Rare cask releases from Ronnie Cox
One of Scotch whisky’s most respected personalities is set to retire - but not before he makes a huge splash with an exciting range of ‘one off’ rare cask releases.
Ronnie Cox, who has whisky connections stretching back seven generations, and has promoted quality Scotch for more than 40 years, is set to give up his post as brands heritage director at Berry Bros & Rudd in 2020.
But before he goes a range of cask strength one off casks will be released. Each will be released in to a different territory, with six expected for launch in The United Kingdom and Asia in late January and the final one, containing spirit distillers in 1968, due for release in June.
In recent years Cox has built a reputation as one the whisky world’s finest raconteurs and is an amiable dinner host. But he started life as a salesman for The Distillers’ Company Limited (now part of Diageo). He fell in love with the whisky trade quickly, working in Latin America on the blends Black & White and Buchanan’s.
He joined Berry Bros & Rudd in1989, where he was put in charge of Scotch whisky blend Cutty Sark in Latin America. The blend has very strong links with the Speyside malt distillery Glenrothes and in 2010 Berry Bros sold Cutty Sark to Edrington in exchange for the distillery. Sales of Glenrothes have grown from 500 cases in1994 to 60,000 cases today.
Glenrothes broke new ground by adopting the wine industry’s habit of using vintages on its labels rather than age statements.
The new whiskies will be limited releases and bottled at cask strength. They are all from the same distillery “which I can’t pronounce as part of an agreement,” says Cox. “… But it’s one with which I am very familiar and have been for 30 years!”
Exquisite Scotch Whisky Casks
Whisky Quarterly has tasted samples of all seven casks and they are a varied mix of tastes, styles and ages, which is to be expected from the distillery in question. They are all excellent;
The whiskies are:
* Cask 12040, 1995, 53.3%
* Cask 4597, 1992, 51.7%
* Cask 10415, 1989, 54.0%
* Cask 5454, 1979, 49.9%
* Cask 10619, 1975, 45.5%
* Cask 16202,1969, 46.9%
* Cask 13497,1968, 51.6%
