Bulleit Enters the American Single Malt Race

Diageo is staking a claim in the growing American Single Malt category with the new Bulleit American Single Malt. This whiskey’s release earlier this month… Read More

Diageo is staking a claim in the growing American Single Malt category with the new Bulleit American Single Malt. This whiskey’s release earlier this month has spawned a lot of questions, and Bulleit master blender Andrew Mackay joins us this week with some answers. In the news, Scotch Whisky exports plummeted in 2023, and major drinks companies are blaming economic headwinds in the U.S. for lagging sales. We’ll have the details, along with the story of a British distiller facing extradition to his native Poland after two decades on the run. 

Episode 1044: February 18, 2024

Links: Bulleit | Scotch Whisky Association | Pernod Ricard | Beam Suntory | Bimber Distillery | Garrard County Distilling Co. | Whyte & Mackay | GMB Scotland | Aberfeldy | Hunter Laing & Co. | Tomintoul | Dram Mòr Group | Heaven’s Door | High West | Jack Daniel’s | Bruichladdich

Image courtesy of Diageo.

Elijah Craig Ryder Cup Limited Edition Highlights Week’s New Releases

Heaven Hill is leveraging its partnership with this year’s Ryder Cup with a new version of Elijah Craig Bourbon. The Bourbon is finished in European… Read More

Heaven Hill is leveraging its partnership with this year’s Ryder Cup with a new version of Elijah Craig Bourbon. The Bourbon is finished in European Oak barrels that were toasted with a profile similar to that used in Italy’s Lazio wine region near where the Ryder Cup will be contested next month. The commemorative bottling is a one-time only release that will carry a recommended retail price of $99.99 a bottle.

Heaven Hill has also released the Spring 2023 batch of Old Fitzgerald Bottled in Bond Bourbon….this whiskey was distilled in the spring of 2013, and the 10-year-old Bourbon carries a recommended retail price of $139.99.

Hemingway Whiskey Company has unveiled the new Signature Edition of Hemingway Rye Whiskey. The whiskey comes from the Call family, which sourced and blended the whiskey to be finished in rum-seasoned Oloroso Sherry Casks. Look for tasting notes soon at the WhiskyCast web site.

We featured the revival of Rosebank Distillery on the show a couple of weeks ago, and Rosebank has now released a 30-year-old bottling exclusively for the Asian market. It’s the first expression in Rosebank’s Revival Series, with a total of six expressions to be released in the coming years. Only 800 bottles are available in Asia, with a recommended price of $86,000 Taiwanese dollars…about $2700 U.S. dollars at current exchange rates.

Tomintoul Distillery has released a new travel retail exclusive series of whiskies inspired by the Cairngorms National Park that surrounds the distillery. The lineup includes the Tundra Bourbon Cask and Tor Oloroso Sherry cask bottlings, along with the Tarn peated single malt. Prices range from £40 for the Tundra to £55 for the Tor. The collection is available at World Duty Free airport shops worldwide.

Finally, Brooklyn’s Widow Jane Distillery has rolled out its Paradigm Rye nationally in the U-S after a soft launch in key markets. It’s the first nationally available Widow Jane release that includes whiskey distilled at the Widow Jane Distillery in Brooklyn’s Red Hook neighborhood.

It’s bottled at 46-point-5 percent ABV, and carries a recommended retail price of 49-99 a bottle…I tasted this whiskey last year when it was first released, and you can find my tasting notes for it at WhiskyCast dot com.

This story was published August 14, 2023.

Whisky and Music Come Together in Rhythm & Booze Records

Whisky and music go perfectly together, but Felipe Schrieberg and Paul Archibald are taking the volume up to 11 with Rhythm & Booze Records. They’re… Read More

Whisky and music go perfectly together, but Felipe Schrieberg and Paul Archibald are taking the volume up to 11 with Rhythm & Booze Records. They’re combining an independent record label with an independent bottler and making whiskies to match their music, which can be streamed using a QR code on each bottle. We’ll talk with Felipe Schrieberg on this week’s WhiskyCast In-Depth and share tasting notes for their debut release, Rhythm & Booze Records Release #1. In the news, Molson Coors has acquired Blue Run Spirits to expand its presence in the whisky business, and we’ll talk with David Coors and Blue Run’s Mike Montgomery about the deal. David Beckham is splitting with Diageo’s Haig Club Scotch Whisky brand, and there’s a new Elijah Craig Bourbon out to celebrate next month’s Ryder Cup.

Episode 1017: August 13, 2023

Links: Rhythm & Booze Records | Coors Whiskey Company | Knight Frank | Haig Club | The Drinks Business | Beam Suntory | Laphroaig | Maker’s Mark | Elijah Craig | Old Fitzgerald | Hemingway Whiskeys | Rosebank | Tomintoul | Widow Jane | Jack Daniel’s

Photo courtesy The Rhythm & Booze Project.