Welcome to Inbox, our weekly round-up of whisky news and PR material that has found its way into our WFE email. Inbox features items from around the world of whisky and is published by us each Friday. Here is this week’s whisky news.
Arbikie
The Highland craft distillery of Arbikie, which is located near the east coast town of Arbroath, has opened pre-orders for its forthcoming range of single malts. these will be the first ever whiskies released by the distillery. Produced entirely on the Arbikie Estate, The Arbikie single malt features barley grown, distilled, matured and bottled on the family-owned farm distillery. This approach reflects Arbikie’s field-to-bottle philosophy.
The Signature will be the inaugural bottling and will form the cornerstone of a future core range. It has been matured in ex-bourbon barrels for 10 years. It will be joined by two very limited editions – The Wild One and The Journey. The Wild One (pictured, above) was made using wild yeast and spontaneous fermentation, while The Journey charts Arbikie’s natural ageing with an annual release from differing cask types. These will be between 10- and 18 years of age.
The Arbikie The Signature is bottled at 46% ABV and is both non-chill filtered and of natural colour. It is available to pre-order now via www.thearbikie.com. A bottle will cost £250. The Journey is also available to pre-order, while The Wild One is via application only. The single malts will sit alongside Arbikie’s award-winning range of rye whisky, gin and vodka.
Ardbeg
The Islay distillery of Ardbeg have announced details of their annual Ardbeg Committee bottling. This year will see their legendary 10 Years Old expression, which forms the cornerstone of their core range, be released in a cask strength version. This will be the first time there has been such a bottling for a wider audience, apart from a highly limited release in Japan in 2003.
Following calls from Committee members, the Ardbeg whisky making team has created a modern day version of this Japanese cult classic. The project was led by Dr. Bill Lumsden, the Director of Whisky Creation at Ardbeg. The release features hand-selected American oak ex-bourbon casks, including some experimental barrels filled with un-diluted high ABV spirit. It is the first release under the stewardship of new Committee co-chairs Gillian Macdonald and Bryony McNiven. They are Master Blender and Distillery Manager at Ardbeg respectively.
The Ardbeg Ten Cask Strength is bottled at 61.7% ABV and is both non-chill filtered and of natural colour. It will be available exclusively to members of the Ardbeg Committee via www.ardbeg.com from February 24. A small number of bottles will also be on sale at the visitor centre shop at the distillery on Islay from the same date. A bottle will cost £75.
