Top 10 spirit launches in November 2016
Last month’s most interesting new releases include a Cabernet Sauvignon-finished Tequila, a mystical rum made from ‘Phoenix tears’ and a one-year-old spirit too young to be called whisky.
This is our selection of the top 10 spirits launches in November 2016As we come towards the end of the year, SB looks back at some of the top spirit launches across the globe.
Highland Park unveiled Fire Edition, a 15-year-old whisky matured exclusively in refill Port wine casks that pays homage to a Viking tale about the end of the world.
Meanwhile, Tequila house Casa Noble unveiled Alta Belleza, a Cabernet Sauvignon-finished extra añejo expression, the first in a in a new series – Colección del Fundador, or Founder’s Collection.
Looking at those which were made available on the market, as well as those which were unveiled to be released at a later date, this is our round-up of the top 10 spirit launches in November 2016.
Click through the following pages to discover which brands made the cut.
Black Bowmore 50 Year Old, The Last Cask
Islay single malt Bowmore has released Black Bowmore 50 Year Old, The Last Cask – the fifth and final edition of its historic 1964 collection.
Priced at £16,000, the 50-year-old whisky has been aged in Bowmore’s No. 1 Vaults – the world’s “oldest” Scotch maturation warehouse – for half a century, and takes its name and dark colouring from “intense” maturation in first-fill oloroso Sherry casks.
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The Kincardine
Edinburgh-based Fusion Whisky Limited has launched The Kincardine brand, a Scotch and Indian whisky hybrid inspired by the 9th Earl of Elgin and 13th Earl of Kincardine Victor Bruce, who served as Viceroy and Governor General of India between 1894-99.
Just 800 bottles of The Kincardine, which carries an age statement of seven-years, have been released at an RRP of £135.
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Freya
New drinks group Pure Wild Spirits has launched what it claims is the “world’s first” spirit distilled from birch tree sap, called Freya.
Freya is created using “only sustainable methods”, distilling birch sap that is harvested once a year, in the spring, from birch forests in Northern Europe.
The sap is distilled in handmade copper pot stills by Dr John Walters at the English Spirit Distillery in Great Yeldham.
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Highland Park Fire Edition
Highland Park has launched Fire Edition, a 15-year-old whisky matured exclusively in refill Port wine casks that pays homage to a Viking tale about the end of the world.
Legend has it that the evil Surtr led his fellow Fire Giants into an apocalyptic battle with the gods, burning everything in sight. The world perished in the blaze, but a new earth was recreated from the ashes.
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Casa Noble Alta Belleza
Tequila house Casa Noble has released Alta Belleza, a Cabernet Sauvignon-finished extra añejo expression, the first in a in a new series, Colección del Fundador – or Founder’s Collection.
The five-year-old release was developed by Casa Noble’s founder and maestro tequilero, Jose ‘Pepe’ Hermosillo, bringing together the worlds of wine and Tequila, chiefly the To Kalon Vineyard in Napa Valley and the agave fields of Jalisco.
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The East India Company London Dry Gin
Tea supplier The East India Company has released its first spirit – a London dry gin – said to reflect the company’s heritage and “associations with adventure, discovery and collaborative creation”.
It is made with 12 botanicals, including juniper, coriander, angelica, liquorice, cocoa and orris root.
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Arbikie Strawberry Vodka
Arbikie Highland Estate has unveiled a limited edition strawberry vodka for the festive period, distilled using this summer’s fresh strawberries.
According to Arbikie, each release has its own unique vintage as no two crops of strawberries are the same. The fresh strawberries change subtly in flavour each year depending on the season’s mix of soft Scottish summer sun and variable east coast weather.
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Phoenix Tears Spiced Rum
Online retailer Firebox has launched Phoenix Tears Spiced Rum – containing “real shimmering Phoenix tears with an opalescent lustre”.
Made by “mixing the Phoenix’s sorrowful syrup” with “a premium Caribbean rum”, Phoenix Tears Spiced Rum offers aromas of brown sugar and dried fruit with cinnamon and ginger on the palate – resulting in a “sweet and spicy flavour”.
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Ardnamurchan Spirit 2016 AD
Ardnamurchan Distillery, which opened in 2014, has launched Ardnamurchan Spirit 2016 AD, a one-year-old spirit too young to be called whisky.
Ardnamurchan Spirit 2016 AD is a vatting of casks that had been maturing at the distillery since production started, which were then left to ‘marry’ in Sherry butts for three months.
Due to “high interest” all 2,500 bottles of the first release of Ardnamurchan Spirit 2016 AD have now sold out.
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Whitley Neill Quince Gin
Halewood Wines & Spirits has expanded its Whitley Neill portfolio with the addition of a quince-flavoured gin – described as the first product of its kind in the UK.
The gin, made with real quince fruit, is inspired by the travels of the Neill family through Persia in the 1900s.
