Ever since Whisk Hampers started some five years ago, people have regularly referred to us as Whisky Hampers, but Whisky has been something noticeably lacking in our gift selections until relatively recently.
Well, we’ve more than made up for that now with a selection of Whiskies from award winning distilleries in Scotland, Ireland and Japan (yes, I said Japan!).
We’ll start, naturally, in Scotland. The Compass Box Whisky Company is a boutique distillery producing exquisite, award-winning, beautifully packaged Whiskies (so they tick all our boxes)
We’ve listed three of their styles. Firstly, Oak Cross, so called because it offers the best characteristics of both American and French oak aging. A rich, medium-bodied malt whisky, Oak Cross combines vanilla characters from American oak and spicy, clove-like characters from French oak. The Peat Monster is perfect for those who like a peaty-smoky Whisky; combining smoky and peaty single malts from the island of Islay and the Isle of Mull with rich, medium-peated Speyside whisky. Finally we have the wonderfully named Hedonism which the Distillery only bottle once or twice per year, depending on their ability to source the quality of casks required. Rare and old, it’s something special for the collector or the new whisky enthusiast and was Voted 'The World's Best Grain Whisky' at the World Whiskies Awards 2008 and 2009.
Of course, fine whisky isn’t just made in Scotland (although if it’s from Ireland you do need to add an ‘e’ so it’s technically whiskey). We have two Irish Whiskey tasting sets from the award winning Cooley Distillery – The Connemara Family Single Malt Irish Whiskey Tasting Set focuses on three varieties of the same Whiskey (Peated, 12 Year Old and Cask Strength), whilst the Cooley Collection gives a broader overview of the Distilleries various styles.
From further afield, The Nikka Japanese Whisky From the Barrel Box Set is something a little different - a combination of two Japanese single malts and a grain whisky which are blended and then re-casked (a process known as "marriage") to create a rich harmony of distinctly different whiskies. This Whisky, which is presented in a gift box with a pourer and two shot glasses, picked up the top prize in its category at the World Whisky Awards 2010.
However, if we had to highlight one product from our Whisky range it would be the Compass Box Whisky Tasting Set: a supremely stylish gift box containing five 5cl 'cigar tube' samples of the fabulous Scotch Whiskies produced by John Glaser at the boutique Scotch Whisky maker the Compass Box Whisky Co. This product has become one of our bestsellers in just a couple of weeks and makes a perfect gift for the Whisky Connoisseur or to give someone a great introduction to this special spirit. We are always hearing how difficult us men are to buy for – well, I don’t think I know one guy who wouldn’t be delighted to find this under the tree on Christmas morning.