Inbox - The Week's Whisky News (October 30, 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 ...

Review - Glenglassaugh Coastal Casks #559 & #1346

These two whiskies form part of a larger set of 10 single casks from Glenglassaugh under the new Coastal Cask banner. All are either 10 or 11 years of age and have been distilled since the distillery re-opened after a 22 year period of closure in 2008. Each cask in the collection was hand selected from maturing stocks by Dr. Rachel Barrie, the Master Blender for Glenglassaugh. 

The Glenglassaugh Coastal Casks collection are all bottled at their natural cask strengths - these range from 51.1% - 57.9% ABV - and are non chill filtered and of natural colour. Prices are £89 for the 10 year olds and £99 for the 11 year olds. Each coastal cask will be made available in different markets worldwide with pricing and availability varying with each location. Details of each cask are listed below. 

 

Review - John Walker & Sons Bicentennial Blend

The Bicentennial Blend is one of three special bottlings by Johnnie Walker, the world's best selling Scotch whisky, that have been created to celebrate its 200th anniversary. The other two new whiskies are the Celebratory Blend and the Blue Label Legendary Eight. There is also a special commemorative pack for the regular Blue Label bottling. The three new whiskies are all limited editions and have been created by Jim Beveridge OBE, the Master Blender for Johnnie Walker, and his team at Diageo. John Walker opened his grocery shop in King Street, Kilmarnock in 1820 and began blending his own whiskies in the cellar.

Review - The Wine Society Reserve Cask Selection 1989 Vintage

This whisky is the first release by The Wine Society in their new Reserve Cask Selection of single malts. It has been created from just nine casks (7x hogshead and 2x butt), all of which had previously held sherry for The Wine Society in the 1980s. Once emptied these were sent to Scotland to be filled with single malt at an un-named Highland distillery in 1989. They have been maturing every since until bottling earlier this year at 30 years of age. The casks had previously held Amontillado and Palo Cortado sherries prior to the whisky. The whisky is bottled at 46% ABV and is non chill-filtered and of natural colour. The exact number of bottles was not revealed in the press release but each one cost £95. All bottles have now sold out.

Allotment Drams - Weller 12 years old & Dalaruan by The Lost Distillery Co.

 

We have two more episodes of our Allotment Drams, the series where we talk about different whiskies in the surroundings of our north London allotment, for you. Firstly watch as Matt opens and tastes the Weller 12 years old wheated bourbon, which is made at the Buffalo Trace distillery on Kentucky, for the first time ever. Learn about what a wheated bourbon is and then hear his thoughts and tasting notes.

Then on his next visit he takes a look at the Dalaruan, part of a series of blended malts from The Lost Distillery Co. that give modern interpretations to long closed distilleries. Dalaruan was located in Campbeltown and closed in 1925. Watch as Matt talks about the creative project and then gives his thoughts and tasting notes.

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Inbox - The Week's Whisky News (October 23, 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 ...

Review - Johnnie Walker Blue Label Legendary Eight

The Blue Label Legendary Eight is one of three special bottlings by Johnnie Walker, the world's best selling Scotch whisky, for its 200th anniversary. The other two new whiskies are the Celebratory Blend and the Bicentennial Blend, both released under the John Walker & Sons name. There is also a special commemorative pack for the regular Blue Label bottling. The three new whiskies are all limited editions and have been created by Jim Beveridge OBE, the Master Blender for Johnnie Walker, and his team at Diageo. John Walker opened his grocery shop in King Street, Kilmarnock in 1820 and began blending his own whiskies in the cellar.

Review - Ardnamurchan AD/09.20:01

This AD/09.20:01 is the first ever single malt to be released from the west Highland distillery of Ardnamurchan. It follows limited releases of new make and part-aged spirits under the AD label. The whisky is a marriage of unpeated and peated styles, with the ratio being 50:50. The peated spirit is produced with a phenol level of 30-35ppm. Both styles have been matured in a combination of ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks for this release. The distillery has been built to be self sustainable due to its remote location, and is one of the greenest and most eco-friendly in Scotland. The name of the whisky refers to AD (Ardnamurchan Distillery), 09.20 (September 2020), 01 (Batch No.1).

Review - Benriach The Twenty One

This whisky forms part of the newly revamped core range of single malts from the Speyside distillery of Benriach, which is designed to showcase Benriach's eclectic range of casks from around the world (these come from 20 different origins) and the three different spirit styles that are produced there - classic Speyside, peated Speyside (produced for only 5-6 weeks each year) and triple distilled (produced for just 1-2 weeks each year). The range has been entirely created by Dr. Rachel Barrie, the Master Blender for Benriach. The Twenty One combines both classic and peated malts together and features four cask types - ex-bourbon, ex-red wine, ex-sherry and virgin oak.

Allotment Drams - John Walker & Sons Celebratory Blend and Midleton Very Rare 2020 Edition

 

We have two more episodes from our ongoing Allotment Dram series for you and both feature brand new whiskies that have just been released. Firstly, Matt looks at the John Walker & Sons Celebratory Blend. This forms part of a commemorative set of whiskies that have been created for the Johnnie Walker 200th anniversary by Dr. Jim Beveridge OBE and his team of blenders at Diageo. Watch to find out about the special blend and Matt's thoughts and tasting notes.

 

Then on his next visit, Matt showcases the latest bottling in the legendary Midleton Very Rare series. This series of whiskeys has been described in the past as 'the pinnacle of Irish whiskey' and this one is the last created by the now-departed Master Distiller Brian Nation. Watch as Matt talks about what makes each release special, plus gives his thoughts and tasting notes. We hope that you enjoy both videos.

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