Laphroaig® Single Malt Scotch Whisky Named Best Distillery Tour

DEERFIELD, Ill., April 25, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The Laphroaig^® Distillery, home of the world's most richly flavored Scotch Whisky, was recently declared a 2013 Drammie Award winner and named "Best Distillery Tour" by an independent panel of whisky enthusiasts around the globe. The prestigious award salutes the Distillery's commitment to its more than 200-year-old heritage and recognizes the authentic tour experience it brings to guests year round.

"It is an honor to be named the Best Distillery Tour for the second year in a row by fans of Scotch whisky," said John Campbell, Laphroaig Distillery Manager. "Our Distillery is more than just a production facility, it is a home to more than 500,000 Friends of Laphroaig, and we celebrate their passion for our brand each and every day. Our Visitor Center brings Laphroaig's rich history and heritage to life while showcasing our unique whisky-making process from start to finish."

"With more than 5,000 votes cast this year, from eight different countries around the world, the team at the Laphroaig Visitor Center has clearly put together an experience that resonates very favorably with the whisky enthusiast visiting distilleries," said Doug Stone, Founder and CEO of ForWhiskeyLovers.com, which hosts the Drammie Awards.

The Laphroaig Distillery offers a range of experiences for those who visit, including:

• Traditional Distillery Tour– Learn about the Laphroaig^® Scotch whisky process while experiencing the sights, sounds and smells of the distillery. The one-hour tour concludes with a taste of an award-winning Laphroaig expression.
• Friends of Laphroaig^® Tour – Enjoy a self-guided walking tour, allowing Friends of Laphroaig to scout their personal plot of land.
• Flavor Tasting – Join an experienced Laphroaig host in the Friends of Laphroaig lounge for a whisky tasting. Matching familiar expressions with food, this interactive experience will showcase different flavors within each dram.
• Distiller's Wares – Enjoy a guided tour of the unique Laphroaig production process.  After learning about the effects of maturation, taste the results straight from the cask and bottle your favorite. Guests sample whisky straight from a selection of casks in the warehouse room and bottle their favorite expression. 
• Water to Whisky – The most involved whisky experience available. After meeting at the Distillery to put on wellies (provided), this experience starts with a walk to the water source for Laphroaig where you will enjoy a picnic lunch with a dram of Laphroaig cut with water straight from the source. A short drive will then take you to the peat banks where guests will be challenged to cut peat by hand before being awarded with the next dram. Back at the distillery, the malt on the floor will be turned and the fire stoked before visiting the rest of the distillery. Taste the whisky straight from the cask and take the opportunity to bottle your favorite. This experience lasts more than four hours and runs mid-week, March – September.

Visitors are welcome to drop by the center to see the on-site museum, relax in the Friends of Laphroaig lounge, or chat with the team over a dram at the bar. In 2012, visitors from 70 different countries made the pilgrimage to their No. 1 Islay Single Malt Whisky and collected the rent as a Friend of Laphroaig for a square foot of land that they own.

Laphroaig (Gaelic for "the beautiful hollow by the broad bay") boasts an idyllic setting for a distillery, imparting the salty sea air and earthy peat into every bottle and putting the brand in a class by itself. So much so that His Royal Highness, Prince Charles, personally visited Laphroaig to give the legendary whisky maker his Royal Warrant, making Laphroaig the only Single Malt whisky distillery to have received such an honor.

To learn more about the Distillery tours, pricing or how to become a Friend of Laphroaig, visit Laphroaig.com. There, whisky enthusiasts can participate in a virtual Distillery tour hosted by Campbell.

About Beam Inc.
As one of the world's leading premium spirits companies, Beam is Crafting the Spirits that Stir the World.  Consumers from all corners of the globe call for the company's brands, including Jim Beam Bourbon, Maker's Mark Bourbon, Sauza Tequila, Pinnacle Vodka, Canadian Club Whisky, Courvoisier Cognac, Teacher's Scotch Whisky, Skinnygirl Cocktails, Cruzan Rum, Hornitos Tequila, Knob Creek Bourbon, Laphroaig Scotch Whisky, Kilbeggan Irish Whiskey, Larios Gin, Whisky DYC and DeKuyper Cordials.  Beam is focused on delivering superior performance with its unique combination of scale with agility and a strategy of Creating Famous Brands, Building Winning Markets and Fueling Our Growth. Beam and its 3,400 passionate associates worldwide generated 2012 sales of $2.5 billion (excluding excise taxes), volume of 38 million 9-liter equivalent cases and some of the industry's fastest growing innovations. 

Headquartered in Deerfield, Illinois, Beam is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol BEAM and is included in the S&P 500 Index and the MSCI World Index.  For more information on Beam, its brands, and its commitment to social responsibility, please visit www.beamglobal.com and www.drinksmart.com.

About The Drammie Awards/ ForWhiskeyLovers.com
The Drammie Awards – The Voice of the Whisk(e)y Enthusiast – is the "People's Choice" awards of the whisk(e)y industry. Organized each year since 2010 by the publishers of ForWhiskeyLovers.com, the mission of the Drammie Awards is to put the power of "recognition" in the hands of the whisk(e)y enthusiast. In the last several years The Drammie Awards have grown in stature to become among the most important (and often most terrifying) means of recognition for those making a living in the whisk(e)y industry.  

© 2013 Beam Inc., Deerfield, IL

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SOURCE The Laphroaig Distillery