Inbox - The Week's Whisky News (September 16, 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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Ardbeg
The Islay-based distillery of Ardbeg have announced a limited edition single malt that will be released shortly to members of its Ardbeg Committee.  The Ardbeg 21 years old is created from amongst the few remaining casks from the mid-1990s, after which the distillery was closed for some time.  The casks were selected by Dr. Bill Lumsden, the Director of Distilling & Whisky Creation at Ardbeg's parent company LVMH, and Mickey Heads, the Distillery Manager and also the Chairman of the Ardbeg Committee.

The Ardbeg 21 years old has been bottled at 46% ABV and is non chill-filtered.  Bottles will be available for sale exclusively to members of the Ardbeg Committee from September 21 via www.ardbeg.com.  The total number of bottles have not been revealed but the price will be £310 each.

"This whisky is a shining example of Ardbeg’s enduring spirit. I’m so pleased we can share it with our members - the Committee have invested much in ensuring the future of the distillery and it’s only right that they should share the rewards of its turbulent past."
Mickey Heads.

Chivas Regal
The popular blended Scotch brand has announced the third chapter in its collaboration with Pininfarina, the prestigious Italian company renowned for their cutting edge designs and craftmanship.  This incarnation sees a curved metallic gift tin housing the multi-award winning Chivas 18 years old, which can be seen through a cut out section.  The Chivas 18 by Pininfarina Chapter 3 limited edition packaging will be launched globally in October with a recommended retail price of £57 ($75 in the USA).



Johnnie Walker 

The world's biggest selling Scotch whisky brand has announced the first bottling in a new experimental series called the Blenders' Batch.  The Johnnie Walker Red Rye Finish is the pioneering part of the series and features just four whiskies including single grain from the now closed Port Dundas distillery.  The new whisky has been matured in first fill ex-bourbon casks and then finished for six months in ex-rye casks.

The Blenders' Batch is the culmination of the most successful experimentation that has been taking place at Diageo's blending lab in scotland over the last decade or so.  The team, led by Master Blender Jim Beveridge, has been working on creating different flavours by manipulating cask type, different grains and distillation processes.

The Red Rye Finish will be joined by two further expressions shortly - the Triple Grain American Oak and the Bourbon Cask & Rye Finish - the Blenders' Batch series will see new releases annually, all produced in limited numbers.  The Red Rye Finish will be available in various world markets and is already in Australia and Mexico.  It is bottled at 40% ABV and will cost around £30 a bottle.

"The Red Rye Finish is driven by my own fascination with the bold flavours of American whiskies which first developed while I was working with bourbons and ryes in Kentucky over 25 years ago. It offers the best of Scotch with an exciting twist inspired by the best of traditional American whiskey flavours."
Jim Beveridge - Master Blender of Johnnie Walker.