Highland Park has launched a 17 year old Ice Edition. The new expression celebrates the Viking roots of the brand’s Orkney Island home, where the Norse influence and culture were woven for hundreds of years before Highland Park single malt whisky was created. Highland Park Ice has a 53.9% ABV, and has been aged predominantly in ex-bourbon casks. Only 30,000 bottles have been created.
Jason R. Craig, Brand Director, Highland Park, comments, “This 17 year old single malt has a classic Highland Park flavour. The dynamic soft spicy notes complement and intertwine with creamy vanilla hues, providing a balanced, long finish – a truly harmonious whisky to savour. “In blue tinted bespoke glass reflecting dazzling and glittering ice, the bottle shape has been designed to evoke the distinctive sharpness and coolness of the mythical and magical Ice Realm.”
This new edition is encased in a stunning mountain shaped wooden cradle with accompanying wooden stopper. The intricate circle design on the label itself represents the circle of life – the creation of the world, protected by a dragon, a mythical creature often central in classic Norse mythology. A booklet accompanying this new variant, recounts the story of the realm of the Ice Giants and their wonderfully colourful battle against the Gods to rule the world. ICE Edition will be followed by FIRE Edition in 2017 and follows on from the recent Valhalla Collection which championed the stories of four legendary Gods: Thor, Loki, Freya and Odin who were to be found in Asgard. Highland Park ICE Edition is available from specialist whisky retailers at an RRP of £190.
Glenmorangie Milsean is the latest release in Glenmorangie’s Private Edition. It is the first Glenmorangie expression to be extra-matured in heavily toasted Portuguese red wine casks. Milsean (Scots Gaelic for ‘sweet things’) and is also the seventh release in the Private Edition collection.
Created from Glenmorangie first matured in ex-bourbon oak casks, Glenmorangie Milsean then spent a number of years in casks which had contained Portuguese red wine.
Dr Bill Lumsden said, “A glass of Glenmorangie Milsean transports me straight to an old-fashioned sweet shop with its sweet and spicy bouquet, with hints of sugar cane, ripe fruits and fudge. Extra-maturing Glenmorangie in heavily toasted red wine casks for the first time, has allowed us to create a whisky recalling a bygone era. I hope its deep tastes of cherries, angelica, candied orange peel and unusual intensity of caramelized fruits, will surprise and delight whisky aficionados and malt connoisseurs.” It is bottled at 46% ABV, and is non-chill filtered. RRP £75.99.
GlenDronach has launched batch 7 of the GlenDronach Grandeur series, a limited edition expression for the serious connoisseur. This latest batch of Grandeur, bottled at 50.6% ABV, has been exclusively matured for over 25 years in the finest Oloroso sherry casks. This bottling, batch number 7 of the Grandeur releases, is limited to 1180 bottles. Individually numbered by hand, each one is a one-off and truly unique, making it a very special single malt – showing the finest sherry oak casks, expert maturation and traditional crafted Highland single malt in perfect harmony.
Grandeur has been specially selected by Master Distiller, Billy Walker, from some of GlenDronach’s oldest and most unique Oloroso sherry casks. A vast selection of barrels, hogsheads, puncheons and butts have been maturing in the traditional dunnage warehouses since the 1960s, and it is the most extraordinary and remarkable of these which have been chosen for this very special bottling. culminating in the trademark Ardmore dryness – it is a whisky that offers a taste that sets it apart.” It has a ABV of 46%.
Scottish whisky is distilled twice, Irish whiskey thrice. American and Irish whiskies are spelt “ey”
The Glenlivet is now the world’s best selling Malt. It has eclipsed Glenfiddich which held that record for a good number of years.
The oldest whisky is the Glenavon Special Liqueur Whisky, bottled by the Glenavon Distillery in Ballindalloch, Scotland, between 1851 and 1858.
An opened bottle of whisky can remain good for 5 years.
Glenmorangie is the best selling malt in the UK while Famous Grouse is the best selling blended whisky.
More Scotch is sold in one month in France than Cognac in a year.
Blended whisky is most popular in London, while a quarter of all malt whisky sales are in Scotland.
Drinks-led pubs account for 23.3% of value sales for blended whisky, and 24.4% of value sales for malt whisky, according to the Wm Grant 2015 Market Report (CGA).
Scotch whisky has to be bottled at a minimum strength of 40% ABV. Some cask strength whiskies can be as high as 61% in strength.
To be considered Scotch Whisky, the spirit must mature in oak casks in Scotland for a minimum of three years.
Scotch Whisky accounts for approximately one quarter of the UK’s food and drink exports.
The whisky category is worth £990m. Blended whisky accounts for £409m and malts for £158m, with American whisky worth £351m. Figures from the Wm Grant 2015 Market Report (CGA).
Blended whisky is becoming more seasonal with a larger proportion going through the last three months of the year.
Macallan ‘M’ is considered to be the world’s most expensive whisky since a bottle sold for £393,109 last year at auction in Hong Kong.
Drinkers in the UK often choose to drink whisky with just a little water, but in Spain they mix it with cola. In Japan, it is enjoyed with lots of water and ice, and in China with cold green tea.
Approximately 20 million casks lie maturing in Scottish warehouses.
Glenmorangie has released it’s fifth annual Private Edition, Companata. The latest addition to Glenmorangie’s group of rare malts is aged in Grand Cru and Côtes du Rhône casks. The whisky follows last year’s release of Ealanta. The name Companata translates from Scots Gaelic as friendship and celebrates the continuing relationship between Glenmorangie and its French vineyards.
Benefiting from non-chill filtration for extra body and texture, the whisky has a nose of red berries, woodsmoke and nutty oak and has a spicy palate of stewed fruits, sugared plums alongside milk chocolate and brown sugar.
Director of Distilling and Whisky Creation, Dr Bill Lumsden said, “To complement the bold, spicy character imparted from the Grand Cru casks, I selected a parcel of Glenmorangie which had been extra-maturing in casks having previously contained a lusciously sweet fortified wine from Côtes du Rhône. It took some time, but with careful fine tuning we reached a harmonious assemblage which proved the perfect balance; neither too bold nor too tame!”
A limited edition series of cask collection rums made in special barrels has been launched by Angostura, called No.1. The premium rums have been bottled at 40% and aged in special casks, using a blend of carefully selected rums, aged from ten to twelve years. The No.1 rum, was left for twelve months in First Fill Bourbon Casks. But there could be a fight for rum lovers to get their hands on a bottle, with only 9600 bottles of No.1 available globally, and just 20 cases allocated to the UK.