Collaborations with music legends, rare cask releases and financial results – spirits news in March came from all over.

With St Patrick’s Day dominating the month’s headlines, Irish whiskey naturally stole the spotlight, as did Port Ellen’s comeback after 40 years and Woodford Reserve’s global travel retail double header. Meanwhile, The Macallan also drew in thousands of eyeballs when it teamed up with luxury car maker Bentley on a £40,000 (US$51,274) whisky.

Keep scrolling to discover what captured our readers’ attention in March.

RZA collaborates with Ballantine’s

Wu-Tang Clan frontman RZA was onto another hit when he teamed with Ballantine’s on a limited edition bottle of Scotch.

The leader of the hip-hop group’s influence is far-reaching, as evidenced by his whisky being the most-read article on our site last month.

Irish whiskeys for St Patrick’s Day

What are some of the best Irish whiskeys out there right now? Well, it turns out many of you wanted to found out as our round up of 10 was one of the site’s most-read stories for March.

The category’s popularity is growing and there was no more appropriate occasion than St Patrick’s Day to highlight its renaissance. In addition, the SB team also rounded up their favourite Irish spirits, which wasn’t all whiskey, believe it or not.

Southern Glazer’s agree US$5.5 million settlement

You can always trust a bit of controversy to get people talking (and reading), so it wasn’t a major shock to see Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits’ class action lawsuit over alleged illegal late fees turn into one of the most-popular March stories with our readers.

The US distributor agreed to a US$5.5 million settlement to California-based consumers and businesses who were its customers between 13 June 2020 and 30 June 2023.

Port Ellen is back in business

Nothing gets the spirits world’s blood pumping like a distillery resurrection – see Islay-based Port Ellen reopening its doors for the first time in 40 years.

Parent company Diageo invested £185 million (US$235m) into bringing the cult distillery back to life and now armed with a host of shiny features, and with many of the old ones still intact, its gone straight to the top of our must-visit list for 2024.

Woodford Reserve debuts two GTR whiskeys

In March, Brown-Forman launched two Woodford Reserve expressions – Sonoma Triple Finish and Batch Proof Series 121.2 – in global travel retail (GTR).

Stéphane Morizet, GTR marketing director for Brown-Forman, said the two are “highly sought after by whiskey connoisseurs and collectors alike”, and considering the interest the release has generated on our site, we’d have to agree.

Macallan and Bentley team up

The Macallan and Bentley. Put two big brands together and the clicks will come.

As part of its 200th anniversary celebrations, the Edrington-owned whisky brand created a special £40,000 (US$51,274) bottle with the luxury car manufacturer, named The Macallan Horizon, which is encased in a low-carbon leather sculpture and placed inside a recycled copper frame, made using former Macallan stills.

Ardbeg to transform Islay Hotel

It seems many of our readers had whisky-laced staycations in their thoughts for March, as Ardbeg’s planned reopening of an Islay hotel was one of the month’s top stories.

The distillery hopes to offer ‘world-class whisky and hospitality experience’, offering accommodation, food and beverage services, when it reopens the hotel in May 2025.

Brown-Forman reveals Q3 results

Brown-Forman pulled double duty this month, with our readers also curious to see how the company performed in sales for the three months to 31 January 2024.

The Jack Daniel’s owner reported an organic revenue decline of 2% with sales of US$1.1 billion, and now expects full-year sales to be stagnant.

Redbreast expands Iberian Series

Irish whiskey brand Redbreast launched the second permanent expression in its Iberian Series, the Cuatro Barriles Edition, which was blended in four different cask types: ex-Bourbon, oloroso Sherry butts, Portuguese tawny Port hogsheads, and European virgin oak.

The catch was that its a GTR-exclusive, only available in Dublin and Cork duty free. If page views are anything to go by, then Ireland’s main airports may have a new attraction on their hands…

The Whisky Exchange’s Lost in Time collection

The Whisky Exchange releases regularly buzz with anticipation, but when it’s a rare Speyside single cask? Oh, that’s a guaranteed, greatly clicked-on story right there.

And so, rounding out March’s list, was the spirits retailer’s Lost in Time collection, comprising eight single malts from different Speyside distilleries which were created in collaboration with Chivas Brothers.