After consulting with Business Gateway, the owners of Shetland’s first ever whisky distillery are due to open later this year, 2024. The exact opening date for Lerwick Distillery is yet to be announced. It has been almost a decade since Martin Watt, Caroline MacIntyre, and Calum Miller came up with the idea for the distillery. In 2022, they discovered the site and began planning the build As a master distiller, Ian Millar has decades of experience in the whisky industry, while Martin and Calum have backgrounds in chartered accountancy and architecture respectively. Caroline is the sales direc ..read more

The Kamiki Shuzou Distillery has released its first Japanese single malt whisky. The 47% ABV whiskey was aged in oak barrels for three years and then finished in Japanese cedar casks. This makes it the first Japanese cedar cask-finished whisky in the world. As per Kamiki, Japanese cedar has a distinctive fragrance and soft texture and is used to calm the mind and body for ages. Kamiki Shuzou Distillery is located in Soni, Nara Prefecture, known as the gateway to the Yamato Kingdom. Notably, Kamiki Shuzou is considered the “intersection of tradition and innovation”. It is distilled from crysta ..read more

An upcoming Speyside distillery, The Cabrach, has released its first Scotch whisky and invites consumers to join its collective. It will be located in Cabrach, on the southern edge of Moray, known for illicit stills and smuggling. Founded by The Cabrach Trust, the distillery is expected to begin distilling in August 2017. It will feature a heritage center, as well as a hub for learning new skills for the community. The distillery will operate as a social enterprise, with all earnings going to the trust’s community goals. It will produce 100k liters of single malt Scotch whisky a year, using l ..read more

Crown Royal is a blend of 50 Canadian whiskies. The unique spirit is distilled at the Gimli distillery, located in Gimli, Manitoba. Its site stretches over 360 acres and holds approximately 1.5 million barrels of bourbon. This is where the most miraculous whisky is made. The Crown Royal brand is a blended Canadian whisky that was originally created by Seagram and has been owned by Diageo since 2000. It is produced at Gimli, Manitoba, while blending and bottling are done at Amherstburg, Ontario. The individual whiskies that comprise these blends are created from five different recipes (mash bi ..read more

During the 2024 London Spirits Competition, Godawan Century, an Indian single malt whiskey, won the top prize in the single malt whiskey category. The spirit won the single malt whiskey category with an impressive 96 points, making it the highest-scoring product from India. The tasting note given by the London Spirit Competition said, “A single malt whiskey with pronounced tropical notes, a lighter palate, and a short finish. It offers a very sweet palate with hints of caramel, charcoal, cinnamon, and anise, leading to a long dry finish.” In its fourteenth year, the London Spirits Competition ..read more

Argentinian Winery, Finca Ambrosia, has partnered with Aberfeldy for the new edition of its Wine Cask Collection. Aberfeldy 21 Year Old Malbec Cask Finish is its first partnership between a malt master and a winemaker. Distilled on November 14, 2021, the spirit matured for over two decades in a combination of Sherry and Bourbon re-fill barrels and wooden hogsheads. The Aberfeldy 21 Year Old is then finished for about eight months in Malbec French Oak barrels from Finca Ambrosia. At a tasting session at the brand’s suite, Macleod said it was always “frustrating that we could never disclose the ..read more

Sir Rod Stewart’s Wolfie’s Whisky teamed up with Gebr. Heinemann to bring a rock ‘n’ roll-themed animation to Hamburg Airport. It is the brand’s first global travel retail event following its channel debut last month Among the items displayed in the promotional space are Sir Rod’s German Gold records. These include Body Wishes, Baby Jane and the album Every Picture Tells a Story, along with some of his memorable outfits. Sir Rod will be playing nine shows in Germany during his European summer tour, which begins on 11 May. The pop-up will also provide passengers with the opportunity to sample ..read more

Ardbeg Distillery is releasing a whisky aged in Port wine barrels in celebration of Ardbeg Day on June 1. Named Ardbeg Spectacular, the whisky is aged with Port wine barrels, which have been described as ‘bringing a tumbling richness and acrobatic twist of color to the malt’. This year, Ardbeg Day will feature a ‘dark circus’ at its distillery, describing it as an ‘offbeat and smoky take on the circus’, as well as tastings and games. On the nose, Ardbeg Spectacular delivers candied fruit, incense candles, and smoked pecans, while the palate offers dark chocolate and mint, and the finish is li ..read more

Coachbuilt Whisky, founded by 2009 Formula 1 World Champion Jenson Button, and current Formula 1 team Williams Racing, have announced a new licensing agreement.  Button, the Williams Racing Brand Ambassador, and Coachbuilt will collaborate to produce several limited-edition whiskies.  Each release will pay homage to Williams Racing’s long history in Formula 1. In addition, the special releases will honor Jenson Button’s long-standing relationship with Williams Racing. Jenson Button made his F1 debut with Williams Racing in 2000. Nine years later, Button won the 2009 FIA Formula 1 Wo ..read more

Actor and musician Jamie Foxx purchased what was then Brown Sugar Bourbon from Washington State-based Heritage Distilling in 2021 and has revamped the recipe and packaging for the bourbon, which is now called Brown Sugar Blend (BSB). Foxx now owns the brand as part of a collaboration with Texas-based spirits incubator Wes Brands. BSB was noted in its previous life for its sweet taste evoking brown sugar and cinnamon notes and is bottled at 35% alcohol by volume [70 proof]. The new packaging for BSB features a BSB chenille letter patch which glows in the dark. BSB is being made available in th ..read more