House of Hazelwood stellt The Long View vor

House of Hazelwood stellt heute in einer englischsprachigen Pressemitteilung (Sie finden diese im Anschluss) ihre Abfüllung The Long View vor. Dieser 31-jährige Blended Scotch Whisky wurde von Blender Eilidh Muir speziell für die Auktion der OurWhisky Foundation – The Demeter Collection – kreiert, die wir Ihnen in dieser Woche bereits vorstellten.

Dieser einzigartige Blend basiert auf den über Generationen aufgebauten Beständen des House of Hazelwood. Er würdigt, wie es heißt, die Arbeit dreier bemerkenswerten Frauen im Herzen der Geschichte des Hauses Hazelwood – Janet Sheed-Roberts, Eilidh Muir und Kirsten Grant-Meikle – mit einem Whisky, der gleichzeitig dekadent mächtig und elegant vielschichtig ist.

Eine Flasche des The Long View wird von Whisky Auctioneer als Teil der The Demeter Collection der OurWhisky Foundation vom 29. März bis 8. April versteigert. Mehr Details zu dieser Abfüllung wie auch zu Janet Sheed-Roberts, Eilidh Muir und Kirsten Grant-Meikle in der Presseaussendung:

HOUSE OF HAZELWOOD AUCTIONS RARE ONE-OF-A-KIND BLEND TO CELEBRATE WOMEN IN WHISKY

Whisky collectors are being given the chance to get their hands on a rare bottle of 31-Year-Old Blended Scotch, to raise money for OurWhisky Foundation

House of Hazelwood is today unveiling a rare one-off bottling named The Long View, a 31-Year-Old Blended Scotch Whisky specially created as part of the OurWhisky Foundation’s inaugural auction – The Demeter Collection.

OurWhisky Foundation is a non-profit organization that aims to recognize, support, and empower women working in the whisky industry around the world. Created by Blender Eilidh Muir, The Long View is a tribute to the women of Hazelwood and their influence across the family stocks. Whisky Auctioneer will auction this one of one bottling to raise money for the Foundation.

Drawing on stock built up over the generations, this unique blend celebrates the work of three remarkable women at the heart of the House of Hazelwood story with a whisky that is at once decadently rich and elegantly layered. A tribute to patience and perseverance and a reminder that, sometimes, the most important things in life take time to emerge.

These three women are Janet Sheed-Roberts, Eilidh Muir and Kirsten Grant-Meikle. Janet Sheed-Roberts, granddaughter of William Grant, lived at Hazelwood House and was Scotland’s oldest person when she died at the age of 110 years old. Known as ‘Wee Janie’ she was the matriarch of the family, having been granddaughter, daughter, sister, wife, aunt and great aunt to successive Chairmen and Managing Directors of the business for over a century.

For almost 100 years, the House of Hazelwood inventory has sat at the centre of a pioneering ethos, each and every whisky maker charged with the task to challenge convention and break boundaries. Today, blender Eilidh Muir sits as a custodian of our whisky, employing and advancing the techniques handed down through the decades to create whiskies unbridled in character.

Commenting on the whisky, Eilidh, said:

“At the heart of this blended whisky is a parcel of stock originally blended to mark Janet Sheed-Roberts’s milestone birthday and bottled for employees and family only. I have since added two lovely parcels of grain whisky, one of which was matured in bourbon casks and the other finished in sherry wood, creating a fruity blend with great depth and oaky character with hints of spice and sherbet.”

Kirsten Grant-Meikle, a fifth-generation family descendant of William Grant is continuing the family legacy of laying down stock for future generations to enjoy and has fond memories of spending summers at Hazelwood House with ‘Wee Janie.’ Commenting on the whisky and why she wants to support this inaugural auction, Kirsten, said:

“The Long View beautifully encapsulates this tradition enabling us to support the OurWhisky Foundation on its journey towards gender equality. Janet Sheed-Roberts was a truly inspiring lady, the only female in her class studying Law at Edinburgh University, she was always a believer in gender equality and living to 110 she certainly will have had a long view of the business and how gender roles evolved over time.”

The Long View will be auctioned by Whisky Auctioneer as part of the OurWhisky Foundation’s The Demeter Collection from 29th March to 8th April. To place a bid, interested parties must register with Whisky Auctioneer.

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Tasting Notes

The Long View, 31-Year-Old Blended Scotch Whisky, 1 bottle, 49.2% ABV

Nose: Ripe red berries, creamy vanilla, and toasted oak. A few drops of water release another wave of toffee sweetness, fresh custard tart and a hint of ground cinnamon.

Taste: Silky smooth with a rich and intensely sweet oakiness. Over three decades of maturation in American oak has created an elegantly layered whisky with soft spice, honey and tangy sherbet all enveloped in a syrupy sweetness.

Finish: Long lasting sweet oak.

About House of Hazelwood

For almost one hundred years, generations of the Gordon family have carefully laid down stocks of whisky for special occasions and personal consumption. This rare collection has become known as House of Hazelwood, after the family’s Dufftown home – Hazelwood House.

Today, the House of Hazelwood collection has grown to become the greatest inventory of aged Scotch whisky held anywhere in the world. Spanning seven decades and every corner of Scotland, the diverse whiskies held in cask tell stories of remarkable places, lost ways of working, first casks, last casks, the ambitions, and achievements of several lifetimes – none of which will be repeated.

The House of Hazelwood inventory is held in several carefully selected warehouses across Scotland, with fresh stocks laid down each year. Prior to bottling, a small proportion of the stocks are held in traditional dunnage warehousing near Dufftown in Speyside, from where they are carefully monitored and sampled ahead of release.

Website: www.houseofhazelwood.com

Facebook & Instagram: @HouseofHazelwoodScotch

About Janet Sheed-Roberts

Janet Sheed-Roberts was born in the Cabrach in Moray in the summer of 1901. She was the last surviving granddaughter of William Grant and Scotland’s oldest person when she died at the age of 110 years old. Known as ‘Wee Janie’ she was the matriarch of the family, having been granddaughter, daughter, sister, wife, aunt and great aunt to successive Chairmen and Managing Directors of the business for over a century.  During her rich and vibrant life, Janet Sheed-Roberts lived in Hazelwood House, close to Dufftown, Scotland. She was a pioneering woman in her own right having been the only female in her class when she studied Law at Edinburgh University. It was while working as a lawyer at the firm McGrigor Donald that she met and married Eric Roberts who went on to become a director and then Chairman at William Grant & Son. It was from Hazelwood House that she reveled in learning and progress, spending considerable time after her studies travelling the world, attending shows, events and company ceremonies.

About Kirsten Grant-Meikle

Fifth generation descendant of the William Grant & Sons family, Kirsten joined the family business in 2011. After graduating in business, she worked in the hospitality industry holding a manager’s position at Ecco Vino in Edinburgh, which is where she developed her love for wine. Her first job in the drinks industry was with the wholesaler Matthew Clark, as a sales rep working across beer, wine, spirits and soft drinks, rising to become their Wine Range Controller during her seven-year tenure. During this period, she also began spending time and learning from her uncle Charles Gordon, William Grant & Sons’ late chairman who eventually asked her to join the family firm. Kirsten, who spent many summers and family gatherings at Hazelwood House, has been involved in House of Hazelwood from its inception.

About Eilidh Muir

Eilidh Muir grew up in Ayrshire and studied Chemical Engineering at Edinburgh University. It was a chance visit during her studies to a distillery that sparked her interest in whisky. Following a number of placements in the business Eilidh settled into a role in the Blending team where she is now playing an integral role as a blender for House of Hazelwood. As well as working on the core collections she recently created The Accelerator & The Brake in partnership with world-renowned whisky writer Dave Broom. A film telling the story of this whisky can be seen here.

About The OurWhisky Foundation

The OurWhisky Foundation is the world’s first non-profit organisation dedicated to supporting, recognising and empowering professional women in whisky across the globe, while advocating for a more inclusive and diverse industry. Founded in 2022 by drinks journalist Becky Paskin, the UK-based organisation works with the global drinks industry to provide diversity and inclusion consultancy, as well as surveys, reports, events and initiatives that inspire change.

Its ground-breaking mentorship programme, which pairs mentees with some of the biggest names in whisky while providing free workshops and networking opportunities, has so far guided 175 women and non-binary individuals toward reaching their goals, with many securing new jobs and promotions as a result.

In 2023 the Foundation introduced the Modern Face of Whisky stock image library, an evolving, free-to-use collection of professional photography enabling the media and wider industry to more accurately represent the diversity of today’s whisky drinker beyond the masculine stereotype. Within its first eight months, the library received 10 million views and 100,000 downloads with the images featured across global print and digital media.

In the same year, the Foundation surveyed over 600 women for its Do You Even Like Whisky? report – the world’s first survey of women in whisky, which revealed the extent of sexism and unconscious bias prevalent in the industry. The report has since led to policy changes within many whisky organisations.

Website: www.ourwhiskyfoundation.org

Instagram: @ourwhisky_foundation

About the Demeter Collection

The OurWhisky Foundation is delighted to introduce the Demeter Collection, the world’s first auction of whiskies celebrating female achievement, held in partnership with Whisky Auctioneer.

Named after the Greek goddess of grain, the Demeter Collection will highlight unique and exquisite whiskies crafted and inspired by some of the industry’s most talented women, maintaining a particular focus on the compelling stories of those involved in their creation. The inaugural auction will be hosted 29 March to 8 April 2024, coinciding with Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day, as well as the OurWhisky Foundation’s second anniversary. The carefully curated Collection will be held every two years with all proceeds donated to the OurWhisky Foundation.

Demeter (Duh-mee-tuh) was the Greek goddess of the harvest and agriculture, presiding over crops, grains and the fertility of the earth. Known as the ‘good goddess’, she gifted humankind with the knowledge to grow and harvest their own crops. Such was her deep connection to the planet that she is often likened to Gaia, while some claim her name translates to ‘Mother Earth’.

According to legend, her daughter Persephone was abducted and held hostage in the underworld by Demeter’s brother, Hades. Racked with grief, Demeter plunged the world into a deep famine as she searched far and wide for her lost daughter. Ultimately Hades allowed Persephone to return to the surface for just eight months a year. It was only during this time that Demeter allowed crops to grow once more, thereby creating the seasons, a continuous evolution of time that symbolises the eternal cycle of life and passing of knowledge from generation to generation.

Despite her important role within Greek mythology, Demeter remains one of the lesser-known of the Olympians, her story largely untold in popular culture. Yet her heroic tale of overcoming obstacles to support her daughter, all while sharing her knowledge and wisdom with others, embodies many similar values as the OurWhisky Foundation. Just like Demeter’s sidelining in pop culture, women’s contributions to whisky have been vastly under-recognised. Through the Demeter Collection we want to honour the grain goddess and tell the untold stories of women in whisky, while raising much-needed funds to enable the OurWhisky Foundation to support, recognise and empower future generations of women in the industry.

About Whisky Auctioneer

Whisky Auctioneer is the global market leader and trusted authority on the buying and selling of whisky and spirits at auction. Founded in 2013 and headquartered in Perth, Scotland, Whisky Auctioneer utilises its expertise and knowledge combined with its auction platform to increase interest and passion in the whisky and spirits community.

The business currently has nearly 70,000 users, sees over 150,000 bids per month and has conducted deliveries to 74 countries across the globe. The central Scotland headquarter’s success paved the way for expansion with the opening of a central London office in 2022 and European office in the Netherlands in 2023.

Whisky Auctioneer endeavours to make the secondary market more accessible for buyers and sellers of any background and demographic, wherever in the world they are based. Its monthly global auctions feature the most comprehensive selection of old, rare, and collectible whiskies and spirits online, and are unmatched in volume, variety of bottles offered, and prices achieved. Alongside an unrivalled selection of rare Scotch whisky and Irish Whiskey, Whisky Auctioneer has also established the business as the market-leading specialist in presenting world whiskies for sale; from rare American whiskey and bourbon to iconic Japanese whiskies.

Whisky Auctioneer conducts record-breaking sales regularly and in 2021, became the first online auction house to sell a million-pound bottle.

Website: www.whiskyauctioneer.com

Instagram: @whiskyauctioneer