The recent awards include two gold medals for Bushmills 21 Year Old Single Malt Irish Whiskey - one at the 2012 International Wine and Spirit Competition and another at the 2012 Spirits Business Irish Whiskey Masters.

The medals bring the number of awards that the handcrafted Bushmills range has won in 2012 to 32. This includes the accolade of ‘Best Irish Whiskey’ that Bushmills 21 Year Old also picked up at the 2012 San Francisco World Spirits Competition. 

BUSHMILLS 16 Year Old Single Malt also picked up a coveted 'Master' award - the highest in its category - in the 2012 Spirits Business Irish Whiskey Masters.

BUSHMILLS Global Brand Director, Samantha Reader said: “The quality of BUSHMILLS, as recognised by the most credible experts in the industry, is an important factor in the growth of the brand.”

“Picking up a haul of 32 top awards has been the perfect ending to a big year for us. In the past few months, we’ve launched a new product, Bushmills Irish Honey, in the U.S.; staged Bushmills Live - a handcrafted whiskey and music festival - at the home of Bushmills; and collaborated with a range of world-famous artists such as Snow Patrol, Bon Iver and Elijah Wood.”

“We spend a lot of time here at Bushmills handcrafting each of our whiskies in small batches – that’s our secret to creating the best quality Irish Whiskey and the smooth taste that is our house style. We’ll certainly be enjoying a glass to celebrate!”

Former owners of Cutty Sark, Berry Bros. & Rudd, who opened their doors over 310 years ago this week announced that following the revelation that a couple of questionable bottles of whisky purporting to have been bottled by Berry Bros. & Rudd in the 1970s have recently been offered for sale, Simon Berry, Chairman of Berry Bros. & Rudd, has announced his intention to remove any fakes from circulation:

“Having seen the damage wrought in fine wine circles by a few unscrupulous individuals, some of whom are now facing criminal proceedings, I am adamant that we will do what we can to prevent a similar situation arising in the world of single malt whisky. We cannot purport to be experts in all whisky forgeries but we can be certain when it comes to our own Berry Bros.’ bottlings.” 

Apparently coming from an Italian source...

]]>http://www.thewhiskyguy.co.uk/whisky-blog/rss-comments-entry-16643863.xmlBushmillsFathers DayJ&BTaliskerdiageojohnnie walkerscotch whiskysingle maltBushmill DistilleryThu, 07 Jun 2012 11:38:43 +0000http://www.thewhiskyguy.co.uk/whisky-blog/global-film-competition-helps-to-raise-a-glass-to-dads-this.html888395:10384908:16612944Some of the world’s most famous whisky makers, including Johnnie Walker, Bushmills Irish Whiskey, J&B and Talisker, have harnessed the creative talents of up-and-coming independent film makers around the globe to help inspire people to ‘raise a glass’ to their dads this Father’s Day.

As part of their ‘Raise a glass to your dad’ campaign, the whisky makers partnered with MOFILM, a global network of some 45,000 film makers, to seek short films that pay tribute to fathers.

Shopper statistics¹ show that, traditionally, consumers spend more on Mother’s Day than Father’s Day and the ‘Raise a glass to your dad’ campaign aims to redress the balance, urging sons and daughters to pay tribute to the ‘man behind their dad’.

If you're not aware, over the last year the guys at Edrington have updated the label slightly and slimmed down the core range.  That means there is now only the Storm, 12 and 18 years old. Jason Craig at Cutty stated:

"There will, of course, be other specials and limited releases - such as Tam o' Shanter 25 year old, for example - but the intention is to give the brand greater focus, which is easier to do when there are fewer expersions."

This is a really positive sign and if you haven't tried any of the new releases do give them a go!

Also, if your not familiar with the Cutty Sark Tam o' Shanter see my blog post from January.

The exciting line up brings together some of the best emerging talent from the UK, Ireland and America to play at the whiskey distillery located on Ireland’s north coast.   

Singer-songwriters Marcus Foster and Benjamin Francis Leftwich are two of the most exciting UK based performers today. The Staves are a sisterly trio, who have received huge critical acclaim for their unique song-writing and mesmerising harmonies. They and Northern Irish rock acts General Fiasco and David C Clements complete the impressive line-up.

 “I'm delighted with how the line up has come together for the event”, commented Festival Curator for ‘Bushmills Live’, Graham Brown.

Back last year I tried the unaged spirit and it was great straight off the still, the depth of flavour was amazing and I keenly awaited another oportunity to try the spirit once aged.

John said recently "It's amazing what you can do with wood as a distiller, we're testing spirit in new french oak and have introduced American oak hogsheads too...". I personally have to agree and the Spirit of Broadside is testement to that! It's due into the shops in May and would recommend it to anyone looking for a spirit that challanges the misconseption that hop spirits would never distill well.

Tasting notes

Product: Spirit of Broadside

Distillation: Date: January 2011

Spirit Type: Eau de Vie

Cask type: New European Oak

ABV: 43%

It's a product which has caused excitement for all of us at The Famous Grouse, as we welcome a new breed into our Famous Family. 

The Famous Goose gets its name from the celebrated Canada Goose, a migrant that ousts the Red Grouse as Scotland's favourite game bird, once a year in early April.  Its smooth taste comes from the blend of fine malt whiskies - including The McGonagall and Highland Snark - and sweet grain whiskies. 

We're sure it will become another one of Scotland's Favourite Whiskies, if only for a day. So why not open a bottle with a  gaggle of friends and see what all the fuss is about? Just be careful. The Goose can be an even more difficult breed to find than The Grouse.

The two-day festival will take place on 20th and 21st June 2012 and will be the first ever staged in an Irish Whiskey distillery. 

Some of the brand’s most famous fans will play a series of intimate gigs at the distillery which is situated on Ireland’s north coast and age-old buildings where the art of distilling has been practiced for generations, will become venues for the festival which will be unlike any other ever staged before.

The brand already has a strong association with the contemporary music scene through a series of global partnerships that see artists such as Bon Iver, Chromeo, Theophilus London, Foy Vance and Iain Archer appear in its current advertising campaign.