This week the folks at Heaven Hill announced Old Fitzgerald Bottled in Bond 15 Year (Fall 2019). Also, Nikka is celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the opening of Miyagikyo Distillery with two limited Japanese whisky releases. Then, Bardstown Bourbon Co. announced a new partnership with The Prisoner Wine Company for a release coming in January 2020. Meanwhile, La Hechicera debuted a new Muscat wine cask finished rum. Maker’s Mark and Royal Salute both shared some travel retail release news. Then, a massive private Scotch whisky collection will go up for auction early next year.
Finally, the 2019 Distiller Awards will be unveiled on Monday December 16th, 2019. Be sure to check back to see the winners of this year’s awards.
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Heaven Hill Announces Old Fitzgerald Bottled in Bond 15 Year (Fall 2019)
Heaven Hill has announced a new expression in its Old Fitzgerald bottled-in-bond decanter series which started back in spring of 2018. Old Fitzgerald Bottled in Bond 15 Year (Fall 2019) is a wheated bourbon distilled in one distillation season in 2004. This is the fourth, and oldest, release to-date in the bottled-in-bond decanter series.
This limited-edition bourbon was bottled in 2019 at 100 proof (50% ABV) and has a suggested price of $150 per 750ml bottle. Bottles are showing up in stores as of December 2019.
Nikka Celebrates 50th Anniversary of Miyagikyo Distillery Opening With Two Limited Releases
In 1969 Masataka Taketsuru, a giant in the Japanese whisky industry, opened his second distillery. Miyagikyo Distillery was meant to be distinctly different from his first distillery, Yoichi, in Hokkaido. Now, 50 years after Miyagikyo opened, Nikka is celebrating the milestone with the release of two limited-edition single malt whiskies. Each release contains whiskies from the past five decades (’60s, ’70s, ’80s, ’90s and 2000s).
Nikka Yoichi Single Malt Limited Edition 2019 and Nikka Miyagikyo Single Malt Limited Edition 2019 are both bottled at 48% ABV and have a suggested price of $3,500. The Miyagikyo expression contains some of the first whisky every produced by the distillery. Only 70 bottles of each expression were created.
Colombian Rum Brand La Hechicera Debuts Muscat Wine Cask-Finished Rum
This week Colombian rum brand La Hechicera announced its first expression in the new annual Serie Experimental range. La Hechicera Serie Experimental No 1 The Muscat Experiment is comprised of rums aged 12 to 21 years in American white oak, like the brand’s flagship expression, La Hechicera Rum. After the initial aging, the rums finish in former Muscat wine barrels for several months.
Only 7,200 bottles are available globally starting in December 2019. Bottled at 43% ABV, it carries a SRP of $79 per bottle.
Bardstown Bourbon Co. Announces New Collaboration With The Prisoner Wine Company
Bardstown Bourbon Co. this week announced a new partnership with The Prisoner Wine Company. Launching in January 2020, Bardstown Bourbon Company The Prisoner Straight Bourbon takes 9-year-old Tennessee bourbon and ages it for 18 months in The Prisoner French oak red wine barrels.
This release will hit all of the existing Bardstown Bourbon Company’s markets in January. Throughout 2020 it will expand into new markets including Washington DC, Maryland, Delaware, Colorado, Nevada, Texas and Ohio.
Bottled at 50% ABV, this straight bourbon carries a SRP of $124.99 per 750ml bottle.
Maker’s Mark launches Heinemann Private Select Bourbon at Heinemann Duty Free Stores
Maker’s Mark partnered with duty-free chain Heinemann to create a new Private Select bourbon release. Maker’s Mark Heinemann Private Select is made using a single Maker’s Mark bourbon barrel infused with 10 treated oak staves. The staves used include seared French oak, roasted French mocha and toasted French spice.
Bottled at 54.1% ABV, it carries a SRP of $82 per 750ml bottle. During December 2019, travelers at the Sydney International Airport can sample the whiskey at the Heinemann Tasting Bar.
Royal Salute Launches Two New Global Travel Retail Whiskies
Pernod Ricard announced two new Royal Salute global travel retail Scotch whiskies this week. Royal Salute 25 Year The Treasured Blend is the first 25-year-old whisky in the Royal Salute family. Priced at $260, it comes in an individually-numbered porcelain decanter.
The second whisky is Royal Salute The Time Series 52 Year Single Cask Finish which spent its last 14 years in a single oak cask. The youngest whisky in the blend dates back to 1967. Bottled in a hand-blown Dartington crystal decanter, this whisky comes in a box finished with five different layers of wood. Each layer represents the five decades in the life of the blend. Only 35 bottles will be available at global travel retail, and another 71 will make it to domestic markets.
Massive Scotch Whisky Collection Could Be Worth £8m At Auction
When American businessman Richard Gooding died in 2014 he left behind what has been described as the “perfect collection” of Scotch whiskies. The Perth-based company Whisky Auctioneer believes it is the largest private collection of whisky to ever go on sale to the public. The collection includes more than 3,900 bottles of whisky, which are predominantly single malt Scotch.
Gooding, who once owned one of the largest soft-drink distributors in the United States, spent over two decades building his collection, which he kept at his home in Colorado in his own private “pub”.
The collection includes such rarities as The Macallan 1926 60 Year Valerio Adami, The Macallan 1926 60 Year Fine and Rare and Springbank 1919 50 Year.
The auction will be held on Whisky Auctioneer from February 7-17th, 2020 and April 10-20th, 2020.
2019 Distiller Awards Announced December 16th
Back in 2017 we started the annual Distiller Awards which honor the many contributors to the wonderful Distiller community as well as the most popular bottles that came out that year. We will unveil the winners of each category on the morning of December 16th, 2019. Keep an eye on the 2019 Distiller Awards page to see which people and which bottles took home the top spots. To see who won last year, head to the 2018 Awards page.
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