WhistlePig launches ‘No History No Rules’ inaugural UK cocktail competition

WhistlePig Rye Whiskey has launched its first ever UK cocktail competition, inviting bartenders across the country to explore the wonderful world of Rye whiskey.

The ‘No History No Rules’ competition has been borne out of WhistlePig’s ideology to rip up the rye rulebook and push the limitations of the category, rather than replicating what has been done in the past.

The inaugural competition is inviting bartenders to enter their cocktail creations that don’t conform to the norm, with the only rule being that WhistlePig 10 Year Old should feature in the recipe.

There will be five regional heats to the competition in London, Scotland, northern and southern regions and the midlands, with the final taking place on Monday 4^th July in London. The top scoring three contestants will all win a place on a superb VIP trip to Vermont to visit the home of WhistlePig later in the year, as well as receiving a special bottling from the distillery team in person. The overall winner will also receive a bottle of The Boss Hog VIII – WhistlePig’s stunning limited-edition Rye whiskey.

Dan Priseman, WhistlePig’s UK and European Steward of the brand said: “We are very excited to be launching our first ever WhistlePig Rye Whiskey cocktail competition for the UK and are hoping bartenders up and down the country will rip up the rule book and be as creative and trail-blazing as possible with their cocktail creations!”

“In the true spirit of WhistlePig, we will be celebrating the most unusual and inspiring drinks that bartenders can come up with – nothing is off the table and the only limit is your imagination.”

The competition is being hosted in partnership with BarLifeUK to help drive entries and raise awareness of the opportunity directly to the bartending community. Entrants have until 15^th May to submit their cocktail concepts online, before the regional heats begin later in May.

To find out more about the WhistlePig ‘No History No Rules’ cocktail competition or to enter online, visit HERE

A bit about WhistlePig Rye Whiskey:

On the 500-acre farm in Vermont where the distillery is located, the creative distilling team has reimagined what rye whisky could be, from finishing their 12 Year Old World Rye in a combination of wine casks, to having barrels custom made from their own Vermont oak trees to add depth of flavour to the 15 Year Old. Experimentation and innovation are at the heart of the distillery’s ethos and all the award-winning whiskies that they produce.

We’re delighted to announce the launch of our limited edition Hearts & Crafts Rum Cask Single Malt Whisky, which is now available to purchase on our website and in-store.Our Rum Cask Single Malt Whisky is the third expression in our Hearts & Crafts collection. This yearly limited edition series celebrates the Arts & Crafts movement which flourished here in the Cotswolds and stood for the importance of traditional craftsmanship – the same values upon which our beautiful rural distillery was built.For this release, we’ve selected a small parcel of premium French oak ex-red wine casks seasoned with Caribbean rum. The result is a well balanced single malt with delicious notes of baked apple, vanilla ice cream and a hint of nutmeg spice on the nose, soft brown sugar and ripe pears to taste, followed by dried tropical fruit.

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New Riff Bottled-In-Bond Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey (750ml)

$39.99

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Whisky Advocate

 Fresh and delicate on the nose, with stone fruit—especially peaches—white pepper, orange Creamsicle, and spice. A generous oak backbone provides the foundation for plums, nectarines, black pepper, clove, chamomile tea, and piney cedar that sweeps into a dry oak, cocoa, iced-tea finish. Although a bit hot at times, the balance and array of flavors is an outstanding coup for this young distillery. (SSB winter 2018) 

K&L Notes

Quite frankly, there isn’t a project in Kentucky as exciting as New Riff if you’re a classic Bourbon fan. Ken Lewis and Jay Erisman and their incredible team have set out to make KY Bourbon and Rye in a very traditional manner, but with more flexibiltiy than the big boys in the state so they have the ability to riff on those classics for incredible special releases. The distillery is committed to their core products always being Bottled-In-Bond – the world’s strictest legal standard for spirits production. They’ve actually even gone a step further and engrained in their core production values the decision to never chill filter. They’re all about maximizing flavor. The flagship BIB bourbon is a high rye mashbill that brings a punchy spice without sacrificing that sweet caramel and vanilla profile that has made Bourbon such a beloved beverage. The quality is off the charts, everything is well aged (4 years is the minimum ever released by the distillery), the vibe is fun, and the price is right. In short – New Riff is the best new distillery to open in KY in decades.

Warehouse 2 Batch No. 003

Limited Release | 2015 Vintage | 70cl | 50.6% ABV

The third release in the Warehouse Collection, Batch No.003 has been crafted using a handpicked selection of ex-Bourbon barrels, Rum barrels and French Red Wine barriques. The spirit was distilled at the Fettercairn stills in 2015, patiently maturing in Warehouse 2 before being bottled in 2022.

Batch No.003 is a rare and remarkable Single Malt that has been shaped by its maturation; the unique dunnage environment it was produced in combination with the three cask maturation reveal a Whisky of distinctive character. It is a superb Highland Single Malt, displaying the wonderful Fettercairn house-style that is abundant with tropical flavours and soft spice.

£59.95

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Tasting Notes 

Colour: Natural golden amber.

Aroma: Warm honey, Alphonso mangos, brioche, cocoa, subtle forest fruits and waves of rose water.

Taste: Passion fruit, papaya, red berries and grape harmonised with sugared almonds, patisserie spice and heather honey.

Bevridge Announces a New Way to Experience Spirits

On-demand content paired with premium spirits that can be enjoyed from the comfort of your own home

SAN FRANCISCO, CA (April, 2022) – This April, Bevridge releases its highly anticipated first-of-its-kind tasting experience which pairs on-demand video content with premium whisky samples. The first, limited-edition experience, which celebrates American Single Malts ($250) features 10 carefully curated 50ml bottles paired with bespoke digital content that will transport you to distilleries around the country, from the comfort of your own home.

As the American Single Malt designation is expected to become an officially recognized spirits category in the US this year – represented in a larger way on liquor stores shelves and bar menus – the Bevridge American Single Malt Tasting Experience offers a great way for you to taste and learn about many of the most respected American Single Malts, including Balcones, Boulder Spirits, Sante Fe Spirits, Virginia Distillery Company, Westland Distillery and Westward Distilling, all at the same time.

This Bevridge tasting experience is enhanced through unparalleled access to the biggest names in the spirits industry and distilling through specialty content. At Bevridge.co, customers can access the library of digital videos, panel discussions, and guided tastings – including conversations with brand owners and Master Distillers on how their brands were started, guided tours of their distillery floors and rickhouses, and most importantly, tasting through their portfolios right with the producers themselves!

Future tasting experiences will explore whisk(e)y subcategories from all over the world.

Start your journey today by creating a profile on Bevridge.co and purchase the inaugural American Single Malt Tasting Experience ($250) at Bevridge.co, ReserveBar.com and fine spirits retailers around the US.

The Lakes Whiskymaker’s Reserve No.5 Description

Looking to treat yourself this Easter? Handpicked by The Whisky Exchange co-founder Sukhinder Singh, our single cask selection features whiskies he loved enough to release them under our own name.

The range showcases the flavours and styles we love in whisky today – from a herbal and smoky 15-year-old Croftengea to a 2008-vintage Glen Elgin packed with orchard fruit flavour. Find a dram you’ll love from one of Scotland’s finest distilleries.

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Fettercairn
Warehouse 2 Batch 3

Fettercairn’s latest Warehouse 2 batch 3

These Warehouse 2 releases from Fettercairn really do sell like hot cakes, so makes sure to grab a bottle of this third batch whilst we have it! With a combo of tasty casks paired with their tropical style spirit it is sure to be a winner.

£60.00
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The English Royal Platinum Jubilee

To mark this extraordinary event of seeing our Queen reign for 70years, we are releasing a wonderful single malt to join our Royal range of whiskies. This range is only bottled to mark births, marriages, coronations and jubilees; so any launch is always rare and sought after.

This launch is to celebrate the Queens platinum jubilee is no exception, with the whisky being a single malt sourced from the finest oak casks that have been sleeping in our maturation warehouses on site at the distillery.

46% ABV

Receive 10% discount when you purchase 6 bottles of  the Royal Platinum Jubilee Decanters.

Holyrood Distillery to Introduce Two New Strong Waters to UK Market

This Spring, Edinburgh’s Holyrood Distillery is set to introduce two ‘Strong Waters’ into the UK market. Launching in April, the new varieties, named Charmed Circle, are the magnificent results of Holyrood’s experimentation with heritage barleys and their progressive approach to spirit-making.

Fuelled by a passion for Edinburgh’s brewing past and the land that surrounds the distillery, Nick Ravenhall and Marc Watson set about trialling some of the UK’s most famed barley varieties, as well as digging deep to explore the very water that is found under the city. Drawing on Scotland’s native drinking culture around white spirits, Holyrood has categorised these spirits as ‘Strong Waters’ which is an archaic name, usually referring to any alcoholic liquids that were not being set aside as aqua vitae.

For centuries distillers have focused on a barley’s efficiency rather than its flavour, and as a result so many of Britain’s most popular barleys have been abandoned over time in favour of higher yielding varieties. By examining other properties and potential of heritage barley varieties such as Golden Promise and Chevalier, Holyrood’s team soon discovered the innate and powerful flavours, textures and aromas they could produce.

Holyrood distilled these barleys as part of their signature single malt new make and then blended them with neutral grain spirit, intensifying the flavours of the barleys, whilst also developing their richness and mouthfeel, creating texture in the resulting spirits. These innovative liquids aim to bring flavour back to the white spirit sector, to be enjoyed neat and in longer mixed drinks.

While Scotland’s capital has an established brewing history, not many modern spirit makers are utilising the city’s terroir and high-quality water supply that once powered brewing in the city. The very name of the new Strong Waters refers to a collection of wells situated around Arthur’s Seat. Known as the ‘Charmed Circle,’ this cluster of wells supplied the flourishing brewing community the city once held, with some of the wells and water aquifer still in use underneath the distillery today.

Heritage barley connects the liquid with the land in the same way as wine relates to its terroir. The two expressions reveal interesting facets of the cityscape, the brewers that came before and the season in which they were developed. The Golden Promise is a classic British spring barley variety that was the dominant variety in Scotland during the 1970s, whilst Chevalier also dominated the English brewing crop for around 60 years. Holyrood aims to bring these barleys back to their former glory, highlighting barley as a key flavour component in white spirit making.

Tasting Notes

Golden Promise: Comprises 15% Golden Promise – New Make Spirit + 85% GNS + water
– N. Bright, citrus, lemon zest, refreshing orange blossom
– B. Clean, mouthcoating, lemon blossom lift
– F. Clean, gentle, moreish

Chevalier: Comprises 15% Chevalier – New Make Spirit + 85% GNS + water
– N. Creamy, butter, digestive biscuit
– B. Rich, mouthcoating, churned cream and butter
– F. Long rich, moreish

Holyrood’s spirit making ethos remains the same, to share their making journey, inspired by the city which makes them as a team and the liquids they produce.
Charmed Circle’s RRP is £34.99 and will be available from April 2022.
www.holyrooddistillery.co.uk
@holyrooddistillery