Review | Diageo Special Releases 2024: Spirited Xchange Second Edition

Diageo, Scotland's largest whisky producer, has announced the line-up for their annual Special Releases Collection. The Diageo Special Releases: Spirited Xchange Second Edition is formed of eight single malts, which are limited in number (although the exact numbers have not been revealed). This year's collection is designed to push the boundaries of Scotch whisky and features familiar distilleries alongside lesser known hidden gems. 

Inbox | The Week's Whisky News | September 27, 2024

Welcome to Inbox - our weekly round up of whisky news and PR material that has found its way in to the WFE email. We started Inbox several years ago 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. 

Review / The Diageo Special Releases 2023 : Spirited Xchange

It is that time of the year again. Each Autumn the Special Releases are released by Diageo, Scotland's largest producer of whisky. The 2023 Edition features eight whiskies selected from across their 28 single malt distilleries. The series carries the title of Spirited Xchange this year and each whisky has been selected by Dr. Stuart Morrison, one of Diageo's Master Blenders.

The Special Releases first appeared in 2001 and have been released annually ever since. The collection has grown to be eagerly anticipated by whisky fans, consumers and collectors around the world. The whiskies included each year are designed to showcase some of the best and rarest whisky, both single malt and single grain, held within Diageo's extensive portfolio of maturing stocks.

News / The Diageo Special Releases 2023

It is that time of the year again. Each Autumn the Special Releases are released by Diageo, Scotland's largest producer of whisky. The 2023 Edition features eight whiskies from across their 28 single malt distilleries, which show the diversity within their extensive portfolio. The series carries the title of Spirited Xchange this year and each whisky has been selected by Dr. Stuart Morrison, one of Diageo's Master Blenders.

Review / Diageo Special Releases 2022 : Elusive Expressions

 

 

The Special Releases are an annual set of bottlings released by Diageo - Scotland's largest producer of whisky. The collection of whiskies appears each Autumn and has been given a theme for the last couple of years. The 2022 edition has been named Elusive Expressions and is designed to push the boundaries of cask strength whisky through the innovative use of casks and cask finishes. Each whisky has been created by Dr. Craig Wilson, Master Blender of the Special Releases programme.

Matt's Chats / Dr. Bill Lumsden & Ewan Gunn

Welcome to our new video series - Matt's Chats. In these short episodes Matt will chat with figures from the whisky industry that will help to bring their roles and brands to life. The first two videos are now live and saw Matt talking with Dr. Bill Lumsden, the Director of Whisky Creation at Glenmorangie, and Ewan Gunn, the Scotch Whisky Global Brand Ambassador for Diageo. Watch as Dr. Bill discusses about Glenmorangie and the new experimental Lighthouse distillery, and Ewan chats about the 2021 set of Diageo Special Releases. We hope you enjoy and like the format.

To keep up-to-date with further episodes of Matt's Chats or to watch any of our other videos, please subscribe to our YouTube channel here.

 

#MattsChats

 

Review / Diageo Special Releases 2021

The arrival of Autumn is always signalled by Diageo, Scotland's largest whisky producer, announcing the line-up for their annual Special Releases programme. Each year these bottlings are designed to highlight rare or old whiskies from within Diageo's extensive portfolio of maturing stocks and are eagerly anticipated each year since the series was first started with just three expressions in 2001. The 2021 collection marks the 20th anniversary of the Special Releases.

This year is one of the smaller recent collections and sees just eight bottlings. The eight have been put together to show the stories of whisky from different environments and terrains across Scotland. This incorporates a set of mythical creatures that reside in the sea, lochs and mountains and  can be seen on the packaging. The 2021 collection is subtitled Legends Untold as a result. The striking artwork has been created by illustrator Ken Taylor.

Allotment Drams - Talisker 8 years old (Diageo Special Releases 2020 Edition) & Jura Winter Edition

 

We have the two latest episodes in our ever-increasing Allotment Dram series, the short videos where we talk about different whiskies in the surroundings of our north London allotment plot. Both are from Scottish islands. First, watch as Matt pops the cork on a new bottle purchase - the Talisker 8 years old from this year's Diageo Special Releases, which is the first ever sngle malt from the Skye distillery that has been part-matured in ex-rum casks from the Caribbean.

Then on his next visit he talks about the recently released Winter Edition from Jura, the second bottling in the island distillery's Cask Edition series. Watch as he shares his thoughts and tasting notes on both whiskies. We hope that you enjoy.

To keep up-to-date with our videos or to subscribe to our YouTube channel - click here.

 

 

#AllotmentDram

 

Review - Diageo Special Releases 2020

 

 

It is that time of the year again - Diageo, Scotland's largest whisky producer, has announced the line-up for the 2020 edition of its Special Releases programme. The annual bottlings are designed to highlight rare or old whiskies from within Diageo's extensive portfolio of maturing stocks and are eagerly anticipated each year since the series was first started with just three expressions in 2001.

This year is one of the smaller recent collections and sees just eight bottlings with a theme of 'Rare By Nature' running through them. This includes the same eight brands as the 2019 selection and is designed to be 'an encore to what was a very successful and well received set of whiskies'. As with all previous years the whiskies are all bottled at their natural cask strength. This year's selection has been curated by Dr. Craig Wilson, one of the Master Blenders at Diageo.

Inbox - The Week's Whisky News (August 28, 2020)

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 news from this week ...

 

Inbox - The Week's Whisky News (October 18, 2019)

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.

Review - Diageo Special Releases 2019

It is that time of the year again - Diageo, Scotland's largest whisky producer, has unleashed the 2019 edition of its Special Releases programme. The annual bottlings are designed to highlight rare or old whiskies from within Diageo's extensive portfolio of maturing stocks and are eagerly anticipated each year since the programme was first started with just three expressions in 2001.

This year is one of the smaller recent collections and sees just eight bottlings with a theme of 'Rare By Nature' running through them. As with all previous years the whiskies are all bottled at their natural cask strength. This year's whiskies have been selected by Dr. Craig Wilson, one of the Master Blenders at Diageo.

Inbox - The Week's Whisky News (July 26, 2019)

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.

Review - Diageo Special Releases 2018

The Special Releases are here again! The annual bottlings are designed to highlight rare whiskies from within Diageo's extensive portfolio of single grains and single malts, and are eagerly anticipated each year since the programme was first started with just three expressions in 2001. This year there are 10 bottlings and these cover the single malt, single grain and blended malt categories.

This year is also the first since the early years of the programme to see the absence of Brora and Port Ellen. These have both been stalwarts of the programme since it began, but stocks are now said to be critically low after both ceased production in the early 1980s. However, this has created space for other rare whiskies and kept the retail prices lower as a result.

Inbox Extra (April 14, 2018) - Diageo Special Releases 2018

Diageo have announced initial details of the whiskies in this year's Special Releases outturn. The biggest producer of Scotch whisky has revealed nine of the ten bottlings, with the tenth to follow later in the year. All are scheduled for an Autumn release. The Special Releases, which are designed to highlight rare whiskies from within Diageo's extensive portfolio of single grains and single malts, have been eagerly anticipated each year since the programme was first started in 2001.

Review - Diageo Special Releases 2017

The Special Releases are an annual selection of bottlings from Diageo, Scotland's largest producer of single malt whisky. The series first appeared in 2001 and has grown to be eagerly anticipated by whisky fans, consumers and collectors around the world. The Special Releases are designed to showcase some of the best whisky, both single malt and single grain, held within Diageo's extensive portfolio of maturing stocks. This includes distilleries that are currently in operation and those that have sadly closed.

We were delighted to again be invited to a special preview event in London a couple of weeks ago. Here we got to sample each of this year's ten Special Releases bottlings in the company of Dr. Nick Morgan, Head of Whisky Outreach at Diageo, and Maureen Robinson, one of Diageo's Senior Whisky Blenders and a major influencer of the Special Releases programme. Here is the information for each whisky and our tasting notes.

Diageo Special Releases 2017

Diageo, the leading Scotch whisky company, announced most of the line-up for this year's Special Release bottlings a few months ago. Today they have announced more details of each whisky, plus the 10th and final bottling the will make up the 2017 series - this is the Collectivum XXVIII, a blended malt which contains whiskies from each of Diageo's 28 Scottish malt distilleries that are currently in production. Every year the Special Releases, which first appeared in 2001, are eagerly anticipated by whisky fans and collectors.

We will be sampling each of the ten whiskies shortly and will write a full review with our tasting notes soon after that. For now, here are the details of each whisky for the Diageo Special Releases 2017. No indication of prices were given in the press release.

Review - The Diageo Special Releases 2016

The Special Releases are a limited edition range of whiskies that are bottled each Autumn by Diageo, Scotland's largest whisky producer.  The series started in the early 2000s and is designed to highlight some of the best and rarest Scotch whiskies from Diageo's extensive estate of single malt and single grain distilleries, including some that are no longer in production.

In 2016 special release there are 10 whiskies - nine single malts and one single grain - and all are bottled at the natural cask strength and all are non chill-filtered.

Review - Diageo Special Releases 2015

The Diageo Special Releases are one of the biggest and most talked about annual whisky releases. Each Autumn, the largest producer of single malt in Scotland announces the line up.  The Special Releases programme has been running since the early 2000s and is designed to showcase some to the finest and rarest stocks in Diageo's portfolio, both from their current 28 single malt distilleries and those no longer in operation.  All the bottlings are at the natural cask strength, non chill filtered and limited edition.  The 2015 collection features nine whiskies.

Karen and Matt C were privileged to be invited to a small private tasting of the nine whiskies in London last month. The tasting was hosted by Dr. Nick Morgan, Diageo's Head of Whisky Outreach, and Maureen Robinson, one of Diageo's Senior Master Blenders. Both are part of the Special Releases selection panel. A huge thank you to both for the invite.

New releases - Diageo Special Releases 2014 (Part 2)

Diageo have announced the eleven whiskies that will make up the 2014 Special Releases collection, which is due for release very shortly. This programme highlights some of the most exceptional single malt stock from within their portfolio of 28 working distilleries, plus remaining stocks from those which have been closed. This year's selection of whiskies are all bottled at the natural cask strength, are non chill filtered and all are limited edition. The collection again places well known flagship distilleries alongside very rare stock from the iconic Brora and Port Ellen, both of which closed in 1983.