New Products

A new release from Bushmills to mark the 400th anniversary of the original license to distil spirits in Antrim. Now, most of you will know that the connection between the granting of the 1608 license and the actual Bushmills distillery (founded over 175 years later in 1784) is, to say the least, pretty tenuous; but if this marketing whim results in a party to celebrate 400 years of Irish distillation and the release of some nice new whiskey from Bushmills, then where's the harm? We haven't tried this new 1608 yet, but the reviews have been almost universally good, with many people saying that it resembles a deluxe version of Black Bush due to the generous proportion of sherry casks used in the blend. The whiskey itself is made with a special type of malt called crystal malt designed to deliver an exceptional smoothness to the final product, and the malt content is said to be very high, with only around 10% grain whiskey used in the final assemblage. This release is 'limited' to 10 000 cases globally (with about half of that allocation going to the States), but will apparently only be widely available this year, after which it will mostly be sold through travel retail and at the distillery itself. You can read more about Bushmills 1608 in this excellent article by Ian Buxton for Kevin Erskine's equally excellent Scotchblog . In other news, we are all looking forward to the release of a new book about many people's favourite Islay distillery, Ardbeg. Entitled " Ardbeg - A Peaty Provenance ", the book is apparently a weighty tome and is due to arrive on discerning coffee tables sometime around the end of May, priced at £30.

This just crossed our desk, so we thought we should put it up... The World’s Most Expensive Cocktail The cocktail named “27321”, was first sold on Wednesday the 16th of April 2008 at the Burg Al Arab Hotel in Dubai. The cocktail was created by Felix Hartmann, the Bar Manager at the Skyview Bar, on the 27th floor at the prestigious 7 star hotel. The name of the cocktail represents that the Skyview Bar is on the 27th floor, each floor being double levelled and that the height of the hotel is 321 metres. The price of the drink is also in its name, with a price tag of 27,321 Dirahms, which equates to around £3650. The cocktail which is based on an “Old Fashioned” uses the Macallan 55 Years Old Lalique, of which only 420 bottles were produced, using two casks from 1945 and 1949. The cocktail, designed by Felix Hartmann, comprised of 60ml of the Macallan 55 Years Old, two bar spoons of a specially made bitters, one large sugar cube with a passion fruit infusion, The Macallan Bore hole water ice cubes and a stirrer made of an oak cask which had matured The Macallan and hand crafted to represent the Burg Al Arab Hotel. The cocktail was served in an 18 carat gold coated glass with the Burg Al Arab hotel logo, which the purchasers took away along with a certificate to authenticate their purchase. Martin Murdoch, Area Director Western Europe & Middle East for The Macallan, has worked closely with MMI the local distributor and the Bar Manager Felix Hartmann, to put together this exceptional cocktail. The cocktail was introduced to the menu on the eve of the first purchase, which was by two American businessmen on holiday, who bought one each. Only ten of these cocktails will be made available and now that the first purchase has been witnessed, the Burg Al Arab hotel will be placing their application with the Guiness Book of World Records. So. Expect the usual frothing about obscene displays of wealth, and a frenzy of garment-rending and general gnashing of teeth over the vulga

WORLD-FAMOUS SINGLE MALT SCOTCH WHISKY ADDS TONE TO NEW GUITARS An oak cask from Lagavulin distillery on Islay has been given a second life in the form of three hand-crafted guitars. They were unveiled at last month's Frankfurt Music Fair (12-15 March, Frankfurt am Main, Germany). The special edition guitars have been built by a long-established Italian bass and guitar maker and whisky lover, Andrea Ballarin, whose firm Manne Guitars was founded in 1987 in Schio, in north-eastern Italy. The cask was donated by the distillery, and arrived in the Manne workshop earlier this year still drenched with the complex peat-smoke aromas that are the hallmark of this single malt. The flat round ends of the cask were carefully dried, treated and sanded and became the backs of the guitar bodies, preserving much of the distinctive distillery identification markings. The curved staves, which originally formed the sides of the cask, were flattened and glued together to form the tops and bodies of the guitars. Andrea was careful to preserve some of the distinctive charring marks from the inside surface of the staves: all whisky barrels are toasted and charred on the inside before being filled with whisky. Three instruments have been built from the one whisky cask: two Guitars and one Bass. The two Guitars incorporate the cask heads, while the Bass is made entirely from the oak staves. The guitars have been finished with an oxidised patina and typical rust marks from the hoops of the barrel, and the wood was finally treated with a preparation containing some Lagavulin Distillers Edition from 2007, which won the ultimate Whisky Trophy at last year's International Wine and Spirit Competition. This ensures that the guitars will always preserve some of their native Lagavulin fragrance. The idea that Andrea should create a whisky guitar came from his distributor in Germany, Alex Mühlbauer, a fellow malt whisky lover following Andrea's visit to Islay in 2007. They got in touch with Johannes Van Den He

SWA ANNOUNCES NEW CLASSIFICATION TERM In a brazen attempt to appeal to the 'yoof' market, and following concerted attempts from all interested parties within the industry to clarify the labelling and marketing of different kinds of whisky, the SWA have today announced a new term for the classification of Blended Malt Scotch Whisky. "Clarity and efficiency are our watchwords, and we are known throughout the industry for our swift and relevant responses to issues affecting our members", said the SWA's spokesman Hugh Hee. "With this in mind, it has been decided to scrap the 'Blended Malt' classification as it is clearly obvious that it has only increased the confusion surrounding this category of Scotch malt whisky" continued Mr Hee. "We've never been known for navel-gazing or failing to act, and we don't intend to start now. In order to kill two birds with one stone and clarify the category while attracting younger drinkers to whisky, it has been decided that from today, 1st April, Scotch malt whiskies containing malt whisky from more than one distillery will be known simply as 'Brown Bull'."