Stirling Distillery Lets You Bottle Your Own, Lady of the Glen Launches Its Samhain Series, and Wyoming Whiskey Honours Grizzly 399

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Three stories worth knowing about today: a Stirling distillery hands visitors the bottling line, an independent bottler turns Scottish folklore into seven single cask whiskies, and a Wyoming distillery marks a famous bear's anniversary with a conservation bourbon.

Stirling Distillery Launches a Fill Your Own Bottle Experience

Stirling Distillery is opening a new hands on experience at its Old Smiddy site on Castlehill, beneath Stirling Castle. From today, Wednesday 14 October, visitors can fill and label their own 50cl bottle of blended whisky and take it home for £45.

Each bottle carries the date and a bottle number, and the details are recorded in the distillery's ledger. The first whisky on offer is the Chairman's Blend, a one off 50 litre blend created by co-founder Cameron McCann. Once that batch is used up, it will be replaced by a different whisky.

The distillery resumed whisky production in Stirling in 2024 after a 172 year gap. Its first single malt, Cask One, is scheduled for release in 2027. The Old Smiddy building dates back to 1888 and has served as a blacksmith's forge, a church and a temperance hall. The distillery welcomes around 20,000 visitors a year.

Lady of the Glen Releases a Seven Cask Samhain Series

Fife based independent bottler Hannah Whisky Merchant has announced the Samhain Series, seven single cask Scotch whiskies released under its Lady of the Glen label. The range launches this October through select retailers, timed to the Celtic festival of Samhain, traditionally held on 31 October.

Each bottling is paired with a local legend tied to its distillery's location, with hand drawn labels by Edinburgh artist Steven Shand. The line up includes a Bowmore 9 year old (268 bottles), a Laphroaig 7 year old (137 bottles), a Highland Park 12 year old (231 bottles), a Glen Elgin 14 year old (296 bottles), a Cameronbridge 23 year old single grain (228 bottles), an Aultmore 13 year old (233 bottles) and a Glen Garioch 11 year old (239 bottles). The stories range from witches and hidden gold to a phantom train.

All seven are hand bottled at natural cask strength, without chill filtration and with natural colour. Hannah Whisky Merchant was founded by Gregor Hannah in 2012 and produces around 40 casks a year. The Lady of the Glen name comes from the legend of a green lady ghost said to roam Stirling Castle.

Wyoming Whiskey Releases Queen of the Tetons Second Edition

Wyoming Whiskey will release Queen of the Tetons Second Edition this Friday, 16 October. The limited bourbon honours Grizzly 399, the 28 year old bear who was killed by a vehicle on a Wyoming highway on 22 October 2024. She was the oldest known reproducing female grizzly in the greater Yellowstone ecosystem and had 18 cubs, eight of which reached adulthood.

Only 1,000 bottles have been made. The bourbon is an eight barrel blend bottled at 99 proof, with a suggested retail price of $79.99 (about £60). For every bottle sold, $5 goes to the Grand Teton National Park Foundation to support grizzly bear education, conservation and research.

It will be sold at select Wyoming stores and the distillery's own shop, and for the first time nationwide through online retailer Bourbon Outfitter, shipping to most US states. The release coincides with the documentary 399 Forever, which arrives worldwide on 16 October.