian Palmer, whisky Magazine's first ever tee-total contributor, reveals the Ileach view of Islay's famed annual whisky celebration
It’s a fact not lost on many visitors to Islay that those of us who live here have the ‘benefit’ of being surrounded by malt whisky
distilleries, some of the most famous in the world, and that it is ...
By Brian Palmer in the section
Islay
