Beam Suntory Russia Statement

Kentucky Distillers’ Association Promotes Staff Members to Further Advance the Commonwealth’s Signature Bourbon and Spirits Industry

The Kentucky Distillers’ Association staff, from front left: Sara Barnes, Eric Gregory and Annie Franklin. In the back row from left: Allison Delande, Marielle McElmurray, Adam Johnson, Mandy Ryan, Colleen Thomas and Jack Mazurak.

FRANKFORT, Ky. – The Kentucky Distillers’ Association today announced several staff promotions to further position the historic non-profit trade group as the leading voice for Bourbon, America’s only native spirit and a thriving economic engine for the Bluegrass State.

“With more members than ever before, the KDA continues to expand and position its staff to lead our signature industry into the future, address core issues and challenges, and increase value to our distilleries and partners,” KDA President Eric Gregory said.

“We are fortunate and thankful to have a visionary Board of Directors and growing membership that works together and invests in the association as the industry flourishes,” Gregory said. “That spirit of camaraderie and collaboration is at the hallmark of everything we do.”

Staff changes include:

– Adam Johnson, 47, is the KDA’s first-ever Vice President of State Relations. He has led the KDA’s Kentucky Bourbon Trail® experiences since 2012. In his new role, Johnson will cultivate and strengthen the KDA’s relationships with other state distilling guilds and national groups like DISCUS, the American Craft Spirits Association, and similar organizations.

– Colleen Thomas, 47, is the KDA’s first-ever Vice President of Operations. She has been with the KDA since 2016 in a variety of roles, most recently as Senior Director of Marketing and Member Services. Thomas will now oversee KDA member services and support, responsibility and sustainability programs, research, workforce development, marketing, and the Kentucky Bourbon Trail® tourism program.

– Mandy Ryan, 33, will oversee KDA’s tourism initiatives as the Director of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail® experiences. She joined the KDA full-time in 2013 as Executive Assistant and has spent the last two years leading promotional efforts as Director of Marketing, successfully growing the organization’s online presence and building the new Kentucky Bourbon campaign.

– Marielle McElmurray, 29, has been named Operations Manager and Executive Assistant. She joined the KDA as Special Projects Manager in 2021. She will continue to assist KDA staff in several areas, including governmental affairs, research and agricultural policy, while coordinating daily KDA operations at its headquarters in Frankfort. McElmurry also is Assistant Secretary-Treasurer to the KDA Board of Directors.

Other KDA staff include Sara Barnes, Director of Industry Responsibility & Sustainability; Jack Mazurak, Director of Governmental & Regulatory Affairs; Annie Franklin, Director of Member Services; and Allison Delande, Director of Special Projects.

Founded in 1880, the KDA is the voice for Bourbon and spirits issues. Its diverse membership produces the overwhelming majority of the world’s Bourbon, from legendary, global brands to emerging micro distilleries that are building the next generation of America’s only native spirit.

Bourbon is one of Kentucky’s most treasured industries, a booming $9 billion economic and tourism engine sustaining more than 22,500 jobs with an annual payroll topping $1.23 billion each year, over $285 million in local and state taxes and $1.8 billion in federal alcohol taxes.

A key export, the iconic industry is currently in the middle of a $5.2 billion building boom, from innovative new tourism experiences to expanded production facilities, bottling centers and aging warehouses, all to meet the growing global thirst for Kentucky Bourbon.

Bourbon production has skyrocketed more than 435% since the turn of the century.

Kentucky now boasts more than 10.3 million barrels of Bourbon aging in warehouses across the Bluegrass, the most in its revered distilling history. Distillers filled more than 2.4 million barrels in 2020 alone, the third year in a row that production topped the two million mark.

Attendance at the KDA’s Kentucky Bourbon Trail® and Kentucky Bourbon Trail Craft Tour® experiences continue their rapid rebound from COVID and closures, up 160% in total attendance from last year and just down slightly from the pre-pandemic record in 2019.

Visit www.kybourbon.com and www.kybourbontrail.com to learn more.

The Kentucky Distillers’ Association is a 501(c)(6) non-profit trade association that passionately unites, promotes, protects and elevates the Commonwealth’s signature Bourbon and distilled spirits industry. The KDA maintains an open membership policy, champions a strong commitment to the responsible and moderate consumption of spirits, and fights to curb underage drinking and drunk driving.

KENTUCKY BOURBON TRAIL®, KENTUCKY BOURBON TRAIL CRAFT TOUR®,, KENTUCKY BOURBON AFFAIR™, KBT®,, BOURBON TRAIL™, KENTUCKY BOURBON HALL OF FAME®,, ORDER OF THE WRIT®,, KENTUCKY BOURBON TALES®,, KENTUCKY BOURBON TRAIL WELCOME CENTER®,, URBAN BOURBON TRAIL® and THE PROOF IS HERE®are trademarks/service marks of the Kentucky Distillers’ Association.

Please enjoy Bourbon like a true Kentuckian – Responsibly.

Our July Auction Ends Soon!

Place your bids until Sunday 24^th July.

www.whiskyhammer.com

Every month, we present an incredible selection of whiskies and other fine spirits to our members right across the globe. You will find everything here from limited edition releases and vintage bottles to whole casks of rare whisky. There is certainly something for everyone – whether you are looking to collect, investor enjoy!

Macallan – Exceptional Single Cask (1988)

Karuizawa – 33 Year Old (1981) ‘Koraku-en’  

Highland Park – The Dragon (1968)

Springbank – 32 Year Old

Glenfiddich – 1974 (Playboy)

Tomatin – 1966

Selling whisky? Why not arrange the pick-up of your bottles using our global courier service? If you’re based in Scotland, you might want to arrange the personal collection of your bottles. Wherever you’re based in the world, we will make getting your bottles into our monthly auction as simple as possible. Get in touch with the Whisky Hammer team now by dropping them a message at sales@whiskyhammer.co.uk.

This current season at Sotheby’s has seen some exceptional results for our sales of whisky and spirits, so we wanted to provide you with a brief overview and also a look at the sales happening this July.

In June in New York, we sold a bottle of The Yamazaki 55 for $600,000, against an estimate of $400,000-500,000, and two ultra-rare casks of whisky from the fabled Brora and Port Ellen distilleries for a combined total of £1.75 million ($2.1 million).

The month of May saw our largest ever spirits offering with a sale of over 1,000 bottles of Scotch whisky, which achieved a total of $2.5 million (est. $1.5-2.1m) with 95% of lots sold. Two days later, our first dedicated Moutai auction in London, consigned from the descendants of a Chinese restaurant owner in Brazil, brought £1 million.

We have three more sales to go until the close of the summer season, two out of Hong Kong, and one out of New York.

Distilled | Whisky is a 247-lot sale celebrating the finest and rarest Scotch, Japanese whisky and Moutai, led by the highly precious and collectible Macallan Tales of The Macallan Volume I 71 Year Old (est. HK$750,000-1,000,000), followed by the iconic Macallan Red Collection 78 Year Old (est. HK$700,000-1,000,000).  A selection of rare Japanese whiskies from renowned distilleries features the highly sought-after Hanyu Ichiro’s Malt Card Series (a great opportunity for collectors looking to complete a full set of the series), Karuizawa 31 Year Old #4961 Shinanoya Private Cask 5th Anniversary 1981, and Hibiki 35 Year Old Arita Ceramic Collection.

On the same day at 2pm HKT, we will present a dedicated single-lot sale of The Dalmore Constellation Collection (est. HK$3,500,000-5,000,000) – the full 21 bottle set of vintages spanning 1964 all the way through to 1992, first released in 2012, which has never been seen at auction in its entirety until now. Bottled at cask strength and natural colour, this was the first time the Dalmore created a vintage series such as this.

Last, but not least, on 29 July in New York, Whisky & Whiskey | The Three Continents Collection Part V – The Final Chapter. This sale sees the finale of the biggest whisky collection Sotheby’s has sold from a single owner featuring over 3,000 bottles of rare whisky. The auction is supported by various other collections including a Yamazaki 55 Year Old, and three 50 Year Old Black Bowmores including vintages from 1961, 1964 and 1966.

That will bring the total number of spirits sale held so far this year to 12 – with plenty more upcoming in the calendar.

Looking ahead, on 23 September in New York, Sotheby’s will auction The Timeless Whisky Collection. This is a single owner sale of nearly 600 bottles estimated to achieve $2million. The sale is led by The Macallan in Lalique Six Pillars Collection that is offered alongside an experience donated by Lalique themselves as well as personalised glassware and a bespoke display platform hand crafted from Highland Scottish Burr Elm by Anselm Fraser Design on which the bottles can be lovingly showcased by the lucky bidder.

Knob Creek “Single Barrel Select” K&L Exclusive Barrel #14464 (Distilled 10/10/12, Warehouse 1, Floor 6, Rick 25) Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey

(750ml) $59.99 View

This exceptional barrel of Knob was selected after a multi-year hiatus on travel to Kentucky. Picked out by the K&L Spirits Buying Team in early 2022, it was distilled on October the 11th, 2012 and dumped on April 5th, 2022. This gorgeous little bourbon offers more depth and complexity than many out there for twice the price. Aged in the excellent warehouse 1 on the 6th floor it saw nearly 10 summers of hot Kentucky sun. Expect a deep rich sweetness coupled with a powerful barrel spice and warming, toasted vanilla. Very few producers are consistently offering such high quality bourbon for your dollar and Jim Beam’s flagship single barrel program has started to gain a real following with bourbon lovers who value character and complexity over scarcity.

MEET YOUR DRAM-CIERGE

To help make the most of your SMWS membership, we’ve introduced a whole new level of tailor-made member services and personal guidance. With our members at the heart of everything we do, our DRAM-cierge is here for friendly advice, whether it’s a question about us, your membership or if you’d like us to share some whisky wisdom and recommendations. And if we don’t know the answer – we’ll track it down like a whisky ninja!

GET IN TOUCH

We promise we’re not robots. We’re a small team, all of us members, and would love some chat from kindred spirits – if only to hear what you’ve been doing and what you’re drinking.

The Scotch Malt Whisky Society, The Vaults, 87 Giles Street, Leith EH6 6BZ

Contact: sales@smws.com or call 0131 555 2929 (Mon-Fri 9am-4.45pm). Visit the Society at here for membership information

This is your chance to join and to take advantage of their great offers!

Spot the SMWS bottles in this amusing You Tube video

PREVIEW OUR
NEXT WHISKY & SPIRITS AUCTION
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Watch this Ben Nevis 1996 19 Year Old Cask 1424 Bottled 2016 – Private Cask Bottling
Preview The Auction

Robbie Millar Appointed MD Scotch & Irish Brand House, Beam Suntory

Millar returns to the UK to lead a Brand House focused on sustainability and premiumization

CHICAGO, July 7th, 2022 – Beam Suntory, a world leader in premium spirits, has named Robbie Millar Managing Director of the Scotch & Irish Brand House, overseeing a brand portfolio that includes Laphroaig®, Bowmore®, Auchentoshan® and Kilbeggan®.“Beam Suntory is building global brands that consumers love, and our Brand House Managing Directors play a critical role in that journey,” said Jessica Spence, President of Brands at Beam Suntory. “Robbie is an exceptional, commercially astute leader who will steer, alongside a superb team, our Scotch and Irish Brand House into an ever-stronger position. More sustainable and more premium and always, always with our consumers and customers at the heart of our plans.”

Millar is an experienced leader with a 20-year career in the premium spirits and beer industry and a track record for building global brands. He joins from Carlsberg, where he served as VP Global Marketing, managing the company’s two largest brands – Carlsberg and Tuborg.

Prior to Carlsberg, Millar served as Global Director, Category Development for SAB Miller, Senior Partner and Managing Director for Kantar Consulting, and Managing Director for Compass Box Whisky.

“The remit I have here at Beam Suntory in leading this amazing house is hugely exciting and I recognise the responsibility it comes with,” said Millar “I am a custodian of iconic Scotch & Irish whiskies and have a duty to build these brands for the benefit of all our people, consumers, customers and the local communities in which we operate. Underpinning all our work – fuelling our continued success – will be a deep belief in craft, quality and sustainability.”

Millar’s appointment further strengthens the company’s Brand House leadership, which includes end-to-end P&L management.  Earlier this month, Beam Suntory announced the appointment of company veteran Carlo Coppola to Managing Director of the James B. Beam Distilling Co. Brand House.

Millar, a native of Scotland, will be relocating to the United Kingdom for the role. He will spend the majority of his time directly in Scotland to be close to Beam Suntory’s brand heritage and build relationships with the wider whisky community and trade.

Millar will report to Spence.

About Beam Suntory
As a world leader in premium spirits, Beam Suntory inspires human connections. Consumers from all corners of the globe call for the company’s brands, including the iconic Jim Beam® and Maker’s Mark® bourbon brands and Courvoisier® cognac, as well as world renowned premium brands including Basil Hayden®, Knob Creek®, and Legent™ bourbon; Yamazaki®, Hakushu®, Hibiki® and Toki™ Japanese whisky; Teacher’s, Laphroaig® and Bowmore® Scotch whisky; Canadian Club® whisky; Hornitos® and Sauza® tequila; EFFEN®, Haku® and Pinnacle® vodka; Sipsmith® and Roku™ gin; and On The Rocks Premium Cocktails.

Beam Suntory was created in 2014 by combining the world leader in bourbon and the pioneer in Japanese whisky to form a new company with a deep heritage, passion for quality, innovative spirit and vision of Growing for Good, which now includes its transformative sustainability strategy, Proof Positive. Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, Beam Suntory is a subsidiary of Suntory Holdings Limited of Japan. For more information on Beam Suntory, its brands, and its commitment to social responsibility, please visit www.beamsuntory.com and www.drinksmart.com.

BENROMACH 40 YEARS OLD 

2022 RELEASE

This new limited release from Benromach Distillery is an amazing follow-up to the 2021 edition, which was voted World’s Best Whisky at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition. Matured in the finest hand-selected sherry casks, this forty years old single malt from Benromach Distillery delivers fragrant spices and stewed red berries, followed by morello cherry, dark chocolate and mature oak.

TASTING NOTES

NOSE: Fragrant cinnamon and ginger spices with Seville orange. Stewed red berries develop with a hint of roasted hazelnut.

PALATE: Sweet Morello cherry flavours combined with baked apple and liquorice. Rich dark chocolate notes leading to fruitcake and subtle black pepper

FINISH: Full, with forest fruits and mature oak.

Shop now

474 Union Street, Aberdeen, United Kingdom, AB10 1TS

Infrequent Flyers Batch #10

Allt-a-Bhainne 16 Year Old

2005 vintage Pedro Ximenez sherry cask #805181 at 62.3% yielding 634 bottles.

Notes from Alistair Walker: 

“Nose Oooft, what a nose! Complex like calculus, with a battle raging between sweet and savoury! Burnt toffee, BBQ sauce, balsamic glaze, chocolate coated chorizo balls (I swear I had these at a wedding in Spain).

Taste Viscous, rich and full-bodied. Dark chocolate and fudge to the fore, alongside a curious but most welcome sweet balsamic presence. Quite a spicy dram; cracked black pepper and ground cinnamon are not shy here. Honourable mentions too for liquified brown sugar, peanut butter and cocoa powder, which all contribute. There’s a lot going on here. Allt-a-Bhainne or Altered Beast!?”

Buy – Allt-a-Bhainne 16 – £105.05 / $105* / €103*

Allt-a-Bhainne 16 Year Old 2005 vintage Speyside single malt Scotch whisky. Single PX Sherry Puncheon #805181 bottled March 2022 by The Alistair Walker Whisky Co. for the Infrequent Flyers series. 634 bottles.

Allt-a-Bhainne Distillery is a less well known distillery which opened in 1975. Residing to the south west of Dufftown where it catches the sun at the foot of Ben Rinnes mountain and suitably situated by the Allt-a-Bhainne Burn to take advantage of the rain and melting snow as they drain off the steep slopes of the Ben. Originally designed to supply light malt whisky to Chivas blends this distillery recently began producing peated. Whilst its original complement of two stills were increased to four in 1989 there have been few official distillery bottlings. Independent bottlings include Connoisseurs Choice and First Editions.