Naked Grouse whisky rebranded as Naked Malt

Macallan-owner Edrington is re-presenting its Naked Grouse whisky brand with a new identity. Embracing its independent spirit and honouring the liquid by placing a first-fill sherry cask centre stage on the bottle, the brand will also evolve to Naked Malt to reinforce its quality credentials and reflect the blend of some of Scotland’s finest single…

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Marks & Spencer: If you like that, try this…

After the excitement of an in-person wine tasting subsided, Peter Ranscombe found interesting Marks & Spencer alternatives. A PRESS tasting. An actual, real life press tasting. With wines and people and everything. Novelty aside, yesterday’s press preview of spring wines from Marks & Spencer was a great chance to catch-up with the ongoing refresh of…

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Tomatin offers the new French Collection

Tomatin is whisking budding whisky connoisseurs to France from the comfort of their sofas with the launch of a four-part digital series to celebrate the release of The French Collection. This is a limited release collection exhibiting the unique influence imparted by different French wine and spirits casks during maturation. The content series has been…

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Benriach adds a smoky whisky to its revamped range

Speyside distillery Benriach has released a brand new expression, Smoke Season, to add to its recently revamped portfolio. Celebrating the time of year where peated spirit runs through its stills, a tradition revived by the distillery over 50 years ago, Smoke Season is a small batch release that captures one of Benriach’s time-honoured seasonal production…

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Why South Africa’s wines are ageworthy

Peter Ranscombe gets a sneaky peak at bottles from South Africa going under the hammer at the Cape Fine & Rare Wine Auction. FEW wine-making countries have such a dual persona in Scottish shops as South Africa. Look in a supermarket and South African bottles are often regulated to the bargain basement shelves. Yet delve…

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Singleton’s 54-Year-Old 1966 vintage single malt Scotch whisky

Diageo has announced the second and final bottling in The Singleton’s Paragon of Time Collection, a 54-Year-Old 1966 vintage single malt Scotch whisky. This is the oldest single malt release from The Singleton of Dufftown and Diageo to date: an exploration of time in pursuit of true richness. This highly limited release from the Dufftown…

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Tamdhu announce limited-edition releases for festival

Tamdhu has unveiled two highly anticipated limited-edition releases for this year’s digital Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival. The Tamdhu Dalbeallie Dram 004 and the Tamdhu Club Single Cask are being launched during a virtual tasting as part of the festival programme. Today ( Friday, April 30) from 8pm BST, the Tamdhu Dalbeallie Dram 004 and…

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Eden Mill: what happens when gin meets wine?

Eden Mill distillery has aged its latest gins in red wine and white wine casks, as Peter Ranscombe discovers. MAKING gin is – relatively – easy. As long as your spirit tastes of juniper then it’s job done, as far as the labelling gods are concerned. But making your gin stand out from the ever-growing…

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Benriach secures its first whisky deal with Waitrose

Global drinks company Brown-Forman which owns Benriach Distillery, located in north Speyside, has secured its first whisky deal with supermarket giant Waitrose & Partners. Whisky lovers are now able to purchase the distillery’s new Original Ten, across 175 Waitrose stores throughout the UK. This follows Benriach’s recent unveiling of its new distinctive flavour-forward portfolio of…

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M&S goes off wine’s beaten track

Peter Ranscombe reviews the new “Found” range of “unexpected and undiscovered” wines from Marks & Spencer. MARKS & Spencer wine buyers Sue Daniels and Belinda Kleinig have had a busy lockdown. After launching Markies’ “Classics” and “This is…” ranges last year, they’ve embarked on their latest vinous adventure – “Found”. This new selection features “unexpected…

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