Whisky News

Family-owned drinks company Gordon & MacPhail is demonstrating its commitment to the north business community by awarding more than 90 per cent of its £20 million new distillery investment to local firms.

The firm, which is developing new distillery The Cairn near Grantown-on-Spey, has awarded contracts for work as varied as earthworks and scaffolding to companies based in Moray, Highland and Aberdeenshire.

A private whisky collection has made history after selling at an online auction for £6.67m.

The collection of 3,900 bottles has become the highest value private collection to sell on the secondary market.

The auction was hosted in two parts by Whisky Auctioneer, due to the volume of Richard Gooding’s whisky library - he dedicated two decades of his life in pursuit of the 'perfect collection'.

Despite punitive tariffs and the impact of the pandemic, there are growth opportunities for Scotch whisky in emerging markets such as India and China. We predict the brands poised to take the category by storm next year.

US tariffs, Brexit uncertainty and Covid‐19 have pummelled the Scotch whisky industry this year. After a record export year in 2019, there is no sugar‐coating the grave impact this year’s geopolitical storm has had on the sector.

Did you know that whiskey can be more than just your favorite beverage? Besides winding down with a glass at the end of the day, this dark and delicious drink might actually belong in your investment portfolio as well. We chatted recently with Jay Bradley, founder of the UK-based Whiskey & Wealth Club, to learn more.

Bradley explained that now is the time to invest in cask whiskey, particularly due to the volatility in financial markets from the ongoing COVID-19 epidemic. “We have seen an increased appetite from private investors and funds. Cask whiskey investment is increasing in popularity as investors look to hedge against inflation and the uncertainties of the markets,” he shared.

The online ballot is open to groups of five or more friends or family to submit an entry with a description of their perfect moment for savouring the 50-year-old whisky together next year. Entrants have until 14 December to submit their moments.

Robbie Hughes, master distiller at Glengoyne, said: “When we first filled hand-selected oak casks with our sweet, fruity, new make spirit back in the late 1960s, The Beatles were only just breaking up, Richard Nixon was US president, and Sesame Street debuted on television. A lot has changed while we’ve been waiting patiently for this unique release.

An ultra-rare bottle of whisky, which is thought to be the oldest whisky ever released by a distillery, is set to be put up for auction on a Scottish website.

The bottle of The Macallan 78-year old, is the oldest whisky ever released by the hugely popular Speyside distillery, is being being put up for sale by online whisky auction platform, Whisky Hammer.

THE Isle of Raasay Distillery has sold all its maiden single malt ahead of its release in November.

Raasay, which lies off the coast of Skye, has sold 4,350 bottles through the internet, with the remainder of its 7,500-bottle run bought by retailers, restaurants and bars.

The whisky is made with Scottish barley and is being finished in Bordeaux red wine casks.

The Scotch whisky industry has today launched a diversity and inclusivity charter in a bid to improve equal opportunities across the sector.

The charter has been developed by trade body the Scotch Whisky Association and underscores its commitment to diversity across the industry's global workforce.

Ironically, the launch comes following a week in which there was a social media row about sexism in a leading industry guide.

Navigating the world of whisky can be very confusing. Here's a beginner's guide to bourbon, Scotch and more.

Whisky, a distilled alcoholic beverage made from fermented grain mash (barley, corn, rye or wheat) is typically aged in charred oak casks, giving it its distinctive brown colour. But unlike beer there is a lot of seriousness attached to this alcohol. So much so that it is often intimidating to wade into the waters of whisky.

It’s called sunken scotch. And it’s practically a category unto itself: whisky rescued from the cargoes of a wrecked ship, resting for untold periods of time below the tides. Every few years tales of brown spirit raised from these depths grab headlines, while the liquor itself fetches top dollar at auction. The latest example happens to be scotch salvaged from perhaps the most famous shipwreck of the modern era. And it’s expected to earn as much as $20,000 in an on-going auction.

Glenkinchie Distillery near Pencaitland is announcing a new partnership with East Lothian based Hoods Honey with the bee experts installing three hives in the distillery garden.

The beehives are set to house a colony of up to 65,000 bees each during the summer peak of July and will help pollenate the distillery garden as well as nearby farmland and the gardens of the surrounding local community.

Tomatin Distillery held a virtual whisky festival to raise much-needed funds for its charity partner, Maggie’s Highlands.

The event, which was live-streamed on Tomatin’s own YouTube channel on May 9, saw more than 5000 individuals tune in across the globe.

The Highland distillery partnered with several other whisky brands to share their expertise and insights and managed to raise more than £8000 for Maggie’s through the virtual event.

With the recent boom in interest in Scotland's national spirit, here is a look at some of the distilleries that could be making waves over the next few years.

It's an exciting time for whisky fans with more and more incredible production sites popping up across the country.

From the Borders to the Outer Hebrides, here are a some of the most interesting whisky distilleries that have opened up - or started producing - over the past few years.

When Scotland and its Scotch industry came under threat, distilleries responded swiftly to the crisis and managed to turn production from drinks to hand sanitiser for the fight against coronavirus.

Only now is the scale of the operation coming into focus, with the Scottish whisky industry expected to help supply nurses and doctors on the NHS frontline in the UK with 50 million litres of hand sanitiser over the next eight weeks, and this is outwith care homes also being supplied.

The Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) has asked for clarity on some measures announced to combat coronavirus.

In recent weeks, both the Scottish and UK Governments have revealed packages to help business during a rapid downturn in demand as the outbreak spreads.

The UK Government announced a grant scheme for firms as well as a £330 billion Government-backed loan initiative, with the Scottish Economy Secretary Fiona Hyslop pledging to “replicate” the measures north of the border.

In these trying times it can be hard to find something to smile about.

Put your hand up – how many whisky distilleries have you been pronouncing wrong?

There’s no shame in it, unless you’re talking to James Russell of Cask Trade, who’s always more than happy to correct you.

The enduring mystique of Scotch whisky has been paramount to its global success.

Made On Earth – a new series by BBC Future and BBC World News – looks into the everyday items that have shaped global trade routes and left a lasting imprint in cultures around the world.

The debate over the best way to taste and drink whisky is a timeless one. Decades ago, many Scotch drinkers passionately supported drinking whisky neat, perhaps with a drop of water, but nothing else. No mixers or ice, as that ruins the drink. Nowadays, whisky has changed it's image and went from an old man's drink to a modern, hip spirit to enjoy in cocktails, with mixers, with ice; basically, any way the drinker wants. This article will finish off with some great ways to begin drinking whisky and really get into the category, however, we'll first explore how to taste whisky like an expert, should you want to delve deeper into each expression.

The Scotch Whisky Association has revealed that US tariffs have already caused a “marked” decrease in exports, and if kept in place, will lead to a £100 million loss this year.

The chief executives of the SWA and the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (DISCUS) have jointly called on both the UK and US governments to find a solution to the on-going trade disputes.

Taking place on 18-20 February at Seattle’s Westland Distillery, the event will see four panels discuss whisky’s role in agriculture, the role of innovation and “potential pathways ahead” for North American distillers.

Among the speakers at this year’s event are Cory Mason, master distiller at UK-based Oxford Artisan Distillery; Shinji Fukuyo from Suntory; Nicole Austin, Cascade Hollow Distilling Co; Ann Marshall from High Wire Distilling; and Steven Kersley of BrewDog Distilling in Scotland.

Cask Trade is to host the world’s first, live, online only auction dedicated to casks of whisky next month.

Sales of whisky have raised record-breaking amounts, most recently £7.6 million was raised at a Sotheby’s auction in London including several casks and an auction in Hong Kong in November raised £441,000 for a cask of Macallan 1989.

In an historic, world first, Cask Trade will host the first ever live, online auction for casks on 22 January 2020.

The cask, an ex-Sherry hogshead filled with spirit distilled in 1989, was part of Bonhams’ Fine and Rare Wine and Whisky sale in Hong Kong on 15th November.

Its final hammer price (plus buyer’s premium) was HK$4.4m (US$572,000); apparently a new world record but just shy of the HK$4.6m pre-sale high estimate.

The 30-year-old Sherry hogshead will feature in an auction hosted by Bonhams in Hong Kong on 15 November. The cask contains liquid distilled in 1989 and can be stored by The Macallan for as long as the buyer wishes. It would currently yield 261 bottles.

Bonhams estimates the cask will fetch between HK$3.6 million and HK$4.6m (approximately US$460,000-US$590,000).

When whisky spends years resting in casks it’s vital that the vessel is in optimum condition to do its job. Yet the construction of a quality cask is far more complex than simply bounding a few staves together, writes Becky Paskin.

It’s a credit to the cask’s genius engineering that its shape and construction hasn’t changed in hundreds of years. Used by breweries, wineries and distilleries the world over, the humble cask is responsible for slowly maturing some of our favourite beverages, adding sweetness and spice while mellowing the liquid at the same time.

It’s time to dig deep in those pockets, search down the back of the sofa and smash open that piggy bank, because the world’s most valuable whisky collection is officially up for auction at Sotheby’s.

While some of us have been saving up for that elusive first home or a top-of-the-range sports car, others have had their eye on something a little pricier - $4.8 million worth of whisky to be precise.

‘The most valuable collection of whisky ever to be sold at auction’, expected to sell for at least £4million, is coming to Sotheby’s.

With collectors’ thirst for the finest and rarest examples of Scotch whisky increasingly reaching new heights, Sotheby’s will present The Ultimate Whisky Collection, comprising 394 lots, 467 bottles, and nine casks.

This is the company’s first single-owner offering of spirits. Showcasing the most comprehensive range of desirable Scotch whisky to come to the market from a private ‘cellar’, the collection is estimated to bring in the region of £4 million ($4.8 million).

A new whisky celebration is to be held in the north of Scotland this autumn.

The first Whisky Colours Festival will be held from 10 to 14 October. It is a celebration of all things whisky and is centred in Dufftown, the malt whisky capital of the world.

A spokesman for the organisers said: ‘We have been inspired by the vast range of whisky colours that are mirrored in the beauty of the phenomenal autumn scenery in and around Dufftown with the woodlands displaying their stunning colours and the bright golden barley in the fields.

There has been a big surge in Scotch Whisky exports over the past year, according to buoyant figures issued some weeks ago by the SWA (Scotch Whisky Association). For the first time annual figures have topped the £5.5 billion mark, which is quite a boost on the £4-plus billion not long ago.

Attention whisky lovers, London is set to get its own whisky hotel.

The award-winning Black Rock whisky bar has announced plans to expand its basement bar into a four-story property that will feature a blending room and three lodges where guests can stay overnight.

Maybe he was lost this time; perhaps he knew a shortcut he’d not told us about. I started to suspect the former. After all, he was new to this job and hadn’t driven in this part of the world before, so it only seemed fair to give some advice – which he declined to take. His body language was sufficient in way of reply: ‘I’m the driver,’ it said. ‘Let me do my job ferrying you from one distillery to the next. You just sit there.’

There is so much more to Scotland’s Malt Whisky Trail than just distilleries and drams.

Whether you’re a whisky connoisseur or not, the trail offers something for everyone. Set up to promote the local malt whisky industry, the collection of impressive visitor attractions – and the picturesque places between them – draw huge numbers of tourists to the Moray Speyside region each year.

Ranging from Highland Park on Orkney in the north to Bladnoch in the Borders in the south, there are over 120 whisky distilleries in Scotland.

Here are 13 of the most picturesque, you’ll want to visit again and again.

For a span of several months last year, Jim Murray, a whisky writer and reviewer, was unable to walk, stand, and even sit comfortably because of a simple and very telling mistake: for upward of twenty years, he’d spent full days spitting whisky out of his mouth into a spittoon that sat on his right-hand side. His whisky-spitting motion had become so one-sided that he’d shriveled a muscle in his back and thrown his spine out of alignment.

Murray is a principled whisky taster. He achieved some notoriety a few years ago for admitting during an interview that he does not kiss anyone during the writing of his annual whiskey tome, Jim Murray’s Whiskey Bible. He says the germs run the risk of making him sick, which would trash his tasting schedule of up to 30 whiskeys a day. When I watched him give a tasting on Texas bourbons recently, he nearly inspired an uprising among a cadre of Southerners by barring any swallowing at all for nearly two hours, and also stringently enforcing a “no talking” rule. “Listen to the whiskey,” he said. Eventually, most of the Texans came to heel, and later began self-policing in so zealous a manner that it was obvious they’d become disciples.

The Macallan Boutique is to be the first-ever permanent, monobrand luxury spirits boutique at Dubai International (DXB).

Edrington EMEA Travel Retail and Le Clos – the Dubai-based fine wine and luxury spirits retailer – is writing the next chapter in their record-breaking partnership with the unveiling of a new luxury retail concept for The Macallan.

The Macallan Boutique design is a bespoke concept which draws heavily from the passion, vision and beauty of The Macallan Estate, including the new £140m distillery and visitor centre in Speyside, unveiled last June.

Along with a strong focus on consumer engagement and storytelling, the boutique will also feature exclusive products, complementing Le Clos’ world-class portfolio of fine wines and spirits.

It’s being advertised as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board is hosting a first-ever auction of two rare vintage bottles of Macallan Fine and Rare Series scotch 

“We were extremely fortunate to receive these highly sought-after products, which are very difficult to find across the world, let alone in the U.S., and we look forward to making one or two scotch enthusiasts very, very happy,” said Tim Holden, PLCB chairman.

Angela Cochrane und Kirsty Olychick betreten als erste Frauen einen Bereich der Whiskyindustrie, der bisher noch immer ausschließlich in männlicher Hand war: Sie beginnen eine Ausbildung zum Küfer (oder vielmehr wohl zur Küferin) an der Cambus Cooperage von Diageo in Clackmannashire.

The final 20 bottles of the Duke of Rothesay’s own whisky will be auctioned off to raise money for the Ballater community. They are Royal Lochnagar 30-year-old single malt from the Duke’s 1988 cask, which was produced at the local distillery. The recent auction of bottle number one of the Prince’s single malt raised £9,100, and the foundation is releasing the remaining bottles for auction this month.