Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/23459
SCOTCH REPORT Old Pulteney is on board as Jock Wishart, right, and his crew voyage to the North Pole by boat. News for the New Year G by Ian Buxton oodness knows exactly why, but in July or August, internationally acclaimed adventurer and sportsman Jock Wishart will lead a six-strong team on the pioneering Row to the Pole expedition. In a specially designed ice boat (that’s a boat for sailing through ice, not made of the stuff), they will voyage to the magnetic North Pole. The boat was unveiled earlier this month in London. Fortunately, supplies of Old Pulteney single malt will go with them. At least they won’t go short of ice. Leading single malt The Macallan has released just 1,000 bottles of the distillery’s latest expression, the second in the Masters of Photography series. This features work by Scots-born but New York–based Albert Watson, a veteran of the commercial photogra- phy scene and responsible for more than 240 covers on Vogue and Rolling Stone— including iconic portraits of Alfred Hitchcock, Mick Jagger and Kate Moss. So his Macallan assignment must have seemed a breeze—trailing a stylish couple taking a voyage to unearth the secrets of The Macallan, a journey of 12 days covering 600 miles and some breathtaking scenery, from the forests of Northern Spain, via a traditional cooperage in Jerez, and culminating in the alchemy and passion of The Macallan Distillery in Scotland. The result: a limited collec- tion of 1,000 unique bottles of Macallan Sherry Oak 20 Year Old, each with a specially commissioned label by 24 / the tasting panel / january–february 201 1 Watson and a set of 10 portfolio prints unique to this edition ($1,000). A further 36 individually customized bottles of The Macallan 1946 whisky with a unique signed collectible platinum print can also be purchased, following a world exhibition tour, with a reserve price of $16,000. For serious collectors, that’s probably a bargain, given that the whisky alone retails at close to $10,000. Details from www.themacallan.com. Scotland’s newest and small- est distillery, Kilchoman on Islay, has finally arranged distribution in the U.S. Their fifth single malt, the imaginatively named Winter Release, has been matured in fresh bourbon barrels shipped exclusively from the renowned Buffalo Trace Distillery in Kentucky. A supply of 15,850 bottles was released world- wide; in the U.S. Kilchoman is available from Impex Beverages, California. Also on Islay, Bruichladdich distillery has installed a ground-breaking new scheme to become self-sufficient in power. Residual organic material left in “pot ale” (the warm, watery post-distillation waste) is converted into bio-gas and will create electricity to power the distillery and its ten-acre site, including bottling hall, computers, offices, warehouses and vehicles. As the ebullient Mark Reynier, Bruichladdich’s Managing Director told THE TASTING PANEL, “Now we can power the whole distillery from our whisky waste. Drink Bruichladdich and save the planet! How neat is that?”