GROWING IN STRENGTH – COTSWOLDS DISTILLERY RELEASES CASK WHISKY

Cotswold Distillery launches cask strength, single malt whisky, The Founders Choice

The whisky has rich and intense maturation, fruity spirit, toffee, oak and red fruit notes

The Founders Choice is available now from specialist retailers with an RRP of £64.95

The release comes one year after the highly anticipated launch of the distillery’s flagship whisky, the Cotswolds Single Malt Whisky

Award-winning Cotswolds Distillery has launched its cask strength single malt whisky expression, the Founder’s Choice.

The whisky, aged in their shaved, toasted and re-charred American oak red wine barrels and has a rich and intense maturation. The cask has a fruity spirit, with toffee, oak and red fruit notes as well as a beautiful deep colour.

Dan Szor, founder and CEO of the distillery said: “We were very fortunate to work with the late Dr Jim Swan on developing our wood programme – one of his key innovations was the ‘STR’ cask and it has always been my favourite of all our casks. Jim’s suggestion to me was that one day we release a 100% STR-aged whisky at cask strength and, based on the extremely positive reaction from everyone that’s tried it, that is what I’ve decided to do.”

The STR casks were designed by Dr Swan to optimise the extraction of flavour and colour from the oak, giving an extremely active maturation whilst avoiding the need for smaller cask sizes, which can sometimes result in an over-oaked effect. The intensely rich single malt has notes of dark chocolate and dried figs on the nose, with a warm palate of fresh red fruits and butterscotch. The finish has hints of spicy oak, dried fruit and a lingering nutty note.

Founder’s Choice is bottled at cask strength (60.9% ABV) non-chill filtered and with no added colouring. The whisky is available in specialist retailers from November at an RRP of £64.95.

The release comes one year after the highly anticipated launch of the distillery’s flagship whisky, the Cotswolds Single Malt Whisky. Cotswolds Single Malt Whisky has gone on to win nine medals and awards in its first year, and the distillery picked up a total of five ‘Liquid Gold Awards’ (scores of 94/100 or higher) in Jim Murray’s recently published Whisky Bible 2019. 

Notes

Founders Choice 

Founders Choice is available to purchase from Harvey Nichols and specialist retailers Master of Malt and Gordon and MacPhail.

The Cotswolds Distillery

Located in Stourton, Shipston-on-Stour, the distillery has become a premier local attraction, offering tours and tastings daily, and now receives 30,000 visitors a year.

Cotswolds Single Malt Whisky was launched in October 2017. Each bottle lists the barley variety, harvest year and local Cotswolds farm it was grown on. It recently won Gold at the New York World Wine & Spirits Competition and took 2 stars (one of only two whiskies to do so) in the 2018 Great Taste Awards.

Cotswolds Single Malt Whisky is available nationally and in 12 countries across the world. Key UK retailers include Majestic Wine, The Whisky Exchange and Laithwaites.

For more information, please visit www.cotswoldsdistillery.com.