2012 K&L Single Malt Pre-Arrivals Coming Soon
That list of K&L exclusive whiskies that's been sitting on the right-hand margin of this blog for almost a year is coming to an end. The original title was "K&L whiskies available for pre-order" until they actually came into stock and became just plain available. Every week we had people logging in and checking to see if we had added anything new to the selection, thrilled to see which casks would be released next, how much they would cost, and what our notes had to say. I'm happy to say that we're almost ready to begin that exciting time once again.
After the Camut 15 Year Old Calvados hits next week it will pretty much mark the end of our French import campaign (just the 1979 Esteve Cognac remaining thereafter) and we'll begin the annual march toward Fall arrivals. With the exception of the Faultline Littlemill 21 year and the Springbank 14 year, our whiskies from 2011 are nearly gone. In Redwood City we're already clear of the Glendronach, Cragganmore. and Girvan with dwindling stocks of Bowmore, Springbank 13, and Caol Ila 30. Pretty soon we'll be completely sold through, which means we bought exactly the right amount - just enough to last until next year's supply comes in.
Why do we sell the whiskies on pre-order and why should you consider buying them untasted and unseen? We've put a lot of thought into this process and we knew that we wanted to offer blog readers, email insiders, and the general internet whisky enthusiast the opportunity to get a discount without having to join a club. We did have an actual club briefly, but it was too much of a pain to manage properly and it excluded people who didn't drink fast enough for their monthly quota. We decided that anyone who supported our direct import whisky program should have the opportunity for more attractive pricing, so we concluded that offering discounts for pre-orders was the way to go. Therefore, ordering in advance not only secures you a bottle (remember, 2010's Clynelish 27 alongside last year's Ladyburn and Brora sold out completely on pre-order), it offers anywhere from $10 to $30 off in the process. Granted, you have to put your faith in our judgement, but really you have to do that whether the bottles are physically here or not anyway.
I'd start looking for the first few selections by the end of next week. I'll be clearing out the margin within the next few days and replacing the title with "2012 K&L Single Malt Pre-Arrivals" very soon. All in all we should have over twenty casks to choose from before we're finished and the first ones should start arriving in late September. I have absolutely no doubt that this year's selection is going to smoke our previous one in terms of value, quality, and overall excitement. Both David and I have been very keen on avoiding unnecessary purchases and sticking to our guns concerning pricing. I expect complete customer satisfaction and I can't wait to get this thing going! Yeehaw!
-David Driscoll