Spirits

The Pulteney distillery in the Scottish Highlands is the namesake of one Sir William Pulteney, a politician and landowner who at the time of his death in 1805 was purported to be the wealthiest man in all of Great Britain. And while he may have died with full coffers, surely there must have been a modicum of […]

Since its introduction in 2013, each release of the Macallan M series of single-malt whiskies has been bottled in handblown Lalique crystal decanters—after all, they are the perfect format to showcase the dramatically deeper and darker amber colours of these annual limited editions. However, the new 750 mL Macallan M Black MMXVII, which was bottled in 2017 as the sixth […]

A decade ago, Nicola Nice was developing brand strategies for spirits such as Bacardi and Campari when she encountered a question she just couldn’t shake. “Despite the fact that women participate in almost equal numbers as men in drinking spirits, I couldn’t understand why they were being completely underrepresented in the brand space,” says the […]

The craft drinks movement has already elevated beers of all hues, as well as that quintessentially British spirit gin, to loftier heights. Now, rum – a drink invented in the 17th century when plantation slaves discovered that molasses could be fermented into alcohol – is set to enjoy a similar resurgence in popularity amongst the […]

As creative director of luxury whisky brand Macallan, Dumfries-born Ken Grier oversaw a hike in sales from 1.8 million bottles in his first year on the brand to 12 million in 2017. He also masterminded the building of the brand’s new £140m distillery, holds two Guinness World Records for the price of a bottle of whisky […]

A bottle of Tasmanian single malt whisky has been snapped up at a London auction for £6,600  in what is believed to be a new Australian record. That equates to just over $500 a nip for the Sullivans Cove Distillery’s American Oak single malt, which was named the world’s best single cask single malt whisky […]

The Dalmore produced luxury aged whiskies even in the 1800s when others were releasing only five-year-olds. What’s changed in the last 30 years? Distillers all look to push each other to release that special whisky. The growth of the secondary market is also very significant, with auction houses like Bonhams making record transactions. Then there is a definite appetite […]

Entrepreneur David Prior explains why you should always follow your gut when it comes to business When it comes to naysayers in the business world, David Prior has heard it all. When Prior first decided to leave his family’s manufacturing business to start up an organic yogurt company five:am, people thought he was mad. Those same […]

Linkwood single malt is a hearty, resiny Speyside whisky that is most commonly used to add depth and finesse to Johnnie Walker and other scotch blends. But Gordon & MacPhail — one of the world’s leading specialists in the maturation of single-malt Scotch whisky — knew it had something special with Cask 20 from the […]