February Monthly Round up for the Whisky Drinker

Background – Here at The Cask Connoisseur, even though we’re not subscribed to every potential newsletter or source of information, we receive around four hundred emails over the course of a month with various promotions, new release information, distillery newsletter, updates etc. Add on social media posts and that amounts to somewhere well over 1000 pieces of information being reviewed per month. The aim of this monthly round up is to provide a summary of the most interesting bits along with upcoming events that can be gleaned from them. The downside to a monthly review is a lot of “special offers” will have come and gone.  

Summary of the Month

February saw a flurry of first releases for 2024 from both distilleries and independent bottlers. Marketing activity over Valentines Day seemed minimal compared to other celebratory opportunities.  Compared to the last couple of months it felt as if the whisky world had woken up from a slight slumber. A slew of industry reports seemed to suggest that 2023 was not the best year for all involved in the whisky industry from producers to drinkers. As usual it is somewhat hard to identify any long term trends except perhaps that all suffered from increase prices. 

Highlights

T B Watsons shop in Dumfries will be closed for two weeks in March during building work. Customers will still be able to purchase from their website – www.drambusters.com. 

Signatory Vintage have released several exciting cask strength whiskies recently. The latest is a 35 year old from Blair Atholl. Having spent the whole 35 years in a single oloroso sherry butt, the release is limited to 450 bottles at an ABV of 55.9%. The retail price is around £645. It is described as beautifully rich and packed with dark sherry fruits, sweet peanut brittle and old wood spice. Sounds amazing. 

Whiskystats reports that prices at whisky auctions have stabilised with the price for high quality whisky continuing to climb. Generally, January shows lower prices in the auction market so this might indicate that the decrease in value seen since 2022 has stopped. 

Cadenhead’s Original Collection and Enigma Release February 2024 includes 6 new bottles two of which are their cask strength Enigma range. One is a highland distillery and the other from speyside, both at £80.

Cara Lang has been named as Managing Director of the family firm Douglas Lang & Co. The announcement coincided with the release of their diamond Collection of six bottles, Port Ellen 40 year old, Speyside’s Finest 55 Years Old, The Macallan 35 Years Old, Blair Athol 30 Years Old, Port Dundas 45 Years Old and Cameronbridge 45 Years Old. The first three are £5000 – £5500 per bottle whilst the last three are £1800. 

Berry Bros & Rudd provided a sneak peek at their new dedicated spirits shop to open in April. Situated at No1 St James Street, London, the shop will stock more than 900 fine spirits. Founded in 1698 the company is the UK’s oldest fine wine and spirits merchant.

Port Ellen release a set of two 44 year old whiskies (Gemini Original and Gemini Remnant) to celebrate the reopening of the distillery with production scheduled to start from mid-March. There are only 247 sets available at a cost of £45,000. 

Longmorn commits to only bottling whiskies 18 years or older. The first two expressions are an 18 and 22 year old and will be an annual release of single batch whiskies at cask strength. Longmorn 18 is said to have notes of toffee apples, apricots and milk chocolate on the finish. It is bottled at 57.6% ABV and retails at £250. Longmorn 22 is said to be hazelnut praline, toffee, citrus and poached pears. It is bottled at 54.5% ABV and retails at £450. During the 130 year history of the distillery, currently owned by Chivas Brothers, most of the production has gone towards blends. 

Highland Park will have an extended “silent season” this year to allow essential maintenance. The start date is given as 1^st April, but no end date has been provided beyond “the end of the year”. 

Bruichladdich release an 18 and 30 year old Re/define. The 18 is the first one to be added to the core range and the first to using barley grown on Islay which now provides 50% of the distillery’s barley needs. The 30 stretches back to when the distillery was closed and faced consignment to history. 

The English Sherry Cask has been awarded Best Single Malt, No Age Statement, England at the World Whiskies Awards 2024.

Minimum unit pricing in Scotland set to rise from 50p to 65p. 

Yet another expensive whisky collection launched – The Glenlivet: The Twelve Elements. Offered by The Whisky Exchange Cabinet – “a new way to collect and drink rare and exceptional spirits. The Whisky Exchange Cabinet helps you find, buy and sell the world’s most exclusive drinks”. Each bottle is £40,000 although they come with a free sample. 

The Scotch Whisky association reveals that 2023 saw global export figures for whisky exceeded £5.6 billion in value with around the equivalent of 1.35 billion bottles. By value this splits 55% blended and 36% single malt. Exports are down 9.5% by value and 19% by volume on 2022 figures. 

The usual madness (at least of the past few years) to obtain a bottle of Springbank occurred. Ballots were the favoured decision process for retailers with some rewarding their loyal customers with extra entries. As gaining a bottle of Springbank gets harder each year, maybe it is time to be more selective of which retailer you use? But as any whisky fan will tell you, putting all your eggs in one basket, often means missing out on the best price, or limiting the editions you can buy, since no single retailer can carry all the different bottles released each year (around 20,000) and some are quite good at finding “lost” bottles at a later date when all the fuss has died down. 

White Peaks distillery celebrates two gold medals at the World Whiskies Awards 2024. One in the Small batch 12 years and under for it’s Wire Works Virgin Oak. A second for Wire Works Over Oak in the Small Batch No Age Statement. 

Lady of the Glen releases their first outrun for 2024 packaged in their new branding. 

Cadenheads Authentic Collection February 2024 is release, some selling out before public release. If you want advanced notice of Cadenheads releases, then it is worth joining their Cadenheads Club.

Isle of Harris distillery announces their second release on 26^th March.

Claxton’s launch the second bottle in their Unicorn Series, a 29 year old Springbank, there are only 17 bottles at £450. Sounds a bargain. 

A 50 year old for only £285? Have we gone back in time a decade or two? Well, it is a vatted grain might be the reason, but worth a shot at that price. This is Decadent Drinks Notable Age Statements Vatted Grain 1972 available from their website. Said to have all the hallmarks of a great grain whisky with lots of coconut, subtle wood spice, citrus fruit notes and complex flavours of fruit and herbal teas. Bottled at cask strength 50.7% ABV.

John Glaser the founder of Compass Box steps down after 23 years. He will depart in May.

Upcoming Whisky Events

Those without full dates, have occurred in 2024 without releasing 2025 dates at present. 

1^st-3^rd March 2024 – Fife Whisky Festival, various locations in Fife.

2^nd March 2024 – Whisky Birmingham – Birmingham

16^th March 2024 – Croydon Whisky Festival 

22^nd March 2024 – Whisky Fair – Cambridge

22^nd-23^rd March 2024 – Whisky Live London

6^th April 2024 – Clackmannanshire’s Whisky Festival, Alloa 

1^st-6^th May 2024 – Spirit of Speyside

18^th May 2024 – Summerton Whisky Festival, St Albans

20^st-25^th May 2024 – Campbeltown Whisky Festival

17^th – 18^th May 2024 – Whiskey Live Dublin

18^th May 2024 – Bladnoch Waterfall release day. This is the last release of the series.

24^th May – 1^st June 2024 – Fèis Ìle, Islay

2^nd June 2024 – The Whisky Event, London

15^th June 2024 – The Whisky Lounge: Edinburgh Whisky Festival

22^nd June 2024 – Stoke Whisky Festival – Stoke on Trent (cancelled)

28^th – 30^th June 2024 – Arran Whisky Festival, Arran

29^th June – National Whisky Festival, Inverness

6^th July 2024 – The Whisky Lounge: Bristol Whisky Festival

19^th – 20^th July 2024 – Southport Summer Whisky Festival, Churchtown & Southport

19^th – 27^th July 2024 – Belfast Whisky Week, Belfast

9^th – 11^th August 2024 – Whisky Fringe, Edinburgh

10^th August 2024 – Falkirk Whisky Social, Larbert

31^st August 2024 – Spirit of Alba Festival, Kirkintilloch

6^th September 2024 – Cadenhead’s in the Courtyard, Campbeltown

6^th – 8^th September 2024 – Whisky Show, London

6^th– 7^th September 2024 – Spirit of Speyside: Distilled, Elgin

9^th – 14^th September 2024 – Hebridean Whisky Festival

13^th – 14^th September 2024 – Whisky Indy Love Fest, Newcastle upon Tyne

14^th September 2024 – Scottish National Whisky Festival, Aberdeen

21^st September 2024 – The Whisky Lounge: Liverpool Whisky Festival

26^th September 2024 – Lagavulin Islay Jazz Festival

5^th October 2024 – Edinburgh’s Whisky Festival

5^th – 6^th October 2024 – Midland Whisky Festival, Birmingham

18^th – 19^th October 2024 – Manchester Whisky Festival

19^th October 2024 – Wee Dram Fest, Bakewell

25^th – 27^th October 2024 – Dornoch Whisky Festival 

26^th October 2024 – Whisky Social Belfast, Belfast

1^st – 3^rd November 2024 – Wales Whisky Fest, Llandudno

2^nd November 2024 – Leeds Whisky Festival

2^nd November 2024 – Stirling Whisky Festival

23^rd November 2024 – English Whisky Festival, Birmingham

7^th – 8^th December 2024 – Kendal Whisky Festival

10^th – 11^th January 2025 – Harrow Whisky Festival 

25^th January 2025 – Scottish National Whisky Festival, Glasgow

January 

• Southport Whisky Festival (Winter)

February  

• The Whisky Lounge: Newcastle Whisky Festival