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…
Dewar’s
The popular blended Scotch whisky brand of Dewar’s has added another expression to its Double Double series – the Dewar’s Double Double 21 years old Mizunara. The whisky has seen a finishing period in Japanese mizunara oak barrels and will be exclusive to the travel retail sector. It has been created by Stephanie Macleod, the Master Blender for Dewar’s.
The Dewar’s Double Double 21 years old Mizunara joins three other whiskies in the range – the Dewar’s 21 years old Oloroso, 27 years old and 32 years old. It is bottled at 46% ABV and is both non-chill filtered and of natural colour. The whisky will be available in selected travel retail outlets worldwide with a bottle costing £119/ US$150.
“The journey of creating this expression has been an exploration of flavours and craftsmanship. We have introduced a distinctive twist by finishing in Japanese mizunara oak casks, and therefore creating a new and exciting whisky.”
Stephanie Macleod, Dewar’s Master Blender
Glasgow
The distillery that reintroduced distilling to Glasgow has launched a trio of new single malts into their popular limited edition Small Batch Series – the Glasgow 1770 Calvados Cask Finish, Manzanilla Sherry Cask and Tequila Cask Finish. The bottlings represent the first time that the brand has used ex-Calvados and ex-Manzanilla sherry casks.
The Glasgow 1770 Calvados Cask Finish (pictured, above right) is bottled at 58.7% ABV and features finishing in a cask from the Normandy region of France. There are just 270 bottles. The Manzanilla Cask (pictured, above centre) has seen full maturation in a single ex-Manzanilla sherry butt sourced from a bodega in Sanlúcar de Barrameda in southern Spain. This has yielded 813 bottles and is released at 59% ABV.
The Tequila Cask Finish (pictured, above left) sees the triple distilled single malt finished in an ex-Tequila barrel from Mexico. The whisky is released at 55.3% ABV and there are just 272 bottles. Each of the whiskies will retail for £59 and are available via the Glasgow Distillery website and in selected UK whisky retailers. Small amounts of the Manzanilla Cask is also available in Germany, Holland, Poland and South Korea.
Midleton
The super premium Irish whiskey brand of Midleton Very Rare has announced a special bottling to commemorate the 40th anniversary since the inaugural release. The Midleton Very Rare 40th Anniversary Ruby Edition covers four decades with spirit distilled by each of the brand’s three Master Distillers – Barry Crockett, Brian Nation and current incumbent Kevin O’Gorman – featuring in the final blend.
The limited release features just three casks, each a complex blend of single pot still and single grain whiskey, which have then been married together by O’Gorman. This was then finished for nine months in ex-Ruby Port casks. The whiskey has been bottled at the natural cask strength of 53.1% ABV and is presented in a bespoke Waterford crystal decanter. It will be available in selected world markets, plus travel retail. A bottle will cost €20,000/ £17,250/ US$21,600.
One extra special bottle of the Ruby Edition will also be released. The one-of-a-kind bottle has been designed by Keanes Jewellers in Cork. This features hand-engraved 18-carat solid gold on both the neck and stopper, plus 32 rubies encrusted within the neck collar. This bottle will be auctioned, ending on March 7 at 3pm GMT, with a starting guide price of US$60,000.
