Rebel Bourbon Competition

To help celebrate the launch of their inaugural London Bourbon Trail, we’re thrilled to announce that we’re teaming up with Rebel, to giveaway a couple of bottles of their rather dram delicious Kentucky Straight Bourbon.

With lockdown limiting international travel, the creators of Rebel Bourbon have decided to bring the spirit of Kentucky to the capital throughout July, with the first-ever London Bourbon Trail.

The wheated bourbon masters have created the London Bourbon Trail – a tasty bourbon sipping experience taking in six of the city’s finest bars, which are all mapped across London in the shape of the state of Kentucky.

Running throughout July 2021 as part of Cocktails in the City, bourbon enthusiasts can pick up their Trail map and passport at any of the participating venues. They can then collect a stamp when visiting each bar and ordering a Rebel Bourbon cocktail.

Each stamp entitles bourbon lovers to a complimentary welcome drink at the next venue on the London Bourbon Trail or 20% off any bottle of whiskey from the Rebel Bourbon range. Six stamps rewards ‘Trailists’ with free Rebel Bourbon merchandise.

Participating venues include:

Roots (3-4 West Park Walk, East Village, London, E20 1DH)City of London Distillery (22-24 Bride Lane, London, EC4Y 8DT)Disrepute (4 Kingly Court, Soho, London, W1B 5PW)Fitz’s (Russell Square, London, WC1B 5BE)T.T. Liquor (17B Kingsland Road, London, E2 8AA)East London Liqour Company (Bow Wharf, Unit GF1, 221 Grove Road, London, E3 5SN)

Visitors can choose from two different specially created Rebel cocktails at each venue, made using either the range’s Straight Kentucky Bourbon or Rye Whiskey. Embracing the whiskey’s rebellious spirit, the cocktails have been created using a whole host of different ingredients ranging from honey to orange bitters, coffee, banana liqueur and fenugreek.

For your chance to win a bottle of Rebel Kentucky Straight Bourbon (40% ABV) click here to email us with your contact details and date of birth, along with the phrase that dramming pays:

“I’d love to sip my way around
Rebel’s London Bourbon Trail”

*Mark the subject line of your email with: Rebel Bourbon Competition

If you’re on Twitter, you can also follow us via @TheWhiskyWire and RT one of our related competition tweets for another chance to win!

@TheWhiskyWire
#RebelBourbonComp

Competition closes at 23:59 on July 31st 2021. You must be aged 21 years or over to enter!

Good Luck!

110th Whisky Insiders Interview - Gary Mills

Company:

The Loch Lomond Group

Job:

Brand Ambassador

Website:

lochlomondgroup.com

How long have you been working in the whisky industry?

I joined the Loch Lomond group in 2015, and it was my first job in the whisky industry. I will never forget my first week on the job and the time spent with Iain McAlister and the team at Glen Scotia. They welcomed me in and set me off on my journey!

What has been your biggest career highlight to date?
I’ve had a lot of highlights along the way, taking our Glen Scotia Grand Tour to London and Taipei in Taiwan was a wonderful experience, getting to share some great whiskies with people from all over the world! My time working on Littlemill has created some great experiences too, from unearthing the evidence behind Scotland’s oldest licensed distillery and the release of the brands latest expression, Littlemill Testament.
 
Can you remember your first dram, and indeed what it was?
My Dad has always been a whisky drinker and had previously tried to introduce me to Scotch, but for sure it was Glen Scotia Double Cask that really started my whisky journey proper. Such a wonderfully well balanced and easy drinking whisky, it was the perfect introduction to me with a great mix of the sweet vanilla notes and sherry influence.
 
What does whisky mean to you?
Too much to quantify. Whisky has afforded me some amazing opportunities and I will be eternally grateful for that!
 
Where would you like to see yourself in five years’ time?
Hopefully still doing something similar to what I am now, I truly believe that we are all on our own whisky journeys and I’m still relatively near the start of mine. There is plenty more for me to learn and I would to eventually have some involvement in the blending/cask selection side of things – that would be amazing!

What was your last dram?
This morning I took part in a virtual tasting with Australia at 7am (4pm their time) and the last dram of the session was Glen Scotia 25 Year Old, which was recently crowned ‘Best Whisky in the World’ at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition.

Do you have a favourite whisky and food pairing combination?
Another wonderful thing about working across our brands means I get to interact with so many people across the business. Our Master Blender Michael Henry introduced me to the combination of our Loch Lomond 18 Year Old with barbecue foods. It’s a wonderful combination of sweet, spice and subtle smoke!
 
What’s your favourite time and place to enjoy a dram?
I think as long as you’re sharing your drams then you can’t go far wrong. But truly my favourite place is in Campbeltown during the Malts Festival. We finished our last open day in 2019 with a bonfire on Machrihanish beach and to be there with people from all over the world sharing whisky, stories and laughs was a memory that will stick with me for a long time.  
 
What do you think is going to be the next big thing on the whisky horizon?
I think you will see more people doing fun stuff at the distillation point with different grains. We’re already seeing the emergence of Scottish Rye, which is very exciting!

What’s the one dram you couldn’t live without?
That’s like asking me to pick my favourite child. I'll stick with a distillery and I can’t imagine ever not having Glen Scotia whiskies in my cupboard!

Many thanks to Gary Mills. Who will be our next Whisky Insider? Click back soon to find out!

The Borders Distillery Tweet Tasting

Continuing our teeming throng of industry leading Twitter trending Tweet Tastings (the original series of virtual tastings) we’re delighted to announce that on August 11th, we’ll be teaming up again with our good friends at The Borders Distillery, to pour and explore our way through their portfolio of distilled delights.

On the night we’ll be sharing sipping and savouring The Borders Distillery’s Lower East Side Blended Malt, William Kerr’s Borders Gin and Puffing Billy Steamed Vodka. We’ll also be treated to some of the distillery’s new make spirit!

If you would like to uncover abnd discover some of The Borders Distillery bottled bounty click here to register your interest by emailing your name, address, mobile number, date of birth and Twitter handle. Please remember to mark the subject line of your email: #TheBordersDistillery

The closing date to register is July 20th, and if you are registering please make sure that you will actually be free on the night to take part!

Even if you're not one of the selected Tweet Tasters, it'd be great to have you following all the evenings dramfotainment. So we look forward to seeing you over on Twitter on August 11th, from 19:00 BST via #TheBordersDistillery

Registration open to over 21's only!

For more info on The Borders Distillery, visit: thebordersdistillery.com

@TheWhiskyWire

#TheBordersDistillery

Be part of the Dramfotainment!