Bourbon Cask Reserve

Rochester, New York-based Black Button Distilling is introducing Four Grain Bourbon, billed as the company’s “signature product.” Four Grain’s mashbill—comprised of 60% corn, 20% wheat, 9% rye and 11% barley—is sourced from grains grown exclusively on one farm in Groveland, New York. The whiskies in the blend are aged between 14-26 months. Four Grain (42% abv) will be available later this month at a suggested retail price of $49.99 a 750-ml. throughout New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Michigan.

The Glenrothes has launched a new Reserve Collection of non-age-stated single malts nationwide. The Reserve Collection includes: Sherry Cask Reserve ($59.99), the Glenrothes’ first all first-fill Sherry cask offering; Bourbon Cask Reserve ($59.99), matured exclusively in American oak refill Bourbon casks; and Vintage Reserve ($54), a blend of 10 vintages from the last three decades.

Bacardi Ltd.’s John Dewar & Sons unit has unveiled The Deveron, a new range of single malt Scotches. Produced at the MacDuff distillery in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, The Deveron lineup includes 12-year-old and 18-year-old expressions rolling out in markets such as the U.S., U.K., Canada and Germany, among others.

Aiming to bolster its presence in the on-premise shot occasion, Diageo is extending Captain Morgan with a new offering called Cannon Blast. At 35% abv, Cannon Blast is billed as a blend of rum, Caribbean citrus and chipotle and jalepeño pepper and has a cannonball-shaped bottle that glows in black light. The newcomer will be priced at parity with Captain Morgan rum, and is said to deliver a citrus-sweet taste with a spark of heat.

In the super-premium Scotch category, Moet-Hennessy USA is planning to release a five-bottle pack of Glenmorangie single malt Scotch in its Glenmorangie 1970s Collection later this year. Each bottle will be sourced from a different vintage within that decade. The price will be $50,000, with only 10 of the packs available globally and two for the U.S. Moet is hinting that it may reserve the collections in the U.S. for public tasting events involving Glenmorangie loyalists.

Bowling Green, Kentucky-based Western Spirits Beverage Company has extended its Bird Dog Whiskey range with the launch of Jalapeño Honey and Spiced entries ($19.99 a 750-ml.). The pair are available nationwide this month, joining Bird Dog’s existing Apple, Chocolate, Hot Cinnamon, Maple Peach and Blackberry flavored whiskies. Concurrently, Western Spirits has added a new Peach flavor ($29.99) to its Twenty Grand Vodka.

All information courtesy of Shanken News Daily

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.