Inbox | The Week’s Whisky News | August 29, 2025

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 …

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Jura

The Hebridean island distillery of Jura has announced a major revamp of its core range. This will see the core 10 Years old expression replaced by the Jura 12 Years Old. The whisky will be the new entry point into the domestic range and is part of its mission to make whisky drinking more accessible and enjoyable to a wider audience. The launch also sees refreshed packaging that festures a larger age statement, enhanced bottle silhouette and a scale rating system for the three key flavours. The new Jura 12 Years Old will launch in the UK in October, before expanding worldwide.

The Jura 12 Years Old is joined by a new series of four whiskies for the travel retail sector. The is named The Islander’s Series and features the White Oak Cask, 13 Years Old, 16 Years Old and 19 Years Old expressions. The new GTR range is inspired by the values of Jura’s islanders and features the same design principles as the core domestic range. They are also releasing worldwide in October.

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Laphroaig

The iconic Islay distillery has announced the second bottling in The Wall Collection by Laphroaig. The new whisky is named Laphroaig The Wall Collection: Rope and is bottled at 39 years of age. It has been predominantly aged in ex-Oloroso sherry hogshead casks before a finishing period in ex-Pedro Ximénez sherry butts.

The Wall Collection: Rope features packaging designs by acclaimed London-based illustrator and ceramicist Laura Carlin. She used the same paint used on Laphroaig’s famous distillery wall to create the artwork, which is a nod to the distillery’s maritime location and heritage. The whisky is released at 42.4% ABV and there are just 200 bottles available worldwide. Each will cost £4,750/ US$6,395.

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Lochlea

The awrd-winning Lowland farm-to-cask distillery of Lochlea has announced its first ever core range of single malts – the Lochlea Single Estate Range. The range will feature three new whiskies which will sit alongside Lochlea’s flagship Our Barley expression. The news follows a series of acclaimed small batch seasonal releases. The new whiskies have been created by Jill Boyd, the Master Blender at Lochlea. All are distilled from 100% barley grown on Lochlea Farm.

Each of the whiskies represents a distinct side of the Lochlea house style. Together they form a cohesive collection which define the distillery. The three new expressions are named Orchard & Oak, Dark Briar and Smoke Without Fire. All are released at 46% ABV and are both non-chill filtered and of natural colour. they will be avialable from early September in the UK, followed by 30+ world markets. Each will cost £50 a bottle.

Lochlea Orchard & Oak has matured in a combination of first-fill ex-bourbon, virgin American Oak, and ex-Calvados casks from France. Dark Briar has been matured in a combination of ex-Pedro Ximénez and ex-Oloroso sherry butts, plus ex-Port casks. Smoke Without Fire is delicately smoky and has seen maturation in a combination of ex-peated re-fill ex-bourbon barrels and ex-red wine casks.