And here is the news…

Greetings from Pre- Lockdown No.2 London where we are still trying to work out what’s actually going on and how to adjust business accordingly from this Thursday.

We were able to keep all of our stores open during the first Lockdown as our stores all sell alcohol and we are considered ‘essential’, it’s not clear if that still applies in the 2^nd Lockdown at this stage though we hope it will.

After all, if you can buy a bottle of scotch from a supermarket, surely you should be able to buy the same bottle of scotch from an independent spirits specialist shop. We strictly enforce social distancing in our shops, we have hand sanitizer stations and customers and all staff have to wear face masks.

So, for now we plan to operate business as usual in our retail chain whilst our mail order division will continue operating 24-7 as always. We can already see demand has increased substantially with order numbers last week at almost double normal expectations. I think people were anticipating Lockdown restrictions (sensibly) and getting in orders earlier rather than later.

Hopefully Royal Mail and courier services will be able to cope well and maintain good service levels. We are releasing yet more of our reserve stocks of premium cigars as the shortages continue to get worse so we expect to maintain around 97% range availability. And what a range it is… now over 11,000 products. truly the largest range in the UK by a long stretch.

We remain positive that the Corona nightmare will be over at some stage in the future. So much so that I’m happy to announce we have started to fit out a new cigar and whisky flag ship store in the heart of St James’s . This will be the first ‘C.Gars’ shop’ (our other cigars and whisky stores are under our Turmeaus brand)

The building contractors are bashing away with the super modern design that will feature a beautiful walk in humidor, whisky showroom and comfortable sampling area. We’re very excited about this expansion in the Mecca of cigar land of London :).

No change planned for our lovely Turmeaus shop in Mayfair (many customers have asked) this small but exceptionally busy shop will continue to trade as always.

The long awaited second batch of Ramon Allones No.2 Limited edition finally arrived last week and all back orders are being fulfilled over the next few days or so. I smoked one yesterday and it was truly a sublime smoking experience.

We expect the Quai D’Orsay Senadores Limited edition to be released next week (assuming no delays due to the Lockdown) I love this brand as the blend is quite unique and nothing like any other brand. The range expansion a few years ago was very welcome and very popular with our clients.

I have just released 64 boxes of Quai d’ Orsay No.50 – Orchant Seleccion that are smoking exceptionally well. Individually numbered, double banded, matured and ready to smoke. I paired up with a Foragers G&T from the fabulous Snowdonia Distillery for a perfect palate tingling experience.

We recently bottled a cask of Stalla Dhu Caol Ila 11 year old at a whopping 60.4%. This is a serious single malt! Goes well with a full bodied Partagas or Bolivar. Only 287 bottles from this beautiful cask of exceptional character from our multi award winning brand.

Our Winter auction was a resounding success with well over £1M in Lots sold a few weeks ago. Prices were startling (high) with much interest from the Far East. We are shipping auction Lots over the coming weeks. I’m not certain when we will hold the next auction. it could be as early as December or as late as January next year.

Havana cigar shortages continue with Cohiba continuing to be the worst affected brand. Little sign of BHK’s, Siglo VI and Piramides Extra sadly. Even Siglo IV and Robustos seem to be sporadically going out of stock. My advice is stock up while you can as we don’t see the supply situation improving any time soon.

But what of Christmas this year? Will we be able to return to any semblance of normality? Who knows? the best advice is to stock your bar and humidor sooner rather than later.

Have a smokey week and stay safe,

Peaceful puffing

Mitchell

Forager’s Gin and Snowdonia Distillery

We have brought in some fantastic gin into the shops that are easily some of the best gins that we have ever had. We have brought in 2 bottlings so far, but will be adding more in the future. For the gin lovers out there, these gins are a must try. The freshness and quality is unmatched. I am always excited when we get gins that I have not tried, but the excitement goes through the roof when they turn out to be this good!

They come from Snowdonia Distillery in the North of Wales. I’ll give you a quick rundown of the operation.

Founded by the Marshall Family in 2015.
The first copper micro-distillery in North Wales after 100 years.
Founder and distiller Chris Marshall was an investment manager and professional skier before getting the distilling bug.
Chris brought in the best botanists, sensory analysts, master distillers, and master coppersmiths to create the best distillery.
Ran by Chris and a small dedicated team passionate for bringing the best spirits.
Focused on incorporating the local Welsh nature around them.
Hand foraged local botanicals.
Six times longer than the normal distilling process that helps release more flavours and capture subtler notes.
Limited 5000 bottle run per expression.
Have received multiple awards for their gins.
Their portfolio includes Forager’s Gin, Marsette Liqueurs, and a yet to be released rum.
The botanicals used: Juniper, Sea Buckthorne, Apple, Elderberry, Gorse flowers, and Bell Heather.

I have been so impressed with the two gins we currently have in stock and hope to visit the distillery at some point. We have received the Yellow Gin and Black Gin in stock. Yellow is aromatic floral with autumn fruits, a gin with such finesse that your senses will dance! The long maceration shows up in layers of flavour. The Black is clean, cutting edge, austere sophistication. Juniper driven with hints of rich citric tones from the Sea Buckthorne. The team is amazing at distilling these botanical and pulling out certain flavours!

Grab a bottle or two and we’ll keep you posted when we get new bottlings in from Snowdonia Distillery.

Slainte,

Anthony

THE LARGEST VINTAGE HAVANA CIGAR AUCTION IN HISTORY

No sooner than we have wrapped up the shipping from the July auction, which I can tell you was some task during this crazy Corona period of time we are just about ready to roll with the next sale.

Usually winning bidders collect their Lots from the auction office but with Corona just about everyone wanted shipping service. That was all fine and dandy except our friends at Royal Mail are overwhelmed to say the least and shipping is slower than ever and clearly continues to be challenging. But, Hey-Ho, looks like we just about got there in the end.

The auction calendar has been somewhat screwed up this year again due to Corona pushing forward the auction dates so I’m not sure if we are doing a Winter sale in December as usual at this time and it may well be pushed forward to January.

I can confirm that our October 13^th sale is going ahead and will in fact be a mega sale with well over 800 Lots which by my memory makes it the largest vintage cigar auction in history.

We will be offering and selling on behalf of collectors, estates and aficionados a MASSIVE range of aged, mature Cuban Davidoff, Cuban Dunhill, Pre Embargo and by popular demand single malt Scotch Whisky. It’s quite a breath taking catalogue that will have Lots that appeal to both the cigar smoker and collector.

The catalogue and Lots will be online late on Tuesday and that’s when bidding opens. Bidding closes and the auction ends on the 13^th October. It’s all very simple and works a bit like EBay, think of it as CBay 🙂

New bidders need to register and establish their credit limit in order to participate. We are happy to provide condition reports by email and strongly urge any prospective bidders to email the auction Team with any questions as we are online 24/7 and always happy to help

The auction department was established in 2009 and C.Gars Auctions are the only specialist cigar auctioneer in the world. It’s such a privilege to be able to deal with such rare Havanas throughout the year. I’m sort of the curator of the collection, I look after them and love them and then find a new home for them 🙂

In other news …

The Ramon Allones No.2 Limited Edition proved to be a resounding success but of course nothing goes smoothly in the cigar business and the first allocation that arrived for the launch was very small with the main delivery expected a few weeks later. Well, you guessed it – that didn’t happen as the shipment was caught up and delayed. The good news is that we finally do expect them in the next 10 days or so and will of course be fulfilling all back orders as well as releasing more availability as soon as they arrive. My apologies to our clients for this unavoidable and unexpected delay. It will be worth the wait for sure …

In the mean time we have released some more of our reserve stocks of La Gloria Cubana Britanicas Extra, El Rey del Mundo La Reina and Juan Lopez Seleccion Superba on the website.

We don’t yet have a reopening date for our cigar sampling lounges , again –due to Corona. We were hoping it would be this month but it’s now pushed back to November. Hopefully we will get back to normal soon. You can join us on our virtual herfs though which are a lot of fun. We feature cigars and premium spirits and have some great brand ambassadors to talk about the products. Join me on the next one HERE

I guess that’s the end of Summer looking at the torrential rain outside my window but clearly the increase in our clients enjoying a smoke and a drink is here to stay. Happy to say that we have acquired two additional C.Gars mail order warehouse buildings that will be state of the art ( Think of us as Amazon for cigars !) and should be fully operational and integrated in the next month.

We have recently partnered with a fantastic gin distillery that has blown us away with their amazing boutique gin. Check out the website here https://foragers.co.uk/ the gin available online and at all Turmeaus shops.

Starting with soft juniper tones, Foragers gently takes you to fresh, semi-sweetness of apple and elderberry, before giving way to incredible, subtle, unmistakable floral notes from gorse and heather flowers. BUY NOW

Forager’s Black Label delivers intense, smooth juniper notes followed by beautifully mellow warmth and richness stemming from Sea Buckthorn. BUY NOW

Our Stalla Dhu range of single malt whisky continues to win multiple international awards and we have just released and bottled a very rather delicious single cask of Caol Ila at cask strength BUY NOW !

In the wonderful world of New World cigars we have the largest selection in the UK, something for everyone but my current favourite is the ‘sweet as sugar’ Plasencia Orchant Seleccion Toro. The best cigar in its class and if you don’t love it I will give your money back.

And … in the incredible world of Havanas I’m enjoying Partagas Lusitanias more than ever ( I have a lot of time to sample !) if you have the time …

Finally big congratulations to our friends ( Jonny , Pavel and Dominica ) at Havana Cigar Exchange who have just opened their second shop at 1A St James’s street. We wish them every success.

Have a smokey weekend

Peaceful puffing

Mitchell

Buffalo Trace releases details and lineup for their Antique Collection

This is the time of year bourbon fanatics start to getting really excited for! When Buffalo Trace announces news about their Antique Collection. This collection was introduced 20 years ago and has since created this cult following of collectors. With certain collectors waiting all night when they hear their local store has received stock!

Stores only receive a handful of bottles, so it’s safe to say they don’t last long when collectors find out. These bottlings aren’t just hype, these are some of the best liquid that the distillery puts out!

Here is what Buffalo Trace has to say about each release:

George T. Stagg

The proverbial powerhouse favorite of the Antique Collection, George T. Stagg, comes in at 130.4 proof this year. Last year’s release was awarded 97 points in the 2020 Ultimate Spirits Collection, and fans will find the familiar Stagg taste profile they know and love with cinnamon, caramel and cherries on the nose, and a creamy vanilla with lightly smoked oak on the palate. The finish is black coffee, dark cherries and herbs.

This year’s release contains bourbon from barrels filled in the spring of 2005. Storage location of these barrels varied across warehouses L, K and Q. The evaporation loss for this year’s batch was 59%, a bit higher than the last few year’s releases.

William Larue Weller

The Antique Collection’s uncut, unfiltered, wheated recipe bourbon is William Larue Weller. Previous editions of this wheater have won many accolades, including the 2019 release receiving a Gold Medal at the Los Angeles International Spirits Competition and also named 2nd finest whiskey in the world in the esteemed “Jim Murray’s Whiskey Bible.” The 2020 release was distilled in the winter of 2008 and aged in Warehouses I and C. This bourbon registers at 134.5 proof. Flavors of a soft caramel chew, spearmint and cinnamon can be found on the palate in this year’s offering.

Thomas H. Handy Sazerac Rye

Thomas H. Handy is the uncut and unfiltered straight rye whiskey. Last year’s release earned The Chairman’s Trophy, scoring 99 points at the Ultimate Spirits Challenge and was also named 3rd finest whiskey in the world in “Jim Murray’s Whiskey Bible.” This year’s Handy was distilled in the spring of 2014; aged in warehouses K, M, and N, and weighs in at 129.0 proof. The flavor profile includes cinnamon, anise and honey.

Eagle Rare 17 Year Old

This 101 proof whiskey was distilled in Spring of 2002 and aged on the first floor of Warehouse P. The 2019 release of this bourbon was named “Best of Category” at the Los Angeles International Spirits Competition. This bourbon has a nose of ripe cherries, vanilla cream and oak, followed by a taste of caramel and coffee and a long finish of oak, pepper and fresh herbs.

Sazerac Rye 18 Year Old

The previous edition of Sazerac Rye 18 Year Old was named “Best Rye Whiskey Aged 11 Years and Over” by “Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible.” This 2020 straight rye whiskey release has notable flavors of oak, caramel and dark chocolate, with a finish of coffee, black pepper and cherries. The barrels for this whiskey were filled in the spring of 2002 and it rested on the third floor of Warehouse K. It is bottled at 90 proof.

Slainte

Anthony

A Japanese Dram

I am always happy when we crack open a bottle of Japanese whisky! Today is one of those days, and the bottle I am enjoying SO MUCH, is Hakushu’s Distiller Reserve.

I’ll be honest, I am a fan of most of the whiskies I have tried from the different Japanese distillers, some more than others, but mostly positive. This Distiller’s reserve is no exception! Suntory is doing a fabulous job facilitating the creative Japanese spirit when it comes to the different brands they put out. Hakushu Distillery is one of the top distilleries I want to visit on this planet! Just a picturesque distillery nestled in the deep forest of the Japanese Southern Alps. It is one of the highest distilleries in the world! Looks straight out of a movie. They do say that Hakushu is a green and fresh whisky, so I would say the setting is quite perfect.

Set up in 1973, Hakushu is Suntory’s second malt whisky distillery. The area is famous for its water sources, which adds to the whisky’s gentle and crisp flavour profile.

This Distiller’s Reserve is a No Age Statement whisky that wonderfully incorporates a variety of cask from across their range! Using both lightly peated and heavily peated whisky, along with some aged around 18 years. A wonderful representation of the distillery if you have not had any of their bottlings before! You are getting a perfect amount of smoke, that doesn’t overpower the other flavours. You can taste the freshness, with delectable hints of spearmint, pine and orchard fruits, superbly ushered in by that light campfire smoke. Towards the end you get a burst of the Yuzu citrus and vanilla.

Grab a bottle of Hakushu’s Distiller Reserve, then start planning your trip to Japan for when things calm down!

Slainte

Anthony