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 | October 25, 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. 

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 / Oban Young Teddy

This whisky is a distillery exclusive bottling from the west Highland distillery of Oban. Oban Young Teddy is the second whisky in The Macleans Series, which honours the distilling legacy of the Maclean family and their long association with the Oban distillery. It follows Old Teddy, which was released in 2019 - this was dedicated to Old Teddy Maclean, their long-serving distillery manager who began working there in 1953. To read our review of Oban Old Teddy - click here. The new whisky is dedicated to his son, recently-retired Young Teddy Maclean, who joined in 1985. The legacy continues as Young Teddy's son, Derek Maclean, joined the distillery staff in 2017. 

Inbox / The Week's Whisky News (March 17, 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. 

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.

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.

Review - Oban Old Teddy

The Old Teddy is the latest exclusive limited edition single malt from the Highland distillery of Oban and will only be available in the distillery visitor centre. The new whisky has been created to pay homage to the Macleans, a family that have given three generations of service to the distillery. This started with 'Old Teddy' in 1953, who worked his way up to become Master Distiller. He was followed by his son 'Young Teddy' in 1985. Young Teddy's son Derek then joined the distillery team in 2017 and continues to work at Oban today.

Inbox - The Week's Whisky News (August 2, 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 - The Game of Thrones Single Malt Range

Back in the Autumn leading Scotch whisky producer Diageo announced that they would be releasing eight new single malts to celebrate the eighth and final season of hit TV show Game of Thrones. These have been created in partnership with HBO, the show's producers. Eight of Diageo's 28 single malt distilleries have been selected to be paired with each of the seven Houses of Westeros in Game of Thrones, plus the Night's Watch.

The whiskies were initially released in America last Autumn and have now been released in the UK and Europe. Six of the whiskies have been specially created for the collection, with the exceptions being the Cardhu and Royal Lochnagar expressions - these are the whiskies that are regularly on sale but have been repackaged for this collection. Many retailers have now sold out of their allocations so you will need to search to buy bottles now, probably through auction sites.

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 - Oban 'Little Bay'

This is a new expression for the core range single malt range of Oban. The whisky is so named because Oban translates as 'little bay' from Gaelic and it has been created by two of Diageo's Master Blenders, Dr Matthew Crow and Dr Craig Wilson. They have used a range of different ages of whisky, which have been matured in three types of casks - European oak ex-sherry casks, re-fill casks with new oak cask ends and re-fill American oak hogsheads. These have then been combined and married in small oak casks for a short period of time to allow integration of flavours.

Inbox - The Week's Whisky News (February 20, 2015)

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.

New releases - Diageo Special Releases 2013 (Part 2)

This year's selection of whiskies for the Diageo Special Releases is one of the largest in recent years.  Therefore, we have decided to split our review in to two parts - Part 1 appeared towards the end of last week and can be read by clicking here.  All of the whiskies are bottled at the natural cask strength, are non chill filtered and each one is a limited edition. As in previous years the collection places some well-known flagship distilleries, such as Cardhu, Lagavulin, Oban and Talisker, alongside very rare stock from the closed distilleries of Brora, Convalmore and Port Ellen.

Inbox Special - Diageo Special Releases 2013

Around this time each year, there is always a ripple of anticipation around the whisky industry as people wait to see what Diageo, Scotland's largest producer of single malt whisky, are to release in their annual Special Releases programme.

 This programme is designed to showcase 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. Some of these stocks have dwindled to almost critical levels. Now the waiting is over for this year, as they have announced the line up and details for the Special Releases 2013.  They will be available from late October.

This year's selection of whiskies (pictured, above) are bottled at the natural cask strength, are non chill filtered and all are limited edition. The collection again places well known flagship distilleries, such as Cardhu, Lagavulin and Talisker, alongside very rare stock from the iconic closed distilleries of Brora and Port Ellen. The details are below ...

Have just tried - Oban Distillers Edition

The Oban distillery is one of the oldest that is still in operation in Scotland.  It was founded in 1794 by John and Hugh Stevenson on the site of a former brewery, and is located in the coastal town of Oban in the west Highlands.  The distillery is currently owned by Diageo and is one of the smallest in their estate of 28 single malt distilleries with an annual production capacity of just 650,000 litres.  As a result, the core range consists of just two bottlings - this Distillers Edition and a 14 years old.  These are occasionally joined by rare, older limited editions.

Have just tried ... Oban 14 years old

Oban is one of the oldest distilleries in Scotland having opened in 1794. It is also one of the smallest with production of only 650,000 litres per year. This is partly due to the restrictions of it's location. The distillery is situated in the heart of the town of Oban, on the west Highland coast, and is surrounded on all sides by other buildings which makes any expansion impossible. Despite this, Oban is in the world top 20 for single malt sales and is especially popular in America. This is due, in no small part, to owners Diageo selecting Oban to be the representative of the west Highlands region in it's 'Classic Malts' series. The small production volume dictates that the only bottlings are the 14 years old and a limited release 'Distiller's Edition' which is partly matured in Amontillado sherry casks. Independent bottlings are virtually impossible to find.

It is pale and golden in colour with a pleasant, light nose. There is a subtle blend of vanilla, honey, some dried fruit (imagine candied orange and lemon peel) and malted barley. The palate is again light and very smooth with all those elements from the nose present and mixing with some caramel, a small salty tang and maybe a hint of peat smoke. The caramel, vanilla and saltiness especially come through on the finish, which is light, short and pretty dry. This is a light and enjoyable whisky that is not particularly complex or challenging, but good and very easy drinking. I can see why this is popular and it would be very good as an aperitif, on a hot day or to have with seafood, as the slight saltiness would compliment that well. Retail price is around £35-£40 per bottle.