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The Spirit of Unity Blended Whisky UPDATE From Royal Mile Whiskies – Scotch Whisky News

May 14th, 2011

The Spirit of Unity Blended Whisky.

As sent to the Royal Mile customers who ordered specifically from them;

The response to this initiative to aid Japanese Disaster Relief has been overwhelming and as such all stock has been completely pre-sold.

This is the first time that there has been this level of cooperation between different independent distilleries to produce one bottle of whisky and due to the complex nature of the project there has been a delay.

Please rest assured that as soon as we receive the stock, your order will despatched as swiftly as possible.

Here is the latest information we have available:

“As the Spokesperson for the Spirit of Unity Project I would like to bring you up to date with regards to the availability of the bottles.

In bringing together such a unique bottling there are inevitably going to be a few hitches along the way and unfortunately this has been the case. As a result of some issues with the packaging we are now looking at bottling the whisky on May 18th with the stock available for despatch to Royal Mile Whiskies and then onwards to actual consumers/customers as soon as possible. Your patience in this matter is greatly appreciated and rest assured we are pulling out the stops to ensure you get your hands on the bottles as quickly as we can.

In terms of the objective of the project we are collaborating with an organisation called Refugees International Japan to put the funds to the best use possible. The CEO of RIJ, Jane Best, has recommended funding a number of long-term projects in the affected Tohoku area to assist with the rebuilding of this shattered community. More information on how the money is being spent will follow in due course.

Thank you once again for your terrific support of this very worthwhile cause” (Euan Mitchell, MD Isle of Arran Distillers)

We would hope that the inconvenience of this delay can be put into perspective and seen as relatively nothing compared to the hardship still being experienced in Japan. The most important thing is that the money raised by your generosity is already being used to get the disaster hit areas back on their feet. Here is a brief report from David Kroll who visited the affected areas late last month;

“Both Jane (from RIJ) and I have been up to the affected areas in the past couple of weeks and came back with very similar conclusions, namely that the first-aid stage is over. People have shelter and food, but haven’t even started to rebuild houses or livelihoods. If anything, there is too much short-term aid – people no longer need blankets and bottled water and indeed many places are now refusing to take any more.

Jane’s advice therefore, with which I concur, is to continue to make contacts locally and just wait a while for things to develop. Once the rebuilding starts for real, it should be a lot easier to identify projects that will make a real and long-lasting difference to people’s lives.”

For each bottle sold through Royal Mile Whiskies £40.94 (retail price, less VAT and Duty) per bottle has gone towards the relief effort. This equates to a grand total of £29,231.16 raised.

Thank you all for your great contribution.

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