Welcome to Inbox, our weekly round up of whisky news and PR material that has found its way in to 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…
Bimber
The London-based distillery of Bimber have released their first ever age statement whiskies with a pair of eight year old single malts – the Bimber Harmony of Eight and Bimber 8 Year Old Single Cask Edition. The Harmony of Eight is made using single-farm barley that has been floor-malted at Warminster Maltings and distilled in Bimber’s directly-fired copper pot stills. The spirit has then been matured in a combination of ex-bourbon and ex-Pedro Ximénez sherry casks. It is bottled at 50% ABV and limited to 1,090 bottles.
The 8 Year Old Single Cask Edition has been matured in a single American oak ex-bourbon barrel for the full eight years. This has yielded just 268 bottles and is released at the natural cask strength of 56.8% ABV. This bottling is exclusive to distillery club members and will cost £160. The Harmony of Eight is available via the Bimber website and will cost £130.
Glengoyne
The Highland distillery of Glengoyne has announced the second bottling in its Russell Family Cask trilogy. The Glengoyne 38 years old Russell Family Cask Edition II celebrates the legacy of three generations of the Russell family as custodians of the distillery. The new whisky has been matured in a single first-fill American Sherry oak butt (cask #915) for almost four decades. This cask has yielded just 241 bottles and these are released at the natural cask strength of 56.8% ABV.
This follows the inaugural release in the trilogy from 2021, which was a 36-year-old single malt from a single ex-sherry butt (cask # 1549). This was released at 50.7% ABV and there were just 402 bottles. The 38 years old Edition II will be available in selected specialist whisky and luxury retailers worldwide and will cost £4,000/ US$5,075 per bottle.
Johnnie Walker
The world’s best selling Scotch whisky brand of Johnnie Walker has announced a new and rare limited edition – the Johnnie Walker 52 years old. The whisky is the oldest to date to be created by Emma Walker, the current Master Blender for the brand, and her team. It is designed to be a celebration of some of owner Diageo’s oldest remaining stocks and the art of blending.
The whisky is a blend of eight rare whiskies – six Highland single malts (this includes the closed distilleries of Brora, Glen Albyn, Glenlochie and Glenury Royal plus Blair Athol and Dalwhinnie) and two single grains (Cambus and Carsebridge). There are just 200 bottles available, which are released in a bespoke decanter style bottle at the natural cask strength of 41.2% ABV. Each decanter will cost £23,500 and will be available via premium Diageo customer channels.
