Our first allocation of Glenfiddich Snow Phoenix sold out before Christmas, but we have some more stock arriving later this week. The story behind this lovely malt is that on the evening of 7th Jan after weeks of heavy snow, in a remote part of the distillery estate, a number of warehouse roofs collapsed under [...]
Vermouth – not just Martini!
September 29th, 2010Vermouth is a fortified wine, flavored with aromatic herbs and spices (“aromatized” in the trade) such as cardamom, cinnamon, marjoram and chamomile.[1] Some vermouth is sweetened; unsweetened, or “dry” vermouth tends to be bitter. The person credited with inventing the vermouth recipe, Antonio Benedetto Carpano from Turin, Italy, chose to name his concoction “vermouth” in [...]
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Varieties of Sherry
September 29th, 2010Sherry is a fortified wine, produced in the southern tip of Spain. The demarcated area around the towns of Jerez de la Frontera, Sanlúcar de Barrameda and El Puerto de Santa María in Andalucia, forms the Denominaciónes de Origen of Jerez-Xérèz-Sherry and Manzanilla-Sanlúcar de Barrameda. How is it Made? The grapes are harvested, pressed and [...]
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Port – a fortified wine
September 29th, 2010Port is a sweet fortified wine from the Douro Valley in northern Portugal; the Douro River runs from west to east, from Oporto on the Atlantic Coast through to Spain. Only 40 % of all the wines in the region may be made into port each year, with the governing body, the Instituto dos Vinhos [...]
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Types of Champagne
September 29th, 2010Most of the Champagne produced today is “Non-vintage”, meaning that it is a blended product of grapes from multiple vintages. Most of the base will be from a single year vintage with producers blending anywhere from 10–15% (even as high as 40%) of wine from older vintages. If the conditions of a particular vintage are [...]
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History of Champagne
September 29th, 2010Champagne is a sparkling wine produced by inducing secondary fermentation of the wine. It is produced exclusively within the Champagne region of France from, which it takes its name. The primary grapes used in the production of Champagne are Chardonnay, Pinot noir and Pinot Meunier. Champagne has a protect name (Protected Designation of Origin), this [...]
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Calvados- the fruity brandy
September 29th, 2010Calvados is a brandy from a limited and strictly controlled area of Normandy in north-west France, where the temperate, maritime climate has long been perfect for fruit orchards. Calvados must be distilled from cider and/or perry, and aged in oak barrels for a minimum of two years. The delimited region has three crus with differing [...]
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Origins of Armagnac
September 29th, 2010Armagnac is a brandy made from grapes from a limited and strictly controlled area in the Gers, Landes and Lot-et- Garonne départements of south-west France. It is produced from white wine, distilled, aged in oak barrels for a minimum of two years, and bottled at a minimum of 40 % abv. Unusually for a wine [...]
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The Ageing of Cognac
September 29th, 2010Traditional casks are either 350 litre fûts or 540 litre tierçons and are made of oak. Old oak plays a considerable part in cognac maturation as 72 % abv spirit could leach excessive character from a new barrel. The spirit is affected in a number of ways during cask ageing ; it slowly, but positively [...]
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Irish Poteen or Potcheen
September 29th, 2010Irish Poteen is a separate and succinct spirit category that has been produced for several centuries and for nearly the last 300 years has been referred to as Ireland’s Moonshine whiskey. During the period 1666 until recently, in various forms it has been illegal to sell it in Ireland. It was not until 1997 that [...]
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