Contents
p5
The price of whisky in British shops comes tumbling down at Christmas every year. Five pounds off a bottle of malt is common; £1.50 off a blend.
“Great,” is our reaction to such a situation. Then we ...
By Charles MacLean in the section
From the Editor
p7
Michael Jackson joins the poitin patrol, in prepartation for St Patrick's Day on Friday 17 March.
There is a perfectly legal Irish whiskey called Paddy, and that is what the label before me announced. However, the contents of the bottle were the colour of water, smelled slightly of silage, and had...
By Michael Jackson in the section
The Gospel According to Michael Jackson
p14
Whisky is rock's decadent badge of credibility. Dave Broom rhapsodises about the bohemians whose primal screams reveal an inspired but tortured relationship with the bottle.
We’re at a party following a Primal Scream gig in Brighton. A friend presents guitarist Robert Young with a token of his appreciation, a 40oz bottle of Jack Daniel’s. Robert proceeds to spend the rest...
By Dave Broom in the section
Whisky and Music
p18
Derek Cooper, the winner of the 1999 Glenfiddich Lifetime Achievement award, reveals his selection of the eight favourite whiskies he would take to a desert island and includes the world's first organised malt.
I started playing the game of choosing our favourite malts with a Manhattan American while on a cruise down the Nile 15 or so years ago. He had spent a year in Scotland and become an enthusiastic conn...
By Derek Cooper in the section
Whisky Favourites
p22
Blended whiskies are too often dismissed as the poor relation of single malts, but as Dr Jim Swan reveals, their creation is extraordinarily complex.
Attractive though they may be, it is not the single malts that have created the enormous success of Scotch that has taken place since the 1950s – that has been the domain of the blended whiskies. Neve...
By Jim Swan in the section
Whisky Production
p28
Gavin Smith retraces the resurrection of Scotland's most southerly distillery, and discovers why it is being directed by an Irishman.
It’s a sad fact that de-commisioned distilleries, like old fighters, seldom make comebacks, and the last two decades of the 20th century were not kind to Scotland’s whisky-making facilities. Overall o...
By Gavin D. Smith in the section
Distillery Focus
p32
Do you always know your blend from your malt? See who got it right when whisky magazine hosted a blind tasting.
It was the perfect place for a tasting, Milroys’ new bar upstairs in the centre of London’s Soho, soft lighting, gleaming bottles, old oak furniture and not a strip of chrome in sight. The cold, damp...
By in the section
Whisky Tasting
p38
Wild Turkey is an old-fashioned American spirit, full of character, with an ability to seduce all-comers. Stuart Maclean-Ramsay pays his respects.
Brand ambassadors for premium Scotch and bourbon in America come in all shapes and styles.
There’s the youthful ambassador, handsome and unencumbered by the experience of actually working in a distil...
By Stuart MacLean Ramsay in the section
Distillery Focus
p42
Can the flavours and textures of chinese cuisine embrace whisky? The internationally acclaimed cookery expert yan-kit so was happy to demonstrate the possibilities to Damian Riley-Smith.
It seems a match made in heaven. Whisky has an enormous range of styles and flavours, the world has a huge variety of cuisine ... together the possibilities are endless.
The growth in the popularity ...
By Damian Riley-Smith in the section
Whisky and Food
p48
Jamie Walker had revived the Adelphi name after nearly a century. Ken Hyder talks to the man whose cask crusade promises to widen the horizons of Irish Whiskey and Scotch drinkers.
When Jamie Walker put single cask Irish whiskeys on sale this year (see New Releases, Whisky Magazine, Issue 8), it marked both the end of one journey and the beginning of another.
Jamie, the great g...
By Ken Hyder in the section
Irish Whiskey
p52
Irish Whiskey is entering a golden age hanks to the efforts of entrpreneurs such as Mark Andrews, Gary Regan met this king of Knappogue Castle.
There’s a whisky for every mood, or rather there is a Scotch or bourbon one. But Irish whiskeys ... well the choice is more limited. Or rather it was, until such enterprising chaps as Mark Andrews, pr...
By Gary Regan in the section
Irish Whiskey
p56
You can't mistake the taste of Irish Whiskey in Gallweys' award-winning chocolate truffles. Maisha Frost forgets the calorie counting to report on a luxurious confection that is in a class of its own
Chocs do not come much posher than Gallweys’ truffles, hand made in Waterford. Dark and delicious or pale and creamy with satin-smooth interiors, each indulgence is choc-a-bloc with whiskey.
Neither...
By Maisha Frost in the section
Whisky and Food
p59
The bad guy's whiskey is set to leap off the history shelves and stage a magnificent revival. Scott Aiges makes an irresistable case for procurring some bottles.
With the snifter held aloft, the liquid inside displays a deep amber colour, the result of years spent in a barrel of charred oak. But with one whiff, it is obvious that this whiskey is like no other....
By Scott Aiges in the section
American Whiskey
p62
Glenmorangie's creative relationship with wine barrels has produced some radical and fascinating results, Maragaret Rand reports on the progression so far.
It’s a tempting prospect – a fine malt matured in a barrel that once contained one of France’s greatest red wines. True, the Glenmorangie Claret Finish does not advertise the fact that the barrel in w...
By Margaret Rand in the section
Whisky Production
p66
Restless genius Peter Mackie was a true champion of malt. Tom Bruce-Gardyne describes the life of the whisky baron who created the White Horse.
Peter Mackie was a man with a mission. Hanging from the wall of his office at 13 Carlton Place, Glasgow, was a huge sign emblazoned with the words, "Take Nothing for Granted." As the father of White H...
By Tom Bruce-Gardyne in the section
Whisky Hero
p70
Englishman Adam Edward relaxes his stiff upper lip to reveal a life-long passion.
Some drink whisky before making love, others before squaring up for a fight. Some drink it to laugh and some to drown their sorrows. For some it is convivial and yet there are those who enjoy it in so...
By Adam Edwards in the section
Whisky view
p72
Jane Slade talks to Lord Thurso, a Patron of the Qaich, about his family, his castle and his long love affair with Scotch.
It seems a contradiction that the chief executive of one of the smartest health farms in Britain should be a whisky lover. Not only that but when he makes his three-minute trek home from his office at...
By Jane Slade in the section
Whisky Interview
p90
Charles Maclean talks to Robert Hicks, the master blender at Allied Distillers.
CM Are whisky blenders born or trained?
RH A bit of both. You have to have the right temperament to be a blender. You have to be a perfectionist, passionate about fine detail – like a watchmaker, say,...
By Charles MacLean in the section
Whisky Interview
