Pick of the Launches
Here is the pick of the launches from last month, as featured in Drinks International Magazine January edition
BENROMACH HERITAGE 1973
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Brand owner Benromach Distillery Company
RRP £1,395
Markets Specialist UK whisky retailers
Contact Jane.Cumming@platformpr.co.uk
+44 (0)7900 917 142
The Benromach Distillery Company has added a ‘rare’ single cask malt to its range, Benromach Heritage 1973.
Exclusive to the UK, only 52 bottles will be available. Bottled at 48.1% abv, Heritage 1973 is a dark golden malt, matured in a refill American Hogshead.
The Speyside single malt with ‘hints of dark chocolate and a peppery smooth finish’ is presented in a decanter-style bottle. The company says the whisky was distilled before the Urquhart family brought Benromach Distillery back to life in 1998.
Distillery manager Keith Cruickshank said: “Benromach 1973 is very much a dram to be treasured. It was crafted with great care using many of the same skills and practises adopted at Benromach today.”
DEAD MAN’S FINGERS RUM
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Brand owner The Rum & Crab Shack
Markets UK
RRP £22.99
Contact Neythan Hayes, neythhayes@gmail.com
Dead Man’s Fingers started life in 2015 at The Rum & Crab Shack in Cornwall. After success in the restaurant it launched online and has branched out nationwide. Chris McGuire, who founded the rum with shack-co-owner Neythan Hayes, said: “We needed a rum that would work well as a sipping rum as well as a mixer in our cocktails. We went for Cornish flavours: gorse, vanilla, saffron cake, rum and raisin, as well as warming orange and cinnamon.”
ROYAL SALUTE
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Brand owner Pernod Ricard
RRP $149, €140
Markets Global
Contact Emily Tanner, etanner@lexisagency.com
Pernod Ricard has unveiled the first in a new range of limited-edition Royal Salute gift packs.
Launched to coincide with Chinese New Year, the pack contains a bottle and miniature of Royal Salute 21 Year Old.
It was created under the guidance of British designer Tom Lane. Lane took inspiration from the Field of the Cloth of Gold – a meeting held in 1520 between the kings of England and France, remembered for its ornate temporary palaces made of golden cloth.
FOXHOLE GIN
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Brand owner Foxhole Spirits
RRP £40
Markets foxholespirits.com and a selection of independent retailers and bars
Contact Rachel McKenna, rachel@stellarpublicrelations.com, 07539937115
Foxhole Spirits has launched a gin distilled with English wine grapes picked from Sussex vineyards.
The gin is created in small batches in a process which presses the unused juice from English wine grapes. A method the company claims is not currently used for any other gin produced in the UK.
James Oag-Cooper, Foxhole Spirits founder, said: “In a typical English wine harvest, because of the nature of wine-making, around 30%-40% of the grape material is not used and normally gets thrown away. However, when it is put through a second pressing, we can use the juice to create a gin with a beautiful balance of floral and citrus characteristics.”
TAMDHU BATCH STRENGTH NO. 002
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Brand owner Ian Macleod Distillers
Markets Global
RRP £59.99/$76.21, €71.84
Contact Emma@tastecommunications.co.uk, +44 (0)131 225 7205
Ian Macleod Distillers has released the second edition of its Tamdhu Speyside Batch Strength expression. Batch Strength 002 is matured in sherry oak casks and bottled at 58.5% abv, un-chill filtered at natural colour.
VANA TALLINN LIQUORICE
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Brand owner Liviko
Markets Finland
RRP €24.90
Contact Jaanika Palm, jaanika@prpartner.ee
To celebrate the centenary of the Republic of Finland, Liviko has launched Vana Tallinn liqueur.
A total of 24 alcoholic drinks were selected by Finnish alcohol monopoly Alko to mark the republic’s 100th birthday.
The recipe of dark liquorice, combines the classic liqueur with liquorice and warm herbs.
The premium London dry gin is infused with the following botanicals: juniper, coriander, angelica root, orris root, liquorice root, bitter orange, fresh lemon
zest, grapefruit zest, angelica seed and diluted with natural spring water.
SEA WOLF
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Brand owner Boilermaker Drinks
RRP £29.99
Markets UK
Contact jessica.mackenzie@bigpartnership.co.uk,
+44 (0)131 557 5252
Scottish drinks innovation company Boilermaker Drinks has announced the launch of the ‘first’ white rum to be distilled on Scottish soil. Sea Wolf (41% abv) has been created by Mike Aikman and Jason Scott, the duo behind Edinburgh bar Bramble, and Gavin Ferguson who co-founded Scottish independent wine merchants Vino Wines.
The white rum is the first spirit to be produced in the Boilermaker Drinks distillery and will have a limited first run, with only 300 bottles being made. It takes its name from the Native American term for killer whales, a nod to Britain’s naval links with rum importation and the pods of sea wolves that are found dotted around the Scottish coastline.
CHAMPAGNE PIAFF
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Brand owner Piaff Group Holdings
Markets Global, with a focus on UK and US
RRP £30-£48/$38-$60/€35-€57
Contact Sarah Wright, sarah@parachute-pr.co.uk, +44 (0)7957 626974
Champagne Piaff is believed to be the first major prospective Champagne house to emerge since Nicholas Feuillatte in 1972.
The brainchild of Laurie Kempster, a South African forensic accountant and winemaker it is hoped it will “revolutionise the champagne world”.
The liquid is made by the company’s primary producers, the Mansard family, fifth-generation premium champagne-makers, based near Epernay.
The champagne house has ambitious growth plans with objectives to reach £9.5m in revenues (394,000 bottles) within the initial five years and to become a top 10 champagne house within 10 years. The following variants are currently produced under the Champagne Piaff label: Rosé Brut, Brut, Grand Cru Blanc de Blanc.
GIGGLEWATER
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Brand owner Gigglewater
Markets UK
RRP £1.89
Contact Sophiya Morgan, sophiya@touch-pr.co.uk, +44 (0)208544 6900
A new ‘lifestyle-led’ sparkling wine brand with a ‘strong social mission’ has been launched in the UK.
The brand aims to take on the prosecco and sparkling wine category with a unique take on managing demand and supply, a focus on life balance/wellness and its belief in ‘giving back’ via charity support, the company says.
Gigglewater the name was inspired by the 1920s American term meaning alcoholic beverage.
MARQUÉS DE LA CONCORDIA GRAN RESERVA AND BLANC DE BLANCS
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Brand owner Marqués de la Concordia
RRP Gran Reserva £14.99, Blanc de Blancs £12.99
Markets Global
Contact Cecilia Hocking, cecilia@touch-pr.co.uk, +44 (0)208544 6900
Marqués de la Concordia Family of Wines is to celebrate its bicentenary with two additions to its range of cavas – a limited-edition Marques de la Concordia Gran Reserva and a Blanc de Blancs.
With a limited production of 43,000 bottles, Marques de la Concordia Gran Reserva is made using 30% Chardonnay, 25% Xarel-Lo, 25% Macabeo and 20% Parellada grapes, handpicked from 40-year-old vines. The cava is aged in the bottle for 38 months.
The Blanc de Blancs is made from 25% Chardonnay, 30% Xarel-Lo, 25% Macabeo and 20% Parellada and aged for 24 months.
Nick Mantella, Spanish wine expert and The Haciendas Company commercial business development director, said: “The future of Spanish wine lies in the premium sector and it is here that we are looking towards growth with the addition of our cava NDPs.