17 Gold and Double Gold Medals Awarded to Beam Global Portfolio

Beam Global Spirits & Wine, Inc., a global leader in premium spirits and wine, announces its best performance ever from the 2007 San Francisco World Spirits Competition, with 31 medal wins. Beam Global’s portfolio of brands won an impressive 17 Gold and Double Gold medals, achieving its highest volume of Gold and Double Gold medals in company history.

“With 17 Gold and Double Gold medal wins, this news will inspire a lot of conversation among our various constituents around the world, from business partners and customers to employees,” said Tom Flocco, president and CEO of Beam Global Spirits & Wine. “More than half of the medals awarded to Beam Global were Gold and Double Gold which is a testament to the quality of the entire portfolio. Our ranking in the categories of bourbon, Scotch whisky, cognac, Canadian whisky and tequila are superb.”

“Our employees are the people we have to thank for these results. A great deal of craftsmanship and artistry go into producing our brands. But the ingredient that perhaps distinguishes us the most from everyone else is the passion that our people bring to their roles,” continued Flocco.

The following Beam Global Spirits and Wine brands received Double Gold or Gold medals in the 2007 San Francisco World Spirits Competition: (more…)

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Brewery Uses a Neighboring Distillery’s Barrels to Put a New Twist on the Popular Gonzo Imperial Porter

Flying Dog Brewery, Denver’s largest craft brewer has announced the release of their Whiskey Barrel-Aged Gonzo Imperial Porter. The new beer is the latest addition to the brewery’s “Wild Dog” Series, their portfolio of high-gravity experimental beers, exclusively available in 750ml champagne bottles.

This unique version of Flying Dog’s popular Gonzo Imperial Porter was brewed and transferred into charred White American Oak whiskey barrels that the neighboring Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey had aged their product in for two years. After aging in the wood barrels for three months, the Imperial Porter was hand bottled, corked, labeled and conditioned for another six weeks before being shipped. According to Head Brewer Matt Brophy, the resulting taste will “remind you of sweet chocolate, dry oak and smooth whiskey. The barrel’s distinctive characteristics will compliment the Imperial Porter’s already robust, full-bodied flavor.”

Availability of this beer is extremely limited - only 5000 bottles of the Barrel-Aged Gonzo Imperial Porter will be packaged. Of the 5000 bottles available, Flying Dog is also offering 500 Limited Edition Wild Dog Gift Box Sets. Each Gift Box will contain a 750ml bottle of the Whiskey Barrel-Aged Gonzo, a Wild Dog glass, collector’s button and an authentic piece of the wood barrel used in the aging process. (more…)

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Freedom an’ whisky gang thegither, wrote Robert Burns. Now a whisky distiller on Islay is declaring a modern-day fight for Scottish ‘whisky independence’ by reopening a distillery that closed almost 80 years ago.

Port Charlotte distillery on the southern shores of Islay shut in 1929 due to Prohibition in the United States, which led to whisky sales plummeting in Scotland.

Now bosses at maverick private distiller Bruichladdich have decided to revive the long-departed seaside distillery in an attempt to buck the trend of increasing domination by international conglomerates in Scotland’s whisky industry.

Out of eight distilleries on Islay, world-renowned for its peaty whisky, seven rest in foreign hands. Bowmore is owned by the Japanese, Ardbeg by the French, Laphroaig by the Americans and Bunnahabhain by Trinidadians.

Bruichladdich bosses believe it’s time small Scottish distilleries fought back. As they see it, the (more…)

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Cooley Distillery plc, Ireland’s only Independent Irish whiskey distillery, won three highly coveted awards at the Icons of Whisky 2007 ceremony held in London last week.

• Irish Distiller of the Year
• Irish Whiskey Innovator of the Year
• John Teeling, Chairman of Cooley Distillery plc, Ambassador of the Year

The Icons of Whisky Awards were launched six years ago to celebrate the people and places behind the whiskey industry. Set up by The Whisky Magazine, entrants are selected and voted on by independent whiskey industry members resulting in an unbiased competition.

In the Irish Distiller category, Cooley was up against stiff competition with both (more…)

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Preserved in ice for 100 years, the whisky Shackleton used to keep out the cold

They say whisky matures with age…but leaving it embedded in the Antarctic ice for almost 100 years may be going a bit far.

Two cases of MacKinlay’s Rare Old Whisky that Ernest Shackleton’s team abandoned on their failed 1908 expedition to the South Pole have been uncovered intact.

The pine cases were discovered by a conservation team excavating ice from beneath the hut where Shackleton and his men sheltered from the long, savage winter. They showed almost no damage from the ice and the company’s stag’s head logo is clearly visible.

“It was a magic moment,” said Al Fastier, the New Zealander managing the conservation programme at Cape Royds on Antarctica’s Ross Island. “It’s a very exciting find.”

Shackleton built the hut in January 1908 to provide a base for his attempt to become the first person to reach the South Pole. He and his 14 crew members spent nine months in the hut as temperatures plunged to -50C (-58F).

They were sustained by supplies which included 1,600lb of Yorkshire ham, 100lb of Colman’s mustard, hundreds of packs of Huntley & Palmers biscuits and copious tins of Lyle’s Golden Syrup.

As for the whisky, MacKinlay’s was a family distilling company based in Leith, Edinburgh. When Shackleton approached MacKinlay’s in 1907, it readily agreed to act as the expedition’s official whisky supplier, and the firm - now part of distillers Whyte and Mackay - still has the letter from Shackleton confirming the donation. (more…)

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