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 …
Bushmills
The Northern Irish distillery of Bushmills has launched the final bottling into its travel retail exclusive World Wood Series. The series is a set of limited-edition small batch Irish single malt whiskeys that showcase some of the world’s rarest wood types for maturation. The Bushmills 18 Years Old joins other bottlings at 12-, 15- and 21 years of age in the range. The series has been created by Alex Thomas, the Master Blender for Bushmills.
The new whiskey has seen much of its maturation in a combination of ex-bourbon barrels and ex-Oloroso sherry butts. The final year has seen finishing in rare ex-Colheita Port casks sourced from an award-winning bodega in Portugal’s Douro Valley. The whiskey was filled to these less than one week after the Port was disgorged. Colheita is a single vintage Port that only uses grapes from a single year’s harvest before ageing for at least seven years. The casks used for this whiskey had been ageing the Port for over 15 years.
The Bushmills 18 Years Old is bottled at 46% ABV and is non-chill filtered. It will be exclusive to travel retail stores in the Asia Pacific region from the end of May. A bottle will cost US$140.
Cotswolds
The English distillery of Cotswolds has announced the sixth bottling in its popular limited edition Hearts & Crafts series. The Cotswolds Hearts & Crafts Calvados Cask Edition has seen full maturation in ex-Calvados apple brandy casks from northern France. The series celebrates the Arts & Crafts movement, which flourished in the Cotswolds during the late-19th century. William Morris, one of the most famous exponents of the movement, lived in the Cotswolds for much of his career and his designs have inspired the packaging.
The Cotswolds Hearts & Crafts Calvados Cask Edition is limited to just 1,500 bottles and is released at 55% ABV. These will be exclusively available at the Cotswold distillery shop and their two other stores in Broadway and Bourton-on-the-Water. A bottle will cost £100.
Douglas Laing
The family-owned independent bottler Douglas Laing & Co. have announced two new single malts in their Old Particular Wine Cask Collection. The two bottlings are a Jura 13 Years Old and a Fettercairn 14 Years Old. Both are uniquely finished in hand-selected wine casks to enhance their distinct character. Both are single casks and presented in Douglas Laing’s premium black glass bottle.
The Old Particular Jura 13 Years Old has been finished in an ex-Ruby Port cask and there are just 264 bottles available. The Old Particular Fettercairn 14 Years Old has been part-matured in an ex-red Pineau des Charentes wine cask sourced from France. There are just 222 bottles. Both are released at 48% ABV and are non-chill filtered and of natural colour. The Jura will cost £75 and the Fettercairn will cost £85.
Glen Scotia
The Campbeltown distillery of Glen Scotia has announced a new series of old and rare single malts, and the inaugural release into the series. The Glen Scotia Elements of Campbeltown Collection kicks off with a 50 Years Old single malt. This is the distillery’s oldest ever release. The collection takes inspiration from the Celtic five-fold knot. This sees the four elements of air, water, fire and earth bind together to create the fifth circle in the centre, which signifies the spirit.
Release Number One: Air is designed to capture Campbeltown’s maritime climate and the subtle nuances it weaves into the whisky over time. The whisky was distilled in 1973 and bottled at a natural cask strength of 42.3% ABV in 2024. It has been fully matured in first-fill American oak ex-bourbon hogshead casks. The whisky has been selected by Michael Henry, the Master Blender for Glen Scotia.
The whisky is presented in a Glencairn crystal decanter within a bespoke display case made from ash and birch wood. This features artwork by UK artist Gina Parr. The Glen Scotia Elements of Campbeltown Release Number One: Air 50 Years Old is limited to just 100 decanters. It can be purchased from www.glenscotia.com and selected specialist and luxury retailers worldwide. Each decanter will cost £35,000.
Kilchoman
The family-owned Islay distillery of Kilchoman celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2025. To commemorate this founder Anthony Wills has selected 20 casks to form the Kilchoman Anniversary Cask Series. Four bottlings have resulted, with each consisting of a marriage of five similar casks. Two of the bottlings have undergone maturation in ex-bourbon and the other two in ex-sherry casks.
The two ex-bourbon cask matured whiskies are released as a 14 Years Old (bottled at 51.2% ABV) and 18 Years Old (46% ABV). There are just 1,120 and 1, 209 bottles respectively. The ex-sherry cask matured single malts are released at 14 Years Old (55% ABV) and 15 Years Old (52.7% ABV). They have 3,145 and 3,153 bottles respectively. The Kilchoman 20th Anniversary Cask Series will be available in the UK and Europe from this week, priced between £120 and £190.
