£25.00
THE PRIZE is Bottle No.1 from each cask signed by the legendary Master Distiller, Jim McEwan. These are unique, never to be repeated bottles. A £25 ticket could win you both bottles. The remaining unsigned bottles from each cask sell for £250 in the shop. How can you put a value on this incredible prize.
About the Casks These casks wer purchased on the 5th of July 2005 through Jim McEwan by Trinity Academicals Cricket Club (TACC) and were filled on the 20th of July 2005. Trinity Academicals Cricket Club were one of the founder members of the East of Scotland Cricket Association. As a result of the redevelopment of their home ground of eighty years and the subsequent loss of the cricket facility the club amalgamated with Drummond C.C. in 2005. The new team are called Drummond Trinity and run five teams playing at various grounds throughout Edinburgh. Profits from the sale of these whiskies will be donated to the Royal Free Charity who are the NHS charity partner of the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust. This whisky is dedicated to the memory of Hamish R. Jardine stalwart of TACC who died of a rare disease called Amyloidosis. About the Charity Amyloidosis is a rare disease caused by the abnormal deposition and accumulation of protein in the tissues of the body. The National Amyloidosis Centre at the Royal Free Hospital in London has been at the cutting edge of treatment and research into all aspects of amyloidosis for more than 25 years. Its highly specialised service has been providing diagnoses and care to amyloidosis patients locally and throughout the UK since 1999. The Royal Free Charity works closely with the National Amyloidosis Centre to help fund groundbreaking research into this complex condition. This work is currently exploring whether there is the potential to create cutting-edge immunotherapy for amyloidosis. To find out more about the work they do, click here Royal Free Charity
BRUICHLADDICH DISTILLERY 19yo Ex Sherry
Bruichladdich may have been described as ‘a working distillery museum’, but in its day it was one of Islay’s most modern plants – and today is one of Scotland’s most innovative. It was built in 1881 by the Harvey brothers, who owned the Dundashill and Yoker grain distilleries in Glasgow. Like all of the late Victorian plants, its fortunes were inextricably linked to blends from the outset. In 1937, the eccentric Joseph Hobbs (see Ben Nevis) picked it up, but by 1954 it become part of DCL, which quickly offloaded it to AB Grant. In 1968, Invergordon – whose business was predominantly bulk supplies – became its owner and, after a period of reduced production in the 1980s, it became part of Whyte & Mackay’s portfolio through a merger in 1993. Deemed to be surplus to requirements, the Glasgow firm closed it down in 1995 and it remained silent until 2001 when a group of Islay landowners and a London-based wine merchant bought it for £6 million. At this point the distillery was transformed. None of the previous owners had modernised the equipment and the new parents couldn’t afford a significant upgrade, so ‘the old lady of Islay’ was nursed back to health. The money was desperately needed elsewhere. Years of producing bulk had resulted in a less than quality-oriented wood policy, which necessitated re-racking some casks into fresh wood, including a huge range of ex-wine and fortified wine casks. Further investment went into the building of the bottling line (which employs people from the island). Experimentation and innovation continued – multiple distillates, gin, finishing, local barley – before in 2012 Rémy Cointreau bought Bruichladdich for £58m. This made investment in new plant and machinery possible, and in the intervening years additional warehousing has been built on Islay. In April 2019, Bruichladdich unveiled plans to build its own maltings (although much of its barley is grown on Islay, currently it is sent to Inverness for malting). The distillery has also bought 30 acres of nearby farmland to conduct barley trials and test sustainable farming practices.
