July 2016, London: William Grant & Sons’ House of Hazelwood Range of premium 18, 21 and 25 year old Scotch whiskies has started as it means to go on, scooping 6 top awards from the International Spirits Challenge (ISC) and Scotch Whisky Masters 2016 in its first 6 months since launch. The 18 year old, 21 year and 25 year old expressions were each awarded a Gold medal at the ISC awards this month and at the Scotch Whisky Masters the 18 year old won the coveted Masters award while the 21 year old and 25 year old were both awarded Gold medals.
Both awards are highly anticipated and two of the most respected and influential competitions in the world. They are both founded on a rigorous and independent judging process, with the best of the industry’s brands and innovations hoping for wins.
“I am delighted that House of Hazelwood has been awarded such esteemed honours.” said Kirsten Grant-Meikle, Director of Prestige, William Grant & Sons UK and Grant Family member. “It is a wonderful recognition and a very fitting tribute to our great aunt, Janet Sheed Roberts, in whose honour the range was created. Having been involved in the conception and development of House of Hazelwood I am very excited about its potential and disruptive role within the super premium Blended Scotch category and I predict a great future for the range.”
“We are so proud of what House of Hazelwood has achieved in such a short space of time”, commented Karen Murphy, Global Innovation Marketing Manager, William Grant & Sons. “Winning top honours at these prestigious awards makes us even more confident that we have built a brand that will go from strength to strength in the future.”
Says William Grant & Sons Managing Director GTR Ed Cottrell: “The passion behind creating this stand-out collection is a reflection of the commitment that William Grant & Sons has to global travel retail and to offering passengers truly unique and exclusive expressions. The fact that House of Hazelwood has received these accolades from both the ISC and the Global Scotch Whisky Masters is testament to the importance that is now placed on travel retail as a channel of distribution and to the quality of product that is found within it. Congratulations to everyone who played a part in the creation, design and execution of this wonderful collection. Janet Sheed Roberts would be very proud of that I am sure.”
House of Hazelwood is an elegant and vivacious new blended Scotch whisky inspired by family luminary Janet Sheed Roberts (1901 to 2012) and expressed through the spirit of the great Art Deco cities that influenced the world in her heyday. House of Hazelwood is composed of three exquisite expressions, each blended to perfection, with its own inimitable story to tell, each of which is inspired by the golden age of the 1920s.
House of Hazelwood was launched exclusively in Global Travel Retail in February 2016 and will launch in Domestic markets from 2017. It has an ABV of 40%, available in a 50cl art-deco decanter style bottle and a suggest retail price in GTR of £50 for 18YO; £75 for 21YO and £115 for 25YO.
House of Hazelwood 25 Year Old
House of Hazelwood 25 Year Old was inspired by the classic elegance of Shanghai, a city which stood at the centre of Cathay elegance in the 1920s. This release represents the Master Blenders’ most prized expression. Each rare single malt earned its place in Kinsman’s final selection, and the blend was then married in American oak, allowing sufficient time for the complex and diverse flavours to infuse and mellow. The resultant majestic whisky is unique, rare and very special.
Tasting notes
Nose: Caramelized brown sugar leads, accompanied by vanilla, maple, soft spice and hints of fresh sawn wood. Citrus notes and orange blossom linger in the background.
Taste: An elegant combination of vibrant spice and vanilla sweetness on the palate. A long dry finish from the new oak.
Key Notes: Caramelized sugar, and Soft spice.
House of Hazelwood 21 Year Old
House of Hazelwood 21 Year Old is inspired by the sultry beauty of Mumbai in the 1920s. This release represents a bolder, somewhat spicier and more robust whisky balanced to perfection by the ageing of some of its malts for 21 years in sherry casks made of European oak.
Tasting Notes
Nose: Dried fruits and spice dominate, alongside a sticky sweetness reminiscent of rich fruit cake. A splash of water alters the balance and adds complexity with a subtle hint of tobacco leaf.
Taste: Cinnamon, cloves and woody spice, with a dry finish. Water accentuates the sherry cask influence, bringing out the sweet oiliness of treacle, dates and polished leather.
Key Notes: Spice, Molasses, and Resin.
House of Hazelwood 18 Year Old
House of Hazelwood 18 Year Old is inspired by the classic elegance of Paris in the 1920s. This release reveals an elegant and classic whisky, perhaps the purest expression of Kininvie and Girvan spirits in the range, and married in tuns of Portuguese oak.
Tasting Notes
Nose: Vibrant vanilla sweetness dominates the nose. Delicate oak adds complexity.
Taste: Creamy toffee enhanced by soft oak undertones. A long and elegant finish. Approachable, yet refined by age.
Key Notes: Vanilla, Creamy toffee, Soft oak.
About Janet Sheed Roberts
Janet Sheed Roberts possessed a fine mind, known for her strength of character, passion and determination. Across the 1920ss she lived a vibrant life, witnessed the heyday of Scotch whisky and lived the golden age of theatre, fashion and design.
Janet Sheed Roberts revelled in learning and progress; she was awarded a Master of Arts and continued with a degree in law — being one of only two women in her graduating year.
She spent considerable time after her studies travelling the world. She can recount stories of seeing the first aeroplane and the stagecoach ride from Geneva to Lausanne and remember the tunes played on the fiddle during a halt to water the horses. After she married, she continued her adventures with her husband Eric, meeting distributors and customers, and attending functions and award ceremonies. Her travels knew no bounds, and even her Australia trip featured on the itinerary with 12 stops, including one or two on remote islands in the middle of the ocean.
Janet Sheed Roberts’ passion for adventure did not end there. She also had a great love for the arts and fashion. She saw all the legendary actors and actresses of the time in the best shows – including Greto Garbo. She developed an extraordinary taste for shoes and handbags, with her favourite being Ferragamo. Indeed, she always travelled with her “campaigners” – a pristine pair of Ferragamo lace-up walking shoes with a fashionable heel.
In fact, it was a trip to a casino in Monaco that her elegant string of pearls broke, dropping all the fine pearls to the ground. Like a scene out of a Hollywood movie, all the men stopped in their tracks, got down to their knees and help Janet Sheed Roberts find all her pearls.
About William Grant & Sons
House of Hazelwood is made by William Grant & Sons, Ltd. an independent family-owned distiller headquartered in the United Kingdom and founded by William Grant in 1887. Today, the global premium 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 most awarded 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 ® Spiced Rum, Tullamore D.E.W.® Irish Whiskey, Monkey Shoulder® Blended Malt Scotch Whisky and Drambuie® Scotch Liqueur. In 2016, William Grant & Sons was named Distiller of the Year and Scotch Producer of the Year at the International Spirits Challenge Awards.
Click on www.williamgrant.com for more information on the Company and its brands
No comments:
Post a Comment