A Week in Whisky: Is this the ultimate prize for a Scotch fan?

MEMBERS of the Scotch Malt Whisky Society (SMWS) have the chance to win an entire cask of whisky from Holyrood Distillery in Edinburgh.

It’s the first time the society has given away an entire barrel from one of its partner distilleries.

The prize is worth around £10,000 and includes duty and ageing for 10 years.

Helen Stewart, head of marketing and membership at the SMWS, said: “Can you imagine owning your own full cask of single malt whisky?”

Members have until 2 November to enter the competition.

Challenge accepted

It’s hard to have missed the International Spirits Challenge (ISC) with a flurry of announcements from the winners over the past week.

GlenAllachie notched up its 50th award in the past three years, collecting five gold medals from the ISC and a “double gold”.

Tullibardine’s 15 Year Old also picked up a double gold in the competition.

Diageo entered six of its Johnnie Walker whiskies into the contest and won a gold medal for each, marking the first time in the ISC’s 25-year history that the “walking man” has achieved the feat.

Whyte & Mackay was also celebrating too after picking up 53 golds and double golds across its range – they’re going to need a bigger trophy cabinet at head office.

Distilleries up packaging’s environmental credentials

As well as being flood-your-inbox-with-ISC-announcements week, it’s also been relaunch week.

Glengoyne has redesigned its labels, and has moved over to recyclable and locally-sourced packaging.

Tullibardine has also picked “recyclable and responsibly-sourced cardboard from local forests” for its redesigned packaging, chopping 100g from the weight of its previous box.

Benriach was also in revamp mode this week, with master blender Rachel Barrie unveiling her new line up.

You can read my review of Benriach’s updated range here.

And finally…

Another week, another collaboration between a distiller and a brewer.

This time it’s Irish whiskey brand Jameson that’s teamed up with Eight Degrees Brewing.

The result is the Jameson Crested Finished in Black Ball Metric Stout Barrels.

Last year Eight Degrees released a dark Black Ball Metric Stout finished in Jameson barrels, so this year Jameson picked a whiskey to mature in the stout soaked barrels.

News of the link-up comes hot on the heels of Ardbeg partnering with Brewgoodr and Williams Bros to create a stout using Ardbeg’s malt.

Read more news stories on Scottish Field’s whisky pages.