Inbox - The Week's Whisky News (February 6, 2015)

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.  This is traditionally a quiet time of the year as the whisky industry wakes up slowly but here are a couple of bits of news that has caught our attention from this week ...

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Label 5 - Visit the world
The popular blended Scotch whisky brand of Label 5 has released a video which shows some of the highlights from their recent '5 Second City Contest'.  This competition was designed to engage the brand with consumers, who were asked to produce a five second Instagram video of the city that they live in.  The new video is a compilation of 100 of the best entries that were received and can be enjoyed below ....

Redbreast - Hands out new bottling
Irish Distillers Pernod Ricard, the owners of the Redbreast whiskey brand, have announced the first ever expression that has been solely matured in first-fill ex-Oloroso sherry butts - the Mano a Lámh.  The name means 'hand in hand' and combines Spanish and Irish Gaelic.  This reflects a similar combination between the Spanish casks and the Irish whiskey.  The Redbreast range normally combines ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks and this expression offers a richer and fruitier alternative.

The Mano a Lámh is limited to just 2,000 bottles and is available to members of The Stillhouse, which forms part of www.singlepotstill.com - the online resource for fans of IDPR single pot still Irish whiskey brands.  It is non chill-filtered and bottled at 46% ABV.  A bottle is priced at €65.  To become a member of the Stillhouse, please click on the link above.

Billy Leighton (Master Blender at Midleton Distillery, where Redbreast is made) said: “Mano a Lámh celebrates our longstanding relationship with the artisans in Spain who craft our sherry butts, which are so synonymous with the signature style of Redbreast. It was an exciting challenge to work on this project; having to ensure that the right balance was achieved and the sherry contribution did not over power in the final taste.”

Southern Comfort - Caramel is coming

The popular whiskey based liqueur brand has added another flavour to its range with the Caramel Comfort.  The new product is designed to be used in cocktails and appeal to a wide range of consumers.  The introduction also heralds a new packaging redesign for the brand, which is the most radical for a decade. 

The contemporary design draws influence from the old bottles from the 1870s, when the brand was launched, and was created by Helms Workshop from Austin, Texas.  It features the signature of M. W. Heron, the brand's founder, and is adapted for the flavoured variants.  Caramel Comfort will retail for $16.99 and will be available across the USA from early March.