Wild About Whisky

28/09/2023

25/09/2023

It’s that time of the year again where the production team walk 300 yards from Springbank over to Glengyle Distillery to start producing Kilkerran Single Malt Whisky.

As with every year, the first 9 months of production is at Springbank Distillery, with the remainder of the year spent producing Kilkerran Single Malt at Glengyle distillery.

Throughout the year however, we continue to malt barley on Springbank's malt floors, which will be transported to Glengyle and used in Kilkerran's production, so you can still visit us during this time to see our maltings in action:

https://www.springbank.scot/product/springbank-tour/

📸 : Frombarreltobottle

14/02/2023

Ballechin 2012 9yo single malt. Matured in a 1st Fill Sherry Butt 46%
When Andrew Symington bought the distillery, Edradour, in 2002, he called on the services of Iain Henderson, former manager of the Laphroaig distillery, to create a very peaty second malt.
Called Ballechin, this second single malt is made from barley malted at 50 ppm phenol, a level comparable to the smokiest Islay malts (it represents 5% of the Edradour distillery’s production).
Nose: Honey-glazed🍯 crispy bacon🥓, a barbecued kebab or strawberries🍓and cranberries. Farmyard, lanolin, earthy peat.
Palate: Seductively unctuous, sherry-sweet🍷and warming, then hot tar, molasses, cracked black pepper and lingering salted Dutch liquorice on the finish.
The perfect Valentine peat-lovers dram!😋
Available now at www.wildaboutwhisky.com

09/02/2023

What is spirit caramel or e150?

Spirit Caramel refers to high molecular weight, brown compounds that are formed when sugar (sucrose or glucose) is heated in the presence of certain tanning accelerators. The chemical reaction that takes place is the so-called Maillard reaction, which takes place during baking and is responsible for the natural color of bread crusts.
Depending on the tanning accelerator used, caramel has a different E number (E150a, E150b, E150c, E150d). E150A, which mainly contains acetic or citric acid as a tanning accelerator, is used to coloring products with a high alcohol content.
A positive side effect, for the producer, of the whisky colouring is that darker whiskies look older. In the case of younger Scotch whiskies, No Age Statements(NAS) and blends in particular, the manufacturers often give use considerably more colouring. Often to the point that NAS whiskies, almost certainly containing younger whiskies, are darker than age statement whiskies from the same distillery. In these cases the real reason for tinting the whisky with spirit caramel is the promotional value of darker whisky.

27/10/2022

McKechnie has been mentored by The Balvenie's malt master David Stewart

28/09/2022

09/09/2022

The E.H. Taylor line has become a prized catch for bourbon hunters. But was Taylor really the founding father of the modern bourbon industry?

26/07/2022

Our Master Blender, Rachel Barrie (), has been awarded The Master Blender/Distiller of the Year Award at the International Spirits Challenge, and we couldn’t be happier for her.

The award recognises and celebrates the craftsmanship, skill and talent of a master blender or distiller’s work over the last twelve months.

With 30 years’ experience to her name, Rachel has been the force behind the coastal charm and delicious flavour of every bottle that leaves the Glenglassaugh distillery.

Congratulations Rachel, from all of us at Glenglassaugh.

21/05/2022

We are thrilled to announce that our new Islay distillery will be called PORTINTRUAN (pronounced Port-nah-truan).

The name is taken from the historic farm estate where our distillery is located and means ‘place of the stream’.

This beautiful Scottish name reflects our philosophy, where the past meets the future, combining old-style production techniques with modern technology to produce the most complex and characterful spirit we can.

Our name reveal comes just in time for Fèis Ìle 2022, where we will be welcoming Islay whisky lovers to our distillery site (which is in its earliest stages of development), to take a look at the distillery plans and chat with our team - sharing a dram of two, of course!

We look forward to welcoming you all to Portintruan and to creating delicious liquid for you to enjoy in the not-too-distant future.