Inbox - The Week's Whisky News (August 4, 2017)

Welcome to Inbox.  For those new to WFE, 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.  This is the news that has grabbed our attention this week.

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Douglas Laing
Independent bottler Douglas Laing & Co have announced a new variant of their Rock Oyster blended malt - the Rock Oyster Sherry Edition. The new whisky is the first expression of Rock Oyster, which features malts from a variety of Scottish island distilleries, to have an ex-sherry cask influence. The limited edition release is non chill-filtered, of natural colour and bottled at the strength of 46.8% ABV. It will be available from selected specialist whisky retailers worldwide. No indication of price was given in the press release.

Littlemill 
The Loch Lomond Group have announced the release of a very limited edition single malt from one of Scotland's oldest and extinct distilleries - Littlemill. The distillery opened in 1772 and was located on the River Clyde near Glasgow before finally closing in 1994. It was later destroyed by fire in 2004.

The Littlemill 2017 Private Cellar Edition has been created by Michael Henry, the Master Blender for The Loch Lomond Group, who selected eight remaining casks for the release. These were filled in May 1990 and have yielded just 500 bottles. These have been bottled in a specially commissioned decanter at the natural cask strength of 51.3% ABV. Each bottle will cost £2,250 and they will be available in selected specialist retailers in France, Germany, Taiwan, the UK and the travel retail sector.


Monkey Shoulder 

William Grant & Sons, owners of the popular Monkey Shoulder brand, have released details of a new expression of the blended malt - Monkey Shoulder 'Smokey Monkey'. The new whisky is gently peated and designed to be used in the on-trade by bartenders. It is initially being launched through bars in France and the UK.

Smokey Monkey was created by Brian Kinsman, the Master Blender for William Grant, and is said to include single malt that has been peated with Highland peat. It is bottled at 40% ABV for easy use in cocktails. No details of price per bottle have been released, as it will only be available through the bar trade.