William Grant holds first global tasting of Age of Discovery III onboard Viking Line's Cinderella

More than 4000 passengers onboard Viking Line's Cinderella enjoyed a complete whisky experience with William Grant & Sons during the cruise line’s fifth Whisky Fair which took place from January 17-20. Over three 24 hour cruises, routing between Stockholm and Mariehamn, whisky aficionados were able to experience some 500 different whiskies from suppliers, including the complete William Grant & Sons portfolio.

For William Grant & Sons, the Viking Line Whisky Fair provides a perfect opportunity to introduce its full range of Glenfiddich, Grant's, The Balvenie and Tullamore Dew whiskies, including the most recent additions and limited editions. The company's quirky Hendrick's Gin was also available for sampling.

In order to provide passengers with an innovative and engaging experience, WGS brought in all its global brand ambassadors to host master classes from stands built to reflect the essence of each brand. 

Glenfiddich global brand ambassador Ian Millar introduced the unique 125^th Anniversary edition, created to celebrate the birthday of the Glenfiddich distillery and conducted the world’s first tasting of the Glenfiddich Age of Discovery range, including the latest Glenfiddich Age of Discovery III, the 19yo Red Wine Cask Finish.

Balvenie Global brand ambassador Sam Simmons paid homage to the 50^th anniversary of Malt Master David Stewart, who has nosed over 400.000 casks during his time, offering passengers the rare chance to taste some of the memorable samples from each of David's five decades with the distillery. Included in the selection was The Balvenie Fifty – certainly the most exclusive and expensive whisky present onboard. The Balvenie stand also featured a malting floor allowing consumers to try the rare craft of malting for themselves.

Lovers of Grant's were able to sample a number of rare whiskies, including Grant's Ale Cask – the only Scotch whisky matured in beer casks – explained to them by global brand ambassador Ludovic Ducrocq, while John Quinn; Global Brand Ambassador for Tullamore Dew, was on hand to introduce this most true of Irish whiskies.

To complete the entertainment, each evening saw Sam Simmons perform with his unique The Balvenie 4-piece band.

Says William Grant & sons Anneli Sjoblom Brand Manager Nordic Travel Retail & Norway Domestic: 'Events like this provide us with an absolutely wonderful opportunity to showcase our brands to a very appreciative and high consuming passenger. What is so brilliant is that Viking Line gives us such scope to create our own promotional activity for each brand, enabling us to engage with consumers in the right way for each line. We are once again most grateful to Viking Line for giving us this opportunity.'

Adds  Viking Line Tax Free Manager Sales and Purchasing Kim Engblom: “We’re delighted that William Grant & Sons continues to place such importance on the Whisky Fest and supports the event so whole-heartedly. With all of the company’s brand global ambassadors here onboard hosting master classes, customers have had an unparalleled opportunity to better understand the various whiskies in the WGS portfolio and to be introduced to new products such as Glenfiddich Age of Discovery III and the new look Tullamore Dew. We also had a lot of fun with Sam Simmons and his Balvenie band in the evening, their performance was very much enjoyed by all of us. We enjoy an excellent ongoing partnership with William Grant which continue to provide innovative and engaging events for our customers. Long may it continue.’

André de Almeida, Regional Director Europe Travel Retail, William Grants & Sons: 'The Nordic area is a very important business region for William Grant & Sons and so opportunities to interact directly with customers in this type of environment are very valuable. It's all about keeping the offer to the consumer fresh, innovative and experiential, which this event enables us to achieve.'

Press contact: Rowena Holland, Essential Communications. Tel:+44 (0) 208 405 8109. Email: row@essentialcommunications.org

January 2013

Notes to Editor

About William Grant & Sons

• William Grant & Sons, Ltd. is an independent family-owned distiller headquartered in the United Kingdom and founded by William Grant in 1886. Today, the luxury spirits company is run by the fifth generation of his family and distils some of the world’s leading brands of Scotch whisky, including the world’s favourite single malt Glenfiddich®, The Balvenie® range of handcrafted single malts and the world’s third largest blended Scotch Grant’s® as well as other iconic spirits brands such as Hendrick’s® Gin, Sailor Jerry®, Milagro® Tequila and, most recently, Tullamore Dew Irish Whiskey.

Photo 1 – William Grants Stand area, Viking Line Whisky Fair 2013

Photo 2 – Ian Millar, Global Brand Ambassador Glenfiddich

Photo 3 – Sam Simmons Global Brand Ambassador Glenfiddich

Photo 4 – The William Grants team at the Glenfiddich Stand

Photo 5 – (From left to right) Jesper Kjaer, Portfolio Manager WGS, Ian Millar, Global Brand Ambassador Glenfiddich, David Francis, Nordic Brand Ambassador Glenfiddich