Friday, September 12, 2014

Inbox - The Week's Whisky News (September 12, 2014)

Welcome to this week's Inbox.  For those that have recently discovered us, Inbox is our weekly round up of whisky news and PR material that has found its way in to our email inbox. It was created as we cannot write full articles or do justice to every piece received. It features items from around the world of whisky and is published by us each Friday.

Within Inbox we aim to write a few lines detailing each press release/piece of news/PR event that we have received and provide links, where possible, for you to find out further information.  It's been a bit of a quiet one this week, but here is the news that has caught our attention from this week ...

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Balvenie - It's 50/50
The popular Speyside single malt distillery of Balvenie has revealed details of its new 50 years old expression - and there is not one, but two.  Both were filled to the same type of cask (European oak hogsheads) on the same day (May 28, 1963) and they were hand selected by David Stewart, The Balvenie Malt Master.  Cask #4567 and Cask #4570 have been maturing at the distillery ever since.

Both casks have been maturing side by side since 1963 and show the marked differences that can occur over time.  Both have been bottled at their natural cask strength - Cask #4567 has yielded 131 bottles and has a strength of 45.4% ABV.  Cask #4570 has just 128 bottles and is at 45.9% ABV.  They are priced £26,500 a bottle.  The bottles are made of hand blown glass and the bespoke presentation box has been hand made by Scottish craftsman Sam Chinnery.  As with the whiskies, one box is lighter than the other.


Douglas Laing - Beastie Boys 
The independent bottling company of Douglas Laing & Co have announced the latest addition to their blended malt range.  The Timorous Beastie, named after a timid field mouse in the Robert Burns poet 'To A Mouse', is the third such release and is made from a selection of Highland single malts including Dalmore, Glengoyne and Glen Garioch.  It joins Big Peat, made from Islay malts, and the Scallywag, made from Speyside malts.  It is bottled at 46.8% ABV and will be available shortly in specialist whisky retailers.


Glenlivet - Another Nadurra
Glenlivet, the top selling Speyside single malt, has announced the second expression in its expanding Nadurra range.  The Nadurra First Fill Selection has no age stated and has been matured in first-fill American white oak casks.  This follows on from the recently released Nadurra Oloroso, which was matured in ex-Sherry butts.  The new expression is bottled at 48% ABV, will cost £50/$80 USD and will be rolled out globally shortly.  A travel retail version at 63.1% ABV will also be available in time.


Tomatin - Cù Bòcan expands
The Highland distillery of Tomatin has revealed forthcoming additions to its peaty Cù Bòcan brand. The Sherry Edition is the first of three planned releases to showcase the different type of casks that are used to to make the standard expression of Cù Bòcan.  This will be followed in time by expressions solely matured in virgin oak and ex-bourbon casks.  The Sherry Edition has been fully matured in first-fill ex-Sherry butts and there will be 6,000 bottles.  The price is £50 and are available from specialist retailers.


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