A classic whisky distillery is being shut down in a cost-cutting measure. The Edrington Group plans to close the Tamdhu distillery and malting operations in Aberlour next year resulting in a loss of more than 30 jobs. The group has decided to concentrate its efforts on its three main brands, The Macallan, Glenrothes and Highland Park. Another distillery Glenturret will also remain open. The closure is a response to the economy.

Whisky is still selling well but costs have risen and The Scotsman quotes Graham Hutcheon, group operations director for Edrington, who said that the move was done to make sure that the "business is the right size and shape to support current and future activity levels." Edrington employs about 2,200 people across the globe and also owns the Famous Grouse and other brands such as Cutty Sark and Brugal rum. The Tamdhu distillery opened in the late 1890s and went through several closures over the years including a long period between 1928 and 1947.

The five star Gleneagles resort in Perthshire (above) and Rocco Forte's The Balmoral in Edinburgh are teaming up to offer an incredible "Taste of Scotland" package this season, providing guests with a true Scottish gourmet experience in two legendary, luxurious and multi award-winning locations. At the historic Balmoral in Edinburgh, travelers will be welcomed into a complimentary upgraded Executive Room, complete with a bottle of Bollinger champagne on ice, and will enjoy dinner in the Michelin-starred number one restaurant. While at Gleneagles, set on 850 acres of Perthshire countryside, guests will relax in a sprawling Estate Room before sampling a Scotch whisky tasting for two in the bar and then dining at the Michelin-starred Andrew Fairlie restaurant. Gleneagles is also home to three of the top Scottish Championship golf courses, a wide range of exhilarating outdoor leisure activities and a spacious spa. The Taste of Scotland package costs £1,200, or about $1,985, for two people with two nights at each hotel.

[via JustLuxe]

On Nov. 14 Christie's will auction fine spirits in New York for only the second time since Prohibition began in 1920, headlined by the first U.S. offering of the extremely rare 1964 Bowmore Trilogy of single malts estimated at up to $24,000. Some $2 million worth of wines and spirits will cross the auction block, including over 40 lots of carefully-curated whisky, bourbon, cognac, armagnac, and rum, plus a fine crop of champagne. The Bowmore Trilogy, comprised of White, Black and Gold Bowmore, was matured below sea level for 42 - 44 years at the famed distillery on Islay in Scotland. Other lots include the Ardbeg Double Barrel, a two-bottle lot sourced from two 1974 whisky barrels in a bespoke leather shotgun case with eight solid silver cups, estimated at $15,000 - $20,000, and a 100 year old armagnac from Baron de Sigognac, est. at $2,000 - $3,000.

[via Duncan Quinn]

The latest release from Scotland's famed Speyside distillery The Balvenie is a limited edition 17 year old single malt finished in Madeira casks. Matured in traditional oak and finished in casks previously used to make fortified Madeira wine, the whisky is rich and aromatic with flavors of spice and dried fruit.

Each year The Balvenie Malt Master David Stewart uses different cask types and mature spirit to create a new expression of The Balvenie's uniquely honeyed character for limited release. The Madeira Cask 17 Year Old (right), which sells for $120 a bottle, is the latest in a series of six 17 Year Old limited editions bottled by Balvenie.

"Each bottling is its own alchemy of spirit, wood and time, but knowing how well port and Oloroso sherry cask maturation complements The Balvenie's honeyed sweetness we were sure that a Madeira cask would produce interesting results," Stewart notes."The 17 year old whisky extracted some wonderful rich spice and distinct raisin flavours from the Madeira cask, which we hope malt enthusiasts will enjoy discovering in the glass."

Here's an online timewaster that might net you a pretty interesting prize. Scotch whisky brand the Glenlivet has joined with online golf destination World Golf Tour (WGT) to host The Glenlivet Whisky Season Open. The 3D online golf experience is free to enter and available for play on any computer with an Internet connection, The Glenlivet Whisky Season Open is on the virtual version of The Old Course at St. Andrews Links.

From now until November 30, you can register and play one nine-shot challenge on St Andrews Links at wgt.com. Once the challenge has been completed, eligible players will be entered into a sweepstakes to win a once-in-a-lifetime vacation for two to Scotland, which includes a round of golf at the legendary St Andrews Links and a private tour of the historic The Glenlivet distillery. Thirty other winners will receive The Glenlivet-themed golf bags or a whisky tasting instructional DVD along with branded whisky glasses. Players must be 21 or older to enter and prizes are eligible for U.S. residents only (excluding California).

It's a ginger battle royale. Oscar-winning actress Tilda Swinton has come out in support of the campaign to stop Donald Trump from building his billion-dollar golf resort near Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Swinton lent her star power in favor of the four hold-outs who have refused to surrender their land to Trump's ambition. She compared the government attempt to push the landowners into selling their land to the notorious "Highland Clearances" of the 18th and 19th centuries when many tenants were pushed off their ancestral lands in favor of rich landowners.

As part of a statement quoted in Page Six, Trump claimed to have never heard of the actress and accused her of using the situation in order to get "some easy publicity for herself." It's a pretty silly claim given that the androgynous actress is notoriously reclusive. Trump also did some name dropping of his own saying that Sean Connery is in support of the project.

After being absent from the U.S. market for the past few years, The GlenDronach, one of Scotland's first licensed distilleries, is returning with its luscious line of single malts.

The Highland distillery was recently acquired by the independently owned BenRiach Distillery Company Ltd. from Pernod Ricard, allowing it to stay focused on producing some of the world's best Scotch without compromise.

GlenDronach was founded by the legendary James Allardice in 1826, just three years after the Excise Act was passed in 1823. Arguably one of the most unspoiled distilleries in Scotland, they are proudly using the same production processes today as they did in 1826.

Many of the distillery's unique attributes offer a distinctive character that you will not find anywhere else, and they are still producing the original, richly sherried style of single malt Scotch whisky associated with the distillery in its early days.

Preiss Imports will handle the U.S. distribution for this historical distillery, alongside the existing distribution for BenRiach. Initially, the 12, 15, and 18 year old (right) expressions will be available in the U.S. this fall, and a 33 year old expression will be available in early 2010.

In this case the answer to the question is an extremely rare single malt in a limited edition decanter: The Macallan 57 Lalique "Finest Cut". Containing an exceptionally rare 57 year old single malt whisky from the famed Speyside distillery founded in 1824, the Finest Cut crystal decanter is valued at $15,000 and will be available by special order beginning in October. The precious bottling comes on the heels of the recent record-breaking £11,750 ($19,000) sale of one of The Macallan's 50th anniversary bottles at an auction in Scotland that my colleague Deirdre Woollard reported on.

The Finest Cut is inspired by the fraction of the new make spirit which is filled into casks for maturation. At The Macallan, this fraction is a mere 16%; the best of the best, it's delivered at a very slow rate of distillation to maximize flavor and produce a distinctively rich, fruity, viscous character. Designed exclusively for The Macallan by the legendary French crystal house Lalique, The Finest Cut decanters are individually numbered and produced in a very limited quantity - only 72 of the 400 launched worldwide will be available in the U.S.

"In homage to the beauty of Lalique's Finest Cut decanter, we chose a particularly rare 57 years old Macallan single malt whisky," says David Cox, Director of Fine & Rare Whiskies for The Macallan. "It is the second oldest The Macallan whisky ever released, only surpassed in age by the legendary 1926, a 60 year old bottled in 1986." The 57 follows in the footsteps of its two predecessors in the Six Pillars series, a 50 year old Macallan celebrating the exceptional oak casks and a 55 year old inspired by the distillery's insistence on natural color, both coveted collector's items.



The 57 year old has been vatted together from six casks made from two different species of oak; the first, a 1950 American oak sherry butt, and the second, a vatting of Macallan from first fill Spanish oak sherry butts originally filled in 1949, 1951 and 1952. The result is a sumptuous single malt, showing off the classic dried fruits, spice and hints of peat redolent of The Macallan house style of the early 1950's. The age statement of 57 years old is determined by the youngest cask which was filled in 1952.

The decanter features the 'stilligoutte' of a perfume bottle, the long piece of pure crystal flowing down to a point from the base of the bottle stopper. A portion of the stopper has been left completely clear and not "satinee," running from the top down to the point. This clear portion represents the 16% "finest cut". Crafted at Lalique's crystal making facility in Wingen-sur-Moder, Alsace, each piece was worked on by up to 15 craftsmen.

I first mentioned way back in 2006 that the headquarters of the Royal Scottish Automobile Club in Glasgow, Scotland would become a hotel and it is finally ready to open in October. Blythswood Square will have 100 bedrooms including four suites and a top floor penthouse complete with rooftop hot tub. The hotel is also home to a luxury spa offering indigenous Scottish treatments, a restaurant, bars, a private screening room and event facilities.

Scotland's Harris Tweed is a major design component of the hotel. The classic textile is being incorporated into the furniture, curtains and even restaurant menus. The Royal Scottish Automobile Club's ballroom has been transformed into a restaurant and cocktail bar. Harris Tweed shows up again in the design of the private screening room.

The Spa at Blythswood Square offers a Seaweed Bath chamber filled with healing organic seaweed sourced from the Hebrides. The marble Heat Suite offers a range of hot and cold experiences including a large hydrotherapy pool. The relaxation pool leads to the Dark Pool where guests can float under a crystal chandelier. The spa also houses a Rasul, relaxation rooms and nine treatment rooms including a double suite.

Maverick Scottish beer brand BrewDog, known for their outlandish-sounding ales, is releasing a limited edition Atlantic IPA (right), the first commercially available, genuine sea-aged India Pale Ale in over two centuries.

Only 960 bottles will be available in the U.S. at $25.99 per 330 ml, making it one of the most precious brews on the planet. The artfully-designed label declares it to be something extraordinary.

Made according to an 1856 recipe, the Atlantic IPA spent two months aging aboard BrewDog co-founder James Watt's fishing boat in the North Atlantic.

The incredible journey involved a "tense barrel-rescue-mission, beatings from force ten storms, 60 foot waves and encounters with killer whales." You can view the Atlantic IPA voyage online here.

The Atlantic IPA is bursting with malt character: "biscuit, toast, caramel, pirate ship oak, salt and tobacco," in addition to notes of honey, pine and vanilla.

The generous use of English hops adds a substantial kick to the forefront of the nose and mouth with a smooth slick spicy, earthy herbal quality and a lingering woody bitterness in the finish.

A small Scotch whisky distillery has put itself on the map by producing the world's largest bottle of whisky. The bottle of single malt was filled by hand with nearly 28 gallons of 14-year-old Tomintoul Speyside Glenlivet Scotch. The five-foot-high bottle holds around 150 standard bottles and the cork had to be hammered in with a huge mallet. The bottle will be on permanent display at the Clockhouse in the village square at Tomintoul village in Scotland. Tomintoul is said to be the highest village in the Highlands of Scotland in the Speyside region. Tomintoul Distillery uses water from Ballantruan Spring, a nearby natural spring in their Tomintoul Speyside Glenlivet Single Malt which is billed as "the gentle dram" on their website.

[via Deadline Scotland]

Last week, I was planning to write about Dream Escape, an exclusive luxury travel outfit that organizes completely customized tours of Scotland. (Says David Tobin, owner: "many companies offer "bespoke" travel, but I've gone the route of "couture". We start from scratch around what our client's want, whether it's a two-day trip for two people, or a six day trip for 200.") Even if you're arriving in Scotland without Tobin's incredibly hands-on service, which includes a UK cellphone pre-programmed, and should you desire, a photographer, or even a genealogist among other essentials, I've long maintained that Scotland is one of the best destinations to truly feel like you're a Master of the Universe.

There's something about Scotland's mix of castles, golf, whiskey, landscape and royal history that feels to me like getting wrapped in a cloak of wealth, power and prestige. Just one example, Royal Yacht Britannia -- decommissioned from royal use since 1997, now a tourist attraction in Edinburgh. Everyone can visit it for a tour, but once can arrange private access to the state apartments for events and be served to exacting royal protocol, which includes measuring the distance between cutlery with a ruler, among other measures designed to make anyone of royal descent or aspiration feel comfy. (For instance, sailors were made to use hand signals rather than shouting, to preserve royal tranquility. Effectively, apparently, since Her Majesty stated: "Britannia is the one place where I can truly relax".)

Dream Escape can arrange access to the Royal Yacht -- and to an endless number of luxey Scottish attractions, see the gallery for more -- but as I sat down to write about it last week, Scotland, made international headlines for its release of the only man convicted of the bombing of Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, who returned to Libya as a hero. I've heard talk of boycotting Scottish travel, and whiskey -- and it just felt strange to write enthusiastically about Scotland without addressing all this directly.

So yesterday, I chatted with David Tobin to see how it was affecting his business, considering that he brings anywhere between 100 and 300 visitors to Scotland each year. His answer, in a nutshell: not at all. "We haven't seen a downturn or have clients change their plans or anything like that," he says. "My clients want to go somewhere because they want to go, and they're suitably educated to understand that this is a murky area, surrounding [al-Megrahi's] release. This won't change my client's perception of Scotland, they love the country, but not necessarily the politicians." He doesn't expect any cancellations of bookings in the future.

Of course, Tobin's company is small, and very high end at that -- and it remains to be seen whether Scottish tourism as a whole will be affected by the bomber's release. Do you think luxury tourism to Scotland will be affected by current politics? Should it?

Michael Forbes will not go quietly. Forbes is just one of the angry homeowners on the fringes of the Menie Estate in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, the area soon to be the home of Donald Trump's billion-dollar golf resort. Four homeowners are facing the prospect of compulsory purchase orders to buy their houses because their land is to be part of the Trump development. The homeowners plan to challenge the decision by a local committee to grant the Trump Organization permission for the land in Scottish court.

The Scotsman says that says Donald Trump, Junior and George Sorial paid a visit to Michael Forbes' home this week and were chased away. Forbes, who has been fighting against the Trump development for two years, told the Scotsman that he thinks it is a revenge situation now and that Trump wants everyone who was against him out of the area, a scenario that seems plausible since Trump isn't exactly known for having a warm and fuzzy business style.

A new golf club and resort being planned for Highland Perthshire in Scotland will require prospective members to prove a net worth of at least £100 million, or $160 million, in order to gain entry. Developer Malcolm James has submitted plans to transform the Dall Estate (above) into a $2 billion ultra-luxe golf resort with membership fees of $3 million. The resort will feature a luxury 104-suite hotel with health spa, leisure and retail facilities, a concert hall and two 18-hole golf courses designed by Calum Todd. There are also plans for luxurious mansions to be built on the property with starting prices of £100 million. James says those who do make it as members will also enjoy Fort Knox-style security and world-class cuisine.

It hasn't been the best year for the whisky industry, now whisky makers in Scotland have a boycott to worry about. People who are angry about Scotland's decision to free the terminally ill Lockerbie bomber are calling on U.S. citizens to boycott Scottish and British companies.

A website called Boycott Scotland issues a call to action advocating a ban of Scottish products. The U.S. is Scotland's biggest trading partner. David Williamson of the Scottish Whiskey Association has said that he doesn't believe that there will be any long-term damage to the Scotland's whisky business. But the timing is unfortunate, Scotland is currently in the midst of a tourism push called "Year of Homecoming" which encourages anyone of Scottish descent to visit.