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 …
Highland Park
The Orkney-based distillery of Highland Park has released its oldest single malt whisky to date – the Highland Park 56 Years Old. The new release surpasses the 54 Years Old expression which was released in 2023. This cask, along with nine others, have been nurtured by Gordon Motion, the Master Whisky Maker for Highland Park, since 2008 – then he identified them as being exceptional and transferred each for a lengthy secondary maturation in first-fill ex-sherry casks.
The whisky used for this bottling was distilled in 1968. The hand-blown decanter and packaging are inspired by Orkney’s Standing Stones of Stenness and have been created by master craftsman John Galvin and glass designer Michael Rudak. The Highland Park 56 Years Old is bottled at the natural cask strength of 47.1% ABV and there are just 170 decanters. These will be available through selected specialist whisky and luxury retailers in the UK and other selected world markets. Each decanter will cost £40,000/ US$49,450.
The Glenlivet
The famous Speyside distillery of The Glenlivet have announced the oldest permanent bottling for their domestic core range of single malts – The Glenlivet 40 Years Old. The new whisky has been created by Kevin Balmforth, the Cask Master for The Glenlivet. It spent the majority of its time maturing in ex-bourbon barrels before being transferred by Balmforth to ex-sherry casks – these were seasoned with a bespoke marriage of Oloroso and Pedro Ximénez sherries.
The Glenlivet 40 Years Old will sit atop the brand’s core range and is bottled at the natural strength of 46.9% ABV. It is presented in an elongated bottle, which is a hat tip to the brand’s heritage and housed in a copper finished container. It will be available via specialist whisky and luxury retailers globally with each bottle costing £4,600/ US$6,000.
