Inbox > December 16, 2011

Welcome to Inbox - our weekly round up of whisky news and PR type material that has recently 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 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.

PLEASE NOTE > Inbox will return on Friday 6 January 2012, following a short festive hibernation.  We would like to wish all regular readers of Inbox a Merry Christmas and hope that the New Year is good to you.  Karen & Matt

Glenrothes > Editor's Casks released

The award winning Speyside distillery at Glenrothes have announced the release of two special single casks.  Named The Editor's Casks, these whiskies were selected by four whisky and spirits editors from around the world - Martine Nouet, Christian H. Rosenberg, Noah Rothbaum & Ho-Cheng Yao - under the watchful eye of Gordon Motion, the Malt Master at the Glenrothes distillery.

The two casks are Cask #3828 (distilled in 1979, matured in a re-fill ex-sherry butt & bottled at 52.1% ABV) and Cask #9973 (distilled in 1996, matured in a Spanish oak hogshead cask & bottled at 57% ABV).  Editor's Cask #3828 has yielded just 300 bottles, which will be available in Europe only and will retail for £600/€700.  Editor's Cask #9973 has just 264 bottles, which will be available only in Taiwan and the USA and will retail for NT$7,000/$375. For further information, visit www.theglenrothes.com.

Highland Park > Two new Vintages

The Orcadian single malt has added two further limited edition Vintages to their esteemed range of premium whiskies. The first of these Highland Park Vintages was distilled in 1971 and matured in Spanish oak ex-sherry casks to give rich, dark fruity notes. The second was distilled in 1976 and matured in American oak ex-bourbon casks to give light vanilla and aromatic fruit notes. The pair will be available from specialist whisky retailers shortly.

The pair join the three other Vintages that are currently available in the Highland Park Vintage range - the 1964, 1968 & 1970 - and are bottled in the same bespoke black glass bottles, which feature an embossed amulet of their logo and are presented in a wooden casket. The 1971 Vintage is bottled at 46.9% ABV and will be priced around £2,300. It is limited to just 657 bottles. The 1976 Vintage is bottled at 49.1% ABV and will be priced around £2,000. It is limited to just 893 bottles.

Isle of Mull > Christmas cocktails

Our new found friends at the Isle of Mull whisky company have created a special festive cocktail that uses their blended whisky. The Isle of Mull blend was founded in August 2010 by childhood friends Neil Morrison and Calum Maclean. For more details and info about the whisky, visit www.isleofmullwhisky.com. The ingredients and instructions for the cocktail are below - why not give it a go?

Ingredients - 25ml Isle of Mull Whisky, 25ml Chambord raspberry liqueur, 12.5ml Frangelico hazelnut liqueur, 100ml milk, fresh raspberries, chocolate powder, ice. Tools - Boston shaker and glass, highball glass. Method - Mix Isle of Mull Whisky, Frangelico and milk together and pour into an ice-filled highball glass. Pour the Chambord on top of the floating ice and dust with chocolate powder. To garnish, add two fresh raspberries. Then enjoy!