Friday, May 24, 2013

Inbox - May 24, 2013

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.  Here is the news that has attracted our attention this week ...

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AnCnoc - Three is the magic number
The Highland distillery of Knockdhu have announced the third expression in its acclaimed series of single malts launched in collaboration with Scottish illustrator Peter Arkle - the AnCnoc Peter Arkle 'Bricks'. This follows on from the first two in the series entitled 'Ingredients' and 'Casks'.  The series sees Arkle design limited edition packaging for new expressions of AnCnoc.  This third edition shows the bricks of the dunnage warehouse walls at the distillery.

The whisky has been matured in a mixture of ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks and is bottled at 46% ABV.  There are just 6,000 bottles of AnCnoc Peter Arkle Limited Edition No.3 'Bricks' available, which will retail at the recommended price of £50.  It will be available shortly in selected markets including Canada, Germany, Japan, Russia, Taiwan, the UK and the USA.

In additon, to mark this collaboration the #youranCnoc competition will take place on June 17 - fans will be asked to tweet a photo of their 'perfect anCnoc moment' on that day. Ten entries will be selected by Peter Arkle - these will then be hand-drawn, transferred onto individual bottles of anCnoc and sent to the winners. Additionally, one lucky winner will be taken to New York to meet Peter. For more information, follow @ancnoc_whisky on Twitter.


Ardbeg - Ardbog Day is coming
The annual release of the Ardbeg Committee bottling always creates a frenzy amongst whisky folk and this year is no different.  The 2013 offering is named Ardbog in celebration of the peat bogs which supply the fuel that gives Ardbeg its distinctive smoky flavour.  We reported a couple of week's ago about the release - click here to read.  This week we bring you news of events which are happening around the globe to celebrate Ardbog Day, which is on Saturday June 1.

Plenty is scheduled to happen at the distillery on Islay, but the other main event in the UK is in London.  This will see Ardbeg fans set of on a march through the City of London, along with a tractor and a flock of sheep.  Anyone can join and the meeting point is Monument Underground station at 10am.  The march will end at Potter's Fields in the shadow of Tower Bridge, where a day of festivities will take place from 11am.  This includes whisky, live music, peat cutting and the ancient art of welly-wanging.

For details of an Ardbog Day event or an Ardbeg Embassy near you, please go to www.ardbeg.com.  Until then here is an excellent little teaser video to whet your appetite ...




Diageo - Islay Festival bottlings 
The Islay Festival of Malts & Music kicks off today and runs until next Saturday June 1.  The festival sees whisky fans from across the globe descend on the Scottish island.  Each of the eight distilleries located there, plus Jura just across the water, have their own open day and each normally release a special bottling to celebrate.  These are snapped up quickly and only available to festival goers.  This year is no different and Diageo, who own two distilleries on Islay, have announced the details of their bottlings.


The Caol Ila bottling was distilled in 1998 and has been matured in three types of cask - re-fill casks of different sizes (butts, hogsheads and barrels) for 12 years, then in active hogshead casks and finally in European oak.  It has been bottled at 56.5% ABV. There are just 3,000 bottles which will be available from 10am on Caol Ila's open day on Monday May 27.  It will cost £99 a bottle with a limit of two per person.

The Lagavulin bottling was distilled in 1995 and is bottled at 18 years of age.  It has been fully matured in ex-European oak sherry butts, which were selected by warehouseman Iain MacArthur.  The bottling strength is 51% ABV. There are also just 3,000 bottles - these will be available from 10am tomorrow (Saturday May 25), which is the Lagavulin open day, and will again cost £99 each with a limit of two per customer.


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