Inbox > March 18, 2011

Inbox is our weekly round up of whisky news and PR type material that has found its way in to our email inbox. Sadly, we cannot write full articles or do justice to every piece that we receive, so Inbox has been born! It features items from around the world of whisky and is published by us each Friday. Within Inbox we will 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 if you want to. There is plenty to get through this week, so grab a dram and enjoy ...
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Albannach > Women only event
The Albannach bar, located on London’s Trafalgar Square, is holding their first ever women only whisky tasting event on Tuesday 29 March. It is part of a series of events at the venue to celebrate Women’s History Month. The women only whisky tasting will be hosted by guest speaker Gillian McDonald the Head Distiller at Penderyn, the Welsh whisky distillery in the Brecon Beacons. Tickets are still available at £35 a head and can be booked by going to www.albannach.co.uk.

Arran > The ‘Westie’ is released
The Isle of Arran Distillers have announced the third edition to their award winning Icons of Arran series of limited edition single malts – the Westie. This follows on from the Peacock and Rowan Tree releases. The Westie is inspired by Master Distiller James MacTaggart’s dog – a west Highland terrier (or ‘westie’) named Ruaraidh, who is a popular character around the Arran distillery. This limited edition contains 6,000 bottles and is constructed from just 22 specially selected ex-sherry casks, hand picked by MacTaggart. These casks were distilled and laid down to mature in 1998. The Westie is bottled at 46% ABV and should cost around £40 – it is available from specialist whisky retailers or www.arranwhisky.com.

Bushmills > Make It 2 Bushmills competition
Bushmills, the famous Irish whiskey distillery, have launched a new competition yesterday on St. Patrick’s Day. Make It 2 Bushmills is easy to enter and can be done so via their Facebook page. The prize is a two week crash course in whiskey making at the Bushmills distillery on the north County Antrim coast, close to the famous Giant’s Causeway. This includes tutoring by Master Distiller Colum Egan, £5,000 spending money, staying in a plush penthouse apartment overlooking the sea and creating your own unique version of Bushmills whiskey. Colum will then take Bushmills back to the winner’s home country and hold a large party, featuring the unveiling of their unique bottling of Bushmills. The short film below explains more ... Good luck!

Glencairn > Wins another award
The last month or so has seen a number of major whisky awards and our email inbox has been bombarded with press releases and news reporting on the award winning whiskies or distilleries. We chose not to report about these, as the results are widely available and it would be too time consuming to give each winner the attention it deserves. However, one such press release did catch our attention – Glencairn, the innovative whisky glassware manufacturer and primary supplier to the Scottish whisky industry, has won the prestigious Industry Leader of the Year as awarded by top American whisky magazine Malt Advocate.

The company, owned by the Davidson family has already won numerous awards – founder Raymond Davidson said, “To be named Industry Leader of the Year in an environment dominated by international whisky and blending companies is a tremendous accolade. Our Glencairn Whisky Glass has been a huge success as a product, with sales of over one million glasses a year worldwide. The company has grown through a truly innovative approach to the market that has led us to the forefront of premium packaging for some of the world’s rarest and most expensive whiskies.”

VisitScotland > New advert
This is nothing to do with whisky really, but we received notification about the new advert campaign for VisitScotland – the country’s tourism operator. Entitled ‘Surprise Yourself’, the advert shows different locations and scenes from around Scotland and offers ideas for alternative activities for visits or holidays. We think that it is well shot, shows some lovely scenes and just thought that we would share it with you. You can also read more information and watch other clips about each location in the advert by visiting the ‘Surprise Yourself’ page on www.visitscotland.com. Enjoy!