Everyone's favorite whisky rebel Compass Box has come up with a special blend in support of English Whisky production.

The expression uses whiskies from six English distilleries: Copper Rivet Distillery, Cotswolds Distillery, East London Liquor Co, Spirit of Yorkshire Distillery, The English Distillery, and White Peak Distillery.

Only 61 bottles of Scot-Free are available, representing the number of English whisky distilleries there are in production today.

It was also created in celebration of St. George's Day!

Most importantly, the release also comes as a show of support for the English Whisky Guild (EWG), which revealed in February that an approval for an English Whisky geographical indication (GI) was in the consultation phase.

The news provoked strong opposition from the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA). Their concerns focused on two key areas: the proposed definition of "English Single Malt" in the application, and the geographical indication's (GI) restriction of double distillation exclusively to copper pot stills.

To bolster the launch, the brand has enlisted the support of television personality Tom Skinner. In a humorous Instagram skit for the brand, Skinner enters a bar and orders Scottish, Irish, and Welsh single malts, all of which the bartender readily accepts. However, when Skinner requests an English single malt, he's met with a shake of the head and a firm "no."

Instead, the bartender presents Skinner with a glass of Scot-Free. Skinner raises his glass and declares, "Here's to great whisky, no matter what it's called," before concluding with his well-known "bosh!"

At 48.7% ABV for each bottle, the release went to ballot on April 22, which will run until 30 April when the winners will then be randomly selected.

Kanpai!

88 Bamboo Editorial Team