London’s Bimber Distillery today announced the launch of the sixth release of its celebrated The Spirit of the Underground Collection, produced in conjunction with Transport for London (TfL).
Release No.6 travels to four new stations, each connected to a revered sporting location. All four single cask releases- Oval, Stratford, Wembley Park and Wimbledon - showcase the past and present of these legendary London locations. However, for this release the eye-catching labels and packaging designs also celebrate the sporting excellence which has taken place at each hallowed ground and thrilled people around the world for generations.
Drawn from Bimber’s finest casks, this release presents the distillery’s first selection of 'double maturations'. Each expression has been matured in a combination of American and European oak, spending over 3 years within the second cask in order to masterfully weave both wood styles together. Each double cask expression has been crafted to tease out new aromas and flavours from the twin-cask approach. Carefully selected, monitored and then bottled at just the right moment, these new Spirit of the Underground releases present with an incredible depth of flavour and a perfect balance between the two casks and Bimber’s naturally fruit-forward spirit style. All four new releases showcase a different double maturation, with each bottled at natural cask strength and without filtration:
Oval – moscatel sherry cask double maturation 57.6%, 307 bottles
Stratford – fino sherry cask double maturation, 58.5%, 325 bottles
Wembley Park – marsala cask double maturation, 58.3%, 305 bottles
Wimbledon – Vino de Naranja cask double maturation, 56.6%, 298 bottles
The Collection, which will total 44 individual releases, features a selection of iconic single malt whiskies that celebrate the heritage and diversity of the distillery's home city. With eye-catchingly unique designs, each bottle presents a different Tube station on the London Underground network - the oldest underground passenger railway service in the world.
Release No.6 of The Spirit of the Underground Collection will be available directly from Bimber’s Spirit of the Underground website from Wednesday 5th June till Sunday 9th June via a ballot and with an RRP of £135 per bottle.
Speaking of the launch of the sixth release, Bimber’s Matt McKay said: “We have been excited about releasing these four new stations since we first launched the Collection back in May 2021. Every great sporting moment is accompanied by a memorable story, whether that’s about perseverance, friendship, victory or loss. The sixth release of The Spirit of The Underground celebrates not only the history of four iconic locations but also the shared ability of both sport and whisky to bring people together. For this very special release we are delighted to unveil our first ‘double maturation’ casks. We have been internally trialling this new, longer approach to the maturation of our European oak casks and are thrilled to now offer these new Bimber flavour journeys to customers. Each tells its own double maturation story, and we’re tremendously excited to see how our double cask programme develops over the coming years.”
Ellen Sankey, Brand Licensing Manager at TfL, said: “The continuation of our partnership with Bimber Distillery sees the release of four new bottles, all with an association with key sporting locations across our network. We are proud to be collaborating with a London based independent brand, highlighting again that the city houses products of great quality. The creative and original use of our branding to help portray unique elements of our city's association with sporting history shows the benefit that an innovative, long-term collaborations like this can have.”
This collection is the latest addition to a robust licensing programme, developed by TfL and its international licensing representative IMG, that brings the London Underground’s rich legacy and iconic brand identity to global audiences in unique and authentic ways.
All the expressions in The Spirit of the Underground Collection were crafted to Bimber's exacting standards. The spirit was produced from the distillery’s single farm barley and malted on a dedicated floor at Warminster Maltings before being fermented for seven days in bespoke, on-site constructed American oak washbacks. Distillation took place in Bimber’s customised stills which possess an increased copper surface area, which results in a rich fruit-forward, layered spirit.