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Luvians Bottleshop - St Andrews

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Luvians Bottleshop - St Andrews

Scotland's Best Independent Wine Merchant*
Open 7 days a week with an unrivalled selection of wine, whisky, craft beer, spirits & cigars.

Free local delivery on orders over £50

*Harpers UK 50 Top Indies 2021 - Scottish Champion & 3rd in UK 2021 Harpers 50 Top Indies UK - Scottish Independent of the Year (3rd in UK)
2021 31 Days of German Riesling Retailer of the Year
2020 Harpers Think Indie Scottish Independent of the Year (2nd in UK)
2016 Harpers Think Indie 50 Best Indies
2015 31 Days of German Riesling Retailer of the Year
2014

Independent Rhone Retailer of the Year
2011 Whisky Magazine Whisky Merchant of the Year
2009 SLR Independent Wine Merchant of the Year

19/06/2025

Drink of the Day 163 – (70cl @ 14.26% abv)

Available in store for £15.99

A Bit Of Background – Located in Stellenbosch, South Africa, Kanonkop Wine Estate has been in wine production since 1973. Named after its location near a hillock (kop) on the Simonsberg mountain where a cannon (kanon) was fired to signal the incoming ships in the 17th and 18th century, it is a family business now on their fourth generation. Known for creating delicious red wines, they are strong investors in South Africa’s own grape varietal, Pinotage, with it making up 50% of their vineyards.
Pinotage is home in Stellenbosch as it was created at Stellenbosch University in 1924 as a cross-breed of two other red wine varietals, Pinot Noir and Hermitage (Cinsault). First planted at Kanonkop in 1941, they are well known for producing big and bold Pinotage with great aging potential!

Nose – Bright and layered with notes of cherries, vanilla and allspice, like a cherry Bakewell with custard.
Palate - Raspberries, redcurrants, and warming oak. It is medium bodied with a fruit forward start that leads to a round and leathery midpalate with well-integrated tannins.
Final Thoughts – Delicious and rich without being overbearing, perfect for tomorrow’s barbecue or just a night in with pizza!

18/06/2025

Drink of the Day 162 – Luvians Espresso Martini, with Tempus Fugit Crème de Cacao (70cl @ 24% abv)

Available in store for £32.99

Bit of Background – Tomorrow (June 19th) is National Martini Day for our U.S. friends. To celebrate with our signature Italian twist, we whipped up an espresso martini, perfect to showcase the fantastic product made by Tempus Fugit. Their crème de cacao is based on a recipe from the nineteenth century, often considered the golden age of liqueurs, and features Venezuelan cacao and Mexican Vanilla for a beautifully rich, silky-smooth liqueur – the most flavourful crème de cacao on the market in our humble opinions!

Nose – Coffee-drenched ladyfingers and Dutch cacao powder.

Palate - This recipe uses a double shot of espresso, which means it’s not overly sweet. The smooth bitterness of the coffee blends with the rich notes of cacao, and the whole is perfectly rounded out by vanilla notes .

Final Thoughts – To enjoy an espresso martini this martini day, start with a double shot of top-quality Italian espresso, perhaps you’d like to try out our exclusive Luvians blend from the available down the road at our St Andrews Café, and at our sister store in Cupar. Add 45ml of your favourite vodka (we’ve gone for Titos) and 25ml of crème de cacao. Our choice, Tempus Fugit crème de cacao is also flavoured with vanilla, so you may not need any sugar syrup, but we’ve added a dash for taste! Shake vigorously with ice until a light froth is formed, then strain your mixture so that the ice is removed, then shake again. Serve in your cocktail glass of choice and garnish with coffee beans.

17/06/2025

Drink of the Day 161 – Ferg and Harris 12-year-old Speyside (70cl @ 55.7% abv)
£50 (down from £55)
A Bit Of Background – Ferg and Harris is a luxury independent single malt bottler that focusses on high quality wood finishes for a distinctive flavour profile throughout their range. Established in 2019, the brand’s aim is to pair exceptional whiskies that you know and love with cask finishes that create a distinctive character in the final releases. This particular edition starts as a secret Speyside (we do not know the distillery of origin) and sees twelve years of life in first fill bourbon cask, before taking a six-month sojourn in first fill Pedro Ximenez sherry cask for a heavily sherried finish.
Nose – rich nose with hints of Viennese butter biscuits, marzipan-stuffed dates with lemon peel freshness
Palate - notes of burnt sugar, fresh figs and toffee with a lingering, spicy white pepper note on the finish. Sweet, but not an overly sticky texture. The cask strength of the whisky makes it very warming on the palate.
Final Thoughts – A luxurious dram at an accessible price point – a very aesthetically pleasing bottle which looks great and tastes better! We love this whisky so much that we decided to share the love – find Ferg and Harris 12 y/o Speyside on our offers stack!

16/06/2025

160) Drink of the Day – Thirteen Guinea Ale Wee Heavy, Newbarns x Epochal (33cl @ 10% abv)

Available in store for £9.50

A Bit Of Background – Harking back to the 18th century, the traditional Scottish beer known as the “Wee Heavy” (also known as Scotch Ale) developed quite naturally from Scotland’s abundance of high-quality malt and relative scarcity of hops. The ales are characterized by high mash temperatures and kettle caramelization, traditionally over flames. With minimal hop intervention, the result is a strong, dark copper, malty sweet flavor, with some underlying notes of red and dried fruits. Today we’re trying an example of this historic style that has been born out of a collaboration between Edinburgh based brewery and barrel fermented specialists in Glasgow. Following a recipe dating from 1862 for a Twelve Guinea Ale from Fowler’s brewery in Prestonpans, this beer was brewed from 100% Scottish Extra Pale malt, mashed incredibly thick with a short boil, and heavily hopped.

Nose – Dark maltiness, licorice, black cherry, caramel, wet leaves, hints of worn copper.

Palate – Dense and a little sticky. Black cherries even stronger on the palate, alongside a little vanilla and slight grip suggesting a bit of oak. Cola notes too on the mid-palate – it’s almost the trad-ale equivalent of a cherry coke with some vanilla. Also more black licorice and caramel, some very mild hop bitterness.

Final Thoughts – An awesome take on an absolute classic from two of our favourite breweries! Make sure to ask us about this Wee Heavy and our range of traditional ales next time you swing by the Bottleshop!

15/06/2025

Drink of the Day 159 – Signatory Vintage Dailuaine 16 Year Old CS (70cl @ 57% abv)

Available in store for £80.00

A Bit Of Background – For today’s Drink of the Day, we’re trying a 16 year old single cask Dailuaine bottled by Signatory Vintage. If there’s one question that we get asked by almost all tourists that visit our shops from overseas, its ‘What whisky do you have that I can’t get a home?’ With so many core releases from Scottish distilleries being exported overseas, our first port of call is often to turn to the independents, who buy casks direct from distilleries or from brokers to be bottled under their own brand (see ‘s book, Independent Scotch, for a great history on the subject – available from the St Andrews Bottleshop). Andrew Symington was 25 when he founded Signatory Vintage in 1988, and over the last four decades he has grown the brand into the second largest independent bottler in Scotland. As for Dailuaine, the distillery was once the largest malt distillery in Scotland, although today releases only a small number of single malt bottlings. The distillery uses stainless-steel condensers, allowing it to preserve a bit of old-fashioned Speyside meatiness in its spirit, which marries perfectly with the active Oloroso butt chosen by Signatory.

Nose – Orange peel and cloves. Apple pie with cinnamon, dusted with icing sugar. Stewed pears, date molasses, and red berries. Beneath this medley of sweet, spiced fruits, are some more savoury notes. Hints of leather, shoe polish, and dunnage warehouse.
Palate - An explosion of both fresh and dried fruits and oak. Apples, pears, tangerines, and bananas mix with fig, sultanas, muscatel raisins, and candied peel. There’s also lots of vanilla, cooking spices, and soft peppery notes coming from the wood.

Final Thoughts – Being fans of Dailuaine’s distillery-release 16 year old, we had high expectations for this one – and happy to say it delivers! Even more depth of flavor, great mouthfeel, and works well neat or with a bit of water. An excellent choice if in search of something slightly older, sherried and totally unadulterated.

14/06/2025

Drink of the Day 158 – Textura Wines Encoberta (75cl @ 13.5% abv)

Available in store for £19.99

A Bit Of Background – Given the torrential showers we’ve been having in St Andrews today, we decided to crack open a dark and spicy red for drink of the day – Encoberta from Textura Wines. Founded in 2018, Textura Wines work with small, organic vineyards on the slopes of Portugal’s Serra da Estrela mountain range to source grapes, from which they produce low intervention wines that reflect the rugged granitic terrain and, at least for Europe, relatively high-altitude microclimate of the vineyards surrounding the towns of Vila Nova de Tazemand and Penalva do Castelo. Encoberta takes its name from a small village near the latter, where the soils are composed of a mix of granite, quartz, and clay. In 2018 Textura Wines made Encoberta in this town from a blend of Jaen (50%), Alfocheiro (25%), Tinta Roriz (15%), and Touriga Nacional (10%) grown from 28 year old vines. The juice was fermented exclusively from wild yeasts in 4 year old 5000L French oak vats with 35% whole bunches followed by 30 days of cuvaison. The wine was then aged for 15 months in seasoned French foudre before bottling.

Nose –Wild brambles and raspberries, black cherry and plum, forest floor and cigar box, with hints of cooking spices like cinnamon and nutmeg.

Palate – Black fruits and earthy spices with a touch of minerality. Silky tannins and fresh acidity.

Final Thoughts – The soft tannins would make this wine the perfect pairing for soft cheeses, whilst the juicy dark berry notes would go wonderfully with some grilled chicken, pork, or mushrooms. Make sure to swing by the bottleshop for a sample!

13/06/2025

Drink of the Day 157 – The Macallan Double Cask 15 Years Old (70cl @ 43% abv)
£159
A Bit Of Background – Macallan are well known for their sherry seasoned European casks, and this whisky is no exception. The double cask aging on the whisky is a 50/50 split between virgin American and European Oak, with the oak being seasoned for eighteen months with Spanish sherry. The seasoning, using Valdespino sherry, is used to treat the virgin wood, cleansing it and taking out any impurities that could impact the spirit’s flavour. The Macallan brand takes quality assurance very seriously, that is why the sherry used in their double cask range is exclusive to Macallan. Another area where Macallan doubles down on quality control is their choice of wood used to age their whisky. Highly skilled employees hold the title of ‘Master of Wood’ and are responsible for overseeing every tree that is felled for the brand to ensure a consistent high quality throughout. The quality of the wood used is of extra significance when you consider that The Macallan relies entirely on their wood for the colour added to the spirit – no artificial colouring is used. Todays Drink of the Day is a great exploration of the importance of wood ageing in the creation of The Macallan Double Cask range.
Nose – very warm spice on the nose – notes of honey, dried fruits with a hint of candied citrus peel.
Palate - very creamy on the palate, think baked apples and caramel with notes of raisins and sultanas. Warm spice and subtle nuttiness on the finish
Final Thoughts – if you’re looking for a gift for Father’s Day this weekend look no further than The Macallan – an iconic dram for the iconic man in your life.

13/06/2025

Looking for some Father’s Day gifting inspiration? Join Katrina from Macallan in the shop today for a fabulous tasting of their Double Cask & Sherry Oak ranges.

🥃

12/06/2025

Drink of the Day 156 –Springbank 1998 – (70cl @ 48.3% abv)

£540 - Utterly, totally unavailable. Every bottle we had went to the trade customers to make sure as many people could try it as possible. Locally, please go to The Keys Bar from tomorrow if you want to buy a dram.

A Bit Of Background – The inaugural release in a series of whiskies Springbank have planned to spotlight some of their oldest parcels of casks, this 1998 vintage, cask-strength expression was matured exclusively in sherry casks, with an outrun of just 1500 bottles. We would like to give huge thanks to Marta & the Keys Bar for letting us take the first dram from the bottle & to Archie, Jamie, Millie & Clo for falling on the sword and writing up the tasting notes. The rest of our Springbank allocation won’t last long (our web stock is already sold out) so get down to the shop as soon as you can if you want to pick up a bottle of Campbeltown’s finest before it disappears for another 3 months.

Nose – Whole dried figs, toasty, buttery pecans, dark chocolate studded with freeze-dried raspberry (like the Lindt Intense bar we sell in our Café!), cherry cola bottles – a Springbank signature with a fruity twist.

Palate – The palate is more earthy and savoury: tabac, dark roux, crème de marrons, polished wood, and a dusting of freshly grated nutmeg. And a very faint hint of salty smoke on the last sip.

Final Thoughts – We could spend ages with this dram – in fact we might have to pop down to our neighbours at the Keys to revisit this unforgettable release.

11/06/2025

Drink of the Day 156 Thistly Cross Rum Cask Cider – (330ml @ 7% abv)
£3
A Bit Of Background – The Thistly Cross Traditional cider is one of Scotland’s leaders in the cider world. Founded in 2008 by Peter Stuart in West Barns, Dunbar, Thistly Cross produced their first cider in 2009 and haven’t looked back since! A sharp departure from the sticky-sweet ciders that you would normally find in your local pub, Thistly Cross’ return to more traditional cider making has been a welcome addition to the sugary oversaturation of the market. Much of the cider produced on site is aged in barrels – the most famous being their Whisky Cask release, aged in ex-Glen Moray casks. Today, however, we are trying their Rum Cask cider for a more tropical take on an iconic cider. Aged in quality rum casks for a minimum of six months, the barrel aging of this cider is what imparts a distinctly tropical and sweetly spiced flavour profile.
Nose – Big hit of woody notes on the nose which opens to fresh apples and tropical fruits with a hint of warming spice and a whisper of coconut
Palate – Stewed pineapple, soft brown sugar, ripe golden delicious apples. A refreshing taste without being too acidic or crisp, very creamy, with a woody, warming finish
Final Thoughts – I have long been a fierce believer that rum + apple = heaven, and this product is a great example of such a hypothesis being spot on. The combination of the cask aging gives a unique flavour profile which is reminiscent of a dark rum combined with a cloudy apple juice. The spice and woody notes imparted from the cask aging is what makes this such a distinctive product and unlike any cider I have tried before. You’ll be glad to know that Thistly Cross uses real fruit throughout all their products and is 100% vegan and gluten free across their range. Why not try one today?

10/06/2025

Drink of the Day 155 – Ledaig Sinclair Series Rioja Cask (70cl @ 46.3% abv)

Available in store for £37.50, discounted from £41.99.

For today’s drink of the day, we’re trying a tasty dram from the Isle of Mull. Taking its name from an anglicised version of the Gaelic word for ‘safe haven’, Ledaig is the peated malt produced by Tobermory Distillery. Whilst the classic core range from Ledaig includes a 10 year old matured in bourbon casks and an 18 year old aged in sherry casks, we’re trying an expression finished in Spanish Rioja red wine casks. This is the first release in Tobermory’s ‘Sinclair Series’, which honours John Sinclair who founded the distillery in 1797.

The choice of casks and the depiction of a galleon navigating stormy seas upon the whisky’s box are references to a particularly dramatic episode in both local and national maritime history. Following the defeat of the Spanish Armada in the Dover Strait in the summer of 1588, the surviving vessels attempted to avoid the English fleet by circumnavigating the North Atlantic Archipelago. In late September or early October of that year, one of these vessels made its way into Tobermory Bay. Despite receiving aid from the chief of Clan Maclean in return for supplying manpower to raid his rival’s lands, the ship exploded on the 5th of November, possibly due to the actions of an English agent working for the Queen of England’s private secretary. Whilst the San Juan de Sicilia appears to have been a mercantile carrack commandeered by the Spanish navy primarily for transporting ammunition and foodstuffs, by the 17th century she was rumoured to have been a galleon carrying the fleets war chest. Over subsequent centuries, many an attempt was made to scour the seabed surrounding Tobermory in the hope of recovery the legendary lost treasury of the Spanish Armada.

Nose – Earthy, oily smoke with a rich and fruity sweetness. Smouldering peat and steamboat engine room, polished leather and tarred rope, glacier mints, slightly stewed plums and redcurrants, rhubarb and maraschino cherries, and toasted pink marshmallows.

Palate - Briney and peppery wood smoke accented by notes of ripe and juicy red berries and sweet vanilla syrup.

Final Thoughts – A sweet and smokey dram that represents an affordable and accessible introduction to the world of heavily peated malt whisky. Make sure to ask us for a sample next time you swing by the bottleshop!

08/06/2025

Drink of the Day 153 – Caorunn Scottish Raspberry (70cl @ 41.8% abv)

Available in store for £28.99.

A Bit Of Background – Caorunn (pronounced Ka-Roon) is inspired by the Gaelic word for the Rowan Berry, one of the eleven hand-picked botanicals that are used in Caorunn gins. Caorunn Scottish Raspberry still features elements of the dry, crisp Caorunn you know and love, but is decidedly more fruit forward, using Perthshire raspberries for a fresh zingy flavour profile that is perfect for the summer months. Whereas other flavoured gins often use artificial fruit flavourings, Caorunn’s use of freshly picked raspberries in the distillation process means the fresh tart taste of Scottish berries prevails throughout. Today we are drinking our gin with Fever Tree’s Refreshingly Light Rhubarb and Raspberry Tonic Water as our recommended pairing – a lighter, sweeter twist on your classic gin and tonic.

Nose – big bold raspberry notes open on the nose, sweet but tart berries followed by a hint of vanilla.

Palate - when enjoyed neat, the Caorunn Scottish Raspberry lacks the spice of the original Caorunn in favour of a rich syrupy raspberry jam flavour. As the spirit opens up you get a nice tangy hit of botanic rowan berries towards the finish.

Final Thoughts – a lovely fruity offering from Caorunn celebrating Scottish raspberries- enjoy neat over ice or with your favourite mixer!

Address

66 Market Street
St Andrews
KY169NU

Opening Hours

Monday	10am - 10pm
Tuesday	10am - 6pm
Friday	10am - 6pm
Saturday	10am - 6pm
Sunday	12pm - 6pm

Telephone

+441334477752

Website

http://www.luvians.com/

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