Within Inbox we aim to 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. Here is the news that has attracted our attention this week ...
Benriach - Floor maltings reopen
The independently owned Benriach distillery have started producing their own malted barley again following a 13 year break. The maltings, where the essential process of turning the starch in barley to sugar, was decommissioned by the previous ownership. Then roughly a year ago The Benriach Distillery Company decided to begin the process again. The old building and equipment were still in good working condition and the renovation has now been completed. It makes Benriach one of only a handful of distilleries to do their own malting in Scotland.
BenRiach's Managing Director Billy Walker says, "From a commercial point of view, it makes no sense because the costs of producing malted barley are significantly more. The reason we’re doing it is because we had everything in place and in fantastic condition. It is great to hear its blood pumping and the old place coming back to life".
Burn Stewart Distillers, the owners of Bunnahabhain, has proudly announced the oldest ever expression of single malt from the Islay distillery - the 40 years old Journey of Discovery. The whisky was discovered by Master Distiller Ian MacMillan in one of the warehouses and there are just 750 bottles available. The 40 years old will be available in specialist retailers in selected markets worldwide, including Germany, Holland, Russia, Taiwan, the UK and the USA. It will also be available in selected travel retailers.
The limited edition whisky is presented in a two piece wooden case, which mirrors Bunnahabhain's 'maritime character' by displaying the label through a porthole. The special label depicts the whisky's 'journey of discovery' over the last four decades and has been designed by renowned Scottish illustrator Iain McIntosh. Each of the 750 bottles is individually numbered and hand signed by Ian MacMillan. The retail price is £1999.99.
Dewar's - The Drinking Man's Scotch
The popular blended Scotch whisky brand of Dewar's has launched a new series of TV adverts in the USA. The adverts, which carry the tagline The Drinking Man's Scotch, sees the brand return to American TV screens after a five year absence and aims to bring Dewar's to a new generation of whisky drinker. The series of thirty second commercials, one of which we have included below, will be supported by a coordinated print campaign. Further information can be found on www.dewars.com or www.facebook.com/dewars.
A couple of week's ago, we reported in Inbox on the latest competition by the Jura single malt brand - the Win A Million Pennies competition. Click here to read about that. Well now they have extended the format of the competition by setting up a real life treasure hunt where whisky fans will get the chance to find special pennies for themselves. The Penny Treasure Hunt will see the brand hide 10 coins in four UK cities over the coming weeks.
The cities are Edinburgh (this week), London (next week), Manchester (week commencing 19 Nov) and Glasgow (week commencing 26 Nov). Clues as to the whereabouts of the coins will be given on Twitter via their @jura_whisky account and progress can be followed using #jurapennies - some will be hidden at famous landmarks, other locations will be less obvious.
Earlier this year while in Australia, we visited the Ian Schmidt at his Southern Coast distillery in a suburb of Adelaide - click here to read about that, if you haven't already. We sampled some of his award winning single malts and were therefore delighted to hear that he had picked up another 'Liquid Gold' award in the new Jim Murray Whisky Bible 2013. This was for Batch 006 which scored 95 points.
Anyway, that isn't the main news ... the main news is that Ian has now released the latest version - Batch 007 (no James Bond puns please). This release is possibly the most significant of the seven to date as it is the first cask that was ever filled by the company. Cask #1 was an ex-Port cask which was rebuilt into a 50 litre cask. It was filled in April 2005 and bottled in October this year - it is the oldest and rarest of the releases to date. The retail price is $110 AUD (about £72). For further information and tasting notes or to buy a bottle, please visit the Southern Coast website.
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