Meikle Toir comes to Malaysia

The GlenAllachie distillery brings to Malaysia its first peated single malt - Meikle Tòir - created by co-owner and whisky veteran, Billy Walker, whose goal was to create a peated whisky, a rare style in the Speyside region. As GlenAllachie is an independent distillery, Walker and his team have complete freedom to experiment as they will.

 

 

Meikle Tòir was created using mainland peat for an oaky, sweet smoke and it undergoes an extended fermentation.

 

Johnny Walker 15 Years Sherry Finish Launched in Malaysia

Think Johnnie Walker and you'll probably be familiar with their colour coded brand range - Red, Black Green, Gold, Platinum, Blue....Yes the Walker family is popularly loved for their blended whiskies, and the newly launched Johnnie Walker Aged 15 Years Sherry Finish is no exception. 

Cardhu, Glen Elgin and Clynelish are some of the single malts that went into the making of the 15YO.

Balblair's Core Range Release in Malaysia

We were recently invited for a tasting and dinner to introduce the Bablair's core range aged expressions of the 12yr old, 15yr old and 18yr old.

But is Balblair's new? The answer is.... not really.

Previously, Balblair was originally introduced as a whisky bottled by "vintage" like, wine. The Balblair 95 for example; was bottled in 2015.

What made them change? Well my guess would be, like every other brand going NAS, stamping Balblair as an aged expression is a way of changing their game plan for meeting demand. So, if you can get your hands on their vintage variant though, do it.

Image: The Whisky Exchange and Master of Malt

If you're curious, you can read about their change here:
https://scotchwhisky.com/magazine/latest-news/25093/balblair-removes-vintages-amidst-revamp/
http://www.thewhiskybusiness.com/2019/03/balblair-distillery-launches-new-age.html

Of the 3 new expressions released, which one do I like? To be honest, all 3 make for a decent everyday easy-drinking dram. The 12 yr old was a nice dram to start the evening with the 15 yr old makes a decent after dinner dram, and the 18 yr old was a good way to end the night.

For more:
https://www.balblair.com/
https://www.facebook.com/asiaeurogroup/ (main distributor in Malaysia)

Thanks for the jio, AsiaEuro.

- Jon

Lower East Side Whisky Officially Launches in Malaysia

Lower East Side Whisky was first introduced to Malaysia during the not so recent Whisky Plus held earlier in July... but the brand was just officially launched at the breathtakingly scenic view of Cielo Kuala Lumpur down at Changkat Bukit Bintang earlier this month. Cielo, if you are not familiar with the establishment, is part of the Werner Group’s latest foray brand under their portfolio of impressive outlets in Changkat Bukit Bintang stretch that includes The Rum Bar, The Whisky Bar, Opium, El Cerdo...

Liquid in glass contained only water for colour comparison...

We found out that Lower East Side Whisky apart from its name, the whisky has nothing to do with the New York reference. Tony Roberts, from the brand new Borders Distillery that owns this whisky, explains that the distillery is located at the ‘lower east side’ of the Scottish border to England about an hours drive to the border. The map on the whisky bottle is the Scotland map but the map grid pattern on the map is the map of New York. Scottish humour, he says (we didn't get it, haha).

Lower East Side Whisky is not a product distilled from its own distillery. Well, not yet, anyway. Barely 1 year in (officially opened early this year), it can't make the whisky yet and still call it scotch (needs to be at least 3 years old). What they have done is source the 6 single malts ( 2 highlands + 4 speysides) from friendly whisky distilleries and marry them instead.

It has light fruits and orange on the nose and twang of orange peel marmalade on the palate. Its a young blend without much of a finish bottled at 40% ABV. Expect to be retailed at around where the other cheeky blended malt whisky brand is priced as well.

The Borders Distillery (because it is near the border la) is already in production with a blended NAS and Gin.

Good Luck Mr Roberts and we will wait patiently to ‘Slainte Math’ with your other products soon!

-Jon

The Chivas Regal Mizunara Comes to Malaysia

The Chivas Regal Mizunara is said to be the "the world’s first Scotch whisky" that is finished in  Japanese Mizunara oak casks. First unveiled exclusively in Japan in 2013, it was afterwards made available in France and Thailand - now it's come to Malaysia.

What goes in there? Selected Chivas Regal whiskies that get finished in  Mizunara oak casks.

If you're a Japanese whisky fan, the mere mention of Mizunara may get your mouth watering.

Mizunara is an oak tree which are indigenous to Japan. It is known to be extremely scarce (evidently, the tree needs to be at least 200 years old before it can be made into a cask) and has a distinctive porous nature.

While the latter makes the wood more difficult to work with, it also allows for imparting "more flavours" of the wood into the whisky at a shorter time - lending a whisky that's aged in it a distinct flavour profile of subtle vanilla, fruity and flower scents with a spicy finish - which you'll also find in the Chivas Regal Mizunara.

Official tasting notes of the Chivas Regal Mizunara:
Nose:    Rich and fruity, with pear and orange notes
Palate:  Smooth and rich with a honey sweetness and a trace of hazelnut
Finish:   Long, with a touch of Mizunara spice
Colour:  Warm amber

Image: PRM

You can experience the Chivas Regal Mizunara which will be available in limited quantities in selected F&B outlets, bars and supermarkets across Malaysia from March 2018. Prices start from the high side of RM3XX onward, from what we've observed.

Pernod Ricard Malaysia Brand Manager Benedict Yong and Sebastien Mouquet, Managing Director of Pernod Ricard Malaysia among the rest of the PRM crew, launching the new bottling at Pernod Ricard Malaysia's HQ bar - Bar des Embiez (Image: PRM)

FA and I enjoyed this so if you manage to get your hands on one, don't forget to jio!

- Jon

Launch: FiftySix Degrees Whisky - A Malaysian Brand

Hello FiftySix Degrees!

Well, let me qualify the post title - it's not actually made in Malaysia. (edit: changed the title a bit so that it's less ambiguous lol)

Launched barely a month ago (12 March 2015), the whisky is actually from Scotland, but the brand and bottling is Malaysian. And as true Malaysians, as long as there's a certain % that's made in Malaysia, idiotic nationalists like me will unabashedly proclaim it MADE IN MALAYSIA! :P

You definitely won't find it anywhere else yet though. It's currently only available in Malaysia, so don't bother looking for online reviews on it.... For now.  :)

The Bee's Heart of the Run Whisky Festival Post-Event Report

One of The Bee's event posters which I thought was cute and deserved a repost. :D

The Bee held (what was probably) the first (and biggest) whisky fair in Malaysia just last Sunday, 8 March 2015 at their Solaris Publika outlet.

If you had any interest in whisky at all and weren't there (without a good reason), kindly proceed to give yourself a nice good kick in the behind. And then read on while I explain to you WHY you deserved that nice good kick.

Taste: The Arran Single Malt Whisky

All the Arrans Available in Malaysia.

Background:

• Opened in 1995 - to put things in perspective, the oldest bottle that they technically can have today if barreled then is 19. So it is a relatively new distillery.
• It is located at the East of the village of Lochranza at the North of the Isle of Arran. Yes, the whisky took after the island's name.
• An independent distillery - ie privately owned and not owned by the big boys.
• Founded by Chivas Brothers’ retiring managing director, Harold Currie.
• The only malt whisky distillery on the Isle of Arran (since the last legally run distillery, ‘Lagg’, was closed in 1837... that's about 158 years ago!)
• Water used in the distillery is sourced from Loch na Davie, supposedly home to the purest water in all of Scotland.
• Its single malts are non-chill filtered, which means that it will cloud in a cooler temperature.

New: Haig Club Single Grain Scotch Whisky

Hi. I'm David Beckham. See how handsome I am. Drink my whisky And you might become handsome just like me.

So David Beckham graced us with his regal presence to launch a brand new whisky. Perhaps officially putting us down in the whisky map.. or not... but does it matter? Yes. Yes it does.

Most of the stuff you'll read about the local launch was unfortunately, mostly about David Beckham this and David Beckham that... hardly anything about the whisky, but I WANTED TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THE WHISKY!

Truth be told, I'm not sure how Beckham or even Fuller is associated with whisky. But maybe I'm just silly like that. 

Anyhoo, I digress. To cut through the clutter, here is some info about the Haig Club whisky which I've compiled from international press releases & websites. You're welcome!