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September 2024 suspectedly turned out to be the promised month for new whisky releases. With The Whisky Show in London, numerous trade events and TFWA in Cannes later in the month, many producers have brought their A-game this September to the table.
Instead of two roundups this month, we have decided to have more to cover more new whisky releases. You can find releases from early September here.
Let's see what others brought to the stage in mid-September 2024.
Royal Salute 21-year-old Harris Reed Edition
Released on 12 September, coinciding with London Fashion Week, Royal Salute 21-year-old Harris Reed Edition was conceived by the brand's master blender Sandy Hyslop and British-American fashion designer Harris Reed.
Offered in three colours, the limited edition bottle is adorned by a feather hale crown inspired by Reed's signature demi-couture style. At its core, the whisky itself is Royal Salute's signature blend with the addition of sherry cask-matured Braeval single malt and grain whisky finished in virgin oak barrels.
The release is available worldwide and has a suggested retail price of US$248 (£189).
For more Royal Salute releases, please see our article, The Rainbow Kingdom of Royal Salute.
Image by Royal Salute
Redbreast 18-year-old
On 12 September 2024, Irish Distillers added an 18-year-old to the Redbreast core range. The new addition is aged in four different types of casks - ex-Bourbon, Oloroso sherry, cream sherry and Ruby Port - and offered at 46% ABV. The expression retails for US$249 (£190).
Image by Irish Distillers
Benromach 50-year-old 2024 Release
Following the 2019 bottling of the first 50-year-old single malt from Benromach, it seems the distillery has made it an annual release this year. The 2024 Release was aged exclusively in sherry casks and is offered at 54.6% ABV. Limited to 248 decanters, the single malt retails for £20,000 (US$26,100) and will be made available in select retailers worldwide.
To note, bottle No.1 will be sold on the distillery's website for £25,000 (US$32,650). The price includes a Benromach 50 print and a special ‘distiller for a day’ experience.
Original Image by Benromach
Highland Park 1970: The Accolade 54-year-old
Duncan Taylor released the oldest ever independently bottled Highland Park to date, The Accolade 54-year-old, in September 2024. The release is the first edition in the company's The Accolade series, part of the Rarest Collection.
The 54-year-old Highland Park was aged in a single sherry-seasoned cask and limited to 158 dagger-shaped decanters with a copper plinth display stand. Offered at 42.9% ABV, the release is priced at £22,000 (US$28,700) and is only available from The Spirits Embassy online store.
Images by Duncan Taylor
Arran Ewan's Cut
Actor Ewan McGregor announced in early September 2024 that he would auction 150 bottles from his private cask of Arran single malt to support Children’s Hospices Across Scotland (CHAS). Titled 'Ewan's Cut,' the 26-year-old single malt was distilled at Lochranza Distillery in 1998 (then known as Arran), aged in an ex-sherry hogshead, and bottled at 46% ABV.
The cask yielded 240 bottles, 150 of which will be auctioned from 27 September to 7 October through Whisky Auctioneer. The auction house has waived its seller fee and is donating it to CHAS to ensure all proceeds reach the charity.
The first 24 bottles sold have been personally signed by the Scottish actor.
All bottles contain an individual phrase that is said to read like a mini-film script, featuring references to McGregor's roles in films, including Trainspotting and Star Wars, as well as his Long Way Round television series.
Image by Lochranza Distillery
Octomore 15 Series
Three expressions of the 15th series of Octomore heavily-peated single malts from Bruichladdich distillery were released on 10 September - including the second highest peat-level whisky ever bottled.
The 15.1 is a five-year-old single malt made with Concerto barley and aged in first-fill and re-charred Bourbon barrels. Offered at 59.1% ABV, the whisky has a ppm of 108.2 and retails for 159.99€ (£135/US$).
The second expression, 15.2, has the same five-year-old base and ppm as 15.1 but has been aged in American oak, French red wine and Cognac barrels. The whisky is bottled at 57.9% ABV and has a suggested retail price of 169.99€ (£144/US$).
The 15.3 is made with 100% Islay barley from Octomore Farm. The five-year-old whisky was aged in a combination of first-fill Bourbon barrels and first-fill Oloroso hogsheads from Fernando de Castilla. Offered at 61.3% ABV, the expression boasts 307.2 ppm and retails for 220€ (£186/US$). 15.3 is the second only to 8.3 with its high ppm level, which has a ppm of 309 and was released in 2017.
Image by Bruichladdich
Johnnie Walker Blue Label Ultra
Taking home the title of 'world's lightest 70cl whisky bottle', the newly revealed Johnnie Walker Blue Label Ultra weighs only 180g without its topper. The expression, which contains whiskies such as Oban, Brora, Royal Lochnagar and closed distilleries, is limited to 888 bottles and was revealed on 14 September during the London Design Festival. However, the limited edition will be available to purchase in 2025, offered at 55% ABV (according to the label) and retailing for £1,000 (US$1,312).
The first-of-its-kind handblown bottle tops the last lightest whisky bottle by 118g. Even though the technology is not yet available for large-scale production, Diageo is willing to share its UK patent royalty-free with anyone who wishes to share the innovation.
Images by Diageo
Wild Turkey Jimmy Russell 70th anniversary
In celebration of master distiller Jimmy Russell's 70th anniversary at Wild Turkey on 10 September, the distillery released a limited edition eight-year-old Straight Bourbon. Russell joined the company in 1954 as an 18-year-old chap sweeping the floors. Known worldwide as a whiskey heavyweight, he is sometimes called the ' Buddha of Bourbon'.
The release is offered at 50.5% ABV (101 proof) and will be available globally this autumn for US$50 (£38).
Image by Wild Turkey
Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel Special Release Coy Hill Barrelhouse 8
Coy Hill is the highest elevated warehouse out of Jack Daniel's 96 rickhouses. Barrelhouse 8 follows the debut of the popular Coy Hill High Proof in 2021. The new limited single barrel edition is made with the distillery's traditional recipe of 80% corn, 12% malted barley, and 8% rye and offered between 61% and 68.75% ABV.
The whiskey was barrelled on 4 September 2013 and aged in the single warehouse's fifth and sixth floors. Bottled just shy of 11 years old, Coy Hill Barrelhouse 8 retails for US$80 (£61).
Image by Jack Daniel's
Angel's Envy Triple Oak
Angel's Envy Triple Oak is the brand's first addition to its core line-up in more than a decade. The expression is made with Bourbon aged between four and six years, finished in Hungarian, Chinkapin, and French oak (wouldn't it make the whiskey quadruple oak?). More specifically, the whiskey was aged in second-fill Hungarian oak barrels for at least six months, first-fill Chinkapin barrels for at least six months, and first-fill French oak barrels for at least two months.
The new core expression is offered at 46% ABV and will be available nationwide in the US for US$75 (£57).
Image by Angel's Envy
Turntable Track 6: All My Life
For those who like to explore what songs like Firestarter and Bittersweet Symphony taste like whisky blending company Turntable Spirits offers at least one interpretation. The blenders have channelled Foo Fighters' 2002 hit All My Life for its latest song-inspired blend, Track 6.
Track 6: All My Life is a blend of four single malts and a grain whisky: GlenAllachie first-fill ex-Woodford barrels; Balblair Limousin oak XO octaves; Benriach first-fill Bourbon barrels; Knockdhu first-fill oloroso Sherry butt; and North British Bourbon barrels. Interestingly, all the whiskies come from distilleries for which the founders of Turntable Spirits, brothers Gordon and Alasdair Stevenson, have worked in the past.
The small-batch release is limited to around 2,200 bottles offered at 46% ABV and retails for £69 (US$90).
Image by Turntable Spirits
Bonus: James Eadie Project 1927
Independent bottler James Eadie has teamed up with six new Scottish whisky distilleries, assisted by renowned whisky expert Dave Broom and former master distiller of The Glenlivet Alan Winchester, to create a set exploring 1920s distilling techniques.
The six distilleries - Ardnamurchan, Dornoch, Holyrood, InchDairnie (labelled also as Balgothrie), Lochlea, and ‘an unnamed farm distillery’ in Fife - used exclusively locally grown barley or varieties grown in the 1920s, as well as brewer’s yeast for distilling, which was standard at that time but is now almost unheard of. These five unaged new make spirits stand alone in the pack, each offered at 63.4% ABV in 100ml bottles, as well as in the sixth expression blended together to make 'Blended at Birth'.
The new make spirits set will be available for general sale on Royal Mile Whiskies website starting 24 September.
Image by James Eadie
Thank you for reading The Whisky Ardvark. Make sure to check out some of our other whisky news listed below.
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