Master of Malt Bottles The World Cup In Whisky
The World Cup is approaching and we’ve got fine whisky to put into bottles.
Yes, the Master of Malt Bottling Line extends with five new limited edition bottles ahead of a summer of international football, with labels inspired by kits from Italia ’90 and France ’98.
The labels, designed in-house by Ben McKeown and Chris Gunter, don’t copy kits outright but riff on them just enough to trigger recognition. You know exactly what they’re referencing without it turning into a licensing nightmare.
The range spans English, Scotch, and Irish whiskey*, all small runs with no filler. Let’s meet them.
As Alan Patridge would say: “GOOOAAAALLLLL”
The line-up:
Irish Whiskey 8 Year Old Double Cask
A combo of 12-year-old red wine cask and eight-year-old first-fill bourbon cask, 43.4% ABV.
Adnams 9 Year Old English Rye Whisky
Matured in a French oak wine cask, 46.6% ABV.
English Distillery 12 Year Old Single Malt
Aged in a single bourbon cask, 54% ABV.
Highland Distillery 12 Year Old Single Malt
Matured in a oloroso sherry hogshead, 46.3% ABV.
Ben Nevis 27 Year Old Single Malt
Finished in a Pedro Ximénez sherry cask, 47.5% ABV.
This picture really underlines that Ireland didn’t make it**.
Football as memory
“There’s a moment in every football tournament where everything stops. The pub goes quiet, everyone leans forward, and you can feel it coming. That’s what we wanted to bottle here.”
That’s our head of whisky, Sam Simmons, speaking. He’s responsible for this collision of football nostalgia and independent whisky. For a fan, these labels are evocative because Italia ’90 and France ’98 are cultural flashpoints.
Roger Milla’s dancing, Platt’s winner, red cards, Gazza’s tears, Pavarotti’s Nessun dorma, Prosinečki… then Prosinečki again this time with Šuker, Beck’s red, Bergkamp’s first touch, Owen’s run, Ronaldo’s no-show, Zidane and then Zidane again, retro kits, oversized shorts, sticker books, that very specific feeling of watching football in a pub where everyone suddenly believes…
That’s what this range is leaning into. Football as memory. Drink it in.
*Yes, I know we didn’t qualify, don’t rub it in.
**ffs
