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 …
Benriach
The Speyside distillery of Benriach has announced the fourth and final bottling in its Malting Season series. The barley used in each release in the series has undergone the malting process via Benriach’s renovated traditional floor maltings. Each whisky has been created by Dr. Rachel Barrie, the Master Blender for Benriach. This final edition is released at 10 Years Old, the first age statement in the collection, and has been matured in a combination of first-fill ex-bourbon and ex-Oloroso sherry casks.
The Benriach Malting Season Fourth Edition 10 Years Old is bottled at 47.9% ABV and is both non-chill filtered and of natural colour. It will be on sale initially at the Spirit of Speyside festival, which is ongoing this weekend. The whisky will then see a limited release in selected global markets following this. Each bottle will cost £110.
Cutty Sark
The popular blended Scotch whisky brand of Cutty Sark has intorduced its first ready-to-drink product to the market. The new Cutty Sark &
Ginger Ale Highball offers the perfect pairing of the brand’s original signature blended Scotch with the refreshing zing of ginger ale. The product is designed to be consumed chilled and will initially be launched in the USA. Further countries, including Cutty Sark hotspots such as Bulgaria and Portugal, will see the RTD introduced during 2025. The launch is supported by sampling at whisky shows, truck wraps and refreshed in-store visibility. A pack of four cans will cost US$10.
Filey Bay
Spirit of Yorkshire have concluded a busy month with the release of Filey Bay Nurture, which will be exclusive to the Waitrose supermarket chain. The announcement makes the Yorkshire distillery just the second English single malt to be listed in a major UK supermarket. The whisky is the first in The Regenerative Series, which will explore the role of the regenerative farming technique in whisky making.
Filey Bay Nurture is a marriage of ex-bourbon and ex-red wine casks that celebrates the distillery’s farming heritage and regenerative farming practices. It features 100% homegrown barley from the owner’s farm and farm-sourced water. The new whisky will be an ongoing product and is bottled at 46.5% ABV. It will be available from selected Waitrose stores throughout the UK, Jersey and Guernsey and online at www.waitrose.com. A bottle will cost £60.
Glenallachie
The independently-owned Speyside distillery of Glenallachie has announced a new series of single malts, and the first whisky launched into it. The limited-edition Sinteis (pronounced sin-teesh) series is named after the Scots Gaelic word for synthesis and has the tagline – Two distinct casks. One harmonious synthesis. The inaugural bottling is the Glenallachie Sinteis Part 1.
This has seen two casks, both distilled and filled in 2014, combined by Billy Walker – the Master Distiller for Glenallachie. They are virgin Chinquapin oak, a native American oak found in the state of Missouri, and ex-Pedro Ximenez sherry. Both are puncheons. This initial bottling in The Sinteis Series is released at the natural cask strength of 57.8% ABV and is both non-chill filtered and of natural colour. It will be available at the distillery visitor centre and specialist retailers globally. Each bottle will cost £75.
Glen Moray
The popular Speyside distillery of Glen Moray has revealed two new bottlings which will be exclusive for visitors to the annual Spirit of Speyside festival. This runs from April 30 to May 5 this year. The pair of limited-edition releases feature a finishing period in ex-maple syrup casks from Canada. Initial maturation was in American oak ex-bourbon casks. One uses Glen Moray’s classic spirit and the other uses their rarer peated spirit.
The Glen Moray Unpeated Maple Cask is bottled at the natural cask strength of 59% ABV, while the Glen Moray Peated Maple Cask is released at 59.1% ABV. Both are non-chill filtered and of natural colour. There are just over 200 bottles of each available and these will be exclusive to the distillery visitor centre shop during the Spirit of Speyside festival, until sold out. Both will cost £90.
Littlemill
Some of the final liquid maturing from the former Lowland distillery of Littlemill, which closed in 1994, is being released. The custodians of the last remaining stocks are the Loch Lomond Group. The Littlemill Echoes of the Past: Release Number One is a 34 Years Old single malt and will form part of a four bottle series. The series will see 50 bottles drawn each year for four consecutive years from a single ex-Oloroso sherry cask. This has been selected by Michael Henry, the company’s Master Blender.
The cask selected was distilled in 1990, during Littlemill’s final production years, and laid down in a re-fill American oak hogshead for 25 years. It was later transferred to the single Oloroso sherry barrel in 2015. The whisky is housed in an individually numbered Glencairn decanter with a wooden cabinet. This contains a 50ml miniature and a certificate of ownership. The whisky is bottled at the natural cask strength of 48.5% ABV. Each decanter will cost £3,900.
