Coming Soon
We told you earlier about the soon-to-be-with-us Ardbeg Renaissance. Now we're going to give you a sneak preview of some more exciting new releases that should be arriving into our warehouses and hitting the site in the next couple of months.
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Highland Park 40yo: A new permanent addition to the HP range, which not only bears testament to the top quality of the new-make spirit and the confidence of Edrington in the brand, but is also an astonishing feat of cask management. A permanent 40yo?! Granted it's likely to be expensive so volumes will be understandably low compared to the rest of the range, but it's still pretty impressive that they have enough stock in reserve to make this an ongoing bottling - by way of contrast, the Talisker 1973 that was released in 2001 was claimed to be the oldest at the distillery at just 28 years old. |
Greenore 15yo: The repackaged 8yo Greenore has been a huge success, with a Gold medal at the International Wine Challenge in 2007 and a Double Gold (whatever that means) at the San Francisco World Spirits Challenge 2008 - although the latter give out so many medals there's a rumour that a bottle of meths left behind by the janitor picked up Best In Class in the 'Unaged Purple Spirit' category.
Anyway, Cooley have decided to release this much older expression, which has been aged in first-fill Kentucky bourbon casks. We are told to expect a richer, more robust character with this release, which is limited to 5000 bottles and is the oldest single Irish grain whiskey ever released. |
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(picture nicked from Ho-Cheng's blog)
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Glenmorangie Astar: The second generation of the now-discontinued Artisan Cask. Sadly the marketing department were unable to refrain from giving it a silly name - 'Astar' apparently means 'Journey' (sigh). Like the previous incarnation, the whisky is matured in 'designer' casks made with American Ozark oak. The wood is air-dried naturally for around two years and the casks are heavily toasted but lightly charred, according to Malt Maniac Ho-Cheng, who was lucky enough to be taken on a special press jolly by Glenmorangie to see the oaks in their natural habitat.
Ho-Cheng reported to Whiskyfun that the new release has been aged around nine or ten years and will be in a standard size bottle (as compared to Artisan's 50cl) at 57.1% (Artisan is 46%). Not surprisingly, Astar is said to be more robust and richer than the Artisan Cask. If it's of similar quality, we'll be more than happy. |
