Welcome to Planet Whiskies newsletter for February 2012. We hope you all had a excellent Burns Night towards the end of January and toasted a dram to one of Scotland's greats.

This month there has been plenty of whisky news that has filtered into the Planet Whiskies mailbox and we have chosen a selected few below. With two stories from Highland Park Distillery and a competition on offer from the Isle of Jura Distillery (see below) you will find loads of interesting whisky reading.

Other stories that have caught our eye this month are - The Jameson Irish Whiskey - St Patrick's Day Celebrations and The Black Grouse, which has created some cocktails to go with their blend. These are called The Smooth-Talker and Silence is Golden.

There are also a number of special offers from Single Malts Direct and the best way to see these offers, please go straight to www.singlemaltsdirect.com

Hope you enjoy reading the below stories and if you have a whisky brand or story that you would like to see on Planet Whiskies please email us at contact@planetwhiskies.com.

Whisky News - The Black Grouse - Lights, Camera and Cocktails - 21st February, 2012

With Oscar night around the corner (26th February 2012), The Black Grouse Blended Scotch whisky has created some cocktails worthy of their own award nominations inspired by the film world’s distinctive characters and the actors that play them.  Read more


Highland Park Shows Passion For Food With Increased Investment - 22nd February, 2012

Highland Park single malt whisky, distributed by Maxxium UK, is increasing investment by 75% into brand activation around a new platform of food and gastronomy.  The brand has forged an exciting partnership with Slow Food UK, is a sponsor at this year’s prestigious The World's 50 Best Restaurants Awards and will also be implementing a significant sampling programme across some of the UK’s biggest foodie events. Read more

Jura Launches “Whisky Pursuit” to Win a Free Bottle Every Week for a Year - 20th February, 2012

Jura has launched a second version of its Pub Quiz aimed at testing the knowledge of its community of ‘honorary Diurachs. 

Called “Whisky Pursuit”, the quiz will pose a different question every week, each one themed around one of six categories, in honour of the much-loved board game! Every week for six months, Jura will be giving away one bottle of Jura Superstition to a different lucky recipient for correctly answering the Question of the Week which will be posted on www.isleofjura.com. Read more


Jameson Irish Whiskey - St Partick's Day Celebrations Go Global with Jameson - 17th February, 2012

Jameson fans from around the world are being encouraged to party with the Irish this St Patrick’s Day, as the world’s No 1 Irish whiskey unveils an exciting line-up of activities to support its markets and allow consumers around the world to ‘embrace their Irish spirit’.

Festivities will include the Jameson Global Broadcast – an annual event that offers markets the unique opportunity to invite their local radio stations to Dublin, to broadcast their shows live from the Old Jameson Distillery. With the Jameson master distillers on hand throughout the day for interview, as well as a host of Irish musicians and comedians, the presenters can tailor their programme to convey the spirit of the celebrations to listeners back home. Read more


Spirit Of Speyside Whisky Awards - Finalists Announced - 6th February, 2012

The Glenlivet triumphed in the first round of judging of the Spirit of Speyside Whisky Awards 2012, featuring in each of the three categories of the prestigious awards.

The judging panel for the first round of the awards, including industry representatives, whisky writers and specialist retailers, gathered recently at the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh for a blind tasting of 52 of Speyside’s finest malts hosted by Richard Lochhead MSP. Read more