Inbox - June 28, 2013

Welcome to this week's Inbox.  For those that have recently discovered us, 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 received. It features items from around the world of whisky and is published by us each Friday.

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 ...

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AnCnoc - #yourancnocday winners announced 
On Monday June 17, whisky fans were asked to submit their entries for a Twitter based photographic competition.  The Highland Scotch whisky brand of AnCnoc asked consumers to send images of their perfect way to drink AnCnoc and they received an overwhelming number of entries.  The job of selecting the winners was down to renowned illustrator Peter Arkle, who has created a series of drawings that have featured on limited edition bottlings.

Arkle selected 10 favourites and has created a bespoke label for each winner that will be put on their own special bottling of AnCnoc.  The overall winner was an image taken by Zachary Briggs from Halifax, Canada - see his image and Arkle's bespoke drawing inspired by the photo below.  He wins a four day trip to Peter Arkle's studio in New York.  Below is also a short video showing how Arkle selected the winners and produced the drawings.  The gallery of winning entries can be found at www.ancnoc.com.

Arkle comments, “All the entries we received were fantastic and from all around the world – it was so interesting to see all the different ways that people summed up their perfect anCnoc moments. Whittling the finalists down to 10 was no easy feat but this group of entries really inspired me to do some fun, bespoke illustrations.”

Talisker - The Storm builds ...
Diageo, the owners of the Talisker distillery, have announced the release of a new single malt which is exclsuive to the travel retail sector.  Talisker Dark Storm is the sibling to the Talisker Storm, which was released earlier this year and has already gained many plaudits.  The Dark Storm has been matured in deep charred oak casks, which adds an extra intensity and spiciness.

The Dark Storm is being marketed as the smokiest ever single malt from the isle of Skye distillery and is bottled at 45.8% ABV, as most of the Talisker range is.  It will retail at £42/€50 for a one litre bottle and is available now in travel retail stores across Asia, Europe and the Middle East.

Steve White, the Diageo's Global Marketing Director for Travel Retail, “Talisker Dark Storm is an intense new whisky experience - one that we believe will capture the imagination of consumers.  It is a whisky that is true to the Talisker house style but takes its trademark intensity to a whole new level – it is like a whole new ocean of flavour.”