Bimber goes virtual to keep the spirit alive

London’s Bimber Distillery has today announced that it will be “keeping the spirit alive” as part of the industry’s wider response to the COVID-19 crisis.

The distillery will be moving towards significantly broadening its digital offerings by producing a range of virtual tours and online tasting events so that enthusiast communities can continue to enjoy the Bimber experience from the comfort of their own homes.

In addition, in conjunction with a number of other spirit distilleries, Bimber will be assisting local front-line workers by producing 200 litres of much needed supplies of hand sanitiser from its stock of new make spirit.

Master Distiller Darius Plazewski said “We are gravely concerned about the significant threat that COVID-19 presents. By taking these steps to pivot our business to support both the nationwide health effort, and those staying at home, we hope we can make a difference and at the same time keep the spirit alive.”

Notes  

• Hand sanitiser production 

200 litres of hand sanitiser will be offered free of charge to local front-line workers. The distillery will not be producing sanitising products for commercial sale. 

• About Bimber 

Bimber Distillery produces world-class single malt whisky, handcrafted with passion in West London. As a leading distiller of English whisky, we combine generations of rich distilling heritage, with the finest quality ingredients to create the ultimate craft whisky experience.

DOUGLAS LAING’S THE EPICUREAN LOWLAND MALT

SEEKS TO SUPPORT THE ON-TRADE COMMUNITY

As the spirits trade faces mounting challenges from the impact of the COVID-19 crisis, leading Whisky specialist, Douglas Laing & Co., has today announced The Epicurean Lowland Malt Scotch Whisky will support the on-trade workforce on two fronts.

The plans confirm that with immediate effect, The Epicurean Lowland Malt is committed to donating £1 for every litre of The Epicurean sold globally – to The Benevolent Society of the Licensed Trade of Scotland on a long-term basis. The BEN Society delivers financial, social and emotional support to those who have committed three years+ to working in Scotland’s licensed trade – and thousands of bartenders are expected to benefit from the charitable partnership.

Douglas Laing & Co also announce, in a bid to reduce the immediate financial pressure on bartenders faced with reduced hours, they will recruit talented mixologists with a passion for Whisky to develop innovative, new perfect serves for the award-winning Epicurean brand at home. Dubbed “The Epicurean’s Cocktail Quarantine”, the activity is intended to economically support members of the on-trade whilst bringing some of the best bars – and indeed bartenders – to everyone’s home via Social Media.

Chris Leggat – CEO of Douglas Laing & Co. said: “The spirits category is in the thick of an exceptionally challenging period and we want to do what we can to support and give back. We’re acutely aware of the harsh reality that jobs will be affected, which is why our Epicurean Lowland Malt is looking to the future whilst also striving to alleviate some of the immediate financial pressure on some of the great people within our great spirits industry.”

Commenting on the long-term partnership, President of The BEN, Stephen J McGowan, said: “What a fabulous gesture from the good people at Douglas Laing. This is a period of extreme difficulty for staff working in the hospitality industry and the monies raised will go straight to our lifeline fund for staff affected by this pandemic”

Cara Laing, Director of Whisky at her family firm, comments: “The Epicurean, if he were a “real” person, stands for community spirit, humanity and social good. Whilst we are under no illusions about the scale of the impact of COVID-19 on the on-trade – both now and for a long time to come – we are committed to making our contribution, however slight, towards looking after our passionate, motivated bartending community.” 

ABOUT DOUGLAS LAING:

www.douglaslaing.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/douglaslaingwhisky

Instagram: @remarkable_malts

Douglas Laing & Co. is a leading independent Scotch Whisky blender and bottler specialising in the selection and release of Single Cask Single and Small Batch Malt Scotch Whiskies.

The company was founded by Fred Douglas Laing in 1948 and is still owned and run by the Laing family – Fred Laing Jr and his daughter Cara Laing.

The company philosophy is to bottle the way the distiller intended – at a high strength and without chill filtration to preserve the robust and unique character of the Whisky. Douglas Laing’s industry reputation and many awards is testament to this ethos.

Douglas Laing’s Remarkable Regional Malts, the Ultimate Distillation of Scotland’s Malt Whisky Regions, encompasses The Epicurean Lowland Malt Scotch Whisky, Timorous Beastie (Highlands), Scallywag (Speyside), The Gauldrons (Campbeltown), Rock Islands (Islands) and Big Peat (Islay). Beyond its Blended Malts expertise, the award-winning Douglas Laing portfolio also includes Provenance, Premier Barrel, Old Particular and Xtra Old Particular, collectively known as the firm’s “Exceptional Single Casks”.

The well-being of staff, customers and visitors will always be the primary focus for Glengoyne Distillery. Therefore, in light of the ongoing global health risk posed by COVID-19, you may already know that we’ve taken the difficult decision to close our distillery to members of the general public for the time being.

Read our full COVID-19 statement on our website.

However, we are still absolutely committed to keeping you entertained and updated on all things Glengoyne via our newsletters, website and social media. Starting as we mean to go on, we’re delighted to invite you to join us for a Facebook live tasting on Friday 27th March from 8pm GMT.

Be sure to join us with a dram in hand on International Whisky Day as Gordon Dundas, Glengoyne International Brand Ambassador hosts a Facebook Live Tasting.

Whisky Experiential Ambassador, Gordon Dallas will also join Gordon, and both will be thrilled to answer all your questions.

From now, we invite you to send us your questions in advance via our Facebook, Instagram or Twitter pages, or live on Facebook on the night itself, and we will enter you into our prize draw, where one lucky winner will receive a bottle of our much loved Teapot Dram, Batch 007. The winner will be notified on March 30th. T&Cs apply.

So, see you on the Glengoyne Facebook page, this Friday (TODAY)!

Sláinte!

Robbie Hughes
Distillery Manager

Glengoyne Distillery, Dumgoyne, Near Killearn, Glasgow G63 9LB
Tel. +44 (0)1360 550 254

Email: reception@glengoyne.com

Facebook | Twitter |  Youtube | Pinterest

I hope that you and your contacts are safe and well, and that you are able to manage disruption to your business as well as possible during these difficult days.

Like everybody, our priority is to ensure the wellbeing of our people, our customers, our clients and their families. To ensure this, we have taken the difficult but important decision to postpone our whisky Diploma courses in April and May and until such time as it is safe to run them again.

But, as we continue to navigate this challenge together, we at the Academy are reminded and inspired from all around us that now is the time to come together in other ways and support one another more than ever. To this end, we would like to offer you and all of your employees free access to our online ‘Focus on Flavour’ module in the hope that it provides a helpful and useful way of maintaining your whisky knowledge and education, wherever you are in the world.

If this offer can be of support, just follow (or copy and paste) this link  https://www.edinburghwhiskyacademy.com/online-courses/focus-on-flavour

From all at the Edinburgh Whisky Academy we send you our best wishes, support and spirit of togetherness until we can connect again,

Ian McKerrow

Edinburgh Whisky Academy

Coronavirus and TWL Events and Festivals

Greetings and Best Wishes from TWL HQ

We hope you are coping as best you can under these most challenging of times.

As we are sure you are aware, on Monday 16th March the UK Government gave the advice that we all avoid non-essential travel and public places such as pubs and clubs.

Whilst not an out-right ban, we feel the time is now to take decisive action in order to assist in delaying the spread of the Coronavirus.
Our highest priority has to be the health and well-being of you, our customers, our staff and venue staff.

Therefore we have taken the difficult decision to postpone and re-schedule all of our events with immediate effect, for at least the next 12 weeks.

We apologise if this causes any inconvenience but we feel sure you will understand and agree with our decision.

We are delighted to announce anyone booked onto a Guide to Whisky or an Asian Whisky tasting will be able to, if they wish, have a ‘taste at home’ pack, in place of their tasting booking. We will accompany these tasting packs with Facebook live taste-along sessions on Wednesday and Friday of each week, brought to you by one of our freelance presenters from the comfort and safety of their own home.

If you are already booked onto a tasting there is no charge for this pack. If you are not, this is a great way to have some fun and soothe your woes, whilst helping us help our freelance whisky experts continue to earn a living. For every 30 of these packs we send out we will be able to pay a presenter what we would normally pay them to do a physical tasting.
Please let us know, if you haven’t already, via email (info@thewhiskylounge.com), if you would like to have a tasting pack instead of a re-scheduled tasting.

In addition, please be assured that we will honour all current bookings at a future event, if you would prefer to see us in person!

We are currently confirming new dates with our venues for later in the year, and we will be in touch, with those already booked, in the coming weeks with a list of new dates for you to choose from.

We will be doing Facebook Live sessions two or three times a week, from 23rd March, and doing things like making hand-sanitiser, cocktail-making, whisky and food, chat and fun.

So make sure to follow us on social media – our Instagram, Facebook and Twitter handles are all below, in the footer of this email. If you don’t already follow us then, please feel free to tag us, and share you own handles with us so we can all help each other through this .

We appreciate, in advance, your understanding and we wish you, and your families, health and strength to get through this most challenging of
times.

We look forward to seeing you all soon and in the meantime hoping you all keep well.

Best wishes,

Eddie, Amanda and The Whisky Lounge Family

Buy Now

Hello, this is John, Compass Box Founder. I’d like to pass on a simple yet vital message of solidarity to our supporters, their families and our industry colleagues around the world. We’re in this together, and we’ll get through this together.

As you know, we work closely with bartenders and the hospitality industry, a huge and international group of people now trying to adjust to a world without customers to serve. We are hearing their stories and it’s heartbreaking.

As more governments announce lock-downs, we’re working out how best to play our part in the incredible efforts everyone is already making to look after each other. We’ll keep you updated on our plans, and in the meantime, we’re keen to hear what your local bars, restaurants and retailers are doing to raise spirits and support their communities.

Email us at hello@compassboxwhisky.com or share on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook and we’ll repost where we can to get the word out.

Take care of each other,

John

We’ve taken the difficult decision to close our offices and postpone our auctions with immediate effect. We’ve been closely monitoring the unfolding Covid-19 situation and we don’t feel it’s right or appropriate to continue  with the auction at this time. Taking orders that may not be delivered or cannot be collected would be ethically wrong.

As a business we have always put people before profits and the health and safety of our team, customers and suppliers must be a priority. We would not feel right continuing with the auction where there was the possibility we would be unable to fulfil orders, letting down both sellers and buyers.

We will continue to monitor the situation closely and operations will resume as soon as it is safe to do so. We will be back.

Please be assured if you have bottles here with us in our warehouse they are safe and insured in our dedicated facility.

Wishing everyone the very best in these challenging times.

Scotch Whisky Auctions

Hello friends, family, & whisky lovers,

It’s been a hectic past week for all of us, but we wanted to share some updates you’ve been asking about regarding the anticipated release of Courage & Conviction.

First, our Visitors Center has been closed since March 15th due to guidance regarding COVID-19. As such, the Courage & Conviction Release Party set for April 4th will be postponed to a date to be determined.

You’re such a huge part of Courage & Conviction’s release and we’re eager to celebrate with you, but in the interest of safety and health for our guests and our team, we feel postponement is in the best interests of everyone. We’ll be in touch when things settle down and can officially set a date.

Courage & Conviction – Now on Shelves in Virginia

On a positive note, we’re extremely proud to continue with the release of Courage & Conviction and happy to announce bottles are on shelves of select Virginia ABC Stores. If you’re interested in purchasing from your local Virginia ABC Store, visit our website to find out where you can get a bottle.

Buy Two Or More Bottles, Get $1 Shipping

Get your whisky delivered to you! Our 3rd party distributor has begun taking pre-orders of Courage & Conviction and is offering a buy two or more bottles and get $1 shipping.

In 2015, we began distilling our world-class American Single Malt whisky in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, but the dream started much earlier. After many years of planning, building and preparing for this inaugural release, we’re proud to see our founder George’s vision come to life.

Despite things looking a bit different in the world than we originally expected, we’re rolling with the punches and raising a glass with Courage & Conviction.

Be healthy. Be strong. We’ll get through this together! 🥃

Cheers,

– The Team at Virginia Distillery Company

Hello Dear Customers,

We wanted to reach out and let you know what we here at D&M are doing during the California shelter in place. We do have a license that would allow us to open for pickups. At this point in time in an abundance of caution, and to follow the spirit of the shelter in place, we are going to remain closed. Our online store at dandm.com remains open, and one of us will be going in once or twice a week to pack and ship any online orders that are placed. We love seeing you all, but to break the chain of potential transmission, we want to do our small part. People before profits in this time of need. We are in a good place to immediately reopen and resume normal operations once the shelter in place is lifted, and look forward to seeing you all on the other side of the CoVid-19 shelter in place.

Stay Safe and be well,

Mike and Karen Politz and the Staff at D&M

Covid-19 Service Update

As the Coronavirus / Covid 19 situation continues to develop, we will be following government guidelines and are taking appropriate steps to ensure the safety of our staff, families, customers, and suppliers whose welfare is of the utmost importance to us.

Where possible, our staff are working remotely to ensure that our customer support remains unaffected.

Our Birmingham store remains open for business and we can offer a contactless purchase option if you require. We have parking right outside our store and can bring any product to your vehicle to minimise your contact with us.

We continue to ship parcels domestically and to international destinations. Please be patient with our couriers as they are currently shipping very high volumes of parcels.

Our distribution warehouse is located on a different site, and our retail and distribution teams have been isolated from one another. We have taken additional steps to ensure that all parcels leaving our warehouse have been handled under World Health Organisation guidelines.

Hard To Find Whisky thank you for your continued support.

Best wishes and good health,

Hard To Find Whisky