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 …
Aberlour
The popular Speyside single malt brand of Aberlour has launched a trio of new whiskies into their travel retail range. They include the no age stated Aberlour Suthainn, plus the 13 Years Old Double Cask Matured and 16 Years Old Double Charred Selection. They have been created by Sandy Hyslop, the Master Blender for Aberlour, and designed to showcase the craftmanship of those that work at the distillery.
Aberlour Suthainn is bottled at 48% ABV and has been matured through a sherry cask solera process using European oak ex-sherry casks. It will cost £85 a bottle and is also non-chill filtered. The Aberlour 13 Years Old Double Cask Matured is bottled at 40% ABV and has been matured in American oak ex-bourbon and ex-Oloroso sherry casks. It will cost £68. The Aberlour 16 Years Old Double Charred Selection has seen a finishing period in extra charred American oak ex-bourbon barrels. A bottle will cost £121.
The trio also features a refreshed design and lighter bottle and packaging. This is to reconfirm brand pointers for customers and reduce weight. The three bottlings are available now in UK airports, plus Delhi airport in India. A worldwide activation will be seen from April this year onwards.
Jack Daniel’s
The Tennessee whiskey brand of Jack Daniel’s has announced the release of a new high age statement – the Jack Daniel’s 14 Years Old. This joins the brand’s Aged Series, which also includes the Jack Daniel’s 12 Years Old Batch 3 and 10 Years Old Batch 4. It is the oldest age statement of Jack Daniel’s to be released for almost a century. The whiskey has been produced using a mash bill of 80% corn, 12% malted barley and 8% rye. Batch 1 is released at 126.3 Proof/ 63.15% ABV and is available through specialist retailers in the USA. A bottle will cost US$150.
We have set out to honour the legacy of Jack Daniel himself and replicate the lineup of age-stated whiskeys available during his time. Our new 14-Year-Old Tennessee Whiskey is the oldest age-statement for Jack Daniel’s in the last 100 years or more. This whiskey really showcases how a little extra time in our barrels is capable of producing something so special.
Chris Fletcher | Master Distiller at Jack Daniel’s.
Kilchoman
The family-owned farm distillery of Kilchoman has announced a new limited edition age statement single malt – the Kilchoman 13 Years Old. The new whisky is the second oldest ever released by the brand, following last year’s 16 Years Old bottling. This expression has been matured in a combination of ex-bourbon barrels, octaves and ex-Calvados apple brandy casks.
The Kilchoman 13 Years Old is bottled at 50% ABV and is both non-chill filtered and of natural colour. It is available now in specialist retailers in the UK and Europe, and will get a wider world roll-out in the coming months. A bottle will cost £85.
Two Stacks
The innovative independent bottlers at Two Stacks have announced a trio of whiskeys that aim to shake up the Irish category. The Two Stacks Fruit Drops have seen a blended Irish whiskey matured in three different ex-fruit brandy casks sourced from a distillery in California. The three bottlings are the Two Stacks Apple Fruit Brandy Cask, Apricot Fruit Brandy Cask and Blackberry Fruit Brandy Cask.
Each expression is a five-part blend of grain, malt and pot still whiskeys, distilled at the Great Northern Distillery in County Louth. The trio have been matured and bottled at the Two Stacks site in County Down. The blend is composed of: 8% pot still whiskey aged in ex-Oloroso sherry butts, 40% single grain aged in virgin oak casks, 40% single grain aged in ex-bourbon casks, 10% double malt aged in ex-bourbon casks and 2% peated malt aged in ex-bourbon casks.
All three whiskeys are bottled at 50% ABV and are available in both 10cl cans and 70cl bottles. The prices are £6.50 and £45 respectively. The Two Stacks Fruit Drops range is available from the Two Stacks website from today. It will also be available in selected specialist whisky retailers in Ireland and the UK in the coming month or so.
