As the late Tommy Cooper said, 'I'm on a whisky diet. I've lost three days already.' This pretty much sums up the average Caskstrength week and there's so much to tell you about, gawd dang, but never enough days in the week to do it justice.
So here's a little round up of the week's most interesting news and reviews.
On Wednesday, The Macallan launched their next intrepid project, simply entitled The Flask - a collaboration with Californian designers Oakley (well known for their outdoor apparel and sunglasses.) The Flask is a modern day look at the fragility of the humble hip flask. Put it this way, if you're popping something exceptional inside your hip flask, the last thing you want to happen is for it to disintegrate in your suit pocket, or leak all over the insides of your handsome Bill Amberg luggage. So together, constructed with materials that resemble a bullet proof vest, the team have put together what is probably the toughest hip flask in the world.
And not known to faff about, The Macallan chaps have shot this fun video to show the hip flask in action. Clearly just another every day in Speyside, by the looks of things. More to come on this one in due course, so watch this space.... www.themacallan.com
Next up and today, Highland giants Glenmorangie have announced their brand new programme allowing the consumer to effectively choose the next whisky the company will bottle. Cask Masters is an innovative scheme whereby from an initial choice of three samples, one whisky will eventually be chosen, labelled and named all from within the forum of the general public. Camel by committee, or something extremely revealing about how powerful the consumer has now become in terms of dictating flavour profile? You decide, but we're looking forward to seeing the results. Having tasted the three samples we can vouch that they are all highly different expressions of Glenmo - one Burgundy cask, one Bordeaux and one Manzanilla, with our leaning towards the Bordeaux cask.
For more details on the programme, visit www.glenmorangie.com/caskmasters
On a similar tip, The Singleton have announced a foray into the unknown with a look at the way we perceive whisky through the senses. Professor Charles Spence and Condiment Junkie (man, do all these 'experiential'/ 'immersive' agencies focus group their frankly absurd names?) are recruiting 300 participants for a science experiment into the effect of environment on the taste of whisky. The Singleton Sensorium will run on Wednesday 20th and Thursday 21st March at 79 Beak Street in Soho.
Email laboratory@condimentjunkie.co.uk if you're interested in signing up.
And Finally... We have another whisk(e)y tasting coming up. Wednesday the 6th March at the Southbank Centre, this time covering the truly exciting world of Irish Whiskey. Some great whiskeys will be served including Redbreast 15yo and Green Spot, alongside a host of other goodies. If you fancy coming, drop us a line and we'll sort you out tickets. The tastings are usually only for members of the Southbank Centre, but we've opened it up to readers of this website too... info@caskstrength.net or click here: Irish Whiskey Tasting
That was the news. TTFN x
