The Black Grouse conquers new land

Posted on August 23, 2007
Filed Under Blend, WhiskyBuzz |

The Famous Grouse has announced that a new product, The Black Grouse, will be rolled out to a number of international markets, including Nordics (Finland, Norway and Denmark), Baltics (Estonia), The Netherlands, Germany and South Africa, following its successful launch in Sweden.

The Black Grouse is a blend of The Famous Grouse with fine Islay malt whiskies to create a smooth, peated, blended whisky. It is the newest addition to The Famous Grouse core product range and its launch in Sweden in April has been so successful that it is already ranked ninth best selling blended Scotch whisky in the on-trade there.

Describing the product, Helen Potter, innovation and development manager for The Famous Grouse, said: “At first taste you’ll be surprised by the rich, flavoursome smoky influence of the peated malt whisky, then you’ll experience the trademark smoothness of The Famous Grouse. The finish is long, smoky and aromatic and a just reward for embracing the darker side of Scotland’s favourite whisky!”

The product will be launched to the German and The Netherlands market in September and then across the Nordic and Baltic regions plus South Africa in October, with other European markets following in the coming months.

The Black Grouse bird (Tetrao tetrix), the inspiration behind this newest blend of whisky, is also a distant relative of Scotland’s national game bird, the Red Grouse (Lagopus Lagopus), which originally inspired The Famous Grouse. In the UK the Black Grouse can be found mainly over uplands from Wales to North Scotland but their numbers have declined by 28 per cent since the 1970s and work is currently underway to conserve this distinctive bird.