Inbox - The Week's Whisky News (November 13, 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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Amrut - Goes full Spectrum
The Indian distillery of Amrut, which is based in Bangalore, has announced the latest expression in its line of innovative limited edition single malts.  The Amrut Spectrum has been matured for three years in ex-bourbon barrels before being transferred to specially constructed casks for a further three and a half years.  These casks were constructed from five different types of wood - new American oak, new French oak and new Spanish oak, plus staves from ex-Oloroso and ex-Pedro Ximenez casks.  The whisky was launched at an event in Sweden this week (November 11).

Amrut Spectrum has been bottled at 50% ABV and is limited to 1,000 bottles.  These will be available through specialist retailers in selected markets - Australia, Canada, Europe, New Zealand and Taiwan - and will cost £100 each.

Glendronach - For Peat's sake
The independently owned east Highland distillery of Glendronach has announced the first ever peated expression.  The Glendronach Peated has been made with peated malted barley and is initially matured in ex-bourbon casks before being transferred to ex-Oloroso and ex-Pedro Ximenez sherry casks.  It is bottled at 46% ABV.  The release is joined by two further expressions - the 19 years old Madeira Finish and the Cask Strength Batch 5.  No indication of prices have yet been revealed by owners The Benriach Distillery Company.


Royal Salute - Age matters

Chivas Brothers, the owners of the super premium blended Scotch brand of Royal Salute, have announced an extraordinary collection of whiskies that they say is "paying tribute to age". The Age Collection is comprised of 10 individual blends, each containing whiskies of a certain age between 21 and 30 years.  Each of the 10 blends are unique and some contain very rare whiskies from closed distilleries.

Chivas Brothers commissioned designers Sally Mackereth and Jack Badger to create unique packaging for The Age Collection.  The bottles have been made by Dartington Crystal from blue crystal glass and they sit on a hand carved plinth of ancient Croation wood.  The Age Collection can only be purchased as a full set of 10 bottles and there are just 21 sets available worldwide.  The price for each set is £26,500 or $40,000 US.

“The Age Collection combines timeless tradition with contemporary understanding to create a celebration of longevity in the year Queen Elizabeth becomes Britain’s longest serving monarch. The Age Collection unites time, craft and quality; all values encapsulated by The Royal Salute.”
Vadim Grigorian, Global Brand Director of Royal Salute.