MORRISON BOWMORE DISTILLERS AND CAMPARI AMERICA BOLSTER U.S. DISTRIBUTION ARRANGEMENT

Morrison Bowmore Distillers Grants Campari America – Exclusive U.S. Import and Distribution Rights For McClelland’s® Single Malt Scotch Whisky, Effective June 1, 2012

GLASGOW and SAN FRANCISCO  – Morrison Bowmore Distillers (MBD), one of the major names in Scotch Whisky, announces the appointment of Campari America (formerly Skyy Spirits) as the exclusive U.S. importer and distributor for MBD’s top-selling McClelland’s® Single Malt Scotch Whisky, effective June 1, 2012. The deal brings one of the world’s fastest-growing Scotch malt whisky brands into the folds of Campari America, who already manages distribution and marketing in the U.S. for MBD brands Bowmore® Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky, Auchentoshan® Lowland Single Malt Scotch Whisky, and Glen Garioch® Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky.

McClelland’s came to the U.S. market 18 years ago and has since grown to become the fifth best-selling single malt in the United States and number 15 in worldwide sales. It is the second best-selling malt in the Morrison Bowmore portfolio and has shown considerable sales increases, with global sales nearly tripling between 2001 and 2010. The volume growth of McClelland’s has outpaced all of the top-ten selling single malts in the world. (IWSR 2011 Report/Single Malt Category).

The addition of McClelland’s builds upon the already strong Campari America whisk(e)y portfolio which includes Wild Turkey® Bourbon and Rye Whiskey; Russell’s Reserve® Bourbon and Rye Whiskey; Glen Grant® Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky; Hibiki® Whisky; Hakushu® Single Malt Whisky; and The Yamazaki® Single Malt Whisky, and demonstrates Morrison Bowmore’s confidence in Campari America’s formidable marketing and sales expertise in this category.

“Morrison Bowmore Distillers boasts one of the most critically acclaimed whisky collections from Scotland, representing every major distilling region,” said Gerry Ruvo, Chairman and CEO, Campari America. “This broad selection allows Campari America to appeal to every whisky fan, from the novice to the seasoned aficionado. The addition of the broad McClelland’s portfolio lets us offer even wider choices for our distributors, retailers and consumers, furthering solidifying our position as the premier whisk(e)y supplier in the U.S.”

“We have found a true partner for our brands in Campari America,” says Mike Keiller, CEO, Morrison Bowmore Distillers. “Our fine portfolio of single malt Scotch whiskies have shown significant volume and value growth since Campari America took them on in 2008. We are confident that McClelland’s strong growth trajectory will only continue under the expert leadership of Campari America and its outstanding sales force.”

McClelland’s offers a range of four Single Malt Scotch Whiskies, each of which provides consumers a chance to explore Scotland’s key whisky producing regions and reflect the true essence and distinct characteristics of that region:

· McClelland’s Highland – Highland malts capture the true spirit of Scotland – the moorlands, heather and fresh pine forests – and are rounded, firm and fruity.

· McClelland’s Islay – Famous throughout the world for their peaty character and dry finish, the Islay dram is the unmistakable taste of Scotland.

· McClelland’s Lowland – The malts crafted in the Lowlands match the soft rolling landscape. Smooth and light, they make the perfect aperitif.

· McClelland’s Speyside – Speyside malts are sweet and fruity, sometimes delicate, sometimes rich and robust but always complex.

This past March, the brand introduced new packaging – a premium gift box and a refreshed label – which underscores the excellent spirits quality and addresses consumer demand for a greater level of education on the taste experience of the famous whisky producing areas. The new cartons are completely recyclable, lowering the brands carbon footprint.

ABOUT MCCLELLAND’S SINGLE MALT SCOTCH WHISKY

McClelland’s is a regional single malt Scotch whisky with expressions from Scotland’s four main whisky producing areas: Lowlands, Highlands, Speyside and Islay. It is produced by Morrison Bowmore Distillers, Glasgow, Scotland and distributed in the U.S. by Campari America. McClelland’s is the 5th largest single malt in US domestic market by volume and 15th globally (IWSR 2011). McClelland’s is available nationwide in 50ml, 750ml and 1.75L bottles. For more information visit www.morrisonbowmore.com

ABOUT MORRISON BOWMORE DISTILLERS (www.morrisonbowmore.com)

Founded in 1951, Morrison Bowmore Distillers Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of Suntory Limited and is one of the major names in Scotch whisky. With three Malt Whisky Distilleries situated in the major production areas of Islay (Bowmore), the Highlands (Glen Garioch) and the Lowlands (Auchentoshan),as well as significant blending, bottling and warehousing facilities, the company has established a leading role in the export of Single Malts. The success of Morrison Bowmore Distillers Limited is based upon maintenance of traditional values and innovation in the marketplace.

ABOUT CAMPARI AMERICA

Campari America is a wholly owned subsidiary of Davide Campari-Milano S.p.A. (Reuters CPRI.MI – Bloomberg CPR IM), together with its affiliates Gruppo Campari. At the heart of Campari America are two legends in the American spirits industry. The first, Skyy Spirits, was founded in San Francisco back in 1992 by the entrepreneur who invented iconic SKYY Vodka. The second is the world-famous Wild Turkey Distillery in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky, where they have been making the world’s finest whiskies since the 1800’s. Both companies were purchased by Davide Campari-Milano and together they form Campari America, which has built a portfolio unrivaled in its quality, innovation and style, making it a top choice among distributors, retailers and consumers. Campari America manages Gruppo Campari’s portfolio in the US with such leading brands as SKYY® Vodka, SKYY Infusions®, Campari®, Wild Turkey® Straight Kentucky Bourbon, American Honey®, Russell’s Reserve®, Glen Grant® Single Malt Scotch Whisky, Cabo Wabo® Tequila, Espolón® Tequila, Ouzo 12®, X-Rated® Fusion Liqueur®, Frangelico®, Cynar®, Carolans Irish Cream®, Irish Mist® Liqueur, Sagatiba® Cachaça and Jean-Marc XO Vodka®. Campari America is also the exclusive US distributor of Bowmore® Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky, Auchentoshan® Lowland Single Malt Scotch Whisky, Glen Garioch® Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky, Flor de Caña® Rum, Midori® Melon Liqueur, Hibiki® Whisky, Hakushu® Single Malt Whisky, and The Yamazaki® Single Malt Whisky.

Campari America is headquartered in San Francisco, California. More information on the company can be found at www.campariamerica.com, www.facebook.com/campariamerica, Twitter: @CampariAmerica and www.camparigroup.com. Please enjoy Campari America brands responsibly and in moderation.

Tullibardine 1992/2011 (46%, OB, 1Er Cru Classé  Bordeaux Finish) 

On the nose there is the classic ‘green’ notes one often encounters in Tullibardine which quickly is surpassed by some good rich notes which must be the 1Er Cru Classé  Bordeaux making itself known to the whisky. However after a while the ‘green’ notes (this is not an attempt to be derogatory but merely a descriptor of cereal, pizza dough, bread, green peas and Weetabix characteristics. The taste is very good, a nice tussle between the ‘green’ notes and the 1Er Cru Classé  Bordeaux finish along with an astonishing mouth sucking dryness that is quite unique. Then after the shock of the dryness comes some really nice sweetness which works really well with the other flavours. The finish is malty and dry with some briny and Marmite notes thrown in at the last, for good measure. An exceedingly long and active finish. 

A multi faceted dram to be sure and quite good.And different. And the colour of Iron Bru.

 $72 

Score 82 points 

Second Saturday Scotch Sipping at Six

2nd Saturday each month 6 – 9 p.m. no reservation required

Enjoy 5 half-ounce samples of single malt Scotch whisky: $20

♦ We feature 3 single malts, including a Malt of the Month *

♦ You roll a die then pick a whisky from one of the six Scotch regions

♦ You pick your Connoisseur’s Choice from our menu of single malt menu 

Peruse our whisky library. Learn about our single malts in our menu book: distillery info, tasting notes, & more. Enjoy light hors d’oeuvres. Non-whisky drinkers welcome.

2012 Features:

10% off bottles of the Malt of the Month * 

Visit the Miner’s Delight Inn at http://www.minersdelightinn.com/

Yellow Spot 12 year old Single Pot Still Irish Whiskey

Spot on in Ireland. Pernod Ricard’s Yellow Spot Single Pot Still Irish Whiskey has announced a return of Yellow Spot 12 year old just in time to become our last all-time Design Award nomination in 2012. Mitchell’s brand was Green … Continue reading →

Feis Ile 2012

Down to the final few days of the Feis Ile 2012, but what a week it has been. Whisky fans from all over the world have enjoyed some very special drams, great open days and wonderful food. To celebrate the Feis Ile 2012 we decided to have a look back at some of the previous year’s releases. There has been some cracking drams, below we have selected just a few.

To view all of our festival whiskies click this link.

If you didnt manage to get across to the Islay festival this year we have be posting some tasting notes via our whisky blog.

Slainte

Abbey Whisky

enquiries@abbeywhisky.com 
www.abbeywhisky.com
0800 051 7737

LAGAVULIN™ TO SPONSOR ISLAY JAZZ FESTIVAL AGAIN

by Pat Roberts

Lagavulin™, the iconic Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky, will again be the headline sponsor of the Islay Jazz Festival in 2012, the brand’s owner Diageo has announced, following its highly successful and widely welcomed sponsorship of the event in the last two years.

The Islay Jazz Festival, which this year will take place from 14-16 September 2012, attracts hundreds of jazz lovers, from Scotland and further afield, to the world-famous whisky island on Scotland’s west coast.

Artists already booked include the Neil Cowley Trio, the Colin Steele Quintet, Konrad Wiszniewski with Pascal Schumacher, and Scottish guitarist Graeme Stephen.

Commenting on behalf of Lagavulin, Nick Morgan, Diageo’s Head of Whisky Outreach, said: “We are delighted to be able to sponsor this world-class festival again, which brings so many discerning jazz lovers to venues throughout this unique and special island.

“We have been pleased with the public and community reaction to our sponsorship over the last two years, and with the Festival’s growing success in attracting visitors to Islay, including many from abroad. It’s clear that live jazz and fine Malt Whisky are the best of partners, and that Islay, with its many distinctive and intimate venues and excellent whiskies, is ideally placed to host such a fine event”.

Fiona Alexander of promoters Jazz Scotland welcomed the confirmation of a further year’s sponsorship by Lagavulin.

She said: “Visitors to the Festival arrive with a sense of enchantment and discovery. The timeless beauty of the constantly changing landscape and the warmth of welcome provide a great backdrop to the heritage of Lagavulin production and the handcrafted creation of live jazz”.

Jazz Scotland will shortly release a film of the 2011 Festival highlights, which will be seen on the Islay Jazz Festival website , where details of this year’s programme will also be posted once available.

The Festival is promoted by Jazz Scotland and The Islay Arts Association, and also supported by Argyll and Bute Council and Creative Scotland.

The events of the Festival are spread over three days and many venues on Islay.

Notes

Programme details (and ticket sales when booking starts) on the Islay Jazz Festival website.

Compass Box Whisky Co. and The Whisky Shop join forces for whisky tasting ‘World Record’

2 Great Men, 3 Great Whiskies, 8 Great Whisky Shops, 24 Hours, 683 miles!

To mark the arrival of their trio of award-winning whiskies – Great King Street, The Spice Tree and The Peat Monster – across the 19-strong empire of Whisky Shops, boutique whiskymaker Compass Box is embarking on a journey from Inverness to Brighton, via 8 cities, 8 Whisky Shops and 8 different tastings, in an attempt to set a whisky tasting world record and raise money for charity along the way. The twist? The whole tour will happen in just ONE day.

Whisky Shop Managing Director, Andrew Torrance, explained: ‘We are delighted to list the Compass Box range in our stores from Spring this year. When we were discussing a launch plan we thought the best way to bring the magic of these whiskies to our consumers was of course to let them taste the product. What better way to do that than in one day! Inverness to Brighton in one day. I’m really looking forward to it and I know our customers will get right behind the challenge. Like all the best ideas, it was hatched over a good dinner and a glass of whisky.”

As four-time winners of ‘Whisky Innovator of the Year’, Compass Box is no stranger to uniquely ambitious ideas. But is this the most extreme thing Compass Box Founder and Whiskymaker, John Glaser, has ever agreed to do in pursuit of his art? “I have to admit to staying up pretty late a few times in support of our whiskies, but usually this take places in a very civilised bar rather than a van. Regardless, I can’t wait for this night. If it gets more people to understand our craft approach, enjoy what we do, and learn more about the wonders that whisky has to offer, then it is worth every one of the 1440 minutes on the road”.

John Glaser will join Whisky Shop’s Whiskeria Magazine Editor and acclaimed whisky expert Dominic Roskrow on this joint tour, starting with a one-minute-past-midnight tasting at The Whisky Shop in Inverness on Friday June 15th and finishing in Brighton with a grand finale at 11.30pm the same day. In-between, the whisky industry’s ‘odd couple’ will visit Edinburgh, Newcastle, York, Birmingham, Oxford and London.

At each venue, Dominic and John will illustrate Compass Box’s unique approach to whiskymaking with a tasting of the Great King Street – Artist’s Blend, Spice Tree and Peat Monster, while focusing on a different side of the world of whisky. They will serve variations on the whisky Highball and talk about the history of blended whisky as dawn breaks over Edinburgh; breakfast on Spice Tree with haggis in Newcastle; investigate the best whisky and food matches over a whisky dinner in Oxford; and discover the magic of the finest whisky cocktails in London. The grand finale will entail a glass of something very special under the stars on Brighton’s seafront.

John and Dominic will be encouraging whisky fans and Whisky Shop’s W-Club members to come along and join in the fun at each venue, while everyone – wherever they are in the world – can follow the journey on Twitter @CompassBox and @TheWhiskyShop and their Facebook page www.facebook.com/CompassBox

As Dominic Roskrow put it, “If truth be told, none of us know whether it’ll work out or not. Heaven knows who’ll turn up in Edinburgh at 4.30am and I have this vision of being stuck in a traffic jam in Crawley as midnight approaches. I was asked the other day if anyone has done anything like this before. I said don’t be stupid!”

Venue Time Theme
Inverness 12.01am Classic tasting and grand départ
Edinburgh 4.30am The history of Blended whisky and the rise of the Highball
Newcastle 8.30am Breakfast pairings (haggis and Spice Tree, kippers with Peat Monster)
York 11.30am The Art of Blending
Birmingham 3.30pm Oak – the magical ingredient
Oxford 6.00pm Food & whisky matching – cheese, seafood, spice
London 9.00pm Whisky Cocktails
Brighton 11.30pm Something special to finish!

To sign up to any one of these events customers just need to contact The Whisky Shop in the city where it is taking place. All attendees will receive a commemorative T-shirt and all ticket proceeds will go to charity.

ABOUT COMPASS BOX (www.compassboxwhisky.com)
The Compass Box Whisky Company is a boutique Scotch whiskymaker and craft blender, started in 2000 by John Glaser. Compass Box produces and bottles a range of Scotch whiskies, available in over 25 countries around the world. A four-time winner of the Whisky Magazine Innovator of the Year award, Compass Box is known throughout the whisky world for quality, innovation and passion for great whisky. The Compass Box signature range of whiskies includes Asyla, Oak Cross, The Peat Monster, The Spice Tree and Hedonism. They also produce limited release whiskies annually, and Orangerie, a Scotch whisky infusion.

ABOUT JOHN GLASER
American ex-pat John Glaser started Compass Box Whisky Company from the kitchen of his west London home in 2000. Having started his career on a path to become a winemaker, then re-routing himself through the corporate world and ending up as marketing director for Johnnie Walker in London, Glaser has a unique perspective on both the creation and the marketing of Scotch whisky. Glaser established Compass Box based on his commitment to evolving practices in the industry to make great Scotch whisky more approachable and relevant to more people. From the beginning, his vision has been to create one of Scotland’s finest and most exciting whisky companies, re-establishing the standards for quality and style in the industry.

ABOUT THE WHISKY SHOP
The Whisky Shop is the UK’s largest Independent Whisky retailer with 20 stores stretching from Inverness to Brighton. Their aim is to de-mystify the whisky category and be the friendly face of whisky on the High Street. They carry over 300 whisky products and welcome over 2 million customers every year to their website and shops.

ABOUT DOMINIC ROSKROW
Dominic is currently the Editor of Whiskeria and responsible for editorial content at The W Club. He has been a freelance whisky writer for six years, and has specialised in whisky for more than 10. He is a former Editor of Whisky Magazine, and currently covers world whiskey for The Whisky Advocate, making him the only journalist to work for all ‘big three’ whisky titles. He has just published his fifth book, 1001 Whiskies To Try Before You Die, and his sixth, The Whisky Opus, is out in August. His latest project is founding a new trade association for craft distillers across the world. Which just goes to show that from this whisky tasting tour to the new association it really is possible to travel from the ridiculous to the sublime!

Caperdonich 17yo (58%, SMWS of Canada, 38.21, 2^nd fill hogshead, 234 Bts., +/-2011) 

The undiluted nose is rich and sweet with some characteristics of Longmorn maltiness (which is always very pleasant), there are also hints of some leather and tobacco (unlit of course) and some what of pipe tobacco, heavily rich with some earthiness backing it up. With some time in the glass the sample opens up considerably and proves to be a sensational collection of aromas; it’s very seductive. Some late arriving citrus only adds to the mix. The taste, without water, is warming, strong and quite different from the nose, it’s very solid, much more of the leather and tobacco is present with hints of dried lemon peel and cocoa powder. With water it looses some of its appeal but is still very good. The finish is a near picture of the taste, some late malt adds to the picture and this only grows with time. The finish is very, very long and very malty. 

A sensational Caperdonich, a pleasure to examine and enjoy. Best without water and if you must then only a little. 

$140 

Score 88 points

Milroy’s of Soho Single Cask Royal Lochnagar 2002, Aged 10 Years, Jubilee Bottling

To coincide with the Jubilee we bottled a deliciously delicate Royal Lochnagar. It is a fresh, slightly oily, rounded summer dram, with attractive apple and light vanilla hints.

We’re told that Queen Victoria regularly nipped round to the Royal Lochnagar distillery from Balmoral Castle and our in depth research ie Google Maps: http://g.co/maps/u7wny  shows that it would cost our Jubilant Queen Elizabeth II just 34p in fuel to visit the distillery (turn right, then right and right again Ma’am, you can’t miss it).

£35.00

Delivery will be charged at £9.95 to addresses in U.K. Mainland,
and charged at cost elsewhere.

To place an order please visit www.milroys.co.uk,
call Lee on 020 7437 2385
or email Lee.Tomlinson@jeroboams.co.uk

Our mailing address is:

Milroy’s of Soho
3 Greek Street
London, England W1D 4NX
United Kingdom

Please find below a link to the results of the Scottish Field Whisky Challenge which you may find of interest.

Scottish Field Results of Summer Whisky Challenge 2012

You can also visit them on Facebook and Twitter as they move through the stages to the Grand Final at the end of the year where the Scottish Field Whisky of the Year will be published.