Aberdeenshire-based spirits specialists Duncan Taylor Scotch Whisky has announced a series of four aged special edition Black Bull whiskies in partnership with six-time major champion Sir Nick Faldo.
The ‘Tale of Two Legends’ series coincides with an overhaul of the Black Bull branding worldwide and a planned launch at the prestigious Pro-Am in Bangalore, India this week, where Sir Nick will be playing alongside an elite field of other golfing greats.
These latest releases include an 18, 30, 50 and 55-year-old limited-editions of Black Bull whiskies that are blended using some of the finest aged spirits from within the vast Duncan Taylor Scotch Whisky collection. Sir Nick hand selected the whiskies along with the Chairman of Duncan Taylor, Euan Shand and his son, Senior Operations & Spirits Manager, Andrew Shand whilst on a visit to the company’s headquarters in Huntly last year.
The three-times winner of the Open Championship, as well as three-time winner of the Masters Tournament, Sir Nick commented on the collection: “I’ve always loved whisky and it was fascinating to delve deep into the process of blended whiskies to create this range. I got the opportunity to taste some incredible aged malts and grains from the Duncan Taylor Scotch Whisky vaults, guided by Euan and Andrew Shand and there’s some fascinating history, backstories and flavour profiles behind each bottle in the ‘Tale of Two Legends’.
The 18-year-old and 30-year-old whiskies in the collection were matured in sherry casks and created specially to represent major milestone events in Sir Nick’s illustrious professional career. The 18-year-old is connected to the age he turned professional. The 30-year-old is a nod to the incredible 30 wins he amassed on the European Tour, reflecting his World Number One status for an incredible 97 weeks.
The 50 and 55-year-old whiskies are the very pinnacle of the collection. Expertly blending whiskies from ghost distilleries as well as some of the best distilleries in Scotland, will make these whiskies highly sought after amongst whisky collectors.
The 50-year-old is limited to 600 bottles featuring malts from the likes of Caperdonich, which closed in 2002, as well as Macallan and Glen Grant – all over 50 years old. Matured in ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks the tasting notes include damsons, Highland toffee and caramelised orange peel with a long-lasting finish of fruit, spice and toasted oak.
The 55-year-old is a very special and complex whisky trifecta using sherry, grain and malt whiskies produced at Lochside Distillery which stopped production in 1992. Limited to 600 bottles this is a peerless classic thanks to Lochside’s unique production of whiskies using both pot and column stills and then blending the two in first fill sherry hogsheads for 55 years. Tasting notes include rich, dark fruits, and gentle spice with nutty notes from an exceptional sherry cask.
Euan Shand, chairman of Duncan Taylor Scotch Whisky, said: “This year we are going big and bold with our releases and the ‘Tale of Two Legends’ series comes hot on the heels of one of the oldest Macallan whiskies we’ve ever launched. Together with Sir Nick, we’ve handpicked some of our best whiskies within our archives and blended them meticulously to create four stunning blends that are worthy of celebrating some of the iconic times in his life. Timing it with our re-brand of the entire portfolio is perfect and we look forward to launching these new releases as the official sponsor of the Pro-Am golf event in Bangalore this week, followed by a global distribution.”
The collection starts from a RRP of £120 for the 18-year-old. For more information visit www.blackbullwhisky.com.