DramMaster Daily Whisky News — 18 August 2026

By Murray

Scotland's Bestselling Scotch Changes Hands — William Grant & Sons Buys Famous Grouse

The Famous Grouse — the bestselling Scotch whisky in Scotland — has been acquired by William Grant & Sons from Edrington. The deal transfers a brand that has outsold every other whisky in Scotland for decades into the portfolio behind Glenfiddich, Balvenie, and Monkey Shoulder.

William Grant & Sons is a fifth-generation family-owned company. The acquisition rounds out their entry-level Scotch stable: Monkey Shoulder as the cocktail workhorse, Glenfiddich as the gateway single malt, and now Grouse as the everyday blend. Edrington, the seller, is consolidating around Macallan, Highland Park, and Glenturret — the upper shelf and above.

The Famous Grouse has long been the whisky equivalent of a comfortable jumper with a few stains on it. On the nose: malt, vanilla, and freshly made cupcakes. On the palate: toffee, raisins, a whisper of smoke from the Highland Park component. It scores a fair 5 out of 10 — average in the best possible way. That is exactly why this deal matters. In a market where Compass Box and Woven are proving blends can be brilliant, William Grant has the distribution and marketing apparatus to lift Grouse above bottom-shelf territory. Whether they will is another question.

Murray's take: The interesting angle is not who bought Grouse but who sold it. Edrington is quietly building a luxury-only portfolio — Macallan, Highland Park, Glenturret. Everything below £50 is being cleared out. William Grant is moving the other direction, scooping up volume brands that fill the shelf below their premium single malts. Two family-owned companies, opposite strategies. The Famous Grouse is safe — William Grant did not spend money to kill it. Whether they invest in it or just milk it is the real question.

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Sazerac Acquires Au Vodka for £500 Million

Sazerac, the US drinks group behind Buffalo Trace and Buzzballz, has signed a binding agreement to acquire Welsh-founded Au Vodka and its RTD cocktail line for approximately £500 million. The deal is subject to standard completion conditions and expected to close within weeks.

Au Vodka, known for its solid gold bottles, made its US debut in August 2022. The UK is viewed as a key market for Sazerac, and this acquisition adds a high-volume premium vodka brand to a portfolio that already includes Wheatley Vodka alongside bourbon heavyweights like Buffalo Trace, George T. Stagg, and Elmer T. Lee.

Murray's take: This is a vodka deal, not a whisky deal — but it tells you where Sazerac is heading. They are buying brands that move volume in markets where bourbon growth has a ceiling. Au Vodka's gold-bottle aesthetic is built for the Instagram shelf, not the whisky cabinet. Sazerac's bourbon portfolio serves the enthusiast. Au serves everyone else. £500 million for a brand that launched in 2015 is a serious bet on the premium-vodka category continuing to outpace single-malt growth in the UK. Whether that bet pays off depends on whether Au's brand equity survives the transfer from founder-led to corporate ownership. Sazerac has a mixed record here — Buffalo Trace thrived under them, but not every acquisition gets the same treatment.

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Maker's Mark 46 Scores 99/100 at SFWSC 2026

Maker's Mark 46 has won a Double Gold medal with a score of 99 out of 100 at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition 2026. The bourbon is bottled at 47% ABV and retails for approximately $40 in the US and £40 in the UK.

Maker's Mark 46 was the first new product released by the distillery in 52 years when it launched in 2010. It is finished by inserting 10 fresh, seared French oak staves into barrels, which then age an additional nine weeks in a limestone cellar blasted into a hill on the distillery grounds. The nose brings toasted wheat, runny honey, brioche, and chocolate chip cookies. The palate delivers vanilla, dried coconut, chocolate chips, and candied ginger, finishing on brown sugar and orange oil.

Murray's take: A $40 bottle scoring 99/100 and winning Double Gold is a reminder that competition results are not a function of price or scarcity. The stave-finishing process is genuinely clever — seared French oak adds tannin and spice without the years of barrel aging that would normally get you there. The limestone cellar is real terroir, not marketing copy. Whether it deserves 99 is subjective — reviewer Phil Dwyer, who has drunk plenty of it, would not personally go that high but concedes it scores well. The point stands: readily available, affordable bourbon can stand on the same podium as allocated whiskey. That is a useful signal for drinkers tired of the secondary market circus.

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The Macallan Closes Harmony Collection With Two Coconut-Inspired Expressions

The Macallan has released the sixth and final instalment of its Harmony Collection: two single malt Scotch whiskies inspired by coconut. Both launch globally at £140 per 700ml bottle.

Inspired by Fresh Coconut is available from the distillery in Speyside and through UK retailers including Harrods, Selfridges, Fortnum & Mason, Master of Malt, and The Whisky Shop. Inspired by Toasted Coconut is exclusive to global travel retail — selected airports worldwide.

The release is notable for incorporating ex-Bourbon barrel maturation alongside Macallan's signature sherry-seasoned American oak casks. The brand matures the majority of its stocks in bespoke sherry casks, so the use of ex-Bourbon barrels marks a departure from the usual playbook.

Master whisky maker Kirsteen Campbell described the approach as "carefully guiding coconut notes to the forefront through precise cask selection and maturation." Fresh Coconut opens on citrus, tropical fruits, vanilla, and sweet oak with fresh coconut and coconut milk. Toasted Coconut runs richer — crème caramel, chocolate truffles, charred pineapple, and frangipane. Packaging is made from discarded coconut fibres processed emission-free into a textured black material.

Previous Harmony editions explored coffee, tea, and chocolate through partnerships with Cirque du Soleil, Stella and Mary McCartney, and JING Tea. The collection launched in 2021.

Murray's take: The Harmony Collection has been Macallan's experimental sandbox — flavour-led releases with sustainable packaging that sit below the price ceiling of the main range. Coconut is a genuine flavour departure for a distillery associated with dried fruits and sherry. The travel retail exclusive is the smarter play — airport customers buy on novelty, and toasted coconut is a hook that works at a duty-free counter. £140 for a no-age-statement Macallan with ex-Bourbon cask involvement is the real conversation. The whisky will be competent because Macallan's mastery team does not release incompetent whisky. Whether it is interesting enough to justify the price over the 12 Year Old at £60 less is the question a buyer should ask before the airport bar closes in on them.

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Wyoming Whiskey Releases State of the Union Bourbon for America's 250th

Wyoming Whiskey has released State of the Union, a limited-edition straight bourbon commemorating the 250th anniversary of American independence. The bourbon is available exclusively at select Wyoming retailers for $79.99.

Aged six years and bottled at 98 proof (49% ABV), State of the Union is made with locally sourced non-GMO grains from Wyoming farmers and limestone water drawn from aquifers near the distillery in the Big Horn Basin. The nose opens with raspberry and soft lemon, rounded by sweet tea. The palate brings peaches and raspberries layered with white chocolate and brown sugar. The finish is candied ginger and cherry balanced by milk chocolate.

Wyoming Whiskey was founded in 2006 by Brad and Kate Mead with partner David DeFazio. It is the state's first legal distillery. Co-founder DeFazio said: "This anniversary is an opportunity to reflect on what endures — the land, the people, and the spirit of independence that continues to define America."

Available at the Whiskey Shop in Kirby and Barrel House in Jackson, Wyoming.

Murray's take: A six-year bourbon at 98 proof for $80 from a state with one distillery is a genuine piece of American whiskey heritage. The Big Horn Basin's temperature swings — hot summers, sub-zero winters — accelerate maturation in ways that Kentucky's climate cannot match. The tasting notes read fruit-forward and accessible, which fits the celebratory brief. The limitation is real: Wyoming-only availability means this is a road-trip bottle, not an online order. For anyone driving through the American West this summer, it is worth the detour. For everyone else, it is a reminder that America's whiskey story is still being written in places that do not have a Kentucky zip code.

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