NEW! Inbox - September 24, 2010

Over the last few weeks we have been receiving an increasing number of press releases and PR type stuff about the world of whisky. Each seems to begin with ‘this may be of interest for your blog’ and they are. However, while most contain interesting news or information, we are finding ourselves unable to write about or do justice to each one. We do not simply want to end up ‘copying and pasting’ the aforementioned press releases in to a blog post, so have been thinking about ways to bring this news and information to the wider audience.

As a result, Inbox has been born! Inbox will be a weekly round up of such material from the world of whisky and will be published by us each Friday. Within Inbox we will write a couple of lines about each press release/piece of news/PR event and provide links, where possible, for you to find out further information if you want to. Let us know what you think as we would love to hear your comments.

Karen & Matt
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Amrut - Two new single malts
The Indian single malt distillery from Bangalore has announced the release of two new whiskies - the ISM (Intermediate Sherry Matured) and the Kadnambam. Both are limited editions. The ISM combines ex-bourbon, sherry and virgin oak cask maturation and will be available through La Maison du Whisky in France. The Kadnambam is a mixture of regular and peated Amrut single malts and has been matured in Oloroso sherry and then brandy casks. It will be available in Europe and Canada only.

Balvenie – updated Warehouse 24
The popular members section of the Speyside distillery’s website has been updated with new features, including whisky tasting films and news from Balvenie. To celebrate, they are offering a competition to win a VIP trip to Balvenie in the town of Dufftown. To enter, go to www.thebalvenie.com.

Glendronach – Visitor centre awarded 4 stars
A recent visit to the Speyside distillery by VisitScotland has awarded the refurbished visitor centre 4 stars, stating that Glendronach offers tourists “tours that are tailored carefully to meet the expectations of visitors, being structured around the product itself for the enthusiast or a good dash of history”. Further info at www.glendronachdistillery.com/news.

Glendronach (again) – Distillery manager’s cask
You can now hand-fill your own bottle when you take one of the tours at Glendronach. One single cask has been specially selected by distillery manager Alan McConnachie and will cost you £66.99. It was distilled in 1993, has been maturing for 17 years in an Oloroso sherry cask and has an ABV of 58.4%. each bottle is hand labeled and numbered.

Glenfiddich – 1978 Vintage Reserve released
A very rare cask of whisky was selected by William Grant & Sons Malt Master Brian Kinsman and, in a pioneering step, an elite group of whisky Twitterers and it is now ready for release. It is Brian’s first selection for the Vintage Reserve since he was made only the 6th Malt Master in the companiy’s history. There are 184 bottles at cask strength and the retail price will be £480. For further info, go to www.glenfiddichvintagereserve.com.

Glenfiddich (again) – Richard Hawley pens tracks
Richard Hawley, a MOJO award winning singer/songwriter and former member of Pulp, has recently visited the famous Speyside distillery and has agreed to write a number of whisky inspired songs. Click here for the chance to win tickets to an exclusive gig by Richard to be held at the distillery and also to see him recently performing some songs at Glenfiddich.