The KOTQ

Here’s a reason to participate on our blog – we can cover topics here throughout the year and not spend scotch-tasting time talking…

For those of you who might think that this topic isn’t official KOTQ business – it doesn’t have to be…this is a blog:

Could someone tell me if that cask we bought a share in was a scam and it’s (pure spring) water under the bridge -or- it really is a slow-to-develop, maddeningly poorly communicated scheme from our friends across the pond? If answering, please note that those are your only two choices.

If it is actually a scheme please reply with the specifications so that we have them in writing in this blog:

Distillery
Current Age
Next voting period
# of bottles each KOTQ member invested will receive
etc, etc.

You want a great way to learn about anything over the Internet in a relatively short period of time? Then, participate in forums. I regularly read (and subscribe to) forums for Heroclix and Board Games. I have learned immense amounts of useful information just by reading and participating in these forums.

I’m starting to get excited about Whisky Magazine’s forums as well. There is an opportunity to gain access to a hugely valuable resource on what is happening in the Single Malt Scotch world, not from the industry perspective, but from the single malt enthusiast’s perspective, by reading (you don’t even have to contribute) the forums at Whisky On-Line.

I have set up direct links to the open-ended Whisky Q&A forum and the Whisky Tasting Notes forum in our sidebar area under Whisky Magazine On-Line. I highly recommend both, but, note that Whisky Magazine On-Line also has many, many, other forums for you to use.

The Q&A forum covers the full gamut of single malt enthusiasm and experience from what to do when you visit Scotland, to the FWP (French Whore Perfume) problem with current Bowmores, to what gift to give a friend with a $300 budget. The topics are wide ranging and relevant all at once.

As a teaser I invite you to go straight to this thread on single malts and music. Read through the whole thread, and you’ll see that many, if not all, of us are in good company when it comes to opinion on this!

The Tasting forum is an excellent supplement and extension to our own tasting notes area. I recommend it as well.

One of the events planned for the upcoming Speyside Festival 2005, beginning April 29th and running through May 2nd, is a tasting to determine the “greatest Speyside whisky”.

Here are the 6 finalists as determined by a small panel of whisky industry “experts”:

25-year-old Glenfarclas
21-year-old Glenlivet
10-year-old Aberlour
12-year-old Macallan
cask-strength Macallan
15-year-old Glenfiddich Solera Reserve.

I thought a reprisal of this “taste-off” might be a fun, future tasting idea.

There’s a new area in the sidebar that I wanted to introduce to you. The “Scotch Links” area is an area for all of us to contribute our favorite and most useful websites related to single malt scotch.

You can put magazines, distillery sites, research sites, societies, whatever you think is a great single malt site for all of us to use and enjoy. This links can be a very valuable tool down the road to assist with homework research and execution as well!

I have put a few of my favorites so far in the list to give you an idea of what to put in there. I also have set up a separate area dedicatd to Whisky Magazine On-Line. Whisky Magazine is an amazingly rich resource to use to keep abreast of the whisky industry as well as post your own threads to robust world wide forums.

How do I do it you ask?

Go the “Site Admin” area and click on “Links” and then within there click on “Add Link”. But, be sure to choose the “Scotch Links” category for your link so that your link will show up in the “Scotch Links” area of the sidebar.

In my continual search for a bottle of Ben Nevis 10, I decided to contact the distillery directly. A few weeks ago, I wrote to Colin Ross, the managing director at Ben Nevis, and told him of the difficulty I’ve had in finding the 10 year expression here. I just heard back from him today, and here’s an excerpt of the reply:

“Since our U.S.importer went into liquidation/receivership a few years ago we have, sadly, not been able to find another so currently we are without a presence in your country. I have been suggesting to other enquirers from the U.S that they may be able to obtain stocks of our whisky through www.thewhiskyexchange.com or Loch Fyne Whiskies, Inveraray, Argyll, both of whom have the necessary agreements in place to be able to supply whisky directly into your country. You may find that Loch Fyne Whiskies are the less expensive option and I know that they do provide a good service.
We would love to supply you directly from the distillery or through an agent in the U.S. but for the moment this is just not possible.”

I found this information worth mentioning in case you, too, are also unable to find a special bottling unavailable stateside. I visited the Whisky Exchange site and it looks like a great collection. Loch Fyne will ship to the US, but they have a lot of caveats as a result of the trials and tribulations of shipping liquors overseas through customs. For Ben Nevis 10, Loch Fyne is about $10 less than Whisky Exchange. Loch Fyne is at www.lfw.co.uk.

Does anyone have experience with buying direct from the UK? I plan to take my chances with Loch Fyne and will let you know how it goes.