Morrison Bowmore Adds Limited-Edition Auchentoshan, Glen Garioch Single Malts
February 29, 2012Suntory-owned Morrison Bowmore has released two limited-edition extensions each to its Lowland single malt Auchentoshan and its Highland single malt Glen Garioch.
Auchentoshan’s new extensions include cask-strength Auchentoshan Valinch ($60 a 750-ml.), and wine-barrel aged Auchentoshan 1999 Vintage Bordeaux Cask Matured ($70). Valinch takes its name from the long tubes cellar masters use to sample whisky from casks. At 57%-abv, it’s described as a “straight-from-the-cask” version of Auchentoshan Classic ($30). The 1999 Vintage is a 58%-abv whisky that’s been resting in Bordeaux wine casks since 1999. Three hundred bottles of the 1999 Vintage and 1,200 bottles of Valinch are available in the U.S. market, where Morrison Bowmore’s brands—also including Islay single malt Bowmore—are handled by Campari America.
“Auchentoshan is a good entry point for Bourbon or other whisk(e)y drinkers coming into Scotch,” Iain McCallum, Morrison Bowmore’s master of malts, told Shanken News Daily. “It’s a lighter style, and for that reason is useful in cocktails as well. Auchentoshan Three Wood ($63, aged in Bourbon, Oloroso Sherry and Pedro Ximenez Sherry casks) is one of the fastest-growing single malts in the U.S. at the moment,” McCallum says, adding that much of the growth is coming from the New York market.
Meanwhile, portfoliomate Glen Garioch recently released a 1994 Vintage variant, which is 53.9%-abv and sells for $110 a bottle. The 1994 Vintage, of which 3,000 bottles are available in the U.S., represents the last of Glen Garioch’s whisky made before the distillery moved to an unpeated, less smoky style. Forthcoming in the next few months will be another Glen Garioch offering, the ultra-rare 1986 Vintage, of which only 39 bottles will be sold in the U.S., out of 3,000 released worldwide.
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