Inbox - The Week's Whisky News (August 5, 2016)

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 this week's news that caught our eyes ...

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Benromach

The small independent Speyside distillery of Benromach have announced an upgrade to their award-winning visitor centre facilities.  This coincides with an expansion of the distillery and its production team.  The new facilities include three new tasting rooms for guests and the renovation of Benromach House, which is the former Distillery Manager residence.  This offers a further area for groups of visitors to use.  The visitor centre will be open all year round - opening and tour times can be found on www.benromach.com.

Benromach have also announced a new limited edition bottling that is exclusive to the visitor centre shop at the distillery on the edge of the town of Forres.  The Distillery Exclusive is a single cask that has yielded just 238 bottles.  It was distilled in 2000 and bottled in 2016.  A bottle will cost £90.


Douglas Laing & Co

Big Peat, the cult Islay blended malt from independent bottling company Douglas Laing, has a new addition to its range in the form of the Big Peat Edinburgh Edition.  This is a limited edition of just 180 bottles and has been created to celebrate the famous Edinburgh Fringe Festival, one of the world's best comedy and arts festivals.

The Edinburgh Edition is bottled at 48% ABV and the packaging features 'travel stamps' from sites around the city such as Edinburgh Castle, The Scott Monument and Waverley train station.  It will be available from a handful Edinburgh whisky retailers, selected other  retailers and via www.douglaslaing.com.  A bottle will cost £50.


Exile Casks 

The second bottling in the Exile Casks range, a collection of single cask whiskies selected by spirits writers Joel Harrison and Neil Ridley, has been announced.  The Wanderer follows on from The Trojan and is so named as the cask in question has spent time maturing at various locations across Scotland according to records. 

As with The Trojan, the exact distillery is not revealed but it is from Speyside and was distilled in 1992.  It has been bottled at the natural cask strength of 54.6% ABV and the cask has yielded just 188 bottles.  The cost of each bottle is £75 and they are available now and only via www.exilecasks.com.

Tomatin
The Highland distillery of Tomatin have announced the latest edition of its peated Cù Bòcan single malt range - the 2005 Vintage.  The new release, which is bottled at 50% ABV and named after a mythical Highland creature that is said to inhabit the village of Tomatin, features some of the earliest peated whiskies produced at Tomatin.  They have been matured in a combination of ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks.  There are just 11,500 bottles available and these will be available through selected specialist retailers and via www.tomatin.com.  The Cù Bòcan 2005 Vintage Edition will cost £50 each.

"When we started distilling peated whisky in 2005 it was intended to be used for our on-site blending activities. However when it became of age we recognised it had to be released as a single malt and so Cù Bòcan was born. We are constantly looking for ways to develop the brand and experiment with new expressions."
Stephen Bremner - Sales Director for Tomatin.