Whiskey enthusiasts in South Africa will soon be able to enjoy a new offering of Scotch single malt. Craigellachie, a distillery in the town of Speyside in Scotland, has recently launched in South Africa.

The distillery was founded in 1891 and was launched globally in 2014. Craigellachie 13-year-old is now available in South Africa and Craigellachie 17-year-old will be coming to South Africa next year.

What’s more, the arrival of this Scotch is being celebrated in a unique way. South African whiskey lovers may soon have the chance to taste the distillery’s oldest whiskey to date: Craigellachie 51.

“We’ve created a pop-up series called Bar 51 and we’re popping up in 4 locations around the world,” says Global Single Malts Ambassador from the Bacardi group, Georgie Bell.

Bar 51 started in London in November last year. Its next stop was New York and it will be moving to Australia in a week’s time with the last pop-up scheduled for South Africa at the end of the year.

Bell says Craigellachie 51 wasn’t made in 1962 to be an ornament. “Usually a whiskey of this age and of this rarity would be put into a crystal decanter. It would have a price tag attached to it similar to the deposit on a Johannesburg pub and then it would be sold to a select few around the world. It may never be drunk, it may pass from auction house to auction house and just adored from afar.”

But, she says, they decided against doing that and opted to give as many people as possible the opportunity to try it. “The spirit of whiskey is drinking it. So we’re sharing the rare and we’re giving it all away for free, dram by dram to whiskey lovers across the world.”

Bar 51 will be in Johannesburg on the 20th and 21st of November at the Whiskey Brothers in Morningside and in Cape Town on the 25th and 26th of November at the Athletic Club.

Over these four nights, the lucky winners will be treated to a special tasting of Craigellachie 51 – of which there are only 51 bottles – along with Craigellachie 13 and 17 and a special cocktail. 

For a chance to join the tasting, visit https://www.craigellachie.com/za/en/ to enter the draw and win one of 96 pairs of tickets which will be chosen at random. Entries close on the 10th of November.