Inbox - January 31, 2014

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 release - Talisker Triple Matured Edition

This whisky is one of the first of a new Triple Matured series released by Diageo. There will be five single malts in the series and they will be exclusively available to members of their Friends Of The Classic Malts group. Two are being released now - this from Talisker on the isle of Skye and one from Royal Lochnagar in the east Highlands, which we reviewed a couple of days ago (click here to read that) - and the other three will be announced and released in stages over the next six months or so.

New release - Adnams No.1 Single Malt

The No.1 Single Malt is the first single malt whisky to be released by The Copper House Distillery, which is located in the English town of Southwold in Suffolk and owned by the well known brewer Adnams. The distillery started production in November 2010 and has already released a range of other award-winning spirits, including gin and vodka. Master Distiller John McCarthy has hand selected the casks for this initial whisky release, which have finally reached the minimum legal age of three years.

New release - Royal Lochnagar Triple Matured Edition

This whisky is the first of a new Triple Matured series released by Diageo.  There will be five single malts in the series and they will be exclusively available to members of their Friends Of The Classic Malts group.  Two are being released now - this from the Royal Lochnagar distillery and another from Talisker on the isle of Skye, which we will be reviewing shortly - and the other three will be announced and released in stages over the next six months or so.

New release - Glenmorangie Companta

Each January Glenmorangie launch a new addition to their highly acclaimed Private Edition series. This is normally the first major new whisky release of each year and has the whisky fraternity waiting with eager anticipation. This year's bottling is named Companta and it follows on from the award winning Sonnalta, Finealta, Artein and Ealanta expressions. The name Companta translates as 'friendship' from Scots Gaelic and like the previous editions has undergone some experimental maturation.

Have just tried - Peat Monster 10th Anniversary

This is a special bottling from Compass Box, the artisan whisky blending company, which has been created to celebrate the 10th birthday of one of their most popular creations. The Peat Monster 10th Anniversary is a limited edition release to mark 10 years since the award winning blend (then simply known as The Monster) was launched. That regular bottling of Peat Monster is the biggest selling whisky in the Compass Box range. There are just 5,970 bottles available.

Have just tried - Old Pulteney Navigator

The Navigator is a whisky that was originally released in early Autumn last year and was designed to celebrate Old Pulteney's maritime heritage, links and character. It was launched on September 1 to coincide with the start of the Clipper Round The World yacht race, which set off from London and for which the brand was the main sponsor.  The Navigator was made from ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks, which were hand selected by Distillery Manager Malcolm Waring.

Have just tried - Hankey Bannister 'Heritage Blend'

Last Summer the blended Scotch whisky brand of Hankey Bannister launched a new expression in to its range - the Hankey Bannister Heritage Blend. The new whisky was inspired by a British couple who discovered a rare bottle of Hankey Bannister Fine Old Liqueur Scotch Whisky dating from the 1920s in their possession, and sold it to the brand. From this, details of the retro release were tracked down and the new expression has been produced in a recreation of the style of that 1920s era.

Have just tried - Colonel E.H. Taylor Rye

Rye can be argued to be the original American whiskey and was the most popular type of whiskey produced and drunk in the United States up to the advent of prohibition in 1920. Records show that there were various different Rye whiskies, each named after their area of production (i.e. Maryland Rye, Monongahela Rye etc) which suggests that each area produced it’s own distinctive style. Unfortunately we’ll never know if this is the case as Rye whiskies popularity declined after the end of prohibition in 1933 and many producers never resumed production.

Nowadays though, Rye whiskey is experiencing something of a renaissance with a lots of new different Rye’s now available and distillers struggling to keep up with demand. A lot of these whiskies are hard to come by in the U.K. as a lot of brands are kept for the home market but one such Rye that has made its way over here is Colonel E.H. Taylor.

Inbox - January 17, 2014

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.