Inbox - The Week's Whisky News (August 18. 2017)

Welcome to Inbox.  For those new to WFE, 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.  This is the news that has grabbed our attention this week.

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Bunnahabhain
The Islay distillery of Bunnahabhain have announced a new whisky for their travel retail range - the Bunnahabhain An Cladach. It is also the first whisky to be presented in the new packaging, which is designed to help the brand stand out on the shelf and will be phased in across the remainder of the range. An Cladach translates as 'the shore' from Gaelic and is described as having "a rich Sherry influence". The new packaging follows th ebrand's maritime theme and depicts a fishing boat navigating rough seas. An Cladach is bottled at 50% ABV and will be available in travel retail shortly. No indication of price was given.

Diageo 
Scotland's largest whisky producer has this week revealed the 10th and final bottling in this year's Special Releases series - the Collectivum XXVIII. The whisky is the first ever blended malt to appear in the Special Releases since they were introduced in 2001. It carries no age statement but contains whisky from each of Diageo's 28 Scottish single malt distilleries that are currently in operation. This makes it one of the first bottlings to ever include whisky made at Roseisle, which only started production in 2010.

The Collectivum XXVIII is bottled at 57.3% ABV and is constructed from a selection of different cask types - re-fill American oak hogsheads, re-fill European oak butts, Ex-Bodega European oak and first-fill ex-bourbon casks. No indication of price or the number of bottles were included in the press release. It will be available from late September worldwide through selected specialist whisky retailers.

“The Special Releases range is always a highlight in our calendar year. We are looking forward to sharing this year’s collection with the world and in particular are keen to see the response to the new Collectivum XXVIII.”
Dr. Nick Morgan - Head of Whisky Outreach at Diageo.

Wemyss Malts

The Wemyss family have announced the introdutcion of a new series of blended malts, plus the first two whiskies in that series. The Family Collection has been crafted from whiskies held within the Wemyss family's own private portfolio of casks. The first two releases - Treacle Chest and Vanilla Burst - represents two differing styles of whisky, one has been matured in ex-Sherry casks and the other in ex-bourbon casks.

Treacle Chest is a blend of just two Highland single malts and has been made using 14 first-fill ex-sherry hogsheads. There are to be 6,300 bottles. In contrast, Vanilla Burst is a blend of just two Speyside single malts and has been made using 15 first-fill ex-bourbon barrels. There will be just 4,800 bottles. No indication of ABV strength or price were given in the press release. They will both be available through selected specialist whisky retailers shortly.