Keepers of the Quaich

I just heard a reference to this and had to post. The US secret service has Bruichladdich distillery under observation becuase their new product is “just a small tweak” from a chemical weapon. There may be a better article, but follow here for an overview.

Bluff, Irving, and I had the distinct pleasure of meeting American independent bottler Jeff Topping and his brand The Wild Scotsman at Sam’s Spirits Night tasting on February 28th. Jeff is a young, passionate, American who has recently founded his own independent bottling label and has already released his first vatted malt. Interesting timing coming across Jeff after our discussions regarding vatted malts and their potential in the industry just 4 nights earlier.

Jeff is living a keeper’s fantasy life as an independent bottler and he is also an apprentice whisky master living in Scotland. I liked him very much when we had a chance to chat at Sam’s. Please read this interview with Jeff when you can. His is an interesting story and the link also serves to highlight our latest addition to our links area The Scotch Blog which is another wonderful resource for us to use.

Some bad news came out of Sam’s Fat Tuesday Spirits Night event actually. Straight from the mouth of the memorable and charming Burn Stewart sales rep came the news that the Tobermory distillery has hit a 6-year wide production gap in Ledaig 15. There isn’t any to be found world wide until 2012. Ugh. This is equivalent, in my mind, to the production gap (I just hate those 2 words together like that) in Springbank 21. That one, as far as I can tell, was/is 7 years wide; 2002 – 2009.

So, if you have any Ledaig 15 please share some with me!

In the mean time if you want to stock up Binny’s has some left but Sam’s does not. Funny…Binny’s shopping cart says it’s “widely available”. Just goes to show you – never believe a data base.