The Exclusive Malts Batch#9 arrived yesterday at Norfolk Wine and Spirits. Exclusive Malts have been a favorite with many of our customers. All the Single Malts and Single Grains are Single Casks and bottled at cask strength.
All of the "The Exclusive Malts" casks are personally sampled and selected by Mr. David Stirk. Here are some pictures from Mr. Stirk's last visit to Norfolk Wine & Spirits, taking us throught the selection process and tasting through the Batch#8.
The Exclusive Malts tasting Seminar With Mr. David Stirk
Cambus is a closed distillery and is going to become very rare in the coming time. Glen Kieth on the other hand was closed in the late 1990's, while Glen Kieth reopened in 2013: all of the original distillery equipment was sold off. Now most of the "new" Glen Kieth is used for blends. There have been some "peated" Glen Glen Kieth's as well. In addition to the regularly created peated malt they have also used a process where the peatiness coming from smoking the water and the smoke passed through the water. This dark peaty water was then used in the production process.
The whisky that is not for Scotland is the Irish whisky 13 yo. Whisky Advocate rated that whisky #1 in their Fall 2015 edition of top 10 whiskies. The rating was a very high 96.
http://whiskyadvocate.com/tag/the-exclusive-malts/
These products are limited in nature as a single cask of each is brought into the USA and distributed across the entire country. The quantity allocated to Massachusetts is listed below, we brought in one case (6 bottles), if we open a bottle of each for a tasting, we will have 5 available for purchase.
- Alta-a-Bhainne 22yo - 4 cases
- Ben Nevis 17yo (sherry cask) - 8 cases
- Bruichladdich 11yo - 4 cases
- Campus single grain 26yo - 3 cases
- Deanston 17yo - 3 cases
- Girvan 28yo - 3 cases- Did not ship
- Glen Garioch (rum cask finish) - 3 cases
- Glen Keith 19yo - 3 cases
- Irish 13yo - 5 cases
Ben Nevis ‘96 17 yr Highland (Ex-Sherry Matured) 102.4 proof
Ben Nevis Distillery, situated at the foot of, and named after, the highest mountain in Scotland, is a rather unique Highland Scotch Whisky. Brimming with thick malt and dense fruit flavours, it has long been sought after by blenders as their backbone for a high-class Scotch Whisky. This refill ex-Sherry butt has been maturing next to the distillery, untouched since 1996 and is a classy example of what this distillery can offer.
Cask Strength Single Malt Highland Whisky - Single Cask Bottling of only 496 Bottles, Sherry Cask Matured.
51.2% Alc by Volume
Glen Garioch ’95 19 yr Highland (Ex-Rum Finished) 112.6 proof
The closest distillery to the ancient city of Aberdeen is Glen Garioch distillery (pronounced ‘Gearie’). This small Highland malt whisky was often overlooked in the past couple of decades as more attention was given to its sister distilleries in Glasgow and on Islay. This meant there were few offerings from this exceptional distillery. Thankfully this is changing as more and more attention are given to malts. This cask had previously held Rum from Guyana which has imparted a sweet and fruity character to the spirit.
Deanston ’97 17 yr Highland 104.60 proof
Deanston Distillery, situated near Perth, was originally a cotton mill in the latter part of the 18th Century. It only recently began life as a distillery, being converted in 1966. Most of its whisky is intended for blending but occasionally casks find their way, untouched, into the bottle as a single malt whisky. This refill hogshead has sat, slowly maturing, for 17 years, retaining the full malty, earthy character that is the essence of Deanston whisky.
Bruichladdich ’04 11 yr Islay 111.20 proof
The most Westerly distillery in Scotland is Bruichladdich Distillery. Famed for making a quality spirit, without the peat smoke of its neighbours, it was long favoured by the Ileach (the people of Islay). This cask was made not long after the distillery returned to former glories and the whisky in this cask does its reincarnation credit. Full of rich, sweet malt and heavy fruit with perhaps just a hint of the sea-air where it matured for 11 years.
Cask Strength Single Malt Islay Whisky - Single Cask Bottling of only 254 Bottles. 55.6% Alc by Volume
Girvan ’88 27 yr Lowland 106.8 proof
The Girvan Distillery was completed in 1963 and was built by the William Grant & Sons Company to satisfy their demand for grain whisky for their many blends. At the time of completion it was the largest distillery in Europe and also makes a very well known gin. This ‘Coffey Still’ distillate was laid down in 1988 and has been bottled as naturally as possible to retain all of the soft American oak flavours.
Cask Strength Single Grain Lowland Whisky - Single Cask Bottling of only 180 Bottles . 53.4% Alc by Volume
Cambus ’88 26 yr Lowland 96.2 proof
Cambus Distillery was one of the largest in the world when founded in 1813 in Clackmannanshire. It closed in 1993 when its owners decided that their requirement for grain whisky could be satisfied by other distilleries in their portfolio. Sadly, it joins the list of numerous grain distilleries closed for good. This cask was filled in 1988 and has slowly maturing for 26 years but shows off the delicate and complex nature of the spirit.
Glen Keith ’96 19 yr Speyside 100.2 proof
Situated in the small town of Keith and a few hundred yards from Strathisla Distillery, Glen Keith closed around the late 90s and re-opened in 2013 to make whisky entirely for the export blend market. This meant that the only single malt available was the rare single cask bottling like this one. This refill hogshead shows the fruity-sweet style so favoured by blenders.
Allt-A-Bhainne ’93 22 yr Speyside 101.40 proof
Allt-a-Bhainne, which means ‘Milk Burn’ in Gaelic, Distillery is nestled in the hills behind Dufftown. The distillery was built in the post Second World War boom for Scotch Whisky and was built entirely to contribute to the large blends of the parent company, Seagram’s. Even today, its malt whisky is almost never bottled un-blended as a single malt. It is up to the rare single cask offerings to show what this distillery can do. This refill hogshead is full of candy floss and sweet fruits.
Irish Whisky 22 yr Speyside 101.40 proof
Cask Strength Single Malt Irish Whiskey - Single Cask Bottling of only 336 Bottles. 52.2% Alc by Volume
