Welcome to WhiskyIntelligence.com where we'll be gathering information on the whisky industry and scotch whisky news in the form of press releases, newsletters, events, tasting notes and comments.
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Why not come and visit us in Edinburgh and join us on a journey of discovery, adventure and friendship as we stride into a bold future of whisky enjoyment any way you like it. Book your experience and be one of the first to visit Johnnie Walker Princes Street when we open on the 6th September.
Book your place here: https://www.johnniewalker.com/en-gb/visit-us-princes-street/.
Our scotch is steeped in a rich history, from John Walker’s genius for blending whisky to Elizabeth Cummings’ determination to bring Cardhu single malt to the world. Today, we produce over 100 individual scotch brands with the same care, skill and entrepreneurial spirit as these giants of our industry.
Our leading brand is Johnnie Walker, the world’s best-selling scotch. We also produce other high-quality blended brands such as J&B and Bell’s, along with a range of single malts, including Lagavulin, Talisker, Mortlach and The Singleton.
Since 2012 we have invested around £1bn expanding and enhancing our Scotch distilleries and facilities. We are also investing heavily in scotch tourism and have committed £150 million to upgrade 15 distillery visitor centres across Scotland and create a major new visitor experience in Edinburgh.
*SWA Scotch Whisky 2018 economic impact report
Laura Sharp, Regional Brand Home Manager, tells us about her role with Diageo and the recent opening of Cardhu’s Brand Home.
Tell us more about your current role at Diageo? What has your journey been like to get to this role?
I am currently the Regional Brand Home Manager East, this involves the running of Cardhu, Cragganmore and Royal Lochnagar Distillery Visitor Centres. I moved into this role in January and prior to that I was the Brand Home Manager for Cardhu and Cragganmore since April 2009. I started my career in the whisky industry in 1996 when I worked with Diageo but not directly employed by them – this was as a breakfast waitress at Drummuir Castle. I was employed by Diageo in October 2000 whilst working in the Heritage Visits team (currently known as the BEST Team) which involved arranging visits to Scotland for Diageo’s invited corporate guests.
I am celebrating 21 years with Diageo this October but have been involved in the industry for 25 years. Prior to my Brand Home role, I was privileged enough to have worked on Project Triumph which was the building of Roseisle Distillery. At the time it was the first distillery built by Diageo in 30 years. I was employed as the administrator for the project but the role provided an amazing opportunity to learn a completely different side of the business and to be involved with such a huge iconic project. With hard work, determination, a desire to learn, develop and grow I am proud of how far I have come and so proud to have a leadership role in our business.
What is the most exciting part of your role as Regional Brand Home Manager?
The most exciting part of my role is being able to directly engage with our consumers and being able to continually innovate how we do this in the best way we can to share our fantastic brands. Looking after three very different brands and sites means I don’t do the same thing for each brand; therefore, my role is exciting and comes with many opportunities, something which I thrive on. There are not many parts of the business where you can talk directly to our consumers and can engage with them and instantly create an ambassador for our brands and impact business performance.
Diageo have recently opened the Cardhu brand home – tell us more about this and what this means for Diageo?
This is a fantastic new experience in the heart of whisky country. It’s great to have this in Speyside as we are telling not only our brand but our production story in a different way to how we did before. We have such a unique story and it is great to have a dedicated experience that tells it in the way it deserves. It not only tells the Cardhu story but brings the close connection to Johnnie Walker to the forefront of our visitors minds and showcases Johnnie Walker’s deep Scottish history in its home country.
It is an opportunity to reach our consumers and inspire them to share our story, something which in turn will benefit Diageo across the globe.
Tell us about your involvement in the opening and what it has been like behind the scenes?
I have been involved with the project since it was announced and we started with the first charette at Cardhu 2019. I am so grateful to have been able to have had the opportunity to be involved from the early stages all the way through to opening for visitors. Throughout the entire process I have been able to give my ideas and thoughts to help shape the visitor experience which was great.
Behind the scenes it was very busy but fun and incredibly rewarding. There was lots to think about and deliver out with the customer journey and experience. This includes community engagement, health and safety requirements, recruitment, compliance, training and also considering the cross over into the production and distillery area. There was also a lot of filming and media visits leading up to opening so we needed to ensure they got the best possible experience to guarantee we captured the best content to really showcase the visitor experience when we opened to the public.
I am very proud of what I have achieved with the new Brand Home and I have learnt that if you believe in what you are doing, love what you are doing and remain focused on the end goal, then no matter what challenges you face you will achieve it.
Our September auction is now LIVE!
Place your bids from Friday 17th September until Sunday 26th September.
Every month, we present an incredible selection of whiskies and other fine spirits to our members right across the globe. You will find everything here from limited edition releases and vintage bottles to whole casks of rare whisky. There is certainly something for everyone – whether you are looking to collect, invest or enjoy!
Macallan – 50 Year Old (Exceptional Single Cask) #1683-13
Tomatin – 1975 (Warehouse 6 Collection)
Glenmorangie – 1971 (The Culloden Battle)
Macallan – 37 Year Old (1939)
Glenlivet – 1971 (Aquarelles Series) Samaroli
Selling whisky? Why not arrange the pick-up of your bottles using our global courier service? If you’re based in Scotland, you might want to arrange the personal collection of your bottles. Wherever you’re based in the world, we will make getting your bottles into our monthly auction as simple as possible. Get in touch with the Whisky Hammer team now by dropping them a message at sales@whiskyhammer.co.uk.
We are very pleased to announce a very special pair of whiskies, the penultimate bottles in the critically acclaimed Karuizawa Geisha series – The Karuizawa Ruby Geishas.
After eight years of releases, the Geisha series is almost complete. The Ruby Geisha pair consists of a 34-year-old and a 38-year-old whisky, each matured in a sherry butt. They both display the distinctive Karuizawa sherry-cask-matured style, bringing together rich, sweet and savoury notes into an intense but balanced whole.
As whiskies from this long-closed Japanese distillery are so rare and sought-after, the very limited numbers of bottles available will be sold via ballot. Each bottle will be balloted separately, but each entrant will only be able to win one of the ballots to ensure that as many people as possible can enjoy these whiskies.
Karuizawa Ruby Geisha 34 Year Old Cask #7582 is priced at £18,000 and 38 Year Old Cask #3668 at £20,000.
The ballot will run from 1am BST Thursday 16 September 2021 to 11.59pm BST on Tuesday 21 September 2021. Details of how to enter the ballots are below..
• Click the ‘ENTER BALLOT’ button on the ballot page to add the bottle to your basket
• No bottles other than the other Ruby Geisha release may be added to your basket as part of this transaction
• To confirm your entry, complete the checkout process
• You must enter your card details as part of the checkout process, but you will not be charged unless you are successful
• You will receive an email confirming your ballot entry
• The ballot will remain open until 23:59 BST on Tuesday 21 September 2021
ENTER KARUIZAWA
34 YEAR OLD BALLOT
ENTER KARUIZAWA
38 YEAR OLD BALLOT
Winners of the ballot will automatically be charged for the Ruby Geisha bottle they have won (price breakdown will be detailed at checkout), plus any relevant taxes and charges. • Only one entry per Ruby Geisha bottling per person. Multiple entries will be ignored. Entrants may only win one of the two Ruby Geisha ballots. The ballot will close at 23:59 BST on Tuesday 21 September 2021. The draw will take place on or after Wednesday 22 September 2021. Ballot winners will be contacted with confirmation of purchase. Those unsuccessful in the ballot will receive confirmation that they have not been selected. This ballot is not open to employees of The Whisky Exchange or associated companies.
An Independent Retailer Exclusive. 2008 vintage matured in a refill American hogshead #900122 for the Connoisseur’s Choice label. Bottled June 2021 and just 411 bottles. Glenallachie 13 Year Old Old 2008 vintage Speyside single malt Scotch whisky. Single refill American hogshead #900122 bottled June 2021 by Gordon & MacPhail for the Connoisseurs Choice series. 411 bottles. Seville orange peel aromas lead to ripe green apple and Brazil nut. Citrus zest flavours combine with desiccated coconut and a soft vanilla pod. A smooth and long finish of toasted almonds.
Shop Now – £64.58/ €63* / $74* / c$94*
Glenallachie Distillery is a Speyside distillery sitting on the eastern edge of Ben Rinnes mountain where it is rather exposed to the elements and is often to be see sitting within the snowline. A modern building and its architect William Delmé-Evans created a distillery which is rather pleasing on the eye. Glenallachie was commissioned in 1967 with two stills which increased to four in 1989 in order to meet blenders ever increasing demand for Glenallachie malt whisky. Whilst official releases are few independent releases are more numerous with those from Gordon & MacPhail, Signatory Vintage and Cadenheads proving popular.
$279.99 View
There isn’t much that needs to be said about this. Mortlach meet sherry, sherry mortlach. Two and a half decades later the marriage is still a perfect one. What’s the secret? Listening and mutal respect or raw unbridled attraction? Probably both. There maybe no answer, but no one questions that these two things belong together. The Mortlach distillery, known locally as the Beast of Dufftown, is one of those great distilleries that has never been given proper attention by its owners. The distillery has quietly been a key component in the great Scotch blends since 1823, yet few outside the Single Malt afficianodos appreciate it’s prowess. Yes, the new owners have recently re-released a line of well regarded distillery bottlings, but their availability is intermitten and the excpetional pricing they original offered seems to have evaporated. It’s been a much more successful effort to transition the brand into a proper single malt property, yet this excellent property remains in the shadows of it’s “Classic Malt” bretheren. The beast, brooding down in the gully, waiting to be unleashed. Now it finally has been! This is a big boy butt from the biggest of Speysides bluechips. Robust, full of character and bottled no holds barred at full cask strength. It’s incredible we’re still able to get things like this out of Scotland and while it will be hard to argue with anyone that this one is “affordable” for what it is, the price is really quite shocking.
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
I’d like to personally introduce you to our newest core range whisky, Orchard House.
Orchard House represents the first whisky of its type in our core range – a fruity and delicate ‘spirit-forward’ style. We’ve applied a light hand with oak to allow the distillery character of each of the component whiskies in the recipe to shine through.
It features delicate aromas of apple and pear, with light hints of Earl Grey tea, honey and vanilla shortbread – it’s very much a late afternoon/early evening style of malt whisky.
You’ll find Orchard House is vibrant when sipped neat, syrupy when enjoyed on ice. And it’s a terrific match with hard cheeses like Cheddars.
Orchard House also represents an important milestone for us – it’s the first in our core range to be produced almost entirely from whiskies we have aged ourselves since the day they were distilled. In a sense, it’s more ‘our’ whisky than anything we’ve made before!
We are really proud of this. It’s a joyful and delicious all-rounder.
Please share and enjoy!
John
Founder & Whiskymaker
