Friday, 30 October 2009

The Economy - PW overview

It's interesting to note that reviewing the news media in the last couple of weeks (and I'm obviously talking broadly about the UK based media, although I suspect this pattern is also beginning to show through in the United States as well)you can begin to see stories about 'green shoots' emerging within the economy.

Although it seems that this has been one of, if not the longest recession on record we don't really seem to have hit the deep slumps of 'Depression' - this may be because the world economies intervened in their various banking sectors in time - there are positive signs emerging.

Firstly the consumer confidence indicators are starting to pick up in the run up to Christmas and the housing market, which dropped then stabilized relatively quickly now seems to be driving some value again. Anecdotally I would comment that it has been a while coming but I'm now seeing removals vans regularly parked up outside houses on a Friday morning (the traditional 'moving day' within the UK) - this is a sight that almost disappeared in my area when the credit crunch bit - but this morning on the route of a five mile drive I saw three such vans.

It seems to me though that there are three main drag factors to the economy : -

1)Strikes - in the UK we have a series of national postal strikes as well as numerous local council and public sector disputes - two large ones in my own county alone. Possibily the bad feeling within these workforces is caused by employers taking the opportunity to use the recession as a pretext to imposet harsher conditions or pay. I mean my council tax went up (again) this year by more than inflation - so why can't the workers have a decent pay increase ???

2)Length of recession - although the recession in both the UK and US is now I believe 'officially' over - it has proven to the longest on record - from a confidence point of view it takes a while for economy and public perception to improve.

3)Patchy recovery by sector - as ever, industry and manufacturing are always likely to suffer during recession. They struggle anyway in light of massively cheap labour and cost bases overseas and anything which buggers up their finally balanced cost and output factors like a recession affects this kind of business disproportionately.
In addition this time round a number of financial services and service sector businesses have been adversley affected too although it remains to be seen how quickly they recover as we move forward.

It seems that again the retail sector will be expected to drive the recovery forward into 2010.

What is the Prestige Whisky take on this ?

Well we launched the business at the height of the recession and were in the fortunate position to have ready access to the capital required without having to leverage our finances too hard. Trade has already exceeded our initial expectations and moving towards X-Mas 2009 we're confident that our proposition works and works well and that for 2010 we can drive forward to some of our business plan targets early.

So here's to a bumper 2010 for everyone and hopefully the recovery will persist.

The (Probably) most definitive (Ever) in the world Whisky gift guide to Christmas Ever from Prestige Whisky - Part Un

'Ello, HardWorker1 from Prestige Whisky here, it's getting close to a certain gift related, over-eating time of year and in the retail trade apparently we have to try and convince people to buy stuff from us to give to other people - personally, I think you should just buy whisky and keep and drink (responsibly) it yourself. But Hey, I didn't create either a post industrial capitalist society or 2,000 plus year old religion with obligatory messiah whose birthday happens to fall at the end of December (is it a co-incidence that David Beckhams birthday is in late December - I don't think so!) - so here's the first of our two part (maybe three, haven't decided how far I can spin out the list of recommendations yet to be honest). celebration of Prestige Whisky, the (Probably) most definitive (Ever) in the world Whisky gift guide to Christmas Ever


As ever it's only October and I'm about to write the following words in anger : -

"Christmas fast approaches"

There, I did it, it's now in print and I can't go back on it. So with that one big elephant in the room 'outed' lets crack on with selling you guys some real quality whisky for Christmas !!!

As Christmas fast approaches more and more of our customers and potential customers (i.e. the ones who don't know it yet) are on the look out for that unique and perfect gift to buy for their loved one.

Have a think about it, is a tie,set of hankies (handkerchiefs for the Americans amongst you) some socks or the perfect (Hi Karate - yes I am showing my age here!) aftershave really going to cut it?

Well Ebeneezer, have you really thought about what you'd like your nearest and dearest to think about their gift ? After all, people might say that it's the thought that counts but in the real world it's actually about quality, innovation, and moolah (only joking - although we do have some real quality stuff at reasonable prices lol !) so why not consider that perfect different gift of a unique bottle of single malt or blended malt whisky. Now given that I run an on-line whisky business I bet you're really surprised about that gift recommendation aren't you ?

Here at Prestige Whisky Towers we have very carefully selected a multi award winning range of single malts and unique blended whiskies from Scotland and indeed malts and blends from as far afield as Japan, the USA and Wales (that's right, we've gone as far as popping down the M4). Which reminds me of a very silly joke about how you get two Whales in a mini which I won't proceed with as it will only serve to confuse our overseas readers.

Onto business and getting serious about our marketing, as many of you know we (that's the royal 'we' and I actually mean you, I personally never go into those types of places) can easily take a trip to our local supermarket (I'm obviously not talking Aldi here though) and find the usual mass market malt collection of a maximum of ten malts (Balvenie, Glenfiddich and possibly Jura but that's about it) but the stuff in the Hypermarkets will never have that real appeal of becoming a proper collectors piece or indeed be a malt that one can boast is one of a very limited edition from some of the worlds best malt distilleries in the world. Most importantly for us, the supermarket level stuff doesn't promote the following comments or questions :

"Wow, really cool bottle!"

"I've heard of this brand but it's 40 years old, what does that mean?"

"It tastes great but who the hell are Glendullan ?"

You see, as we've said before at PW, it's not just about making that sale for us. Sure we'd like your hard earned pennies but not if you want to buy off the shelf whisky that (with respect - 'cos some of the lower priced blends are actually excellent and should be drunk and enjoyed along with the finest of malts) just isn't special. you see we want to give you the wow factor, the thirst (pardon the pun) for knowledge about your whisky and the excitement of seeing your giftee as they first set eyes on something that isn't socks or Auntie Beryls false teeth that Uncle Bert thought was a novelty beer bottle opener and wrapped by mistake without his reading glasses on.


PW Top Tip 1 for Christmas - if you have to invite Uncle Bert and Aunt Beryl on Christmas day, make sure that you don't have any decent expressions on hand - you know they drink it like pop and don't appreciate your £ 180 Glenlivet 25 Year Old (also available incidentally within the Speyside section of www.prestigewhisky.com)


Anyway, where was I ..... ah yes, here at PW Towers, we have carefully chosen a selection of whiskies that in many cases are in very limited suppy,some are very rare indeed! You're going to have to be quick then - our on-line servers are now waiting for throngs of you to log on.

THE END OF PART ONE

PS.

Wow, that was both entertaining and informative to write (actually, since I already knew all that stuff it wasn't really that informative but I do now have a deep understanding of the save process on google docs - so I have grown both as a person and comedian as well).

Watch out next week for part two of this exciting and information article where I might actually get around to talking about actual whisky.

Thursday, 29 October 2009

Christmas Whisky gifts

Just a word of warning - our irreverent and hopefully amusing Christmas Whisky Gift Guide begins tomorrow here at this blog, it's witty and refreshing look at the kinds of whisky you might want to buy from us for your nearest and dearest this Christmas and remember that we don't use the Royal Mail so stuff you order from us will actually arrive unlike all those postcards you're sending and the things you ordered off Amazon.

Watch this space

Wednesday, 21 October 2009

New world whiskies

As promised, we've extended our range of world whiskies to include :

Tyrconnell 15 Year Old
Wild Geese 4th Centenniel
Hakushu 12 Year Old
Hibiki Blend 17 Years Old
Penderyn Malt

Great expressions from all over the world aimed at all budgets !

Tuesday, 20 October 2009

Titantic Twitter Task

Or the three T's project as I'm calling it.

We're finding web traffic rising well and I think it's partly down to increased Twitter and marketing activity. So I'm publishing my short and medium term Twitter goals to our readers.

Step 1 Reach 700 followers by end of 22/10/09
Step 2 Reach 1,000 by 26th October
Step 3 5,000 by 25/6/10
Step 4 10,000 by 25/6/11

How can I help I hear you cry ?

Well if you haven't already go onto Twitter, find Whisky1 (the PW account) and click follow us - then re-tweet about us to all of your own friends/followers - if just one follower from each of our 750+ blog readers follows Whisky1 then thats's another 750 followers and w're chasing step 3 in one fell swoop.

Unsurprisingly I will probably bang on about this alot in coming posts !

Thanks in anticipation

Morning to new readers

Behind the scenes Prestige Whisky is now marketing to other retail partners clients - so good morning to new readers who've found the blog by virtue of one of our Amazon or Ebay partners - I know you're out there.

Have a flick through the back catalogue of blog posts and see what we're about. If you have any queries or want more info on whisky gifts, whisky in general or what Prestige Whisky can offer then feel free to e-mail us on info@prestigewhisky.com

Update for Wednesday

Been a bit quiet on the blog/Twitter recently - a function of both testing on the PW website and other interests getting in the way of allowable time for social media.

However, time seems to be freeing up now - so you'll find a few tweets coming through in the next few hours/days - we're up to well over 600 followers now which is more than respectable within the whisky sector - the challenge being to strike a balance between commercial expediency - i.e. telling people about new stock items etc. and being interesting/fun. I'm wanting to work towards 1,000 followers which puts us in the premier league of drinks industry Twitter accounts and builds towards my stated target of 10,000 followers within two years. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated and I'm going to start asking for assistance both here and on the T account for people to tweet on to their followers and see if we can get some organic growth going.

Incidentally we've had over 750 distinct visits to this blog so this forum is moving along well.

Although the number of visits to www.prestigewhisky.com is much more commercially sensitive and I can't really reveal exact numbers here. However, we are way ahead of the business plan in terms of website traffic (by around a factor of four in fact with conversion ratios going exactly to plan.)

Two excellent new whiskies of the world

We have this morning added two fine new expressions to the www.prestigewhisky.com website.

Firstly there is a 15 Year Old Kilbeggan Irish blended whisky and then also a 14 Year Old Malt from Tyrconnell.

Watch out for more whiskies of the world and other new stock coming in the next few weeks - all ideal birthday, anniversary and Christmas presents.

Monday, 12 October 2009

New stock updates - whiskies of the world

Just to update people - if you go to www.prestigewhisky.com and visit the 'Whiskies of the World' tab to the left of the screen you'll find two great new American bourbons.

Firstly there's the Jack Daniels Single Barrel - 45% abv and a snip at £ 40.99 - ideal for any cowboy friends !

Then there's the Award Winning Van Winkles, Pappy Van Winkle aged for an unprecedented 20 Years for £ 105

Enjoy !

Find the perfect birthday or anniversary gift ...

If you're after just the right bottle of whisky for that special person, you just need to go to www.prestigewhisky.com and search either by year or the persons age or the number of years for an anniversary and our quick search engine will bring up all the options that fit your parameters.

Alternatively if you'd like to discuss your requirements or just want some pointers feel free to ring on 0845 6254395 or e-mail on info@prestigewhisky.com

We're always here to help !

Thursday, 8 October 2009

The Prestige Whisky guide to the Whisky Regions of Scotland – Part 5

Welcome to the fifth and sadly last of our Whisky Regions guides. It's been a fun stroll through the beautiful distillery countryside of Scotland and hopeful the information has been of some use.

What I'd like to do as a last summary is to list all of the whiskies we've featured as fine examples of their particular region but then also make some additional recommendations by highlighting one particular distillery from each region as well and giving you a little background by way of some distillery notes.

First up, here's our recommendations list pulled together. I have also taken the libertyy of including the price of each of these fine expressions as you'll find them at www.prestigewhisky. Here you'll find them all available direct to your door.

Highland Dalmore King Alexander III at www.prestigewhisky.com for £ 123.99

Speyside Glenlivet 12 Year Old £25.99
and the Macallan 21 Year Old £121.00

Island Isle of Jura, Paps range, 'Mountain' £95.00

Islay Ardbeg 10 Year Old £32.99

Campbeltown Glen Scotia 12 Year Old £23.99

Lowland Rosebank 1991 £44.99

So if you'd like to try any of these feel free to drop into the main site and have a browse. In most cases we also stock these expressions older, bigger borthers - if you have any specific brands or distilleries you're interested in feel free to contact us on either 0845 6254395 or info@prestigewhisky.com

To finish, lets move on to highlight our favourite distilleries.

I'd like to focus on the following :

Glenglassaugh, Highland
Island, Highland Park
Speyside, The Balvenie
Islay, Bruichladdich

Glenglassaugh Distillery Note, from Glenglassaugh Managing Director Stuart Nickerson :

Our distillery purchased by the Glenglassaugh Distillery Company ( which is owned by a Dutch registered investment company called Scaent Holdings) on 29th February 2008, after lying silent for 22 years. The previous owners, The Edrington Group, had not invested in the production plant or the buildings during that period although they were still using a large warehouse for storing casks from other distilleries. Since purchasing the distillery we have invested heavily, around £1.0m in refurbishing the distillery and it was officially opened on the 24th of November by Scotland’s First Minister, Alex Salmond. The first distillate from the new distillery was produced on the 4th of December and on 16th December we filled our first casks.
In addition to the distillery we also purchased all of the Glenglassaugh stock which Edrington owned, which unfortunately was not very much. However we do have enough to allow us to release a 21 year old product, once only, and then have small amounts of 30 year old and 40 year old for sale each year for the next 10 years.
In 2009 we have launched three separate products, all of limited supply. All of the products come from individual casks, are non-chill filtered, non-coloured and are bottled at the distillery.

As you'll see from the above. Glenglassaugh was re-opened formally fairly recently and it's one of the distilleries that we really love to deal with. At the moment you'll find the 21 Year Old, 30 Year Old and the grand daddy of them all the 40 Year Old all for sale within our Highland section at www.prestigewhisky.com.

Highland Park Distillery Notes :

Highland Park, the most Northern of all Scottish distilleries dominates both the city of Kirkwall and the famous Scapa Flow. At the end of the 18th century, preacher Magnus Eunson who was a famous smuggler, is supposed to have distilled spirit on the place of the current distillery. He was hiding stocks of illegal spirit under the pulpit in the church.
The current distillery was built in 1825 by Robert Borwick, but it soon became the property of John Robertson. Later on the ownership of the distillery has been shared between Borwick and Robertson, until the last retired. After the death of Robert Borwick, his son George became manager of the business until 1860. Since, Highland Park has been owned by different people and in 1890 James Grant, owner of The Glenlivet formed a partnership with William Stuart, owner of Miltonduff. The production capacity was doubled in 1898,
Highland Park is part of the composition of Long John amongst others.

One of the better known and more popular Island distilleries, Highland Park always scores highly in Prestige Whisky taste tests.

The Balvenie, distillery notes, largely taken from the Balvenie website :

BALVENIE CASTLE lent its name to the adjacent farm, Balvenie Mains. It also lent some stones to Balvenie New House, a replacement dwelling rather easier to heat and maintain than a medieval fort. After several decades the house itself stood empty, but soon developed a new role as the heart of a brand-new distillery from which the first spirit flowed on May Day 1893.
The basement became a warehouse, the first storey a malt floor and upstairs a loft to store the barley from the fertile thousand acres of Balvenie Mains.In the 1920s they built a new maltings right next door, using stone blocks from the now levelled New House. Little else has changed over the years.
They’ve added stills, but they’re the same special shape. They have matured their malt in many different casks and pioneered new expressions, but it’s still the same spirit that goes in. They’ve added people, but the unique atmosphere remains the same.

The exceptional quality of the single malt from The Balvenie is greatly due to the know-how of the craftsmen who create the whisky. Nearly all the operations in the process of making whisky happen within the distillery, from malting to repairing the casks. The Balvenie even has it's own cooperage.
The Balvenie is quite different from Glenfiddich, even if both distilleries belong to the same family. (The Balvenie has belonged to the Grant family for 5 generations).
The greatest part of the production is marketed as single malt, and the remaining is used in the Grants and Clan MacGregor blends, belonging to the same company.

Widely regarded as THE iconic Highland/Speyside distillery brand and a constant presence in the top five whisky brands almost forever. You'll find (a) the Balvenie on the whisky shelf of most restaurants and supermarkets and rightly so.

Bruichladdich Distillery Notes – from the companies website :

On the remote Atlantic Isle of Islay a small, privately-owned Scottish distillery produces artisanal Single Malt Whisky as it was in 1881.

Here, the islanders’ art of distilling is still connected to its agricultural roots, with organic and heritage barleys grown
on selected farms for ultimate individuality. Microchip-free distilling in tall narrow-necked stills followed by island maturation
and natural bottling produces a spirit acknowledged as the purest in Scotland. This sophisticated, complex, multi-layered
whisky is uniquely Islay-bottled to maximise the creamy texture and long finish - the ideal wine-drinker’s dram.

100% Islay From barley to bottle. Savour the flavour.

An Islay distillery which although small is understandably proud of its heritage - all hail the laddie !

Okay, that is all we have on whisky regions - we hope that you've found this series both interesting and informative and that it drives you to learn more about the wonderful world of whisky both Scotch and otherwise.

We would welcome any comments that you might have and of course our offer of a free copy of all five articles and a distillery map stands - just e-mail info@prestigewhisky.com if you'd like to receive them.

More PW news - 8th October 2009

A few quick updates this morning.

Firstly, remember that the fifth and final part of our whisky regions articles goes live on this blog tomorrow morning at 9.00am

Secondly just a reminder about our Elite discount/loyalty scheme. Every time you make an order at www.prestigewhisky.com you'll receive a 5% voucher that we will apply (subject to our Terms and Conditions) on the next purchase you make with us. Full details are at www.prestigewhisky.com under the 'Terms' tab at the top of your screen.

LAstly, remember if you need a special gift for a birthday or anniversay (or even for a client or employee) search in our quick search box at the top right of the screen by year or age.

Wednesday, 7 October 2009

Prestige Whisky News - 7th October 2009

Morning to all.

Just wanted to give a couple of bits and bobs of updates today. Firstly, we added three new expressions yesterday :

Miltonduff 1969
Glenrothes (bottled by G & M) 1969
Jura Superstition

All three are available at www.prestigewhisky.com

Second, excitingly I just put the finishing touches to the final part of our Whisky Regions article, this episode pulls everything together and provides a bit of top and tailing to the series.

As an aside, regular readers of the blog will have seen the true customer service case study that I ran through yesterday - interestingly the client did make an order yesterday evening - ironically he chose something completely different from the two recommendations I made - still I do feel vindicated.

Lastly I just wanted to remind people that if you're looking for a birthday or anniversary whisky gift then just go to www.prestigewhisky.com and do a quick search (top right of your screen) by year (e.g. 1969) or age (e.g. 21) to find the perfect corresponding bottle. We're finding this new functionality on the website a real boon for people.

Tuesday, 6 October 2009

Prestige whisky for gifts

Visit www.prestigewhisky for all your whisky gift needs !

If you're after that special whisky gift, Prestige Whisky has an extensive range of exclusive single malts arranged by whisky region. For more information see our exclusive whisky regions article here at our blog.

You'll also find some very select fine whisky blends in our blend section underneath the regions to the left of your screen(at www.prestigewhisky.com).

Our silver range of whisky includes 25 affordable malts aimed exclusively at the gift sector.

Finally browse our growing whiskies of the world section for something more exotic.

Whether you're looking for a present for yourself or gift for a friend, loved one or valued client/employee make sure you check out our range of 200 wonderful whisky expressions geared towards any whisky gift need.

If your whisky gift is for a birthday or anniversary why not try using our quick search selection to get the right year or age. Simply key in the relevant number to the top right of your screen.

If you can't find exactly what you need give us a call on 0845 6254395 to speak to one of our experts who will point you in the right direction or source that more exclusive malt or blended whisky for you, this is of course a free service.

For all your personal and corporate whisky gifts choose Prestige Whisky

Customer Service - a tale of contrasts

First of all the story I am about to tell is true and happened to me today.

I've had a problem with my kitchen tap. It'd been leaking and I finally got around to trying to source a replacement washer and some advice this morning. Went to a shop local to myself that was recommended to me. The person serving could not have been more unhelpful. She couldn't be bothered to discuss my problem and when challenged simply recommended I look on the internet (funny owning an on-line business myself I'd never have thought of that!) her closing statement was that she wasn't a plumber and only sold the taps - well not to me she isn't. Even if she couldn't help she could have left me feeling at least like she was interested. This was ironic as at some point in the near future I may re-do my bathroom - I won't be going to that bathroom/kitchen/plumbing outlet now will I ?

Later the same day (about an hour ago in fact) a PW customer rang checking if we had an item in stock. Unfortunately we didn't. However, as this was an urgent birthday gift I have sourced him a couple of alternatives, tracked down tasting notes, emailed them across to him and also placed both items on the website. Lastly I just texted him to let him know the items are available if he would still like to order.

Sorry if this makes me sound 'big headed'. My point is simply this. As well as having my name over the door at Prestige Whisky I'm obviously a regular consumer myself and I require certain minimum standards or I walk - plain and simple.

I don't know if the PW client I spoke to today will buy from us or not - I hope he will but I don't necessarily expect him to.

However, and this is vital - he should expect the same high standard of support I tried to give him this afternoon every time he talks or interacts with my business and as long as my name is over the door - he will !

New 1969 Expressions

We have just added two exciting new expressions to www.prestigewhisky.com

First of all we have the 1969 Miltonduff - a simple yet tasty Spey.

Then the 1969 Glenrothes, bottled by Gordon and MacPhail - a more complex and spicy little whisky which is superb value for money (not to imply of course that the Miltonduff isn't !!!).

Both are at the top of our Speyside selection (or search in the quick search facility top right of the website) and priced at £ 99.99 plus postage - well below RRP.

Enjoy ....

Sunday, 4 October 2009

The Prestige Whisky guide to the Whisky Regions of Scotland – Part 4

Welcome to issue 4 of the Prestige Whisky guide to Scotch Whisky regions.

In recent days we’ve had an excellent response to our articles and if you’d like a pdf copy of the distillery map of Scotland that we’re recommending then feel free to e-mail through to :

info@prestigewhisky.com

Today we will be discussing perhaps the lesser known and certainly under appreciated regions of Islay and Campbeltown.

Islay whiskies tend to be heavier in style and many malts from this region will be typically more peaty and smoky with a hint of sea salt. Reading tasting notes on 'typical' Islay expressions you will often hear them described as being 'of the sea' or 'reminiscent of the seaside'.

A really good example of Islay Malt would be the famous Ardbeg, we feature the 10 Year Old expression within our Silver collection (http://www.prestigewhisky.com/acatalog/Prestige_Whisky_Silver.html)

Here's some thoughts on the Ardbeg,

Quite sweet on the nose, with soft peat, carbolic soap and Arbroath smokies. Intense yet quite delicate on the palate, with burning peats and dried fruit, followed by sweeter notes of malt and a touch of liquorice. Extremely long and smoky in the finish, with a fine balance of cereal sweetness and dry peat notes.

( Extract for tasting notes from whisky pages) Gavin D Smith and Tom Cannavan

Moving on to Island whiskies, there are many palate styles here and but reasonably typical and a brand new favourite our ours would be the Isle of Jura Paps, new 'Mountain' expression. Again available within our Island section.

Colour: Warm and glowing with subtle hints of ripe barley.
Nose: Fresh and appealing with nuances of tangerine and spice. The floral aromas are at the heart of the bouquet where the scents of rose petals, hyacinths and honeysuckle are fused together in perfect harmony.
Taste: Take a generous measure and slowly add a small trickle of cool still water. Hold it long in the mouth to unlock its delightful hidden secrets. Soft chewy caramel, fudge, Madeira cake and ripe apples have been lovingly blended together.
Finish: Barolo is more commonly known as 'The Wine of Kings'. A lofty status equalled only by that of our own Sacred Mountain.

Finishing with Cambeltown whiskies - sadly there are now only 3 distilleries currently operating in this region : -

Springbank,Glengyle and Glen Scotia.

For this section I wish to present to you a fabulous cheeky malt, the Glen Scotia 1992..

Nose: Initial sweetness, light and delicate in character. With
banana influences and a delicate briny edge.

Palate: Mouth coating, rounded with a subtle spice. Becomes
sweet and creamy.

Finish : Long and nutty.

With water

Nose: Fresh influences, heavy sweetness and citrus
fruit notes - lemon and limes.

Palate: Defined vanilla element, sweet - reminiscent of an ice
cream soda.

Finish: Drying

Body: Medium

Having taken a whistle stop tour around the fine distilleries of Scotland and the Isles I think it's about time to pause and recap. So that's the end of the tour for now. I'm off to pour myself a glass of the Glen Scotia '92 - a whisky I find nice and light to enjoy before a meal or perhaps following a light supper just as the light begins to fade over the horizon on a blustery Autumn day. Next time in the fifth and final instalment of our guide I will be recapping on where we've travelled and drawing your attention to not only the regional recommendations we've made but also a couple of other whiskies that perhaps lead on from this.

Remember as well that if you've enjoyed the guide we're offering (free I might add) a word version of all five articles along with a pdf of our favourite whisky distillery map of Scotland to anyone who e-mails and requests it from info@prestigewhisky.com

Whisky Regions update

Remember that part four arrives tomorrow morning and part five (the last one) hits your blog feed at 9.00am next Friday.

If you want a word copy of whole article and a pdf of our whisky distillery map then e-mail us at info@prestigewhisky.com

Once the regions project is finished we will begin to talk about our next feature which will be built around one of our distillery partners and promises to be an exciting insight into the wotld of a working Scottish distillery - a must for connoiseurs and new whisky drinkers alike.

Fine new blended whisky and malt whisky available now

If you’re in the market for some wonderful whisky for yourself or as a whisky gift then look no further than www.prestigewhisky.com

You’ll find fabulous new blends at a range of prices from £ 16.95 for our 8 Year Old Isle of Sky right up to £ 799.99 for it’s ‘big brother’ the 50 Year Old and everything else inbetween.

New to our range of blended whisky this morning are :

Isle of Skye 8 Year Old
Ballantines 21 Year Old
Grants 25 Year Old
Johnnie Walker Blue Label (a very special mix and a PW recommendation!)

Plus three fabulous expressions from Whyte and Mackay the 22, 30 and 40 Year Old. In particular if you’re looking for a mid rang whisky gift – and a lovely blend certainly suits most whisky drinkers – then look no further than the Whyte and Mackay 30 Year Old or the Walkers Blue Label.

In addition to these fine new blends we also have a new Brora 30 Year Old – the 2005 release and always a favourite brand – the Highland Park 18 Year Old – at only £ 58.99 another superb whisky gift idea and one that I’d recommend for a new drinker. I always tend to give Island malts to introduce new drinking friends to malt whisky.

You can find the blends by going to :

www.prestigewhisky.com and then clicking on the ‘Blended Whisky’ tab to the right of the screen or search by specific name on the quick search facility to the top right of the screen.

The Brora is a Higland and the Highland Park is under Island – alternatively use the quick search as above.

You can also find details of these latest additions to the site on Facebook and Twitter as usual.

Please feel free to leave comments via info@prestigewhisky.com or on the blog or Facebook comments areas.

Saturday, 3 October 2009

Facebook links

Just to let people know, if you visit the news section of www.prestigewhisky.com there is now a link to our Facebook page.

Prestige whisky for gifts

I have just posted the following onto our Facebook page and wanted to update people here as well - it's just a reminder of some of our basic information.

It refers to our Facebook page which can be found at

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Prestige-Whisky/141909982581

"If you look at the 'for that special gift' photo album you'll find details of some of our most popular whiskies ranging in price from £ 40 to £ 1400 !

Each Expression comes to you from our distillery partners by specially selected courier (so no postal strike issues for presents or Christmas).

We abide strictly by the EU rules on distance selling and as the leading specialist retailer in the whisky gift sector we are totally transparent about all of our transactions. You can find full details within the website conditions or contact us on info@prestigewhisky.com or 0845 6254395 or 07883 882064.

Postage within the UK is £ 8.95 per order (no limit to the number of bottles per order). All deliveries come to you within 5 working days and each time you make a purchase you'll recieve a voucher from us for 5% off your next purchase. This Elite loyalty voucher is also transferable - feel free to pass it to your friends or relatives."

I'm finding Facebook quite a good looking addition to the PW suite of on-line media and would appreciate peoples comments.

Friday, 2 October 2009

Interactive Communications

Given the recent addition of Facebook to our online media repertoire I thought it was a good time to re-list the variety of methods to interact with and get hold of, Prestige Whisky.

1) First of all there's the website itself : www.prestigewhisky.com

This is our on-line shop specialising in rare and exclusive whisky for both yourself and any special gift requirements.

2) The blog - if you are reading this then you probably know where we are :

www.prestigewhisky.blogspot.com

3) Twitter

We tend to trail special offers, news and of course new blog posts here. You'll find us by doing a search under our name : Whisky1

You can also find our more recent Tweets on the top right of the blog itself

4) Telephone

Landline 0845 6254395
Mobile 07883 882064

5) E-mail

Either info@prestigewhisky.com

or phil@prestigewhisky.com

6) Facebook

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Prestige-Whisky/141909982581

This is brand new to PW this morning and as I've blogged about previously is a totally new venture as historically I've never really been a fan of this social media site - but 300 million people can't all be wrong !

Having looked briefly at Facebook it may be that there's facility to start a forum for PW fans/customers via Facebook which is something I will look into. If anyone has any suggested topics we might discuss I'm happy to facilitate this.

Facebook !

In an surprising move, Prestige whisky has now joined the 300 million plus people on Facebook. You can find us at www.facebook.com/pages/Prestige-Whisky/141909982581.

The Facebook business page is still very much a work in progress but hopefully it can start to give a whole new audience of people access to the website.

Thursday, 1 October 2009

Girvan Distillery - a retrospective

Girvan Distillery:

Prince Charles Opened the Girvan distillery in 1963 and it operated actively for around 12 years through the 1960s and early 1970s. Girvan was a lowland malt distillery on the same site as the Ladyburn grain distillery and in its years of production created much excitement amongst malt lovers including the release of its official bottling of the rare malt in 2000.

No doubt the Girvan and Ladyburn distilleries were built to make Grants as self sufficient as possible - both of these brands/distilleries are owned by William Grants.

Prestige whisky has the rare opportunity to offer a limited release of 1964 Girvan first batch single grain whisky which offers an exquisite whisky offering.

The whisky is not overly complex but a good example of grain whisky and on the nose has spicy and rich notes, the body is surprisingly rich for a grain whisky and the palate offers up a sweet chocolate taste.

The finish is smooth and yet strikingly bold and is a real little cracker!!

The ABV is 48% and one may wish to add a light dash of water to bring out the phenolic of this formidable whisky.

Check out our whisky range on www.prestigewhisky.com