Jura meets Barbados: Whyte & Mackay launches Islanders’ Expressions Collection No.1

 

Island of inspiration: The Islanders’ Expressions single malt range from Jura

Whyte & Mackay has revealed the latest limited-edition collection from Jura, the Islanders’ Expressions Collection No. 1.

The travel retail-exclusive range of single malts was inspired by the creativity of the artistic community in the island of Jura.

Islanders’ Expressions will be available for a limited time and in small quantities at key travel retail locations.

It will launch on 1 April at Heathrow Airport Terminal 5, with other UK and European airports to follow. In addition, shoppers at Heathrow will have the opportunity to personalise their bottles.

The new collection was designed to highlight Jura’s portfolio beyond its single malt whisky blends. It was also conceived to recruit new malt drinkers and millennial whisky consumers.

The first release from the Islanders’ Expressions range embodies the spirit and creativity of artisans and innovators in Barbados, starting with the story of local jeweller Amy Dunnachie of Amy Finds. A native of Jura, Dunnachie forages found objects on the shores of the island to create special jewellery pieces.

Islander made: Jura native, forager and jewellery maker Amy Dunnachie served as the inspiration for the latest travel retail-exclusive release from Jura
Scan the QR code to learn more about Islanders’ Expressions Collection No. 1.

Her sustainable, found art pieces celebrate the materials that make Jura special, inspiring the whisky house to create a blend that complemented her eco-friendly artistic approach.

“Jura Whisky is ‘islander made’,” said Whyte & Mackay Master Whisky Maker Gregg Glass. “It is that collective creative spirit on the island that sees us embrace innovation, new ideas and dedicated craftsmanship.”

Commenting on the new artistic collaboration with Dunnachie, Glass said: “This collaboration celebrates this and why we believe Jura truly is more than a whisky. In crafting this character, we’ve been able to bring this story to life through the flavours but also inspire drinkers to discover that there is so much more to Jura than they might think.

“It goes beyond what they may expect, just like our whiskies and the community itself. I’ve really enjoyed exploring Amy’s work to inspire our thinking in the creation of this single malt and love the opportunity to tap into some of the incredible finishes we can achieve with Jura.”

Islanders’ Expressions is a blend of two islands, Jura in the West Coast of Scotland and Barbados in the Caribbean. It is matured in hand-selected ex-bourbon barrels and finished in tropically-flavoured ex-rum casks from Barbados, to create a light and citrusy single malt.

The liquid is smooth and vibrant, reflecting the colours and Amy’s work. It also combines fresh maritime notes with tropical fruit, spices and sweet Barbados Rum.

“The collective creative spirit on the island sees us embrace innovation, new ideas and dedicated craftsmanship” — Whyte & Mackay Master Whisky Maker Gregg Glass

The whisky is housed in a colourful bottle and carton featuring Dunnachie’s distinctive artistic style. It features bright blues and greens, with a brooch from the artist’s ‘In a Reel Tangle’ collection as the star feature.

For the second year in a row, Jura was named as the UK domestic market’s top single malt brand in terms of volume by Nielsen. The brand has also been known to recruit many new consumers into the malt whiskey category according to Kantar.

According to Whyte & Mackay Head of Marketing Clarisse Daniels, this momentum extends into travel retail as well.

Driven by powerful product stories, exclusivity and new launches, Jura has doubled sales in global travel retail last year

“Jura is currently experiencing huge growth with sales more than doubling in global travel retail last year,” she said. “Given its power status in Europe, Jura is the preferred choice for duty free shoppers who are looking to buy not only the brand they love – which is reflected in our current performance across European travel retail – but who are also open to trying new flavours driven by craft and quality cues.

“Ours is the only complete travel retail-exclusive range that is enhanced in casks that previously held Pedro Ximénez Sherry (PX) of different ages, meeting this demand.”

Daniels added, “With Whyte and Mackay being a single malt specialist, we also understand that choice, great product stories, exclusivity and new product launches have been driving the category which is why we believe that the new limited-edition collection will excite the duty free shopper and is guaranteed to sell out quickly.”

 

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