Our Print & Design house of choice, Kumo Ink are giving away a Bottle of The Tweeddale Blend 12 Year old, or a free set of their Premium Business Cards in their Facebook Competition.

Find out more & enter @ http://www.facebook.com/kumoink

It’s now even easier to buy The Tweeddale Blend online.

We’ve made vast improvements to the shopping experience on thetweeddalewhisky.com website – it’s now even easier to buy the Tweeddale Blend online.

Go on, give it a try and get that extra special gift in time for Christmas!

Order Line Now >>

So discover the lost blend for yourself click on the link below…

http://tweeddalewhisky.com/shop/the-tweeddale-blend-12-year-old/

As we have just gone “live online” if you have any issues, comments or feedback please let us know via our contact page – thank you.

http://awardrobeofwhisky.com/bottle/tweeddale-12-year

Miguel Angel Blanch has added the Tweeddale Blend to his Whisky Wardrobe. If you click on the link above you can enter Miguel’s wardrobe of Whisky…

http://www.purefestival.com/   A new kind of festival for music & whisky lovers    Tickets £28.50, whiskies included

Well its a two day festival of whisky and music called Pure Festival at the Relentless Garage London on 24th and 25th September. A Festival with Whisky not Wellies, the Tweeddale Blend not Tents but still with loads of bands.

So come along and we will pour you a wee Tweeddale Dram or two…

I have to mention that Kassidy http://www.myspace.com/kassidyuk will be on the main stage on Sunday, but also…

http://www.thewhiskywire.com/2011/09/tweeddale-blend-12yr-tweedmendous-dram.html

You’ve just got to admit it when Steve Rush writes a whisky review there is just never going to be enough adjectives.

I like the start to this review in the title with “Tweedmendous”. Oh aye, then there’s the best line in the review for me “a squadron of sultanas soaking leisurely in a shallow pool of Muscat dessert wine, with a handful of chocolate coated raisins on looking in envy”.

Go on Steve that’s what I call a Whisky Review and on top of all that batch 2 of The Tweeddale Blend is The Whisky Wire’s “The Malt of The Month”.

So click on the link above and get the full on adjective laden Whisky Wire review…

The Tweeddale Blend 12 year old.

http://www.whiskymag.com/magazine/

It was a good wee while ago but I was asked a couple of Whisky questions for the wee feature Investment Drams that features each month in Whisky Magazine.

I had completely forgotten about this until the postman arrived this morning with the October 2011 – issue 98 of the whisky magazine. I was recovering from last night  (no what you think… I had been camping out in the rain over night with my daughter a long story for an other time but there were a few wee Tweeddale drams) with a strong coffee and opened up to page 5 only to see myself staring back at me.

After an other strong coffee  I had a read and as always I thought I would clarify the two answers I gave;

What Whisky have you bought to keep? An old bottle of Haig Dimple from 1952. Actually I inherited this bottle from my great uncle, he had given an empty bottle of Haig Dimple to an American colleague who had taken it back to the USA. Why take back an empty whisky bottle? Well to make it in to a table lamp (it was the fashion at the time). He was so impressed with the resulting table lamp he sent back a full bottle of Haigs Dimple to my Great Uncle and that is the one I have. Also having checked again it is a November 1953 bottle not from 1952.

November 1953 bottle of Haig Dimple

What whisky will you sell or open soon? I’ll open a bottle of Caol Ila 18 year old – the 12 year old is special, but the 18 year old is magic indeed. Well I have opened the 18 year old Caol Ila and I think the 12 year old is Magic indeed!

Thank you to all at Whisky Magazine and I hope Whisky Live Glasgow is a great success today. Sorry The Tweeddale Blend couldn’t be there but there is always next year!

Gavin D. Smith is a whisky writer currently contributing entries to a forthcoming book due to be published before Christmas by Quarto, to be titled ’1001 Whiskies to Try Before you Die’.

I recently sent a sample of batch 2 of The Tweeddale Blend 12 year old to Gavin which will hopefully to be included as one on the entries in the book. I am pleased to say that in return Gavin kindly sent me his tasting notes.

The Tweeddale Blend – Tasting notes by Gavin D. Smith.

“Robust on the nose, with malt, brittle toffee and vanilla, becoming more floral. Fresh and zesty, lemon and lime, with the addition of water.Nicely mouth-coating, lots of confident malt character, but nicely balanced grains, too. Smooth and approachable, with peaches, ripe pears, caramel and ginger. Drying subtly in a long, satisfying, slightly spicy finish. An unapologetically old-fashioned blended Scotch – and all the better for it!”

So here’s hoping that The Tweeddale Blend is indeed one of 1001 whiskies to try before you die.

Gavin is also contributing editor of whisky-pages.com.

http://www.whisky-pages.com/gavin.htm

http://www.whisky-pages.com/notes/distillery.php?id=tweed

The Tweeddale Arms Hotel, Gifford near Haddington.

http://www.laterooms.com/en/p5349/hotel-reservations/235831_tweeddale-arms-hotel-haddington.aspx

I am delighted to say that Kenny and Paula Rattray, the new owners of The Tweeddale Arms Hotel in Gifford near Haddington, now stock batch 2 – The Tweeddale Blend twelve year old.

If you haven’t been to The Tweeddale Arms Hotel since kenny and Paula took over you really need to because you won’t believe the difference. Its warm and cosy and you can get a Tweeddale Whisky!

Well done guys and I’m sure you’ll do well at The Tweeddale Arms.

The Tweeddale Blend 12 year old.

From the highs of the Whisky Israel review http://stonedean.co.uk/news/posts/a-stunning-review-of-tweeddale-whisky-batch-2-12-year-by-whisky-israel/

To the lowest low of The Whisky Boys critical review http://www.whiskyboys.com/2011/08/12/the-tweeddale-blend-old-matured-blended-scotch-whisky-tasting/

Needless to say it is hard to take when you receive your first critical review and I have taken a few days to think about it before writing this. However everyone is entitled to their own opinion and everyone has their own tastes especially when it comes to Scotch Whisky!

Each of the nine Scotch Whiskies in The Tweeddale Blend is hand drawn from the oak cask it was matured in. This is why The Tweeddale Blend is produced in small batches. The 15 year old grain whisky makes up 50% of the blend. This is a considerably lower grain content than the blended scotch whiskies recommended by the Whisky Boys. There are only two others that I am aware of that contain 50% grain and 50% malt neither of which are mentioned by the Whisky Boys. This obviously affects the cost of the final blend as grain whiskies are produced using highly efficient continuous stills resulting in a cheaper but most definitely not inferior spirit.

The eight malt whiskies that make up the remaining 50% of The Tweeddale Blend range from 12 years old to 21 years old. The 12 year old age statement on The Tweeddale Blend refers to the youngest cask used. These days this is extremely unusual but it was how my Great Grandfather blended whisky, he would select casks of malt whisky that had been matured to perfection. Each malt whisky develops differently in the cask which is why each of the 8 malt whiskies in The Tweeddale Blend is a different age. However again this increases the cost of the blend as the longer the whisky matures in the cask the more expensive it becomes. For example in the 12 year old blends recommended by the Whisky Boys all of the cask used would have gone for blending on the day that they turned 12 years old, not to mention the economies of scale – no age variation or single cask for them.

Also all of the blended whiskies recommended by the Whisky Boys are chill filtered and bottled at 40% abv. I have bottled The Tweeddale Blend at 46% abv as this was the strength that my Great grandfather bottled  it at. The Tweeddale Blend is not chill filtered as this maintains the flavours that the whiskies would have had in the cask. Whiskies bottled at 40% abv to prevent them going cloudy in the bottle when cold or when in a glass with water or  ice. So then why are most whiskies bottled at 40%? Well you can’t call it Scotch Whisky if it is below 40% abv, so yes it is all down to cost again. It is all to do with the duty payable to HMRC. Currently duty for Scotch Whisky is £25.52 per litre of pure alcohol so the duty on a litre bottled at 46% is £11.75 before vat, £14.10 including vat.

Anyway what I have been trying to get to is The Tweeddale Blend is all about quality and producing a blend the same as my Great Grandfather last did over 70 years ago, continuing a traditional blend first created by J&A Davidson established in 1820. In summary despite everything I have said I accept that it will not be to everyones liking but a quick heads up if your drinking a 46% Scotch Whisky you may want to add a wee splash of water or ice! (Don’t mention the ice to Richard Paterson aka The Nose).

Alasdair Day, re-creator of The Tweeddale Blend.

(not a whisky boy)