Whisky news round-up: San Francisco award success, new expressions and more

Tribute to the Clyde

Ardgowan Distillery Company Limited has released a whisky dedicated to the crucial work carried out by riveters in the shipbuilding yards of the Clyde.

Clydebuilt Riveter encompasses a collection of fifteen casks, each one artfully matured in premium bourbon barrels and is bottled at 50% ABV.

Master whisky maker, Max McFarlane, said: ‘Clydebuilt Riveter has allowed me to further explore the depth of flavour found in Lowland distilleries resulting in a liquid that treats the senses to new delights and is sure to be another winner for Clydebuilt.

‘Riveter pours like liquid gold, with a nose that opens on dark fruit compote before moving into furniture polish, lemon curd, figs, leather and old books.

‘The palate is dry and moreish, with butterscotch, five spice, mint choc chip and brown sugar. A lingering, lovely, and very smooth finish follows, drying down slowly.’

Island malt

Lagg Distillery

Lagg Distillery on the Isle of Arran has officially launched their first ever core range Single Malt.

The Kilmory Edition is matured 100% in First-Fill Bourbon Barrels and bottled at 46% Vol, without chill filtration and with no added colouring.

The influence of the peat combined with the vanilla and creamy influence of the American oak forms the backbone of this go-to LAGG Single Malt.

Lagg Distillery manager Graham Omand said: ‘The Kilmory expression embodies the ‘house style of LAGG’ which centres around the use of Bourbon Barrels with our peated spirit.’

Water into whisky

Surgeons Quarter – the commercial arm of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (RCSEd) – is collaborating with a craft distillery to produce a special whisky.

The whisky has been created by experts at Edinburgh’s Summerhall Distillery for Surgeons Quarter’s 1505 collection, which includes a signature gin and a craft ale.

The result is a blend of premium whiskies matured in 100% American oak ex-bourbon casks.

The RCSEd can trace its distilling credentials back to 1505, when the Barbers and Surgeons of Edinburgh successfully petitioned the Town Council to be granted a Seal of Cause, conferring certain privileges upon them.

One of those privileges was the authority to distil aqua vita – water of life – which became a common term for whisky.

Scott Mitchell, managing director, said: ‘Our 1505 gin and ale range is extremely popular but we felt the line-up was missing something, so we are delighted to partner with our near neighbours at Summerhall to produce our own 1505 whisky.

‘It is fitting that with our parent organisation’s long history and the connection to distilling dating back hundreds of years that we can now present our own brand of whisky to visitors and guests.’

Cheers!

Credit: Chris Watt Photography

Scotland’s world champion curling stars returned home from Canada to launch a new nationwide campaign with the country’s only Scotch malt whisky cream liqueur brand, Magnum.

Since winning the World Championships in April, ‘Team Mouat’ has already been snapped up by Magnum as the official faces of the brand for 2023.

Led by Edinburgh-born skipper, Bruce Mouat, the team of four men from Edinburgh, Stranraer and Dumfries, were crowned world curling champions in Ottawa earlier this year after defeating their Canadian hosts. Team Mouat also took home the silver medal at the 2022 Olympics in Beijing.

The team is now raising a glass to its continued success having scored a new UK-wide deal with Magnum, which will include a roadshow of promotional activities, special guest appearances, curling tutorials and tasting events across the country.

New expression

Highland Park

Highland Park has launched its new cask strength No4 scotch whisky, ahead of its 225th Anniversary happening in September later this year.

Highland Park Cask Strength No.4 uses a combination of ex-bourbon and ex-port casks to the series for the first time, adding aromas of toasted coconut and Turkish Delight.

The whisky is a naturally deep, rose gold colour, driven entirely by Highland Park’s casks, without additives.

Gordon Motion, master whisky maker, said: ‘For me, a cask strength whisky really celebrates an individual’s whisky journey, best enjoyed with your own personal level of water and ice added.

‘The peat from our home in Orkney gives the whisky a completely different character with aromatic heather smoke and unexpected contrasts in sweet and smoky flavours.’

Shinty collaboration 

Credit: Mike Wilkinson / The Scotch Malt Whisky Society

The Scotch Malt Whisky Society teamed up with players from Tayforth Shinty Club in Edinburgh to launch its 1.9.8.3 Collection, a set of whiskies celebrating the Society’s 40^th anniversary.

The numbers on the shinty players’ strips will help to capture the whisky club’s unique coding system, which sees bottles given numbers rather than the name of the distillery the whisky is from.

The Society was founded in Edinburgh in 1983 by a maverick whisky fan Pip Hills.

And four decades on, Pip’s passion for single cask whisky in its purest form is now shared with almost 40,000 members across the world.

The 1.9.8.3 Collection spells out the year the Society was founded and features bottles of whisky from the first, ninth, eight and third distilleries that is has bottled from.

Euan Campbell, head of whisky creation at the society, said: ‘We’re so proud of this collection.

‘It represents four decades of outstanding single cask whisky and celebrates our curious coding system.’

San Francisco award success

Smokehead Whisky emjoyed success at the San Francisco World Spirits 2023. Their Sherry Cask Blast won double gold distinction, while their Tequila Cask Terminado received silver accolades.

Tomatin’s 36 Year Old single malt was named ‘Best in Show’ in the whisky category at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition (SFWSC) 2023, officially making it one of the best whiskies in the world.

The Loch Lomond Distillery won ‘the most awarded distillery’ at the globally renowned awards, picking up multiple Double Gold and Gold Awards for its collection of malt whisky brands.

And Tamdhu Single Malt Scotch Whisky, The 18 Year Old, was awarded Double Gold at the competition.

Read more news and reviews on Scottish Field’s food and drink pages, in association with Cask & Still magazine.

Don’t miss the July issue of Scottish Field magazine.