 | Super-premium: Kilbeggan 15yo is now available to travel retailers |
IRELAND. Independent Irish whiskey distillery Cooley Distillery is bringing a number of new premium presentations to the TFWA World Exhibition next month (Bord Bia stand number: Mediterranean Village N17).
A super-premium Kilbeggan 15yo is now available to travel retail, distilled at the Old Kilbeggan Distillery which dates back to 1757 and is acknowledged as the oldest physically licensed distillery in the world. Celebrating its 250th anniversary this year, an old still has been restored and distilling restarted earlier this year.
Using the oldest matured grain and malt from hand-picked casks in the Old Kilbeggan warehouse, Kilbeggan 15yo is presented in a high quality 70cl carafe with screen-printed packaging.
Described as easy to drink with a smooth, sweet taste and malt nose, production is limited to just 3,000 bottles this year. Recommended duty free price, at super premium level, is €98.
Cooley’s award-winning Tyrconnell Single Malt brand is being extended with a range of 10yo wood finishes: Madeira, Sherry and Port, along with a special 15yo single cask variety.
“Single Irish Malt whiskeys are quite rare and Tyrconnell, with its light approachable taste and price, is a superb stepping stone for blended drinkers into the single malt category, while also offering a unique alternative to Scotch single malts,” explained Cooley Marketing Director Jack Teeling.
“As our stocks of whiskey mature, we are now able to offer a 10yo age statement, which can command a premium price. However, to avoid cannibalising sales of other lines, we wanted to find a point of difference for our regular Tyrconnell. There is a big appetite among single malt consumers for different wood finishes, and so – after various experimentations – we have rolled out three different wood finishes, which we believe offer the consumer something different and unique.”
Travel retail pack
Each 70cl Tyrconnell Experimental Finish carries a recommended retail duty free price of €80. A gift pack is also available for travel retail containing three 5cl miniatures (one Tyrconnell single malt, one Tyrconnell Port, one Tyrconnell Sherry) plus a nosing glass and tasting notes, which will retail at €9.99.
“In addition, we are hand picking single casks and bottling a very special 15yo Tyrconnell,” added Teeling. “Enabling us to take the brand to a new super-premium level, the casks are hand-picked either by the master distiller or by individual retailers and to date we have bottled some 20 casks.”
The 15yo carries a recommended retail price of €82.
Also on show at the TFWA World Exhibition will be Cooley’s other brands including Connemara Peated Single Malt Irish Whiskey and Greenore Single Grain (maize) Irish Whiskey.
About the Tyrconnell brand
The Tyrconnell was a racehorse, owned by the Watt family, who won the Irish Classic horse race in 1876 at 100:1. This achievement inspired the Watt Distillery to celebrate with a commemorative Tyrconnell whiskey, which became the flagship brand of the company – more recently revived by Cooley Distillery.
About Cooley Distillery
Cooley is the only Irish distillery to produce a peated single malt and has a produced a range of brand extensions to appeal to whiskey connoisseurs, which includes a cask strength version and a 12yo bottling. Connemara 12 Year Old allows consumers to taste for themselves how the wood interacts with the peat over the years. The extra ageing is said to create a well-rounded whiskey full of character that is a perfect balance between the wood and the peat. The product is presented in a super-premium wood tube.
Additionally, Greenore is one of only a handful of pure bottlings of single grain whiskey. Greenore, with its super-premium packaging, is being launched in limited annual releases of 8yo and 15yo bottlings.
Cooley is the first and only independent Irish whiskey distillery set up in the last 100 years. Established in 1987, in the Cooley mountains 60 miles north of Dublin, the company distils its whiskey twice, the majority being matured in single used bourbon oak casks in the 250-year-old warehouses in the Old Kilbeggan Distillery.
Cooley whiskies have won over 100 international medals including the 2007 Icons of Whisky Award for Best Irish Distiller of the Year, Best Irish Innovator of the Year and John Teeling – Cooley’s chairman – Ambassador of the Year.
For details, contact Jack Teeling, Cooley Distillery, tel: +353 1 8332833, fax: +353 1 8333505, e-mail: jack@CooleyWhiskey.com
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