Baseball. Whisky Been Berry, Berry Good to Me! Newcomers Whisky Club. Drown in a cold vat of whiskey? Death, where is thy sting?

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1 Baseball Whisky Been Berry, Berry Good to Me! Drown in a cold vat of whiskey? Death, where is thy sting? W.C. FIELDS Newcomers Whisky Club September 2015

2 Newcomers Whisky Club September 2015 Tonight s Menu North British 18 Year Old Single Grain Scotch Whisky Dailuaine 14 Year Old Speyside Benrinnes 17 Year Old Speyside Bruichladdich 20 Year Old Islay Glen Garioch 23 Year Old Highland Bunnahabhain 25 Year old Islay For this month s NWC meeting we are tasting a series of single cask bottlings from Berry Bros & Rudd, a London Wine & Spirit Merchant who also happens to release independent bottlings of whisky, as well as rum and other spirits. Founded in 1698 by a widow only known by her last name: Bourne, the company now known as Berry Bros. & Rudd began life as a grocer s in the prestigious neighbourhood opposite St. James s Palace, which in that year became the official principal residence of the monarch. As the business supplied the newly-fashionable Coffee Houses of St James s, it is unsurprising that the shop chose an image linked to this prestige commodity as the sign of their business. To this day, Berry Bros. & Rudd still trades under the Sign of the Coffee Mill. In 1803, at the age of 16, George Berry, entered the family business and by 1810 his name was stretched above the facade of No. 3 St James's Street. For 200 years since then, the Berry name has been inseparable from the business. In 1845, George Berry s sons, George Jr. and Henry, took over and today the shop still bears the name of these original Berry Brothers. When Prohibition was established in America, Berry Bros. products became in great demand in the Bahamas, a popular stop for smugglers. Cutty Sark Scotch Whisky was invented in 1923 and became hugely popular in the American market; it was to be one of the company s most successful products. With over 315 years of history, Berry Bros. & Rudd is justly proud of its past. In 1698, the Widow Bourne established a shop at No. 3 St James s Street. Over three centuries later, with two Royal Warrants and eight Masters of Wine, the family business continues to flourish, with its heart still very much at No. 3. The company s colorful history encompasses wines on board the Titanic, supplying smugglers running alcohol into Prohibition-era America, and sheltering Napoleon III in cellars beneath the shop. Nowadays, Berry Bros. & Rudd continue to supply wines and spirits to royalty, have a successful presence in Asia, and lead the world of wine with a philosophy of constant innovation.

3 North British, 18 yo Single Grain Scotch Whisky Distilled 1996, Bottled 2015, 57%abv Cask #224751, Refill Sherry Butt Total Wine $99.99 The North British Distillery Company Ltd is a Scottish grain whisky distillery located in south western Gorgie district of Edinburgh. Established by a group of independent distillers in 1885, it is now a joint venture company between Diageo plc and the privately held Edrington Group. Widely known as NB, it is Edinburgh s last working distillery. North British is not some quaint, stylishly romantic, Scottish distillery, no, NB is, quite simply, an industrial behemoth, producing vast quantities of pure grain whisky for use in blended Scotch whisky and for Vodka, such as Smirnoff. Production at North British started in 1887 and within a year of opening the distillery was producing 3,600,000 litres (950,000 US gal) of spirit per year. By 1979, as a result of numerous expansions, NB output rose to 36,400,000 litres (9,600,000 US gal). In 1993, shareholders Robertson & Baxter and International Distillers & Vintners (IDV) formed the joint venture company, Lothian Distillers and another expansion plan allowed the production of grain-neutral spirt to rise to 61,600,000 litres (16,300,000 US gal). Incredibly, in February 1998, NB produced its 1,500,000,000th lpa since its first began production in Dailuaine 14 yo Single Malt Whisky, Speyside Distilled 1998, Bottled 2013, 46% abv Cask #10477, Refill hogshead Total Wine $64.99 Founded in 1852 by William Mackenzie, the name Dailuaine comes from the Scottish Gaelic An dail uaine meaning green valley. Following William s death in 1865, his wife leased the distillery to a banker from Aberlour, James Fleming, who, with William s son, formed Mackenzie and Company in Five years later an extensive rebuild commenced, leaving the distillery as one of Scotland s largest. In 1898, Dailuaine-Talisker Distilleries Ltd was formed, the group included an Aberdeen based grain distillery, fellow Speysider Imperial, Dailuaine distillery and the Skye-based Talisker. In 1925, Distillers Company Ltd acquired the company, with DCL later becoming part of the Diageo conglomerate. Over the course of its history, Dailuaine has been quite progressive. During a renovation in 1889, Charles Doig built Scotland s first pagoda roof for the distillery, which graced the distillery until it collapsed in 1917 following a distillery fire. Dailuaine also operates a dark grains plant, which converts the draff the left over barely mash - into cattle feed. Also, Dailuaine operates a bio plant which converts the spent lees and waste water from the distillation process into clean, process water and also creates biogas that is used to provide heat and energy for the distillery. Official release bottlings of single malt from Dailuaine are few and far between as the bulk of whisky produced at the distillery is used for blending in Johnnie Walker.

4 Benrinnes. Benrinnes 17 yo Single Malt Whisky, Speyside Distilled 1997, Bottled 2015, 46% abv Cask #9631, Refill Hogshead Total Wine $99.99 The Benrinnes distillery was built by Peter Mackenzie in 1826 and named for its location at the base of the Ben Rinnes hill. Over its history, the Benrinnes distillery has faced it share of challenges and adversity. Just three years after it was built, in 1829, the distillery was destroyed by a flood. In 1835 the distillery was rebuilt by John Innes, who changed the name to Lyne of Ruthrie, but Lyne of Ruthrie survived for only a few years before it went bankrupt and was sold to William Smith who changed the named back to In 1896 the distillery was destroyed again, but this time it burned down. When it was rebuilt, the distillery was converted to electric power. The distillery was sold to John Dewar & Sons in Under Dewars it was renovated in 1955, replacing the malting floors with a Saladin box, and ending the farming activities on the site. The distillery was expanded again in 1966, adding three stills to the three present stills, which were all converted to internal heating in In 1974 Benrinnes changed its distillation process to a partial triple distillation process. The distillery stopped producing its own malt in 1984 opting to buy malt on the market instead, and removed its Saladin Box In 2007 the triple distillation process was shut down and all the small stills were used as spirit stills. Today the distillery is owned by Diageo and produces mostly for the blend industry. Bruichladdich 20 yo Single Malt Whisky, Islay Distilled 1992, Bottled 2013, 46% abv Cask #3793, Refill Hogshead Total Wine $ Bruichladdich was built in 1881 by the Harvey brothers William (32), John (31) and Robert (23). Using an inheritance, the three brothers combined their talents to build the distillery designed by John, engineered by Robert, and financed by William and other family members. Unlike Islay s older distilleries, which has developed from farm buildings, Bruichladdich was a state-of-the-art design built with a very efficient layout around a large, spacious courtyard. And the Harvey s installed uniquely tall and narrow-necked stills to produce a very pure and original spirit, the opposite of the styles produced by the older farm distilleries. In 1994, Bruichladdich was mothballed for being 'surplus to requirements', but the distillery was purchased by a group of private investors led by Mark Reynier of Murray McDavid in Between January and May 2001 the whole distillery was dismantled and reassembled, with the original Victorian décor and equipment retained and still in use today. No computers are used in production with all processes controlled by a pool of skilled artisans who pass on information orally and largely measure progress using dipsticks and simple flotation devices. On 23 July 2012, Rémy Cointreau reached an agreement with Bruichladdich to buy the distillery for a sum of 58m.

5 Glen Garioch 23 yo Single Malt Whisky, Eastern Highlands Distilled 1991, Bottled 2015, 46% abv Cask #2918, Refill Hogshead Total Wine $ The location chosen by John & Alexander Manson for their malt whisky distillery in 1797 was an obvious one. Oldmeldrum in the celebrated 'Valley of the Garioch' was named "The Granary of Aberdeenshire. The Garioch pronounced 'Geery' is a tract of richly fertile land of some 150 square miles, where barley and crystal springs have been abundant for over a thousand years, and making it a logical site for a distillery. The Glen Garioch Distillery was established as early as 1794, making it one of the oldest operating distilleries in Scotland and one of the few remaining distilleries that was established in the 18 th Century. The distillery originally incorporated a brewery and tannery. Situated on the edge of Oldmeldrum in Aberdeenshire, In 1968 the production of Glen Garioch was suspended on account of 'chronic water shortages', however in 1972 a manager was appointed with a brief to find another water source. A spring was discovered on a neighboring farm. It came to be called The Silent Spring as it could neither be seen nor heard. Interestingly, Glen Garioch whisky is not routinely used in any of the current blends, although it was a primary component to the VAT 69 blend that hit the market in the late 19 th Century. Glen Garioch does release a number of official single malt whiskies, including the NAS Founders Reserve, along with a standard 12 and 15 year old, plus select Vintage releases. Bunnahabhain 25 yo Single Malt Whisky, Islay Distilled 1990, Bottled 2015, Cask #1535, 46% abv Total Wine $ Bunnahabhain was founded in 1881 by the Greenlees brothers, with production starting in The distillery is located along the northern shore of the island of Islay, which itself lies off the west coast of Scotland. In 1963 the distillery was expanded and the number of stills doubled, from two to four. The stills are quite large, but are filled just to 47% to allow for more copper contact. The low fill levels and a slower distillation produces a lighter whisky. Unlike the majority of its Islay peers, Bunnahabhain produces primarily unpeated whiskies, although they have routinely produced some limited release bottlings that are peated. As with so many distilleries, the whiskies produced at Bunnahabhain were primarily destined for blends, and Bunnahabhain plays a big role in the Black Bottle blended whisky. Recently, though, the current owners of Bunnahabhain, Burn Stewart, have begun to put more emphasis in building the brand as a stand-alone single malt with standard official 12, 18 and 25 year-old releases along with their peated Limited Releases like the Toiteach, Moine and Ceòbanach.

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