Diageo has completed this year’s line-up of 10 Special Release whiskies with the unveiling of Cladach, a blend of six coastal single malts.
Cladach – the Gaelic word for ‘shoreline’ – is a no age statement (NAS) blended malt combining whiskies from Caol Ila, Clynelish, Inchgower, Lagavulin, Oban and Talisker.
Priced at £155 a bottle and bottled at a cask strength of 57.1% abv, with ‘limited quantities’ available worldwide, the whisky was matured in a mix of first-fill American ex-Bourbon casks, refill American oak hogsheads, refill European oak butts and ex-bodega European oak butts.
Diageo said Cladach was designed to ‘capture the character of Scotland’s coastline’, with ‘maritime aromas of salt, warm sand and seaweed… salty, with rich honey and citrus notes’.
The release of Cladach follows the inclusion of Collectivum XXVIII in last year’s batch of Special Releases – a blended malt whisky featuring liquid from all 28 of Diageo’s active single malt distilleries.
The first nine bottlings of Diageo’s 2018 Special Releases were revealed in April this year, including rare releases from Carsebridge, Pittyvaich and Inchgower, as well as regular fixtures such as Lagavulin and Caol Ila.
The announcement of the annual Special Releases collection has become a much-anticipated part of the whisky calendar. For the first time this year, cult closed distilleries Port Ellen and Brora do not feature in the line-up.
Tasting notes for Cladach have now been added to Scotchwhisky.com’s assessment of all of this year’s Special Releases.
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