Tasting notes: "The Classic" and "Knob Creek"; and "Vacu-Vin".

Interesting discovery, that "Shieldaig Classic." Can you confirm the spelling? I'm not familiar with that distillery or brand and would like to know more.

My wife's been using the Vacu-Vin (and similar brands) sealer for years on wine, and she swears by them. I can't speak to how well they work for whiskey--once I finally uncork a bottle, it never seems to last long enough to need the extra seal. :-)

I've done a little bit of Web-searching for it. It's apparently Shieldaig "The Classic", so searching for "Shieldaig Classic" in quote marks won't get you much. It's a Speyside by all accounts, but it's independently bottled by William Maxwell and Co., and it might be that there's no single distillery of origin, i.e. that the bottler buys casks from various distillers and further ages and/or blends them.

Different sites refer to it as a single malt with expressions up to 18 years old, and as a blend. My guess is that it's both, but I didn't find a site that clearly summarizes the Shieldaig phenomenon.

Reviews are wildly disparate. Several sites rave about the Shieldaig single malt, and several describe Shieldaig blend as testing like the bottom of an ashtray. All agree that it's inexpensive.

Nothing definitive, I'm afraid.

bill

Do try the JW green whilst you still can. It is fabulous and when you look at the 4 15 year old malts that go into it, it's no surprise why.

JW Black is a blend, having both single malts and grain whisky among its constituents. JW Green is a vatted malt, which is to say it has different single malts in it, but no grain whisky. Going with the normal vocabulary of the whisky business, it's not a blend.

I hadn't realized until now that JW ceased production of the Green this year. I may have to grab a bottle before they're all gone.

bill

Am 07.10.2012 20:19, schrieb bill van:

Since 2009 the official term is "Blended Malt".

Marko

55&DistilleryName=The+Glen+Ness+Distilling+Co.+Ltd

To reply by email, lose the Ks...

Am 07.10.2012 22:17, schrieb The Other Guy:

55&DistilleryName=The+Glen+Ness+Distilling+Co.+Ltd Only because it's online it doesn't make it true. ;-) I'm quite sure that this isn't a distillery. At first look at this map from the Scotch Whisky Association:

- no Glen Ness Then, how could a Highland-Whisky be produced in Glasgow, Lowlands?

It seems, of that aside the 12yo Version there are a 8yo Single Malt and 8 and 12yo Blends sold under this Name bottled by Angus Dundee Distillers, who own the Distilleries Glencadam and Tomintoul. So Glen Ness probably contains one of those, more likely the the second, because they produce peated stuff too.

As you see here

the Trademark has expired.

Marko

The totalwine website won't show me anything until I register with them. Unless I'm planning to buy something, my responses to that is, "Go f^%$ yourself."

bill

Am 07.10.2012 22:52, schrieb Marko Renner:

55&DistilleryName=The+Glen+Ness+Distilling+Co.+Ltd

Addendum: Google for "Glen Ness Distillery" - 3 Hits, two of them the same question (which isn't answered, because there is no distillery ;-) and one ebay auction from somebody who cannot spell "Speyside".

Even the newest distilleries and mothballed or even demolished distilleries get more hits, e.g. Daftmill, founded 2005, they haven't just yet bottled any Whisky, but a Website and 4500 hits for "Daftmill Distillery", or "Auchinblae distillery", closed 1930 but at least two pages of hits.

Marko

When I was in Total Wine, I noticed a number of different whiskys from the Shieldaig (or however it's spelled) company, including both single malts and blends, at prices ranging from about $12 to about $80. It seems to be a reseller, hence the word "collection" on all of their bottles: they "collect" whiskys from around Scotland and re-sell them both as single malts and as blends. I agree that "The Classic" is very Speyside-like, so it's probably make mostly from whiskys from that area, diluted with vodka. (As I understand it, most so called "blended Scotch" is usually actually half cheap vodka to reduce cost. Much as varietal wines typically only have to be 1/2 the labeled variety of grape; so your "Cabernet Sauvignon" may be half cheap grapes to cut cost.)

I've noticed a marked degradation of some of the more pungent but delicate whiskys such as Glen Morangie Port Wood Finish when left half full at room temp with air in the bottle for as little as 3 or 4 days. Esters (which are some of the flavor elements in such whiskys) oxidize when exposed to air. I tried VacuVin on "The Special" (blend from Shieldaig) and noticed that the flavor (weak and bland though it may be) did not change at all even though the bottle was half full for weeks. So it does seem to work. I'm eager to try it on a good single malt and see if it prevents degradation. I'll see.

Jura, Talisker, Ardbeg Uigadeal, Balvenie Double Wood, Laphroaig Sherry Wood Finish (new expression just out)... sooooo many things to try in 2013.

I noticed that also, but I can see the reason. Due to legal and business technicalities, the range of products their stores offer varies drastically depending on location. So until their web site knows what your zip code is, they can't even begin to tell you what's available at your local store. So I really don't think that in their case they're interested in data mining your private info; more like, they're saying "tell me where you are, and we'll tell you what we can sell to you".

No problem, just sign up as "Jack Sprat", who lives in "Midway City, California, USA" and has zip code "92655". Create a free throw-away Gmail account such as " snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com". Click the "verify email" link in the email they send you. Voila, you now have access to the listings for my local store. Cost: $0.00 Spam: none, because you never revealed your real address.

I use that technique on many different web sites to infiltrate areas that demand my personal info. I'm Jeniffer Craigens. I'm Joseph Adoway. I'm Susan Langerhans. I'm Charles Galway. I'm whoever I want to be. :-) I also live in Oklahoma, Texas, New Jersey, Toronto, and Antwerp. I really get around. Fake personas are a lot of fun, as well as being incredibly useful.

I think you're wrong about the vodka. Scotch whisky by law must be distilled from malt barley and may in some circumstances contain other grains. If it has anything else in it, it can't be called scotch whisky.

bill