A Rum for James Bond, 007

Words by Colin Hamdpen-White

The first scene of the first James Bond film, Dr No, opens in Jamaica as James Bond author Ian Fleming had a house there and spent a lot of time there, including writing many of the Bond novels. It seems incredible that it has taken until now for a rum, especially a Jamaican rum, to be released for the franchise.

Ian Fleming’s Jamaican home “GoldenEye” is now owned by Chris Blackwell of Island Records fame. Chris has developed GoldenEye as a resort for visitors, opening the house up to visitors in 2011 and as well as a love for Bond, he has a love for rum. Having produced rum for a number of years, he has now joined forces with the 007 franchise and launched a special 007 limited edition of his Blackwell Fine Jamaican Rum.

It brings me great pleasure to write this. I also have a strong love for Jamaican rum and the Hampden distillery on the island is the same as my family name. I had high expectations for this rum, and it doesn’t disappoint. The rum is aged and very fragrant, warming and rich. Having been aged in American oak barrels there is a good degree of sweetness and the spirit, created from sugar cane using both column and pot stills, has very good balance and complex flavours; more than one would expect of a single distillation blended rum.

Chris Blackwell doesn’t create the rum himself; he ages rums and for this expression worked with Jamaican distillers J. Wray and Nephew, who are well known Jamaican rum producers making the “Uncle Wray” rums.

Chris says “James Bond has been a big part of my life, from my childhood lunches with Ian Fleming at GoldenEye to being a location scout on the first movie, Dr. No (1962). It was a pleasure working alongside the No Time To Die production team in Jamaica providing our iconic rum for the set in James Bond’s house, which has made this very special relationship come full circle.” says Blackwell. 

The limited-edition rum features an augmented reality experience available via the website on the bottle where Chris Blackwell comes to life to share life stories, music selections, cocktail recipes, and gives more information about the rum.

The rum will be available in good drinks shops, bars and restaurants from November 2020 and will retail for £35 in the UK. It will be available on-line, and also in France and Italy. 

Are you a rum lover? If so, make sure you check out these luxury rums, and if you’re looking for a bit of variety, have a look at these four rums from across the globe.

6 Gins That are Perfect for Any Occasion

 When it comes to Gin, there are so many different ones to try it can feel completely overwhelming. To date, Aidy has tasted well over 1000 as a wine and spirits writer – here are a few of his absolute top picks for you to get your hands on. Cheers!

A Beginner’s Guide to Sake

Written by Helena Nicklin

If you haven’t tried and fallen in love with sake yet, the ethereal rice wine hailing from Japan, I fully suggest you do. It’s not about overheated, suspect quality booze served in Japanese restaurants; high quality, fine sake is now widely available across the UK and US, offering us a much more interesting choice when we’re dining out or drinking at home. But let’s start at the beginning: what is sake and why do you need to know about it?

What is sake?

In a nutshell, sake is an alcoholic wine made with rice and water. It looks very similar to wine made from grapes and typically has an alcohol content of between 13 and 17 % abv. It hails from Japan but recently, there have been sake breweries popping up elsewhere in the world, such as Kanpai in London and Dojima in Cambridge.

What does sake taste like?

There are several styles of sake but they generally share a similar quality of subtle earthiness and a touch of green melon. It’s umami in a subtle way. The closest wine equivalent I can think of to a classic style of sake is a Muscadet sur lie (without the co2 prickle). It also has a fabulous, weighty texture that’s incredibly moreish, though could be an acquired taste.

Rice polishing and its effect on sake

Received wisdom states that the more a rice grain is polished, the better quality the sake will be. We start with ‘junmai’, which is table sake, where no minimum rice polishing is required. Then, we move up in quality to a higher polish with ‘junmai ginjo’ at 60% and then at the top, there’s ‘junmai daiginjo’, where only 50% of the rice grain is used. Usually, the junmai ginjo and junmai daiginjo are more aromatic and elegant because of the polishing. Do not drink these warm as you’ll lose those delicate flavours.

Can sake be drunk alone or with food other than sushi?

Yes, yes and thrice, yes. The beauty of sake is its versatility, both with food and without. In comparison to wine, it’s less acidic and less bitter and with a pronounced texture, so it sits with many foods very well and is not too much when tasted alone. Sake is never just sake either, so the choice is huge. There’s dry sparkling, sweet sparkling and a wealth of still styles from the light, dry and floral to richer, darker, wood-aged wines. Below are some killer matches that I tasted recently that went well with non-sushi dishes as well as some other suggestions:

What to eat with sake?

Sparkling sake

Ditch the Prosecco and try a sparkling, slightly sweet sake. If you pair this with a salty starter, like seriously good prosciutto or salty cheese, it absolutely sings as the saltiness complements the sweetness, balancing everything up nicely. We also tried this with calamari and a trio of dips. It was an excellent match with sweet chilli sauce and provided a really interesting match with the tzatziki-style yogurt dip, enhancing the flavours in the wine and the food. It would also be cracking with fish and chips!

Try: Akashi- Tai Junmai Sparkling Sake. £12.50 from Master of Malt.

Light, elegant and aromatic sake 

If you prefer something a little drier, crisper and more aromatic, more akin to a dry white grape wine such as Muscadet, an elegant Junmai would be wonderful. You can have this alone or with some slightly salted nuts or crisps for a starter or even with a main dish, such as delicately flavoured cod. We tried this with a touch of melon, apple and sun-dried tomato, which let the sake shine. The flavours didn’t fight each other. 

Try: Nanbu Bijin Tokubetsu Junmai Sake. £26.99 for 75cl from Londonsake.com

More fruity and floral, vinous sake

If you’re thinking you’d rather have something that would take the place of an unoaked, cool climate Chardonnay or even Viognier however, then this Junmai Daiginjo sake is the bomb. With a little more weight, with stronger peachy, melon notes and an almost oily texture, these sakes can take a little more flavour. Cod works, battered or otherwise. Chicken casseroles or roasted chicken or turkey make great matches too!

Try: Nabeshima Daiginjo Sake. £79.99 from Hedonism.co.uk

Bolder, more savory and weighty sake

Here’s where sake feels a little different! ‘Taru’ sake is aged briefly in cedar barrels, which gives it a hint of yellow colour, makes it more textural and gives it more savoury, umami notes. This is a hefty sake that can stand up to meat or dishes like partridge with pomegranate, raisins and capers in curry sauce, as we found out. It was remarkable how the sake carried all those flavours seamlessly.

Try: Choryo YoshinoSugi no Taru, £42.64 from Amazon

If you enjoyed reading this, make sure you check out Seilan’s colour changing blue sake here.

Hit for Six: The Best of Whyte and Mackay

Words by Colin Hampden-White

Whyte and Mackay are experts at blending, especially with Richard Paterson at the helm as master blender. Although they own four distilleries, until recent years it has only been the Dalmore that has had the big budgets spent on it. Over the last few years things have been changing. First of all, the whiskies from Jura distillery got a complete make-over and a completely new range introduced. Immediately one could see a huge improvement. This improvement must have been in development for many years, with Richard laying down the right stocks to implement the plans we have now seen. 

Next to receive a revamp was Fettercairn, a whisky brand that has had its fans and detractors in the past, and with expressions varying in quality from Fior to Fasque. The recently released new range is quite a different story. It has expressions at all ends of the age statement range, from 12 years old all the way up to 50 years old, and quite a few in between. Lastly there is Tamnavulin. Here they have released some incredible old whiskies. I recently tasted a 1973, 45 year old as part of my judging for the IWSC awards, and it did exceptionally well amongst great company.

Away from the single malts, the great blending company that is Whyte and Mackay continue to experiment with blended whisky and a new brand called Whisky Works. This is led by a brilliant blender whom Richard Patterson brought to Whyte and Mackay a few year ago: Gregg Glass has a great blending background having worked previously for blenders extraordinaire, Compass Box. (See us chat to him in Episode 5 of The Three Drinkers do Scotch Whisky).

The releases keep on coming and I have a few favourites: Fettercairn has released a sumptuous 16 year old, The Dalmore a new sherry cask select 12 year old, Jura a winter edition and a red wine cask finish cask edition, and one of my new all-time favourite young blends: an 11 year old blended Scotch from Gregg Glass under the Whisky Works brand. 

With all these new expressions coming out of the woodwork (literally), I took a little look at their back catalogue and one of my all-time favourites to see if it still stood up. Thankfully, all the efforts being placed in new expressions are certainly not taking their focus away from my favourite expression from The Dalmore: King Alexander III. This brought me to six whiskies from White and Mackay, blended and single malt, and both new and old. I highly recommend them.

 Jura Winter Edition

This is a warming and rich whisky initially matured in ex-bourbon casks and finished in ex-sherry casks. The idea for this whisky was to bring flavours more associated with mainland whiskies to the coastal flavours of an island whisky. The casks give warm spices and indulgent apple pie flavours. A real winter warmer. There are also hints of tropical fruit on the palate and vanilla with a touch of cinnamon. If you like mulled drinks and Christmas cake you should love this. Exclusive to Tesco for now in litre size bottles perfect for sharing. 

ABV: 40%
Size: 1000ml
Buy it now for £45

Whisky Works Quartermaster 11 year old 

From the experimental mind of Gregg Glass, this 11 year old blended whisky marries grain from the highlands of Scotland with single malts from the Speyside region. The single malts have been through four (hence the name of the whisky) different maturation and finishing methods giving plenty of complexity. Rum barrels were used to mature the grain whisky, and then they were finished in Pedro Ximénez sherry casks. The malt whiskies were matured in a mixture of American white oak and sherry butts from Jerez. There was a limited release of only 2,134 bottles and, at the time of writing, still on sale at Mast of Malt.

ABV: 48.4%
Size: 700ml
Buy it now for £68.95

The Dalmore 12 year old Sherry Cask Select

The Dalmore is well known for having a close relationship with Spain as the whisky is often matured in ex-sherry casks. This expression celebrates this relationship and as Richard Paterson says “between the union of the Scottish highlands with the warmth of the Andalusian sun”. Firstly the whisky is matured for ten years in ex-bourbon casks and then two years in ex-sherry casks from bodegas with whom Richard has personal relationships in Jerez. These casks are made from both American and European oak and are then seasoned with a unique blend of aged Oloroso and sweet Pedro Ximénez casks. The result is fabulous; unctuous and complex with distinct flavours of sundried fruits and fresh Scottish orchard fruits. Plenty of fudge and caramel back up the fruit and with a spicy finish, this is a brilliantly concocted 12 year old dram. 

ABV: 43%
Size: 700ml
Buy it now for £45 (on special offer at time of writing)

Fettercairn 16 Year Old

This is a very interesting expression from Fettercairn released at the beginning of summer this year. Not many whiskies are distilled using chocolate malt (heavily kilned barley, more commonly seen in craft brewing)! The other I can bring to mind is the excellent Glenmorangie Signet. The Fettercarin is initially matured in first-fill American oak bourbon casks, before being put in sherry and Port casks, and is bottled at 16 years of age. There's plenty going on here, and it's all impressive stuff. One wonders why more brands aren’t using chocolate malt. This is a very different whisky from Signet although the chocolate malt lends some familiarity. If you like Signet, then you will love this.

ABV: 46.4%
Size: 700ml
Buy it now for £73.26

Jura Red Wine Cask Finish

This expression has been matured in ex-bourbon casks before being finished for 18 to 24 months in red wine barriques. It is incredibly well-balanced and rich with berry flavours and dried raisins. There are also creamy caramel and vanilla flavours and a touch of cinnamon spice. These sound like bold flavours, yet the whisky remains delicate. A great expression to try for those wanting to experiment a little with new whiskies. For the moment, this can be found in the UK in Sainsbury’s in a one litre bottle and is brilliant value.

ABV: 40%
Size: 1000ml
Buy it now for £40

The Dalmore King Alexander III

As mentioned before, this is one of my favourite whiskies. Richard Paterson uses six different types of sherry casks, blended together, to create this rich and moreish dram. With loads of dried fruit and spice, complex manuka honey and fudge, it is an indulgent treat. I’d suggest this drinks well not just after a rich meal but during the meal. It would match well with roasted meats just as well as with chocolate puddings or crème brulé. A whisky for indulgent foodies.

ABV: 40%
Size: 700ml
Buy it now for £174.90

There we have it, six of the best from Whyte and Mackay. Now that didn’t hurt did it!

If you’d like to try whiskies that have been finished in wine casks having been matured in ex-bourbon initially, then why not give these whiskies a go. 

Have You Tried Blue Sake?

Utter magic is the only way to describe the enchanting new release from Nagahama-based Sato Sake Brewery. Just look for the vivid, indigo blue liquid going by the name Seilan. While the initial color might be hypnotizing enough, watch as it morphs its hue to a luscious purple upon the addition of an acidic ingredient like lemon juice.

What’s the secret ingredient?

The base of Seilan is Yamada Nishiki rice, polished to 60% to create a Ginjo sake (the highest grade). After this, things get funky, as it’s infused with neutral flavored butterfly pea flowers to create the blue hue. The plant, which formally goes by Clitoria ternatea, hails from to Southeast Asia and is often found in various types of cuisine and herbal tea for its blue colouring but neutral flavor.

More than just a sake

Sato Sake Brewery’s creation goes further than just the sake. It’s a visual art piece that allows spirit experts and amateurs to play around with taste and sight. Everyone loves a fun, interactive cocktail. Seilan lets simple chemistry become a magic trick. 

Want to know more about Sake in general? See this beginner’s guide piece here.

Blended Scotch v Single Malt Scotch Whisky: What Should I Buy?

Words by Colin Hampden-White

Whisky is made of three ingredients; grain, water and yeast. Malt whisky uses malted barley which is barley that has been brought to the point of germination by soaking, then drying, before it is then used to make the malt whisky. Whisky can be made by using other grains like wheat or maize too and this creates grain whisky. Blended whisky is a mixture of grain whisky and malt whisky. In the case of blended Scotch whisky, the whisky must contain 15% of malt whisky, all the whisky must be aged in oak barrels (casks) for three years, and it must also be over 40% abv.

The difference is relatively simple, but a preconception that blended whisky is not as good as malt whisky needs to be unpicked. 90% of the whisky produced and sold globally is blended whisky, and 90% of that blended whisky is inexpensive supermarket whisky. This leads to the idea that blended whisky is not as good as malt whisky which, for the majority of whiskies, is true; it will be aged for less time and the barrels used will generally be not as high quality as those used for malt whisky. However, there are blended whiskies that are just as good as malt whiskies and sometimes quite a bit better.

The concept of the blend is to be harmonious. They can still have their own character, but, using the analogy of an orchestra, single malt is like a solo instrument, i.e. a violin, whilst a blend is like the whole orchestra playing together. One of my favourite whiskies is a blend:  Johnnie Walker Black Label, which requires around forty different whiskies. 

There are whiskies for everyone at all levels. Here are three of my favourite blends and three of my favourite malts at three different price points. What they all have in common is that they are excellent whiskies, and at the different price points the blends can equal the quality of the malts, and vice versa.

Blended Scotch Whisky

Johnnie Walker Black Label

Johnnie Walker Black Label is my go-to whisky. It is brilliantly complex with an underlying fruity base, lots of caramel and vanilla flavours, but also a hint of smoke running through the whisky too. In 2020, Johnnie Walker celebrated its 200th birthday! It is incredible to think it has been two centuries since John Walker founded this whisky brand, which has gone on to become world-famous. As part of the festivity surrounding this milestone, a limited edition bottling of Johnnie Walker Black Label 12 Year Old was released, designed in collaboration with fashion house Alpha Industries. It contains the same whisky as the regular 12 and is the same price, but I think the bottle gives it a little extra panache. 

ABV: 40%
Size: 700ml
Find here: UK £29.95// US $29.99

Chivas Regal 18 year old

A richly indulgent blended Scotch whisky from long-time favourite, Chivas. The Chivas Regal 18 Year Old was personally created by Master Blender Colin Scott, including over 20 single malts from around Scotland, Colin is about to retire this year, but his legacy will live on in this excellent blended whisky, you can even see his name on the presentation box. Definitely no stranger to awards, this one. It even took home the International Wine & Spirit Competition 2014 Trophy for Blended Scotch Whisky! A great whisky to sip and savour, but also rather good for cocktails if you fancy giving them an upgrade.

ABV: 40%
Size: 700ml
Find here: UK £59.83 // US $99.99

The Tweeddale 28 Year Old – The Evolution

This is the oldest of the Tweeddale range to date. This delicious blended Scotch whisky boasts an impressive 28 year old age statement and a flavour profile packed full of cooked fruit, festive spice notes and lifted oak. If you’d like to experience a blend that has youthful sweet fruits, but also impressive oak balance and has older whisky flavours running throughout, then this is a sure-fire bet.

ABV: 52%
Size: 700ml
Find here: £139.95

Single Malt Scotch Whisky

Highland Park 12 year old – Viking Honour

Highland Park's spectacular 12 Year Old expression had a full-on Viking make-over in 2017, (the 18 Year Old is also getting a redesign, too). Stylish new livery and matching sub-name (Viking Honour) aside, the malt remains the same, it is complex with a certain sea air quality and salinity balanced by honey. This is a single malt with lots of character and I’d have it as my solo instrument any day.

ABV: 40%
Size: 700ml
Find here: UK £29.95 // US $54.99

Talisker 18 Year old

Talisker comes from the Isle of Skye on the west coast of Scotland, this expression has spent 18 years in casks, some of which used to hold Bourbon and some Sherry. The whisky is sweet and smoky with spicy flavours intermingling with the smoke and it has serious credentials. Back in 2007 it won the Best Whisky in the World category at the World Whisky Awards. For me, this is one of the best value versus price single malt whiskies in the world.

ABV: 45.8%
Size: 700ml
Find here: UK £75.95 // US $169.99

Tomatin 30 Year old

Tomatin 30 year old is one of my favourite 30 year old whiskies, and that is before I consider the price. Finding a 30 year old whisky at under £300 today is pretty difficult, and this is one of the best whiskies of this nature. It is full of honey and spice but has a lot of tropical fruit to balance all the spice and pepper. There is plenty of complexity. Unlike the Talisker, there is no smoke, so if you’re not a fan of smoky whisky, then you should love this. It is indulgent and has finesse at the same time.

ABV: 46%
Size: 700ml
Buy it now for £299

I would be a happy chap if those six whiskies were the only whiskies I could drink from now on. None of them have outrageous levels of smoke or are too sweet and all have complexity. They are my perfect six pack. If you’re intrigued by Scotch and would like to discover some great bang for buck bottles, how about trying a few of these bottles?

Super-Premium ‘Vodka’: Belvedere Heritage 176

Words by Helena Nicklin

The drinks industry is a fascinating place to be and we are constantly tasting drinks that delight and surprise. One such tasting happened with the launch of this wonderful spirit from Belvedere, the sophisticated vodka brand owned by luxury goods company LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessey). Enter stage right, Belvedere Heritage 176. Why the inverted commas around vodka in the title? The Heritage 176 is only distilled to 92% pure alcohol rather than the 96% that legally defines the spirit as vodka, hence why you’ll see ‘spirit drink’ on the label. For all intents and purposes however, it is essentially a particularly tasty vodka.

Tasting Vodka’s Past

The vodka industry has seen a plethora of artificially flavoured, sickly sweet vodkas flooding the shelves over the past few years but happily, it looks as though those days are coming to an end and there is now a strong movement back to the authenticity of the liquid in the bottle. Alone however, vodka has always been a spirit that tends to split the judges. To some, it’s an uninteresting, inoffensive, neutral spirit. Others are fascinated by the subtle complexities that the various raw materials give it. I was always somewhere in the middle if I’m honest until I met some premium brands that made me think twice about how beautiful fine vodka can be in its simplicity. 

The Belvedere Heritage 176

Belvedere itself is a premium brand that deserves to be taken seriously. While vodka can be made with just about anything you can ferment, from potatoes to all kinds of cereals, Belvedere is made in Poland purely with local rye over their eight farms to add character and spice. It has a citrusy finesse and a vanilla creaminess that makes it fine enough to sip alone as well as add to cocktails. They’re leading the way for more characterful vodkas, with two other, single estate releases  (Smogóry Forest and Lake Bartężek) focussing on rye from different ‘terroirs’, taking their lead from the wine world. 

Their new baby, Belvedere Heritage 176, is made using Polska rye and purified water with nothing else added. More importantly however, it’s made the old fashioned way, by producing a malted rye spirit. In a nutshell, this involves controlling the germination of the barley by steeping it, then drying it in a kiln to become ‘malted’ barley, where it can then be fermented as the starches have been broken down into fermentable sugars. While malt whisky lovers will be very familiar with this process, sadly this traditional method has all but died out with the vodkas in Poland (and other spirits worldwide) as it's much quicker and cheaper to use additional enzymes (diastase and amylase) to do this job of breaking down the starch. The Belvedere Heritage 176 is bringing the process home with this traditional malting method, heating the barley to a whopping 176 degrees (hence the name) to dry it, which gives it additional, bolder, rich aromas and flavours of walnut, toffee fudge, cream and vanilla with a subtle, spicy kick and seductive viscosity.  So strong is the resulting rye spirit from the distillation, only 2% of it is needed in the blend (with the regular vodka) to give it this moreish character. 

How to drink Belvedere Heritage 176

Such is the character of this spirit, it is enough to have it alone over ice, maybe with a twist of lemon. It will however, make a fantastic addition to any cocktail, especially vodka martinis, but here’s a super simple recipe that blew us away with its subtle, sweet notes of fudge, citrus and macadamia nut cream:

Ingredients

50ml Belvedere Heritage 176
5ml Honey syrup (3 parts good honey stirred with 1 part boiling water)
4 Dashes Walnut Bitters (we love Fee Bros Black Walnut Bitters)
Lemon peel twist

Method
Combine the ingredients in a mixing glass and stir well for a solid minute. Pour into a tumbler with ice - preferably one large block rather than smaller shards - and garnish with the lemon twist. Utterly delightful.

ABV: 40%
Size: 700ml
Find here: £34.95

Enjoyed this? Make sure you check out One Drink, Three Ways: Belvedere Organic Infusions or The Best Value Vodkas For Martinis.

A Drink Made With Poo That’s Good For You!

Words by Sara Lawrence

While most people cringe at the mention or sight of creepy crawlies, Antcicada, an insect-focused experimental kitchen based in Tokyo, gets their culinary inspiration from them.  Going a step further however, they have teamed up with the Mitosaya Botanical Distillery, located an hour outside Tokyo in Japan, who have created a unique spirit called ‘Sansha’.

Sansha – Silkworm Poo

Sansha refers to silkworm droppings which, according to Chinese medicine, offer improvements to blood flow and relief of joint and abdomen pain. In fact, this excrement has been used in all sort of treatments since ancient times, so if you ever need an excuse to enjoy a tipple, just mention those benefits and grab a glass of Sansha.

How Sansha spirit is made

To create Sansha, the distilling team sources silkworm droppings from cultivated silkworms at a one hundred and fifty-year-old silk farm in Yamanashi prefecture. Silkworms primarily feast on mulberry leaves and their droppings still contain undigested bits of these leaves. You might notice a subtle but distinct aroma from Sansha that is reminiscent of the plant. The process starts with the fermentation of organic mulberries with a rice spirit. The resulting spirit is then mixed with dried silkworm droppings and distilled to create the final product.

On the nose, you’ll pick up subtle notes of gyokuro green tea, prune, seaweed and mulberry. In the glass, you’ll notice a muted green colour. It’s a pleasantly surprising flavor and your palate will feel refreshed. 

Adventurous folk will love the opportunity to have a taste, if you can get your hands on some. Sansha is certainly a drink to remember – and perhaps the only spirit in the world that you can proudly claim tastes like shit. 

See more on the Distillery website here.