Innholdsfortegnelse for February/March 2023 i Whisky Magazine

DISTILLER SPONSORED BY GLENCAIRN CRYSTAL STUDIO Irish Distillers Highly Commended Waterford Distillery CRAFT PRODUCER SPONSORED BY WADE CERAMICS Blackwater Distillery Highly Commended Dingle Distillery SUSTAINABLE DISTILLERY SPONSORED BY AMORIM TOP SERIES Midleton Distillery Highly Commended Pearse Lyons Distillery BRAND INNOVATOR Waterford Distillery Highly Commended Boann Distillery CAMPAIGN INNOVATOR SPONSORED BY BERLIN PACKAGING Waterford Distillery Highly Commended Powerscourt Distillery VISITOR ATTRACTION Powerscourt Distillery & Visitor Centre Highly Commended Teeling Whiskey Distillery DISTILLERY MANAGER Michelle Guilfoyle, Dingle Distillery MASTER DISTILLER/MASTER BLENDER SPONSORED BY MCLAREN PACKAGING Paul Corbett, Powerscourt Distillery Highly Commended John Wilcox, Blackwater Distillery IRISH WHISKEY BRAND AMBASSADOR Dan Grummel, Blackwater Distillery Highly Commended Tommy Byrne, Irish Distillers VISITOR ATTRACTION MANAGER Lisa Jameson, Teeling Whiskey Company Highly Commended Ewan Paterson, Clonakilty Distillery SINGLE OUTLET RETAILER SPONSORED BY THE GLENTURRET DISTILLERY Celtic…

It might seem strange that one of the most popular drinks enjoyed across many countries today is at its core unchanged from its 19th-century origins. The whisky highball is a simple concept: mix together one part whisky to two parts soda water in a glass filled with ice. It’s easy to drink, cool, and refreshing. Various people throughout history – including whisky magnate Tommy Dewar – have claimed the invention of this libation, which became wildly popular with famous stage actors and subsequently the general public in the early 1900s. Online cocktails, spirits and liqueurs resource Difford’s Guide credits the first written record of the drink to an 1894 play, My Friend From India, when a character calls for a “high ball of whiskey”. The first recorded written recipe emerges…

The Japanese whisky landscape is at a tantalising juncture. According to Japanese liquor export statistics from 2020, whisky has now overtaken the traditional beverages of sake and shochu to become the country’s largest alcohol export category. Japan Ministry of Finance data shows that whisky hit a record export value of JPY46 billion in 2021 – up from JPY27 billion in 2020, and significantly higher than sake’s JPY40 billion. Following the adoption of new labelling standards for Japanese whisky by members of the Japan Spirits and Liqueurs Makers Association in April 2021, the country is set to move forward with greater clarity, transparency and (one hopes) quality in its whisky making. The new standards stipulate that to be labelled “Japanese whisky”, a spirit must be made from malted barley and local…

The Scotch whisky business continues to plough much of its post-pandemic travel-retail resources into the Chinese domestic duty-free island of Hainan. Although Covid outbreaks and lockdowns have impacted tourist numbers this year, the authorities running China’s most southerly province still have an unswerving ambition to turn the tropical island into the world’s leading travel-retail location. The latest retail development on Hainan is the newly opened cdf Haikou International Duty Free City on the north side of the island, which at 280,000 square metres is claimed to be the largest duty-free store in the world. Close to Haikou’s new seaport, and in theory a steady stream of cruise line customers, this giant new shopping complex features more than 800 luxury brands. Unsurprisingly, international spirit brands have been eager to set up…

From the very second you step into the fresh air at Edinburgh Airport arrivals, there’s no missing Johnnie Walker Princes Street. Forget banners and balloons – travellers into the city are greeted by an enormous, multi-storey ad for the experience emblazoned on the side of the car park. For scale, part of the “installation” is a photograph of the Edinburgh Castle view from the rooftop 1820 Bar – that alone stretches to 402 square metres. The airport’s CEO, Gordon Dewar, is glad to showcase the “iconic Scottish brand to those passengers as they arrive at the terminal”. It’s sure to whet the appetites of many for a dram. In many ways, the scale of the ad mirrors the size of the investment. In April 2018, Diageo announced a mammoth £150…

Andrew Macdonald-Bennett’s drinks industry career began in 2001, when he set up an import and distribution business to bring Beer Laos – a charitable venture to finance the clearance of landmines in Laos – to Europe. Despite months of work and support from the Mines Advisory Group, things didn’t take off in the way he’d hoped, but he was left feeling inspired and with a new-found love for the industry. He joined a creative agency, where he managed campaigns for Kronenbourg 1888 and consulted with Inverhouse Distillers to create interactive websites and games for two of its key brands, and later took up a role with Edrington, working across the group’s prestigious portfolio including The Macallan and The Glenrothes. Macdonald-Bennett founded Goldfinch Whisky Merchants with his wife Ros around four…

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Whisky Live is preparing for its return to Athens, bringing an exciting tasting experience to whisky fans in the Greek capital. The event is taking place on Saturday 4 and Sunday 5 March at landmark venue Technopolis (pictured below) in the central Gazi district, which is known for its cocktail bars, extravagant restaurants, rooftop terraces, and music venues. Organisers expect the event to attract whisky connoisseurs and enthusiasts, as well as those who are new to the world of whisky and spirits fans looking to try something new. Ticket holders will have the chance to meet distillers and whisky brand representatives, and to enjoy unlimited whisky samples. The exhibition space at Technopolis will also include masterclass stages, dedicated spaces for cocktails and tastings, and a VIP area. Since Whisky Live…

Our regional Icons of Whisky awards for 2023 are now in full swing, seeking to recognise the brightest people and places in the world of whisky, and the Whisky Magazine team has once again been astounded by the quality of entries from around the world. Held annually as part of the Whisky Magazine Awards, the Icons of Whisky commend not just whisky producers but also those people and places that sell it, including retailers and bars, and those who promote it, from communicators to brand ambassadors to visitor attraction managers. As well as a platform for recognition and celebration, the Icons of Whisky also aim to act as a bellwether for the global industry, reflecting shifts in aspects and attitudes. With this in mind, the 2023 awards have seen the…

What should we talk about when we talk about Australian whisky? We could talk about history. The convict era and the early years of colonial spirit production. The fledgling distilleries established in New South Wales and Van Dieman’s Land (now Tasmania) in the 1820s, none to survive. We could talk about the first fully fledged whisky distilleries that emerged in the 1860s and the boomtimes of the Victorian gold rush that followed. We could talk about Melbourne’s Joshua Brothers Distillery, one of the largest malt whisky distilleries in the world in the 1920s, cranking out huge volumes of malt whisky for a thirsty Australian public. We could talk about Australia being the fourth-largest producer of whisky in the world back then. Distillers Company Limited (DCL), the forerunner to Diageo, could…

It wasn’t easy to find the Portintruan site outside Port Ellen on the southeast of Islay during the last Fèis Ìle. You had to watch carefully for the sign scrawled with the word ‘WHISKY’ and an arrow leading up a dirt road to an area where a pair of shipping containers were repurposed as the display rooms for the future distillery. With plenty of whisky awaiting any curious Fèis visitors, it marked the first time the site was opened to the general public. While the distillery site is currently just a large flat plot of land awaiting construction, the interior of the containers had been decorated with images of the designs for what will be Islay’s 11th distillery. Once completed, Portintruan will replace Laphroaig as the first distillery encountered on…

On the last Thursday in December, Flavien Desoblin wasn’t counting down to the first moments of 2023. He was counting down the weeks until he finishes his new whisky menu. It’s an ambitious one, but the owner of Brandy Library is no stranger to ambitious undertakings. You could argue that ambition is his legacy, as first evidenced by him having opened Brandy Library, a whisky bar in New York’s ritzy Tribeca neighbourhood, in 2005, a time when whisky was categorically uncool. Later, the zeitgeist caught up: sales of bourbon skyrocketed, American rye rose from the dusty bottom shelf to hot-commodity status, the Irish distilling industry was virtually reborn, Japanese whisky hit unexpected heights, and small distilleries popped up across the US – and the world – like mushrooms after a…