Award-winning Stirling firm Angels’ Share Glass has bottled a single malt whisky to mark its tenth birthday.
The glassmaking company, which creates spirits-related gifts, launches its first whisky – a 10-year-old Scotch called `The Glassblower’s Malt’ – this Friday.
The whisky is named in honour of renowned glassmaker Tom Young MBE who founded the family firm along with his daughter, Managing Director Karen Somerville, in April 2013.
The pair have grown the business, which creates unique giftware including a signature line of glass whisky-filled angels, substantially over the past decade and last year secured their largest order to date with a £500K deal to supply their gifts to duty-free outlets across Asia.
The family, along with employees, clients and members of the Scottish business community, will celebrate the firm’s tenth anniversary at a lunch with whisky pairings held at their Bridge of Allan headquarters on Friday.
Mrs Somerville said: “We’ve come a long way in the past ten years and wanted to mark the occasion with something special.
“Given our love of whisky and the way it has inspired our products, we felt it was the ideal opportunity to launch a whisky and it will also serve as a legacy for Tom Young – our talented and world-renowned glassblower.
“I think members of the glassmaking community and anyone with a love of whisky will enjoy the bottle which comes from Speyside – my favourite region of the five whisky areas.
“We found a cask of 10-year-old Linkwood Scotch at the Linkwood Distillery in Elgin and finished it in an oloroso octave for a few months before bottling and it really has an exceptional taste.”
She added: “We’re now looking forward to the next ten years of Angels’ Share Glass and are planning a complete change of direction.
“We’ll continue making our products but are also looking at opening a visitors’ centre and creating glassblowing experiences so we can ensure the heritage of the important Scottish craft of glassmaking is recognised and preserved.”
The Glassblower’s Malt will have a limited run of bottles and can be pre-ordered here – www.angelsshareglass.com/collections/whisky-gin/products/the-glassblowers-malt-10-year-old-single-malt-scotch-whisky
The single malt, from Elgin’s Linkwood Distillery which was founded in 1861, has been finished in an oloroso sherry octave for nine months and is described as having “dark fruit and dates on the nose and toffee and spicy sweetness on the palate.”
The commemorative whisky has also been used to fill 50 limited-edition Birthday Angels which are adorned with individually created handmade glass parcels and a balloon.
Whisky Angels are the original and signature product of Angels’ Share Glass.
They were created after Mrs Somerville was inspired to bring the legend of the ‘Angels’ Share’ – which claims the small portion of a whisky’s volume lost to evaporation during ageing is taken by angels – to life by creating glass angels filled and sealed with a measure of Scotch whisky in a secret process.
The angels were followed by a range of handmade high-quality gifts for spirits’ lovers including a signature glass, whisky water droppers and innovative whisky gifting ideas.
For more information about Angels’ Share Glass, visit www.angelsshareglass.com
