William Grant to launch ‘Glenfiddich Winter Storm’ whisky in Singapore

William Grant & Sons, the family-owned Scottish distiller, will return to this year’s TFWA Asia Pacific Exhibition & Conference, a duty free and travel retail summit, in Singapore with the release of the third limited edition from the Glenfiddich Experimental Series called ‘Glenfiddich Winter Storm’, a 21 year old single malt whisky finished in Canadian icewine casks. 

The announcement of William Grant’s return to Singapore comes on the back of a very strong regional performance in 2017, with the company especially bullish on the growth of the North Asian market. 

The company reported growth in almost every spirits category, in which it is present with Glenfiddich maintaining the top spot in single malt both in volume and value. 

The ‘Glenfiddich Winter Storm’ to be unveiled is described as a “short, crisp premium liquid imbued with a unique layers of sweetness and complexity,” said William Grant, a result of Glenfiddich malt master Brian Kinsman’s collaboration with Peller Estate winery in Niagara.

Kinsman visited Canada in January 2016, during which he toured the Peller Estate vineyards where grapes are picked at night when temperatures can drop to -10˚C. Back at the Dufftown distillery he experimented with the casks, filling them with various Glenfiddich aged malts and discovering that only rarer whiskies aged for 21 years could cope with the extra icewine intensity, the company said

The resulting liquid is said to have flavours of tropical fruit and wine in addition to Glenfiddich’s signature notes of candied sweets and oak.

Peller Estate’s VP of winemaking Craig McDonald sees it as, “a unique balance of the warming soul of whisky and the frozen cold of icewine.” 

Presented in a white ceramic bottle and embossed presentation box, ‘Glenfiddich Winter Storm’ joins ‘Glenfiddich IPA Experiment’ and ‘Glenfiddich Project XX’, both of which were launched in Global Travel Retail (GTR) in 2017 following domestic launches in selected markets in 2016.

Also to be shown in Singapore will be ‘Glenfiddich Cask Collection Finest Solera’, the first in a series of rare whisky expressions by Glenfiddich developed in collaboration with Baccarat, renowned manufacturer of fine crystal glassware.

Exclusive to GTR, ‘Finest Solera’ is presented in a unique, hand-blown, numbered and signed Baccarat decanter. 

Kinsman selected up to 20 of the top casks from Glenfiddich’s collection of rare whiskies, which have been maturing in Bourbon and American oak. He then married these whiskies for at least two months using Glenfiddich’s own Solera process, in a specially dedicated tun that can only hold 2,000 litres, creating “a rich, balanced whisky with complex flavours,” according to the company.

Each batch is numbered, with a maximum of 600 bottles per batch. The travel gift comes with a specially designed presentation box. 

In addition, William Grant & Sons’ stand will also feature the latest Monkey Shoulder and Hendrick’s activations. 

“This is an incredibly exciting year for WGS,” said GTR managing director Ed Cottrell. “We plan to continue winning and to ‘win bigger’ with our customers through resourcing and aligned planning, continuing to be best known for our disruptive creativity through brand activation and product innovation. There are ongoing challenges in the channel, of course, but we will see huge potential for growth and new business.”

“One of these growth areas is North Asia.” commented Matthew Williams, the new regional director for Asia Pacific Global Travel Retail. “Following our strong performance in South Korea, new distribution agreements in Japan and a changing landscape in Greater China the GTR APAC team has been making significant progress in growing our footprint across these markets as a whole.

“We continue to see huge potential for WGS brands in Asia Pacific and, with our ability to bring fantastic theatre and consumer engagement to the airport environment, we predict a very exciting time ahead for us in a region leveraging the massive growth in tourism over the next few years.”