New fill whiskies stars, a new limited-edition range from VCL Vintners
Release No.1 features just 109 bottles from Royal Brackla and Benriach Distilleries
As we reunite with old friends and family in person this festive season, such special occasions warrant a memorable, limited-edition spirit to mark the event. Thanks to its relationships with some of the most exciting distilleries in production today, VCL Vintners, a premier City-based whisky cask broker, is launching its very own independent bottling line this winter, giving whisky lovers just that experience.
With a limited run of bottles available for purchase from 30 November 2021 on the VCL Vintners’ website, this inaugural release is made up of a Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky from Royal Brackla Distillery and a Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky from Benriach Distillery. Both spirits were aged for 9 years and finished in octaves: the Highland Single Malt in a port cask and the Speyside Single Malt in a sherry one.
Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky (Royal Brackla 2012) ABV 54.80% AYS 11 June 2021 Cask number 435 (Octave)
Royal Brackla is a distillery steeped in history; boasting a home that is said to have inspired William Shakespeare’s Macbeth and producing the first Scotch whisky to receive a royal warrant. Over its 200-year history, Royal Brackla’s whisky has been often affectionately nicknamed “The King’s Own Whisky.” Releases of Royal Brackla have been limited over the years. One of those, a 35-year-old 200th-anniversary edition was sold for $15,000 in 2014. This release with VCL Vintners is therefore an exciting new opportunity for whisky lovers to discover and taste whisky from a historic distillery.
On the nose, the ruby-coloured Highland Single Malt delivers a fruity aroma of blackberry and cherries, with hints of candy floss, vanilla, and polished mahogany. The palate presents rich dark chocolate with berries and dates, with a hint of sultanas.
The whisky finishes with a lingering taste of sugared almonds and dark chocolate, followed by hints of red grapes: a truly exquisite whisky to experience.
Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky (Benriach 2012) ABV 50.08% AYS 06 February 2021 Cask number 215 (Octave)
Benriach is a distillery known for doing things differently; it is one of just two distilleries in Speyside to still practice traditional floor malting on-site. It is also one of the few distilleries in Speyside that makes both peated and unpeated single malt. As a result, the whisky has a distinctly smoky and sweet note.
On the nose, the golden-coloured Speyside Single Malt delivers a fruity aroma of banana and grape, with hints of apple, citrus, and raisins. The palate presents you initially with caramelised banana, followed by the wintery aromatic flavours of cloves and spice.
The whisky finishes with black pepper with orange zest and hints of charred vanilla. As the cold winter takes hold over the next few months, this rich whisky will warm you from the inside, while conjuring up cosy wintery moments of being indoors by a fire.
Both bottles will retail at £65 (including VAT) on VCL Vintners’ website, available from 30 November 2021.
Discussing the launch, Stuart Thom, Director of VCL Vintners, said: “Whether it’s a bottle for yourself or a present for your friends and family, this is going to be the perfect gift this Christmas. Our goal is to bring whisky to as many new people as possible and we are thrilled to bring these whiskies to market, giving everyone the opportunity to enjoy top-of-the-range whisky from the comfort of their own homes. It was a pleasure to work with the wonderful liquid produced by people at Royal Brackla and Benriach distilleries, as we know how much time, effort, and care goes into producing these spirits. We are very excited for what is in store for 2022.”
In January 2021, VCL Vintners reported that more than half of their cask sales were to buyers in the 18–44-year-old age demographic.
About VCL Vintners
Founded in 2010, VCL Vintners sources and manages fine single malt Scotch whisky casks; the highest performing alternative asset of the 21st century according to the 2020 Knight Frank Luxury Investment Index, which found that the ROI on whisky investments has grown by 586% in the last decade[1].
VCL Vintner’s assets range from young, new-fill barrels to some of the rarest and oldest casks on the market today. To date, the company has traded and exchanged on tens of millions of pounds of whisky, wine, port, champagne and cognac. VCL Vintners currently holds £70m of whisky under management, and is on track to corner 2% of the whisky industry’s total reserves, with a target of managing £300m in the next 15 years.
Approximately 3 billion litres of raw spirit are housed in Scottish HMRC bonded warehouses with an estimated value of £15 billion. VCL Vintners holds a prestigious HMRC issued WOWGR license, which is issued upon rigorous assessments, and interviews, and is subject to annual review and renewal, which allows the company to access this raw spirit for trade and exchange.
VCL Vintners is part of ‘The London International Vintners Exchange’, an invitation only organisation with only 400 companies globally in its membership. The company’s brokers are all accredited by the Wine Spirit and Education Trust in London.
