Inbox - The Week's Whisky News (September 2, 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.  There are lots of new releases this week, so here is what has caught our attention ...

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Benromach
The small Speyside distillery of Benromach has announced the latest expression in its Wood Finish series - the Hermitage 2007 Vintage. The whisky has been initially matured in ex-bourbon casks for six years before being transferred to casks that had previously held red wine from the Hermitage Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée in the northern Rhône region of France for 31 months.  It has been bottled at 45% ABV and will be available through specialist whisky retailers and via www.benromach.com shortly.  A bottle will retail for the recommended price of £40.25.

"At Benromach we work with some of the world’s most exclusive wineries to carefully select casks for finishing. The Benromach Hermitage 2007 gives our customers the opportunity to experience classic Benromach with a twist."
Keith Cruickshank - Distillery Manager at Benromach.

Glenfiddich
The world’s biggest selling Scotch single malt brand has announced an innovative new range of whiskies and the first two whiskies in the range. The Glenfiddich Experimental Series kicks off with two permanent expressions – the IPA Experiment and Project XX.

Both of the new whiskies have been created by Brian Kinsman, the Glenfiddich Malt Master. The IPA Experiment saw Glenfiddich collaborating with a small local craft brewery in Speyside to develop a specific beer for the project. This was filled to whisky casks for a short time before being emptied and whisky being returned to the beer-seasoned casks for a further period. It has been bottled at 40% ABV and will be available from Tesco and specialist whisky retailers from next week. The price will be £45.

Project XX (twenty) was even more ambitious and saw Glenfiddich’s 20 Brand Ambassadors from around the world tasked with selecting a cask to be included in the final whisky. Each was allowed unrivalled access to Glenfiddich’s portfolio of maturing stock and once decided the 20 whiskies were blended together by Brian Kinsman to create Project XX. The whiskies included are of varying ages and from selections of ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks, plus ex-Port pipes. Glenfiddich Project XX is bottled at 47% ABV and will be available from specialist whisky retailers shortly. The recommended price is £50.

"The Glenfiddich IPA Experiment was quite unusual but we wanted to really play with the flavours to see what we could create and challenged ourselves to produce something vibrant and unusual.  For Project XX, each Brand Ambassador had their own idea of what they wanted to add to the whisky.  It is a special tribute to those individuals and to each individual cask involved."
Brain Kinsman – Malt Master at Glenfiddich.

Jura
The island distillery of Jura has announced the release of a special limited edition single whisky to celebrate the job done by retiring Distillery Manager Willie Cochrane.  The 'One For The Road' is a 22 years old single malt that has been finished in ex-Pinot Noir red wine casks. It has been bottled at 47% ABV and there will be just 5,000 bottles available worldwide.

Cochrane, who had worked at the Jura distillery for 39 years since 1977, will embark on an Autumn farewell tour of European whisky shows where he will host tastings of 'One For The Road'.  The price will be £120 a bottle and they will be available through selected specialist whisky retailers.

Redbreast
Irish Distillers, owners of the Redbreast single pot still whiskey brand, have announced a fifth permanent expression for the range. The Redbreast Lustau Edition celebrates the historic working relationship and bond between Irish Distillers, based in Midleton Co. Cork, and the Emilio Lustau bodega, which is based in Jerez de la Frontera in Spain. The new whiskey has been initially matured in a combination of ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks before being transferred for one year to specially selected sherry butts that have previously held Lustau Oloroso sherry.

The whiskey was officially launched at a lavish event at Bodegas Lustau in Jerez yesterday (September 1) and will be available shortly in four key markets – Canada, France, Ireland and the UK. It will also be available in the USA from the beginning of October. The Redbreast Lustau Edition is bottled at 46% ABV and is non chill-filtered. The recommended retail price is £55/€69.

“With Lustau Edition we wanted to celebrate the iconic sherry influence in the Redbreast range. To do this we turned to our old friends at Bodegas Lustau. The whiskey represents the mutual bond that we have built up with them over time. Language is no barrier to this marriage of Irish and Spanish craft.” 
Billy Leighton – Head Blender at Irish Distillers.

Tasmania
A very limited new release has been announced by the TWPA (Tasmanian Whisky Producers Association - the Tasmanian Collection Single Cask TD0776.  The Tasmanian Collection is a collaboration of nine whisky distilleries from Australia's island state - Belgrove, Fanny's Bay, Iron House, Lark, Mackay, McHenry, Overeem, Redlands and Sullivan's Cove.  The whisky has been created by blending new make spirit from the nine distilleries together and then filled to nine 20 litre casks.  One has been matured at each site with each cask expected to yield just 25-30 bottles.  The initial release from cask TD0776 is presented at 46% ABV and is non chill-filtered.  The price is $250 AUD.