Whisky news round-up: Doddie, Glenturret, and more

Peter Ranscombe puts together another irreverent round-up from the world of whisky.

A WHISKY selected by the late rugby legend Doddie Weir will go on sale tomorrow at Royal Mile Whiskies to raise money for his My Name’5 Doddie Foundation, which is looking for a cure for motor neurone disease (MND).

Weir visited Ardnamurchan Distillery last October, just a month before he died, along with friends including teammate Rob Wainwright.

“Doddie loved a dram, and it was very poignant to get the group back together for the trip to Coll and Ardnamurchan to select the final whisky with him,” said Wainwright.

“We didn’t know it then, but that was one of the last times many of us would spend with him.”

Innis & Gunn, the Edinburgh-based beer brand, has launched the 2023 iteration of its Islay whisky cask beer, which it makes with Laphroaig.

In 2021, the limited-edition beer was matured solely in Laphroaig 10-year-old casks.

Last year, it was matured in Laphroaig quarter casks.

This year, Innis & Gunn opted to use second-fill bourbon casks that had held Laphroaig’s 10-year-old whisky for the first 10 weeks of its beer’s maturation, followed by three weeks in second-fill Port casks, which had been used previously for finishing Laphroaig.

Scotland’s oldest working distillery, The Glenturret, will sponsor racing driver Ross Wylie in this year’s Porsche Carrera Cup Great Britain.

The Porsche 911 driven by the 31 year old from Dumfries has been decked out in the distillery’s black and white livery.

Wylie said he was introduced to the whisky by a friend at the Donington Park race track.

He added that he developed a taste for the Scotch during lockdown – when he wasn’t driving.

And finally, it looks like Deerness Distillery won’t be Orkney’s third whisky distillery after all.

Sebastian Hadfield-Hyde has pointed out that his Kimbland Distillery on Sanday was the county’s third distillery.

He began distilling in 2020 and his first spirt is about to pass that magic three-year mark and become Scotch.

“The Deerness claims were really bad timing for us, as we are just about to launch our Seedrs equity campaign,” he added.

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

Plus, don’t miss Blair Bowman’s whisky column in the April issue of Scottish Field magazine.