The first whisky from Japanese craft distillery Chichibu has been launched. Chichibu The First is three years old, 61.8% abv and limited to 7,400 bottles. The whisky is not chill-filtered.

Whyte & Mackay has announced a partnership with Russian Standard vodka owner Roust. The deal is for the distribution and promotion of the Glasgow-based company’s spirits portfolio in Russia.

The Edrington Group is to launch a smokier expression of its Black Grouse whisky. 

The Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) has announced that the value of scotch exports for the first half of 2011 is up 22%

Beam Global is to launch Teacher’s Origin in global travel retail. The product has already launched in India, where, according to Beam, Teacher’s is the number one blended whisky.

Diageo has cited ‘emerging markets’ as a reason for its positive results – including 16% growth in scotch whisky in emerging markets. 

Malaysia: Ian Macleod Distillers has set a new sales record for the company and the Malaysian Travel Retail industry.

UK: Glenfiddich has launched the 2011 Glenfiddich Malt Mastermind competition. The aim of the game is to find the “trade’s most passionate malt enthusiasts”.

The Glenmorangie Company has released a £2,500 whisky matured in Chateau d’Yquem sauternes casks.

Morrison Bowmore has unveiled two new Auchentoshan expressions. 1999 Bordeaux Cask Matured and Valinch, a small batch release of the Classic expression bottled at cask strength and non-chill filtered.

Scotland: Diageo is to invest £20 million in its Speyside whisky facilities.

Chivas Brothers has launched a US$200,000 whisky as a tribute to the oldest crown jewels in Britain - the Honours of Scotland.

Ardbeg has announced the September launch of its new limited release, Ardbeg Alligator, to Europe, Asia and the US.

International Beverage Holdings will unveil the 1995 vintage of Balblair single malt scotch whisky at TFWA Asia Pacific.

The Glenmorangie Company has announced the release of Pride 1981, a 28-year old single malt whisky that has been finished in Sauternes casks for ten years.

Chivas Brothers has introduced new packaging across its “core range" of The Glenlivet.

Online whisky retailer Master of Malt has launched a 40-year old whisky liqueur.

Indian distributor Radico Khaitan is to launch Japanese whiskies the Yamazaki 12 year old and Hibiki 17 year old in India.

Scotch company Gordon & MacPhail has launched The Glenlivet 70 Year Old, priced at £13,000 a bottle.

UK spirits group Ian Macleod Distillers has recorded a 41% profit, buoyed by the growth of Glengoyne single malt whisky.

Whisky retailer Master of Malt has launched a liqueur made from single malt scotch whisky.

Brown-Forman has launched Canadian 'maple wood' whisky, Collingwood, in four US states.

Europe: The Glenmorangie Company has launched new expression Finealta at the newly-reopened Savoy Hotel in London.

The worldwide competition to appoint four Glenrothes whisky makers closes at the end of January. According to organisers, response to the competition has been very strong but there is still a chance to enter online. The successful candidates will be recruited to work as The Glenrothes whisky makers at the Speyside distillery, Scotland.

UK: The deputy prime minister Nick Clegg MP raised a glass to scotch whisky exports – up 12% in the first ten months of 2010.

The Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) has gained a geographical indication of origin for scotch whisky in Vietnam.

Chivas Brothers is taking its travel retail aged whisky campaign to the Americas.

Scotch whisky has been granted geographical indication of origin (GI) in Panama.

Diageo has launched a new expression of its Johnnie Walker scotch whisky in Delhi duty free. Johnnie Walker XR 21 year old is now available in T3, Indira Gandhi International Airport.

China - an important market for scotch whisky – has announced that it will recognise and protect ‘scotch whisky’ as a Geographical Indication (GI).

Laphroaig Quarter Cask has been voted Scotland’s best single malt by The Whisky Shop.

Scotch whisky exports are up 17% compared with last year, with nine of the category’s top ten markets in growth.

Elitemarket.com has created a virtual cellar for online shoppers to view, research and buy single malt scotch whiskies.

Whisky brand Glenglassaugh has announced the release of a limited edition range of single malt scotches named ‘Manager’s Legacy’.

US: Bacardi Limited has completed the initial phase of a $250m investment into its scotch whisky brand Dewar’s.

Ballantine’s has unveiled its first seasonal limited edition whisky entitled Christmas Reserve.

Global drinks giant Diageo has opened the doors of its new £40 million distillery in Speyside, Scotland.

Scotch whisky distillers have welcomed a vote by the Scottish Parliament Health & Sport Committee to remove minimum pricing from the Alcohol (Scotland) Bill.

Indian distiller Amrut is to launch its first ‘Intermediate Sherry Matured’ whisky. The product will be a limited edition of 275 cases.

Scottish Labour’s Alcohol Commission has rejected the Scottish National Party’s (SNP) proposal for minimum pricing.

Glenmorangie has launched a new whisky in its Private Edition range. The Glenmorangie Finealta, pronounced ‘Finalta’, is Scottish Gaelic for ‘elegant’. It is a recreation of Glenmorangie based on a recipe dating back to 1903.

Stock Spirits has launched a 21 year old  single malt Czech whisky. The company believes it to be the only Bohemian single malt in the world.

The makers of Sheep Dip whisky have launched a gin.

According to the Scotch Whisky Association more than 5 bottles of scotch are shipped to France every second.

A new study has revealed that Scotch whisky is worth £4 billion a year in added value to the Scottish economy - with the industry spending in excess of £1.1 billion annually on supplies produced in Scotland.

Islay malt whisky, Ardbeg is to launch a second edition of Ardbeg Supernova – SN2010 – to be released on May 31 2010. This limited edition release is 40% more peaty than the distillery’s already heavily peated flagship Ardbeg ten years old.

A 56% increase in exports confirmed Scotch whisky’s growing popularity in Brazil in 2009, according to new figures published by the UK-based Scotch Whisky Association (SWA).

The Edrington Group has appointed a new brand controller for its newly acquired scotch whisky Cutty Sark.

The Spirit of Speyside whisky festival starts this week.

Global exports of scotch whisky reached record levels in 2009 despite the economic downturn in some major markets, according to annual figures published by the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA).