By James Atkinson
Royal Salute, the family of high-aged premium whiskies developed by Chivas Brothers, has already sold six out of a total of 21 bottles of Tribute to Honour, its new $200,000 blend of whiskies aged a minimum of 45 years.
Chivas Brothers will retain Number One of the 21 individually numbered Tribute to Honour bottles, according to Royal Salute master blender Colin Scott, who is certain that the remaining 14 will all be sold in good time.
"You just need someone to walk past it and fall in love with it and it'll be sold," he told TheShout recently.
"That can happen today, tomorrow – whatever. If we're successful here in Australia that's just going to be phenomenal," said Scott.
At Melbourne's Crown Casino, he hosted a tasting attended by media, trade and high rollers of the full range of Royal Salute whiskies, including two of the components of Tribute to Honour.
"Those were just two of the many that we've selected. We had this array of whiskies that were all over 45 years old, so we were only taking small amounts of each of these different whiskies for their different characters to create the final 45 litres that was the Tribute to Honour blend," Scott said.
Colin Scott addresses whisky enthusiasts at Crown Casino
He said Tribute to Honour continues Royal Salute's theming around "friendship, respect, nobility and sovereignty" by paying homage to the oldest crown jewels of the British Isles, The Honours of Scotland.
Tribute to Honour is presented in a bejewelled bottle dressed by Garrard – one of the world's finest jewellery houses – in diamonds and shimmering gold.
"As the world's oldest jeweller to royalty, Garrard has embellished the Royal Salute Tribute to Honour flagon – hand cast and perfected black porcelain – with 413 flawless white and black diamonds," Chivas Brothers said.
Scott (pictured right) said Tribute to Honour is the ultimate embodiment of the Royal Salute family's "velvet smooth" style.
"That is a lot to do with the selection and the blending in that style to get a harmony and a balance of flavours. It's not a singular taste or nose, it's more a cacophony, an orchestra of flavours," he said.