Inbox - March 9, 2012

Inbox is our weekly round up of whisky news and PR material that has found its way in to our email inbox. It was created as we cannot write full articles or do justice to every piece that we receive. It features items from around the world of whisky and is published by us each Friday.

Within Inbox we write a few lines detailing each press release/piece of news/PR event that we have received and provide links, where possible, for you to find out further information.

Bushmills - Live music festival announced
The famous distillery from the town of Bushmills in Northern Ireland has announced a new music festival, which will be the first to ever be held in an Irish distillery.  The two day Bushmills Live festival will take place at the Old Bushmills distillery on Wednesday 20 and Thursday 21 June.  The line up of bands is yet to be announced.  The festival will be a 'money cannot buy' experience, as tickets will not be going on general sale.  Instead, fans will get the chance to win tickets via a competition on the Bushmills Facebook page.  Naturally, there will be plenty of Bushmills whiskey to accompany the music!

Compass Box & Albannach bar event
Unless you are a hermit or have been living in a cave, you cannot have helped but notice that yesterday (8 March) was International Women's Day. Our good friends at the Compass Box whisky company joined forces with the Albannach whisky bar for a special charity event at Albannach's Trafalgar Square venue.

The Whisky & Women Unite whisky and cocktail event was held on the evening of 8 March.  The bar staff of the Albannach had created a special cocktail for the evening using Compass Box whiskies, which were priced at £6.  In addition, £2 from each cocktail sold was donated to The Girl Effect - a charity for teenage girls in poverty. Compass Box were hosted bespoke whisky tastings of their range, while the Albannach team held a silent auction for the same charity.  Compass Box also marked the day by hosting similar events in New York, San Francisco and Beijing.

Glengoyne - Competition
The distillery and whisky brand from the southern Highlands have announce a competition for all the budding crime writers amongst us. The Glengoyne Short Story Writing Competition is open to all amateur writers aged 18 years or over.

It involves writing a short story of less than 3000 words.  The winning entry will be featured at this years Bloody Scotland festival - an international crime writing festival held in Stirling in September.  The theme is 'worth the wait', referring to the amount of time spent waiting for the Glengoyne whisky to mature.  The winners will receive a crystal decanter filled with rare 35 year old Glengoyne single malt, which is worth £2000.  The closing date for entries is 29 June 2012 and to submit you entry, please visit www.bloodyscotland.com. Further information can also be found on Glengoyne's website.

The Whisky Round Table
The latest edition of The Whisky Round Table is now out. The WRT is a group of whisky bloggers from around the world, of which we are part. Each month one of the 12 bloggers plays host and asks a whisky related question to which the others reply with their views.

This month's meeting is hosted by Chris and Lucas, who write the excellent Edinburgh Whisky Blog.  They asked for everyone's thoughts on the ever increasing number of new make spirit/white dog style releases and their impact. This month is also significant as it is the first to feature a number of the new members of the Round Table.  Some familiar names have left the group but the calibre of the new recruits is high.  To read the full question on Edinburgh Whisky Blog, and the replies of our fellow Round Tablers - click here.