There might not be a more anticipated event in sport than when a World Cup is just around the corner. This year marks the 23rd edition of the global football tournament, and with 48 teams competing, it is undoubtedly the biggest ever.
Along with four countries making their debuts this tournament — Cape Verde, Curaçao, Jordan, and Uzbekistan — one of the biggest stories is the return of the Scotland National Team to the global stage. The Tartan Army are making their first appearance at the finals since 1998 (for context, Scotland haven’t qualified for as long as Whisky Magazine has existed, until now) and the anticipation could not be higher from the Scots.
The other home nation in the tournament, England, will be projecting a much more successful tournament than their Scottish counterparts, but anything other than a win will be considered a major disappointment.
In time for the tournament, Master of Malt has launched a new limited-edition range. The five-expression collection features independent bottlings of English, Scottish, and Irish whisky, inspired by international football.
Two English whiskies, aged 12 years and nine years, were distilled at the English Distillery and Adnams respectively. The English 12 Years Old Single Malt was distilled in 2013 and matured in a single bourbon cask. The Adnams 9 Years Old — inspired by the greats who have donned the number 9 shirt for England — is a rye whisky matured in French Oak casks.
The Irish whiskey expression comes from the marriage of two casks — a 12-year-old red wine cask and an 8-year-old first-fill bourbon cask. Those keen-eyed football fans among you will have noticed the elephant in the room — “but Ireland haven’t qualified”. For the team at Master of Malt, they were keen to include Ireland, and decisions had to be made on who would be included long before the qualification process had happened. At least the Irish fans will have a tasty whiskey to enjoy.
Perhaps most exciting are the two Scottish two expressions. The 12 Years Old was distilled at an unnamed Highland distillery, matured in an oloroso sherry hogshead. The highest age statement in the collection is the Ben Nevis 27 Years Old. This bottling is particularly perfect for the occasion as, in a perfect storm of circumstance, this 1998 vintage single malt is as old as the last time Scotland qualified for the tournament. This bottling finished its 27-year maturation in a PX sherry cask.
The entire range is limited edition, with between 66 bottles and 340 bottles available for each expression.
For Sam Simmons (otherwise known as Dr Whisky), head of whisky at Atom Group — owner of Atom Brands and Master of Malt — the idea of football-themed whiskies was an exciting one, thanks to members of the team. “A couple of guys in the team… love football. Especially one of them, Vicky. They had the idea: we need to do an England thing for the World Cup. So very quickly, I knew exactly what liquid I would use.”
However, what started as an idea only for the English National Team quickly expanded. “Our warehouses are here in Edinburgh. I said, ‘Hey guys, we’re going to do a World Cup thing. We want to use that cask number… that’s sitting in the warehouse. Then, Gordon [Hoggan] asked, ‘Are you doing Scotland?’ That had not even occurred. Good call Gordon, we definitely missed a trick. He then said, ‘What about that Ben Nevis?’ It was just mellowing and getting a light glazing of raisins and things you’d expect from [PX] casks. We were gonna use it at some point anyway.”
The idea from Hoggan led to his name being on the bottle for the Scotland expressions, under the title of ‘Whisky Gaffer’. If you can’t be the gaffer of the Scottish National Team, then that’s a very good alternative to have.
In terms of flavours, Simmons says there’s definitely a contrast in drinkability between the older and younger expressions of the whiskies in the English and Scottish range. “The younger of the two, so the 9 Years Old Adnams and the 12 Years Old [Highland expression], they’re both gluggable. The older expressions of each English and Scottish are a little more sippable, one dram at a time.”
A creative approach includes label artwork by in-house duo Ben McKeown and Chris Gunther, aiming to invoke the iconic eras of British and Irish international football, including England and Ireland’s Italia ’90 campaign and Scotland’s France ’98 tournament. Simmons couldn’t be more complimentary of the work produced by the designers. “Ben and Chris are very skilled. They can whip these up pretty quickly. They are creative and skilled, and they know the brief and can bring these things to life.”
For Simmons and the team, the creative freedom and opportunity that comes with the role is something special and unique in the whisky world. “We are so lucky that we can fart out an idea on a Monday and it can actually be close to being a real thing by Friday. We get it wrong sometimes, and sometimes we get an idea but we can’t bring it to life. The liquid doesn’t make sense.”
So, which national team will Sam be aligning himself with this Summer? “I have to support Norway. My wife is Norwegian. We moved to Norway two years ago. Like Scotland, it’s a similar story. It’s been a while for them as well. And I think the last time they were in it, they beat Brazil and the whole country took a holiday… they went nuts about it.”
With Erling Haaland leading the Norwegian attack, Sam may enjoy the tournament a bit more than people might expect. But for those behind England and Scotland, whatever happens, they can take comfort in the immortalisation of some of their favourite tournament football campaigns in whisky form.
The range is not affiliated with, licensed by or endorsed by FIFA, UEFA, or any national football association, nor any kit manufacturer.
