Highland Park Spirit of The Bear

Highland Park's Spirit of the Bear is the new entry-level whisky for Global Travel Retail - duty free - shops. The Orkney single malt matured in sherry-seasoned American oak casks and was bottled at 40% ABV. The packaging states Smoky & Bold. Talk about speaking clearly to your customers.

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Catching Up on Friday (14 September 2018)

I'll try to get you up to speed in less then two minutes on the latest whisky news, rumours and interesting blog posts from the past week.

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And the tenth Special Release is... Cladach

Nine out of ten Special Releases were already known. We knew Brora and Port Ellen would not be present this year. But what about that mysterious number 10? A closed distilleries malt? An exclusive NAS? A malt from Roseisle? Or a special anniversary whisky from Johnnie Walker?

Drumroll plelase! Number ten is ... Cladach, a blended malt from Diageo's coastal distilleries. The blend is the final masterpiece from Keith Law, the man behind Collectivum XXVIII. Cladach is gaelic for coastline and has been composed with whiskies from Inchgower, Clynelish, Talisker, Oban, Caol Ila en Lagavulin.

Identity Card Cladach 01

• Official bottling in the 2018 Special Releases
• NAS blended malt
• Outturn: unknown
• Alcohol: 57.1% ABV
• Price unknown

Image & Source: The Whisky Echange.

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Gouden Carolus Indulgence 2015

Belgian brewery Het Anker has a sister-distillery - De Molenberg - a stone's throw away. The brewery delivers the wash for the Gouden Carolus single malt. From there it's only a small step to come up with a whisky infused beer. Gouden Carolus meets... Gouden Carolus Indulgence.

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Catching up on Friday (7 September 2018)

I'll try to get you up to speed in less then two minutes on the latest whisky news, rumours and interesting blog posts from the past week.

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Whisky Quote of The Week

There is no bad whiskey. There are only some whiskeys that aren’t as good as others.
—  Raymond Chandler

Image: Wikipedia

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Catching up on Friday (31 August 2018)

I'll try to get you up to speed in less then two minutes on the latest whisky news, rumours and interesting blog posts from the past week.

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50 years of Connoisseurs Choice

One of Scotland's most renowned independent bottlers Gordon and Macphail celebrates the 50th birthday of the Connoisseurs Choice brand in 2018. Back in the 60's, the majority of (single) malt whisky disappeared into blends. The market for single malt whiskies was virtually non-existent. Some of Scotland's most iconic single malt brands proudly stating to be centenarians or even bicentenarians are indebted to independent bottlers for establishing their name as a single malt.

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Old news: Ardbeg Drum

Earlier this week Ardbeg had its new Ardbeg Day label published in a well-known American registry. Those labels hardly remain a secret for a few hours and are leaked by whisky bloggers and journalists world wide. However 'leaked'is not the correct word anymore. I truly believe Ardbeg sees it as the very first opportunity to raise awareness of the upcoming product and ignite the hype. And we gladly participate in it...

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Highland Park Wings of The Eagle 16YO

The Orkney-based distillery Highland Park sent its Viking Warriors Svein, Einar, Harald, Sigurd, Ragnvald and Thorfinn to Wallhalla. They went hunting in the woods for replacements and came back with three mystical beasts from the viking lore: a bear, a wolf and an eagle.

Wings of the Eagle is a 16-year-old single malt matured in a combination of American and European oak sherry-seasoned casks. It's the top of the line from Highland Park's new global travel retail threesome.

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