Absolut has revealed the latest edition in its city-inspired vodka series, Absolut Chicago. The new entry is an olive and rosemary-flavored vodka geared toward Martinis, Bloody Marys and other cocktails. Absolut Chicago is packaged in a crowdsourced bottle design made in collaboration with the city’s Threadless organization, a community of more than 200,000 graphic designers and illustrators. The Chicago-themed vodka is the most recent release in a limited-edition series that has also included Absolut tributes to New Orleans, Brooklyn, Boston, Miami, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Edrington Group single malt brand The Macallan has unveiled a new prestige Scotch whisky in the U.S. market, Macallan M. The luxury malt, retailing at $4,500 a bottle, is a non-age-stated, Oloroso Sherry cask-matured whisky. It’s packaged in a special case and bottled in an individually numbered Lalique crystal decanter, of which 1,750 are currently available globally. Macallan M was created to be the top expression in the malt’s luxury 1824 series.
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A new line of “culinary” spirits is being introduced to the New York metro market this month through Empire Merchants. The Rave Review line of spirits includes 60-proof rum, brandy, blended Bourbon and blended hops entries retailing at $10 a 200-ml. bottle, with a 1-liter size available to the trade at $17.99. Additional flavors are planned for next year. The range was created in consultation with executive chefs, food scientists and other culinary experts to be ideal for culinary blending of flavors.
St. Helena, California-based Charbay Distillery & Winery is celebrating its 30th anniversary with the launch of the Alambic Collection, a range of seven new wines and spirits produced using its copper alambic charentais pot stills. Available now are Whiskey Release III ($410, distilled from Pilsner beer), R5 Whiskey Lot 511A ($79, distilled from Racer 5 IPA from Bear Republic Brewery), Brandy No. 89 ($93, 24 years old), Still House Port ($50 a 375-ml., 7 years old) and Distillers’ Port ($75 a 375-ml., 7 years old). The company will also roll out Charbay ‘S’ Whiskey ($140, distilled from Bear Republic Brewery’s Black Stout) this Thanksgiving, followed by Charbay Aged Rum (10 years old), which is slated to be released in early spring of 2014.
Utah craft distillery Ogden’s Own has released two new vodkas, cinnamon-flavored Five Wives Sinful and vanilla-flavored Five Wives Heavenly. The 70-proof duo, launching first in Oregon and Idaho, are offshoots of Ogden’s “middle-shelf” Five Wives brand that is distributed in 15 states (Five Wives is available online in 26 states).
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William Grant & Sons’ Glenfiddich single malt Scotch brand is launching a new limited edition Age of Discovery Bourbon Cask Reserve entry this fall. Created to celebrate the synergies between the American and Scotch whisky industries, Bourbon Cask Reserve is aged for 19 years in ex-Bourbon American oak barrels, marking the first time Glenfiddich has aged a whisky entirely in Bourbon casks. The 40%-abv offering is packaged in a blue box adorned with depictions of the Mississippi River and several landmarks, which serve as a nod to the casks’ journey from the U.S. to Scotland. Rolling out nationwide, the 2013 Age of Discovery Bourbon Cask Reserve is priced at $149.99 a bottle.
F. Korbel & Bros. has released its first new Korbel Brandy entry in more than a decade, Korbel 12. A limited edition entry, Korbel 12 is a handcrafted California brandy, distilled in a copper-lined still, aged for a minimum of 12 years and blended from select barrels. Just 1,800 six-bottle cases of the new offering will be available in key markets, priced at $39.99 a bottle. Korbel 12 joins the flagship Korbel California brandy, Korbel VSOP Gold Reserve and Korbel XS labels in the existing Korbel brandy portfolio.
Camus Cognac has released its new Family Legacy variant in the U.S. Created as a tribute to the Camus family’s five generations, Family Legacy is a blend of five crus from Grande Champagne, Petite Champage, Bon Bois, Fin Bois and the Borderies. Aged in French oak barrels, each of the crus are blended together in eight consecutive steps, from youngest to oldest, and then bottled at 40.8% abv. The specialty expression, which rolls out this month, will be available nationwide priced at $1,299 a bottle.
Missouri-based McCormick Distilling has unveiled two new brands, Triple Crown Whiskey and Hook’s Spiced rum. Triple Crown, a blended North American whiskey, is 80-proof and retails at $20 a 750-ml. It’s launching in 35 states across the U.S. Hook’s rum includes Spiced and Black Spiced variants retailing at $15 and $17 respectively. The 92-proof offerings are now available in 46 states.
SPI Group’s Stolichnaya vodka brand has released the second entry in its Elit by Stolichnaya “Pristine Water” series, the New Zealand edition. Made with water sourced from a natural spring in New Zealand, the limited edition, 80-proof expression is packaged in a crystal bottle created by French crystal house Royale de Champagne and sits in a handcrafted wooden case. Just 300 bottles of Elit by Stolichnaya’s New Zealand edition will be available worldwide, priced at around $3,000 each. The new offering follows Elit by Stolichnaya’s 2011 launch of its Himalaya edition, which marked the brand’s first Pristine Water entry.
All information courtesy of Shanken News Daily
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Pernod Ricard-owned Absolut vodka is introducing a new vodka series in partnership with local entrepreneurs around the globe. The Our/Vodka initiative, which began last year in Berlin, will now spread to 11 cities across the U.S., Europe and Australia. In each city, Absolut has linked with local partners to open micro-distilleries that will produce vodka with a focus on local ingredients, although each will have the same recipe and be packaged in a small bottle with a crown cap. Absolut’s partners will have responsibility for running the individual businesses and marketing the new offerings. An Our/Vodka distillery in Detroit is set to open in June, with projects in Seattle (opening in September), New York (November), Amsterdam, Los Angeles and London to follow later in the year. Our/Austin, Our/Miami, Our/Nashville, Our/New Orleans and Our/Melbourne vodkas are scheduled to begin production in 2015.
Buffalo Trace Distillery has launched a limited release single barrel Bourbon in honor of the distillery’s early master distiller. Elmer T. Lee Single Barrel Bourbon will be available in limited quantities for suggest retail price of $34.99. Elmer T. Lee, who passed away last year at the age of 93, worked at the distillery from 1949 to 1985 and is credited with creating the world’s first single barrel Bourbon in 1984, according to the company. The 46.5%-abv Bourbon will hit retail shelves in April.
Four craft distilleries from the Midwest have collaborated on a limited release offering, Four Kings Bourbon Whiskey, to be sold exclusively at Binny’s Beverage Depot’s 30 stores across Illinois. Corsair Distillery in Nashville, Tennessee; Few Spirits in Evanston, Illinois; Journeyman Distilling in Three Oaks, Michigan and Mississippi River Distilling Company in Le Claire, Iowa each contributed 30 gallons of whiskey from their own distilleries for the project. About 600 bottles will be produced and will debut at the Whiskey Week Chicago 2014 event April 20-26. The whiskey is comprised of four grains from the distilleries’ different mash bills: corn, wheat, rye and barley. Plans are in the works for another blend in time for Whiskey Week 2015.
Washington state craft distiller Dry Fly is prepping the launch of a new five-year-old Irish-style whiskey under the O’Danaher brand. That limited-release offering will retail at around $65 a 750-ml. Dry Fly’s line also includes a vodka, gin, Washington wheat whiskey, Washington Bourbon and Triticale whiskey.
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