This week has seen another big set of announcements for scotch whiskies.
We shared a press release last week about a new brand and blend being brought to the market via a Leith-based collaboration. Kinloch Anderson kiltmakers have collaborated with local whisky blenders Woven and the Leith Export Co (the team behind the Port of Leith Distillery) to create… The Kiltmaker. Their first expression is called “Pleated To Sett” and we’ll be posting about that soon due to a very generous sample sent by the team at Kinloch Anderson.
On a side note, we love the name “The Kiltmaker” and can’t believe that it hasn’t been taken by another. Our own tasting notes are due soon but in the meantime, here’s link back to the press release.
From a new name to one of the more familiar. One of the biggies, in fact: The Glenlivet. This week they’ve announced the first in a series of HUGE age statements as part of their 200th anniversary celebrations.
A 55-year old single malt is being released as the first in an annual series called The Glenlivet Eternal Collection. The series will span the next 5 years to create a 56, 57, 58, and 59 year old respectively.
Weighing in at a mighty £43,500 per bottle, this represents The Glenlivet’s oldest age statement single malt scotch whisky ever released, and with just 100 bottles being produced, you have to be “in it to win it” via registering for the ballot.
See the details over at The Glenlivet site here.
The Glenlivet are not the only players in the market celebrating their double century this week as Diageo’s Cameronbridge announced their limited release of a 28 year old single grain scotch whisky available via malts.com.
Available at a much more palatable £350 per bottle, the 28 year old bottling is available to members of malts.com – which is a free membership, you just need to sign up!
Whilst Cameronbridge releases are the darling of independent bottlers. it is rare that Cameronbridge is actually bottled and sold by its owner as a single grain scotch whisky in its own right.
Why all the Bicenntenial celebrations? Well, we are now at the point where over 200 years has passed since the Excise Act of 1823 came into place in Scotland, which created the legal basis on which distilleries could officially gain a licence of their wares as legitimate uisge beathe. The upshot was the foundation of some 300 licensed distilleries across Scotland within a year or so of the Act coming into force and so the last 12 months has seen the luckiest/hardiest of those whiskymakers reach the landmark of 200 years old.
Earlier this summer, for example Fettercairn reach 200 years old, and marked the occasion with a stunning 6-part set of aged releases, from a 3 year old to a 60 year old (their youngest and oldest ever releases). Only 10 of these have been made!
See the official release for the most glam cabinet of 2024 here at Fettercairn’s site.
Meanwhile, back over on malts.com, you can also get access to this year’s run of Diageo’s Special Releases.
The 2024 collection is called the “Spirited Xchange Second Edition” and builds on the Special Releases’ refresh from last year, including only the second official bottling of Diageo’s ‘new’ Roseisle distillery, with a new iteration of the 12 year old single malt scotch whisky releases last year. The Roseisle appears alongside more frequent Special Releases features such as a limited Mortlach release, an 8yo Talisker and a 12yo Lagavulin.
See the full roster and more details for the 2024 Special Releases here.
whisky unplugged 
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