Glenfiddich, the world’s most awarded single malt whisky, has created Glenfiddich Experimental Series, a range that combines the brand’s passion for pushing Scotch whisky boundaries and collaborating with trailblazers from the whisky world and beyond. The Glenfiddich Experimental Series is designed to inspire unusual and unexpected variants, and this September will launch their second range of limited edition Experimental Highballs, the result of a collaboration with experimental Australian soda factory PS Soda.
Luke Sanderson, national Glenfiddich ambassador, has worked closely with Thor Berquist of PS Soda and PS40 fame to create the range, each of which uses weird and wonderful ingredients from lands close to home, staying true to the ethos of PS Soda.
“PS Soda are the absolute masters of their craft and I love what they do!” says Sanderson. “The synergy is perfect, I jumped at the opportunity to collaborate with Thor and highlight our abilities to push boundaries in our respective categories,” he says.
The sodas will be modelled to be the perfect accompaniment across three of Glenfiddich’s whiskies.
“The Glenfiddich 12 Year Old, IPA Experiment and Project XX (pronounced Project Twenty), are all very different whiskies in their own right and so bring out very different notes when mixed with our new sodas,” says Sanderson.
“The IPA Experiment is the world’s first single malt Scotch whisky finished in India Pale Ale (IPA) craft beer casks, so we’ve teamed it up with a beautiful Hopped Root Beer.”
“I’d been playing around with a root beer for about a year,” says Bergquist, “but could never really get it right. There are so many components and I really try to substitute Australian native ingredients where possible. Then Luke suggested we work it to the IPA, and I took on the challenge.”
The result is a soda that uses Australian galaxy hops, which emphasises the IPA cask finish, while the dryness cuts through the richness of the burdock root and blackstrap molasses. Paperbark was added to give a smokey flavour and river mint for a fresh note.
Project XX, which has notes of candy floss, cinnamon spice and almonds, has been matched with PS Quandong Tea. Quandong is a native peach and it is complimented with coconut-ceylon tea and star anise.
The core of each company’s range, Glenfiddich 12 and PS Smoked Lemonade, have also been appropriately paired together.
The new sodas come with unique labels created by designer Livia Lima, who also happens to be the wife of Thor. “It’s nice to keep the entire process in the family, just like Glenfiddich remains a family owned company today”, said Luke.
The sodas are available through William Grant & Sons nationally exclusive to the on-premise.
