Top 50 most innovative spirits launches of 2015: 40-31

Whisky that “lives forever”, a 500-year-old recipe and Scotland’s first “farm-to-bottle” gin feature in the second instalment of our most innovative spirits launches list.

Click through the following pages to see the second instalment of our top 50 innovative spirits launches of 2015

While some pioneering producers set out to create “world firsts”, others looked to the past to revive provenance and heritage with a contemporary spin.

We examined a whole host of spirits launches from 2015, exploring both extravagant releases, such as The Balvenie DCS Compendium – a five-part collection of 25 whiskies – and “remarkably rare” offerings like The Macallan Rare Cask Black.

Other honorary expressions in our rundown include a “new generation” calvados, and the “first” vodka flavoured with Chardonnay grapes.

Click through the following pages to see the second part of our top 50 innovative spirits launches of 2015, counting down from 40 to 31.

40. Bols Genever

Last year Lucas Bols – one of the oldest spirits brands still in production – launched what it claimed to be the oldest genever available in US retail since Prohibition. Unlike its core range which is matured in French limousine casks, the six-year-old limited edition Bols Genever is rested in American oak, which gives the spirit “complex notes” of vanilla, wood and spice.

The group also released a barrel-aged variant, based on a 19^th century recipe of malt wine blended with traditional genever botanicals including hops, cloves, anise, liquorice, ginger, juniper and others.

The variant, described as an “authentic cocktail spirit”, is then aged for at least 18 months in French Lumousin oak before being blended in an “updated version” of the traditional genever clay jugs.
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39. Dark Matter

As the first and only rum distillery in Scotland, Dark Matter Distillers earned its place on the list with the launch of its first product: a spiced rum called Dark Matter.

Former petroleum economist Jim Ewen, managing director of Dark Matter Distillers, and his brother John Ewen, co-owner, spent two years experimenting with different yeast strains during fermentation and product flavours to perfect the recipe.

In October, the Banchory-based distillery offered consumers the chance to own one of the company’s first 10 casks at a cost of £10,000. Aged in hand selected 250-litre Oloroso Sherry casks, a sample will be drawn from each cask and sent to the owners annually once the rum reaches three-years-old.

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38. Boulard Freezstyl

37. Ke Gin

Last year saw the launch of Ke Gin, which is made from a “pure, natural” spirit called ke using a “secret” family recipe that dates back 500 years.

Texas-based producer Ke Spirits says the offering is a “rich, smooth and refreshing experience” that will “change how people think of gin”.

Henrik Facile, gin master at Ke Spirits, explained: “The juniper in Ke Gin is soft, fresh and herby, never harsh. We also use cardamom along with coriander leaves to give our gin exciting, fresh notes. Balance that with the citrus character of Sicilian lemons and bitter oranges, and you have Ke Spirits Gin – a sophisticated, smooth and enchanting spirit.”

Ke Spirits recommend serving the expression either neat on the rocks or mixed in a Gin and Tonic.

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36. Macallan Rare Cask Black

“Remarkably rare” expression The Macallan Rare Cask Black secured a spot on our innovative spirits rundown for capturing one of the few casks of peated Macallan liquid available.

Crafted from less than 100 predominantly first fill, Sherry-seasoned European and American oak casks, the release was part of the 1824 Masters Series, which also featured Rare Cask, Reflexion, No.6, and The Macallan M.

Tasting notes include dried fruits, nutmeg, ginger, polished oak, dates, figs, raisins, and a dry smokiness which “reveals itself yielding to softer oak tones”. The finish is “long, fruity with an elegant wood smoke”.

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35. Vintage Velvet

The producers behind Vintage Velvet sought to “put sipping vodka back on the map” with the release of the “first” vodka flavoured with Chardonnay grapes.

Vintage Velvet vodka is double distilled from British sugar beet and filtered through white sand to deliver an “intense smoothness and round flavour”.

The expression is a small batch artisan vodka distilled in Cambridge, flavoured with Chardonnay grapes grown on an award-winning East Anglian vineyard.

Tasting notes include caramel followed by a “lasting, savoury, buttery smooth” finish.

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34. Balvenie Compendium

William Grant & Sons celebrated the 53-year service of The Balvenie malt master David Stewart with the launch of 25 rare single cask Scotch whiskies – called The Balvenie DCS Compendium.

As Balvenie’s “biggest launch to date”, the Compendium comprises a five-part collection of whiskies bottled at cask strength from a single cask, which as a complete set is said to be worth more than £125,000.

The range contains both the youngest and oldest The Balvenie whiskies ever released, from eight-years-old to more than 50-years old, and will be launched in five different “chapters”, each containing five different whiskies, over a five-year period.

Each chapter in the collection relates to a specific theme, which are explored in a book specially created by The Balvenie global brand ambassador Dr Sam Simmons.

Chapter One of the collection,  “Distillery Style”, launched in October, consists of five different whiskies distilled in different decades that convey the key characteristics of The Balvenie and how these change over time.

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33. Kirsty’s Gin

Named Kirsty’s Gin after Arbikie Highland Estate’s master distiller Kirsty Black, the release earned it’s place on the list as Scotland’s “first farm to bottle” super-premium gin.

Distilled from Arbikie potato vodka, Kirsty’s Gin is described as having a “traditional” juniper base with three Scottish botanicals of kelp, carline thistle and blueberries – elements of sea, rock and land intended to reflect the estate’s surroundings; a farm spanning to Lunan Bay on the east coast of Scotland.

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32. Royal Salute: The Eternal Reserve

September welcomed the launch of The Eternal Reserve, a blended Scotch that is said to “live forever” thanks to an innovative “circular blending” process.

The Eternal Reserve is a combination of whiskies aged for least 21 years selected for their “exceptionally long” finish. The whiskies were blended together and married in 88 casks held in the Royal Salute vault for six months. The original blend was then combined with another 88 casks-worth to complete the first batch.

Before bottling, the some of the original blend was held back and returned to the original 88 casks to form the basis of the next batch.

Royal Salute has committed to including the original blend in each subsequent The Eternal Reserve release for decades – so each time a new batch is blended, the same process will be repeated, resulting in an “eternal” whisky.

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31. Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel Barrel Proof

Jack Daniel’s unveiled its very first cask strength Tennessee whiskey last year as part of its Single Barrel Collection; each whisky bottled from just one out of 100 barrels held in the upper reaches of the distillery’s barrelhouse.

Ranging from 62.5% abv to 70% abv, Barrel Proof is made using cave spring water from the Jack Daniel’s Hollow, proprietary yeast and a charcoal-mellowing process – the same one adopted for the distillery’s original 150-year-old Tennessee whiskey recipe.

The range is said to have flavours of sweet vanilla and toasted oak that give a “great intensity and complexity” but with an “exceptionally smooth finish”.

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