Cask Trade Named Among UK’s Most Innovative New Businesses

Cask Trade listed in the prestigious Startups 100 Index

Startups 100 Index has previously identified brands including Monzo, Deliveroo and HelloFresh

Index finds the top 100 start-ups with the most growth potential for the year ahead

The UK’s longest running index of disruptive new start-ups, the Startups 100, has released its 2024 line-up and Cask Trade has made the list.

Run by the UK’s most established website for entrepreneurs, Startups.co.uk, the Startups 100 offers a showcase of new businesses that demonstrate innovation, solid financials, opportunity in their market, a great concept, and a strong customer base or following. The list has previously identified brands including Monzo, Deliveroo and HelloFresh.

Founded in 2018, Cask Trade is run by passionate spirits industry professionals. Built upon honesty and transparency, we created an open cask marketplace where the end goal of selling casks is as important as buying them. The foundation of this is a trusted relationship with collectors, investors, and independent bottlers within the industry. We are proud in our belief that by owning all the casks we sell, customers have 100% transactional guarantee.

In five years Cask trade has successfully grown to become a Sunday Times Top 100 Business in Britain for 2023. Offices in the UK and Hong Kong, alongside agents in Australia, Singapore, India, and the USA, allow us to cater for a diverse range of customer needs. As a result, we have sold approximately 9000 casks to over 1800 private customers and around 150 independent bottlers spanning six continents.

The casks we have sold cover 50 years’ worth of age statements from 1973 to 2023, with an astonishing 170 distilleries represented across the world of whisky and other spirits.

Managing Editor of Startups.co.uk, Richard Parris, comments: “The ingenuity and innovation of the brands featuring in our annual Startups 100 index never ceases to amaze, and this year is no exception. Despite the crises of the past couple of years, we’ve seen some incredible businesses from every corner of the UK in our rankings. They may be tackling different challenges to one another, but there’s a shared mood of opportunity and an optimism for the year ahead that’s invigorating to see as we begin 2024.”

Commenting on the achievement, Simon Aron, founder and CEO of Cask Trade says: “This is truly a pleasant and unexpected achievement to be 24 out of 100 start-ups, alongside so many fantastic companies. I’ve had the pleasure of turning my personal passion into a fast growing business, with success down to the hard work and dedication from co-directors and our fabulous team.”

About the Index:
The Startups 100, run by Startups.co.uk, showcases the top 100 new UK businesses based on five key areas of analysis: finance, external validation, size of opportunity, innovativeness of idea and strength of concept.

As well as celebrating the best small businesses in the UK, the list is also an opportunity to grow a community of like-minded entrepreneurs and business owners who support and advocate for each other.

Notes to editors:
To feature, all businesses in the index had to have launched in the last 5 years, be UK-based, and be privately owned (at the time of entering). The winners of the Startups 100 Index are chosen by a specialist panel of judges.

For the full list visit: https://startups.co.uk/startups-100/2024/list-in-full/

Happy New Year! We hope you had a wonderful holiday filled with warmth, laughter, and, of course, some sensational Society drams. As we start a new year, we’d like to invite you to join us in celebrating the pure pleasure of phenomenal whisky flavours, and we have 7 new bottles that will keep you riding the flavour wave!

PLEASING AND DELIGHTFUL*

CASK NO. G15.30

REGION:  Highland

CASK TYPE:  1st fill ex-bourbon barrel

AGE:  8 years

FLAVOUR PROFILE:  Juicy, oak & vanilla

BOTTLE NOTE:  “Bourbon vanilla sweetness and light spicy pine wood were followed by crème caramel, shortbread, linden blossom essential oil and pineapple cubes.”

*GIVING SPIRIT BOTTLE:  100% of SMWS Canada’s profits from the sales of this bottle will go to UNICEF Canada. Read more about the Giving Spirit program here.

DIET PEAT

CASK NO. G15.34

REGION:  Highland

CASK TYPE:  2nd fill ex-bourbon barrel

AGE:  8 years

FLAVOUR PROFILE:  Lightly peated

BOTTLE NOTE:  “A delicate peat profile that’s unusual and highly delicious, involving citrus fruits, grasses and various bandages and medical tinctures.”

DARK ‘N’ STORMY CRÈME BRÛLÉE

LIMIT ONE PER MEMBER

DISTILLERY G16 RARE RELEASE

REGION:  Lowland

CASK TYPES:  1st fill barrels #4 char

AGE:  6 years

FLAVOUR PROFILE:  Spicy & dry

G16 is the result of a custom distillation that we carried out when we did a special project to distil our own bourbon-style mash bill at distillery no. 156. We created a mash bill of 58% corn, 21% malted barley and 21% unmalted rye; it’s certainly one of a kind, a custom distillation never to be repeated.

FIT FOR A KING

CASK NO. 95.86

REGION:  Speyside

CASK TYPE:  2nd fill ex-bourbon barrel

AGE:  12 years

FLAVOUR PROFILE:  Spicy & dry

BOTTLE NOTE:  “Gooseberry, sherbet lemon and mint precede a chilli-ginger greengage chutney with artisan cheese and oatcakes accompanied by a nettle salad.”

“MY GRANNY’S OLD SHED”

CASK NO. 68.101

REGION:  Highland

INITIAL CASK:  Ex-bourbon hogshead

FINAL CASK:  1st fill PX hogshead

AGE:  14 years

FLAVOUR PROFILE:  Spicy & sweet

BOTTLE NOTE:  “‘Granny’s shed on a hot day’, red wine spilled on leather and oak; prunes, chocolate raisins, crème brûlée, cinnamon pastries and ginger.”

WILL YOU JOIN THE WORM TUB CLUB?

CASK NO. 36.209

REGION:  Speyside

INITIAL CASK:  Ex-bourbon hogshead

FINAL CASK:  1st fill oloroso hogshead

AGE:  14 years

FLAVOUR PROFILE:  Deep, rich & dried fruits

BOTTLE NOTE:  “This put a smile on our faces as we met cherry pie, sticky toffee pudding, cooked amarena cherries, beeswax, boysenberry chutney and orange pomander.”

DOWN WITH SUBTLETY!

CASK NO. 16.87

REGION:  Highland

CASK TYPE:  1st fill hogshead heavy char #4+

AGE:  9 years

FLAVOUR PROFILE:  Heavily peated

BOTTLE NOTE:  “The fusion of wood power and peat power go head to head with thrilling and mind-mangling effect – like quaffing distilled hot sauce in a barbecue.”

The Scotch Malt Whisky Society Canada
Suite 160
104 – 1240 Kensington Road NW
Calgary, AB  T2N 3P7
403-969-8225
curious@smws.ca
www.smws.ca

We strive for continual growth and improvement in the service we offer and to make our auctions the best they can be we have made a small increase to our lot fee.

We have always aimed to be the most affordable option for selling your bottles and are still committed to this.  As such we haven’t raised our lot fee in the last 2 years, however in order to provide the best possible service going forward we are making a small increase from £6 to £8 per bottle from the 152nd auction onwards.

Unlike almost all other auction houses we are still committed to not charging commission to sellers who wish to sell their bottles with us, so even with this small fee increase we believe we are still the most attractive proposition for sellers in the current market.

Thank you for continuing to choose Scotch Whisky Auctions and all the best for 2024.

Scotch Whisky Auctions · Unit C · 139 Lancefield Street · Glasgow, Lanarkshire G3 8HZ · United Kingdom

GLENLIVET DISTILLERY

20 Year Old 2002 Connoisseurs Choice (2023)

Cask #800768

£194.26

Glenlivet 20 Year Old 2002 vintage Speyside single malt Scotch whisky. Single 1st Fill Bourbon barrel #800768 bottled 2023 by Gordon & MacPhail for the Connoisseurs Choice series. 172 bottles. Vanilla custard aromas complement tropical fruits and floral notes. Creamy white chocolate leads to pineapple and nectarine, balanced by black pepper. A medium finish with mixed nuts and lemon zest.

Having out-grown his distillery at Upper Drumin George Smith built a new distillery in 1858 at Minore just short distance upstream of the River Livet and which he opened the following year and named Glenlivet Distillery. During the 1850s the Edinburgh firm of Andrew Usher produced the first vatting of malt whisky from a single distillery using a number of different vintages of Glenlivet whisky. Following expansion in 2010 this distillery is now equipped with fourteen stills making it one of the largest malt whisky distilleries in Scotland. The range includes Glenlivet Founders Reserve and Nadurra.

Rare Perfection 14 Year Old Canadian Whisky

(750ml)

$79.99 View

The Rare Perfection whiskies are just that—exceedingly rare and just about as perfect as whisky gets. The careful selection for this brand is unmatched in the industry. Nationality isn’t a factor; if it’s a true rarity and the whiskey is great, it can be bottled. It’s clear the palates making these choices are good, as this bottling is brought to you by the folks at Preservation Distillery in Bardstown, the same people responsible for bottling Very Olde St. Nick and Wattie Boone. This current release of Rare Perfection is a story of relationships and serendipity. The barrels for Rare Perfection 14 and 15 were found in the back of a unique warehouse when the new owners took stock of their purchase. Due to mutual friends in the business, the principals of Rare Perfection received a call about these sublime casks. After sampling them without any information they were blown away and asked for specifics. Turns out these ancient casks were made of new charred oak and filled with a Waterloo, a four grain bourbon mashbill distilled in Canada. They then aged in asingle level warehouse whith extremely cool temperatures maintained year round. Because of this atypical bourbon aging environment, the interaction with the wood was dramatically slowed and the final result after 14 and 15 years is indeed rare perfection.

Email: wine@klwines.com
Phone: (877) KL-WINES (Toll Free 877.559.4637)
K&L Wine Merchants 3005 El Camino Real Redwood City, CA 94061 USA
San Francisco, Redwood City, Hollywood CA

Phil will return next week….

CHRIS STAPLETON AND BUFFALO TRACE MASTER DISTILLER HARLEN WHEATLEY UNVEIL TRAVELLER WHISKEY

A first-of-its-kind collaboration from Buffalo Trace Distillery, Traveller is the result of meticulous craftsmanship and a shared commitment to uncompromising quality

FRANKFORT, FRANKLIN COUNTY, KY (Jan. 8, 2024) – Buffalo Trace Distillery’s Master Distiller Harlen Wheatley and Grammy-winning singer, songwriter and musician Chris Stapleton today unveiled Traveller Whiskey, a new, premium blended whiskey that represents a first-of-its-kind collaboration of collective artistry. Proudly blended and bottled at the World’s Most Award-Winning Distillery under Wheatley’s expert supervision, Traveller is the result of countless hours of testing, tasting and dedication to craftsmanship that have produced powerful songs and world-class whiskeys.

Of the collaboration, Stapleton shared, “Partnering with Buffalo Trace Distillery and Harlen Wheatley feels like a bucket list scenario for me. Some things just make total sense – and this is definitely one of those things. Bottles from barrels that Harlen has cared for have been with us for every note we’ve ever recorded, backstage before shows and in all the moments we’ve celebrated along the way. I believe what we’ve achieved with Traveller Whiskey not only represents our shared history but also a common artistic vision and uncompromising standards of taste. I couldn’t be prouder of what we’ve made.”

Wheatley added: “When making art –  and we really do think that both Chris’ music and the whiskey we make at Buffalo Trace is art – you experiment, test, adjust, and don’t give up until you’ve got it right. That’s why we experimented with more than 50 blends before agreeing that Blend No. 40 would be it for Traveller.”

Bottled at 90 proof, Traveller Whiskey is characterized by notes of oak, sweet maple, tart currant and leather. Complex aromas of vanilla, aged fruit and buttery shortbread are rounded off by caramel and a touch of oak. The flavor profile also showcases a touch of sweetness, followed by spice, toasted nut and oak flavors, closing with a robust finish. Traveller is a completely unique combination of whiskeys hand-selected from The Sazerac Company’s award-winning distilleries.

“This is a whiskey for everyone, whether you’ve been enjoying all the variety in the category for years or are just now discovering it. Traveller stands up on its own as a smooth and sippable whiskey or works great in a cocktail, if that’s more your style,” said Wheatley. “But especially if you’ve tried whiskey before and been turned away by the burn – we think you’ll take one sip of this and think to yourself, “OK, now this I can do.”

Born in Lexington, KY, just down the road from Buffalo Trace Distillery, Stapleton’s relationship with Buffalo Trace matured while he recorded his first studio album, Traveller. It was during those recording sessions that he was first introduced to E.H. Taylor, one of the Distillery’s other whiskey offerings, which soon became a staple on his home bar. Since then, Buffalo Trace has collaborated with Chris and Morgane Stapleton’s charitable fund, Outlaw State of Kind, for multiple fundraising initiatives.

Traveller Whiskey has been widely released to retailers, bars and restaurants nationwide as of January 1, 2024 at a suggested retail price of $39.99 (local taxes and fees will vary).

To learn more, visit www.travellerwhiskey.com.

About Buffalo Trace Distillery

Buffalo Trace Distillery is an American family-owned company based in Frankfort, Kentucky. The Distillery’s rich tradition dates back to 1775 and includes such legends as E.H. Taylor, Jr., George T. Stagg, Albert B. Blanton, Orville Schupp, and Elmer T. Lee.  Buffalo Trace Distillery is a fully operational Distillery producing bourbon, rye and vodka on site and is a National Historic Landmark as well as listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Distillery has won 40 distillery titles since 2000 from such notable publications as Whisky Magazine, Whisky Advocate Magazine and Wine Enthusiast Magazine. Its George T. Stagg was named World Whiskey of the Year for 2022 and its Thomas H. Handy Sazerac Rye was named 2nd Finest Whiskey in the World for 2022. Buffalo Trace Distillery has also garnered more than 1,000 awards for its wide range of premium whiskeys. Buffalo Trace Distillery also has a deep commitment to supporting charitable initiatives. Nonprofit organizations interested in learning more about the Distillery’s efforts are encouraged to register their charity here. To learn more about Buffalo Trace Distillery, visit www.buffalotracedistillery.com.

About Chris Stapleton

Kentucky-born Chris Stapleton is an 8x Grammy, 15x CMA and 10x ACM Award-winner and one of the country’s most respected and beloved musicians. In the midst of yet another triumphant year, Stapleton is nominated for three awards at the 66th Annual GRAMMY Awards: Best Country Solo Performance (“White Horse”), Best Country Song (“White Horse”) and Best Country Duo/Group Performance (“We Don’t Fight Anymore” with Carly Pearce). The nominations follow Stapleton’s new album, Higher, which was recently released to overwhelming critical acclaim. Produced by Dave Cobb, Morgane Stapleton and Chris Stapleton and recorded at Nashville’s historic RCA Studio A, the record has landed on several “Best of 2023” lists so far including Billboard, Esquire, Los Angeles Times, Vulture and Rolling Stone, who praises, “dazzling…the best evidence yet for the way one man’s voice has become synonymous with the very idea of a musical genre.” Additionally, The New Yorker declares, “Stapleton is the rare country star with both traditional bona fides and broad commercial appeal. He has an outlaw soul and a pop star’s capacity for inescapable hooks,” while GQ proclaims, “In an age rife with division, he’s maybe the only thing Americans all agree on.” Known for his electric live performances, Stapleton will continue his “All-American Road Show” tour this year and will also join George Strait for select stadium shows this summer with special guests Little Big Town. In addition to his work as a musician, Stapleton and his wife, Morgane, are also founders of the Outlaw State of Kind charitable fund, which supports a variety of causes that are close to their heart.

The Macallan is 200 Years Young – we are looking at our history, with our eyes set on the future. Join us as we raise a glass to our storied legacy, whilst looking forward to everything that is yet to come. This is a journey through time.

Watch

As we mark the beginning of The Macallan’s 200 Years Anniversary, our new 200 Years Young logo is presented as the embodiment of our legacy; the past, present and future of The Macallan.

This animation has been crafted to show how The Macallan is present in the shape of our 200 Years Young logo. The wave pattern in the logo evokes the connection between our foundations and our future, merging the curve of the River Spey with the rolling curves of the Distillery roof. It also contains within it an echo of the infinity symbol, evoking the concepts of time and generational legacy.

This is a journey through time. This is The Macallan, 200 Years Young.​​

Crafted without compromise. 

The Macallan Distillery Experience, The Macallan Distillers Ltd,  Easter Elchies,  Craigellachie, Moray, AB38 9RX, Scotland, +44 (0)1340 318 000

Glendronach 1993 29 Year Old #6737

This rare 1993 vintage Glendronach has spent its entire life in a Pedro Ximénez Puncheon with a yield of only 624 bottles, presented at 53.3% abv. ​ It has a classic spirit style, ebony in colour with a mellow nose of dried fruits, coffee and chocolate mint. On the palate, expect sweet raisin and angelica root, mint chocolate and espresso coffee.​

£867.00
SHOP NOW ❯

Free Next Day Delivery for 12 Months For just £14.95 you can enjoy free next day delivery on all your orders for a whole year! Geographic restrictions apply, see full T&Cs. Find out more ❯

PITTYVAICH DISTILLERY

33 Year Old 1990 Old & Rare Platinum (2023)

£397.82

Pittyvaich 33 Year Old 1990 vintage Speyside single malt Scotch whisky. Single Pedro Ximenez sherry hogshead bottled September 2023 by Hunter Laing & Co. for the Old & Rare Platinum series. 223 numbered bottles. This amber coloured whisky has intense notes of stewed plums, dark chocolate sauce and various aromatic spices on the nose. Surprisingly soft and sweet on the palate, more on milk chocolate, rum & raisin ice cream and heather honey, leading into a long, dessert-like finish.

Pittyvaich is a closed and demolished Scotch whisky distillery. Located in Speyside, it was founded in 1975 by Arthur Bell & Sons primarily to provide spirit to keep up with demand for Bell’s Blended whisky. However, with demand falling the distillery closed in 1993 and was demolished in 2002 making it a lost Scotch distillery. Pittyvaich is a rarely seen single malt Scotch that had previously featured in Diageo’s Flora & Fauna range but now only occasionally appears among their Special Releases and Gordon & MacPhails Connoisseur’s Choice label.