Inbox - The Week's Whisky News (August 7, 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. Here is what has caught our attention this week ...

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Balcones - Re-launches range
The Texan distillery of Balcones is relaunching its whiskey range to celebrate the imminent opening of its new larger distillery.  The re-launch also puts a veil over the recent turbulent history of Balcones.  The new range will feature new labels and include previous release True Blue 100, plus new products Texas Blue Corn Bourbon and Staff Selection Single Barrel Single Malt (pictured). 

The Single Barrel will be a series of limited edition releases hand selected by distillery staff, with this one matured in Hungarian oak casks and bottled at 62.5% ABV.  The Texas Blue Corn Bourbon will be bottled at the high 64.5% ABV.  The whiskeys will be joined by a cask strength Balcones Texan Rum at 63.9% ABV.  These will all be launched in the UK in the Autumn.

Suntory - Head into orbit
Next Sunday (August 16) Beam Suntory, owners of the Hakushu, Hibiki and Yamazaki Japanese whisky brands, will launch samples of their spirit in to space.  The project, which is being operated in coordination with the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency, will see six samples sent to Kibo (the Japanese module on the International Space Station). 

The samples, including new make spirit and previously aged whisky of 21 years of age, will be tested to see the effects of zero gravity on maturation.  These will be sent back to Earth after measured periods ranging from one to three years, with the first samples arriving for analysis in September next year.  Once back, they will be tested and tasted against the same samples that have been matured at Beam Suntory's facilities on Earth.