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.
Aberlour
The Speyside distillery of Aberlour has announced a new limited-edition collection for its cask strength A’bunadh bottling. The collection will continue the brand’s celebration of high quality sherry casks. It will also build on the tradition of the A’bunadh, which translates as ‘the original’ from Gaelic. Edition One has been created by Graeme Cruickshank, the Master Distiller at Aberlour. It features two ex-sherry cask types – Oloroso and Pedro Ximénez.
The Aberlour A’Bunadh Sherry Cask Collection Edition One will be available in selected world markets from mid-October. It is bottled at 56.2% ABV and is both non-chill filtered and of natural colour. The new collection will see bottlings added periodically and sit alongside the domestic core range A’bunadh release. A bottle will cost £95/ US$130.
The Aberlour A’Bunadh Sherry Cask Collection represents a significant milestone, not just building upon the beloved A’Bunadh tradition, but boldly pushing the frontiers of ex-sherry cask influence. This new release offers whisky enthusiasts a rare, unmissable opportunity to experience the profound depth and complexity that a 100% first-fill Sherry cask finish can truly deliver.
Graeme Cruickshank.
Gordon & Macphail
The independent bottler and distiller Gordon & Macphail has announced a new range of blended malts linked with The Cairn distillery in the Cairngorm National Park in Scotland’s Highlands. The range is named CRN57°, inspired by the distillery’s location being 57 degrees north of the Equator. The range is designed to invite adventurous whisky drinkers to ‘taste the future today’ and offer a glimpse at what The Cairn may produce once their spirit comes of age.
The CRN57° range features the no age statement Vision plus age statements at 12-, 18-, 25-, 30-, 40, 57- and 70 Years Old. This final bottling is the oldest ever Scotch blended malt to appear on the market. The whiskies have been created from Gordon & Macphail’s extensive maturing stocks from all four corners of Scotland. Each whisky is bottled at 43% ABV with the exception of the CRN57° 57 Years Old (43.1% ABV) and the CRN57° 70 Years Old (45% ABV).
Prices for the CRN57° range are – Vision £40, 12 Years Old £40, 18 Years Old £80, 25 Years Old £150, 30 Years Old £300, 57 Years Old £5,000 and 70 Years Old £7,000. They are available from The Cairn distillery website now.
The Scotch Malt Whisky Society (SMWS)
The Scotch Malt Whisky Society (SMWS) has revised the flavour profiles in its core range from 12 to eight. The pioneering bottle first introduced the concpet of selecting a whisky by its flavour in 2012 and has now sought to revise the categories. This reflects a shift away from previous age-led categories like ‘Old & Dignified’ and ‘Young & Spritely’ towards an even more flavour-first focus. Each new category is colour coded.
The eight new categories are Fragrant & Floral, Sweet & Zesty, Ripe Fruits & Honey, Dried Fruits & Spices, Toasted Oak & Vanilla, Coastal & Maritime, Smoky & Fruity and Bold & Peaty. SMWS members can sample the new flavour profiles at Members’ Rooms across the UK in Edinburgh, Glasgow and London. Non-members can sample the whiskies at Kaleidoscope Bar at Queens Street in Edinburgh, which is open to the public year-round.
