The Black Grouse lands in India

Company Brief

New Delhi, October 07, 2009

After its astounding success in the European markets, the makers of The Famous Grouse, Scotland’s No. 1 best selling whisky, today announced the launch of The Black Grouse whisky in India. The Black Grouse will be initially available in Delhi NCR with launches in other cities to follow.

The Black Grouse is a perfect blend of The Famous Grouse with fine peated malt whiskies to create a rich, smooth, smoky whisky. The Black Grouse brings forth three distinct notes with the top note being rich and smoky influenced by the peated malt whisky. The second note exudes the familiar trademark smoothness of The Famous Grouse, while the finish is long, smoky and aromatic.

According to Derek Brown, Brand Heritage Director for The Famous Grouse: "The Black Grouse is a welcome addition to The Famous Grouse range. We are seeing a trend towards fuller flavoured whiskies and we feel The Black Grouse delivers this on all levels. It will give drinkers keen to embrace a stronger peated whisky the opportunity to try this from a trusted premium brand.”

The Black Grouse comes in a 1 litre contemporary bottle and is priced at Rs. 2,250/-

Launching The Black Grouse, Paramjit Singh, Director – India and Area Countries, said: “The Indian consumers have an affinity towards smoky and peated whisky. The Black Grouse, with its richness, will appeal to their evolved palettes and we are certain that it will be both enjoyed and appreciated by whisky lovers.”

The Black Grouse has already received a number of accolades, taking Gold – Best In Class –at this year’s International Wine and Spirits Competition (IWSC), Gold for Best Scotch Whisky Blend at the 2009 Scottish Whisky Masters and Gold at the International Spirits Challenge’s Scotch Whisky category in 2008. In his 2008 Whisky Bible’, Jim Murray hailed it as “a real treasure - the best new blended scotch whisky” awarding a total score of 94/100.

The Black Grouse bird (Tetrao tetrix), the inspiration behind this newest blend of whisky, is also a distant relative of Scotland’s national game bird, the Red Grouse (Lagopus Lagopus), which originally inspired The Famous Grouse. In the UK the Black Grouse ranges mainly over uplands from Wales to North Scotland but their numbers have declined by 28% since the 1970s and work is currently underway to conserve this distinctive bird.

For further information, please contact:

The Famous Grouse

Manmeet Lamba

Email: mkaur@edrington.co.uk