Friday, May 19, 2023

Inbox / The Week's Whisky News (May 19, 2023)



Welcome to Inbox, our weekly round up of whisky news and PR material that has found its way in to our WFE email. 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 the round-up of the news from this week.
 
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Cù Bòcan
The innovative peated Highland single malt of Cù Bòcan has announced a new addition to its core range - Cù Bòcan 12 years old. The spirit is matured for a short period each winter at the Tomatin distillery near Inverness. The new bottling features part-maturation in ex-rum casks sourced from the Caribbean, Barbados and Guyana in particular, and is released at 46% ABV. It is both non chill-filtered and of natural colour, and will be produced in small batches. The Cù Bòcan 12 years old will be available in selected specialist whisky retailers worldwide and will cost £65/ $US80.


 
Johnnie Walker
 

The world's best selling Scotch whisky has announced a special limited edition to celebrate the legacy of retired former Master Blender and whisky maker Dr. Jim Beveridge OBE. The Johnnie Walker Master's Cut is a blend of just two whiskies taken from contrasting distilleries - a single grain from Cameronbridge, one of brand owner Diageo's oldest distilleries, and a single malt from Roseisle, one of their most recent. 
 
The Master's Cut is released at 40% ABV and there are just 1,000 bottles available. These will be initially exclusive to the Johnnie Walker Princes Street shop in Edinburgh, before seeing a limited release to selected world markets. Each bottle will cost £1000.
 
"The Master's Cut is my final Johnnie Walker blend, made at a turning point in the Johnnie Walker journey when the baton is passed from one master blender to another. It is an exercise in simplicity, doing more with less to create something which has a uniquely complex character."
Dr. Jim Beveridge.

 
Method & Madness
The experimental whiskey series from Irish Distillers of Method & Madness has announced its latest release - the Method & Madness Garryanna Oak. The whiskey has been triple distilled using malted and unmalted barley at the Midleton Microdistillery in Co. Cork. Initial maturation has been in American oak ex-bourbon casks before a finishing period in Garryanna oak casks. Garryanna oak or Quercus Garryanna is only native to the American Pacific Northwest states of Oregon and Washington. The whiskey will be available initially in Ireland, the UK and travel retail. It will be debuted in the USA later in 2023. A bottle will cost €95.

 

Redbreast
The Irish single pot still brand of Redbreast has revealed details of its annual Dream Cask release. The Redbreast Dream Cask Port To Port Edition is the sixth bottling in the series and is released at 27 years old. The whiskey has been matured in ex-bourbon and ex-Ruby Port casks before a finishing period in ex-Tawny Port barrels, sourced from Portugal by Master Blender, Billy Leighton. There are just 780 bottles and the Port To Port Edition is released at the natural cask strength of 56.3% ABV. The bottles will be available from The Birdhouse - the Redbreast online members' club - via a ballot that begins on May 22. Each bottle will sell for €580.
 
"The two single pot still whiskeys which had been maturing separately in ex-bourbon and ex-Ruby Port were already an outstanding pairing, but the marrying period in the ex-Tawny Port casks elevated the expression to new heights."
Billy Leighton.


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