Hello to one and all and I hope this finds you all in the very best of health as we bid goodbye to one of the strangest and toughest summers I hope we ever have to live through.

As we move into the darker months, I think we are all aware that there are still some difficult times ahead of us but by looking out for each other we’ll get there eventually and while we’re waiting we’re as well to enjoy a dram or two to pass the time and keep the smiles on our faces.
This brings me nicely to my first topic of conversation for this edition. At long last and it is with great pride and excitement that I can announce that the second release from Dràm Mòr Group Ltd. is now ready for despatch and I hope that this will be on the shelves of your local whisky shop and international distributors shops very soon.
So what are we getting I hear you ask? Five new single cask, cask strength expressions this time.
The first is not only a new expression and a new distillery for us, but from what we have been told, a new expression for this well loved single malt as we give you Aberlour 7yo with a  Portuguese red wine finish coming in at 54% ABV. This (we believe) will be the first time that a red wine finish has been released on Aberlour and we have looked to see if we can find one but to no avail although if you know of one please let us know. We were very keen when working on this to make sure that the classic Aberlour style wasn’t drowned out by the strength of the wine so it has only been allowed to rest in the first used Portuguese wine cask for a little over three months. This has allowed the Aberlour you know and love to be found both on the nose and on the palate, but now with the addition of delicate red berry summer fruits, which when added to the white oak vanilla gives us a beautiful fruity sophisticated dessert of a dram.

Next up we’re staying with red wine, but this time we’re moving to the equally sunny climes of Spain with the deeper, full bodied oaky tones of this first use Spanish red wine and to work alongside this a favourite of mine as most of you will know, a Glenrothes. This 9yo expression comes in at 55% ABV and will allow for a slightly drier note than found in the Aberlour. When deciding what would work best with the Spanish red we remembered that the Glenrothes we wanted to use was actually one of two sister casks that we had in the warehouse. Cask numbers 2850 and 2851, so what we thought would be in interesting way to use these casks was to present these twins with very different finishes so that brings us to the second Glenrothes on this release with this one bringing a strength of 58% ABV to the table with another wine finish but this time coming from a fresh, first use Muscatel cask. These are both exactly what you would expect in quality from a Glenrothes, but I believe that by finishing these casks in different styles of wine we have shown not only how great is the spirit, but also how flexible a distillate it can be.
Expression number four sees a return of an old favourite from our last run with a classic white oak matured Glen Garioch at 55% ABV. Not only is this a delicious dram, but it is actually coming to you with a label with the correct spelling! I know, surprising, right? 😆
Last, but certainly not least, we are really raising the bar as well as the age with a 15yo Tomintoul Sauternes finish. If you have a sweet tooth, then this one really is made for you. This rich and juicy single cask dram is one that you my find very hard to put back down once you’ve raised a glass.
That I can promise you!

We are extremely excited to bring these single casks to you and really hope that they are loved by you as much as our first releases were.
I am very happy with what is heading out to you and as I have said to many of you in the past, if it isn’t good enough for us then we would never put a Dràm Mòr label on the bottle so strap yourselves in and get ready to enjoy some of life’s finer things and please remember to let us know your thoughts as your feedback will be key to brining you the best we can in the future.
In other news, September saw a return to the wonderful Saint Mac channel hosted by the brilliant Gunther Moonen. This time Gunther took a massive risk by inviting three of the worst behaved Brand Ambassadors in the industry with yours truly being joined by the razor sharp wit of Speyside Distillers Mr Paul Dempsey and the monstrously mischievous Shilton Almeida of Paul John Distillers. Normally, having one of us on takes courage, but all three of us in one sitting, wow!

Hats off to Gunther for his presentation, not to mention his control and incredible patience as I had an IT issue or two. If the audience (I’ll find out our viewing figures soon) had as good a time as the three of us had then I can only assume that there were a few sore heads in Belgium on the Saturday morning!

Over the last few months Ruaraidh our Dràm Mòr Cask Clan manager has been running a series of entertaining and informative posts featuring both the distilleries closest to our hearts here at Dràm Mòr as well as looking at some of the finer point of the production process. If you haven’t caught his posts as yet you can find them posted on both LinkedIn and FaceBook on Tuesdays and Saturdays. Well worth a read.

Many thanks to our new friends at The Scotch World from Kennesaw, Georgia, USA for the share and comments on Twitter last month.

A couple of mentions to finish off this edition.

Firstly, a warm welcome to Phillip Ramthin in Germany for the post of our first release Glengarioch. Dràm Mòr family is happy to see you on board, my friend, and here is hoping that there will be many more Dràm Mòr bottles to come for you!

And finally, can I please be excused for giving a big shout out to all the team at The Trussel Trust, who work tirelessly to provide some of our most vulnerable families and individuals with much needed food banks throughout the country. We joined with some of our friends from the industry to donate a bottle of our first release Glenrothes 10 yo @58% to be auctioned off to help raise some much needed funds. For more information why don’t you look them up at www.trusseltrust.org and help out with a donation of a coin or two.

So that wraps up Whisky Update No. 4.

Until the next time, please, everyone, take care of yourselves, show patience and understanding of others and when you raise a glass be thankful for it and send love to those with no glass to raise.

Slàinte!

Kenny